What did she want?
A cry rose up from her heart. A man she could love. A man she could trust with both her child and her heart.
She wanted the impossible.
Tears rushed into her eyes.
“Isn’t it bad enough that my baby will be born without a name?” she whispered. “Bad enough that I’m an unwed mother—bad enough that everyone thinks I’m your whore? Are you so selfish that you want to make it true? To take the last bit of pride I’ve got left?”
He froze. Looking down at her in the shower, his expression was half-shadowed in the light of the translucent bathroom windows.
She had the vision of his muscular body in the sunlight flickering through the hot steam, standing proud and fierce like an ancient god of fire. An all-powerful heartless Greek god who seduced mortal maidens at will and left them cold and starving for his fire until the day they died.
He looked away.
“I never wanted to hurt you, Ellie,” he said in a low voice. “Never.”
Abruptly, he turned off the hot water.
Without another word, he pulled her from the shower. He dried her off with a thick cotton towel, then did the same to his own muscular body.
And even as she trembled beneath his touch, she still couldn’t look away from his perfect masculine form, the dark hair on his chest and belly forming a perfect arrow down to his…
She squeezed her eyes shut.
She told herself she didn’t want him. And even if she did, she couldn’t have him. The pleasure he offered was like a drug. One more taste, she would never escape the addiction.
Diogo was a selfish womanizer. He took what he desired. He grabbed a woman and didn’t let go until he’d had his fill; then he tossed her aside for the next one. He cared only for his own pleasure.
She heard him leave the room and waited to hear the front door slam. Now that she’d denied him his instant gratification, he would move on to some other, more compliant woman.
She closed her eyes. He would easily find another woman to satiate his desires. A woman a thousand times prettier and smarter than Ellie would ever be.
“Ellie,” he said.
Shocked he’d returned, she opened her eyes. He was dressed in a black shirt and dark jeans. He held out something for her.
Taking the pile of clothes in her arms, she saw a lovely dress, panties, a bra in her size—all stretchy enough for her expanding shape, but soft and very, very pretty. The kind of maternity clothes that cost a small fortune.
“Where—how did you—”
“I had my staff arrange a wardrobe for your stay.”
“My—stay?”
He gave her a slow-rising smile that she felt down to her toes. “Come with me.”
CHAPTER SIX
ALL THROUGH BREAKFAST, Ellie couldn’t stop giving Diogo little furtive glances over the table.
Sitting on the sunny warmth of the penthouse balcony, with a wide vista of the Atlantic Ocean and the sharp, cragged peak of Sugar Loaf Mountain rising to the east, she watched Diogo drink black coffee. Watched him smile and chat easily in Portuguese with the housekeeper. Watched him eat his buttery croissant slathered in jam with obvious pleasure.
So different from Timothy, who ate his meals with surgical disinterest. Diogo enjoyed his life. Even the little moments.
Sitting with him in the Brazilian sunshine, breathing sea air that was fresh from last night’s rain, Ellie realized that she was enjoying herself, as well. She wiggled her toes in her comfortable new sandals, then sat forward in her chair and accepted the housekeeper’s offer of a second ham-and-cheese omelet.
For some reason, for the first time in forever, Ellie felt… hungry.
Happy.
She sipped sparkling water from a crystal stem. Finishing her ham-and-cheese omelet, she gobbled down two chocolate croissants, all the while gulping down papaya, mangoes and açai berries, washing it down with sweet-tart pitanga juice. Every bite was ecstasy. Every taste better than the last. She felt good down to her bones.
And every time she looked up from her plate…
She saw him.
Their eyes met, and a shiver went through her. He hadn’t left her when she refused to make love to him. He hadn’t run out to look for some other woman. He hadn’t even been angry. He’d just brought her outside to share a meal with him in the sunshine.
Almost as if he cared.
She bit her lip, trying not to even think such things. She couldn’t start to imagine he cared. She couldn’t count on someone who would inevitably fail and abandon both her and the baby. It was better that her child have no father at all!
