‘Mucver…courgette. Piyaz…that is haricot and this one is sigara boregi…cheese pastries.’ Explaining what each was, Rauf encouraged Lily to try a little of everything and he watched her enjoyment of Turkish cuisine with unconcealed pride.
It was a fantastic meal. Even Rauf seemed taken aback by the number of courses that appeared and the wide selection of dishes.
‘Do you eat like this every night?’ Lily could not help asking.
‘Not unless it’s a special occasion.’ Rauf shook his proud dark head and laughed. ‘This feast can only be in honour of my guest. As Sonngul is remote, it is rare for me to entertain here but to offer the ultimate in hospitality is a matter of pride to all Turkish people.’
He asked her about the nursery school where she worked and she told him about the children she taught. Having eaten, however, she began to feel guilty that even a few hours had passed without her pressing Rauf to a task that surely ought to be tackled as soon as possible. The sooner Rauf acquired the evidence he wanted to prove Brett’s guilt, the sooner Hilary could be told about the disastrous financial losses about to engulf the travel agency.
‘Perhaps we could take a look at Harris Travel’s bank statements and stuff now,’ Lily suggested rather awkwardly.
A wry smile curved his beautiful, sensual mouth. ‘I have no need of your assistance in that line, güzelim.’
‘But isn’t that why you brought me here?’ Lily queried in surprise. ‘To help?’
‘That was an excuse,’ Rauf admitted. ‘On my behalf, discreet enquiries are already being made through the head office of that Turkish bank in London. I have considerable influence and in due course the confidential information that I require will be given to me.’
That smooth explanation shook Lily, for she had never dreamt that his invitation to Sonngul might not be what it had seemed. ‘You don’t need me at all?’
‘How can you ask me that when you met my every need this afternoon?’ The irreverent look of shameless intimacy in Rauf’s dark golden gaze fired hot pink across Lily’s troubled and increasingly weary face. ‘But as I have already told you, I didn’t want you muddying the waters of my investigation either.’
‘You’re very clever at concealing your true motives,’ Lily remarked tightly.
‘Our situation has changed since our first meeting at the Aegean Court. I didn’t trust you then,’ Rauf reminded her levelly. ‘But I still want the evidence that will nail Gilman’s hide to the wall. I make no apology for that.’
Lily sighed heavily. ‘I’d dearly like to see him punished too but…that’s going to hurt my family a lot.’
‘I’m afraid there’s no room for negotiation on the prosecution front.’ Rauf’s jawline squared. ‘But I see no reason why your family should suffer too.’
‘But they will suffer,’ Lily muttered painfully. ‘There’s nothing you can do about that.’
Rauf looked amused. ‘Of course there is…I won’t allow your family to be ruined. I’ll just refinance Harris Travel.’
In receipt of that extraordinarily generous proposition, Lily stiffened in astonishment. She also found herself wondering if that offer was the direct result of her having met his ‘every need’ in bed. It was a demeaning thought, which made it impossible for her to continue meeting his eyes. ‘Neither Dad or Hilary could accept that. You’ve lost money and they’ve lost money but Harris Travel is our business and responsibility and Brett was Hilary’s husband.’
‘I’ll deal with it. You don’t need to worry about anything.’ With cool assurance, Rauf stroked a light forefinger in a soothing caress across the back of her clenched hand where it rested on the table. ‘I’ll take care of it all. Trust me.’
Still in turmoil from the shock of that offer of further cash support, Lily tugged her hand shakily free and stood up. ‘If I promise not to contact anyone, will you have me taken back to my hotel?’
In one lithe movement, Rauf sprang upright. ‘But why should you want to leave?’
‘Because I feel that what happened between us today…and this horrible situation with Brett are getting much too tangled up together!’
But before she could walk back into the house, Rauf stepped into her path. A lean hand pushed up her chin. Keen dark golden eyes searched her strained face. ‘You don’t want Brett prosecuted,’ he condemned in a tone so chilling that Lily trembled.
‘I do…it’s you who doesn’t understand—’
‘Make me,’ he urged.
As briefly as she could, Lily explained how much her family had already endured in recent times: Joy’s long illness, which had worn Hilary to the bone, the loss of the Harris home in the divorce settlement, Douglas Harris’s subsequent depression. Rauf’s lean, handsome features grew even more grim as he listened to that recital of woes, all of them brought about or exacerbated by Brett Gilman’s monstrous lack of concern for his own children.
‘But there’s no way that Hilary or my father would accept more money from you,’ Lily reiterated in a driven undertone. ‘And I don’t want to listen to you offer that just because I…I slept with you! Can’t you see how that makes me feel?’
‘No. What you see is not what I see. You’re my woman and I will look after you. There is no shame in
that for you and what sort of man would I be if I didn’t support you in such a crisis? I’ll find a way to make my financial help acceptable to them. Call it pure selfishness, if you like. How could I stand by and do nothing while you worry about your family?’
The fierce sincerity with which Rauf voiced those arguments in his own defence and his supportive words touched Lily deep.