by Maya Blake
Inez was struck dumb by his reply. A small foolish part of her even felt giddy, until she reminded herself that she was intended to be nothing but his mistress. Again unfathomable emotions wrapped themselves around her heart. She cleared her throat and fought to keep her voice even. ‘Why misconception?’
‘Very few women manage to catch and keep my interest for very long, anjo.’
‘Because you get bored easily?’ she dared.
His lashes swept down for a few seconds before they rose again to capture hers. ‘Because my demons always win when pitted against the rigours of normal relationships.’
‘Demons?’
‘Sim, anjo. Demons. I have a lot of them. And they’re very possessive.’ A wave of anguish rolled over his face, then it was gone the next instant. He nodded to the hovering sommelier and ordered their wine. Another pulse of surprise went through her when she noticed it was the same wine she’d served at the fund-raiser and her favourite.
‘The burning is now off the table. Hell, you can even keep the damn shorts. But, for the sake of my sanity, can we agree that you don’t wear them outside?’ he asked with one quirked eyebrow.
She pretended to consider it. ‘What is your sanity worth to me?’
‘You think you’re in a position to bargain with me, Inez?’ he asked, his voice deceptively soft.
‘I never pass up an opportunity to bargain.’
He regarded her silently for several minutes. Then he shrugged. ‘As long as I achieve my goals in the end, I see no reason why the road to success shouldn’t be littered with minor obstacles. Tell me what you desire.’
‘Is that what I am, a minor obstacle?’
‘Don’t miss your opportunity with meaningless questions.’
The need for clarity finally forced her to speak. ‘I wish to know exactly what you want of me.’
‘Sorry, I cannot answer that.’
She frowned. ‘Why not?’
‘Because my needs are…fluid.’ The peculiar smile accompanying his answer sent a tingle of alarm down her spine.
‘So I am to live in uncertainty for the next three months?’
‘The unknown can be challenging. It can also be exciting.’
‘Is that why you came to Rio? To seek challenge and excitement?’
For several seconds he stared at her. Then he slowly shook his head. ‘No, my reason for being in Rio is specific and a well-planned event.’
Inez shivered at the succinct response. ‘I can’t help but be frightened by your answer.’
Her candid admission seemed to surprise him. ‘Why is that?’
‘Because I have a feeling it has something to do with my family. Pietro has his flaws but he’s never done anything without my father’s express approval. Besides, you’re much older than him, which makes it unlikely that he’s the one you came here for. You’re here because of my father, aren’t you?’
* * *
It took an astonishing amount of control not to react to her simple but accurate summation of the single subject that had consumed him for over a decade.
Thinking back, he realised he’d given her several clues to enable her to reach this conclusion. Somehow, in the mere forty-eight hours that he’d known her, Inez had managed to slip under his guard and was threatening to uncover his true purpose for being in Rio.
He also realised that he’d given her much more leeway than he’d ever intended to when he’d formulated his plan. Inviting her to compromise? Inviting her to state her desires with the knowledge that he was seriously considering granting them?
After his hasty departure this morning he’d realised that he’d let those marks on her arms sway him into going easy on her. Because he hadn’t wanted her to think he was a monster like her father?
The man who hadn’t so much as asked after his daughter when Theo had attended his office to sign the agreement papers?
The man whose eyes had shone with greed and triumph even before the ink had dried on the documents?
No, he was nothing like Benedicto da Costa. He wasn’t about to lose any already precious sleep wondering about that little statement.
What he had to be careful of was that his enemy’s daughter didn’t guess his intentions. He was so very close to having Benedicto right where he wanted him. He couldn’t afford to be swayed by a heart-shaped face or the most sinfully sexy pair of shorts he’d ever seen in his life, no matter how acute the ache in his groin.
‘Will you please tell me why you’re after my father?’ she implored softly. The concern on her face appeared genuine and he suddenly realised that, despite Benedicto’s treatment of her, Inez cared for her father.
His nostrils flared as bitterness rocked through him. He’d once been in that same position, foolishly believing that the father he’d idolised and loved beyond reason cared just as deeply for him. That he wasn’t the fraudster and philanderer the press were making him out to be.
Now, he wanted to rip the blindfold from her eyes, make her see the true monster in the man she called Pai. Make her see that her love was nothing but a manipulative tool that would be used against her eventually.
Except he had a strong feeling she already knew, and chose to overlook it. Which made his blood boil even more.
‘Why, do you plan to sacrifice yourself to save him?’ he taunted.
She gasped, dropping the sterling silver fork she’d been nervously toying with. ‘So, it is my father!’
He cursed under his breath. ‘If you so much as breathe a word in his direction about your suspicions, I’ll make sure you regret it for the rest of your life.’
She paled. ‘You really expect me to sit back and watch you destroy him?’
‘I expect you to hold up your end of the bargain we struck. Live under my roof in exchange for me leaving the loophole in the contract alone. Are you prepared to do that or do I need to plot another plan of action?’ he asked, not bothering to hide the threat in his voice.
She stared back at him apprehensively. Her chin rose and her brown eyes burned holes in him but she nodded. ‘I’ll stick to our agreement.’
