Brazilian's Nine Months' Notice

by Susan Stephens

  She would love Brazil.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  ‘HE DID WHAT?’ Emma demanded, her voice tight with shock. She was facing the housekeeper over the gleaming stainless-steel counters in the kitchen, which Emma had just cleaned.

  ‘Mr Marcelos has asked for you to be released from your duties this afternoon, and I’ve said yes,’ the housekeeper informed Emma. ‘He asked for you most particularly—he said no one else would do.’

  The housekeeper was avid for gossip, Emma concluded as the older woman’s gaze sharpened on her face. ‘It was good of you to offer to stand in at the last minute, Emma. I know we can always depend on you, but if this man wants to offer you a better job, I can’t stop you leaving. In fact, I don’t want to stop you,’ the housekeeper admitted in a surprising moment of empathy. ‘Maybe you’ll have the chance to go places that I never had. You should at least find out what he’s got in mind. You shouldn’t let yourself be trapped in a small place like this. A young woman like you should spread your wings.’

  Emma had never heard the housekeeper say so much to her in one outburst before. It made her feel ungrateful that she could turn down an opportunity without even considering it.

  ‘You used to work for him, didn’t you?’ the housekeeper pressed.

  ‘Yes. It’s on my CV. I worked for the Marcelos hotel chain in London.’

  ‘And now fate has brought the owner of that hotel chain back into your life. You can’t ignore a sign like that.’

  ‘The chance of a job working for Senhor Marcelos’s hotel chain has cropped up,’ Emma emphasised. ‘There’s nothing more to it than that.’

  ‘I don’t know what you’re waiting for.’ The housekeeper sniffed as if she would have seized the opportunity with both hands, given half a chance.

  ‘Yes. What are you waiting for, Emma?’

  Emma swung round to see Luc standing in the doorway.

  ‘You should at least allow Mr Marcelos to tell you what he’s got in mind,’ the housekeeper pressed, simpering as she ogled Lucas.

  Who did look amazing in a soft black cashmere sweater and jeans, but that wasn’t a good enough reason to massage his ego, Emma thought. She had a pretty good idea what Lucas had in mind. Judging by his expression his latest suggestion would be similar to the first, and it would be far better to deal with him away from prying eyes. Putting her cloths and cleaning products away, she washed her hands and then allowed the housekeeper to chivvy her out of the kitchen.

  ‘You can’t keep a man like Mr Marcelos waiting,’ the housekeeper insisted, with more smiles and simpering directed at Luc.

  Oh, can’t I? Emma’s gaze clearly stated, when Luc raised an amused brow.

  ‘Where are you taking me?’ she demanded, as he shooed her up the back stairs to the lobby.

  ‘To my suite, where you’ll rest and then we’ll talk.’

  ‘Your suite?’ She held back. ‘I don’t think so,’ she protested as he called the lift. ‘I’m not getting off on your floor,’ she warned as the lift doors slid to, enclosing them inside the restricted space.

  It was her lucky day. The elevator was crowded. At least she didn’t have to face an argument with Luc when she was exhausted and at her lowest ebb, though she did feel awkward dressed in her maid’s uniform, red-faced and work-worn, amongst such expensively clad guests. She smelled of carbolic, while everyone else smelled of money. French cologne for the men and expensive blends for the women; even the children emitted a strong smell of soap, but none of them stank like she did. No wonder everyone was carefully avoiding looking at her.

  Except for Luc, she noticed, who was leaning back against the wall, studying her with a steady gaze. She turned her head away. She didn’t want to look at him. He was one more polished reminder of the yawning gap between herself and everyone else in the elevator.

  When the lift stopped and everyone got out, she told herself that she only had a couple more floors to go. Luc didn’t move as they soared upwards again, but when the doors slid open he did more than stop her, he pinned her to the wall with his arm resting above her head and his body pressed up hard against hers. She wasn’t going anywhere, his smiling eyes told her, and though she should hate him, be angry with him, at least, for trying to control her, his dark, amused stare was hypnotising.

