by Jennie Lucas
“No!” Adriana gasped. “It can’t be true!”
Laura’s gaze rested anxiously on Gabriel. His dark eyes were deep as the night sky. She saw him take a deep breath. Then slowly, very slowly, he came toward her. Never looking away from her face, he took her in his arms. Biting her lip in apprehension, Laura waited for his jaw to clench with fury and resentment. Waited for him to say something biting and cruel.
Instead, he gently kissed her cheek, then turned to face Oliveira and Adriana.
“We weren’t going to tell anyone yet. But yes, Robby is my son. I wanted to wait until after our wedding to make it public. It seemed more proper.”
“Proper?” Adriana sneered. “When have you ever cared about proper?”
Gabriel stiffened, glaring at her. “I have always cared about doing what is right,” he said in a low voice. “I would never leave my child without a father, without a name.”
“And yet,” Oliveira said, shifting his savvy gaze between them, “you allowed your fiancée to raise your baby alone, for all these months.”
Gabriel set his jaw. “I—”
“He didn’t know about Robby,” Laura interrupted in a whisper. “I didn’t tell him. It wasn’t until he came to my sister’s wedding that he first saw his son. I knew Gabriel didn’t want a family—”
“So he always insisted,” Adriana said resentfully.
Gabriel’s dark eyes glowed with warmth and love as he looked down at Laura, who was shivering in her red strapless gown and opera gloves. “But Robby changed my mind.” He wrapped his warm, tuxedo-clad arms more firmly around her. “From the moment I saw Laura with our son, I knew I couldn’t part with them. We were meant to be a family.”
Laura blinked back her tears, hardly able to breathe as she heard the words she’d always dreamed of.
She’d told him the truth about Robby, and he knew it. She could see it in his eyes. Robby was his son. And this was Laura’s reward for being brave enough to tell the truth. He wasn’t rejecting her. He wasn’t rejecting their baby.
All this time she’d thought it would be so hard to tell him the truth, but it wasn’t. It was easy.
Staring at them, Felipe Oliveira stroked his chin. “You might be a bastard, Santos, but you wouldn’t desert your son. Or your son’s mother.” He looked from Laura to Gabriel with a sly smile. “And I see the passion between you. I have been a doddering old fool to feel threatened. The two of you are in love.” He gave a sudden decisive nod. “Está bom. We will sign the preliminary contracts tomorrow. Be at my lawyers’ office at nine.”
Gabriel put his arm around Laura’s waist, smiling at the other man. “Sure.”
Adriana glared at Laura. “You got pregnant on purpose! You tricked Gabriel into marriage!”
As Laura stiffened, Oliveira grabbed the supermodel’s arm grimly.
“There’s only one person you should worry about getting tricked into marriage,” he said, “and that’s me. I look at them—” he nodded toward Laura and Gabriel “—and I see love. I look at you, Adriana, and I see…nothing.”
She stared at him, her eyes wide.
Oliveira lifted a white bushy eyebrow. “Our engagement,” he said mildly, “is over.”
He marched off across the ballroom. Adriana’s cheeks went red as an amused titter flowed through the nearby crowd.
“Fine,” she shrieked after him. “But I’m keeping the ring!”
Oliveira didn’t even turn around. Frustrated greed filled Adriana’s eyes, and with an intake of breath, she started to push forward. “Felipe,” she whined, “wait!”
When they were alone in the crowd, Gabriel looked down at Laura. She took a deep breath, waiting for the onslaught of questions she knew were coming. “Oh, Gabriel. I know we have so much to talk about—”
“Wait.” He glanced at the people around them, amused celebutantes and movie actors in designer clothes, rich and beautiful and dressed in sparkling, sexy gowns. “Come with me.”
Grabbing two flutes of champagne from the tray of a passing waiter, Gabriel pulled her through the glorious, gilded ballroom, filled with music and magic, and out a side door.
The private garden was dark and quiet. Laura looked up and saw black silhouettes of palm trees swaying against the purple sky. The night was tropical and warm, and on the wild southern coast so far from the lights of the city, she could see stars twinkling down on them.
