by Abby Green
‘Of course I didn’t,’ she snapped, feeling vulnerable. She scooted out from under Luca’s arm and put some space between them.
Luca crossed his arms. ‘No, I can imagine you didn’t. After all, it’s not what you’re used to.’
Serena thought of the Spartan conditions of the rehab facility she’d been in in England for a year, and then of her tiny studio apartment in a very insalubrious part of Athens. She smiled sweetly. ‘How would you know?’
Luca scowled then. ‘You’re determined to stay in Rio?’
Never more so than right now. Even if just to annoy this man. ‘Yes.’
Luca looked as though he would cheerfully throttle her. ‘The last thing I need right now is some eagle-eyed reporter spotting you out and about, clubbing or shopping.’
Serena bit back a sharp retort. He had no idea what her life was like now. Clubbing? Shopping? She couldn’t imagine anything worse.
Her smile got even sweeter. ‘I’ll wear a Louis Vuitton bag over my head while I go shopping for the latest Chanel suit. Will that help?’
That didn’t go down well. Blood throbbed visibly in Luca’s temple. ‘You leaving Rio would be an even bigger help.’
Serena unconsciously mimicked his wide-legged stance. ‘Well, unless you’re planning on forcibly removing me, that’s not going to happen. And if you even try such a thing I’ll call the police and tell them you’re harassing me.’
Luca didn’t bother to tell her that with far greater problems in the city the police would no doubt just ogle her pale golden beauty before sending her on her way. And that such a stunt would only draw the interest of the paparazzi, who followed him most days.
The very thought of her being spotted, identified and linked to him was enough to make him go cold inside. He’d had enough bad press and innuendo after what had happened in Italy to last him a lifetime.
An audacious idea was being formulated in his head. It wasn’t one he particularly relished, but it seemed like the only choice he had right now. It would get Serena DePiero out of Rio more or less immediately, and hopefully out of Brazil entirely within a couple of days.
‘You said earlier that you were looking for another chance? That you’d do anything?’
Serena went very still, those huge blue eyes narrowing on him. Irritation made Luca’s skin feel tight. The room was too small. All he could see was her. When she’d dropped her arms his eyes had tracked hungrily to her breasts, and he could still recall the jut of those hard nipples against her T-shirt. She was naked underneath.
Blood pooled at his groin, making him hard. Damn.
‘Do you want a chance or not?’ he growled, angry at his unwarranted response. Angry that she was still here.
Serena blinked. ‘Yes, of course I do.’
Her voice had become husky and it had a direct effect on Luca’s arousal. This was a mistake—he knew it. But he had no choice. Damage limitation.
Tersely, he said, ‘I run an ethical mining company. I’m due to visit the Iruwaya mines, and the tribe that lives near there, to check on progress. You can prove your commitment by coming with me, instead of the assistant I’d lined up, to take notes. The village is part of the global communities network, so it’s not entirely unrelated.’
‘Where is the village?’
‘Near Manaus.’
Serena’s eyes widened. ‘The city in the middle of the Amazon?’
Luca nodded. Perhaps this would be all it would take? Just the thought of doing something vaguely like hard work would have her scrambling back. Giving in. Leaving.
As if to mock his line of thought, Serena looked at him with those huge blue eyes and said determinedly, ‘Fine. When do we go?’
Her response surprised Luca—much as the fact that she’d chosen this rundown flea-pit of a hotel had surprised him. He’d expected her to check into one of Rio’s five-star resorts. But then he’d figured that perhaps her family had her on a tight leash where funds were concerned.
Whatever. He cursed himself again for wondering about her and said abruptly, ‘Tomorrow. My driver will pick you up at five a.m.’
Once again he expected her to balk, but she didn’t. He swept his gaze over the minor explosion of clothes from her suitcase and the toiletries spread across the narrow bed. The fact that her scent was clean and sweet, at odds with the sultry, sexy perfume he remembered from before, was not a welcome observation.
He looked back to her. ‘I’ll have an assistant stop by with supplies for the trip within the hour. You won’t be able to bring your case.’
That gaze narrowed again. Suspicious. ‘Supplies?’
Luca faced her squarely and said, with only the slightest twinge to his conscience, ‘Oh, didn’t I mention that we would be trekking through the jungle to get to the village? It takes two days from the farthest outskirts of Manaus.’
Those blue eyes flashed. ‘No,’ she responded. ‘You didn’t mention that we would be trekking through the jungle. Is it even safe?’
Luca smiled, enjoying the thought of Serena bailing after half an hour of walking through the earth’s largest insect and wildlife-infested hothouse. He figured that after her first brush with one of the Amazon’s countless insect or animal species she’d give up the act. But for now he’d go along with it. Because if he didn’t she’d be a loose cannon in Rio de Janeiro. A ticking publicity time bomb. At least this way she’d have to admit defeat and go of her own free will.
He made a mental note to have a helicopter standing by to extract her and take her to the airport.
‘It’s eminently safe, once you have a guide who knows what they’re doing and where they’re going.’
‘And that’s you?’ she said flatly.
