by Sarah Morgan
She watched for his reaction to her arrival but he revealed nothing. His mouth didn’t shift into a smile and his eyes, so dark and brooding, showed no sign of welcome. It seemed that he was as unfriendly as he was handsome and the way he was looking at her made her want to sprint back up the walkway and leap into the departing helicopter.
If she hadn’t known better she would have thought she’d upset him in some way but she knew that wasn’t possible. How could she possibly have upset him? He’d never even met her before. His animosity was a reflection of his personality, rather than their relationship. He just wasn’t a people person. And clearly he wasn’t about to make an exception for her.
And it didn’t matter, she told herself firmly.
She didn’t need him to like her. She just needed him to agree not to withdraw his finance. Keeping that in mind, she took the last few steps until she was standing directly in front of him. ‘It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr Cordeiro.’
His mouth tightened and his eyes gleamed with impatience. ‘This isn’t a social visit or a children’s party, Miss Thacker. I don’t want or expect polite. I don’t do small talk or pleasantries. I don’t care about the weather or the nature of your journey. If you find that approach to business challenging, then you’d better leave now.’
And a good afternoon to you, too, she thought, trying to hide her mounting dismay.
Suddenly she wanted to do precisely as he suggested. Staring into those deadly, dark eyes, she really, really wanted to leave. But the helicopter was already far above them and the reason for her visit was still safely stowed away in her briefcase. She couldn’t leave. She had a job to do.
People depending on her.
‘I can do facts and figures,’ she said quickly, hoping that he couldn’t see that her legs were shaking. ‘I have all the documents in my briefcase. Everything you’ll need to help you make a decision.’
‘I’ve already made a decision. My answer is no.’ His jaw was roughened by dark stubble and she watched as a muscle flickered in his lean cheek.
‘But you made that decision before you had a chance to talk to me.’ She wiped a damp hand over her skirt, refusing to allow him to squash her natural optimism. ‘I’m hoping that once I’ve explained what’s happening, you might rethink.’ ‘Why would I do that?’
Unease blossomed to life inside her. ‘Once you see the figures and our plans for the future, I thought you might change your mind about withdrawing the finance.’ She watched his face hopefully, searching for something—anything—that might indicate that he was receptive to further negotiation on the topic. Anything that might indicate that she hadn’t wasted her time coming here.
But he didn’t answer. He gave her no reassurance or encouragement. No hope at all. He just watched her and from behind her in the trees came a sharp wail, followed by what sounded like maniacal laughter.
Grace turned her head and squinted into the dense forest that surrounded them. With the helicopter gone she was suddenly aware of the constant background noise that enveloped them. Jungle sounds. Yelps, calls, shrieks, chirping and warbling. It was as if the whole forest was alive. ‘It sounds as though someone is being murdered out there.’ Laughter in her eyes, she looked back at him, seeking to build an emotional connection and falling at the first hurdle.
There was no connection. No answering smile. And it was impossible to know what he was thinking because his face revealed none of his thoughts.
‘You’re afraid of the jungle, Miss Thacker?’ His tone was less than encouraging. ‘Or is it something else that is making you nervous?’
Something else? Like the fact that her whole life was on the verge of being ground into the dust, perhaps, or the fact that she was alone in the rainforest with a man who obviously disliked the entire human race?
There were so many things to make her nervous she wouldn’t have known where to begin her list, but he wasn’t exactly a man who invited confidences so Grace pushed away the mental image of the jaguars, snakes and two thousand species of insect. ‘I’m not nervous—’
‘Is that right?’ He watched her for a few moments and then narrowed his eyes. ‘Then let me give you a few more hints on how to do business with me. Don’t waste my time, don’t lie to me and most of all, don’t cheat. They’re the three things guaranteed to irritate me and I never say yes to anything when I’m irritated.’
What did women see in him? He was wrapped in a cloak of cynicism so thick that it didn’t allow even the faintest chink of light to pass through and his eyes shimmered with an impatience that he didn’t bother to mask with the usual social pleasantries.