When their wine was served, he watched her take a big gulp and curbed the desire to follow suit. He was driving and needed to restrict his drinking. Nevertheless, a sip of the Chilean red went a way to restoring a little order to his floundering thoughts.
Thee mou, he hadn’t even fired the first salvo and things were getting out of hand. Why on earth had he shared the presence of his demons with her? And that comment about her being so much more than a girlfriend? He silently shook his head and sucked in a control-affirming breath.
Their dinner progressed in near silence. Theo reminded himself that his main reason for bringing her out hadn’t been for conversation. When she refused dessert, he settled the bill quickly and rose to help her out of her seat.
Fire shot through his groin, hard and fierce, as he was once again confronted with the risqué shorts. While they’d been seated, he’d managed to tamp down the effect of those shorts on his raging libido.
Now, as she walked in front of him, he was treated to a mouth-watering sight of her deliciously rounded bottom and stunning legs. With each sway of her hips, he grew harder until he wondered if he had any blood left in his upper extremities that hadn’t migrated south.
He was reconsidering his decision not to burn the shorts at the earliest opportunity when he caught a male diner staring in blatant appreciation at her legs.
His growl was low but unmistakable. The man hastily averted his gaze but Theo was still simmering in primitive emotions when they reached the car park.
He followed her to the passenger side but, instead of opening the door for her, he braced his hand on either side of her and leaned in close. With her front pressed against the door, her bottom was moulded into his groin in such a way that she couldn’t fail to notice his state of arousal.
Her breathing quickened, but she stayed put. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Delivering the punishment I promised.’
‘Sorry?’
‘You called me senhor when we were in the restaurant.’
She tried to turn around but he pressed her more firmly against the car. ‘I…don’t remember.’
‘Of course you do. You also thought I wouldn’t act on my promise in full view of other diners, didn’t you?’
‘No, I wasn’t—’
‘Maybe you were right. Or maybe we both knew I’d want to do more than just kiss you.’
‘You’re wrong…’
‘Am I?’
‘Yes…’
‘So you’d prefer I let this one slide?’ He rocked his hips against her bottom and her breath hitched. ‘You won’t think me weak?’
Her shocked laugh heated the air around them. ‘Only someone foolish would think you weak.’
‘I’m not sure whether there’s a compliment in there. Is there?’
Her head fell forward, exposing the seductive line of her neck. ‘Am I to pander to your ego too, Theo?’
He laughed. ‘How can you appear submissive and yet taunt me at the same time?’
She lifted her head and turned to stare at him. Whatever she saw in his face made her squirm harder. Provocatively. Her gaze dropped to his mouth and Theo could no more resist the temptation than he could breathe.
Fingers sliding beneath her knotted hair to hold her still, he caught her mouth in a fierce kiss. Every emotion he’d experienced since waking that morning was delivered in that kiss—passion, arousal, confusion, anxiety and anger. He pinned her against the car so she couldn’t move, couldn’t put those seductive hands on his body.
Although he missed her touch, a part of him was thankful because, had she had access, he would’ve lost even more of his mind than he suspected he was losing.
He registered the brief flashes behind his closed eyelids but didn’t break the kiss. He suspected Inez had no idea what had just happened. And even if she had, she wouldn’t have suspected the true reason behind the paparazzi shots because she was used to being the darling of the press.
Well, she was in for a rude awakening…
She started to open her mouth wider, to return his demanding kiss.
He slowly lifted his head. When she made a tiny sound of protest and tried to recapture his mouth, he forced himself to step away. He’d achieved one part of what he’d set out to do. The second part was a short drive away.
Curving his arm around her waist, he peeled her away from the door, opened it and deposited her inside, all the time trying not to stare down at her legs and imagine how they would feel wrapped around his waist.
He swallowed hard as he rounded the hood and slid behind the wheel.
‘Time to head to the club before I give in to the urge to deliver more punishment.’
Her eyes dropped to his mouth and he barely suppressed a groan as she licked her lips.
‘For your mercy, I will teach you how to samba like a true Brazilian,’ she replied huskily.
* * *
Inez lay among the white sheets the next morning, trying hard not to relive the events of the night before but it was as futile as trying to stop a tidal wave.
They’d eventually emerged from the nightclub at two in the morning. She’d been flushed and sweaty from being plastered to Theo’s superb body for three straight hours. But the wild racing of her heart had nothing to do with her exertions on the dance floor and everything to do with the man who’d focused on her as if she was the only woman in the whole club.
And Deus, had he danced like a dream? Far from tutoring him on the correct steps of her native dance, she’d found herself following his lead as he’d moved expertly on the dance floor.
When he’d caught her to him, her back to his front and replayed the scene in the car park, but this time to music, she’d seriously feared her heart would beat itself to expiration.
In that moment, she’d forgotten that there was a sinister purpose to Theo’s plan; that he’d all but admitted she was being used as a pawn in some deadly game he was playing with her father. When he’d laid his stubbled jaw against her cheek and hummed the sultry samba music in her ear, she’d closed her eyes and imagined what it would be like to belong—truly belong—to a man like Theo.