‘Yes. I’ve been visiting this tribe for many years, and exploring the Amazon for a lot longer than that. You couldn’t be in safer hands.’
The look Serena shot him told him that she doubted that. His smile grew wider and he arched a brow. ‘By all means you can say no, Serena, it’s entirely up to you.’
She made a derisive sound. ‘And if I say no you’ll personally escort me to the airport, no doubt.’
She stopped and bit her lip for a moment, making Luca’s awareness of her spike.
‘But if I do this, and prove my commitment, will you let me take up the job I came for?’
Luca’s smile faded and he regarded her. Once again that tiny grudging admiration reared its head. He ruthlessly crushed it.
‘Well, as I’m almost certain you won’t last two hours in the jungle it’s a moot point. All this is doing is delaying your inevitable return home.’
Her chin lifted and her arms tightened over her chest. ‘It’ll take more than a trek and some dense vegetation to put me off, Fonseca.’
* * *
The early-morning air was sultry, and the dawn hadn’t yet broken, so it was dark when Serena got out of the back of the chauffeur-driven car at the private airfield almost twelve hours later. The first person she saw was the tall figure of Luca, carrying bags into a small plane. Instantly her nerves intensified.
He barely glanced at her as she walked over behind the driver, who carried the new backpack she’d been furnished with. And then his dark gaze fell on her and her heart sped up.
‘You checked out of the hotel?’
Good morning to you too, Serena said silently, and cursed her helpless physical reaction. ‘Yes. And my suitcase is in the car.’
Luca took her small backpack from the driver and exchanged a few words with him in rapid Portuguese. Then, as the driver walked away, Luca said, ‘Your things will be left at my headquarters until you get back.’
The obvious implication of you—not we—was not lost on Serena, and she said coolly, ‘I won’t be bailing early.’
Luca looked at her assessingly an
d Serena was conscious of the new clothes and shoes she’d been given. Lightweight trousers and a sleeveless vest under a khaki shirt. Sturdy trekking boots. Much like what Luca was wearing, except his looked well worn, faded with time. Doing little to hide his impressive muscles and physique.
She cursed. Why did he have to be the one man who seemed to connect with her in a way she’d never felt before?
Luca, who had turned back to the plane, said over his shoulder, ‘Come on, we have a flight slot to make.’
‘Aye-aye, sir,’ Serena muttered under her breath as she hurried after him and up the steps into the small plane. She was glad that she’d pulled her hair up into a knot on top of her head as she could already feel a light sweat breaking out on the back of her neck.
Luca told her to take a seat. He shut the heavy door and secured it.
As Serena was closing her seatbelt she saw him take his seat in the cockpit and gasped out loud, ‘You’re the pilot?’
‘Evidently,’ he said drily.
Serena’s throat dried. ‘Are you even qualified?’
He was busy flicking switches and turning knobs. He threw back over his shoulder, ‘Since I was eighteen. Relax, Serena.’
He put on a headset then, presumably to communicate with the control tower, and then they were taxiing down the runway. Serena wasn’t normally a nervous flyer, but her hands gripped the armrests as the full enormity of what was happening hit her. She was on a plane, headed into the world’s densest and most potentially dangerous ecosystem, with a man who hated her guts.
She had a vision of a snake, dropping out of a tree in front of her face, and shivered in the dry cabin air just as the small plane left the ground and soared into the dawn-filled sky. Unfortunately her spirits didn’t soar with it, but she comforted herself that at least she wasn’t arriving back in Athens with her tail between her legs...just yet.
Serena was very aware of Luca’s broad-shouldered physique at the front of the plane, but as much as she wanted to couldn’t quite drum up the antipathy she wanted to feel for him. After all, he had good reason to believe what he did about her—that she’d framed him.
Anyone else would have believed the same...except for her sister, who had just looked at her with that sad expression that had reminded Serena of how trapped they both were by their circumstances—and by Serena’s helpless descent into addiction to block out the pain.
Their father had simply been too powerful. And Siena had been too young for Serena to try anything drastic like running away. By the time Siena had come of age Serena had been in no shape to do anything drastic. Their father had seen to that effectively. And they’d been too well known. Any attempt to run would have been ended within hours, because their father would have sent his goons after them. They’d been bound as effectively as if their father had locked them in a tower.
‘Serena.’
Serena’s attention came back to the small plane and she looked forward, to see Luca staring back to her impatiently. He must have called her a couple of times. She felt raw from her memories.
‘What?’
‘I was letting you know that the flight will take four hours.’ He pointed to a bag on the floor near her and said, ‘You’ll find some information in there about the tribe and the mines. You should read up on them.’
He turned back to the front and Serena restrained herself from sticking her tongue out at him. She’d been bullied and controlled by one man for most of her life and she chafed at the thought of giving herself over to that treatment again.
As she dug for the documents she reiterated to herself that this was a means to an end. She’d chosen to come here with Luca, and she was going to get through it in one piece and prove herself to him if it was the last thing she did. She’d become adept in the past few years in focusing on the present, not looking back. And she’d need that skill now more than ever.