‘I won’t lie to you. I don’t lie to anyone.’
But she hadn’t been absolutely honest with him either, had she? She hadn’t revealed everything about herself when she’d taken up his loan. Discomfort and guilt slithered down her spine and she quickly reminded herself that there was nothing in the contract that stipulated that she tell everything about herself. And none of her personal history had any relevance to her ability to run her company—she’d made sure of it. Nevertheless she felt betraying colour touch her cheeks and saw him smile.
Just a flicker and not a particularly nice smile, but a definite indication that he’d seen her blush and filed it away as a point against her. ‘You’re a woman, Miss Thacker. Lying and cheating is welded into your DNA and you can’t change that. The best we can hope for is that you endeavour to fight against thousands of years of evolution when you’re in my company.’ He pulled open the door and stood to one side so that she could pass through.
For a moment she just stood there, looking at him. ‘Don’t bully me, Mr Cordeiro.’ Her voice was husky and shook slightly but she forced herself to carry on speaking. ‘My business isn’t doing well and I know we have things to discuss, but don’t try and intimidate me.’
Never again was she allowing that to happen. ‘Do I intimidate you?’
She was willing to bet he scared everyone he met. ‘I think you could at least try to be a little more friendly.’
‘Friendly?’ His voice was faintly mocking. ‘You want me to be friendly?’
She forced herself to hold his gaze. ‘I just don’t see why a business meeting always has to be cold and impersonal.’
He moved towards her and she took an instinctive step backwards. ‘You want to get personal with me, Miss Thacker?’ His lashes lowered, his eyes grazed hers and the heat and the humidity in the air rose to stifling proportions. ‘How personal?’ He moved closer still and she found it suddenly hard to breathe.
He wasn’t touching her and yet her body was overwhelmingly conscious of every inch of his, as if it had been sleeping for the past twenty-three years and had suddenly been brought to life. ‘I’m just trying to say that I’ve always felt that business can be fun as well as hard work.’
‘Is that right?’ He studied her for a long moment. ‘Well, your attitude explains a great deal about the current state of your company accounts.’
He moved away but it took a few moments for her breathing to normalise and her heart rate to slow to something approximating its normal rhythm.
She wanted to respond to his less than flattering comment about her company, but he didn’t give her the opportunity. Instead he strolled through the open door, leaving her to follow.
No wonder his wife left him, she thought miserably as she followed him, carefully closing the door between her and the jungle. Or was he arrogant and cynical because his wife had left?
As she pondered that question, it took her a moment to be aware of her surroundings but when she finally glanced around her she realised with a jolt of surprise that they hadn’t left the rainforest outside at all. It was part of the lodge.
Following him through a huge glass dome, she glanced left and right, her attention caught by the profusion of huge, exotic plants that turned his home from amazing to spectacular. And through the glass, the rainforest, so close that inside and outside appeared to merge in perfect
harmony.
At any other time she would have been fascinated, but it was obvious from his less than encouraging body language that Rafael Cordeiro had absolutely no interest in her opinion on his choice of home.
Making no attempt to put her at her ease, he led her into another large room and waved a hand towards a large round table that housed a state-of-the-art computer and several screens. Two phones were ringing but they both suddenly stopped, as if they’d been answered elsewhere. ‘Sit down.’
Technology, Grace thought, eyeing the phones. He clearly wasn’t as alone as he appeared to be.
She sank onto the nearest chair and glanced around her in awe. Through giant hexagonal panes of glass, the lush, dense greenery of the jungle pressed in on them.
‘It’s amazing,’ she breathed, genuinely taken aback by the unusual nature of their surroundings. ‘It’s like sitting in a greenhouse in the middle of the forest.’ Her eyes slid to a patch of fern that she saw moving. ‘Do the animals come close? Do they know you’re here?’
