Loving The Temperamental Adonis
Chapter 286 - 24

Chapter 286: Chapter 24

After several minutes, Rayne glanced sideways and caught him looking at her, his forehead furrowed into a thoughtful frown.

Suppressing a self-conscious impulse to smooth her hair, she broke the silence with the first subject that came to her mind.

"The atmosphere and weather here are unlike anywhere else I’ve lived. Everything on the island is so colorful and dreamy."

"Yes, it is," he agreed seriously, though he was almost smiling. Rayne felt so relieved that she gave him a small grin.

Liam’s gaze dropped from her bright green eyes to her soft lips, and the impulse to kiss her was so strong that he had to turn his head and look in a different direction and pretend like she wasn’t sitting next to him in the car.

His conscience had suddenly developed a voice after decades of silence on the subject of sexual principles, and it was in an uproar over the true picture he’d just formed of Rayne Wallace.

In the car, on the way to the veterinarian, she’d told him about her fears and how she didn’t want to disappoint her deceased father.

As she spoke, it had been obvious even to Liam—who had little personal knowledge of loving family relationships—that Rayne had loved her father deeply and she was grieving over his death. She was also, by her own admission, terrified of the responsibility she now had of trying to run his last restaurant in Zen.

The absentee boyfriend, who Liam had originally assumed was a wealthy, aging playboy using Rayne for a toy, was actually a year younger than Liam, and he not only cared about Rayne, he wanted to marry her and have a family with her.

He had taken her to a wonderful hotel on a lush, tropical island, undoubtedly to help her recover. When he needed to return to Zen, he’d left behind in that seductive setting a beautiful, grieving, worried Rayne who had probably never cheated on him before, but who was so weakened by loneliness and sorrow that she was so ready to fall into Liam’s arms despite the fact that she never liked him nor his company before.

Next week, or next month, she’d start regretting going to bed with him, and then she’d have guilt to deal with on top of all her other burdens and responsibilities.

She was so tenderhearted that in the midst of her own misery over her father’s death, she was determined to take a stray dog home with her to keep him safe.

She would end up torturing herself for doing anything as ’cruel’ as betraying her boyfriend.

Liam’s conscience pointed out that if he truly liked Rayne as much as he felt he did, he’d spare her the aftermath of sleeping with him by telling his driver to turn around and take them back to Pineville where his chartered boat was waiting.

He himself wasn’t boyfriend material. Among other things, he had no intentions of having a girlfriend nor staying in Zen longer than a week after he returned. He’d already made new living arrangements in another country where he planned to take over the Thompson corporation’s branch there.

After all the rumors and speculation about his stepbrother’s and Linda Tudor’s deaths, he had decided to leave the country and start anew where he had nothing to remind him of his sister’s betrayal of trusting a stepbrother they’d only known for a few years over the one they’d known all their lives.

He had already used his connections to escape any unwanted interrogation from the authorities that might taint his name or image, but if he continued to be seen in Zen or Mirage Mesa, someone was going to start digging around, and sooner or later his personal history would become tantalizing gossip among people he wouldn’t voluntarily share an evening with, let alone the sordid story of his life.

Liam’s logic went to battle with his conscience and argued that Rayne was old enough to decide for herself what she wanted to do and what was best for her.

Moreover, prolonged passionate lovemaking would provide her with an excellent, temporary diversion from her woes. That last part wasn’t logic, it was lust, Liam’s irate conscience pointed out.

His rental driver, who had been assigned to him on the island chose that moment to look over his shoulder and ask him for instructions.

"How much farther ahead is the location, Sir?"

Lost in his thoughts, Liam hesitated, and then said, flatly, "Follow the GPS." Lust and logic had fewer arguments, but louder voices, than his conscience.

Rayne expected him to turn to her now and explain where they were going, but he looked out his own window again and continued to keep silent with his brows frowned deeply together.

Baffled by his silence, she reached across him for the tourists booklet he’d been looking at earlier. She’d already gotten a similar booklet in the lobby of the Island Club, and this booklet had much of the same information:

Maranta was a small island occupying only forty-eight square miles; it was divided between two governments—the northern section being Spanish, the southern section Italian.

A map of the island was attached to the back of the booklet, and Rayne unfolded it, hoping to gauge where she was.

They’d been traveling on a main highway, and according to the map, there was only one of those, and it made a full circle of the island.

Based on the landmarks she’d seen since, they were now traveling north along the coastline of the Spanish section, with the island Sea on the left and the foothills of the mountains on the right.

