Under the Brazilian Sun

by Catherine George

  She pulled the sheet up to her chin and lay still, listening as Roberto gave instructions to a waiter. A suite which opened into a sitting room had its advantages, she thought with approval. Roberto had merely looked flushed and slightly tousled about the head to confront the waiter while she probably looked like a wreck. She leapt to her feet to escape into the bathroom, but Roberto caught her and swept her up in his arms before she made it.

  ‘It is too late to be shy, carinha!’

  ‘I’m not shy.’ Well, not much. ‘I need another shower.’

  ‘I will share it with you, linda flor. I have dreamed of this, also.’ He set her down gently in the shower stall, threw off the robe and joined her.

  Katherine half expected him to make love to her again once they were naked together, but Roberto merely held her close as the water streamed over them, then stepped out to fetch towels. He wrapped her in one of them, laughing as her stomach gave a sudden rumble.

  ‘I hate to be unromantic,’ she said wryly, ‘but I’m hungry. I couldn’t face much in the way of breakfast this morning.’

  He gave her a searching look. ‘You were sad to leave the Estancia?’

  ‘Yes. It was hard to say goodbye.’

  ‘I am pleased to hear that,’ he informed her with satisfaction. ‘Put on a robe while I dress, then we eat, Doutora.’

  In underwear and robe, Katherine finger-combed her hair and followed Roberto into the sitting room, where their lunch waited on a table under the windows. With a flourish, Roberto removed a cover to display a vast colourful salad embedded with huge prawns.

  ‘Wow!’

  ‘So you see, English girl, we gauchos do not eat meat all the time.’ He smiled. ‘Come. Eat. You must renew your energy.’

  Katherine raised an eyebrow and he pulled her close on the sofa beside him, chuckling as he kissed her cheek.

  ‘I meant because you were so brave to fly here with me as pilot,’ he assured her virtuously.

  They enjoyed their long lazy lunch in front of windows with a spectacular view of the lagoon, the only cloud on Katherine’s horizon the prospect that soon she must leave all this behind and go back to her normal life. But looking on the plus side, she reminded herself firmly, she had been given a glorious holiday with Roberto in a country she’d always longed to visit; though her preconception of Brazil had been mostly of Rio de Janeiro and Carnival, with minimal knowledge of the wide open spaces of gaucho country in Rio Grande do Sul, which she had come to love during her short stay. Riding out over his land with Roberto had been a deeply satisfying experience. She had enjoyed the camaraderie of his men, also achieved a close rapport with her horse.

  ‘When you go back to the Estancia will you pat Garoto for me and tell him I’ll miss him, Roberto?’

  He took in a deep breath and then put their plates on the table and lifted her onto his lap. ‘I need to hold you,’ he said tersely, smoothing her head against his shoulder. Katherine relaxed against him, happy just to be alone with him in the quiet of the air-conditioned room, while the vibrant city life of Porto Alegre went on around them.

  ‘When you say such things,’ he said at last, his voice husky, ‘almost you make me cry. And it is not macho for a man to cry!’

  ‘You take great pride in machismo?’

  ‘Pois e! What man does not?’ He gave her a crooked smile. ‘When you left me in Portugal I wanted very much to cry, and exerted much self-control to avoid disillusioning Jorge.’

  ‘I cried buckets,’ she said frankly, and he laughed and hugged her close, but inwardly she shuddered. All too soon it would happen again when she flew home.

  ‘Would you like tea, Katherine?’

  She shook her head, stifling a yawn, and Roberto took her hand to pull her to her feet. ‘Agora. Now you rest.’

  After the hectic programme of the past few days the idea was suddenly very appealing. ‘But what will you do, Roberto?’

  ‘I shall rest with you.’ He looked surprised that she’d needed to ask. ‘When you wake we shall drink tea and coffee, as we did many times in Quinta das Montanhas and at Estancia Grande, but here is better because we shall be in bed together. Not,’ he said, his handsome face suddenly stern, ‘that I will make love to you. You need sleep, Katherine. There are shadows under those beautiful green eyes. I will just hold your hand while you sleep, then later we go out on the town.’

  She smiled drowsily and leaned back against the banked pillows. ‘I loved Christmas at Estancia Grande, Roberto, but I’m so glad to be here alone with you for a while before I leave.’