‘Predators always sense their prey, Miss Thacker.’ Rafael Cordeiro spoke in a low drawl, his accent so faint that it was barely detectable. He lounged back in his seat and lifted an eyebrow in expectation. ‘I agreed to give you ten minutes. The clock starts now.’
Unprepared for such an unsympathetic approach, she gaped at him. ‘You were serious? You really meant it when you said I could only have ten minutes?’
‘I’m a busy man. And I never say anything I don’t mean.’
He obviously wasn’t going to make this easy for her.
Flustered by his total indifference to her dire predicament, she took a moment to gather her thoughts. ‘All right. Well, you know why I’m here. Five years ago your company lent me the money to start up my business. Now you want to foreclose on the loan.’
‘Don’t waste time stating irrefutable facts,’ he advised in a silky tone, his eyes flickering to the clock in an explicit reminder of his terms. ‘You now have nine minutes remaining.’
She felt a flicker of panic. He was completely unreceptive. She was wasting her time. ‘The business is important to me. It’s everything.’ Immediately she regretted that impulsive confession. Why would he be interested in the emotional stake that she had in the business?
Clearly he was wondering the same thing because his bold brows drew together in a discouraging frown. ‘I’m interested in facts and figures. And you now have eight minutes remaining.’
She flushed and forced herself to plough on. Don’t get emotional, Grace. Don’t get emotional. ‘As you know, I started a chain of coffee shops with your investment, but they’re not just coffee shops.’ She dropped her hands into her lap so that he couldn’t see them shaking. ‘We don’t just sell a cup of coffee, we sell a whole Brazilian experience.’
‘And just what constitutes a “Brazilian experience”, Miss Thacker?’ He lingered over the words and she bit her lip, refusing to allow him to intimidate her.
This was her baby, she reminded herself. She had all the answers she was going to need. ‘People who come into our cafés are given far more than a shot of caffeine. For as long as it takes them to drink their coffee or eat their lunch, they’re transported to Brazil. With your initial investment we opened twenty coffee shops across London. We’re ready to open more, but not if you withdraw your support …’ She broke off and rose to her feet, needing to pace. She couldn’t sit across the table looking at that handsome face. She couldn’t concentrate. ‘Do you mind if I walk around? I’m not great at sitting at tables and if I only have a short time I have to be comfortable or I won’t be able to make the most of it.’
His sardonic gaze slid to her feet. ‘Frankly I’m amazed you can stand, let alone walk around. I see you gave careful thought to the footwear that would be most appropriate for a visit to the rainforest.’
Trying to keep her thoughts together, she refused to allow his sarcasm to unsettle her. ‘This is a business meeting, Mr Cordeiro,’ she said defensively, ‘so I chose my clothing accordingly. I didn’t think you’d take me seriously if I was wearing a pair of combat trousers.’ Pride prevented her from confessing that both the shoes and the suit had been purchased specifically for this meeting.
Suddenly she felt like an idiot for thinking that what she wore would make a difference to a man like him.
Clearly she should have saved her money.
He was watching her closely. ‘You mean you thought that a pair of sexy heels might make me change my mind about pulling out of the investment.’ His voice was soft and deadly. ‘You may have misunderstood my reputation, Miss Thacker. I keep my women and my business separate.’ His gaze shifted to hers and she stared at him, unable to speak or move, caught in the dangerous heat of his gaze. Her body felt as though it had turned to liquid and a strange and unfamiliar warmth spread across her pelvis.
His women.
A clear vision filled her head and she saw Rafael Cordeiro lying naked and bronzed on white silk sheets, his body damp after an excess of physical activity, an exhausted and deliriously grateful girl lying limp and sated by his side.
The vision shocked and unsettled her and she looked away for a moment, concentrating on the lush green of the jungle instead of the diamond-hard glint of his eyes.
‘Miss Thacker?’ His sharp prompt made her start and she turned her head and gave him a desperate look, hating herself for wondering how those long, bronzed fingers would feel on her flesh. What was the matter with her? She wasn’t the sort of woman who mentally undressed men the moment she met them.
