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She wanted
to cry but the tears wouldn’t come. Instead she lay there, numb, staring at the ceiling and trying to work out her next step, but lying still was impossible when she had so much pent-up emotion inside her.
She felt angry, confused, lost, afraid—but most of all she wanted answers. She wanted to know who had done this to her.
Unable to lie there when her life was falling apart, she sprang off the bed and paced across the bedroom, listening to the calls of birds and monkeys high up in the trees.
Suddenly she wanted to be out there too, back in the soothing, verdant rainforest where city life and corporate problems seemed so far away.
And then she remembered what Maria had said about the forest pool. Didn’t they always say that exercise was good for relieving tension? Well, she’d swim and then maybe she’d be calm enough to sustain a conversation during an evening with Rafael Cordeiro.
If they didn’t stray on to the subject of business, sex, love or marriage, they just might be able to keep the evening civil.
She slipped into her red bathing costume and pulled on the linen dress, reminding herself to be careful with it because it was all she had to wear for dinner.
Taking a towel from the bathroom, she pushed her feet into her shoes, carefully wrote something on her hands and made her way downstairs. Not trusting her directional skills, she wandered through the lodge to find Maria.
The housekeeper was in the kitchen, chopping a variety of exotic vegetables, but she willingly stopped when Grace asked to be reminded of the way to the pool.
She led her out through the glass atrium and onto a path that led away from the fazenda and into a different part of the rainforest.
Grace glanced to her left and right, delight mingling with trepidation. It was the wildest and yet the most beautiful place she’d ever seen. Huge, exotic leaves rose upwards towards the light like spears while others nestled closer to the forest floor, so large that it was like taking a stroll through a giant’s garden. Climbers scrambled up tree trunks and orchids and ferns clustered around the branches.
A flash of movement caught her eye and she paused, watching as a brightly coloured frog, tiny and delicate, clung to the tree trunk, and then there was a loud squawk from above her and a bird swooped up into the trees, its feathers a flash of red.
Parrot? Toucan? Assessing bird life as a suitably neutral topic for the dinner table, Grace made a mental note to steer the subject round to the wildlife over dinner. Then she concentrated on the route, noticing that they’d turned off the main path and were now walking along a narrow trail. Trees and ferns brushed against her arms and legs and in the background there was a rushing noise that grew louder as they walked.
Glancing over her shoulder, Grace tried to memorise the way back to the lodge.
And then the trees seemed to open up and the path widened. And there, in front of them, was the pool. Grace caught her breath in surprise and delight.
The frothy white waterfall poured over the rocks above and spilled into a large pool bordered by huge boulders and tall ferns. Surrounded by trees, exotic plants and birds and butterflies of every conceivable colour, the pool water gathered up the evening light and sparkled as though a million precious jewels lurked beneath the surface.
‘It’s beautiful.’ She glanced around her and Maria nodded.
‘It’s safe, but not at night-time. And be careful walking back to the lodge. It’s very easy to take the wrong path. Turn left and then right.’
Grace was looking at the pool. The walk through the jungle and the shocking revelations about her business had left her feeling drained and exhausted. It would be a relief to strip off, cool down and relax. Then, perhaps, she’d be able to cope with the looming pressure of dinner.
And, after that, she’d work out what she was going to do, what exactly had gone wrong and how she was going to repay those people.
Rafael strode purposefully up the path that wound through the jungle to the forest pool.
Maria had interrupted his non-stop round of phone calls to inform him that Grace was swimming and he’d felt an immediate rush of irritation that she’d chosen that moment to wander off. His New York office was spearheading the negotiations for an extremely complicated deal and they were constantly clamouring for his input.
He could have left her on her own, of course. It was unusual for the local wildlife to explore that particular pool, but still …
He quickened his pace, noticing with an upward glance that it would soon be dark.
As if confirming his thought the lights by the side of the path suddenly gleamed and fireflies darted across his line of vision.
He came to the fork in the path and moments later he heard the rushing sound of the waterfall and pressed on through ferns, over huge, shiny boulders until he saw a flash of brilliant red. Like an exotic creature she slid through the pool, lithe and fit, her body slim and graceful, her blonde hair trailing loose in the water.
Hot molten lust erupted through his body and Rafael tucked his hands in his trousers and cursed softly, fighting against the impulse to join her because he knew that to join her would be to invite complications that he didn’t need.
What he did need was uncomplicated sex, and he knew that he wasn’t going to enjoy that with a woman like Grace Thacker. She was the very worst sort of woman. It wasn’t the greed that bothered him, he was used to that and he’d never found female greed to be a barrier to enjoyable sex.
He was even prepared to play their game, up to a point, which was why he was on good terms with most of the top jewellers in the world. No, it wasn’t the greed that held him back. It was something else entirely. Grace was the sort of woman who not only expected you to hand out diamonds, but also wanted fake words of love and affection. She was the sort who dug and analysed and thought that there was an answer for everything if you only searched hard enough for it.
