Brazilian's Nine Months' Notice (11 page)

‘Oh, I don’t know...’

‘You said loving?’ he prompted with a frown.

He’d pick up that one careless word. ‘Loving as in...not so controlling?’ she suggested, trying to make light of what had been a dangerously careless remark.

As Luc helped her to her feet, she had to remind herself that he didn’t do love. But she did. More fool her.

She brushed herself down while Luc stared back at the lights of the party. It was time to go.

‘What’s wrong?’ he said when she hesitated.

‘Nothing.’ And this was the man she had briefly thought so tender and caring? Not even a kiss or a touch to reassure her now. She had a lot to learn about the complex man that was Lucas Marcelos, but doubted she would ever get that chance—‘Ready?’ she said brightly, starting back to the marquee.

CHAPTER TWELVE

L
UC
’
S
SMILE
MADE
her wary. Step one had been achieved as far as he was concerned. Emma was in Brazil. Step two had also been a success. He’d had her. Why would he have any reason to suppose she’d want to go anywhere until he’d done with her? Sex was sensational between them. Luc was a tireless lover who enjoyed bringing her pleasure. What woman wouldn’t want to be with a man like that?

Just don’t go looking for Luc’s heart, because you’ll be looking for a long time.

She knew that. Sex was essentially a sport for Luc. He used it to exert control over her, or so he thought. Setting her sights on her goal, which was the marquee and uncomplicated fun with Luc’s sister, she barred herself from looking back at him.

He caught up with her, and standing in front of her he stopped her going anywhere. ‘Excuse me, please. I’m already late for the party.’

‘Late?’ He frowned.

‘Okay. Very late. Will you please let me pass?’

‘You’re not just very late,’ he said, humour lighting up his eyes, ‘Your hair’s a mess, your legs are covered in sand.’ He shrugged as he plucked some foliage from her hair. ‘And, if I’m not mistaken,’ he said, leaning close, ‘you’re also mad at me. Now, why can that be?’

Could it be because you’re so cold-hearted?

Reaching out, Luc took his fingertips on a feathery trail down her face to her lips where his fingertip lingered. ‘Don’t be angry, Emma. We’ll go in to the party together. I don’t think there are many secrets at the hotel,’ he added, confirming her own thoughts on that subject. ‘You’re in the apartment next to mine, waiting to give birth to my child. No one knows you’re pregnant yet, but you won’t be able to hide it for very much longer.’

‘Even so, my independence is vital to me.’

‘Independence
was
vital to you before the baby came along.’ Luc’s voice had gained an edge. ‘But now you have other concerns, I would have thought.’

‘I do have other concerns.’ His implication that she was being selfish made her mad. ‘You really will stop at nothing. And I’ll say it one more time. I will not become your mistress.’

Luc responded with a dismissive gesture. ‘That’s fine by me. Pay your own way. Work all you want to. In fact, I insist you work—just not the hours you worked in Scotland. You’re too valuable an asset, as far as my company is concerned, for me to allow your talents to go to waste. But the child will be supported by both of us.’

Luc’s eyes had turned stony. His expression scared her. ‘How will that work?’

‘I’ll plug any gaps you leave.’ His eyes drilled into hers as if hunting for signs of weakness.

He’d find none, she determined, though the gaps Luc referred to would be huge compared to his thick bankroll. She couldn’t hope to compete with the type of life he seemed determined to give his child.

‘For once in your life agree, and be thankful, Emma.’

He hadn’t really changed at all. ‘Thankful?’ she said quietly, feeling that all their closeness had been destroyed. ‘You make me feel as if I come to you like a beggar—and that what I can provide will never be enough for our child.’

‘I’m just stating facts.’ Luc’s shoulders lifted in a careless shrug. ‘I’m saying I can give more.’

‘I can support my child,’ she said firmly. ‘And I’ll do that with or without your help—’

‘You will do what is right,’ Luc said over her. ‘This isn’t about you, Emma, this is about my child.’

His child. His control. His world.

She had never felt more vulnerable or alone.

Which was all the reason to gather her forces and fight. She wasn’t alone. She had a baby to protect. ‘If you’re suggesting that by doing as you say, I’ll somehow earn more treats for my child, I think that’s despicable, and we’re going to have some real problems down the line. I’m going into the party now. I think we need space—’

‘Don’t play games with me, Emma.’ She gasped as Luc yanked her close. ‘This is too important. You can’t walk away from me.’

