This felt so wrong. But how could she trust her own feelings? Her instincts had only steered her wrong. She’d fallen in love with the worst possible man in New York. Surely, she was marrying the right man now?
And she’d already treated Timothy so badly. She couldn’t humiliate him further by running out of the church… Could she?
Flowers and candles were everywhere. She could feel the sharp eyes of the society matrons on her, hear the whispers of people she’d known since childhood. Old Mrs. Abernathy, who’d told her she’d never amount to anything. Candy Gleeson, the former cheerleader, who’d mocked her shabby clothes in high school and called her Stork because she’d had such a thin, ungainly body. They all now watched with envy, believing the fairy tale.
When she reached the end of the aisle, Lilibeth handed Ellie into Timothy’s keeping. He held her hand tightly, looking down at her face with a strange, almost demented look in his pale blue eyes.
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today…”
Compared to the broil of emotions inside her, the ceremony was so civilized. So hollow. The minister’s beautiful words had nothing to do with how she felt inside.
She—Timothy’s wife? To love him? Share his bed? Raise his children?
It had to be. Anything was better than to love someone only to be brutally rejected by them again and again. That must be how Timothy had felt, loving her for so long.
She would learn to enjoy his tepid kisses somehow. She would earn his forgiveness for her mistake, even if it took a lifetime. She would.
But when she closed her eyes, the memory of her night with Diogo still overwhelmed her. The way he’d ruthlessly spread her virgin lips with his own. He’d taken her innocence carelessly, like a conqueror. All the tenderness of her first kiss, the sweetness she’d timidly dreamed of sharing with a man she could love, Diogo had scornfully swept away, leaving in its place something hot and dark that burned her through, melting her to ash.
She desperately pushed the thought away. Struggling to calm the pounding of her heart, Ellie clenched her hands tighter around the green stems of her bridal bouquet. Pink and white petals fluttered slowly to the flagstones.
“Do you, Timothy Alistair Wright, take Ellie Jensen to be your lawfully wedded wife…”
Even in the midst of her wedding, she couldn’t stop thinking about Diogo!
The bastard. The lying bastard.
“… for as long as you both shall live?”
Timothy looked at her. Bright light from the soaring church windows shimmered off his wire-rimmed glasses, illuminating his pale, thin face. “I do.”
The minister turned to her. “And do you, Eleanor Ann Jensen, take Timothy Wright—”
The church doors opened, banging against the walls.
“Stop!”
At the harsh sound of the voice, the crowd gasped. Ellie whirled around.
Diogo.
He was dressed as she’d left him in New York, in a crisply cut gray suit and blue tie that elegantly clung to his hard-muscled body. But he no longer looked anything like a civilized man of business. His footsteps echoed against the worn gray stones as he stared at her with a ruthless, demanding intensity.
“How dare you come here, Serrador?” Timothy’s voice hit a high note, and he furiously cleared his throat. “You have no right—”
“You.” Diogo stared at Timothy. Then he gave a hard laugh. “I should have known.”
Ellie saw a depth of darkness in the Brazilian billionaire’s eyes. Black, she thought with a shiver, black as a coal mine twisting deep into the earth.
“Get out of here, Serrador,” Timothy spat out. “This is no business of yours.”
“Is it?” Diogo turned to her with a searing intensity. “Is it my business, Ellie?”
He knew!
She took a deep, shuddering breath. She couldn’t tell him he was the father of her baby. Timothy might forgive her eventually, but not if he knew that the real father was Diogo. The two men had had some kind of falling out at Christmas, and she still didn’t know why.
But she did know that Diogo Serrador was as hard and unfeeling as the diamond on her finger….
He leaned forward, looking straight into her eyes.
“Is it true, Ellie?”
Biting her lip, she looked away, hiding her face beneath her veil’s thick waves of netted tulle.
He ripped back her veil, and she cried out in shock. His face was so close to hers, she saw him clearly—his angular cheekbones, his rough jaw, his scarred temple, his nose that had been broken at least once.
