One Night In Collection

by Various Authors

  CHAPTER TEN

  FROM THE BASE OF THE towering Cristo Redentor statue high atop the jungle of Corcovado Mountain, Ellie could see all of Rio. The stylized Art Deco statue spread his arms wide, embracing all of the city. In the distance, she could see the sharp bookend of Sugar Loaf Mountain rising from the Atlantic.

  But as the fragrant breeze whipped her hair around her face, Ellie glanced at Diogo with troubled eyes. Like the statue, he’d been welcoming and warm all day, his arms always reaching out for her. Browsing together though the arts and crafts for sale at the Hippie Market in Ipanema. Buying her a new wardrobe of bikinis, ignoring all her protests as he dragged her into the shop on Copacabana Beach. Taking her for a lunchtime barbeque at a local churrascaria rodízio. Traveling to the top of Sugar Loaf Mountain on a cable car.

  And every time she glanced at him, his dark eyes were on her. Assessing her. Waiting.

  Hot.

  Every time their eyes met, it felt like a full-body assault, leaving her breathless. He touched her constantly. Helped her out of the limo. Held her close as they walked through the busy streets.

  As she stood beneath the enormous statue and watched the sun finally dropping in the west, painting the white stone the vermillion and orange of sunset, she felt Diogo come behind her. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her back against his body.

  A shiver went over her. Just friends, she repeated to herself, her teeth chattering. Just friends.

  “We should go,” she whispered.

  “Sim,” he agreed. “After I kiss you.”

  “Kiss…?” Her lips parted involuntarily. “But you promised!”

  “I never promised not to kiss you.” He gently brushed her hair away to nuzzle her neck. “Call it a friendly kiss.”

  She felt the interested eyes of the few lingering tourists watching them. She turned around in his arms, placing her hands on his chest. She breathed. “Please don’t—”

  But he lowered his head to hers. It was a hard, hungry kiss, tenderly cradled in his arms, a kiss so powerful and true it was everything she’d once dreamed a kiss could be. On top of the world, with the blue Atlantic and sharp mountains and beauty of Rio de Janeiro at their feet, she felt the colors and faces of the tourists swirl around her in a whirlwind beneath the intensity of his embrace. She almost forgot where she was. Lost in a sensual haze, she hardly noticed the approving smiles and nudges of the tourists around them.

  He held her gently, so gently. She felt his hands in her hair, brushing softly against her jawline, holding her as if she were the most precious treasure in all the world.

  When he pulled away, he looked down at her. There was an intensity in his dark eyes that made it impossible for her to look away.

  “You are hungry, yes?” he whispered.

  So hungry. She’d never been so hungry. Her lips trembled. “I…”

  He grasped her hand. “Come with me.”

  His chauffeur drove their shiny black SUV south through the city. In the backseat, Diogo continued to hold her hand. He wouldn’t let go. He caressed her with his eyes. As the sky outside darkened into deep shades of scarlet, she felt his heat like a blast of burning sun.

  The driver stopped at an elegant restaurant on Ipanema Beach. Diogo helped her from the car, then led her past a line of people waiting outside. The doorman leapt to open the door.

  “Boa noite, Senhor Diogo!”

  The restaurant was full, and yet somehow they immediately got the best table, set outside on the veranda with a view of the red sunset sparkling across waves crashing against the shore. She could see the shadows of the cragged mountains of Rio rising from the mist of sunset.

  “You are right,” she said quietly, looking out at the view. “The city is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Dangerous and beautiful.” She looked at him from the corner of her eyes. “Impossible to resist.”

  He took a sip of his Sapphire martini, then set the sleek blue glass back down on the table. “I’m glad you feel that way.”

  She glanced down at her plate. Diogo had ordered a classic Brazilian dish for her: camarão na moranga, a thick seafood stew with large shrimp with potatoes cooked in coconut milk, served in a small carved pumpkin. It was delicious. She savored every bite. It was truly an experience unlike anything she’d ever had in her life. She looked up.

  And so was he…

  She took a deep breath as she came to a sudden decision.

