She rejected each of these choices out of hand. Just for tonight she was going to be free from doubt. Chico was in no hurry to let her go, and wasn’t this what she had always dreamed? And when reality far exceeded her wildest dream, wouldn’t it be churlish to waste this opportunity?
It was a sin for a man to feel this good. Imagining them both naked, hot skin to skin, Chico’s big frame against her small body, made her press a little closer to him—not too much as she didn’t want to be too obvious about it. The music called for it, she reassured herself. Chico was so outrageously masculine, what was she supposed to do when every contour of his hard body was rhythmically massaging hers? A frisson of doubt hit when she wondered about his other women. Did he choose to be alone? Did he want to get close to anyone? Were there too many memories in the past he couldn’t share?
She had promised herself she wouldn’t go there. Where women were concerned, Chico would feed when he was hungry and then move on.
‘So, why Fazenda Fernandez, Lizzie?’
She was thrown for a moment. His tone was so matter-of-fact it jolted her straight out of the fantasy, and now she realised that the music had faded to silence and the dance had ended. She should break away, leave his arms, but time seemed suspended—
Time hadn’t been suspended for Chico, Lizzie reasoned sensibly. While she had been happily relaxing into an erotic daze, he had been coldly calculating her reasons for coming here.
Lifting her head from where, she now realised with deep embarrassment, it was comfortably nestled on his chest, she stared him in the eyes. ‘Why not here? It was an easy decision for me to make. The college I attended awarded a scholarship to your ranch, and so I went for it. With my grandmother’s approval,’ she added pointedly. ‘And since that scholarship is funded by you, I can’t think that you would allow anyone to win it that you haven’t thoroughly vetted first.’
‘I have a team to do that for me.’
Of course he had. And she should have known that. Everything in Chico’s world was so much more complicated and sophisticated than the world Lizzie inhabited. You didn’t get to achieve what he had without covering all the bases. It was Chico’s casual manner tonight that had deceived her, but now she realised that there was nothing laid-back or unplanned in his life, because he couldn’t afford to be careless. There was too much at stake in Chico’s fast-moving world to risk losing it.
‘So, why here?’ he repeated. ‘There are other scholarships available at the college you attended.’
Of course he’d done his homework. Of course he knew that she could have gone anywhere in the world where horses were bred with skill and care.
‘You’re the best,’ she said honestly. ‘You train the best, and I want to be the best. I want to follow in your footsteps.’
‘You want to go into competition with me?’ He smiled, his tone deceptively relaxed.
‘I want to set up in business, yes, but in competition with you?’ She laughed. ‘I’m a few million short of the start-up capital.’
‘You’re extremely forthright.’
‘I don’t know any other way to be.’
Chico appeared to relax, but Lizzie doubted she’d ever seen him looking more dangerous.
‘I should warn you that I love competition,’ he whispered in her ear when the music started up again.
She shivered involuntarily when his hand found the small of her back, and his fingers spread out to claim her.
‘And I love it when you speak your mind. It’s vital that I listen to the views of everyone on my team.’
The team with one captain, Lizzie reflected, relieved that Chico couldn’t know his whispered words and those wicked hands of his were imparting messages he almost certainly did not intend, and in a language wholly unknown to her before tonight.
‘If you ever need more help, Lizzie...’
How to answer that, when Chico’s fingertips were only a whisper away from the swell of her buttocks? Could he guess how this dance was affecting her? Was he mocking her, toying with her? Was this all a game? Maybe they were both playing games. She wasn’t dancing with Chico because of the scholarship, but because of the sheer animal attraction between them and unfinished business from the past. She longed to know the truth about him—all of it, but Chico was making it as hard as he could for her to remain cool and objective so she could gather the information she needed. His mouth was too close to her ear, his breath too warm on her neck, and their bodies were so close she could feel his heart beating. This wasn’t just dangerous; this was a crazy, full-of-risk, exciting possibility.
* * *
What was it about music and sex? The rhythm, he decided. Dancing was the perfect prelude to sex. Lizzie’s breathing had quickened, and her heart was pounding furiously against his chest. What was in her head? Raw sex was swirling round them, and that couldn’t be helping Miss Prim right now. All the other dancers were intent on each other, and, no doubt, the inevitable outcome of the evening for them. How did Lizzie think this would end? With a good night’s sleep?
‘Don’t fight me,’ he murmured, his mouth close to her ear. ‘Once a day during training sessions, that’s okay. Here on the dance floor? No.’
‘Stop,’ she warned him in a whisper.
‘Stop? Of course I’ll stop, if you want me to.’
Her answer was to shake her head as if she had given up on trying to reason with him, but she didn’t pull away and that brought more of her into contact with him. That brought all of her into contact with him.
‘You are a very bad man,’ she chastened him—and, unless he was imagining things, seemingly enjoying the fact.
‘I’m glad we understand each other at last,’ he murmured.
