47

Rafe watched Cara and her friends across the room with a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach. From the surreptitious glances being cast his way, he suspected he was the prime topic on the agenda. He wasn’t sure how he felt about his fate being decided by women he barely knew. Would they encourage Cara to let this relationship play out or would they warn her away? As skittish as she clearly was, it wouldn’t take much to ruin things for the two of them.

When he could stand it no longer, he stood up and crossed the restaurant. “You ladies look as if you’re enjoying yourselves,” he said, then tucked a hand under Cara’s elbow. “Mind if I steal her away from you, though? We were in the middle of a conversation earlier. We need to finish it.”

“Not now,” Cara said, refusing to budge. “We can finish it later.”

Rafe shook his head. “Something tells me now would be better. Excuse us, ladies.”

Rafe tried to pull her up, but Cara held back. “I am visiting with my friends,” she said, regarding him with mounting fury flashing in her eyes.

“I’m sure they won’t object,” he repeated confidently, giving each of them his most charming smile, the one that lulled witnesses into believing he was on their side.

“Will you?” he asked, all but daring any of them to protest.

When Emma started to reply, Lauren gave her a sharp nudge. “We don’t mind at all,” Lauren assured him. “I’m sure what you have to say is really, really important.”

Cara scowled at her. “It’s not that important,” she grumbled. “It could wait.” Lauren beamed at her. “No, it can’t. Just remember what I said.”

Exhaling a deep sigh, Cara stopped fighting him then and stood up. She shrugged off his hand, but she did follow him back to his table.

“Would you care for a glass of wine?” Rafe asked when she was seated. “No, thank you,” she said a little too politely, her hands folded primly in

front of her on the table, her gaze averted.

He refused to let her attitude get to him. “So, what did Lauren tell you?” “Nothing that matters.”

“She seemed to think otherwise. Come on, Cara,” he coaxed. “What did she say? It had to do with us, didn’t it?”

She leveled a withering look at him. “It did, but she was wrong, flat-out, positively wrong. If I didn’t believe that before, I do now.”

“Oh?”

Sparks lit her eyes. “I don’t like being manhandled, Rafe.”

For a minute he was about to laugh, but her expression suggested she was dead serious. “Is that how you see it? You think I manhandled you just now?” “You dragged me away from my friends over my objections. What would

you call it?”

He thought back over everything that had happened in the last ten minutes. He was pretty sure she had come along willingly if not enthusiastically, but then again, he was a mere male. What did he know about finesse?

“Manhandling implies more physical force than I used,” he protested. “Okay, you bullied me into coming with you. Is that better?”

Rafe winced. “Not really. And if that’s the way you see it, then I apologize. I was just trying to get back to a conversation that I thought was really important to both of us.”

She didn’t seem appeased by the apology. Either she didn’t take it seriously or there was something else entirely going on. He suspected it was the latter. “Is that really what has you upset with me, the fact that I interrupted your time with your friends?”

She looked vaguely disconcerted by the question, as if she hadn’t expected him to guess that she was trying to sidestep the real problem. He watched her and waited.

“No,” she said finally. “It’s not that.” “What then?”

“You came over just when I was trying to get the answer to a question.” Rafe regarded her with confusion. “And?”

“I really wanted to know the answer,” she said. “Isn’t that obvious?” “Ask me. Maybe I can answer it.”

She chuckled, her expression wry. “I don’t think so.” “Why not?”

“Because you’re the problem. Well, not you,” she corrected. “Me, and how I feel about you. The two of us. Together. Or not.” She frowned at him. “See, it’s very confusing.”

Rafe was beginning to feel considerably better, but he was wise enough not to show it. “Okay. What is it you find most disturbing about us?”

“The fact that I care about you,” she said, looking miserable. “Lauren

accused me of running scared and, as much as I hate to admit it, she was right. I know I was the one who came on to you and all but dragged you into bed, but I didn’t expect the sex to be so…”

“Fabulous?” he suggested, allowing himself a faint smile.

“Okay, yes,” she admitted grudgingly. “I didn’t expect it to be great and I didn’t expect it to matter. I didn’t expect you to matter.”

The explanation filled in the rest of the picture. “And you were hoping your friends would clarify things, help you figure out what to do about that,” he guessed.

“Exactly.”

“It’s just as well I dragged you away when I did then,” he said.

She seemed thoroughly taken aback by his claim. “How can you say that?” “Because they can’t answer that,” he told her, then held up his hand when

she seemed to be about to speak. “I can’t answer it, either. You’re the only one who can figure out what your feelings are and what’s best for you. Sorry, sweetheart, but I think we’re going to have to muddle through this entirely on our own.”

She was already shaking her head by the time he finished. “But I can’t,” she said. “Not with you here, not with everything else that’s going on. I can’t think. My head is spinning.”

“Is there some reason why you have to decide all of this today?” he asked. “No, not really, but I hate this uncertainty. Everything in my life is up in the

air.”

Rafe stood up, tugged his chair around to her side of the table then sat next to her. He cupped her face in his hands, his gaze locked with hers. The turmoil made her eyes darker than ever. His gaze shifted to her lips, but despite the temptation he resisted the desire to kiss her until she forgot all about her confusion.

“Okay, let’s deal with one thing at a time. I’m no expert on relationships,” he said quietly. “We’ve established that, but I think this is one of those things you’re not supposed to think about, Cara. You’re supposed to go with your gut, with what you’re feeling in here.” He tapped her in the center of her chest. “You said as much yourself earlier, remember?”

“But that’s just it,” she said wearily. “I don’t know what’s in my heart. How can I? First Bobby steals from the business and all but ruins me in the process. That filled me with anger. Then you spend weeks hounding me for answers, which I deeply resented. Caleb dies. One of my best friends is devastated, and I am worried sick about her. My mentor is frantic about his wife’s state of mind. You and I wind up in bed together, which makes me feel things I never imagined

feeling. Bobby is hiding out in the Cayman Islands and uttering barely veiled threats, which scare me and infuriate me all at the same time.”

She regarded him with a bleak expression. “Bottom line? All I feel right now is pressure. It’s coming at me from every direction. I just want to shut it all out.”

“Including me?”

“Yes.” She took a deep breath and met his gaze with troubled eyes. “I’m sorry, but that’s how I feel.”

Laid out like that, Rafe could understand her dismay and her confusion. “No, I’m the one who’s sorry. You have been through a lot. Maybe because you have always seemed so strong, I didn’t take into account that this would be too much, even for you. What do you want me to do?”

“You asked me once before if I wanted you to go back to New York.” Her eyes glistened with unshed tears. “I do, Rafe. That’s what I want.”

He swallowed hard, fighting the surprising hurt that came with her words. But he had asked, implying that he would do whatever she wanted, and she had given him an honest answer. He had to walk away. There was no other choice.

“Okay,” he said quietly. “I’ll leave tomorrow.”

For an instant she looked taken aback by his ready agreement, maybe even a little disappointed. He had a feeling he was going to cling to the latter in the weeks to come.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, as the tears finally spilled over and ran unchecked down her cheeks.

“It’s okay,” he told her. “I’m going now, but you’re not getting rid of me for good. I’ll be back.”

“When?”

He grinned at that. “See, you miss me already, sweetheart. That should tell you something.”