Читать книгу The Complete Boardroom Collection - Джанис Мейнард, Yvonne Lindsay - Страница 16

CHAPTER SIX

A FEW HOURS later Serena was back in her own clothes, now clean, and sitting cross-legged beside Luca in the hut of the tribal elders. She was still smarting from the intensity of his regard that morning at breakfast. As if he’d been accusing her of something. Her suspicions had been reinforced when he’d said, with a definitely accusatory tone, on their journey to the mines, ‘You were good with that little girl earlier.’

Serena had swallowed back the tart urge to apologise and explained, ‘I have a nephew just a little bit older. We’re very close.’

She hadn’t liked being reminded of that vulnerability—that from the moment she’d held Siena’s son, Spiro, he and Serena had forged an indelible bond and her biological clock had started ticking loudly.

For someone who had never seen the remotest possibility of such a domestic idyll in her life, she was still surprised at how much she craved it.

And she hated it that she’d barely slept a wink in the hut because she’d missed knowing Luca’s solid bulk was just inches away. She dragged her attention back to what she was meant to be focusing on: writing notes as fast as Luca translated what he wanted taken down.

They’d spent the morning at the mines and she’d seen how diplomatic he had to be, trying to assuage the fears of the miners about losing their jobs, while attempting to drag the mine and its administration into the twenty-first century and minimise further damage to the land. It was a very fine balancing act.

When he was being diplomatic and charming he was truly devastating. It gave Serena a very strong sense of just how seductive he could be if...if he actually liked her. The thought of that made her belly swoop alarmingly.

He turned to her now. ‘Did you get that?’

She looked at the notes quickly. ‘About coming up with ideas to actively promote and nurture growth in the local economy?’

He nodded. But before he turned back to the tribal leader Serena followed an impulse and touched his arm. He frowned at her, and she smiled hesitantly at the man Luca was talking to before saying, ‘Could I make a suggestion?’

He drew back a few inches and looked at her. His entire stance was saying, You?

Serena fought off the urge to hit him and gritted her teeth. ‘Those smock dresses that the women make—I haven’t seen them anywhere else. Also, the little carvings that the children have been doing... I know that this village is twinned with another one, and they have monthly fair days when they barter goods and crops and utilise their skills and learn from each other...but what about opening it up a bit—say, having a space in Rio, or Manaus, a charity shop that sells the things they make here. And in the other village. A niche market, with the money coming back directly to the people.’

‘That’s hardly a novel idea,’ Luca said coolly.

Serena refused to be intimidated or feel silly. ‘Well, if it’s not a new concept why hasn’t one of these shops been mentioned anywhere in your literature about the charity? I’m not talking about some rustic charity shop. I’m talking about a high-end finish that’ll draw in discerning tourists and buyers. Something that’ll inspire them to help conserve the rainforest.’

Luca said nothing for a long moment, and then he turned back to the chief and spoke to him rapidly. The man’s old, lined face lit up and he smiled broadly, nodding effusively.

Luca looked back to Serena, a conciliatory gleam in his eyes. ‘I’ll look into it back in Rio.’

The breath she hadn’t even been aware of holding left her chest and she had to concentrate when the conversation started again. Finally, when Luca and the chief had spoken for an hour or so, they got up to leave. The old man darted forward with surprising agility to take Serena’s hand in his and pump it up and down vigorously. She smiled at his effervescence.

Following Luca out into the slightly less intense late-afternoon heat, she could see a Jeep approach in the distance.

Luca looked at his watch. ‘That’ll be our lift to the airfield. We need to pack our stuff up.’

He looked at her and must have seen something that Serena had failed to disguise in time.

His eyes glinted with something indefinable. ‘I thought you’d welcome the prospect of civilisation again?’

‘I do,’ Serena said quickly, avoiding his look. But the truth was that she didn’t...exactly. Their couple of days in the rainforest...the otherworldly pace of life in the village...it had soothed something inside her. And she realised that she would miss it.