* * *
Just over four hours later Serena was feeling a little more in control of herself, and her head was bursting with information about where they were going. She was already fascinated and more excited about the trip, which felt like a minor victory in itself.
They’d landed in a private part of the airport and after a light breakfast, which had been laid out for them in a private VIP room, Luca was now loading bags and supplies into the back of a Jeep.
His backpack was about three times the size of hers. And there were walking poles. Nerves fluttered in Serena’s belly. Maybe she was being really stupid. How on earth was she going to last in the jungle? She was a city girl... That was the jungle she understood and knew how to navigate.
Luca must have caught her expression and he arched a questioning brow. Instantly fresh resolve filled Serena and she marched forward. ‘Is there anything I can do?’
He shut the Jeep’s boot door. ‘No, we’re good. Let’s go—we don’t have all day.’
A short time later, as Luca navigated the Manaus traffic, which eventually got less crazy as they hit the suburbs, he delivered a veritable lecture to Serena on safety in the jungle.
‘And whatever you do obey my commands. The jungle is perceived to be a very hostile environment, but it doesn’t have to be—as long as you use your head and you’re constantly on guard and aware of what’s around you.’
A devil inside Serena prompted her to say, ‘Are you always this bossy or is it just with me?’
To her surprise Luca’s mouth lifted ever so slightly on one side, causing a reaction of seismic proportions in Serena’s belly.
That dark navy glance slid to her for a second and he drawled, ‘I instruct and people obey.’
Serena let out a small sound of disdain. That had been her father’s philosophy too. ‘That must make life very boring.’
The glimmer of a smile vanished. ‘I find that people are generally compliant when it’s in their interests to gain something...as you yourself are demonstrating right now.’
There was an unmistakably cynical edge to his voice that had Serena’s gaze fixed on his face. Not liking the fact that she’d noticed it, and wondering about where such cynicism stemmed from, she said, ‘You offered me a chance to prove my commitment. That’s what I’m doing.’
He shrugged one wide shoulder. ‘Exactly my point. You have something to gain.’
‘Do I, though?’ Serena asked quietly, but Luca either didn’t hear or didn’t think it worth answering. Clearly the answer was no.
They were silent for the rest of the journey. Soon they’d left the city behind, and civilisation was slowly swallowed by greenery until they were surrounded by it. It gave Serena a very real sense of how ready the forest seemed to be to encroach upon its concrete rival given half a chance.
Her curiosity overcame her desire to limit her interaction with Luca. ‘How did you become interested in these particular mines?’
One of his hands was resting carelessly on the wheel, the other on his thigh. He was a good driver—unhurried, but fast. In control. He looked at her and she felt very conscious of being in a cocoon-like atmosphere with nothing but green around them.
He returned his attention to the road. ‘My grandfather opened them up when prospectors found bauxite. The area was plundered, forest cleared, and the native Indians moved on to allow for a camp to be set up. It was the first of my family’s mines...and so the first one that I wanted to focus on to try and undo the damage.’
Serena recalled what she’d read. ‘But you’re still mining?’
He frowned at her and put both hands on the wheel, as if that reminder had angered him. ‘Yes, but on a much smaller scale. The main camp has already been torn down. Miners commute in and out from a nearby town. If I was to shut down the mine completely it would affect the livelihoods of hundreds of people. I’d also be doing the workers out of government grants for miners, education for their children, an
d so on. As it is, we’re using this mine as a pilot project to develop ethical mining so that it becomes the standard.’
He continued. ‘The proceeds are all being funnelled into restoring huge swathes of the forest that were cleared—they’ll never be restored completely, but they can be used for other ends, and the native Indians who were taken off the land have moved back to farm that land and make a new living from it.’
‘It sounds like an ambitious project.’ Serena tried not to feel impressed. Her experience with her father had taught her that men could be masters in the art of altruism while hiding a soul so corrupt and black it would make the devil look like Mickey Mouse.
Luca glanced at her and she could see the fire of intent in his eyes—something she’d never seen in her father’s eyes unless it was for his own ends. Greedy for more power. Control. Causing pain.
‘It is an ambitious project. But it’s my responsibility. My grandfather did untold damage to this country’s natural habitat and my father continued his reckless destruction. I refuse to keep perpetuating the same mistake. Apart from anything else, to do so is to completely ignore the fact that the planet is intensely vulnerable.’
Serena was taken aback at the passion in his voice. Maybe he was genuine.
‘Why do you care so much?’
He tensed, and she thought he wouldn’t answer, but then he said, ‘Because I saw the disgust the native Indians and even the miners had for my father and men like him whenever I went with him to visit his empire. I started to do my own research at a young age. I was horrified to find out the extent of the damage we were doing—not only to our country but on a worldwide scale—and I was determined to put an end to it.’
Serena looked at his stern profile, unable to stem her growing respect. Luca was turning the Jeep into an opening that was almost entirely hidden from view. The track was bumpy and rough, the huge majestic trees of the rainforest within touching distance now.
After about ten minutes of solid driving, deeper and deeper into the undergrowth, they emerged into a large clearing where a two-storey state-of-the-art facility was revealed, almost completely camouflaged to blend with the surroundings.