Brazilian's Nine Months' Notice (10 page)

‘I would be a fool not to take advantage of it.’

‘And no one would call you a fool, Emma.’

There was something in his voice that chilled her—something that said they had a long way to go before they could talk about trust—but while he’d been away it seemed that Luc had got used to the idea of a baby—his child, his heir—and that he was more enthusiastic about the whole idea. This was wonderful news for their child, but Luc would be more determined than ever to bring her under his control.

‘I’d rather you didn’t work,’ he said, confirming her concerns.

‘I have to work. And what I’ve been doing here isn’t exactly hard.’ She gestured around the beautiful room.

‘It isn’t slaving away in the kitchen,’ Luc agreed, ‘as my head chef assures me you are happy to do.’

She was chilled by the thought that he knew everything, but everyone in the hotel reported to Luc. ‘Why am I here if not to work?’

‘You should be resting.’

‘You took me to the kitchens and set me to work.’

‘Not to scrub and clean.’

‘I won’t pick and choose. I’ll do whatever’s necessary.’

‘Will you?’ Luc’s voice and his manner had changed. He was warning her not to push him.

Tough. She wouldn’t give in to him, Emma determined. Luc would enjoy her and then cast her aside as soon as she’d had the baby, if she gave him that chance, and she needed solid foundations for her child, which meant a good job going forward, so she wouldn’t offend him. To get that good job, she’d need a glowing reference from Luc. She wouldn’t do anything to compromise that.

‘I’ll see you at the party,’ he said, looking at her with dark amusement as if he could read her mind.

‘I’ll be there,’ she confirmed. ‘I’m looking forward to it. You should have told me Karina was your sister.’

‘I hear that you’ve become friends.’ His dark eyes grew watchful. ‘What do you talk about?’ He opened the door for them.

She shrugged. ‘This and that.’

‘Have you told my sister about the baby?’

‘No, and tonight is Karina’s night, so I won’t be mentioning it.’

Luc remained silent as he waited for her to go ahead of him.

‘Is there something else?’ She paused, close enough to feel his heat warming her.

‘You haven’t mentioned missing me.’

Tingles shimmered down her spine.

‘No, that’s right, I haven’t.’ With a last quick glance in his direction, she walked away.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

T
HE
USUAL
CHAOS
REIGNED
.
This was his sister’s annual party madness. He had detailed a squad of security guards to keep an eye on things, but he patrolled the vast marquee, because control was important to him. Control was vital.

He was looking for one person, and she had not arrived. The noise was ferocious. Even when he left the tent and checked outside, the noise inside easily crested the sound of the surf. This year’s celebration was being held on the beach, far away from the hotel and the sensibilities of his guests. He’d had a vast marquee erected on a piece of land he owned. The suggestion Emma had made about new real estate was ticking away in the back of his mind. He could just as easily build an annex to the hotel here.

Emma was strong on ideas—strong in many ways. For once in his life he regretted that past experiences had made him the man he was and long-term relationships were off his radar. Life had taught him to be a realist. He’d move on, and so would she.

His mouth tugged a little as he turned back to face this year’s extravaganza. His sister was an events organiser second to none, which was why he’d hired her. His company was too fast-moving, too successful, to allow for nepotism. Karina’s ideas were always off the wall, which was what made her stand out in the industry.

This year’s theme was the Arabian Nights, which meant the colossal tent was decked out in every exotic shade under the sun. The walls were composed of billowing silk sheets in a variety of jewel colours, while countless torches lit the scene. There were bare-chested waiters offering guests drinks, and bonfires on the beach where couples or groups could retire to cook their own food if they felt the need to escape the frenzy of the party for a while. The roof of the marquee was pleated and gathered into a small turret enclosed by a golden crown, on top of which flew a flag embellished with the letters K.M.

It was extravagant, but he would do anything for the sister who was lucky to be alive. Never a day passed when he didn’t remember that he had put her in mortal danger.

And with that thought making him edgy, he searched again for Emma. Where was she? And where was his sister? He didn’t know how he felt about the two of them being in cahoots, but he did know that Karina should be here to greet her guests.

What would Emma be wearing tonight? He’d seen that flash of fire in her eyes, enough to remind him of the wild woman he’d bedded in London. He doubted Emma would ever lose that side of her completely—he hoped she wouldn’t. He straightened up as he saw her coming down the path. As he had suspected she would be, Emma was arm in arm with his sister. Her laughter reached him first, and then her jade-green gaze settled on his. Tilting her chin at the defiant angle he was becoming used to, she walked straight past him across the sand. The chiffon robe she was wearing was the same colour as her eyes and floated behind her as she walked. Her feet were bare, except for dainty flat, strappy sandals, and she’d painted her toenails shell pink. They gleamed iridescently in the moonlight, while her skin looked paler than usual, highlighting the differences between them.