Afraid Luca might see that, she folded her arms and said, ‘Are you going to give me a chance?’ And then quickly, before he could interject, ‘I think I deserve it. I don’t want to go home yet.’

Luca looked at her. She could see the Jeep coming closer, stopping. She held her breath. His gaze narrowed on her and became...hot. Instantly Serena felt something spike. Anticipation.

He came closer, blocking out the Jeep arriving, the village behind him.

‘I’ve no intention of letting you go home.’

Serena’s arms clenched tighter. She didn’t like the way her body reacted to that implacable statement and what it might mean. ‘You’re giving me a trial period?’

Luca smiled, and it made Serena’s brain fuzzy.

‘Something like that. I told you I wanted you, Serena. And I do. In my bed.’

Anger spiked at his arrogant tone, even as her pulse leapt treacherously. ‘I’m not interested in becoming your next mistress, Fonseca. I’m interested in working.’

Luca’s eyes flashed at her use of ‘Fonseca’. ‘I’ll give you a two-week trial. Two weeks of working in the charity by day and two weeks in my bed by night.’

Serena unclenched her arms, her hands in fists by her sides, hating the betraying sizzle in her blood. Had she no self-respect?

‘That’s blackmail.’

Luca shrugged, supremely unconcerned. ‘Call it what you want. That’s the only way you’ll get your trial.’

Serena swallowed a caustic rush of tangled emotions along with the betraying hum of desire. ‘And what about your precious reputation? If people see us together? What then?’

Luca moved closer. Serena’s words struck him somewhere deep inside. What was he doing? he asked himself. All he knew was that the things that had been of supreme importance to him for a long time no longer seemed as important. There was only here and now and this woman. And heat. And need.

Yet he wasn’t losing sight of what had driven him for all these years completely. He was cynical enough to recognise an opportunity when it arose. Having Serena on his arm would mean news, and news would mean focus on the things close to his heart. Like his foundation.

He said now, ‘I have every intention of people seeing us together. You see, I’ve realised that seven years is like seven lifetimes in the media world. You’re old news. And if anyone does make something of it I’m quite happy for you to be seen by my side as someone intent on making up for her debauched past by doing charity work. Everyone loves a redemption story, after all. And in the meantime I get what I want—which is you. You owe me, Serena. You don’t think I’m going to give you a two-week trial without recompense, do you?’

Serena just looked at him. She was too stunned to say anything. What Luca had said was so...cold. And yet all she could feel was hot. She should be slapping him across the face and taking a bus back to Manaus and the next flight home. Maybe that was what he was doing? Calling her bluff. Goading her. She couldn’t imagine that he didn’t have a string of willing mistresses back in Rio.

But that only made something very dark rise up: jealousy.

‘We leave in fifteen minutes.’

With that he turned and strode away, as if he hadn’t just detonated a bomb between them. She watched him incredulously, and then stalked to the small hut.

As she packed up her small backpack a few minutes later she alternated between the longing to to find Luca and deliver that slap to his face which he so deserved and pausing to remember how it had felt when he’d kissed her and touched her the other night.

She’d never really enjoyed sex; it had been another route to oblivion which had invariably ended in disappointment and an excoriating sense of self-disgust.

But Luca... It was as if he was able to see right through to her deepest self, to the part of her that was still innocent, untainted by what she’d seen and experienced as a child...

‘Ms DePiero?’

Serena whirled around to see a young man in the doorway of the hut.

‘Senhor Fonseca is waiting for you at the Jeep.’

Serena muttered something about coming and watched the man walk away. Something inside her solidified. She could leave and go home, lose any chance of a job with the charity and start all over again. Concede defeat. Or...if she was going to admit to herself that she wanted Luca too...she could be as strategic as him.

But if she was going to stay and submit to his arrogant demands then it would be on her terms, and she would gain from it too.