‘And you can’t walk away from this problem, which will remain until you learn to let go,’ she shot back. ‘We’re in this together—equal partners, whether you like it or not. Now, get off me,’ she warned, angrily shaking herself free.

‘We’re well matched,’ Luc commented, not in the least bit fazed.

‘You wish,’ she said quietly, stalking off.

Her breath shattered into pieces as Luc brought her back into his arms and silenced her with a kiss. He held her so she couldn’t escape his heat and force, and for a moment she wanted to yield. Thankfully, this time common sense kicked in before she did. ‘No, Luc. We have to talk. And before we do that, I need space from you.’

‘But I don’t need space from you,’ he murmured, smiling his way into her heart. She groaned as he rolled his hips and then made things worse, bending again at the knees and straightening up slowly, rubbing her where she was still so sensitive. He kept up the pressure until her body screamed for him, and wanting Luc was like a madness driving her closer to the brink.

‘You don’t want to go anywhere,’ he said quietly.

She swallowed convulsively, knowing he was right. But she was equally certain she should say,
No! I can do without you.
She should pull away from him and go back to the party, but she couldn’t...she didn’t want to. She wanted Luc.

‘You want me to have you here where anyone might see or hear,’ he said, seducing her with his wickedness. ‘You want to take that risk that someone could leave the party and head towards the beach, instead of the road—walk right past us while I’m pleasuring you. In fact, the prospect excites you.’

‘Luc, stop this,’ she begged. ‘We can’t—’

‘But we are,’ he said. ‘You don’t want me to stop.’

‘But we could be discovered.’

He smiled as he freed himself. ‘That doesn’t bother you. You’ve got other things on your mind right now, such as me attending very thoroughly to your needs.’

She whimpered in helpless agreement as he cupped her. And then his hand began to work, rhythmically and persuasively, until she couldn’t have stopped him had she tried. Her body had taken over her mind and her actions, and a cry of need flew from her throat. Nothing else mattered but this.

‘I was right, wasn’t I?’ Luc said, smiling against her mouth. ‘I’m going to do everything,’ he said, ‘and you don’t even have to move.’

That was one instruction she couldn’t follow. She was already scrambling up him when Luc lifted her. She couldn’t wait. She couldn’t stand for his teasing or tormenting her, or for foreplay of any kind. She had to have him now...and cried out with satisfaction when Luc’s first stroke drove deep. He filled her completely. He stretched her beyond imagining. The shock was sensational—the pleasure even better. She lost control immediately and bucked against him, out of her mind with triumph and relief, and very soon after that a craven hunger for more.

‘Wait,’ he commanded, his voice a soft, husky drawl. ‘You’re too greedy by far. You’re going too fast.’

‘No,’ she growled, collapsing against him.

‘Try to think of something else,’ he suggested.

‘How am I supposed to do that?’ she gasped out.

‘Do it,’ Luc commanded.

She dragged deeply on his warm, clean scent, revelling in everything about him, knowing that if she did as Luc said the pleasure would be stronger and would last even longer. But there came a point where she couldn’t wait and arching towards him she took him deep, moving fiercely and fast, relishing the feast of sensation—wailing as she crashed over the cliff. She clung to him furiously as he made sure she was done.

Luc rested inside her, smoothing her hair with long, calming strokes, and when she was calm again he withdrew slowly and with infinite care.

But he was only teasing her and plunged deep again. The shock was glorious. The pleasure was intense. She responded immediately, coming apart in his arms as he pressed deep and rolled his hips. ‘More!’ She laughed. ‘Give me more,’ she begged him, as if they hadn’t done this over and over in the sand.

She would never get enough of him, Emma realised as to her relief Luc began to move.

He gave her what she needed in a series of firm, deep strokes. And then repeated the technique he had used before, withdrawing slowly and thrusting firmly, driving her further and further up the thick smooth strut of the marquee. She dug her fingertips into the muscles on his shoulders, her arms almost straight he’d pushed her so high. Throwing her head back, she gasped noisily as she silently sang the praises of this big, powerful man.

‘Again?’ he suggested when she quietened.