He felt like a barbarian lusting after a nymph. It was an arousing thought. In a totally frivolous touch Emma had secured a band of paste emeralds around her brow in an attempt to contain her long red hair. Defying these efforts, it floated around her shoulders like a fiery cloak. He had to have her tonight or he’d go mad.

‘But we’re just going to dance,’ his sister protested, when he came to stand between them.

‘You should greet your guests,’ he told Karina. ‘Shall we?’ he said to Emma. Without waiting for her answer, he linked arms with her and led her away.

‘That was high-handed.’ Emma arched a brow as she stared up at him.

She didn’t attempt to move away, he noted.

‘You are impossible, Lucas,’ she said, using his full name to show her disapproval. ‘You think you can push everyone around, even your own sister, but don’t expect me to come running when you snap your fingers.’

He had halted at the edge of the surf and moved in front of her. Putting his hands on her arms, he held her where he could look into her eyes. ‘I expect you to come to me of your own accord.’ Emma snatched a breath as he added, ‘Don’t fight me, Emma. Don’t fight this...’

Her hands flew up to press flat against his chest. Brushing them away, he dipped his head and lightly kissed her.

‘Stop it,’ she warned.

‘You’d rather go back to my sister?’

‘I’d rather kiss you.’ Her eyes widened as if the words her left her lips without making contact with her brain. ‘I should go back,’ she said quickly. ‘Karina will be missing me.’

He smiled faintly. ‘Karina will have forgotten both of us by now.’

Emma’s stare flashed to the marquee where they could both see Karina surrounded by a circle of friends.

Emma turned back to look at him. ‘Perhaps you’re right.’

‘I know I’m right.’

He led her away into the shadows. He knew this beach like the back of his hand. He’d come here as a boy and had explored every inch of it. He knew where to stop, to sit, to lie, and even where to make love. He’d lost his virginity here to an older woman, back in the days when he had still believed that love was real. The relentless thrust and pound of the waves on the shoreline was the soundtrack to his life.

‘I won’t break my own rules,’ Emma told him, hanging back.

‘What rules are we talking about?’ Dipping down, he rolled his jeans up to his knees so he could thrash his way through the surf.

‘My rules,’ she yelled back at him above the crash of the surf. ‘No parties. No Luc. No sex.’

‘Rules are made to be broken.’ Emma had kicked off her sandals, and was bundling her dress up so she could do the same, he noticed as he laughed.

‘Not mine,’ she said, swishing through the shallows until she arrived at his side. ‘And why should I break them?’ Her eyes turned serious as she looked at him. ‘You never make yourself vulnerable or talk about your past. You keep the real Luc hidden away. You never show anything of yourself—what you’re feeling, your thoughts about the future, or the past. Or if you do, you don’t share those thoughts with me. So tell me, why should I break my rule, Lucas?’

‘Because you can?’

She laughed and shook her head as she stared out to sea. ‘No means no.’

Turning to do the same, he inhaled deeply. The refreshing scent of ozone mingling with the aroma of a woman he was beginning to find irreplaceable was a heady combination. He enjoyed it for quite a while before turning to her. ‘No dancing?’

‘No dancing wildly,’ she said, reminding them both of London, when dancing with abandon had attracted the attention of her boss and had led to places neither of them had expected.

‘A sedate waltz should be safe,’ he suggested.

‘In Brazil?’ She flashed him a look that was pure wild Emma.

It hit his senses like a wrecking ball. What chance did he have when the music gliding towards them from the marquee was so sexy and sinuous? ‘A rumba,’ he murmured: sex in dance form. The rumba was the dance of love, the dance of seduction. It was a dance that gave him the perfect excuse to draw Emma close. In the first light-hearted moment they had ever shared they danced barefoot in the sand.

One dance couldn’t hurt, Emma told herself as she closed her eyes and melted into Luc’s arms. She didn’t want anyone to see them, especially not Karina, before she had told Luc’s sister about the baby. She wanted everything above board with Karina. She’d grown fond of Luc’s sister and wanted to break the news to her gently. She hated the deception that fate seemed be to thrusting on her time after time.

And she was deceiving herself now if she thought this dance could end in a gentle stroll back to the marquee, but she couldn’t snap herself out of the trance that dancing with Luc had brought on. They moved together so easily and he was so achingly familiar...

And dangerously unknown.

Emma frowned. What did she know about Lucas Marcelos? Barely anything. What did anyone know? The public only knew what Luc allowed them to know. He edited every bit of information about himself stringently. Which suggested to her that there was a lot he kept hidden.

She shivered involuntarily with pleasure as he feathered touches down her arm. It was so easy for Luc to make her forget everything...everything except him and the moment.