* * *

Luca sent a wary glance to Serena, who was sitting on the other side of the plane. She was looking out of the window, so he couldn’t see her expression, but he would guess that it was as stony as it had been when she’d got into the Jeep and on the silent journey to the private airfield near the airport.

He wasn’t flying the plane this time. Ostensibly so he could catch up on work, but for possibly the first time in his life he couldn’t focus on it.

All he could focus on was Serena, and the tense lines of her slim body, and wonder what that stony silence meant. He knew he deserved it. He was surprised she hadn’t slapped him back at the village. He’d seen the moment in her expression when she’d wanted to.

He’d never behaved so autocratically with a woman in his life. If he wanted a woman he seduced her and took her to bed, and they were never under the impression that he was in the market for more than that.

But this was Serena DePiero. From the first moment he’d ever seen her he’d been tangled up into knots. The last few days had shown him a vastly different woman from the one he’d met before...and yet hadn’t he seen something of this woman in her eyes that night in the club? He didn’t like to admit that he had seen that moment of vulnerability.

His conscience pricked him. He’d all but blackmailed her. He wasn’t so deluded that he couldn’t acknowledge uncomfortably that it had been a crass attempt on his behalf to get her where he wanted her without having to let her know how badly he needed to sate this hunger inside him.

He opened his mouth to speak to her just as she turned her head to look at him and those searing blue eyes robbed him of speech. She looked determined.

‘I’ve been thinking about your...proposal.’

Luca’s conscience hit him again. He winced inwardly. Never had he imagined that she would be so diplomatic when he’d been such a bastard. ‘Serena—’

She held up a hand. ‘No, let me speak.’

He closed his mouth and didn’t like the flutter of panic at the thought that he might just have completely mismanaged this. She could leave now and he’d never see her again.

‘If I agree to stay and do this trial for two weeks... If I do well—prove that I’m capable...and...’ She stopped, a dark flush staining her cheeks before she continued. ‘If I agree to what you said...then I want you to assure me that you’ll give me a job—whether it’s here or back in Athens. A proper contracted, paying job for the charity.’

The relief that flowed through Luca was unsettling and heady. His conscience still struck him, but he was too distracted to deal with it.

He held out a hand towards Serena and growled, ‘Come here.’

The flush on her cheeks got pinker. ‘Luca—’

‘Come here and I’ll tell you.’

He saw her bite her lip, the dart of her pink tongue. After a few seconds her hands went to her belt and she undid it and pushed herself up and out of her seat. As soon as she was within touching distance Luca had closed a hand around her wrist and tugged her so that she fell onto his lap with a soft ooph.

‘Luca, what are you—?’

He couldn’t help himself. He covered her mouth with his and stopped her words. A very dangerous kind of relief flowed through him. She would be his. She wasn’t leaving. Her arms crept around his neck after a moment of resistance. Her mouth softened under his. And when he swept his tongue along hers, and she sighed, he could have howled with triumph.

Before he lost it completely he drew back, his breathing laboured. He touched a hand to her jaw, cupping it, running a finger along its delicate line. He looked into her eyes and said, ‘Yes, I’ll give you a job.’

He could feel Serena’s breath making her chest shudder against him. The pressure in his groin intensified.

‘I want a signed agreement, Luca, that you’ll keep your word.’

Indignation made anger flare. ‘You don’t trust me?’ It had all been about him not trusting her. Luca had never considered her not trusting him, and it didn’t sit well.

Serena’s lush mouth compressed. She didn’t answer directly, she said, ‘A promise on paper, Luca, or I’ll leave as soon as we touch down.’

Any feeling of triumph or any sense of control slipped out of Luca’s grasp. His hands were around Serena’s hips, holding her to him, and as much as he wanted to push her back, tell her that no woman dictated to him...he couldn’t. The taste of her was on his tongue and, dammit, it wasn’t enough. Not yet.

So he finally bit out, ‘Fine.’