  “I will stay until the babies are born,” she whispered. “I give you my word.”

  “Tá bom.” His eyes swiftly met hers. “That will be best for everyone.”

  As they left the restaurant after their leisurely dinner, she caught herself in a sigh. “It’s been a wonderful day, Diogo.” She gave a wistful little laugh. “I’m almost sorry it’s over.”

  He pulled her into his arms, looking down at her with a wicked gleam in his eye. “Nothing is over, querida.”

  “But it’s getting so late.”

  “The night is just beginning.”

  The old concrete building held the hottest club in Rio—in the most dangerous favela in town. Diogo didn’t seem worried, but Ellie knew his bodyguards had insisted on waiting outside. Especially his personal bodyguard, Pedro Carneiro.

  Ellie shivered. She always got nervous around Pedro, probably because he looked so much like his brother who’d attacked her in the favela. But Diogo trusted him. And against her will, she was starting to trust Diogo….

  He pulled her onto the crowded dance floor. The building was full of gorgeous young Cariocas, all dancing provocatively. The women wore tiny little dresses and little else to hide their curves; the men were strong and brutish, swaying their hips with blatant sensuality. The red lamps illuminated the sweaty, cavernous room as the live musicians began to play an Argentinean tango.

  Diogo kissed her hand. But it was no gentlemanly gesture. He kept his eyes leveled on hers, holding her fingers against his own as his lips hotly caressed her skin, and it was a promise of what the night held.

  A shiver racked her body.

  He won’t try to seduce me, she told herself desperately. He promised.

  But as he pulled her closer into his arms, pressing his hand against the back of her neck, she could not resist him. In rhythm to the music, surrounded by the red light and steam, he held her in continuous contact with his body. Moving against her. Feeling his hard-muscled thigh between her legs, a moan escaped her lips.

  He bent his head until it was just inches from her own. Almost close enough to touch. And she wanted him to kiss her. Wanted it badly.

  At the last moment, he turned away.

  By the time the dance ended, Ellie’s body was on fire from her fingertips to her earlobes to her toes. Was it possible to die from wanting a man like this? Could she literally burst into flame, being held against his hard body—but having him not kiss her?

  “Just friends,” she whispered aloud, closing her eyes. Her breath came in little gasps. “Friends…”

  He lifted her chin with a muscular finger, forcing her to meet his eyes.

  “I’ve never wanted to be your friend, querida.” He ran his hand along the side of her breast to her swelling belly, causing her to shudder from her nipples to her womb. “You are far more to me than a friend.”

  “I am?” she whispered.

  He leaned forward with the sway of the seductive music.

  “Marry me, Ellie,” he said in a low voice. “I will treat you like a goddess for all your life.”

  Marry Diogo?

  Staring at him, she was tempted more than she could bear. How long had she dreamed of this—of being cherished by Diogo Serrador, the handsome, powerful billionaire she’d admired from the moment she’d become his junior secretary?

  It hadn’t been a joke yesterday. He truly wanted her as his bride. Ellie Jensen from Flint, Pennsylvania. Of all the women in the world, he’d chosen her to be his love…

  His love?

  The thought was like
a slap in the face.

  He didn’t love her.

  He just wanted to possess her. He wanted the babies to stay in Rio, and he wanted Ellie at his beck and call, in his bed for as long as he wanted her.

  This whole day, as beautiful and perfect as it was, had been just one long setup.

  She squeezed her eyes shut. But even knowing that, she still so desperately wanted to say yes… .

  “What is your answer, meu amor?” he asked, stroking her cheek as he looked into her eyes. “Will you make me the happiest of men? Will you agree to be my bride?”

  She blinked hard, struggling to regain control. “You don’t love me.”

  “Let me take care of you. Let me keep you comfortable and safe forever.” His dark eyes sizzled through her. “Let me give you pleasure such as you’ve never known.”

  The longing to surrender poured through her so desperately that her whole body shook with the force of her desire. She wanted to give in. Wanted nothing more than to be the beloved wife of a powerful billionaire who would take care of her and their children for the rest of their lives. Diogo made her skin ignite with every caress. He seared her with every challenging look. And when he smiled… The word yes trembled on her lips. She tried to fight it. She couldn’t let him break her heart.