‘Are you asking permission?’

Luc’s answer was to drive into her and pleasure them both this time with fast, hard strokes. ‘Yes!’ she screamed, loving the sensation even more when he lost control with her.

‘That has never happened to me before,’ he admitted when they had both recovered. ‘I was so angry with you—’

‘And me with you,’ she agreed.

‘How am I keep supposed to keep a rein on myself now?’

She stared into his eyes, uncertain whether Luc was joking or not. ‘Maybe you’re not,’ she said as he held her close. She pressed her face against his chest. Their heartbeats were equally rapid, but did Luc feel as she did inside? If there was some potion she could take to render her immune to Luc, she’d take it so she could be as cool as he was, but right now she had never felt so close to another human being in her life, and that felt so good she wanted to shout it to the world, not keep it hidden deep inside.

Outrageously good sex and a shared sense of humour, along with a certain amount of caring, was a tender shoot on which to build a relationship.

But it was a start
, Emma told herself firmly as she straightened her clothes.

I love you, you impossible man
, was what she wanted to say to him, but of course she didn’t. It was too soon. Luc might laugh—would laugh, she corrected herself. The time might never come, and she had to accept that. From what she could tell, Luc had spent his entire adult life keeping people at bay, and one passionate encounter on a beach wasn’t going to change that.

* * *

He linked fingers with her and led her through the entrance of the marquee. He didn’t care who saw them. Emma had made him happy. She had made him feel good about himself for the first time in a long time.

‘You can’t refuse to be my mistress now.’

‘I’m sorry?’ She stopped dead and looked up at him. ‘So you think that what just happened means you can drink your fill of me and then get rid of me? No,’ she said levelly. ‘Where becoming your mistress is concerned, nothing has changed.’

‘Why?’ Bringing his face close, Luc brushed her lips with his.

‘Why am I the only woman on earth to refuse you? I don’t know,’ Emma admitted, pulling back. ‘I just know that what you’re offering is never going to be enough for me. However you dress it up, you’re asking me to forfeit my freedom in return for financial gain.’

‘So you don’t feel anything for me?’

‘Of course I feel something for you—too much,’ she admitted. ‘But nothing’s changed because of tonight. I won’t live with you. And I won’t become your mistress. I should never have agreed to stay in that fabulous apartment to begin with. I should have had enough wit to demand accommodation in your staff quarters from the start. Then we wouldn’t be having this conversation.’

Luc stared down at her indulgently. ‘You do know this is hormones talking?’

‘No, Luc.’ Emma shook her head. ‘This is me talking. We’re back to where we started, so I’m telling you all over again that I won’t be controlled.’

‘That’s not what I’m trying to do.’

‘So what are you proposing?’

* * *

Not marriage, he thought as Emma turned away. He’d been down that dark alley once before and had no intention of repeating his mistake.

When he didn’t answer, she shook her head in despair at him.

‘You’re a riddle, Emma,’ he admitted. ‘You’re the most passionate woman I’ve ever known, but you say I’m controlled? What about you?’

‘I don’t want to hear about your other women,’ she told him firmly. ‘I certainly don’t want to be compared to them.’

He could feel her pulling away in spirit, and they were already standing six feet apart. Emma glanced back towards the hotel, rather than towards the party, where they might have prolonged their evening. Losing her was unthinkable, he realised suddenly. He couldn’t allow it to happen. He was confident he could pull this back. It wasn’t the first time in his life he had faced an apparently insurmountable problem and triumphed. He had turned the scorn of the father he could never hope to impress into a positive that had driven him to succeed. Would he let Emma get the better of him?

‘Goodnight, Lucas.’

Goodnight?
He stood in silent disbelief as he watched her go. She was leaving him? She was walking away?

She didn’t look back.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

K
ARINA
RAN
UP
to him and put a hand on his arm. ‘Don’t,’ she cautioned. ‘Don’t go after her yet, Luc. Give her time.’

‘Time for what?’ He was in no mood to discuss Emma with his sister.

‘You know why I’m saying this,’ Karina insisted.

‘Do I?’

‘You don’t want to rehash the past—I know that, but sometimes it has to be faced. You have to tell her, Luc. You can’t keep avoiding the subject.’