* * *

Serena took in the frankly mind-boggling three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of Rio de Janeiro outside the glass walls of the penthouse apartment. It was at the top of the building she’d come to that first day.

She turned to face Luca. ‘This is your apartment?’

He was watching her intently and inclined his head. ‘Yes, but I only use it if I’m working late, or for entertaining clients after meetings.’

Or for entertaining mistresses?

Suddenly she didn’t feel half as sure as she had on the plane, when Luca had pulled her into his lap to kiss her. Now her doubts and insecurities were back. Luca affected her...too much.

She crossed her arms. ‘I can’t stay here. It’s inappropriate.’

Luca stifled an inelegant snort. ‘This from the woman who was photographed at her debs in an exclusive Paris hotel in a bathtub full of champagne while dressed in a priceless gown?’

Serena flushed, recalling her father’s malevolent smile and even more malevolent tone of voice: ‘Good girl. We wouldn’t want people to think you’re becoming boring, now, would we?’

Serena chose to ignore Luca’s comment. ‘What about the apartment I was meant to stay in? The one for staff?’

‘It’s no longer available; someone else took your place there.’

‘Well, that’s hardly my fault, is it?’ she retorted hotly.

Luca’s jaw firmed. ‘It’s either here, Serena, or if you insist, the charity will be put to the expense of finding you somewhere else.’

‘No!’ she shot out, aghast. ‘But it’s just—’

He cut in coolly. ‘You’re staying here. I’m sure you can put up with it for two weeks.’

This was what she was afraid of. He made her emotions and blood pressure see-saw out of control.

Luca looked at Serena and narrowed his gaze. She was skittish, nervy. A million miles from the woman who had melted in his arms just a short time before.

‘Serena, what is it?’

She was angry, her cheeks growing pink. ‘I’ve agreed to sleep with you to get a job—how do you think that makes me feel?’

Luca’s conscience pricked but he pointed out, ‘You’re not sleeping with me yet.’

She went redder.

Luca felt something give inside him and ran a hand through his hair impatiently. ‘Look, I behaved like a boor earlier. The very least you deserve is a trial period. I would have given it to you anyway.’

She looked at him, surprised, and it affected him more than he’d like to admit.

‘You would? And what about a job?’

Luca schooled his features. ‘That depends on your trial period—as it would for anyone else.’

He moved closer then, and put his hands on her upper arms. ‘And you are not sleeping with me to get a job. You’re sleeping with me because it’s what you want. What we both want.’

She just looked at him, and something desperate rose inside Luca. He ground out, ‘The door is behind me, Serena. You can walk out right now if that’s what you want and you’ll still get your trial.’

For an infinitesimal moment she said nothing, and he was reminded of telling her where the door was before, willing her to use it. Now he’d launch an army if she tried to leave. He had to consciously stop his hands from gripping her arms tight, as if he could restrain her from walking out. He could see her throat work as she swallowed. Her eyes were wide, pupils as black as night.

She opened her mouth and he kept his eyes off the seductive temptation of those soft lips. He needed to hear this too badly. Needed her to stay.

‘Serena...’

Her tongue moistened those lips. Luca’s pulse jumped.

Her voice was husky. ‘I just want a chance.’

The tension in Luca’s body spiked. Damn her. ‘And? What else?’

She turned her head away and bitterness laced her voice. ‘You know I want you. In the tent...you made me show you. You humiliated me.’

Luca’s chest was tight enough to hurt. An alien sensation. He cursed softly and felt as if some layer of himself was being stripped away when he admitted, ‘Do you know how hard it was for me to stop myself from taking you that night?’

Those blue eyes locked with his. She whispered, ‘You made me feel as if you just wanted to prove your dominance over me.’

Luca tipped her chin up with a finger and felt her jaw clench. He smiled, and it was wry. ‘You credit me with far too much forethought. I needed to hear you say it...that you wanted me. You made me feel that much out of control.’