  ‘Don’t fight me, Emma,’ he growled in a way that reverberated through her. ‘I’ve only got your best interests at heart. You need to rest, and if I let you out of here unescorted, how can I be sure you won’t go straight back to work? To summarise, if I have to lasso you and tie you to a chair in my room, that’s what I’m going to do, because you are going to take a rest before you collapse.’

  He allowed the doors to slide to at that point, and when they reached the next floor, his floor, Luc ushered her out onto the corridor. ‘First you take a bath and then you sleep. You missed lunch, so I’m going to order supper to be served in the room when you wake up.’

  ‘I’d rather just talk and then go up to my own room, if you don’t mind,’ she said stiffly. Yet again she was exhausted, and didn’t want this to be the time when she told him. Her body was screaming for sleep. Her mind wasn’t sharp. Her emotions were in tatters. This was the worst time possible to drop a bombshell like a baby into Luc’s lap.

  ‘I do mind,’ he said. ‘You promised me you’d rest last time, yet I found you back at work. I can’t trust you to stay in your room, Emma, and I won’t be responsible for you collapsing with exhaustion. I can’t pretend I know why you’re punishing yourself, but as a previous employer I can’t stand by and allow it to carry on.’

  And when she’d slept and was refreshed, she could speak to him, Emma reasoned as Luc opened the door to his room. Closing it behind them, he stood with his back to it. ‘Where would you go if not here with me?’

  She rolled her tired eyes. ‘To my room.’

  ‘To a cold cell in the attic,’ Luc said with an impatient gesture. ‘Why would you want to do that, when you’ve got everything here that you could possibly need? And you’ll have the place to yourself.’

  ‘To myself?’ Her head shot up with surprise.

  ‘I have some business to attend to in town.’

  So when would she speak to him?

  ‘Stop frowning, Emma. You won’t be disturbed. I thought that would please you.’ A genuine smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. ‘And I’m willing to bet my bed is a lot more comfortable than yours.’

  She couldn’t deny that. The thought of trying to find a comfortable spot on her old, lumpy mattress held no appeal.

  ‘There’s a spa bath through there,’ Luc went on, indicating the bathroom as if she hadn’t cleaned it umpteen times.

  ‘This I know,’ she wryly.

  ‘It’s a fantastically clean bathroom,’ he stressed, mocking her with his eyes. ‘I’ll have you know I have the best chambermaid in the area.’

  He made it hard not to smile. When Luc turned it on, his charm was irresistible.

  ‘And if you miss supper, you’ll go hungry,’ he pointed out. ‘And, knowing you, you’ll go straight back onto your next shift whether you’ve eaten or not. So what do you have to lose by taking time out here?’

  Everything, Emma thought as she glanced at the bed.

  * * *

  She was still sleeping when he got back. He guessed she still had a lot of catching up to do. He’d never seen anyone look quite so exhausted. Thanking the waiter who’d brought the supper trolley, he took control and wheeled it into the room. He returned to put a ‘Do Not Disturb’ notice on the door and then settled down at the table to work on some papers. He’d ordered lobster salad and champagne with a view to eating whenever Emma woke up.

  After about an hour he heard the sheets rustle and turned to look at her. Emma was waking slowly, like a child unsure of her surroundings. She
looked so vulnerable she touched him somewhere deep. He blanked the feeling. He hadn’t registered a single emotion for years beyond lust or boredom with a woman, and it was far better for both of them if he kept it that way.

  Rubbing her eyes, she stared around, first in confusion and then with embarrassment and shock.

  ‘Relax. I’ve been sitting here, working,’ he reassured her. ‘No one came near you while you were asleep.’

  ‘Luc!’ She shot up and then, realising she had fallen into bed naked after her bath, she grabbed the covers and pulled them up to her chin.

  ‘You’re in my room,’ he confirmed as she stared at him warily. ‘You needed to sleep. Can I get you something? Water? Juice?’

  ‘I shouldn’t be here.’