  He slid down beside her and raised her hand to his lips. ‘It was a brilliant idea of mine, nao e?’ He shifted slightly to look down into her eyes. ‘Did your former lover object when you came here to me?’

  ‘I didn’t tell him. Andrew and I are no longer friends.’ Katherine pulled a face as she described the unpleasant encounter in the flat.

  Roberto lapsed into Portuguese to swear violently. ‘He meant to force you?’

  ‘I don’t think he would have gone that far, but Hugh and Alastair’s arrival cut it short. At which point I told Andrew it was over in front of witnesses—good move because he’s a lawyer—and said goodbye. I haven’t seen him since.’

  ‘I would like to meet him,’ said Roberto with quiet menace.

  ‘Unlikely that you will,’ she pointed out.

  ‘I will never force you, Katherine.’

  She turned to smile at him. ‘No need. One look from you, Roberto Rocha de Sousa, and I melt in your arms.’

  ‘Amada!’ He leant to kiss her swiftly, and then settled beside her, holding her hand. ‘Now close your eyes. Dorme bem.’

  Katherine woke alone later to the soft glow of lamps from the open doorway to the other room. She shot up to look at her watch as Roberto came to sit on the edge of the bed.

  ‘You feel rested now?’ He bent to kiss her nose.

  ‘I do, but I’m sorry I slept so long!’

  ‘Nao importa, we eat later here in the city. Also you were up very early almost every morning at the Estancia. Tomorrow, you can have breakfast in bed.’ He smoothed her hair back with a caressing hand. ‘I spoke with my parents. My mother is glad we arrived safely, but feels very sad now you are gone. I am commanded to ask you to come back again soon.’

  ‘How sweet of her.’ Katherine felt enormous relief that Roberto’s parents had been so friendly. She had never been invited to meet a man’s parents before, mainly because she’d deliberately kept her former relationships too casual for the question to arise. ‘It was very good of your parents to invite a total stranger to their home for Christmas, Roberto.’

  His eyebrows rose. ‘You were my guest, not a stranger, Katherine. They were both eager to meet the clever lady who revealed my painting as a Gainsborough. And because of its provenance, she will always be grateful to you.’

  She shook her head in wonder. ‘I had no idea when I took James Massey’s place that I would not only meet a star of the racing circuit—’

  ‘Who you had never heard of,’ he growled.

  ‘True, but due to the joys of technology I soon found out! As I was saying, I had no idea that I would meet a sports celebrity who owned a Gainsborough, let alone that the subject of the painting would be his ancestor.’ She met his eyes squarely. ‘Nor that my client would be the most attractive man I’d ever met in my life.’

  Roberto’s eyes widened. ‘Is that what you thought that first day? Even though I limped and had a scar?’

  ‘Yes.’ Her eyes flashed. ‘While you were furious because I wasn’t a man, and took one look at my clothes and spectacles and dismissed me as a frump.’

  ‘Frump? What is that?’

  ‘Someone who looked like me that day.’

  He grinned and threw out his hands. ‘To me, you seemed so blazingly intellectual you scared me greatly, Doutora. But you are also beautiful and compassionate and so looked past my injuries to the man underneath.’

  Not quite. Dr Katherine Lis
ter had simply taken one look and fallen head over heels in love with the client just the way he was, scars and all. But until she was sure that Roberto’s heart was involved in his feelings for her she would keep that to herself.

  Lit up by night, Porto Alegre was even more exciting. Katherine held Roberto’s hand in the taxi on the drive to the restaurant, in constant need of his touch as the time drew nearer to leave him. She pushed the thought away as they arrived at the Italian restaurant Roberto had chosen as a change for Katherine. Not that the location mattered to her. Roberto for companion was the important thing. She would willingly have stayed at the hotel and ordered room service again but, knowing he wanted her to experience some Porto Alegre night life, she had worn the green dress again and, with the emerald pendant and earrings to transform it, felt as beautiful as Roberto constantly told her she was.

  The restaurant was intimate and sophisticated, the red wine was mellow and Roberto held her hand as much as possible throughout the meal as he outlined their itinerary for the next day before her flight.