He shook his head—the head he badly needed to get together. So much had happened in so short a time, the events he had been ignoring were back. All the old anger, the hurt, the sense of betrayal... Karina was right. He had to come to terms with it before he could move on. But not here where the noise from the party was deafening—or even in the hotel, where the demands of his work were ceaseless and would cause constant interruptions to his thought processes. There was only one place on earth where he could unspool the tangle and rewind.

‘Please,’ Karina was saying to him, hanging on to his arm as she stared up into his face. ‘Don’t let Emma go. Can’t you see what you stand to lose? Emma’s changed you for the better, and I’d rather see you like this—all beat up inside—than not feeling at all. Give love a chance, Luc.’

‘Love?’ he exclaimed with an incredulous laugh. ‘I think you’re overstating the case.’

‘Am I?’ his sister demanded. ‘Yes, Lucas. Love. I’m not frightened of the word. Why are you? Just because you’ve been hurt once doesn’t mean you’ll be hurt again. Give yourself a chance, Luc. This could be your one chance to be happy again.’

He laughed bitterly, knowing it was easier to let the ice grow back around his heart.

‘Everyone has secrets,’ Karina persisted. ‘It’s who you choose to share them with that counts.’

‘Thanks for the counsel, little sister. There are more secrets than you know.’

‘There you go again,’ she said. ‘You’re a patronising, arrogant pain in the butt—who means well, but who goes about things all the wrong way. You don’t have to take the world on your shoulders. Emma and I can do that for ourselves.’

‘I doubt it,’ he murmured, narrowing his eyes as he stared in the direction Emma had gone. She had disappeared out of sight. He was itching to chase after her. Karina might have made sense. Both he and Emma needed space, but Emma’s safety was his paramount concern now. ‘I’m going after her.’

‘Of course you are,’ Karina told him with a smile in her voice.

He caught up with Emma running along the beach. She was barefoot, holding her sandals in one hand and her skirt in the other so she could run faster. The wind had caught hold of her hair and was tossing it about. He wanted to stand and watch her but he couldn’t let her carry on. ‘Emma! Wait!’

Whipping her head around, she shouted back at him, ‘Go away, Luc. This is over. I’m leaving. I never want to see you again.’

She was running away from him along a strip of ivory sugar sand, with the moonlight in her hair and the surf pounding at her feet. He raced along the sand to join her, and was with her in seconds. ‘This has nothing to do with control,’ he shouted against the wind, raising his hands in mock surrender when she looked at him. ‘Do you know how dangerous this is? Running along the beach at night on your own—and in your condition?’

‘Pregnancy isn’t a threat to my health, Luc.’

‘But an attack on a woman on her own at night is a threat,’ he insisted, catching her close. ‘You must never do this again. Do you understand me?’

She didn’t fight him this time. In some calm part of her she knew he was talking sense. ‘No, Luc, no,’ she said softly. ‘Don’t say anything. I should never have come to Brazil. I should have told you about the baby when we were in Scotland, and I should have stayed there. But I had to be stubborn and come here, and now I’ve complicated everything.’

‘When is life ever straightforward?’ He brushed a wayward strand of hair from her face.

‘It’s not straightforward tonight,’ she agreed. ‘Tonight is so complicated that I need to take a step back, but if you want to see me safely to the hotel...’

‘Of course I will.’

‘I was silly to run off. You were right about the hormones.’ She shook her head. ‘They rule me.’

‘I know.’ He paused before suggesting, ‘What if there were no conditions to your staying?’

She shrugged. ‘I’d stay?’

‘Seriously?’

‘But only if I can move into the staff quarters, and only if you let me stand or fall by my own merit.’

Everything she asked for was contrary to his nature, but he couldn’t
deal
with Emma as he dealt with everything else in life. He would have to learn to compromise. They both would. ‘We’ll have to talk this through.’

‘No surrender on the staff accommodation,’ she warned him.

Staying close but not touching was the most extreme torture known to man, but he did as he had promised and took Emma straight back to the hotel. They walked in silence the entire way, and by the time they arrived in the lobby something significant had changed. Even though they hadn’t spoken, it was as if a wall had come down.

‘Thanks for giving me the space I asked for,’ she murmured as they waited for the elevator.