  ‘Why?’ He shrugged, speaking in the same low tone he used with his wild ponies. No sudden movements. No raised voices. It worked every time. Emma’s darting gaze settled and her shoulders relaxed.

  ‘I’m sorry.’ She frowned. ‘I must have been sleeping for ages. What time is it?’

  He glanced at his watch. ‘Nine o’clock.’

  ‘Nine o’clock!’ Grabbing the top sheet to wrap around her like a toga, she catapulted off the bed. ‘My next shift started half an hour ago!’

  ‘There isn’t going to be a next shift.’

  She paled, staring at him wide-eyed. ‘What do you mean, there isn’t a next shift?’

  ‘You don’t work here any more.’

  She looked shocked and then she was angry. ‘What have you done?’

  ‘You quit,’ he explained. ‘I handed in your notice.’

  ‘You did what?’ Furious now, she raked her hair. ‘Do you have any idea what you’ve done? I need this job.’ There was an edge of desperation in her voice.

  ‘And you’ll have another job,’ he promised evenly. ‘I’ll give you a job where you don’t have to work all the hours under the sun. A proper job with good prospects.’

  ‘No, Luc! No!’ she fired at him, moving behind a chair as if it were a shield when he came towards her. ‘You said you wanted to talk to me. You said I could use your room to rest, and that it was more comfortable than mine. What you didn’t tell me was that while I was safely out of the way you would make critical decisions on my behalf that weren’t yours to make.’

  ‘Now you’re properly awake we can talk,’ he said steadily.

  ‘Talk?’ she demanded. ‘Not before you explain to my employers that I’m not leaving here, and that this is all some terrible mistake.’

  ‘I won’t stand by and watch you destroy yourself,’ he said quietly, holding her furious stare.

  ‘What I do is none of your business,’ she fired back at him. Stalking to the bathroom, she returned clad in his robe. ‘You can’t just walk back into my life and take it over.’

  ‘I’m not trying to do that.’ He maintained the same calm tone. ‘You’re an intelligent woman, Emma. I pulled your report from the hotel in London. Everyone speaks so highly of you, so why are you still hiding away in Scotland? If the chatter about your parents bothers you, I can tell you now that it will never go away unless you stand and face it.’

  ‘I’m not in hiding. I’ve come home.’

  ‘The world’s a big place, Emma. Why don’t you take a look at some more of it before you make up your mind that you want to stay here?’

  ‘The world might be a big place for you, but I don’t have your resources.’

  ‘Your world can be as big as you want it to be. Don’t put false limits on your imagination.’

  She laughed without humour. ‘And how am I supposed to do that? And what if I’m happy here? Has it even occurred to you that not everyone wants what you want, and that some of us are happy in our own back yard? Or is this all about you, Luc? Are you trying to get me to come back to London so I’ll be there at your beck and call?’

  To any other woman he might have said, ‘Don’t flatter yourself,’ but this was Emma.

  ‘And you can stop looking at me like that right now,’ she flashed furiously. ‘I don’t want your pity. And I can’t think why else you would waste your precious time pretending you care about me, unless it’s to pursue that ridiculous idea that I would be prepared to share your bed until you tire of me, and that I wouldn’t even be your full-time mistress—short term, didn’t you call it?’

  ‘Do you want to be my full-time mistress?’

  ‘Stop teasing me,’ she yelled. ‘That is not what I want. Anything but that.’

  ‘I’m not teasing you. Nothing’s changed. I want you to come with me when I leave Scotland. I want you in my bed.’

  ‘And what about my future?’ she demanded with a scandalised laugh. ‘What type of future will I have if I’m forever trailing around after you? I won’t have a future! And if you think for one minute I’d agree to that, you really are off your head. Is that clear enough for you?’

  ‘You won’t turn me down,’ he said quietly, and with absolute confidence.

  ‘Won’t I?’

  Emma huffed incredulously, but as she went to storm past him he caught hold of her and dragged her close. Every inch of him was pressed up hard against her. Every inch of her was soft and warm and yielding, as her stiffness and anger gave way to something else.

  ‘Do you seriously think you only have to snap your fingers and I’ll come running?’ she demanded in a shaking voice.