All the times he’d touched her seemed to have accumulated in her memory bank, and that wasn’t helping, Lizzie realised as they danced on—or, rather, as they gently rubbed their bodies together until the fire inside her threatened to explode right there on the dance floor with everyone watching. Her head was full of Chico kissing her, and how much she wanted him to kiss her again. The excitement when his powerful body had held her trapped had been enough to make her want more. Just thinking about it had brought her to a state of arousal she’d never experienced before. And she was in no hurry to come down.
‘Another dance?’
It took her a moment to realise that Chico was speaking to her. She wanted to reply, but it was hard to concentrate long enough to form the words when streaks of sensation were rippling through every nerve ending in her body and her stash of smart retorts was lost in a mist of softly pulsing pleasure. And whatever she said, she doubted anything would remove that mocking curve from Chico’s mouth. He knew his power over her was sex. She hoped he couldn’t even begin to guess how badly she wanted him. But, maybe he could. Chico Fernandez was said to have senses second to none.
She gasped as he moved his fingers—only by a fraction, but enough to make her eyes close so she could concentrate on the sensation. Her response to him had to be obvious, but she couldn’t stop herself. She didn’t want to stop herself. She didn’t want anything to get in the way of this feeling, though some sensible part of her said she would have to find an excuse to leave the party, so she’d be safe—from herself. But not yet. She didn’t want to leave the party yet.
CHAPTER SEVEN
WHEN THE BAND took a break Chico stood back and let her go. She was free to go. She always had been free to go. It wasn’t Chico’s way to rule. He coaxed... He trained... He seduced...
How she longed to be seduced.
Everyone applauded the band. This was her moment to leave—
Chico thought so too. Taking hold of her wrist, he led her away from the dance floor. His touch was light—seductively light. They’d danced, and that was it, she told herself sensibly. Chico had done his duty by her. He’d d
anced with the captain of the opposing team, and now they would part. Good. That was how it should be. That was the sensible thing to do. This was what she wanted, she reasoned as he drew her on. This was safe—
Safe?
Chico was steering her across the yard towards the ranch house, leaving the exuberance of the party behind them. He probably wanted to talk, she reasoned. They had said they would talk. There were so many gaps to fill in. They must be heading for his office.
No. They had walked straight the past the stable block where Chico’s business office was located, and were walking on towards the big house. Suddenly this was all very real, and immediate. Did he think they were going to sleep with each other when they had resolved nothing from the past?
‘We were going to talk,’ she reminded him, hanging back. Chico had no idea that the estate he had loved was crumbling, or that her father was in a home for recovering alcoholics, and that no one even knew where her mother might turn up next. So much had happened over the past twelve years.
One look at Chico’s closed face and nerves raced in, making her babble. ‘Once I’ve mastered your training methods, I’ll start small—’
‘Lizzie.’ Dipping his head, Chico stared her in the eyes. ‘Now is not the time. And even if it were the right time to talk about this, the first thing you should learn about business is to guard your feelings.’
‘If ever I do have feelings, I’ll be sure to guard them,’ she said, stung.
‘And your plans too,’ Chico murmured in the same measured tone.
‘Like you guarded your plans before leaving Rottingdean without saying a word to anyone?’ Her accusation hung in the air between them, ugly, and out there now.
Chico’s expression darkened. ‘I had to leave.’
‘Because of my mother?’
He looked at her as if she were mad. ‘Your mother?’ His voice was full of all the contempt he could muster. ‘Dios! No! I stayed as far away from Serena as I could.’ Which hadn’t stopped them falsely accusing him of sleeping with her mother, and worse.
‘Why, then?’ Years of bewilderment filled her and coloured her voice, and when Chico wouldn’t answer she made a sound of scornful resignation and turned to go.
Barely had she taken a step when he seized her arm. ‘Take my advice, Lizzie, and let the past stay in the past. And don’t play me,’ he warned, bringing his face close.
‘Don’t play you?’ she demanded, shaking him off. ‘I have no idea what you mean.’
‘Really?’ He boxed her in again. ‘You play hot then cold. What’s going on, Lizzie?’
‘What’s going on is this,’ she said coldly. ‘You walked out twelve years ago after promising to take me away from that hellhole. You left without a word.’
‘I had my reasons.’
‘Self-preservation?’ she suggested.
‘You know nothing about it,’ he snarled.
‘Clearly.’
Chico towered over her, menacing and as furious as she was. ‘Do you mind?’ She tried to find a way around him.
‘Yes, I mind.’
‘I’m going to bed now.’
‘Yes,’ Chico said as he huffed a derisive laugh. ‘Bed is exactly what you need.’
There were so many angry words she longed to say to him, but she bit them back. There was too much to lose.
‘I left you in the care of your grandmother,’ he called after her as she walked away. ‘I did know how hard it was for you—your parents, those endless parties. I allowed myself to be persuaded that your grandmother would keep you safe.’
She stopped walking. ‘You were easily persuaded,’ Lizzie retorted, still with her back to him. ‘And you could have said something to me before you left.’
‘If I had stayed to explain it would have cost me my freedom. I was a youth with no money and no influence, and Eduardo and your grandmother gave me no alternative when they decided I must leave.’
