Free Rafferty's Wife by Kay Hooper Page B

shook his head. “The human element,remember? The scenario you and Hagen have apparently concocted just won’t work. I might be able to fake an argument with you; I might even be able to act furious and uncaring for a while. Maybe a day. And then what? If I come within twenty feet of you and Sereno sees me, he’ll know I love you. How will he react to that if you’ve been busy fascinating him?”
    Sarah felt a sudden chill. There were, she realized belatedly, many holes in Hagen’s scenario. Although, to be fair, he hadn’t planned on “the human element” interfering this time.
    Dryly, Rafferty said, “Now you see it. At best Sereno might try to talk you into divorcing me. At worst, he could decide to eliminate one bothersome husband.”
    The thought of something happening to Rafferty brought her heart up into her throat, and Sarah swallowed hard. “No. No, I won’t let that happen. I’ll make certain he knows that—that I love my husband. I won’t try to fascinate him, I’ll just sympathize because he lost
his
Sara. I’ll cry on his shoulder. If he knows I love you, he won’t hurt you. He won’t.”
    Rafferty was watching her, curiously still. After a tiny pause, he said, “No. Perhaps he won’t. I think any man would act against his own nature for you, Sarah.”
    “I’m ordinary.” She looked out over the water, very conscious of what still hung in the air between them. He had said he loved her, and she had said nothing. She couldn’t think, and what she felt was too new and violent to be channeled sanely.
    He moved suddenly, sitting on her lounge with a hand on either side of her hips. “Ordinary? If you were ordinary, Sarah, you wouldn’t be here. And I wouldn’t be here asking if it matters at all that I love you.”
    She looked at him finally, trying desperately to cope with the wild recklessness of what she felt. “Don’t. We can’t—I can’t let myself—”
    Rafferty swore softly and his eyes glittered. “I can’t be kind, Sarah. I can’t promise to give you time. I can’t afford
that
luxury. If I know you care, know there’s a chance for us, then maybe I can play my part in all this. But I have to know that.”
    Sarah didn’t know what she would have said then, and was grateful they were interrupted.
    “Excuse me,” Captain Siran murmured silkily.
    Rafferty looked at him, a hard look that didn’t invite him to linger. “What is it?”
    “We are ahead of schedule,” Siran said in a precise tone. “I therefore took the liberty of changing course slightly. There is a small uninhabited island just ahead. Perhaps you would care to go ashore for a few hours? The lagoon is perfectly safe for swimming, and it is a lovely island.”
    “All right,” Rafferty told him. He looked down at Sarah as the captain left them alone again. “I’ll go down and have Harry fix us a lunch while I’m changing.” His gaze skimmed her bikini. “You’re … just fine as you are.”
    Sarah remained where she was for a few minutes after he went below, then got up and slowly pulled on her caftan. She had sunglasses, lotion, and a few other things in a colorfulstraw beach bag on deck, and she picked it up absently.
    Hours alone with a handsome man on a deserted island—the stuff of real romance.
    She moved to the railing and watched the small dot of green grow larger as they neared, only half aware that Tom and Dick were preparing to lower the small launch into the water. She had scant time to find an answer for Rafferty, but it wasn’t time she needed. She knew the truthful answer.
    And she was afraid. Too afraid to let herself believe what she felt. It was true that Rafferty could hurt her far worse than Andrés Sereno ever could. And that was frightening. But what frightened her far worse was the memory of a professional agent who had lost her life and that of her partner because she had dared to love. Because she had taken that chance. And if
she
hadn’t been able to cope with the