Biting her lip, she faced him. “So…so you don’t mind?”
“Mind?” Smiling, he handed her a glass of champagne. His dark head was frosted with silvery moonlight as he leaned forward to clink his crystal flute against hers. “You are the most incredible woman I’ve ever met,” he whispered. “Brilliant. Beautiful.”
She stared up at him with trembling lips as joy flooded her heart. “You’re not angry?”
“Angry?” His brow furrowed. “Why would I be angry? Because you lied?”
She licked her dry lips. “Yes.”
He shook his head. “No, querida.” His expression was tender. “I’ve just gotten everything I ever dreamed of. Because of you.”
He drank deeply from his champagne flute, and she followed suit, her eyes wet with tears of joy. She’d never imagined he would react this way, not in a million years. What had she ever done to deserve this miracle—that Gabriel would so easily accept their child as his own? That he would be glad to be a father after all?
“I’m so happy,” she whispered. Smiling, she wiped tears from her eyes. “I never dreamed you would react like this.”
He looked down at her with a frown. “Querida, are you crying?”
“I’m happy,” she whispered.
“So am I, my beautiful girl.” He stroked her cheek, his fingertips lightly caressing her flushed skin. “You sexy, incredible woman,” he breathed in her ear, causing prickles to spread down her body. Cupping her face, he lowered his mouth to hers. “I will never forget this night.”
When he kissed her, his lips were hot and smooth on hers. He seared her with the sizzle of his tongue against her lips, teasing her. She gripped his shoulders, instinctively pulling him closer.
They heard a sudden burst of laughter as other guests came into the garden. Grabbing her hand with a low growl, Gabriel pulled her deeper into the trees, into a shadowy corner. Above them, palm trees swayed in the violet-smudged night. The other voices continued to come closer, and he pushed her all the way back against the palace wall. She felt the hardness of his body, the roughness of the stone behind her.
Without a word, he slowly kissed her throat. She closed her eyes, tossing her head back with a silent gasp. She felt his teeth nibble her neck, felt his hands skimming from her bare shoulders down the length of her arms, over her long white gloves. He kissed her bare collarbone, his hands cupping her breasts below the sweetheart neckline of her strapless gown. Pressing her breasts together, he licked the cleavage just above the red velvet, and she sucked in her breath.
Samba music poured out of the palace as the doors to the garden continued to bang open and more guests discovered the garden. Voices grew louder, laughing and sultry, murmuring in Portuguese and French, as other lovers approached their corner. Gabriel pulled away from her. “Let’s get out of here,” he growled.
She blinked at him, dazed with desire. “Leave the ball already? It’s barely midnight.”
Jerking her back against his hard body, he leaned his forehead against hers and whispered, “If we don’t leave, I will take you right here.”
Drawing in a breath, she saw his absolute intent to make love to her right here in the dark garden, against the wall, with people on the other side of the foliage and samba music wafting through the warm air. She gave a single nod.
Gabriel instantly grabbed her hand and dragged her through the garden, back into the ballroom. He pulled her through the huge, crowded space, wading against the flow of new arrivals. Laura heard people shouting greetings to him in a variety of languages, but he didn’t stop. He didn’t even look
at them. He just pulled her relentlessly up the wide, sweeping stairs to the front door, where he tersely summoned his driver.
As they waited, they stood at the end of the red carpet, not looking at each other. His hand gripped hers, crushing her fingers through her gloves. She heard the hoarseness of his breath. Or maybe it was her own. Her heartbeat was rapid. She felt dizzy.
“What’s taking so long?” Gabriel muttered beneath his breath. She felt his barely restrained power, felt the grip of his hand as if only sheer will kept him from turning to her and ripping off her slinky red gown, pushing her against the wall and tasting her skin, in front of all the servants, the valets and flash of the paparazzi’s cameras.
It took three minutes before the Rolls-Royce sedan pulled up and Carlos leaped out. Laura stared at the man’s crooked tie. She saw a smudge of lipstick.
“Finally,” Gabriel growled, grabbing his door.