Growing up with a distant father and bitter mother, Ellie had promised herself that her life would be different. She would fall in love with a man who loved her desperately in return. They would marry and have a family. Children. Grandchildren. Through all their lives, they’d have a love affair that never ended.
But real life wasn’t like that, was it?
At least—she thought with sudden sadness—it wasn’t like that for her. But she’d be a fool not to enjoy this moment while she could. Breakfast with Diogo in Rio. A beautiful, sunny morning. Delicious pastry and comfortable shoes…
Reaching forward, she helped herself to another chocolate croissant. She sighed as she took a bite, enjoying the exquisite flavor. She’d try to follow Diogo’s example. If she couldn’t have her impossible dreams, she would try to savor the pleasures of the moment while she could!
The housekeeper refilled Diogo’s coffee, and he nodded her dismissal. When he was alone with Ellie on the balcony, he leaned across the table.
“Pregnancy suits you.”
Mouth full, she looked up to discover Diogo looking at her with frank desire. An electric current traveled between them.
“You’re even more beautiful,” he said, “than you were that day at Carnaval.”
Feeling awkward, she swallowed the bite of fruit and leaned back in her chair. Forgetting her gracefully placed linen napkin in her lap in her confusion, she wiped her mouth with her sleeve.
“Thank you,” she muttered.
“How are you feeling?”
“Great.” And to her amazement, it was true. The nausea she’d felt for months was gone. In fact, she hadn’t really felt sick since she’d arrived back in Rio and taken a deep breath of the fragrant air, spiced with exotic flowers and the salt of the sea.
“Good.” Diogo smiled at her. “I have a proposition for you.”
A little thrill zinged through her. “A proposition?”
A fantasy overwhelmed her brain. I want you, Ellie, you and only you. I want to raise our child together. I want to marry you and make love to you every day for the rest of our lives…
Stop it! she yelled at herself. Hadn’t she learned not to dream impossible dreams—and learned it the hard way? Besides, she didn’t want to be Diogo’s wife. Why would she want to marry a man she couldn’t even trust to be faithful?
“Ellie.” He took a sip of his coffee, then set down the cup. “You are so young.”
She snorted. “Twenty-four!”
His dark gaze seared her. “That is young to me. You are barely starting your life. You had no intention of getting pregnant, but I caused you to conceive my child. You shouldn’t suffer because of my mistake.”
She gave him an uncertain smile. “I haven’t exactly been suffering…”
He gave her a brief, humorless smile. “I’ve caused you to be sick for months. Driven you out of your job. Kidnapped you from your wedding… Shall I go on?”
“What is your point?”
“I caused this,” he said quietly. “I can fix it.”
She clasped her hands beneath the table to hide their trembling. “How can you fix something like this?”
“I want you to promise to stay with me.”
Her heart leapt up into her throat. “To promise?”
“Until the baby is born. Then you can go back to New York, or anywhere
you desire. You can return to your career, if you like. You can date whomever you want. Being pregnant has thrown you—it’s what nearly made you marry a man you did not love. It clouded your judgment. Marrying him would have ruined your life—and my son’s.”
“What are you driving at?” she whispered.
“After our child is born, I will set you free.” He took another sip of coffee. “My son will stay with me.”
A dagger of ice passed through her body. “You want to separate me from my baby?”
“It is for the best, Ellie. You never wanted to be a mother—”
“That’s not true!”
“And I’m not convinced that you can take proper care of him.”
Her jaw dropped. “You can’t be serious.”
“I am.”
She sucked in her breath.
“You think you would be a better father?” she demanded furiously. “You’d never even be home! You fling yourself into a new woman’s bed every night!”
