by Maya Blake
Her gasp sounded genuinely hurt-filled. ‘I wasn’t…I’m just…that’s a horrible thing to say, Mr Pantelides.’
His eyebrow lifted. ‘I thought I kissed all the formality out of you last night?’
She flushed a delicate pink that made her skin glow. Her expressive brown eyes slid from his and she turned back to examine the room.
It was then that he noticed the faint bruises on her left arm. He was striding to her and lifting her arm to examine the marks before his brain had connected with his body.
‘Who did this to you?’ he demanded.
Her surprised gaze snapped from his to her arm. Her flush deepened as she swiftly shook her head. ‘I…it doesn’t matter; it’s nothing—’
He swallowed hard. ‘Like hell it is.’ The idea that his demands on her might have caused this to happen to her made a thread of revulsion rise in his belly. He forced it down and concentrated on her face. ‘Tell me who it was.’
She swallowed. ‘My father.’
Pure fury blurred his vision for several seconds. ‘Your father did this to you?’
She gave a jerky nod.
Why the hell was he surprised? ‘Has he done anything like this before?’ he bit out.
She pressed her lips together in a vain attempt not to answer. A firm grip of her chin, tilting it to his gaze, convinced her otherwise. ‘Once. Maybe twice.’
His vicious curse made her shiver. Theo examined the marks, which would grow yellowish by nightfall, and pushed down the mounting fury. ‘That son of a bitch will never touch you again.’
Shock made her gasp. ‘That son of a bitch is my father. And I’ve given you what you wanted, so I expect you to hold up your end of the bargain.’
He frowned with genuine puzzlement. ‘Why do you tolerate this, Inez?’ He glanced from the bruises to her face. ‘You’re more than old enough to live on your own. Hell, if money and a rich lifestyle are what you crave, you’re sufficiently resourceful to find some wealthy guy who would—’
She snatched her arm from his grasp. It was then that he realised he’d been caressing her soft skin with his thumb. He missed the connection almost immediately.
‘I certainly hope you’re not about to suggest what I think you are?’
Keen frustration rocked him into movement. ‘I’m curious, that’s all.’
‘I’m not here to satisfy your curiosity. And perhaps you’ve been lucky enough to be granted a perfect family but not everyone has been afforded the same luxury. We made do with what we… Did I say something funny?’ she snapped.
He cut off the mirthless laughter that had bubbled up at her words. ‘Yes. You’re damned hilarious. You obviously don’t know what you’re talking about.’
She stared at him with confusion and a little trepidation. ‘No. But how can I? We only met two nights ago. And now I’m here, your possession for the foreseeable future.’
The simple statement twisted like live electricity between them. The look in her eyes said she was daring him to react to it. But the off-kilter emotions swirling through his chest made him back away from it. He shouldn’t have dealt with her so soon after speaking to Benedicto. He should’ve left Teresa, his housekeeper, to see to her needs.
He turned and headed for the door. ‘I’ll show you upstairs. And then I need to go.’
Striding into the hallway, he started up the grand central stairs that led to the upper two floors of his house. After a few steps, he noticed she wasn’t behind him.
Turning, he found her paused on the second step, her gaze once again wide and wondrous as she stared around her.
‘What?’
‘There are no concrete walls.’ She looked up at the all-encompassing glass around her. ‘Or ceilings.’
He resumed climbing the stairs. ‘I don’t like walls. And I don’t like ceilings,’ he threw over his shoulder.
She hurried after him and caught up with him as they neared the first suite of rooms. She regarded him for a few seconds then bit her lip.
He paused with a hand on the doorknob. ‘What?’ he asked again, trying and not succeeding in prising his gaze from her plump lips.
‘I’m not sure whether to take that as a metaphor or not.’
‘Anjo, there’s no hidden meaning behind my words. I literally do not like concrete walls or ceilings.’
She frowned in puzzlement. ‘I don’t understand.’
‘It’s very simple. I don’t like being closed in.’
