A Devilishly Dark Deal (6 page)

Saying nothing, Marco simply watched the visible interplay of emotions crossing her face, silently drawing his own conclusions about them.

‘Can I give you my answer about this tomorrow?’ she asked. ‘Only I’d like some time to think it over. Also, in spite of my nap on your very comfortable couch, I’m still feeling rather tired. Do you mind if I don’t stay for dinner? I hope your housekeeper hasn’t gone to too much trouble getting the food ready …’

On his feet in a flash, Marco dropped his hands to his hips and ruefully shook his head. At least she hadn’t given him a flat-out no in response to his frank admission that he wanted to take her to bed, he mused. As once again he fell under the spell of her incandescent crystal gaze he determinedly held onto that. Not that it had really surprised him when Grace told him that sex wasn’t a simple or casual thing for her. Even before she’d revealed that nugget of information he’d sensed that she was a woman who would need to be seduced in the most subtle and artful of ways … If he was too demanding too soon she would quickly depart for good, never to be seen by him again, most likely. And now that he was set on making her his lover that was the very
last
scenario he wanted.

‘Inês will be happy to accede to whatever arrangements I make for dinner—no matter how many times I may change them. What is much more important to me right now is that I have your promise that you
will
return tomorrow, Grace.’

‘You have it. I’m a woman of my word, so I’ll come back tomorrow and give you my answer then.’

‘Good. If you follow me, we will go and find Miguel to drive you home. In the morning he will return to your villa to collect you.’

‘Thanks. Thanks also for taking me to lunch today. I really enjoyed the food
and
your company.’ She smiled shyly, but then her glance darted helplessly to the cheque still lying on the desk.

Immediately Marco picked it up and handed it to her. ‘You might want to post this to the charity.’ He smiled, ‘You can tell them that I will write soon, to confirm that I am in full agreement with them using it to help the children.’

‘I’ll also give them your address here, so that they can forward their thanks to you. Can you tell me what it is?’

He collected a sheet of personally addressed notepaper from the wooden letter-holder on his desk and gave it to her. Something told him she would put the task top of her list of priorities and the idea touching him, a warm sensation flooded into his heart.

‘Well, I expect I should get home now.’

The shy smile that he was fast becoming addicted to returned.

‘Let’s go and find Miguel. I see now that you are indeed very tired. The sooner you get back to your villa and go to bed, the better.’

The repetitive thump on the villa’s front door made Grace blearily open her eyes. Turning her head, she glanced at the clock sitting atop the neat pine cabinet and released a disbelieving groan followed by a very unladylike curse. Good God! She’d slept the evening and the night away. She hadn’t stirred once, not even to go to the loo. Now it was a little after ten, and some determined caller sounded as if they were intent on breaking down her door. Her dad wouldn’t be best pleased if they caused any damage … Even as she had the thought she remembered that Marco had promised to send his car for her, to take her back to the palatial mansion that was his residence. Then she remembered the
reason
for her return. Her insides did a one-hundred-and-eighty degree roll. She muttered another ripe curse.
How could she have forgotten such a commitment for even a second?
No matter
how
tired she was?

Grabbing the short textured cotton robe at the end of the bed, she hurriedly got to her feet and pulled it on over her matching white nightdress. Barefoot, she flung open the door and moved quickly down the cool tiled corridor that led to the front of the house.

‘
Olà,
Senhorita Faulkner.’

The chauffeur Miguel stood on the other side of the door. Conscious that her hair was tousled and uncombed, and that her short robe perhaps revealed too much leg for her to be comfortable displaying in front of almost a stranger, Grace pulled the sides of the garment more securely round her, then lightly knotted the belt. ‘Hello, Miguel,’ she answered, silently noting the faint surprise in his deep black eyes that she had addressed him by his name. ‘I’m really sorry but I’m afraid I overslept. As you can see, I’ve just got out of bed, and I’m nowhere near ready to leave yet. Do you want to come back for me later … after lunch, maybe?’

‘No, Senhorita Faulkner. Senhor Aguilar will not be happy if I do not return with you this morning, as arranged.’