“Sorry about the delay, senhor,” Carlos said, casting a regretful glance back at the palace. Laura followed his gaze and saw a housemaid looking down from the second-floor window. Laura was so filled with joy, she couldn’t bear the thought of everyone not being happy tonight. Standing on her tiptoes, she whispered in Gabriel’s ear, “Give him the night off.”
“Why?” he snapped. “I don’t want to drive. I want to be alone with you in the back—”
“He was enjoying his time here.” She tilted her head toward the window. “Look.”
Gabriel glanced behind them, then instantly faced his driver, who’d just come around the car. “Carlos, you’re dismissed.”
“Senhor?” the man gasped in horror.
“Enjoy your night,” he said. “I trust you can get a ride home tonight?”
Delight flooded the older man’s face. “Yes, sir.”
“I have an early appointment tomorrow. Do not be late.” After opening the door for Laura, Gabriel walked around the car and climbed into the driver’s seat.
Smiling at Carlos’s dumbfounded expression, Laura fastened her seat belt, and Gabriel pressed on the gas. They drove down the tree-lined lane with a spray of gravel, and the flash of cameras from additional paparazzi parked outside the gate.
“I know a shortcut,” Gabriel said a moment later. Turning off the busy main road, he drove down the rocky coast, the luxury sedan bouncing hard over the rough road. Laura looked out her window. The landscape was hauntingly beautiful, filled with trees and thickets of jungle that wound along the sharp cliffs overlooking the moonlit Atlantic.
She looked back at the dark silhouette of Gabriel’s brutally handsome face, his Roman nose and angular jaw. She saw the tight clench of his hand on the gear-shift, saw the visible tension of his body beneath his tuxedo.
As a warm breeze blew tendrils of hair across her face, she was so filled with joy she thought she might die. Life was wonderful, incredible, magical. How had she never fully realized it before?
It was Gabriel. He was the dark angel who’d changed her life forever. Her heart was his. Forever.
She loved him.
“Don’t look at me like that,” he said in a low voice, glancing at her. “It’s a two-hour drive back to the city.”
She sucked in her breath. “Can’t you drive any faster?” she begged.
With a curse, he suddenly steered the car off the road with a wide spray of gravel, taking a sharp turn past a thicket of trees that ended on a dark bluff overlooking the wide ocean. He slammed on the brake and turned off the engine. The headlights went black, and with a low growl he was upon her.
But the front of the sedan hadn’t been made for this. The two luxurious leather seats were separated by a hard center console, and the steering wheel pressed against Gabriel’s hip. He’d barely kissed her before he was jumping out with a low curse. Opening her door, he yanked her out. She had one glimpse of the moon-drenched ocean beneath the cliff, and then he pushed her into the backseat.
He kissed her, his lips hot and hard against her, and covered her body with his own. She felt his weight against hers in the tight confines of the backseat. His scent of musk and soap mingled with expensive leather, the forest, wild orchids and the salty sea. The notched satin collar of his black tuxedo jacket moved against the bare skin of her shoulders. He gripped her gloved hands, pulling them back over her head, against the car window.
He kissed down her throat, his hands cupping her breasts through the corset bodice of her red dress. But their feet still hung off the end of the seat. His legs were dangling out of the car. And though the seat was comfortable and wide, he had scant space to brace his arms around her. With a low growl, he moved away, so fast he hit his head against the ceiling. He gave a loud, spectacular curse. She saw the flash of his eyes in the moonlit night.
“It’s still not enough,” he growled. “Not nearly enough.”
He kicked the door wide open behind them. Taking her hand, he roughly pulled her out of the car. Kissing her, he pushed her back against the hood.
Laura gasped as she felt the warmth of the hard metal beneath her. Gabriel moved over her, kissing her lips, kissing her bare neck. Overhead, she saw the twinkling stars of the night sky as he peeled off her long white opera gloves one at a time, tossing them to the soft earth. She felt the shock the warm air against her bare skin. Standing up straight, he looked down at her as he yanked off his tuxedo jacket and tie, and she realized that he did not intend to wait until they got back to Rio.
Right here. Right now.
