‘For a very good reason,’ she dismissed. ‘Who needs trouble like Dante Baracca in their life?’
Dante could be charming when it suited him, but he could also be hard and cold. If Dante would behave professionally, she might be able to make this work. If not... Her thoughts took her back to a man with black hair, black eyes and a black heart, a man who looked like a Gypsy king with gold earrings glinting in his ears. She could still remember the night Dante had punched those gold hoops into his own earlobes because she’d challenged him to do so. They’d both been wild when he’d been fourteen and she’d been ten, back in the day when they could take risks and get away with them.
‘Stop frowning, Karina. Anyone would think I’d hooked you up with a monster. Here...’ Luc held out a magazine, which he obviously intended to reassure her. ‘Take a look at this—Dante’s riding the crest of the wave at the moment.’
Dante Baracca was on the front cover. Of course he was. Where else would the god of the game be?
‘There couldn’t be a better time for you two to be getting together.’
‘We won’t be getting together,’ she insisted. ‘I’ll be working alongside him.’
‘Of course you will,’ Luc agreed—to placate her, she suspected.
She made herself stare at the photograph while Luc looked on with approval.
Thank goodness Luc couldn’t hear her heart thundering at the sight of a man who had always affected her profoundly, both for good and for bad. The photo showed Dante seated bareback on a horse at sunset on the fringes of the surf. He was stripped to the waist with his face in profile. His powerful torso was warmed to a seductive bronze by the mellow rays of the setting sun. He was a daunting sight. The shadows pointed up the harsh angles of his face and delineated his formidable muscles. She had no doubt the photographer’s intention had been to big up the legend that was Dante Baracca, and in that he had succeeded.
Dante had more tattoos than she remembered. All the members of Luc’s team had a Thunderbolt inked on their torsos, but it wouldn’t have surprised her to learn that these new additions to Dante’s hard frame had been handcrafted by the devil.
Her mouth dried as she thought back. She would never shake the past. In many ways she didn’t want to. The memories were bittersweet. The loss had been too great, the sadness too searing, and Dante would always be part of that. He was still wearing the earrings that matched her own. Dante had given them to her on her eighteenth birthday—teasing her, saying they could be twins, but the look in his eyes had not been that of a sibling, and the earrings had been pushed to the back of a drawer after the party, because they’d become too cruel a reminder of Dante and everything he stood for...too close a reminder of kindred spirits who had almost destroyed each other.
‘Stop fretting, Karina,’ Luc coaxed when she frowned. ‘You can handle one barbarian. Why not two?’
‘If Dante is prepared to do things my way, it might work,’ she mused distractedly.
‘That should be fun to watch,’ Luc commented dryly.
‘This is no joke, Lucas.’
‘Clearly, as you’re calling me by my Sunday name.’
‘I mean it,’ she said, rounding on her brother. ‘My work is a serious business. You and Dante may have grown up wild on the pampas—’
‘As did you,’ Luc cut in, his tone turning hard. ‘What’s wrong with you, Karina? You never used to be like this. Just because you’re about to do business with a man women lust after doesn’t mean you have to wear a hair shirt. You can loosen up and make this project a success, or you can carry this ridiculous grudge you seem to have against Dante to its ultimate conclusion and wreck the match.’
‘Okay,’ she said, holding up her hands. ‘Just so long as we get one thing clear. You can’t just hire me out to your friends whenever you feel like it without my permission. No more Dante Baraccas—okay?’
Luc turned to face the door where his secretary was miming an apology for the interruption. ‘Why don’t you tell Dante that yourself? Come in, my friend...’
Striding forward to greet his fellow polo player, Luc added, ‘Karina can’t wait to tell you what she has planned.’
CHAPTER TWO
TIME HALTED AS they stared at each other. Dante’s body reacted instantly as the past flooded back—a past best forgotten while her brother was in the room. He hadn’t seen Karina this close since the night of her eighteenth birthday, when he’d seen her in infinitely more detail than he was seeing her now.
‘Come in, my friend—come in.’
He broke eye contact with Karina as Luc drew him deeper into the room, but the aftershock of his feelings for her blanked out everything but Karina. The strength of those feelings made him wonder if his first impulse had been correct. He’d been strongly tempted to veto Luc’s suggestion when Karina’s name had been suggested to the team. Why resurrect the past? He didn’t need that sort of trouble in his life. Karina had been wild, as had he, and though he’d heard how successful she had become, he had no proof that she’d changed.
In the end he had decided that vetoing Karina on the strength of evidence from the past was mean-minded of him, and that as the sister of a teammate he should at least give her a chance. He had already made plans to keep contact between them to a minimum while she was working on his ranch. She’d avoided him for many years, so he was confident that that was what she would want too. But now, being in the same room as Karina, he was forced to rethink. Her effect on him was profound. He understood now why no other woman had ever matched up to her. But all the old reasons for resisting Karina remained. He was a player in life as well as on the field, and as the sister of his teammate Karina Marcelos was forbidden fruit.
‘Dante...’