She could well believe it. A man who probably just had to snap his fingers to have his every whim fulfilled would clearly
not
be happy if Grace had the audacity to be late … especially when he had been so generous with his donation to the charity. She didn’t know much about the culture in Portugal, but she’d heard via her dad that to be late for an appointment with someone—especially someone high up the business world hierarchy—was considered a serious lack of respect.

‘In that case you’ll just have to come in and wait while I get myself ready.’ She held the door wide to allow the chauffeur entrance into the hallway, but he stayed right where he was, his tanned face impassive as a rock.

‘I am sorry, Senhorita Faulkner, but that would not be at all appropriate. In any case I must phone Senhor Aguilar right away and explain the reason for our delay. Then I will wait for you in the car.’

Grace watched him walk with purposeful gait back to the gleaming black Mercedes parked outside the villa’s entrance, with its climbing red and pink bougainvillaea trailing up traditional white-painted walls. Then she turned on her heel and headed straight for the bathroom and the quickest shower she could manage—all the while apprehensively contemplating what her answer should be when Marco Aguilar asked her if she’d decided whether or not she would become his companion for the rest of her time in the Algarve.

Remembering the cheque he’d donated to the charity, and imagining what joy such an amount would bring to everyone concerned with the desperate and poor orphaned children it had been set up to help support, she already knew that his offer would be hard to turn down. Yesterday, when she’d sensed that Marco had very definitely
not
come to terms with his emotionally impoverished childhood it had made her want to know more about this darkly enigmatic man. And when she thought about the way he made her feel, the effect he had on her body … Maybe if she allowed herself to experience intimacy with him it might be a way to help herself overcome the pain of her ex’s attempted rape and allow her to move on psychologically too, and truly put that horrific episode behind her?

On her arrival at the palatial villa, his housekeeper Inês greeted her with the invitation to wait in garden while Marco finished an important phone call. Sitting under a parasol in her host’s incredibly beautiful private shaded garden, Grace made herself breathe out very slowly to help calm her nerves. Her time with Marco yesterday had taken on the surreal quality of an unbelievable dream. Finding herself yet again with the prospect of not only his arresting company but a conversation she was bound by promise to have with him about his proposition it was surely understandable that she should be seized by sudden nerves?

Reaching for the long cool glass of lemonade that Inês had thoughtfully brought her, she glanced down at the sleeveless red and white maxi-dress that she’d donned. It was one of only two dresses she had packed to come out here, and it was pretty and cool in the heat and indisputably feminine. It certainly wasn’t the kind of clothing she wore every day. At work she invariably got away with the much more casual attire of T-shirt and jeans, and sometimes a trouser suit if she had to go a meeting with a potential patron. Now she was glad of the protection of the parasol, as already she sensed her exposed shoulders were frying a little beneath the hot sun.

She sipped her drink. Time ticked by. A drowsy buzzing insect flew right by her ear and startled her. She wondered how long Marco would be, then decided there was no option other than to try and relax and simply enjoy a garden that had all the seductive attributes of a floral sensual paradise. Sighing, she briefly shut her eyes to appreciate more fully the sweet bouquet of the yellow and white gardenias that wafted beneath her nose and the hypnotic sound of the splashing waterfall just a few feet from where she sat.

But suddenly impinging on her enjoyment came the contrasting images and sounds of an African city slum, where the poorly erected houses were fashioned from mud and metal and where the children played in an area teeming with heaving mounds of garbage.
The heat there was unbearable and stifling, and made even more intense by the ever-present heavy smog …

The disturbing memory jolted her sickeningly and tears of compassion and frustration because more people didn’t try and do something to alleviate the situation surged hotly into her eyes.

‘My sincere apologies for keeping you waiting, Grace. Ah … I see that Inês has given you a cool drink? That’s good. Today is going to be even hotter than yesterday, I believe.’

She hadn’t heard his soft-footed approach across the grass, and when she opened her eyes to acknowledge the figure that instantly captivated her gaze, the nerves she’d tried hard to subdue sprang into unsettling life again. The sight of Marco wearing an immaculate white shirt, with the sleeves casually rolled up to just beneath his elbows, and fawn-coloured chinos that were clearly meant to be equally casual but on his tall, athletic frame looked effortlessly stylish and elegant too made her heartbeat hop, skip and jump, and her mouth turned as dry as though she hadn’t had a drop of water to drink for days.