Instantly something flashed in those piercing eyes—something that made some of Luca’s tightness ease.

‘You’re so in control. It’s almost scary.’

Now Luca was the one to grit his jaw as he recognised that no one had ever said that to him before—certainly not a woman. Serena’s gaze seemed to see right through him to where he stood as a small boy, witnessing the awesome power parents had to rip your life apart. He knew his desire for control and respectability stemmed from that chaotic, messy, tumultuous moment. And here he was, skating far too close to the edges of losing it all again. And yet...he couldn’t walk away.

He said, with quiet conviction, ‘If I was to kiss you right now you’d see how thin the veneer of my control is, believe me.’

Something hot flared in the bright blue depths and he stifled a groan of pure need. But he would not take her now, like this, after trekking in a jungle for days, when they were both dizzy with fatigue.

It was the hardest thing in the world, but he let her go and stepped back. ‘I have work to catch up on—some conference calls to make. And I’m sure you’ll appreciate a night in a real bed again. My assistant will be here in the morning to take you down to the charity offices where you’ll be working. And tomorrow evening I’m taking you to a charity function.’

Serena’s heart palpitated with a mixture of relief and disappointment. So he wasn’t staying tonight? And then shame lanced her that she hadn’t been strong enough just to walk away. That a part of her wanted to explore what this man was offering, almost more than she wanted to prove herself or ensure her independence.

The last three and a half years had been all about finding and nurturing an inner strength she’d never known she had. But Luca made her feel weak, and it scared her. But not enough to turn away from him. Damn him.

‘Okay.’

Luca said nothing for a long moment and then he said quietly, ‘Boa noite, Serena. Até amanha.’

Till tomorrow.

He turned and walked away and the slick, modern apartment was immediately cavernous without him. They’d only spent four days together but it felt like a lifetime. Serena battled the urge to flee, once again questioning her rationale... But her decision to stay had nothing to do with being rational. That had fled out of the window as soon as Luca had pulled her onto his lap on the plane and kissed her witless.

Doubts and fears melted away. She wasn’t going anywhere. She couldn’t.

As soon as that registered in her body fatigue and exhaustion hit her like a freight train. Along with the realisation that she had hot water at her disposal and could finally wash.

Pushing all thoughts of Luca and what the immediate future held out of her head, she unpacked, took the longest and most delicious shower she’d ever had in her life, fell face-down onto an indescribably soft bed, and sank into oblivion.

* * *

Luca stood at the window of his office a floor below the apartment. Rio was a carpet of twinkling golden lights as far as the eye could see. He spoke into the mobile he held to his ear.

His voice was tight. ‘Let’s just say that I have my doubts about whether she did it or not, and I’d appreciate your help in finding out.’ There was a pause, and then Luca said curtly, ‘Look, Max, if it’s too much trouble—’ He sighed. ‘Okay, yes. And, thanks, I appreciate it.’

Luca cut the connection and threw his phone down on the table behind him. It bounced off and hit the carpeted floor. He ignored it and turned back to the view. Any conversation with his brother drove his blood pressure skywards. He knew that Max didn’t blame Luca specifically for the fact that they’d been split up the way they had between their parents...but guilt festered inside Luca even now. He was the elder twin and he’d always felt that responsibility keenly.

Pushing thoughts of his brother aside, Luca hated to admit it, but he felt altered in some way. As if some alchemy had taken place in his head and body since he’d stood looking at this view the last time—just before Serena had arrived almost a week ago.

He scowled at his fanciful thoughts. There was no alchemy. It was physical attraction, pure and simple. It had been between them from the moment their eyes had first locked. And now he was going to sate it. That was all.

The fact that he was prepared to allow Serena DePiero to sign an agreement which would potentially offer her employment with his company for the foreseeable future, and to be seen with her in public, were things that he pushed to the deepest recesses of his mind.

He focused instead on the increasing anticipation in his blood and his body at the knowledge that soon this ever-present hunger would be assuaged.