Her voice was soft and polite—for her brother’s sake, he suspected, as the expression in her eyes was at odds with that professional exterior as she crossed the room to greet him. There was no intimacy at all in her gaze. Intimacy? She was almost hostile towards him. Had that single night all those years ago taken such a toll? Apparently, it had. There was nothing to be done about it. Karina had wanted more from him than he’d been able to give. He had thrown her out of his bed for the best of reasons. He had nothing to give her in the emotional sense, and still marvelled that he had put his concern for Karina above his own selfish lust. He’d been utterly selfish back then.
He was still where women were concerned, he reflected as her cool gaze levelled on his. He still had nothing to offer. The only difference today was the fact that she wasn’t interested. Worse. The light had gone from her eyes. Where was the Karina he had known? What had happened to the tomboy who would give him as good as she got?
‘You look well,’ he said, still searching for clues.
‘Do I?’
His groin tightened at the challenge. She wasn’t so dead inside after all. She had always been a good actress, and he could understand why she was cool with him. The blow to her pride must have been immense. Saving her from him had come at a heavy price. Their friendship was dead.
‘You look well, Dante.’
‘Thank you.’
The polite exchange over, he returned to assessing Karina. She was all woman now, not a girl to provoke and tease. Her figure had filled out and her thick black hair gleamed with good health, though since that night she had started tying it back severely. Whenever he caught a glimpse of her at a polo match, it was dragged back, and it was dragged back today—so different from the past when it had cascaded in wild tangles down her back. They had both changed. They were both very different people now. He had responsibilities, while Karina’s career had obviously grounded her, and though that reassured him on a professional level, this was not the girl he had vowed to stay away from for her own good but a woman who would keep him at bay.
‘Can I get you something to drink?’ she asked polit
ely.
Hemlock, her eyes suggested, which made him force back a smile. ‘Just water, please.’
Her expression gave nothing away as she turned to do the honours, but when she returned and gave him the glass and their fingers brushed, her cheeks pinked up betrayingly. She could act all she liked, but she still felt the connection between them, just as he did.
His hunting instinct rose and swirled around them. Sensing this, she shot him a warning glance. She hadn’t forgiven him for kicking her out of his bed. He couldn’t blame her when he hadn’t bothered with explanations. A prior, pressing appointment had done the job. If she’d stayed they would have destroyed each other. She’d been too young, too innocent for him. Progressing their friendship into something more than one night had been a car crash waiting to happen, but all Karina had seen was his betrayal.
His eyes devoured her as she crossed the room. It amused him to think that she was putting as much distance between them as she could, when at one time she would have stayed to plague and tease him. No other woman made him feel this way, as if he was risking everything—his place on the team, his friendship with Luc—his very sanity, just by being in the same room as her. And then jealousy swamped him. Who had held her since that night? Who had heard Karina scream with pleasure? Who knew that if they stroked her from the nape of her neck to the small of her back she would whimper with need and raise her hips, inviting even more intimate touches? Who had tasted her innocence since that night?
‘It’s so good to have you here, Dante.’
He shot into fully alert mode as her brother spoke to him. Luc had an easy manner with his teammates and as he crossed the room to put an arm around Dante, it was in complete contrast to the tension between Dante and Luc’s sister. He had to put all thoughts of Karina aside before he could respond to his friend. ‘Thank you, Luc. It’s good to be here.’
And then they were talking about the match and their latest pony acquisitions, but all the time he was aware of Karina. He’d ridden with her brother since they’d been boys. Luc and he were brothers in arms, both fiercely competitive, and he had never once discussed Karina with her brother. A man’s sister was inviolable, and though for years he had burned to know if Karina had a lover, it had been a question he would never ask Luc.
‘Karina has signed the contract!’
‘Excellent.’ He swung around to face her after her brother’s announcement. ‘There’s no one I can think of who is better qualified to organise the Gaucho Cup.’
‘No one understands the demands of polo players better than my sister,’ Luc confirmed warmly.
Karina said nothing.
Luc, who appeared not to have noticed his sister bristling, stared at the water in Dante’s glass. ‘Are you sure you wouldn’t like something stronger?’
‘I’m certain, thank you. I want to keep a clear head.’
Karina’s stare sharpened on his face.
‘Shall we?’ she said, glancing towards the boardroom table.
‘Certainly.’ He walked across the room to hold her chair for her.
Karina proved her worth within minutes, picking up points his lawyers had missed. He should have felt completely confident in her abilities, but found himself disappointed instead. Knowing Karina as he had, he had anticipated something extra, a little dose of magic that would have lifted the event above the norm. Her initial thoughts were well thought through, considering she’d only just signed the contract, and he had no doubt those plans would be executed flawlessly, but her ideas lacked oomph. They were pedestrian and he had expected more of her.
‘Well, I think that’s it,’ she said when her thoughts were exhausted. ‘I hope you have a pleasant journey home.’
He had intended to leave immediately after the meeting, but now he was determined to stay. He wanted to get to the bottom of the changes in Karina and to make a final decision as to whether or not she could realise the vision he had for the polo event. From what he’d seen so far, he had some doubts. Smiling easily, he relaxed back. ‘I’m in no hurry.’