Before she could summon up words of greeting, he moved towards her and leaned down to plant a sizzling little kiss at the corner of her startled lips.

‘I—I didn’t mind waiting,’ she responded at last, with the imprint of his warm mouth lingering disturbingly, like an intimate brand. ‘It’s so lovely out here, and anyway … it was
me
that was late in the first place. I’m sorry about that, by the way. I overslept.’

‘So Miguel explained.’ His dark eyes twinkled. Then he pulled out the sunchair opposite Grace at the table and adjusted the aviator sunglasses he’d been wearing on the top of his head over his eyes.

Now it would be impossible for her to guess what he was thinking …

His unexpectedly personal greeting had set off a veritable firework display of reaction inside her, and she knew that any remaining reservations she had about accepting his offer were assuredly being demolished one by one. She made a discreet attempt to wipe the moisture from her eyes that had arisen when she’d mentally been transported back to Africa and her handsome companion frowned. ‘Is everything all right? You seem a little upset,’ he commented.

‘I’m fine.’ She made herself respond with a reassuring smile, even though the slight quaver in her voice no doubt made a liar of her.

‘I do not entirely believe you, but I hope you can put whatever troubles you to one side so that you can enjoy the day. It is far too beautiful to be sad, yes?’

Marco wondered at the cause of the distress reflected in Grace’s crystal-clear blue eyes.
He prayed it wasn’t bad news from home that would make her cut short her stay.
He schooled himself to relax, studying her pleasingly curvaceous form in the very becoming red and white dress, her golden hair curling prettily down over her shoulders. The arresting sigh of her intensified the drugging sensual heat that had already invaded him at the prospect of seeing her again.

Anticipating the long break that he intended, he’d informed all of this morning’s telephone callers that he would only be contactable if there was an emergency—at the back of his mind had been the irresistible thought that he intended to be far too preoccupied with the lovely girl he’d found himself infatuated with to think about business. The kiss he’d planted at the corner of Grace’s pretty mouth just now had been an exciting revelation. Her skin was softer than velvet and down combined.
She’d smelled irresistible too.
Recognising the alluring French scent, he made a mental note to send some to her villa as a gift.

Now he would not wait a moment longer to ask her the question that had ensured he’d more or less had a sleepless night because he hadn’t been able to stop dwelling upon the outcome of it …

‘So, Grace … I trust you have now had plenty of time to think over my proposition? What will be your answer, I wonder?’

CHAPTER FIVE

GRACE didn’t answer him straight away, but appeared to be thinking deeply. He knew it was in his nature to be impatient, but the tension that gathered in the pit of Marco’s stomach as he waited for her to speak made him feel as if he was wearing an increasingly tightening iron band round his middle. No woman had ever said no to spending time with him before … was this engaging British girl going to be the
first
?

Folding her hands in her lap, she locked her brilliant blue gaze with his at last and a tentative smile gently raised the corners of her lips. ‘My answer is … Well, it’s
yes
. And I’m going to be honest with you … The reason I’ve said yes is that I—I …’ Gnawing at her lip her cheeks turned engagingly pink.

‘Go on,’ Marco encouraged.

‘I’ve discovered that I
am
attracted to you. Otherwise I wouldn’t consider it—no matter how lovely the inducements. And I was going to be on my own the entire time I was here, and now I have someone to share my holiday with … I’m grateful.’

He’d told her once before that her honesty was refreshing, but never had it mattered more to him than right now. She knew exactly what he was asking and had accepted the offer he’d made because she was attracted to him. She hadn’t run away or taken refuge behind being coy. She had admitted that she liked him outright. Now there was no need for any tedious mind games or manipulation. All they had to do was let nature take its course.
Marco had not the slightest doubt that it would …

‘I’m very pleased you’ve accepted my offer, Grace. Now all we have to do is get to know each other a little and enjoy ourselves.’ Rising to his feet, he took her by the hands and gently urged her up from her chair. ‘Fortunately you are perfectly dressed for what I have in mind today. Some time ago I received an invitation from a business acquaintance of mine to attend a garden party she is having. At the time I told her I wasn’t sure whether I would even be in the country, but now that I am and you have agreed to be my companion … I think we will go.’