Winding a lock of her hair around his hand, he drew her head back and kissed her neck. It was such an intimate thing to do. It was a reminder of all the intimacy they had shared. Resting her hands on Luc’s shoulders, she stared into his eyes. The one thing they hadn’t shared before was peace like this. They had only known fire and passion, chaos and noise, surprises and shock, but this sinuous dance was a time for just feeling close. Drawing closer was as inevitable as the sea breeze caressing her overheated skin. It tempted her to believe that Luc had learned to feel, and she wondered if the baby had brought that change about.

She didn’t resist when he led her away towards the palm-fringed rear of the beach, where the undergrowth rustled in the ocean breeze. A comfortable hollow offered privacy and a bed with a moonlit, star-strewn canopy. Stretching his length alongside her, Luc brought her into his arms and kissed her in the way she had dreamed about since they’d first met. Her body and her heart yearned for him and she was already whimpering with need long before his touch on her body became firmer and more demanding.

Pressing against him, she writhed to increase the contact between them. A shaking cry escaped her when Luc smoothed his hand over the swell of her buttocks. His touch transferred to everywhere that had missed him, like a promise she ached for him to fulfil. Her long, filmy skirt proved no barrier at all. She may as well have been naked—a thought that had almost certainly crossed Luc’s mind. He smoothed the skirt back and she adjusted her position. Her lace thong was soon discarded. She was already throbbing with pleasure when he moved between her thighs. Reaching beneath her, he cupped her buttocks to bring her up to him, while with the other hand he brought her wrists above her head. She smiled against his mouth. This was exactly what she wanted.

Breath hitched in her throat as Luc teased her with the tip of his arousal. It was a promise of pleasure that made her pulse race. Over and over he went, back and forth, never quite giving her what she wanted, but Luc had never been in a rush.

Tonight she was in a rush, and arced up to claim him. ‘Now,’ she instructed, holding him captive with her inner muscles.

The pace of Luc’s breathing shot up and his eyes turned black with passion. Holding her stare so she couldn’t look away, he thrust slowly into her, and then just as slowly withdrew. Another firm thrust to the hilt...one more roll of his hips, and she was screaming his name as he murmured, ‘Now...’

She moved convulsively, lost in pleasure, for the longest time, with Luc holding her in place. It was too much—too good—and she couldn’t come down. She didn’t want to come down. She wanted to remain suspended in Luc’s erotic net for ever, moaning rhythmically as each successive pleasure wave rolled over her and carried her to a new, higher level of sensation.

‘Open your legs as wide as you can,’ he instructed. ‘Think of that one place and what I’m doing to you.’

It seemed impossible that mere words could make her pleasure grow, but Luc knew everything about her body and her responses to his instructions. She lost control again before he had finished speaking.

‘Greedy,’ he chastised her, smiling against her mouth.

‘Very greedy,’ she confirmed happily when it was finally possible to speak.

They kissed, they touched, and they shared whispered confidences. They made love for what seemed like hours. And they did make love. It wasn’t just sex, Emma reassured herself as Luc kissed her again. Even his kisses had changed. Everything he did now was tender and gentle, deeper and more meaningful, as if he really did care for her. The thought that they might have a future together dazzled her like a golden chalice just out of reach. To think of a future together with their child—

No, No! She couldn’t—she mustn’t allow herself to think like that. She had to remain strong. She had to go forward into the future self-reliant and independent, not looking to Luc and hoping he would care for her, or look at her a certain way, though right now she had never felt closer to another human being in her life.

‘Okay?’ he murmured, carefully withdrawing.

‘Okay,’ she confirmed, as he rolled onto his side so they were face to face.

Everything about tonight was okay—more than okay, it was magical. Making love to Luc beneath a canopy of stars was like every one of her dreams coming true. She could have lain here kissing him for the rest of the night. She could have lain here with her legs wrapped about his powerful thighs for ever.

‘What?’ he demanded softly, when she stirred.

‘You,’ she said, looking at him. She held his stare, wondering if at last she’d found the key to unlocking Luc’s inner self. She was so sure he was starting to trust her that she dared to hope they could go forward together now. No sooner had the thought lodged in her mind than Luc moved away and sprang up. She felt instantly bereft, robbed of more than just his warmth. His focus had left her too, she saw.

Making quick work of fastening his jeans, he stared down at her. ‘Well, I’m glad I make you smile.’

‘I’m glad you’ve changed,’ she said, clinging to those precious times they’d just shared, even though, deep down, she suspected they were already consigned to the past as far as Luc was concerned.

‘Changed?’ He frowned as he secured his belt. ‘Changed into what?’

‘From arrogant and distant, to loving and...’

When was she going to stop this? When was she going to wake up and realise that Luc didn’t share the hopeless romanticism in her psyche?

Also, she was hormonal. And right now she was riding a wave of euphoria that came after making love, while Luc had had sex with her and his head was perfectly clear.