  But many playboys grew up and fell in love and were faithful to their wives! she argued with herself. If Diogo didn’t love her now, perhaps in time…

  His phone vibrated from his pocket, barely audible over the music. He glanced at the phone to see the number of the caller, and the expression on his face changed.

  “Excuse me,” he told Ellie curtly. Turning away, he spoke warmly into the phone. “Catia…”

  And he left Ellie standing alone on the dance floor. She stood there in shock, surrounded by the pulse of the music and the sexy couples dancing as if they were desperately in love. And her heart melted under the weight of her humiliation.

  She’d nearly sold her soul for a kiss.

  God, how stupid was she?

  Keep her comfortable and safe? Diogo would keep her and the babies like toys on a shelf, for him to take down and play with when it amused him. He would travel the world, run a billion-dollar business, and seduce a new woman every night, and forget all about the family he’d left at home!

  He’d interrupted first a kiss—and then his marriage proposal—for the sake of another woman. What kind of fool would agree to be Diogo’s wife under those kinds of terms?

  No.

  She wouldn’t let him buy her. Not with his money and not with his sexy charm. She would rather be poor and free than be a rich man’s toy. She would rather be a single mother than a miserable, brokenhearted wife!

  But it had been so close. After such a wonderfully romantic day, she’d almost agreed to be his bride.

  And knowing that, she hardly knew whom she hated more—Diogo or herself.

  “I’m sorry.” Diogo was suddenly in front of her. “I had to take that call.”

  “Of course,” she said coldly. “I understand. Not that I’ve ever had a mistress myself.”

  He stared at her, and she realized part of her was waiting breathlessly, hoping he would deny everything. That small, weak part of her wanted to believe he could be faithful, even by ignoring the evidence of her own eyes.

  But he didn’t even try to deny it. His lips only separated into a glinty smile. “Right.” He reached for her. “Now, where were we? Ah, yes. You were agreeing to marry me.”

  Humiliation once again rushed through her, leaving her body in flames. She moved before he could touch her.

  “You were taking me to the airport,” she said evenly. “I want to go home. Now.”

  “Now?” He stopped, grinding his jaw. His chest rose and fell twice. Their gazes locked as, all around them, couples danced provocatively, grinding their half-naked bodies in movement to the seductive music. “And this is how you keep your promise to remain here until the babies are born?”

  Unwilling to trust her voice, she shrugged.

  His jaw tightened. She saw him clench his hands.

  “Tá bom. Just remember, querida. You left me no choice.”

  Without warning, he picked her up in his arms in the middle of the dance floor.

  “What are you doing?” she gasped.

  “Taking you to our wedding,” he growled.

  “What? No!” Shocked, she struggled and cried out. The other patrons of the club were so lost in a haze of sex and pleasure and music that they hardly noticed. The few who did notice merely glanced at them with knowing, sly smiles and returned to their dirty dancing.

  As Diogo carried her out of the club toward his shiny black Escalade, she tearfully looked up at him. His face was stony, as icy and unreachable as the stars above them.

  “Please don’t do this!” she begged.

  He shoved her into the backseat. “Since you won’t see reason, I have no choice.” Diogo climbed beside her and leaned forward to speak to his chauffeur. “Go.”

  “But—you promised!” she sobbed.

  “And unlike you, I never break my word.” His handsome face was cold as he looked down at her. “You will never be my mistress. But I swear to you now—you will be my wife”

  The night was dark as Diogo’s black heart.

  Their SUV was covered with mud as they traveled over a rough road into the deep of the jungle. With her window rolled down a crack, she could smell the exotic flowers of the dark forest, hear the eerie howls of spider monkeys and the call of night birds.

  Ellie saw a tiny ruined church with peeling white paint that was half-swallowed by jungle.

  “I can’t marry you,” she said desperately. “Please!”

  He didn’t even glance her way. “It’s for the best.”

  “The best for you, you mean.”