  ‘Yes,’ he said as he smiled into her darkening eyes. ‘I think exactly that.’

  ‘No, Luc.’ She slowly shook her head. ‘You don’t know me. I won’t be controlled, and you are always trying to control me.’

  ‘But you want me. You’ve tried life without me and you know how empty that is.’

  ‘I know you’re an arrogant—’

  He drove his mouth down on hers, kissing her into silence. She was everything he wanted and more. She was hot. She was aroused. She was angry. They matched each other for passions. She was already moving against him in the hunt for more contact, and he knew exactly how to deal with that.

  Infuriated beyond reason by frustration when he pulled away, she launched an attack, her tiny fists flailing as he brought her back and held her tight against the wall of his chest. ‘Don’t,’ he murmured against her silky hair. ‘You’ll only hurt yourself.’

  ‘I’ll hurt you first,’ she assured him heatedly.

  She already had, he realised. Emma Fane had blasted his cold stone heart to hell. ‘I would never hurt you.’

  ‘So you say.’ She whipped her face away as he brushed her mouth with his.

  ‘I mean it,’ he insisted quietly, realising he was absolutely sincere.

  ‘Until the next woman comes along?’ she demanded sceptically, staring at him with furious eyes. ‘I know your track record, Luc. Everyone knows your track record. It’s hardly a secret when you feature in every celebrity magazine under the sun.’

  ‘If you think I live my life in a public forum, you don’t know me at all.’

  She was panting for breath—anger, not arousal, he suspected as she softened against him. ‘Come with me,’ he coaxed then. Cupping her chin, he brought her back to face him, and when he brushed her lips this time he felt her tremble. ‘You’ll achieve nothing here, except working yourself to death, when I can offer you a world of opportunity.’

  ‘Yes,’ she interrupted, her eyes wounded as she stared into his. ‘But it would be your world, not mine.’

  ‘Working double shifts as you do shouldn’t be anyone’s world,’ he said, filled with exasperation and anger when he thought of how this hotel abused its staff. ‘Killing yourself with exhaustion won’t help you to forget anything.’

  ‘Don’t,’ she snapped. ‘Don’t you dare pull that card!’

  Emma had never given herself the chance to recover from the shock of her pare
nts’ death, and he knew grief couldn’t be pushed aside and forgotten, and that it had to be brought out into the open, to be faced up to and dealt with. And even then, coping strategies were necessary for a long time, maybe for ever. Emma hadn’t scraped the surface of her grief, but had thrown herself into his arms, and then into her work instead.

  ‘I’m done with arguing with you,’ he warned.

  ‘And I’m finished with you,’ she assured him angrily, struggling in his arms. ‘Will you please let me go?’

  ‘No,’ he said flatly. ‘This discussion is over.’ And to prove it, he kissed her into silence.

  ‘No. Luc!’ she said when he finally released her. ‘You can’t get round me this time!’

  ‘No?’ he queried, kissing her neck.

  She shivered and tried to pull away as he rasped his stubble gently against her tender skin. Finally, she rested her hands flat again his chest. ‘You don’t play fair.’

  ‘No. I don’t,’ he agreed. Running his hands lightly down her back, he whispered, ‘Now we eat.’ He smiled to feel her tremble. Was the disappointment on her face because he’d chosen food over progressing this?

  She made an angry sound. ‘Do you really think I’m going to sit down and eat with you?’ Her gaze flashed to the food.

  ‘You need to eat. I’ll feed you, if I have to,’ he warned.

  ‘I’m not hungry.’ But her rumbling stomach gave her away.

  Her hand felt so small in his as he led her to the sofa, where he told her to sit. This was quite unlike any other encounter he’d ever had with a woman and required a whole new rulebook. Emma was like a wounded animal who had come back home to Scotland, thinking she could avoid the media furore in London surrounding her parents’ death, only to find the uproar was also well rooted here. She had no one to turn to. Her friends were married, or moving away, leaving her to cope with the fact that she was well and truly on her own.