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Just for tonight she’d forget, she told herself, slipping her feet into her high-heel shoes and picking up her bag.
This one night in the jungle she was going to be the sort of woman who wore this sort of dress. She was going to forget about all her problems because despite empty assurances from Rafael Cordeiro she knew that there was no way she could solve them tonight. Tomorrow, along with reality, would come soon enough.
Tomorrow she’d be back in London. She’d track down the people who were so carefully avoiding her and she’d find out exactly what had gone wrong with her business. And her life.
Which meant that she had one more night in paradise.
CHAPTER SIX
RAFAEL WAS ALREADY seated at the table when she arrived on the terrace. He had a drink in his hand and his blue shirt was open at the neck and revealed just enough bronzed male flesh to draw her eyes for longer than she would have liked. Even dressed casually he looked cool, sophisticated and way out of her league.
She scanned his handsome features and her heart bumped crazily against her chest. What was it about him that had such a powerful impact on her?
She didn’t know and she didn’t understand it. But she knew that whatever had scarred him in the past, however bad his experiences had been, she didn’t want him to think her guilty of fraud.
She hadn’t intended to bring the subject up again but how could she not? No matter how hard she tried to push the whole thing away until tomorrow, the guilt kept intruding. ‘You must think I’m awful,’ she said impulsively as she slid into her chair, ‘taking money from those people. I know that I’m sort of guilty because it’s my company but I want you to know that I didn’t know anything about it. I need you to believe that.’
He was still, his eyes on her face. He reminded her of a jungle animal, watching. Waiting for exactly the right moment to pounce. ‘I believe you.’ His low, smooth male voice flowed over her tattered nerves like healing honey.
‘You do?’ It wasn’t the answer she’d been expecting and she couldn’t hide her surprise or relief. ‘You really mean that? I still don’
t know exactly who is responsible but I’ll find out and change things. And I’ll keep a firmer control on the figures. I should have noticed, I know, but—’ She badly wanted to tell him the truth but she didn’t want to sound as though she was making excuses.
‘But when you’re involved in the day-to-day running of the business, it’s very easy to lose grip on the numbers.’ He finished her sentence, his dark eyes velvety warm and surprisingly sympathetic.
‘Yes.’ That wasn’t exactly what had happened, but it was close enough. And he seemed to understand. Which was a massive relief to her because for one horrible moment in the fazenda she’d thought that she was never going to be able to convince him that she hadn’t deliberately taken money from anyone.
She still didn’t know what it was that had made him so cynical and sceptical about people’s motives but she was thoroughly relieved that at least he seemed to have absolved her of blame.
He’d obviously had time to think about everything she’d told him.
He was watching her now with a lazy, slumberous gaze and she felt herself relax.
‘I should have been more careful,’ she admitted, ‘but I’m relieved you no longer think I was guilty of fraud.’
‘I think we should now put the entire episode behind us.’ His voice was molten sexuality, the gentle curve of his perfectly shaped mouth drawing her gaze. And it was impossible to look at his lips and not remember the kiss. The hot, fevered burn of his mouth on hers, the erotic stroke of his tongue and the firm, deliberate touch of his hands on her body.
As her body flared to life, she blinked with embarrassment and tried to shake off the memory.
Why was she suddenly thinking of nothing but that kiss? She should be worrying about her business and thinking about the future and instead her head was filled with memories of uncontrolled passion in the hot, humid rainforest.
Her life was now a mess of tangled problems and her brain should have been filled with numbers and solutions to those problems. Instead it was full of the wonder of that kiss and the sounds of love echoed in her head; gasps, soft moans of encouragement, his voice, thrillingly deep and unfamiliar, urging her on …
She shook her head to clear the vision. There was no point in remembering the kiss. No point at all. And no point in indulging in silly, girlish fantasies, she told herself firmly. He wasn’t the right man for her and a little hot passion in the steamy jungle didn’t change that fact.
Her world and his world didn’t coincide.
‘I haven’t even thanked you for the dress. It’s beautiful and it even fits—just.’ She kept her tone light and smiled her thanks as Maria placed a drink in front of her. ‘The owner was obviously a size smaller than me.’
‘It looks better on you.’ He lifted his glass in her direction and delivered a slow, appreciative smile that was unmistakably masculine. ‘Much better.’
His careless dismissal of the owner of the dress was completely in character and yet questions throbbed in her head and she bit her lip to hold them back.
Whose was it?
Did you love her?
Did you hurt her?