“Ellie, listen—”
“No, you listen to me!” She abruptly rose from the table. “You’re the one who doesn’t have the ability to be a good parent. The baby and I are leaving right now—”
“Stop,” he ordered, and she stopped. She heard him come behind her. He placed his hands on her shoulders. The weight of them pressed down on her like the burden of her heart’s hopeless yearning.
He turned her around in his arms.
“You will stay here until the child is born,” he said. “That is nonnegotiable. I can’t take the chance you might return to Timothy Wright—or any other man like him. You will remain here where I can keep an eye on you.”
She fought back tears. The Brazilian sunlight must have glazed her brain to make her think that she could ever trust Diogo! “So you can keep me prisoner, you mean!”
“So I can keep you safe,” he said coldly. “You don’t know Wright as well as you think you do.”
“I know he’s my friend. I know he’s got more honor and decency in his little finger than you’ve got in your whole body!”
He gave her a grim smile. “And it’s that blind lack of judgment that shows you’re not fit to raise my son. I simply cannot trust you to—”
“You can’t trust me?” she gasped. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard! You are nothing but a rich, spoiled womanizer who’s never had to struggle for anything in your life. While all I want, all I’ve ever wanted, is to take care of the people I love!”
He ground his jaw. “I do not want a custody battle, Ellie. Give the baby up to my care. He will be happy and secure.” He paused. “And I will compensate you for your trouble. I will make you rich beyond your wildest dreams.”
“What?” she gasped, confused. What did money have to do with custody of their baby?
“Ten million dollars.” He looked down at her. “I will give you ten million dollars to go.”
For a moment, she couldn’t breathe.
Then outraged fury rushed through her. “No!”
“Is ten million not enough?” He leaned closer to her, his black eyes holding an unfathomable darkness in their depths. “You’re holding out for twenty?”
“I won’t sell her for any price!”
“Him,” he corrected unthinkingly. “You have a price. We both know you do. Just tell me what it is.”
“I don’t want your money, I just want you to let us go!”
“A hundred million dollars. That’s my final offer, Ellie. I advise you to take it.”
A hundred million dollars.
She stared at him in shock. It was an unimaginable number. And Diogo meant it. She could see it in his eyes. A powerful billionaire like Diogo Serrador could make a single call, and the forty dollars in her bank account would instantly be transformed into a hundred million dollars.
He truly thought he could buy her baby. Just like that.
His reckless arrogance made her catch her breath. What kind of man would think he could buy and sell anything he wanted—even the precious relationship between mother and child?
“But you don’t even want to be a father!” she choked out. “You had a vasectomy. You don’t want children. Why try to take mine?”
He clenched his jaw. “I had the vasectomy to make sure that no child of mine was in the world without my knowledge, to be hurt by someone who doesn’t have the judgment or resources to be a decent parent.”
Fury raced through her.
“And you think you’d make a decent parent just because you’re rich? You’ve never been able to commit to anyone for longer than a week. You’d likely grow bored raising a child and abandon her. I wouldn’t choose you as my child’s father if you begged me!”
The hard look in his eyes could have shattered diamonds into dust.
“Agree to my terms, Ellie. Until the baby is born, I’ll treat you like a queen. Then you will be a rich woman, free to pursue life and enjoy your own romances to your heart’s desire. What is your answer?”
She clenched her hands. He really thought she would sell her child to the highest bidder then go gallivanting off to find a boyfriend and spend her millions?
She set her jaw, facing him with eyes full of hate.
“My answer? That’s easy,” she spat out, clenching her hands. “Go to hell.”
Go to hell?
Diogo cursed softly in Portuguese.
He was already there.
He’d been a fool to sleep with Ellie in the first place. An employee—a small-town girl—a virgin. What had he been thinking?
He hadn’t been thinking. That was the problem. Returning from an all-night deal in Rio, triumphant over an acquisition, they’d been stopped on their way back to the hotel when their car was halted by an impromptu street celebration along the Avenida Atlântica. Samba music and dancers had poured from Copacabana, some samba dancers dressed in sequins and feathers, others barely dressed at all.