  ‘We will go shopping for these presents you must buy, Katherine.’ He flung up a hand. ‘And do not flash those eyes at me—I will not try to pay for them. Though if I find something you would like for yourself I will pay.’

  ‘Roberto, you’ve gone to enormous expense to bring me here, no more presents are necessary,’ she said firmly, and suddenly looked wistful. ‘I had such gorgeous Christmas gifts from you and your parents, but I won’t get much opportunity to wear them.’

  ‘You must wear jewellery when you go out with friends?’

  She laughed, and touched a hand to the pendant and earrings. ‘True. But not like these. I shall keep them for special occasions.’ She sighed. ‘And the gaucho outfit will be just a souvenir. I ride in pretty ordinary gear at home. When I do, which is very seldom these days.’

  ‘It looks very good on you, amada.’ He raised her hand to his lips, oblivious of the other diners. ‘And you should keep up the riding. Did you enjoy riding with me?’

  ‘You know I did, Roberto. The entire holiday has been a wonderful experience.’

  ‘It is not over yet, querida.’ He summoned a waiter, paid the bill, then stood up and held out his hand. ‘Come, Katherine. Let us find a taxi.’

  Back at the hotel, it seemed like the most natural thing in the world to get ready for bed together, and then slide into each other’s arms as though this was something they’d done every night for years.

  Katherine smiled as she told Roberto this and he nodded in full agreement.

  ‘I felt this from almost the first time I saw you.’

  ‘You mean a bit later than that, after I scrubbed up and lost the glasses!’

  ‘Everdade!’ He laughed and hugged her closer. ‘I was determined to have you, Katherine Lister, no matter how many men you’d left behind in England.’

  She gave him a dig in the ribs. ‘There was precisely one! Whereas you’ve had countless women in your life, Roberto de Sousa!’

  ‘Mariana was the only one of significance.’ He switched on a lamp and looked into her eyes. ‘You are different. In my dreams I had always longed to meet a woman who appealed to my mind as well as my body. I had given up all hope of this—then I met you.’ He kissed her with sudden, fierce possession, his hands moving in a demanding glissade down her spine to mould her against that part of him that sought entry, and her thighs parted for him in ardent welcome as he united their bodies in the earthy, heart-stopping intensity of rapture she knew she would never know again once they parted.

  Roberto raised his head as his breathing slowed, consternation in his eyes as he saw her face. ‘You are crying! Why?’

  She swiped her tears away impatiently, about to lie, then changed her mind. ‘Because I’m leaving you tomorrow.’ She bit her quivering lower lip so hard Roberto frowned and placed soft, sweet kisses along her mouth to soothe it, then turned on his side and drew her against him.

  ‘I know too well you are leaving me, so now we talk.’

  Katherine looked up into his taut, determined face, and drew in a shaky breath. ‘I’m sorry to spoil things by crying. Normally, I don’t do tears much.’ And all the tears she’d shed recently had been over Roberto de Sousa.

  ‘I know this.’ He stroked her hair back from her forehead. ‘At the thought of parting with you I want to cry myself.’ He sighed. ‘But men do not cry, of course.’

  She managed a grin. ‘Especially gaucho men!’

  ‘That is better, carinha. I prefer your smiles to your tears.’

  ‘So do I,’ she said dryly. ‘So what do you want to talk about, Roberto?’

  ‘Myself, of course—what else would a man want to talk about?’ he teased, then sobered. ‘I want you to listen very carefully to me, Katherine. And stay close while I talk.’

  Katherine had no intention of moving even a hair’s breadth. His warmth and nearness were a vital necessity as she braced herself to listen.

  ‘When Luis died,’ he began, ‘I naturally returned immediately to the Estancia to comfort my parents. But because I want truth between us, Katherine, I confess that I did not intend to stay very long. Because I had been living away from home for years I had seen my family only on short visits for special reasons like Christmas and anniversaries. Because it was some months since I had seen him, it was a shock to find that my father was looking so much older. Because my mother is many years younger than him, the change in her was not so great.

  ‘So Roberto Rocha, darling of the racing circuit, decided to take a sabbatical from his career and stay at the Estancia to lighten some of his father’s load. Because he had been born to it, he was soon so much part of life on Estancia Grande he began taking over from his grieving father more and more. But he never lost sight of the ultimate goal—that once his father had overcome his grief Roberto Rocha would return to his life on the track for a few years until it was the natural time to retire and return to his roots.