Her expression hardened. He raised a brow. Her brother, once again, remained oblivious to the undercurrents between them. In fact, it was Luc who rescued the situation, saying, ‘You’re not leaving yet, surely?’
He smiled back at Luc. ‘No, of course not.’
‘Karina,’ Luc chastised her when she remained silent and still. ‘Are you forgetting your manners completely? Dante can’t leave yet. This calls for champagne.’
He added his support to Luc’s suggestion. ‘I agree with Luc. What’s the rush?’
The look Karina gave him called for more hemlock.
She clearly didn’t want him to stay, which made him wonder why she was feeling quite so defensive and angry. Could she have held a grudge for so long? Apparently, she could—but there was one interesting fact: she might be looking at him as if he were the devil, but not a devil she wanted to run from, rather a devil she wanted to stay and fight. That was a great improvement. It fired her up—turned her from an expressionless automaton into the Karina he had known.
‘You’re the client. Whatever suits you,’ she said, smiling a plastic smile.
* * *
Hard eyes. Hard mouth. Hard man. How could she ever have imagined she could work with Dante? He couldn’t know, of course, that what they’d done had set in motion a train of events that would have such far-reaching repercussions. She had to remind herself that the past had no part to play in these business discussions. She was proud of the career she’d built up. She’d worked hard for it, and would allow nothing and no one to take it from her—not even Dante Baracca. She’d give him no cause for complaint. If there was one thing she’d learned while working for her brother, it was that a woman had to be twice as strong as any man in the workplace, and that emotion had no part to play.
‘Your sister seems preoccupied,’ Dante remarked to Luc, as if she’d left the room. ‘Do you think she will find it impossible to work with me?’
‘I think she can handle you,’ Luc said dryly.
She swung around to confront them both. ‘I’m still in the room. If you expect me to run this project for you, please don’t discuss me as if I’m a blotter on my brother’s desk.’
Dante’s wry glance look suggested she had fallen into his trap. He had meant to provoke her to draw her back into the conversation.
‘Please excuse my sister,’ Luc joked. ‘You remember what she’s like, don’t you, Dante? But there’s one thing I can assure you, she’s very good at her job.’
‘I’m sure she is,’ Dante agreed, with a look that made her cheeks burn.
‘Well... If you will both excuse me?’
Karina stiffened as Luc started collecting up his things.
‘I’ve got another appointment I simple can’t miss.’
You can’t leave me!
Ignoring the look she gave him, her brother did just that.
Clever Luc. He’d left her with no alternative but to stay and entertain their guest.
Dante broke the silence first. ‘Well, Miss Prim.’ His voice was low and amused. ‘Why are you so reluctant to work with me?’
She drew herself up. ‘I don’t know what makes you say that. I’m looking forward to this project immensely.’
‘Liar,’ Dante murmured.
He sucked the breath from her lungs with that single word.
‘Are you still hurting after that night?’
Shock coursed through her. She couldn’t believe what he’d just said. ‘My only interest is to organise the best event the polo world has ever seen.’
‘Worthy and dull?’ he flashed.
Her cheeks blazed red under this attack. Was that was how she’d come across? When her brother left the room, she had been expecting a few pleasantries, and then the chance to make another a
ppointment to see Dante to discuss her plans—and only that.
‘I expected more of you, Karina.’ His tone was scathing.
Completely thrown, she went into defensive mode. ‘I’ll give you my best. My clients have never been disappointed. My past record speaks for itself.’
‘Maybe your previous clients haven’t been as demanding as me.’
She couldn’t believe he was being so aggressive and, unsettled, she looked away. Reaching out, he cupped her chin and brought her back so she had nowhere to look but into his eyes. ‘Why so defensive, Karina?’ he goaded. ‘What aren’t you telling me?’
‘I don’t know what you mean. You’re a valued client, and I never break my promise to a client. That should be enough for you.’
Dante’s eyes narrowed. ‘You haven’t answered my question.’
Nor would she. Shaking him off, she stepped back. ‘If we’re going to do business together—’
‘You will have to lighten up,’ he supplied, in a tone that spoke worryingly of Dante’s growing doubt that she was up to the task.
She had to remind herself how many difficult clients she’d had in the past, and that Dante was just one more. But though she had always succeeded in winning clients over in the past, Dante was a unique case, and the way he was looking at her now, as if he wanted her to defend herself...
‘If you don’t like my suggestions—’
He cut her off with a laugh. ‘Brava, Karina. I had begun to think there was nothing left of the wildcat I remember.’
There wasn’t anything left of that reckless young woman. Was he suggesting she had learned nothing since that night?
‘You accepted this assignment because you can’t resist it,’ he accused her, bringing his face close. ‘How do I know this?’ With a shrug he stood back. ‘You accepted this contract because you won’t let your brother down. And you won’t let yourself down because you have far too much pride.’
‘I have pride?’ she demanded on an incredulous laugh.
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