Diogo had pulled Ellie from the car. He’d cleared a path for them, walking the last blocks to the Carlton Palace. They’d passed an alley where a man was making love to a woman against a wall. As he kissed her lips and caressed her breasts, a different man knelt reverently between her naked legs.
Diogo was a Carioca by birth. He hadn’t been shocked. But he’d instinctively glanced back at his wholesome junior secretary trailing behind him, her hand clinging tightly to his own. He’d seen her look in the alley, and her pink lips had parted in a hoarse intake of breath.
And then she’d turned and looked straight into Diogo’s eyes.
Wordlessly asking him to touch her.
Begging him to taste her.
Suddenly, amid the frenzied celebration of the music-filled batucadas swaying to the frenetic rhythm filling the air like exotic perfume, he’d really seen Ellie Jensen. Not just as a beautiful girl, but a pure-hearted beauty, skin white as snow, hair like spun gold. Ellie had been so desirable that it had made him hurt inside. As if he’d gone back in time to when he’d still believed in love and fidelity…
He shook his head. Love? Abestado. He’d stopped believing in that particular fairy tale long ago. But he’d known then that he had to have Ellie or die.
People lost their minds during Carnaval. They discarded marriage vows without repercussion or blame. Diogo had briefly lost his senses beneath the pounding rhythm—nothing more and nothing less.
He didn’t remember how he got her upstairs to his penthouse. He just remembered the way she’d trembled beneath him in bed. Her gasp of pain and his own shock when he’d discovered she was an untouched virgin—not wholesome just in appearance, but reality. He’d tried to pull back, but she’d reached up and kissed him with lips so tender and sweet that all possibility of stopping was swept away. He’d thrust into her slowly, inch by agonizing inch, until he heard another slow-rising cry rise from deep inside her. He made her come again, and then a third time, until the tears in her eyes were from pleasure too great to bear.
Only then did he finally a
llow himself to surrender. He thrust inside her, imploding with an explosion of white heat that made him collapse against her on the bed.
Afterwards, he’d held her. He made love to her all night. And far more surprising—he’d slept in her arms. He still remembered the feel of her soft, gentle body. Knowing that when dawn came, he would have to give her up.
Biskreta, he grew hard just thinking about that night.
Staring at her now, even as he demanded that she leave both him and the baby forever, he wanted her back in his bed. Craved her beyond all reason. Beyond all resistance.
But he couldn’t trust her. Ellie was young, naive, shortsighted. If Diogo hadn’t guessed the truth about his baby’s paternity, he would never have even known that he existed. Ellie would have married that bastard Wright. She would have given his child away.
Did she know what kind of man Timothy Wright was? Did she have any idea how he’d suddenly gotten so rich over the last few years—his nasty little side business?
Diogo intended to find out.
“A hundred million dollars is a lot of money, Ellie. It’s far more than Wright would have gotten for you.”
Her china-blue eyes widened. “What are you talking about?”
He watched her narrowly. “Don’t you know?”
She shook her head, and her lips turned down in a sad little moue. “I just know I treated Timothy badly,” she whispered. “He’s loved me for ages. But I couldn’t love him no matter how hard I tried. Then I humiliated him in front of all our wedding guests…”
Diogo barked a laugh. “He deserves far worse.” Suddenly haunted by the image of a woman’s face, he looked away. “I nearly killed him at Christmas. With my bare hands.”
“Why?” He heard Ellie take a step toward him, heard her intake of breath. “What did he do?”
“Do you really want to know?” he asked harshly.
She put her hand on his arm. “Yes. I want to know.”
He looked up at her. Ellie had changed a great deal from the shy secretary he remembered. Her body had changed, as well. He could now see the unmistakable signs of pregnancy. Her pale skin glowed. Her slender breasts had grown huge. They swelled beneath the pretty neckline of her maternity dress, straining beneath the fabric.
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