Their destination was obviously in the Spanish section, so Rayne started reading about the Spanish section’s exciting nightlife, fabulous shops, open-air markets, and glorious beaches, some of which were nude!

Concentrating on all that was easier than wondering what was bothering the man beside her. It also prevented her from thinking about Max’s phone messages.

She was reading her fourth booklet when the driver rounded a curve, slowed down, and then turned right into a winding landscaped lane bordered by beautiful stone walls.

For several minutes the lane wound upward around a hill covered in dense tropical plants; then the car rounded a sharp bend and stopped at a stone gatehouse, where some uniformed guards stood next to a pair of tall black iron gates with "El Jardín Escondido" in bold lettering across them.

Liam leaned forward and gave one of the guards his name; the gates swung open, the car drove inside and rounded another bend, and Rayne gasped with surprise at her first glimpse of their destination.

An elaborate six-story, Mediterranean-style hotel sat against a hillside overlooking the Maranta Sea, with several sets of stone steps with balconies leading down to a long, secluded crescent of pristine white sand.

Waiters carried trays of food and drinks up and down the steps to sunbathers on the beach, who were hidden from view by large beach umbrellas.

"What a beautiful setting!" Rayne exclaimed.

A doorman opened her door, and Rayne stepped out of the car, looking up at the hotel. The roof was made of aqua tiles, and the building was white stucco with graceful, open balconies dotting its facade and larger, enclosed balconies on each side.

Inside, the lobby was cool and elegant, with polished stone floors and French doors opening onto a hillside dining balcony.

Rayne walked with Liam past the front desk, where a couple was arranging for scuba gear and a sailboat, but when Liam continued past the elevators toward a desk with a sign on it that said Guest Registration, she glanced uncertainly at him.

"I haven’t registered yet," he explained.

"I thought you were staying here?"

He shook his head. "I’m not staying here, but I thought this would be more comfortable for the two of us."

Rather than go with him to the registration desk, Rayne gestured toward a group of chairs near the elevators with a table between them that held a stack of hotel booklet. "I’ll wait over there."

As Liam strode toward the registration desk, two very attractive women emerged from one of the doors in the lobby. Both women glanced at him, stopped laughing, and then turned partway around to stare after him.

They held their comments until they neared the elevators, where Rayne was seated.

"Oh my God. That man is the best looking man I’ve ever seen in my life!" one of them said to the other.

"He is what you call a god of beauty!" her friend agreed in an awed Spanish-accented voice; then she turned clear around for another look at him.

Rayne automatically followed her gaze. Liam was causally standing at the registration desk signing the usual forms.

From behind, his shoulders looked a yard wide, Rayne realized—but then another realization hit her that banished all thoughts of his manly physique: The "god of beauty" hadn’t brought a suitcase with him!

The only explanation she could think of for this was that Liam had decided to remain naked with her until they checked out tomorrow, and that conclusion made Rayne’s stomach twist.

Last night he’d specifically told her to bring something nice to wear because he wanted to take her out to a Casino, but he hadn’t brought a single change of clothes, not even a bathing suit—because the beach and swimming pool here were probably nude!

According to the booklet she’d read in the car, some beaches in the Spanish section were nude beaches, and this hotel was definitely in the Spanish section.

The idea of being on a nude beach, let alone being nude herself, horrified Rayne. She sank back into her chair, shivering at the thought. Walking around naked or topless in front of strangers was unthinkable for her.

The hotel manager waylaid Liam when he finished registering and was on his way toward her.

"I’m glad I could arrange the suite you wanted, Mr. Thompson," the manager said, reaching out to shake Liam’s hand. "It took some finesse, but the other party was very pleased with your offer and relieved to give up the suite."

Rayne watched Liam casually reach into his pocket before he shook the manager’s hand, and she wondered idly how much money changed hands during that handshake. Then she wondered what ’offer’ had been extended and who the ’other party’ was.

"The butler is upstairs, ready to assist you," the manager added. "All your needs have been taken care of."

Rayne hoped that included clothes and a bathing suit for Liam, though she doubted it. She looked down, trying to suppress her urge to run for the exit.

Liam’s shoes appeared directly in front of her a moment later.

"Ready?" he said.

Rayne’s gaze slid upward along his legs, past his narrow waist, over the navy blue shirt covering his muscular chest and broad shoulders, and finally encountered his tanned face and piercing black orbs.

"What needs of yours has the butler taken care of?" Rayne asked as she rose, a smile in her voice to hide her nervousness.

His expression softened at the sight of her smile. "I hope it’s food."

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