The facade of wealthy playboy and international steel tycoon was gone. Diogo Serrador grabbed her with the brutality of a Viking barbarian claiming his woman. And a sensual current rocked Ellie’s body like lightning cracking through stone.
“Tell me the truth.”
She shook her head, unable to speak. She felt burned, electrified by his touch. He leaned forward, his face inches from hers, and she knew he was going to kiss her—right there in the church! While she was standing in front of the minister with another man!
And yet she couldn’t lift a hand to stop him. Her knees trembled beneath her. Her bouquet dropped unheeded from her senseless fingers, falling in a splash of pink flowers against stone.
“Tell me, damn you!” His hands tightened on her shoulders. His voice rang through the church. “Am I the father of your baby?”
Three hundred people gasped aloud. She heard her grandmother give a little choked sob. She could feel the stares of the guests. Of the shocked minister. And worst of all, she could feel Timothy goggling at her, pitiful, humiliated fury on his face.
A slow burn went through her, making her cheeks feel hot as flame.
“You have no right to humiliate me like this,” she whispered. “You’re the bastard, Diogo. You’re the liar.”
“Him?” Timothy turned on her with a look of rage. “You’ve kept me at arm’s length for all these years—so you could give yourself to Serrador?”
“Ah.” Diogo’s lips curved darkly upward. His body relaxed, and his gaze glinted with sudden amusement. “So he’s never even touched you. Strange way to trap a man into marriage…”
Anger raced through her. “I didn’t trap anyone into anything,” she spat out. “Timothy loves me. He doesn’t care I’m pregnant. He said he’ll take care of it!”
Diogo’s eyes narrowed. In an instant, he became a totally different man.
“Take care of it?” He grabbed her arm. “What do you mean, take care of it?”
She felt the sizzle up and down her body. How was it possible to be so electrified by his touch—and yet so afraid? She struggled to pull her arm away.
“What difference does it make? It’s not your baby. It can’t be. You can’t get a woman pregnant, right?” she taunted.
His dark eyes seared through her. “I am the father. Can you deny it?”
She couldn’t. But she knew Diogo Serrador hadn’t come to take responsibility for the child he’d created—he just couldn’t bear for any other man to tread on his territory. With the arrogant machismo of a Brazilian fighter, Diogo Serrador believed he had the right to own everything and everyone. To keep them and discard them solely at his pleasure.
He didn’t deserve to be a father.
“Answer me.” Diogo’s hand moved down her neck to the bare skin on her collarbone, to the first swell of her breasts above the white taffeta bodice. The sizzle intensified, causing her breath to come in little gasps. All the faces of guests she’d known since childhood—some watching with shocked pity, others with malicious glee—seemed to whirl around her.
Then she saw her grandmother, chalky white with orange lips. Lilibeth was the one person who’d always believed in Ellie. She’d baked her cookies on the days her mother was mean. Told her she didn’t need a high school diploma to be smart. Supported Ellie during the long years she’d nursed her mother’s final illness. Ellie’s success had become Lilibeth’s.
&
nbsp; And now it was all ruined. Lilibeth would never be able to hold her head high in the grocery store again. Because of her.
“I—I—” Ellie suddenly felt faint. “I… think I’m going to…”
She couldn’t even finish the sentence before her knees started to give way beneath her. Diogo caught her up in his arms before she could fall.
“Put her down!” Timothy cried furiously.
Diogo didn’t even glance his way. His dark gaze held Ellie’s, reaching down into her very soul.
“The baby,” he said in a low voice. “Tell me.”
“No,” she gasped.
He glanced at the audience gawking from the pews, then gave a single nod. “Tá bom.”
Turning on his heel, he carried her down the aisle. He held her so close to his muscular chest that she could feel the beat of his heart.
It felt like some strange dream. The sunlight from the windows shimmered and shone around her, blurring the bright colors of ladies’ dresses in the pews. Her ripped veil fluttered forlornly around her, her white taffeta train dragging behind them as he carried her out of the church, stealing her from her own wedding like a Roman centurion with a Sabine maiden.