She shook her head. ‘I thought you understood, Chico, but you knew nothing about my life, just as you know nothing about it now.’
‘As you know nothing about mine,’ he fired back.
As the temperature soared between them she whirled around.
Lizzie started to say something—something angry to hit back at Chico; something passionate to express all the hurt she’d felt when she was a teenage girl—but as she speared a glance into his blazing eyes Chico reached out and caught her to him. Holding her breath, she stared up. He wouldn’t dare—surely he wouldn’t dare—?
His grip tightened and, slowly and deliberately, he brought her inch by reluctant inch to within a whisper of his mouth. And when he brushed her lips with his, she shivered and sighed, because she could do nothing else. He moved closer until his hard body controlled hers. Resting his forearm on the wall above her head, he dipped his head to tease her with almost-kisses until she was helpless with desire. Need collected inside her until, finally, it overwhelmed her. She tried to hold back, but every hungry impulse she had ever experienced seemed to have gathered in one place, and Chico’s hard thigh was brushing her—
‘No—don’t move!’ she gasped out in desperation when, sensing her crisis, he made as if to pull away.
With a low laugh, he increased the pressure just enough, and the dam broke inside her. Without any curbs available to her, she convulsed against him, helpless as she called out his name and yielded to pleasure.
* * *
The final barrier had come down. He scraped his stubble against Lizzie’s neck as she bucked against him, entreating him to hold her even more tightly as she moved helplessly in the grip of a powerful orgasm. He supported her as she broke apart in his arms and felt her legs give way. She had lost her last inhibition, and this new, adult Lizzie was an intriguing mix of vulnerable and hungry. He guessed she would soon want more. She confirmed this, standing on tiptoes to link her hands behind his neck so she could keep him where she wanted him as she lifted her face to kiss him.
A woman who could match him with this type of fire was a revelation to him. He kissed her back, tasting her, and enjoying the sensation of his hard frame mastering her body as he drove his tongue between her lips. Lizzie responded with equal fire as he claimed her, by claiming him, and that turned him on most of all. It was as if she’d bottled up every year they’d spent apart and now those emotions were free, they were pouring out. Making soft sounds of need in her throat, she fought him for more contact, so it was a surprise when he reached for her again and she tensed, pulling away with a shocked, ‘Chico—what am I doing?’ Putting her hand over her mouth as if that could hide all the signs of her arousal from him, she made a sound of disbelief.
‘What’s wrong?’ He loosened his hold on her. ‘What are you feeling guilty about? You’ve done nothing wrong. You’re nothing like your mother,’ he murmured, sensing she needed to hear that. ‘You’re too open with your feelings, for one thing.’
She looked confused, and he guessed for Lizzie everything had been left on ice in the emotional sense on the day he left Scotland. He couldn’t blame her when everything had happened in such a rush. One minute he’d been giving Lizzie the friendship bracelet he’d painstakingly woven for her out of horsehair, and the next he was looking back through the car window at the fast-disappearing shadow of Rottingdean House.
‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered.
He pulled his head back to stare down at her. ‘What are you sorry for?’
‘I led you on. I let you think—’
‘That you want this?’
She stared up at him, and for a good few seconds he was happy to let the tension build, and then, pressing her back, he reached for her with one hand, and, with his thigh holding her legs apart, he held her firmly in place with the other, so she couldn’t escape the persuasive action of his fingers.
S
he looked shocked, but in moments she was falling again, and gasping, ‘I need this.’
‘I know you do,’ he breathed against her mouth, supporting her as she thrust greedily against his hand.
‘And now you need something more,’ he said as she quietened.
Her eyes agreed with that proposition, entreating him to repeat the treatment. Even through her jeans he could feel how hot she was. He wanted this too—he wanted their lost time back.
* * *
Chico took the stairs so fast she could hardly keep up with him. Out of breath, and panting with excitement and effort as she raced up the great staircase with him, she clung on hard to Chico’s strong hand, though it was a relief when he stopped on the half-landing and swept her into his arms. He carried her the rest of the way, with the scent of beeswax, fresh flowers and baking contrasting oddly with the hot musk of sex rising from them. Chico had a beautiful home, she registered distractedly. How many years had she spent dreaming about his house and what it would be like?
When he stopped outside a polished mahogany door, she closed her eyes for a moment, like a child waiting for a surprise. She was thrilled to find his bedroom was exactly as she had imagined it: a huge bed dressed with crisp white linen, night-stands on either side—books stacked up on them—and hidden lighting that cast a honeyed glow over a mellow polished oak floor. Several other doors led off the bedroom, no doubt to a bathroom, a dressing room, and possibly a gym. And there were French doors, framed by shutters that led out onto a balcony where the soft strains of music were still faintly audible.
‘What is it you want, Lizzie?’ Chico murmured as he lowered her to the ground.
‘You,’ she whispered fiercely. ‘I want you.’
They came together like a force of nature. Their kisses fierce—her fingertips biting cruelly into his shoulders. She wanted him naked. She wanted him naked now. She had to feel him flesh to flesh. Fighting free, she seized the edges of his shirt and ripped it apart.
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