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Saffie didn’t need a translator to know she was thanking Joao for changing her life. He withstood her effusive gratitude with a staid demeanour, only cracking a smile when one child came forward at her mother’s urging to utter a solemn, ‘Obrigado, Senhor Oliviera.’
Saffie felt tears prick her own eyes. She quickly blinked them back, aware that Joao hadn’t moved from the pillar of stone he’d turned into. For whatever reason, he’d wanted to keep this special deed under wraps.
Why, she didn’t completely understand. But she could guess.
Deep down, Joao was attempting to rewrite his own history. Giving back where he’d been cruelly denied.
She wanted to shake him, tell him it wasn’t a weakness. One look at his stiff profile warned her against tackling it here. Now.
Ernesto and Lavinia rejoined them and they left.
They were halfway to the helicopter when she noticed he’d left the flowers behind.
* * *
Lavinia left within an hour of returning to Villa Sábia, but not before announcing her intention to sell her empire to Joao.
Joao’s response was triumphant but curiously solemn.
The formal announcement was scheduled for Monday morning, Brazilian time. Saffie had already sent an approved press release to London and New York to be circulated concurrently.
Now, two hours later, she strolled onto the edge of the first-floor wraparound terrace of the north wing, her heart once again hammering with panic and wild hope. The sun had long set, cicadas wide awake and chirping in the gardens below.
Behind her, one of the two dozen bottles of Krug champagne she’d had placed in the wine cellar for this very celebration chilled in a silver ice bucket. The silk wrap she’d brought out in case the breeze turned cool trailed from her fingers as she strolled from one end of the terrace to the other.
This was more than a celebration for her.
This was the biggest undertaking of her life.
It wasn’t every day you confessed your overwhelming feelings to your boss. To an extraordinary man like Joao—
‘You’ve helped me win the biggest deal in my life, yet you pace like the world is on fire.’
She whirled, saw him lounging in the doorway, his eyes brooding, tension still vibrating off him. She wanted to ask why he wasn’t celebrating.
But she wouldn’t be veered off course, a feat he managed all too easily. To focus herself she dropped the wrap on a lounger and went to the ice bucket.
Small platters of Oscietra caviar on crackers, wagyu beef strips and grilled prime lobster bites were laid out on the table.
‘I ordered these in case you were hungry.’
‘How thoughtful of you.’
She slid a furtive glance at him. His smile as he sauntered forward didn’t reach his eyes and she watched as he reached out to pluck the bottle from her nerveless hands with one hand while setting down a large, flat velvet box.
‘What’s that?’
‘We’ll get to that in a minute. You can’t drink so what’s the purpose of the champagne?’
‘As you said, you’ve just closed a deal of a lifetime. I thought one of us should celebrate.’
His lips firmed, and he worked the cork until it popped. Weirdly, it was a flat sound that barely registered in the evening air. Saffie wondered if it was an omen. He poured out two glasses, set the bottle back and made no move to pick up his glass.
Instead, he reached for the velvet box. ‘This is for you.’ He held it out.
Saffie didn’t take it. ‘I sort of guessed it might be. I don’t want it, Joao.’
His eyes narrowed. ‘You don’t know what it is.’