“Come back here!” Timothy’s voice was a furious squeak as he followed behind them like a yapping terrier. “She’s mine, you Brazilian bastard! Do you hear me? Mine!”
Ignoring him, Diogo flung open the tall double doors.
The bright spring sun outside hit her like a slap in the face. Two of Diogo’s bodyguards slammed the church doors shut behind them, trapping all the guests inside as Diogo set her gently on her feet.
But she found herself face-to-face with Timothy.
“I can’t believe you did it.” His wire-rimmed glasses trembled on his nose. His eyes were red and wet, fogging up the glass. “I waited for you nearly ten years. I did everything I could to win you. And you spread your legs for Serrador, who treats his women like whores?”
Every word was like a stab in her heart. “I…”
“You are mine, Ellie,” he cried, reaching for her. “Mine—”
Diogo stepped between them. Carelessly, he tucked his hands into fists, widening his muscular legs into a confident stance that suggested he was ready for anything. Even in his perfectly tailored gray suit, he looked like a warrior who could fight—and kill—at will.
“Ellie’s not yours. Neither is her baby. What exactly were you planning, Wright?”
Timothy’s face blanched with fear. He backed away.
“Now,” Diogo said softly, turning to Ellie. He brushed a tendril of hair away from her face in a gesture that was deceptively gentle. “You’ll tell me the name of your baby’s father.”
She rubbed her forehead. “You swore on your honor you couldn’t get me pregnant,” she muttered. “Your honor.”
Diogo’s dark eyes swept her face, pulling out every secret she’d ever tried to keep, leaving her vulnerable and bare. He tightened his hold on her, causing her to cry out. “I’m the father, Ellie. Say it!”
“I hate you,” she whimpered.
“Say it!” he thundered.
“All right!” she shouted. Tears of grief and rage streamed down her face. “You’re the father!”
Timothy gave a loud, high moan. She turned to him desperately. “I’m so sorry. So sorry…”
She tried to reach for him, but he slapped her hand away. Bitterly, he turned to Diogo.
“Take her, and be damned. She’s filled with your child. It disgusts me. Another whore for you. Another bastard—”
Diogo punched him hard across the jaw. Ellie screamed as Timothy dropped like a stone into the lush green grass.
The Brazilian turned to her, and the rage in his eyes made her draw back in confused fear. He blinked, staring at her. His dark eyes suddenly looked sad, as if haunted by shadows and ghosts of long ago.
Then he abruptly turned away without a word. At his signal, two black sedans pulled forward on the street. As a bodyguard opened the door, Diogo pushed her gently into the backseat, holding her against the leather as he drew the seat belt over her body. She struggled, but his grip was implacable. His hands were like iron shackles wrapped in silk.
And every accidental brush of his fingertips made her feel fire in her veins. How could she fight her own desire? How? She swallowed, trying to control the pounding of her heart as she glanced through the back window.
“Timothy—”
“He’ll have a headache.” His teeth gleamed in a feral growl. “He deserves worse.”
Why? What had Timothy done? But she didn’t have the nerve to ask. She had far more pressing issues to worry about. “Where are you taking me?”
“To the airport.” He sat next to her as the driver pulled away. She could feel his thigh pressing against hers through the layers of her wedding dress.
He looked down at her, his eyes black as onyx. Then he gave her the heavy-lidded half smile that had led so many women to ruin.
“Now,” he said, “you belong to me.”
CHAPTER THREE
BY THE TIME THE PRIVATE plane touched down in Rio de Janeiro, Ellie knew without doubt that Diogo was a soulless barbarian without a drop of mercy.
They’d left from a small private airport tucked in the rolling hills of central Pennsylvania. He’d carried her onto an enormous private plane waiting in a hangar. Ignoring her questions and demands, he’d locked her into a small ensuite bedroom in the back of the plane. She’d been alone since the plane took off. For sixteen hours, she’d had nothing to do but cry and sleep and eat snacks from the small refrigerator. And wonder what he meant to do with her.