Turning over in bed, she groaned in disbelief at how susceptible she’d been to his hard body and magnetic charisma. Santa Maria, she’d been all but putty in his hands.
Luckily, the fresh air and the long drive back had hammered some sense into her. The moment they’d returned, she’d bidden him a curt boa noite, left him standing in the hallway and retreated as fast as her sore feet would carry her.
And she intended to carry on like that. She might not know what his end game was, but she refused to be a willing participant in his campaign.
The last thing she wanted to do was to fall for another manipulator like Constantine.
She was here only because she had no choice but she didn’t intend to idle away her time in this house. Theo expected her to stay here for three months, which meant whatever he had planned was not to be executed immediately. Perhaps she could convince him to change his mind in that time.
Yeah, and fairy tales really did come true…
Or she could find out exactly what his intentions were.
She’d seen the look in his eyes when he spoke about her father. Whatever vendetta he’d planned, he intended to see it through.
Helplessly, she rolled over in bed and her eyes lit on the bedside clock. She jerked upright and threw the sheet aside. She might not have anywhere to be on this Saturday morning but lazing about in bed past ten o’clock wasn’t her style.
She jumped into the shower, shampooed her hair and washed her body with quick, regimented movement ingrained in her from her time at the Swiss boarding school her father had sent her to just to impress his friends.
Leaving her damp hair to dry naturally, she pulled on an aqua-coloured sundress and slipped her feet into low-heeled thongs. Smoothing her favourite sunscreen moisturiser over her face and arms, she left her room and headed downstairs.
Teresa was crossing the hallway carrying a cafetière of freshly made coffee and indicated for Inez to follow her.
She led her out to the terrace that overlooked the immense square infinity pool. Light danced off the water but her attention was caught and held by the man seated at the cast iron oval breakfast table.
His white short-sleeved polo shirt did amazing things to his eyes and olive-toned skin. And loose green shorts exposed solid thighs and lightly hair-sprinkled legs that made her mouth dry before flooding with moisture that threatened to choke her.
‘Bom dia, anjo. Are you going to stand there all morning?’ he mocked.
She forced her legs to move and took the chair he indicated to his right.
‘Coffee?’ he asked, his voice deep and low.
‘Yes, please.’ Her voice had grown husky and emerged barely above a whisper.
He nodded to Teresa who smiled, filled her cup then made herself scarce.
Inez sipped the hot brew just as a delaying tactic so she didn’t have to look at him.
So far she’d seen Theo in formal evening wear and smart casual and each look had threatened to knock her sideways. But seeing him now, with so much of his vibrant olive skin on show, threatened to topple her completely. She took another hasty sip and choked as the liquid scalded her mouth.
Grabbing the napkin to stop herself from dribbling like an idiot, she looked up and caught his mocking smile. ‘You’d rather blister yourself than converse with me?’
She swallowed and fought to present a passable smile. ‘Of course not. I was just enjoying the…view.’ She indicated beyond his shoulder, where the garden extended beyond the pool and sloped down to the sandy white beach and sparkling ocean.
With a disbelieving smile, he picked up the paper next to his plate and shook it out. ‘If you say so—’
Her horrified gasp made him lower the newspaper. ‘Something wrong?’
�
��Is that a picture of us?’ she demanded through a severely constricted throat. The question was redundant because the picture taking up the whole of the front page was printed in vivid Technicolor.
He’d already seen it, of course, so he didn’t bother to glance where her appalled gaze was riveted. ‘Yes. Fresh off the morning press.’
‘Meu deus!’ She reached out and snatched the broadsheet out of his grasp. It was even worse up close. ‘It looks as if…as if—’ Disbelief caught in her throat, eating the rest of her words.
‘As if I’m taking you from behind?’ he supplied helpfully.
Humiliating heat stained her cheeks. ‘Sim,’ she muttered fiercely. ‘With your jacket covering me that way it looks as if I’m wearing nothing from the waist down! It’s…it’s disgusting!’
He plucked the paper from her hand and studied the picture. ‘Hmm, it certainly is…something.’
‘How can you sit there and be so unconcerned about it?’ The picture had been taken with a high-resolution camera but, with the low lighting in the car park, the suggestiveness in the picture could be misinterpreted a thousand ways. None of them complimentary.
‘Relax. We weren’t exactly having sex, were we?’
‘That’s not the point.’ She grabbed the paper back and quickly perused the article accompanying the gratuitous picture, fearing the worst. Sure enough, her father’s political campaign had been called into question, along with an even more unsavoury speculation on her private life.
If this is what they do in public we can only imagine what they do in private…
Her hands shook as she threw the offending paper down. ‘I thought this was a reputable paper.’
‘It is.’
‘Then why would they print something so…offensive?’
‘Perhaps because it’s true. We were kissing in the car park. And you were pushing your delectable backside into my groin as if you couldn’t wait till we got home to do me.’
She surged to her feet, knocking her chair aside. Her whole body was shaking with fury and she could barely grasp the chair to straighten it.
‘We both know I was not!’
‘Do we? I told you those shorts were a bad idea. Do you blame me for getting carried away?’