For One Night Only: Reckless Night in Rio / To Love, Honour and Betray / A Night of Living Dangerously

“You can’t really be moving in together!” she said.

Laura glanced at him. Moving in together?

“It’s already done,” Gabriel said. He looked down at Laura, and his dark eyes were hungry and tender as he stroked her cheek.

Adriana gave a forced laugh. “She’s no one. Nothing.”

Gabriel wrapped his arms around Laura’s bare waist. She nearly gasped at the rough feel of his hands against her naked skin.

“I am the one who is nothing.” His black eyes burned through Laura’s soul. “Nothing without you.”

It’s an act, she told herself as her heart turned over in her chest.

“All this time, you were right in front of me,” he murmured as his wide, rough hand traced softly down her cheek. “The woman of my dreams.” He cupped her face, tilting up her chin as he suddenly smiled. “I would fight them all for you.”

“Fight who?” she whispered.

Staring at her, Gabriel gave a sudden laugh. Turning, he silently pointed behind them.

Following his gaze, Laura saw all the gorgeous party guests whispering to each other around the pool, staring back at them.

Of course they would stare at Gabriel, Laura thought. He was the sexiest, most sought after bachelor on earth. But they weren’t looking just at him. Even Laura, inexperienced as she was, could see that.

And she suddenly knew, down to her bones, that they weren’t staring at her because she was ugly.

She suddenly blinked back tears. Her makeover had created the illusion that Laura was worthy to be Gabriel’s mistress. For the first time in her life, she felt beautiful. It was dizzying. Electrifying.

But the feeling hadn’t been caused by magic fairy dust. She looked up at him.

It was the magic of his dark, hungry gaze. The magic echo of his words.

All this time, you were right in front of me. The woman of my dreams.

She was dimly aware of Adriana’s angry scowl. But Laura didn’t care about her anymore. Everyone else around them faded into a blur.

She and Gabriel were the only two people on earth. His dark eyes met hers, and his gaze fell to her lips. With agonizing slowness, he started to move his head toward hers. She realized he was going to kiss her, and her heart pounded frantically in her throat.

“Am I to understand,” Felipe Oliveira said in a gruff voice behind them, “that this girl, your supposed lover, used to be your employee?”

Straightening, Gabriel turned to him, and Laura was able to breathe again. She leaned her cheek against his chest, still dizzy from how close she’d come to being kissed.

“His employee?” Adriana sneered. “She was his secretary.”

Gabriel gave her a cool smile before turning his focus back on his rival. “Laura was once my secretary, sim, for five years. But now she’s so much more.” Looking down as she nestled in his arms, he stroked her cheek and said softly, “Now…she’s the woman who tamed me.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

IT’S only an act. Only an act!

But in spite of the constant repetition of those words, Laura’s heart still didn’t believe it as she looked up into Gabriel’s dark eyes.

“Really,” the other man drawled in accented English. His eyes traced over Laura. “She’s certainly beautiful. But this is all too convenient.” He folded his arms over his belly. “You’ve fabricated this affair, so I’ll still sell you Açoazul.”

Laura’s pulse hammered in her chest. Convinced that their plan had failed before it had half started, she pulled away from Gabriel. But he held her tight in his powerful arms, even as he never looked away from the other man.

“Why would I do that?” Gabriel said coolly.

The man looked at Adriana’s tall beauty, then back at Gabriel with a scowl. “You know why.”

“You’d be a fool not to sell me Açoazul,” Gabriel said sharply. “No other competitor has offered you a fraction of the price. Théo St. Raphaël certainly won’t. Don’t lose a fortune based on some unfounded fear!”

The older man stiffened. “I’m not afraid. And it’s not unfounded.”

Gabriel nuzzled her neck. “I’m not interested in any woman except Laura.”

She leaned back against him, closing her eyes. The feel of his lips and the nibble of his sharp teeth against the sensitive flesh caused sparks to thrill down her body. She heard the other man hiss through his teeth, and opened her eyes. Felipe Oliveira and Adriana were staring at them with shock. Looking up at Gabriel, Laura shivered as a single bead of sweat trickled down her bare skin between her breasts. The air between them suddenly crackled with sexual energy.

“Come, querida,” Gabriel said in a low voice. “It’s getting hot. I need to cool off.”

Wrapping her hand in his own, he pulled her away from the cabana and across the terrace through the open gate, past the security guards to the private beach. Turquoise waves pounded the white sand with a rhythmic roar. Laura glanced back at the party behind them. She and Gabriel were still in full view of the mansion and terraces as he led her across the sand.

“You did it,” Gabriel said when they were out of earshot.

“Did I?” Looking up, she furrowed her brow. “He didn’t seem to believe us.”

“Of course he’s suspicious. The man’s not stupid. But we’ll soon convince him we’re in love.”

“How?” she whispered.

He reached down and stroked a tendril of hair from her face.

“To think all this time I had such a beauty working for me,” he breathed, then shook his head with a laugh. “I’m glad you didn’t look like this when you were my secretary. I wouldn’t have gotten any work done.”

“You wouldn’t?”

“It was hard enough as it was. You were always too pretty. I wanted you from the first day I met you, when you came up to my office wearing that old brown suit and big glasses.”

He remembered the clothes she’d worn the day they met? “You don’t have to talk like this.” Her heart was hammering in her throat. “No one can hear us.”

“That’s why I’m saying it,” he said. “Come on.”

He yanked off his flip-flops and shirt, leaving them on the sand as he pulled her into the sea. Kicking off her high-heeled shoes, she followed him, almost willing to follow him into the very depths of the ocean as long as he kept hold of her hand.

He led her into the water, deeper and deeper still. She looked at him in front of her, and her eyes hungrily traced the hard curves of his muscular back, his strong legs. She felt the shock of cool water against her skin as they walked through the ocean waves, moving slower and slower until the water reached their thighs.

He glanced behind her. “They’re still watching.” He smiled. “You make this too easy. Any man would want you. Half the men here are in love with you already.”

Laura swallowed, yearning to tell him she didn’t care, that he was the only man she wanted, the only one she’d ever wanted. She’d once loved him with all her heart, this man with the warm dark eyes that made her melt, who whispered words of adoration, who made her body sizzle even when they weren’t out in the hot sun.