Now, you belong to me.
What did that mean?
She shivered, holding her ripped wedding veil tightly in her hands.
Diogo had made it clear he had no intention of getting married. Shown that he did not like or even respect her. And his playboy lifestyle was hardly conducive to being a father.
So why had he kidnapped Ellie? Where had he taken her?
She placed her hands on her belly through the wrinkled taffeta of her wedding dress. In just one day, she’d already come to love this baby more than her own life. To vow that she would treat the little boy or girl—for some reason, she thought it might be a girl—very differently than her own mother had treated her. Ellie would treat her child with love. Ellie would protect her.
She clenched her hands into fists. Diogo might think he could still boss her around, but she was no longer his employee. He would soon realize how much had changed between them…
She heard the bedroom door unlock. Diogo entered the small cabin of the plane, newly shaved and wearing fresh clothes. In his crisp white shirt and tailored black pants, he appeared relaxed and self-confident. He’d no doubt had an excellent night’s sleep. Unlike her.
“Welcome to Rio de Janeiro,” he said with a smile, holding out his hand. “I trust you slept well?”
She rose from the bed, folding her arms with a scowl. “Rio? No! Take me back!”
“Back to your precious bridegroom?” Coolly, he withdrew his hand. “No. You will remain with me until the baby is born. I thought I made that clear.”
Kept prisoner by the most ruthless playboy in the world, in a strange, exotic city? A whimper escaped her lips. She wanted to go home. She wanted her grandmother. She wanted to be a million miles away from this man who’d so carelessly seduced her, lied to her, and lured her into heartbreak.
She raised her chin. “You can’t keep me here against my will. I’m going home the first chance I get!”
“This is your home now.” He gave her a lazy smile. “But Rio can be dangerous. You must stay close to me. For your own protection.”
But who was going to protect her from him?
She looked wildly at the door behind him. “I’m not going to stay with you!”
“You have no money or friends here. You don’t even speak Portuguese. I’m curious. Exactly how do you intend to escape?”
&
nbsp; “Somehow,” she whispered, but uncertainty raced through her. Everything he’d said was true. How on earth would she get home?
“Forget Wright,” he told her coldly. “He cannot help you. Obey me, and it will be easier for everyone. Especially you.”
Obey him?
That was what had gotten her into this trouble in the first place. In the alley off Copacabana Beach, amid the rhythmic beat of samba music and cries of the crowds, he’d taken her in his arms and kissed her with a sudden ferocity that had made her weak. “You’re coming home with me now,” he’d whispered against the flushed heat of her skin. “You can’t say no.”
And she’d been desperately in love with him then as only an innocent girl could be. All she’d wanted was to be utterly his. To give herself completely. And she’d naively believed that he would give himself to her in return, body and soul.
She no longer believed in those frosted, sugarcoated dreams. She knew better now. She knew to play it safe.
Diogo Serrador was a million miles from safe.
She shook her head desperately. “You said you would never want to marry any woman because of pregnancy. Fine. Send me back home. We’ll never bother you again. The baby will never know you’re her father!”
Diogo’s dark eyebrows lowered. “Because you and Wright have other plans for him?”
She thought of Timothy’s angry words, the hurt in his eyes. But he’d always been good to her. He’d even offered to take care of her baby. Marrying him would have been such a sensible, respectable choice, but now she’d ruined everything. She suddenly felt like crying. “He’s a good man, and I promised to be his wife.”
“Forget it,” he said with a curl on his lip. “You’re not leaving Rio.”
He marched her out of the plane.
The rush of jungle humidity and the smell of exotic flowers hit her like a blow in the deep violet darkness of dawn. Clouds were pouring a brutal onslaught of rain, pounding heavily against the leaves, leaving puddles on the tarmac of the small private airport.
A bodyguard held an umbrella over their heads as they descended the steps from the plane. Ellie balanced precariously on her four-inch, white satin heels, her wedding gown dragging through the water as Diogo steered her into the backseat of a waiting steel-gray Bentley.
One Night In Collection Page 71