He stood back as the steel doors slid open. ‘Goodnight, Emma. I’ll have someone sort out your accommodation.’

‘Thank you.’

He stood for a moment staring at polished steel as her face disappeared behind the sliding doors, and then, decision made, he turned on his heels and walked away.

* * *

She had asked Luc to back off and give her space. She hadn’t expected him to take her quite so literally, Emma reflected, chewing on her lip as she headed out of her new and very comfortable room in the staff quarters. They hadn’t spoken to each other since Karina’s party and that was days ago. She had lain awake at night since then wondering where he was, and had asked different members of staff, only to be told that Senhor Marcelos was away on one of his trips. She didn’t like to ask Karina. She had too much to tell her before that, and as Karina had been busy the old story of the right moment to talk about the baby had never come.

She found Karina sitting at their usual table in the staff canteen. She looked up as Emma approached.

‘You look as if you haven’t slept. Frustration keeping you awake?’

Ignoring this, Emma pulled a concerned face as she sank down onto the seat next to her friend. ‘Sat up all night worrying about the lack of hot water in my bathroom, if you must know.’

‘As diversionary tactics go, that was lame,’ Karina remarked. ‘Hot water?’ she repeated suspiciously, scooping up another mouthful of aromatic sauce. ‘Really?’

‘Yes. Really. The shower in my room,’ Emma explained, blinking owlishly as she forced out the story. ‘There’s something wrong with it. It made me think it might be worth completing a snagging list on every apartment in the staff quarters, so that’s what I’ve done.’

‘Of course you have,’ Karina commented drily, getting back to her food.

‘The plumber’s coming round today to check them all out.’

‘That’s not the kind of plumbing I had in mind,’ Karina murmured, shooting a look at Emma.

‘Oh.’

‘Exactly. Oh,’ Karina echoed. ‘I know about you and my brother, so no use pretending. Did you really think I wouldn’t notice you were missing from the party? For
ever
?’ she emphasised, rolling her eyes. ‘Or that when you left, Luc chased after you?’ she added when Emma started to protest.

‘That was nothing.’ She brushed this off with a casual gesture. ‘Luc saw me safely back to the hotel, and that was it.’

Karina hummed as if she didn’t believe a word of it. ‘Did he say anything when he caught up with you?’

‘Like what?’

Karina lips pressed down as if she wasn’t quite sure whether to say something or not.

‘Well?’ Emma pressed.

‘So...’ Clearly determined to change the subject, Karina swung around to pin her with a stare. ‘Let’s get back to that night. If you say there’s nothing between you and my brother, what about earlier when you arrived at the party looking flushed and excited with a dusting of sand and grass in your hair? Was that nothing too?’

‘That was—’

‘All right—not sure I want to know,’ Karina interrupted. ‘Anything more than a confession about a peck on the cheek and you won’t need a sauce for your spaghetti.’

‘Nice.’

‘Stating facts. What’s going on between you two? And, more importantly, what’s gone wrong? That’s what I want to know. It was clearly getting serious and now it’s not.’

‘How do you know all this?’ Emma sat back in her chair, bemused.

‘I know because when my brother takes off like this, it can only mean one thing. He’s got something on his mind and needs to get away. He’s been gone for over a week now, so it must be serious. And you very carefully haven’t asked me where he’s gone. So I’m obviously suspicious. And then there’s you,’ Karina added. ‘I only have to look in your eyes to know there’s something wrong with you. And whatever it is, you’ve got to get it sorted—both of you. What can be so bad that you can’t talk about it face to face?’

Upsetting Karina was the last thing Emma wanted. ‘I’m afraid it’s a lot more than a disagreement,’ she admitted.

‘Well, tell me. Come on. What’s the big news?’

‘I’m having Luc’s baby,’ Emma blurted. She braced herself for Karina’s response. Karina’s hand had flown to her mouth and her face had paled with shock, but if there was one thing Emma had learned, it was that waiting for the right moment didn’t work. Thankfully, Karina recovered quickly, and leaping out of her seat, she exclaimed, ‘But that’s wonderful!’

Sending plate and pasta dishes flying everywhere, she hugged Emma across the table. ‘I can’t believe you look so worried about it.’

‘It’s not that easy.’

‘What’s easy?’ Karina exclaimed with a shrug, sitting down. ‘Is there anything I can help you with?’

