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‘How can you say that?’ She stared up at him, appalled and just hating herself for the immediate flare of heat that erupted in her pelvis. ‘Are you seriously suggesting that you could just as soon sleep with a liar and a cheat as you could a decent, honest woman? Don’t you have any morals?’
One bronzed shoulder lifted in a careless dismissal of her question. ‘It is sex, minha paixao. Sex. I am only interested in what you do in my bed. What you do in your own time is really no concern of mine.’ He frowned slightly. ‘Providing, that is, you don’t defraud Carlos and Filomena. But we both know that won’t happen again.’
Appalled and horrified, she closed her eyes briefly, her fleeting happiness brutally punctured by his cynical attitude. ‘I thought you trusted me.’
‘Why would I need to trust you?’ He seemed genuinely astonished by the question, the incredul
ity in his dark eyes betraying the fact that trust was an entirely alien concept to him. ‘I was sharing hot sex with you, not giving you my investments to manage.’
She gave a soft gasp of pain and shook her head in disbelief. What insane magic had overtaken her in this enchanted forest? At what point had she lost her mind? What arrogance had led her to believe that she understood this man?
‘Who did this to you?’ Blinking back tears, she stared up at him, searching for some sign of softening or gentleness. But his face was all hard, strong lines. ‘Who made you feel this way about people? About women?’
The sudden tension in his powerful shoulders betrayed his less than enthusiastic response to her question. ‘Why do women always want to discuss the competition? You’re the one lying naked next to me at the moment. That should be enough for you.’
For some unfathomable reason she felt a lump lodge in her throat. ‘I feel sorry for you. You expect so little.’
‘I’m extremely realistic about women. I don’t expect more and I don’t want more.’
‘Well, I do.’ She pushed at him, her fingers tangling with the rough dark hair on his chest. ‘I do, Rafael. I need a great deal more than that.’
He didn’t budge. ‘What woman doesn’t? And you will have it,’ he promised, his voice low and seductive. ‘Everything you want. I think you’ll find me an incredibly generous lover.’
His words were like a caress but this time she tried to ignore the immediate response of her body. ‘Generous? Do you really think I’m talking about money?’
‘Not just money,’ he purred, his lingering kiss on her shoulder leaving her in no doubt as to what form his other expression of generosity was going to take.
Thoroughly agitated now, she wriggled away from him. ‘I don’t want your money! I want you to trust me. I want you to believe that I’m innocent. There must be some way of proving that I wasn’t involved—that the money wasn’t paid out to me. I want you to look at the figures again.’
Bored and visibly irritated, he gritted his teeth. ‘The only figure I’m interested in is yours, minha paixao, naked and underneath me.’ As if to emphasise his point, he slid a leisurely hand down her body from waist to thigh. ‘None of the rest of it matters.’
‘It matters to me.’
‘Forget your business,’ he ordered, leaning forward to drop a kiss on her mouth. ‘You don’t need it any more.’
‘Of course I need it.’ The business was her life. Her future. He had no idea what it meant to her. ‘How can you even say that? Why would I just give it up?’
Rafael gave a slow smile, his mouth tantalisingly close to hers. ‘Because you now have an alternative, and far more lucrative, source of wealth.’
She stared at him, her mouth falling open as she digested his words. ‘You think I’d take your money? Do you think I even care about your money? Do you think that’s the sort of person I am?’ Did he know so little about her? And then she closed her eyes, realising just how little he did know about her.
And was that really his fault?
Wasn’t that one of the risks you took when you allowed blind, furious passion to overwhelm rational thought? The truth was that common sense had been devoured by the pounding heat of the rainforest and an irresistible chemistry.
And yet for her it was more than chemistry. So much more.
She knew now that somehow, however improbable, she loved him—this hard, damaged, unsuitable man living in this remote jungle paradise. Unbelievable. And yet it had happened. She’d managed to fall in love with him.
Not with the cold, ruthless face he presented to the world. That face, no matter how handsome, didn’t appeal to her. No, she was interested in something much deeper. She was interested in the man she saw beneath the barriers he’d erected. She’d only been afforded glimpses but it had been enough.
And if he never revealed more of himself then that was fine. She accepted him as he was. Loved him as he was.
Perhaps because she herself hid so much inside, she’d sensed a pain deep within him.
She’d felt a connection.
And somehow, she’d tumbled deeply in love with a man who didn’t want her love.