  He turned to her. His eyes were dark, half-hidden in shadow. “I don’t understand why you continue to refuse me.”

  “No, of course you wouldn’t!” she said sarcastically. “No woman ever refuses you anything!”

  “You are the first.” He leaned forward with a frown. “Why? Why do you want our children to be born without a father, without a name? Don’t you know the devastation it will cause them? You want me so badly I can feel the heat from your body whenever I draw near. Why do you persist in refusing what we both want?”

  “Because… Because I want more!” she cried out.

  “More what? More money? More? I do not understand! I offer you what I’ve never offered any woman.” He sounded exasperated, even bewildered. “I’ve asked you to be my bride.”

  “You’re not asking anything. You’re forcing me.” She looked away, suddenly fighting tears. “And that should be enough for a woman like me, I suppose. I’m knocked up and have no money, and you’re kindly offering to take care of me. I should be grateful, right?”

  He ground his teeth. “Enough of this. You won’t see reason. Tá bom. It doesn’t change your fate.”

  Picking her up in his arms, he carried her into the church.

  Five minutes later, the village priest was smiling down at her with kind but bleary eyes, drunkenly swaying on his feet as he spoke the words that would marry them.

  At least, Ellie assumed that was what he was doing. It was all in Portuguese.

  He turned to Diogo, asking a question.

  “Sim,” Diogo said with a pleasant nod.

  The priest turned to her with the same question.

  “No,” she gasped out. “No! I won’t!”

  Looking bemused, the priest turned his red, rheumy eyes questioningly on Diogo. He shrugged with a smile, then turned with a tender expression to his bride. Smoothing his arrogant expression into a smile, Diogo replied to the man in the same language.

  “Ah,” the priest said with a grin. And he started speaking the ceremonial words again.

  “What did you tell him?” she bit out.

  “I explained that you’re reluctant to marry, due to an innocent bride’s b
lushing modesty.”

  “I’m standing here in a maternity dress!”

  “Fortunately, it’s sometimes difficult for a man to tell the difference between early pregnancy and being a bit fat in the waist.”

  She stiffened. “I wish to God I never let you touch me!”

  “Strange, I don’t remember that. Oh my God, my God, don’t stop, Diogo,” he said mockingly. “I love you, I love you, I do!”

  Her cheeks went hot with shame and she wished she could either die—or murder him! “That was a long time ago. I will kill you if you ever touch me again!”

  His gaze traced her body in the white lace dress. “A very intriguing proposition,” he mused. “Will having you in my bed be worth the risk of death?” His eyes caressed her lips, her breasts. “I think it will.”

  Self-consciously, she pulled the neckline a little higher over her swelling breasts.

  The elderly priest lifted his hand to give benediction on their marriage. Diogo slipped a plain gold band on her finger, and it was finished.

  She was Diogo’s wife.

  Mrs. Serrador.

  Married to the man who’d seduced her. Who’d married her without mercy. Who’d stolen her pride along with her heart. Who’d gotten her pregnant with twins.

  Who’d made her shiver with desire—who’d once made her love him….

  Ellie’s teeth chattered as their driver took them from the tiny, remote village on a winding dirt road. She stared out at the mysterious dark jungle, and thought of the life she’d dreamed of having as a girl. Growing up with parents who hated each other and blamed their only child for their wretched lives, she’d been so determined that her life would be different.

  But now she’d been forced into marriage, just as they had been. And Diogo would cheat on her, just as her father had done to her mother. He would cheat. Then he would leaves….

  Ellie covered her face with her hands.

  His voice was almost gentle. “Is it really so bad as that?”

  She shot her new husband a look full of hate.

  “Why have you treated me like this?” she whispered. “What have I ever done to deserve this?”

  “What have you done?” He clenched his jaw, looking out into the dark night. “When I was eight years old, my mother dropped me off on the doorstep of a mansion in Barra. She pinned a note to my shirt and told me that I was my father’s problem now.” He gave her a flinty grin. “She didn’t know that he’d died the week before. Or that his legitimate children would have no interest in sharing their home—or their inheritance—with his bastard, who was a living insult to their mother.”