Especially not men like him.
He wasn’t going to yield or compromise, she could see that. There was no softening, no gentleness and not a trace of warmth or humanity. For a terrifying moment she felt her confidence begin to crumble. The horribly familiar waves of panic began to engulf her and she dug her nails hard into her palms and looked away from him, staring at the trees for a moment while she struggled for composure.
You can do this, Grace, she told herself desperately. You don’t need him to make it easy for you.
Since when had anyone ever made it easy for her?
Her entire life had been a struggle to prove herself and she wasn’t expecting this encounter to be any different.
She used a precious thirty seconds of her time in calming herself and then she spoke. ‘I wore the heels because they seemed right with the suit,’ she said calmly, fighting against the sudden tension in the atmosphere. ‘And you owe me another minute of time.’
He leaned back in his chair, his eyes narrowed. ‘I do?’
‘Yes, because that’s how much time you just wasted talking about women’s clothing.’
There was a long, pulsing silence and then he inclined his head. ‘You still have eight minutes remaining.’
Grace started to breathe again. ‘Good. The only thing I want from you is an opportunity to present the facts. I came here because I want to change your mind.’
She wished, desperately, that he wouldn’t look at her but his gaze was unrelenting and she found it almost impossible to concentrate. The connection between them was electrically charged.
Did he feel it too? Did he feel the heat and the rising tension?
‘I’ve already told you that I don’t change my mind.’
‘You also told me that you wanted facts and you haven’t had them yet.’ Her heart was thudding so hard she was certain that he must be able to hear it. ‘You promised me ten minutes, Mr Cordeiro. My ten minutes isn’t up.’ And she was blowing the whole thing, she knew she was. It was all very well pretending to be confident but her knees were shaking, her hands were shaking, she was saying all the wrong things, letting one superior glance from those dark eyes turn her into a stuttering wreck. And he obviously recognised the effect he was having on her because he gave a silky smile.
‘Nervous, Miss Thacker?’
‘Of course I’m nervous …’ She spread her hands in a gesture that pleaded for understanding—some concessio
n on his part. ‘In the circumstances, that’s understandable, don’t you think?’
At that precise moment, he was in the driving seat and she was standing in the road waiting to be run over.
‘Absolutely.’ His voice was as hard as his gaze was unsympathetic. ‘In your position I’d be quaking in my boots and I’d be using every trick in the book to try and save myself, even down to the high heels, the innocent smile and the shiny hair. Go for it, I say.’
‘I don’t understand what you’re implying.’ Did he realise how uncomfortable she was in the shoes and the heels? Did he know that she’d been trying to impress him?
‘I’m saying that your business is in serious trouble, Miss Thacker, and I’m the only one who can save it so I don’t blame you for using every trick at your disposal to try and turn the tide. But I ought to warn you that it won’t make any difference. I won’t extend my investment and as far as I’m concerned you deserve everything that’s coming to you.’
His callous lack of sentiment was like a vicious punch in the stomach.
‘How can you say that? How can you be so uncaring?’ She forgot her resolution not to get emotional. ‘This isn’t just about me. If Café Brazil goes under then lots of people are going to lose their jobs.’
‘And you’re terribly concerned about other people’s welfare, are you not?’
There was something in his tone that increased her feeling of unease. Why did she have the sense that there were two conversations going on here? One above the surface and one below. ‘Yes, actually. I think being an employer is a big responsibility. You can’t just hire and fire people. I’ve been very careful about not recruiting more staff until we were sure that the business could support them.’
He raised an eyebrow. ‘Very laudable, I’m sure. So what went wrong, Miss Thacker? If you’re so careful, then why are you here? Why isn’t your little business raking in the cash as we speak?’
‘Our operating costs were higher than we’d estimated,’ she said honestly, frowning slightly as she caught the cynical gleam in his eyes. ‘Among other things, refurbishing ten of the coffee shops cost more than we planned. But we’ve addressed that and I have lots of ideas for the future.’