‘You’re…claustrophobic?’ She whispered the word as if she wasn’t sure how to apply it to him.
He shrugged and hurriedly threw open the door, a part of him reeling at what he’d just admitted. ‘We all have our flaws,’ he retorted.
‘Were you born with it?’
His jaw clenched once. ‘No. It was a condition thrust upon me quite against my will.’
‘But…you seem…’
‘Invincible?’ he mocked.
Her lips pursed. ‘I was going to say self-assured.’
‘Appearances can be deceptive, querida. After you.’ He indicated the door he’d just opened.
She stopped dead in the middle of the room. From where he stood, Theo could see what she was seeing. With the glass walls and white carpet and furnishings and nothing but the view of the blue sky and sea beyond, the vista was breathtaking.
‘Deus, I feel as if I’m floating on a cloud,’ she murmured with an awe-filled voice.
‘That is the primary aim of the property. Light, air, no constrictions.’
He’d learned to his cost that constrictions triggered his anxiety and fuelled his nightmares. Which was why every single property he owned was filled with light.
‘It’s beautiful.’
The strong pulse of pleasure that washed through him had him stepping back. Things were getting out of hand. He needed to walk away, go to his meeting with Benedicto and remind himself why he was in Rio. This need to bask in Inez’s presence, touch her skin, indulge in the urge to taste her sensual lips once more needed to killed. He had to stick to his game plan.
‘Make yourself at home. I’ll be back later. We’re going out this evening. Dinner at Cabana de Ouro, then probably clubbing. Wear something short and sexy.’
Her eyes widened at his curt tone but he was already turning away. He didn’t stop until he reached the landing. On a completely unstoppable urge, he looked over his shoulder. Through the glass walls, he saw her frozen in the middle of her suite, her eyes fixed on him.
She looked lost. And confused. And a little relieved.
With grim determination he turned and headed down the stairs. And he hated himself for needing the reminder that Benedicto da Costa had damaged not just him, but his whole family.
The payback should be equal to the crime committed.
* * *
The black satin boy shorts she chose to wear were plenty stylish and sexy. They also moulded her behind much more than she was strictly comfortable with but everything else she’d hastily packed was too formal for dinner at Cabana de Ouro, the trendy restaurant and bar in Ipanema. Coupled with the dark gold silk top, with her hair piled on top of her head and gold hoops in her ears and bangles on her wrist, she looked good enough for whatever club Theo intended to take her to after dinner.
Clubbing wasn’t strictly her entertainment of choice. But since, for the next twelve weeks, Theo expected her to obey his every command, the least she could do was learn to pick her battles. And she’d already endured one battle this morning in the form of confrontation with Theo. And found out he was claustrophobic.
He’d been right; she’d secretly imagined him to be invincible. The way he carried himself, the innate authority and self-assurance that seemed part of his genetic make up, she’d had no trouble seeing him best each situation he found himself him.
Hearing him admit to a deep flaw that most grown men would be ashamed of had floored her. Coupled with his concern when he’d seen the marks her father had inflicted when she’d announced sh
e was moving in with Theo, she’d been seriously floundering in a sea of uncertainty by the time he’d left her bedroom.
She examined the marks on her arm now and released a shaky breath to see that they were fading. She was shrugging on the shoulder-padded waist-length leather jacket that went with the outfit when she heard Theo’s Aston Martin roar into the driveway.
Her fingers trembled as she fastened the long-chained gold medallion necklace at her nape.
He’d left her so abruptly this morning she hadn’t had the time to question him about sleeping arrangements. A closer examination of her suite after he’d left had revealed no presence of another occupant, and after talking to Teresa, his housekeeper, she’d found out that the senhor’s suite was directly above hers, taking up the whole glass-roofed top floor of the house.
The fact that she wouldn’t be expected to share his bed immediately should’ve pleased her. Instead she was more on edge than ever. Or maybe that was what he wanted? That she should be kept guessing, kept on a knife-edge of uncertainty like some sort of game?
