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He frowned. ‘What bell?’
Act normal, she told herself. Pretend that nothing’s happening. Because nothing is. ‘The lunch bell.’
His eyes narrowed. ‘That’s because nobody’s rung it.’
‘Oh. Right. Did you...’ she shrugged her shoulders, telling herself this was crazy, but still she stayed rooted to the spot ‘...er...did you get all your emails answered?’
‘No.’
‘Diego won’t be very pleased.’
‘I imagine he won’t,’ he agreed drily. ‘But right now I’m not really thinking about Diego.’
‘Oh. R-right.’
Luis felt his throat grow as dry as sandpaper and even her stumbled response didn’t dissolve his growing hunger. He knew he should leave right now but he couldn’t seem to drag his eyes away from her. Not because she looked particularly sexy, because she didn’t. Her pale legs and faded bra straps were unremarkable and, for him, it was no big deal to think that beneath that towel she was almost naked. He was used to naked women.
But this was Carly and, for once, her long hair was loose. Freed of the usual tight ponytail, it looked like silk and smelt of bay leaves and he found himself wanting to run his fingers through it. To twist one thick strand possessively around his wrist and to draw her head close enough to kiss her. He wondered what those unpainted lips would taste like. He wondered how the lush curves of her generous body would feel if they were moulded against him.
But it was more than that which drew him. More than the rampant and unexpected lust which was raging around inside him, and a sexual frustration which was making him ache.
She looked clean. That was it. Clean and pure. Her face was untouched by artifice and her iced-tea eyes were wide and dark. She looked like snow before it got trampled on. Before it became all grey and slushy.
And he was the kind of man who did the trampling, wasn’t he? He stamped on women’s hearts and hardly even noticed he was doing it. He was cruel and insensitive—that was what they said. And she was the last kind of woman he should be lusting after.
But none of that seemed to matter. All he could think about was the aching in his groin which felt as if he were about to explode. ‘Carly,’ he said unsteadily, even though he hadn’t been planning to say her name like that.
Her eyes widened. She licked her lips again and made them gleam. ‘What’s...wrong?’
Her words whispered over his skin like silk and suddenly Luis found himself fighting temptation as he’d never had to fight it before. In the past, if he wanted a woman—he would simply take her, if she was willing. And they were always willing.
But even though her lips had parted with unconscious longing, she was staff, and everyone knew that sleeping with your staff was a recipe for disaster. Even if she weren’t, she was all wrong for a man like him. She was caring and wholesome. She was the clean light to the darkness which filled the space where once he’d had a soul. What right did he have to mess with her? To take her just because he could and then to leave her broken-hearted afterwards?
‘No, nothing’s wrong,’ he said abruptly. ‘I thought I’d show you the way to lunch because I know how easy it is to get lost in this place, but, as usual, you’re late. What is it with you?’ He scowled at her. ‘I’ll meet you on the upper terrace in fifteen minutes—and for God’s sake, get a move on.’
CHAPTER FIVE
THE INCIDENT AT her bedroom door unsettled her more than it should have done. Carly told herself that Luis had seen her in the swimming pool loads of times so a glimpse of her unexciting bra strap was hardly likely to send him into paroxysms of delight.
But while she might not be very experienced, neither was she stupid. She could read people and their body language—they were two of the traits which made her believe that one day she might make a good doctor. And she had seen the way he had looked at her when she’d stood wrapped in her towel. That hadn’t been shock or revulsion she’d seen in the Argentinian playboy’s eyes, it had been hunger—potent and powerful and almost tangible.
And hadn’t she felt it, too? Hadn’t what had silently passed between them made her feel as if she were being swept away by something? As if some dark and invisible wave were dragging her towards something outside her control? She found herself thinking how cruel nature could be, that her body should be so attracted to someone who was out of bounds for about a million different reasons.
She knew her cheeks were still flushed as she joined Luis for lunch that day and she knew, too, that something between them had changed. That no matter how hard she focused her mind, she couldn’t seem to make things the same as they’d been before.
Suddenly a new and achingly raw awareness had sprung up between them. She tried not to let it affect her work, but how could it not? The nervous trembling of her fingers when she massaged him reminded her of the first time she’d done it. She found herself missing the confidence which she’d acquired with practice. But what she mourned most was the loss of the ease between them. When for a while she’d felt as if they were almost equals. When she could say exactly what was on her mind and sometimes even make him laugh.
Now there was a terrible and fraught kind of atmosphere whenever they were alone. Their curious alliance must have been more fragile than she’d thought or maybe she really was naïve after all. Because now he seemed to go out of his way to avoid her unless absolutely necessary, closeting himself in his study and immersing himself in work and leaving Carly largely to her own devices.
Their days settled into an awkward kind of routine. Carly woke early and swam in the pool, long before any of the other staff were around, slightly worried that it might appear presumptuous of her to be enjoying the ‘facilities’. She would swim furiously in an attempt to rid herself of the night-time demons which had been haunting her. And afterwards, she would lie floating on her back, looking up as the sun rose higher in the blue sky.
After that, she would take Luis through his exercises and give him a fairly rigorous massage before breakfast—a pattern she repeated three times throughout the day. And whenever she got the opportunity, she would scuttle away to some largely hidden corner of the vast complex to tackle some reading.
There had been a couple of visitors, each arriving unannounced on separate occasions—Carly had heard their giggles long before she’d seen them. A beautiful blonde and a foxy-looking redhead, who had sat wearing big sun hats and tiny bikinis, draping themselves around the pool without ever managing to get themselves wet.
And Carly had forced herself to stem the unreasonable jealousy which had risen up inside her. She told herself that, of course, Luis would have women round—he usually did—and she should be glad that he was showing very obvious signs of complete recovery. Though she noticed that neither woman stayed the night. Each was dispatched home in one of his luxury cars, usually a sign that he was bored.
He had been out a couple of times, too. His driver had taken him along the coast to Monaco, where, according to Simone, a Hollywood actress had taken over a famous restaurant to give a lunch in his honour.