  ‘Then I went to a friend’s wedding, met Elena, and was moron enough to throw myself into my car to prevent her stealing it,’ said Roberto with disgust. ‘All thoughts of a career ended. I worked hard to recover physically, but mentally I was…how do you say… wallowing in self-pity. Then fate sent Dr Katherine Lister into my life and changed it for ever.’ He turned her face up to his and kissed her to emphasize the point. ‘When my father took me to the hospital straight from the airport I was ready to endure anything the doctors could do to help me walk and ride normally.’

  Katherine smoothed a hand over his hard chest. ‘Was the pain terrible, Roberto?’

  ‘For a while, yes, but I did whatever was asked of me to begin recovering.’ He lifted her hand to his lips. ‘But I could not ring you until I knew for certain that I would be able to function normally, both in the saddle and on two feet.’

  ‘You could have asked someone to send me an email, so I at least knew you’d arrived safely,’ she pointed out.

  ‘I preferred to wait until I could hear your voice, Katherine,’ he said flatly. ‘I had much time to think about what my life would be once I was home on the Estancia for good. And though I love my parents, and enjoy the company of men, I needed more in my life. I so much missed you, amada I asked you here for Christmas, hoping that you would enjoy a stay on the Estancia.’

  ‘Which I did,’ she sighed.

  ‘You took to the life like…you have a phrase about ducks?’

  ‘Like a duck to water?’

  ‘Isso. To ride out with you on Garoto by my side brought me much joy.’

  ‘Me too,’ she said huskily.

  Roberto turned her face up to his. ‘Then I have a question to ask.’ His eyes, darkly brilliant with an emotion which started her heart beating like a drum, locked with hers. ‘Do you love me, Katherine?’

  It wasn’t the question she’d been hoping for, but she burnt some of her boats and answered it anyway. ‘Yes. I do.’

  He let out a deep unsteady breath and kissed her until her hea
d reeled. ‘Gracas a Deus,’ he said against her mouth. ‘How I have longed to hear you say that.’

  ‘Why?’ she demanded.

  ‘You must know why!’

  Katherine looked deep into the dark, possessive eyes and burnt the last of her boats. ‘Is it by any chance because you love me?’

  ‘You have to ask?’ he said in astonishment. ‘I thought it was written across my forehead for all to see.’

  Her eyes fell, as her heart thumped so loudly she was sure he must be able to hear it. ‘I knew only too well you wanted me—physically, I mean.’

  ‘And I do,’ he assured her with passion. ‘I adore your body, but even more I love you with all my heart and soul and always will. So will you marry me and live in the land of the gaucho with me for ever, Katherine? Because if you say yes it must mean until death parts us.’

  ‘I do say yes. To almost everything,’ she added, to avoid any misunderstanding.

  ‘Almost?’ he said warily.

  ‘I’ve been on my own for a long time, and I’m used to running my life the way I want it. And although I would enjoy life on the Estancia, Roberto, I’m accustomed to earning my own living. I’d like to carry on with my job. With the wonder of technology, I could work for James wherever I am.’

  ‘I will buy you the ultimate in computers so you can do that, I promise,’ he said emphatically. ‘And if you miss your life in London you shall invite your friends to stay whenever you wish—but not the lawyer! So, Dr Lister. Will you marry me?’

  She smiled at him radiantly. ‘Yes, Senhor Sousa, I will.’

  Roberto held her close in passionate thanksgiving, and then got out of bed to make for his overnight bag. As he slid back beside her he held out his hand. ‘This is not a present, Katherine. This is a token of my love. Will you accept it?’

  She looked at the emerald and diamond ring lying on his palm and blinked away tears. This was no time to be crying! ‘Oh, Roberto! It’s glorious. Of course I’ll accept it.’

  ‘I bought it with the other pieces,’ he informed her as he slid it on the appropriate finger, ‘but before I could offer it to you it was necessary to wait until you had more experience of what life with me would mean.’ He raised her hand and kissed the ring, then gave her an imperious look. ‘Do not make me wait long before we add a wedding band, querida. We have spent too many years of our lives apart. It is time that we were together, as fate intended.’