Deus!
She’d barely spent one day under his glass roof and already she was being driven mad. His response to her admiring his sculptures had been too infuriating for her to explain how she’d come to acquire such knowledge of sculptures—her late mother’s talent. If he wanted to believe Inez appreciated beautiful art purely with dollar signs in her eyes, that was his problem.
Her breath caught as she heard distinct footsteps in the hallway. Teresa had shown her how to shroud the bedroom glass for privacy and she’d activated it before she’d gone in to take a shower. It was still shrouded now although she could make out a faint outline of the towering man who knocked a few seconds later.
‘Come in.’ She cringed at the husky breathlessness of her voice.
The heavy glass swung back and Theo stood framed in the doorway.
Light hazel eyes locked on her with the force of a laser beam for several seconds before they travelled slowly down her body.
Before meeting him, Inez would’ve found it hard to believe she could physically react so strongly to a look from a man. Constantine, with all his misleading smiles and false charm, had never affected her like this, not even when she’d believed herself in love with him.
With Theo the evidence was irrefutable—in the accelerated beat of her heart, the tightening and heaviness of her breasts and the stinging heat that spread outward from her belly like a flash fire.
She watched his mouth drop open as his gaze reached her shorts and her own mouth dried at the look that settled on his face.
‘What the hell are you wearing?’
‘What? I’m wearing clothes, Mr Pantelides,’ she snapped, once she was able to get her brain working again.
He stepped into the room and the door slid shut behind him. All at once, she became aware of the sheer size of him, of the restriction in her breathing and the fact that her eyes were devouring his magnificent form.
‘Let’s get one thing straight. From now on you’ll address me as Theo. No more senhor and no more Mr Pantelides, understand?’
‘Is that an order?’ She tilted her chin to see his face as he stopped before her.
‘It’s a friendly warning that there will be consequences if you don’t comply.’
‘What consequences?’ she huffed.
‘How about every time you call me senhor I kiss that sassy mouth of yours?’
CHAPTER SEVEN
‘EXCUSE ME?’ HER VOICE was a little more breathless. With excitement. Deus, what was wrong with her? This man was threatening her family, was effectively turning her life upside down for the sake of some unknown grudge. And all she could think of was him kissing her again.
‘No, you’re not excused. Use my first name or I’ll kiss it into you. Your choice. Now tell me what the hell you’re wearing.’ His gaze dropped back to her shorts, his eyes glazing with hunger so acute, her heart hammered.
‘These are shorts. You said “short and sexy”.’
His mouth worked for a few seconds before he nodded. ‘I said short, but I don’t think I meant that short, anjo.’
Heat raced up her neck and she barely managed to stop her hand from connecting with his face. ‘They are not that bad.’
His rasping laugh made her face flame. ‘Trust me, from where I’m standing, they’re lethal.’
‘I have nothing else to change into. Everything else is too formal for a club.’
Dark eyes rose, almost reluctantly, to clash with hers. ‘I find that very hard to believe.’
‘It’s true. I didn’t have enough time to pack properly. Besides, I didn’t take you for…’
His eyes narrowed. ‘Didn’t take me for what?’
She shrugged. ‘You don’t strike me as the clubbing type.’
One corner of his mouth lifted. ‘Have you been forming impressions about me, anjo?’
She kicked herself for that revelatory remark. ‘Not really.’
He looked down at her shorts one more time and he turned abruptly for the door. ‘I’ll be ready to go in fifteen minutes. You can tell me what other impressions you’ve formed about me at dinner.’
Inez exhaled and realised she hadn’t taken a full breath since he’d walked into her presence. Her whole body quivered as she shoved her feet into three-inch platforms and made sure her cell phone and lipstick were in the black and gold clutch.
She caught sight of herself in the hallway mirror as she made her way down and cringed at the feverish look in her eyes.