‘The problem is Lucas.’

‘Ah. That might be difficult.’

‘It’s not him exactly...’ Emma hesitated. ‘It isn’t easy to share this with his sister—’

‘Give it a try,’ Karina advised. ‘I’m your friend. Who better to confide in?’

‘I just don’t know how to say this in a less hurtful way,’ Emma admitted.

‘Luc is controlling? Does that help?’

The expression on Karina’s face made it hard not to laugh. ‘He wants to control everything,’ Emma admitted. ‘He wants to control me at work, when I’m away from work, my pregnancy, the baby, me—’

‘I know Luc can be difficult,’ Karina interrupted, ‘but there’s a very good reason for it.’

‘Can’t you tell me what it is?’

Karina bit her lip and shook her head, as if she’d already said too much. ‘It’s not for me to tell you. You’ll have to ask Luc.’

‘That might be difficult when I don’t even know where he is. We didn’t part on the best of terms. I stalked off.’

‘You behaved like every other couple in love?’ Karina suggested.

‘We’re not in love.’

‘Aren’t you?’

‘I told him I needed space, and he took me at my word.’

‘Luc hasn’t gone for ever. I’ve never seen him happier than he is with you. You have to give him a second chance, Emma. Speak to him, and then you’ll understand why Luc is the way he is.’

Emma was silent as she considered this. ‘You’d better tell me where he is.’

‘He’s at the ranch where we spent summers growing up. We sold the main family house in Rio because of memories we prefer to forget, but we kept the ranch house, the land and the old cabin as a reminder of our holidays there. We just couldn’t bring ourselves to lose contact with the people who worked the ranch. They were like family. They still are. Luc bought the adjoining fazenda so he can ride out to the cabin like before.’

‘How far away is it?’ Emma’s brain was racing.

‘It’s a couple of hours to fly to the ranch, and then another couple of hours to ride out to the cabin. You’re not thinking of going there on your own, are you? Can you even ride? The cabin’s in the middle of nowhere, and you’re pregnant.’

‘Yes. But I’m not sick, and I’m not helpless. Exercise for pregnant women is actively encouraged, and this is something I’ve got to do. Tell me about the cabin,’ Emma insisted, in an attempt to distract her friend.

‘It used to be a wreck when we were children, but Luc put it together again plank by plank. There’s no one else there, just Luc. It’s the place he goes to when he wants to be alone.’

‘So...this flight to the ranch?’ Emma asked casually.

‘No,’ Karina said flatly. ‘I’ve changed my mind. Luc would never forgive me if he thought I’d let you go to the ranch on your own. We won’t even contemplate his reaction if you turned up at the cabin—’

‘And I won’t forgive you if you don’t tell me how to get there,’ Emma threatened. ‘Please...’ She grabbed Karina’s hand.

Seeing she was set on going, Karina relented. ‘The Carrier Pigeon would take you as far as the ranch—’

‘The Carrier Pigeon?’

‘That’s what we call the Marcelos light aircraft that shuttles back and forth between the city and the ranch. You’d be safe at the ranch, but you can’t get to the cabin because you would need to ride there—there’s no other way. There are no roads or landing strips. And you don’t ride,
do
you, Emma?’ Karina demanded in her best attempt at a stern voice.

Emma’s shoulders lifted in a reluctant shrug. ‘If I could just get to the ranch...’

‘Anyway, Luc doesn’t pick up calls when he’s at the cabin, so you’ll have to wait for him at the ranch. And goodness knows how long he plans to stay at the cabin. It’s in a really remote area. The only way Luc can be contacted is by satellite phone, and then he never picks up.’

‘I’m happy to wait at the ranch,’ Emma said blandly.

Karina studied her face. ‘You wouldn’t try anything stupid, would you?’

‘Of course not,’ Emma protested, eyes open wide. ‘I’d really like to visit the ranch...if I wouldn’t get in the way?’

‘You wouldn’t get in the way,’ Karina confirmed, glancing up.

‘Well, then. Will you fix it for me?’ Emma held her breath.

‘I could ring to let the staff at the ranch know that you’re coming, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be able to get hold of Luc. He switches off completely at the cabin. That’s why he goes there. You’d be on your own until he got back.’