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Emotion flickered through him. He wanted Celeste to be completely different from Madeline, yet in this she was proving similar.
Or was she?
He had come to realise that the superb grasp of economics that Madeline possessed, allowing her to soar in the business world, did not extend to being overly concerned about the very issues he was now talking about with Celeste. The shadow in Rafael’s eyes changed to something harder—more critical. He could still hear Madeline arguing with him, refuting his enthusiasm for such projects as ecotourism and long-term sustainable development and natural resource conservation.
Her assured, confident voice sounded in his head now. ‘Rainforests are a prime capital asset that have to be exploited to get anything useful out of them! You can’t hold back economic growth by sentimentalising over a bunch of trees and the monkeys living in them! Get real, Rafe! It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there, and we both know it! You and I both came from nowhere, and look at us now! We’ve made good by following the money—using our talents to get our share of it! Being sentimental would have got us nowhere!’
He heard her vehement, scornful voice—knowing now, although he had once ignored it, that her callous attitude should have been a warning sign to him long before she had revealed her true character and finished their relationship for good.
Celeste’s reaction to his environmental concerns was very different. Sympathetic, enthusiastic, approving. Sharing his values.
His eyes rested on her warmly, darkening momentarily with desire. He wanted to do more than share his environmental values with her...he wanted to share his bed... Fold her to me, hold her in my arms, embrace and caress her...
He felt frustration mingle with desire. She was so set on rejecting him—rejecting all men!
But then, he reasoned, if the kind of men she came across were all of the same stamp as Karl Reiner, was that so surprising? Rafael’s thoughts darkened. And if men like Karl Reiner were used to models sleeping their way into lucrative contracts, exploiting their beauty with rich and influential men to further their careers, no wonder Celeste did not want to run the slightest risk of being tainted by embarking on any kind of relationship with anyone who could be considered in that light.
Such as himself, Rafael acknowledged. His wealth, as he knew only too well, made him a target for just such women, and he also knew that it was precisely the fact that Madeline had already made her own money—huge amounts of it!—that had been a key factor in their relationship. There had been no question that Madeline had wanted him only in order to further her career!
But he didn’t want to think about Madeline—he wanted to think about Celeste—
Is she worrying that people might think she turned down Reiner for a man even richer? Is that the reason for her reluctance? Because it would show her to be no better than that other model who did have an affair with Reiner to advance her career?
If so, it was a tribute to her character, demonstrating yet again how right he was to want her as deeply as he did! He could be confident that he could trust her not to be venal or corrupt—not to be the kind of woman who would trade herself for financial advantage!
His eyes shadowed. In his country of birth, still teeming with impoverished masses, there were women so abjectly poor they had no choice but to sell their bodies simply to survive. But here in the rich Western world there was seldom such desperate need. Here it would simply be a matter of making easy money...
In his head, the harsh sound of mocking laughter echoed viciously...
His mouth tightened to a whipped line and forcibly he wiped his mind of all such tainted, toxic thoughts. Celeste was nothing like that—nothing! That was all he had to know. All he needed to know.