Below the cliff, she heard the roar and crash of the ocean waves pounding the shore. She heard the sounds of night birds and the chatter of monkeys from the stretch of dark forest behind them. She saw the flash of Gabriel’s dark eyes in the moonlight as he bent over her, reaching around her to unzip her dress. He slowly pulled it down the length of her body. She watched in shock as he dropped the expensive dress to the ground. She was now lying on the hood of his Rolls-Royce, naked except for a white strapless bra, silk panties, white garter belt and white thigh-high stockings.
He gasped as he softly stroked her naked belly. “So beautiful,” he breathed.
Swallowing, she looked up at him. The bright moon illuminated his black hair as his hands stroked her skin. Reverently, he undid the front clasp of her bra, pulling it off her body and dropping it, too, to the ground. She felt his shudder of barely controlled desire as he cupped her naked breasts in his hands. “I’ve wanted you so long,” he said hoarsely. “I thought I would die of it.”
Moving down her body, he licked the valley between her breasts, then took her nipple in his wet, warm mouth. As his tongue ran over her taut peak like a caress of silk, she felt his hands slide down to her hips.
Her own hands moved of their own volition, beneath his white tuxedo shirt to feel the smooth warmth of his skin, to feel the hard muscles of his chest beneath the scattering of dark hair. She unbuttoned his shirt with trembling hands as he breathed against her ear, tasting the sensitive flesh of her earlobe. He kissed a trail down her neck, to her breasts, as his hands moved between her legs, along the top edge of her garter belt and thigh-high stockings.
His fingers stroked over her silken panties, and her breath stopped in her throat. He reached beneath the edge of the silk, and she felt him stroke her lightly, so lightly, across her wet core. Her hips strained toward him but he took his time, holding back, stroking her. He slowly pushed two thick fingers an inch inside her.
She arched her spine against the hood.
Pulling back with a growl, he ripped off his white shirt, popping the cuff links. With a low curse in Portuguese, he bent over her once more. His bare chest was rough and laced with dark hair, his skin so warm as his muscles slid against the softness of her breasts. She felt him between her knees, his thickly muscled hips rough against her spread thighs. He leaned above her, standing beside the car. She gripped his shoulders as he kissed her neck, nipping the sensitive corner of her throat. With agonizing slowness, he kissed down between her breasts to her flat belly, past her white garter
belt to the sharp edge of her hip bone. He kissed the edge of her white silk panties. Then he stopped.
She felt his warm breath against her skin above her thigh-high stockings. His lips slowly moved over the silk, kissing down her legs. Pushing them farther apart, he took an exploratory lick of her inner right thigh. As she sucked in her breath, he switched to her left thigh. She trembled beneath him, her breath coming in increasingly ragged gasps as his lips moved slowly higher on each side. He held her hips firmly, relentlessly, not allowing her to move away.
Pushing the silk of her panties aside, he paused, and she felt his warm breath against her slick, sensitive core. He lowered his head between her legs, and still did not touch her, except with the soft stroke of his breath.
“Please,” she gasped, hardly knowing what she was asking for. She grabbed his head, twining her fingers in his hair. “I—”
With ruthless control, he slowly pushed her wide with both hands. Lowering his head even more, he tasted her with the hot, wet tip of his tongue.
Pleasure ripped through her. With a cry, Laura flung her arms wide, desperate to hold on to something, anything, to keep herself from flying headlong into the sky. Her right hand found the car’s metal hood ornament.
Gabriel’s tongue moved against her, licking her in little darting swirls. Spreading her wide, he lapped at her with the full width of his rough tongue. As she cried out, he drew back, using just the tip of his tongue again to swirl against her in progressively tighter circles, until she twisted and writhed with the sweet agony of her desire. It was building—exploding….
“Stop,” she gasped. “No.” She gripped his shoulders, frantically pulling him up toward her, and he lifted his head. Undoing the fly of his tuxedo trousers, he yanked them down with his boxers. They fell to his black Italian leather shoes as he sheathed himself in a condom he’d pulled from his pocket. Leaving on her garter belt and stockings, he grabbed Laura by the hips and pulled her down to the very edge of the car hood, where he stood. Ripping the fabric of her panties in a single brutal movement, he pushed inside her in a single thrust.