Reassuring herself firmly that it was anger at Theo for his overbearing treatment of her, she made her way to the living room.
Floodlights illuminated the pool and gardens in a stunning display of shimmering light and shrubbery. Like every single aspect of the building, the sight was so breathtaking her fingers itched with the need to draw.
Setting her clutch down, she went to the large duffel bag she’d brought down this afternoon and took out her sketchpad and pencil.
She was so lost in capturing the vista before her, she didn’t sense Theo enter the room until his unique scent wrapped itself around her.
She jerked around to see him standing close behind her, his eyes on her picture.
‘You draw?’ he asked in surprise.
Unable to answer for the loud hammering of her heart, she nodded.
He reached forward and plucked the pad from her nerveless fingers. Slowly, he thumbed through the pages. ‘You’re very talented,’ he finally said.
Expecting a derogatory remark to follow, like his comment on his art this morning, her eyes widened when she realised he meant it. ‘You really think so?’ she asked.
He closed the pad and handed it back to her, his eyes speculative as they rested on her face. ‘I wouldn’t say it otherwise, anjo.’
Pleasure fizzed through her. ‘Thank you.’ She smiled as she stood. Crossing over to her duffel bag, she bent to place the pad back into it.
‘Thee mou!’
She dropped the pad and hastily straightened. ‘What?’
‘You bend over like that while we’re out and I will not be responsible for my actions, understood?’ he growled.
Her mouth dropped open at the dark promise in his voice. A shudder ran through her body as hunger further darkened his eyes. She licked her lip nervously as the atmosphere thickened with sensual charges that crackled and snapped along her nerves.
‘We…we don’t have to go out if what I’m wearing offends you…Theo,’ she ventured hesitantly, sensing that he held himself on the very edge of control.
He inhaled deeply, his chest expanding underneath the dark green shirt and black leather jacket he wore with black trousers. ‘That’s where you’re wrong. What you’re offering doesn’t offend me in the least. But I’m a red-blooded, possessive male who is finding it difficult not to roar out his primitive reaction to the idea of other men looking at you.’ He said it so matter-of-factly she couldn’t form a decent response. ‘But I�
��ll try to be a gentleman. Come.’ He held out his arm.
With seriously indecent thoughts of Theo fighting to the death for her flitting through her mind, she crossed the room to his side.
He led them out and held the passenger door of his car open. The first few minutes of the ride to Ipanema was conducted in silence. Every now and then, he raked a hand through his hair and slid a glance at her naked thighs. Each time, he exhaled noisily.
A wild part of her wanted to flaunt herself for him, revel in his very physical reaction to her attire. Another part of her wanted to run and hide from the volatile emotions swirling through the enclosed space of the luxurious sports car.
By the time they drew up in the car park of the exclusive restaurant her pulse was jumping with anxiety. She forced the feeling down and followed him into the restaurant. Finding out they were dining in the even more exclusive upper floor led to all sorts of renewed anxiety as she preceded him up the steps.
The moment they were seated, he leaned forward. ‘The moment we return home, I’m burning those shorts.’
She glared at him. ‘No, you are not, senhor! They’re my favourite pair.’
‘Then frame them and mount them on a wall. But you most definitely will not be wearing them out again.’
That wild streak widened. ‘I thought you would be man enough to handle a little…challenge. Are you saying you’re not?’
His eyes narrowed. ‘Don’t bait a hungry lion, querida, unless you’re prepared to be devoured,’ he grated out.
‘Did you tell your last girlfriend how she should dress too?’ she challenged.
His mouth compressed. ‘My last girlfriend was under the misconception that the more frequently she walked around naked the more interested I would be in her. She lasted ten days.’
Inez’s curiosity spiked, along with an emotion she was very loath to name. ‘How long did your longest relationship last?’
‘Three weeks.’
Her breath caught. ‘So why three months with me?’ she asked.
He looked startled for a moment then he shrugged. ‘Because you’re not my girlfriend. You’re so very much more.’