‘A garden party, you say?’

Still holding onto her hands, and noticing the brief flare of doubt in her eyes, Marco smiled. ‘You know …? Champagne, exquisite food, music played soothingly in the background by a specially hired professional ensemble and some amicable conversation with our host and the other guests in a setting just as beautiful as this … It’s the perfect way to start our holiday together, don’t you agree?’

‘It all sounds rather grand. The garden parties I’ve personally experienced have been on a much more modest scale … usually thrown by my mum and dad. My mum spends the entire week before frantically cleaning the house and planning what food to buy, while my dad is relegated to the garden to cut the grass and make sure the barbecue is clean and ready for use. The guests are generally extended family and friends—some of whom have young children. There’s no soothing music playing, but generally there’s plenty of hilarity and laughter amongst the children playing on my dad’s pristine newly cut lawn.’ Grimacing, she gently tugged her captive hands free to smooth them down over her dress, ‘I’m sorry … I’m babbling again. That’s because I’m nervous.’

‘Am I so intimidating that you have to be nervous of me?’ Marco frowned, quite charmed by her sharing of the experience of garden parties with her parents and their friends. Silently he attested to feeling rather envious of Grace’s very normal-sounding and happy family life. In contrast to growing up without parents or any other family at all how could he
not
? ‘Now that you have accepted my invitation, I’d like to think you can relax and just be yourself around me. If you are wary of me for any reason then you will put up a guard, and that is the very last thing I want.’

‘I’ve never met anyone like you before, Marco.’ He heard the quiet intake of breath she softly released. ‘And I’ve certainly never been around great wealth or fame before. I’ll try not to be intimidated by you, or the company you keep, but I can’t pretend it won’t be a challenge. I’m a girl from a very ordinary background, and I’ve never mixed with the kind of people who inhabit your world. I still can’t understand why you’d even ask someone like me to spend time with you. Surely you must … you must know plenty of much more suitable women?’

‘If you knew these so-called “more suitable” women, you would not even ask me that question, Grace.’

Folding his arms across his chest, Marco realised he was feeling quite bereft because she’d withdrawn her hands from his clasp. He yearned to grab them back and hold them again. Already he was addicted to the touch of her peerlessly soft skin.

‘Now I have to go and locate my bodyguard José. I regret we have to attend this function with a third party accompanying us, I really do. But I know for a fact that the paparazzi will be very much in evidence this afternoon, and they can be intimidating—even to those of us who are quite familiar with the lengths they will go to in order to get a picture. Sit down, relax and enjoy the sunshine. I will be back soon.’

There … she’d done it. She’d said yes to Marco Aguilar’s astonishing invitation to spend the remainder of her holiday with him in the full knowledge that she was also agreeing to a short affair.

Just the thought made her feel weak. But it wasn’t the kind of weakness that emanated from being frightened, she realized. Quite the
opposite
, in fact. A frisson of shivering excitement ran through her. She was twenty-five and had not yet experienced having a lover. Because of her highly upsetting and demoralising experience she had kept men at a distance—but the truth was she had often yearned to know what it would be like to have someone make love to her that really liked and regarded her. Ultimately she yearned for a man to love her with all his heart, but if she refused to give in to her fears of being hurt again being with Marco might turn out to be an important step on the road to healing the shadows that dogged her. Fervently, Grace hoped so.

Sighing, she mentally shook her head in wonder at the extraordinary situation she found herself in. Now that she’d committed herself to going through with Marco’s request to be his companion she was determined to try and be more confident and face everything. That included every potentially intimidating situation she might encounter during the next few days—situations that would no doubt occur simply because she was in this man’s revered company.

To help her deal with whatever challenges might arise she would simply remind herself that when her totally unexpected sojourn with him was at an end she would return home to London, to her normal everyday routine and her work with the children’s charity. The upside of that was that she would be returning with the knowledge that—thanks to Marco—the charity now had the necessary funds to rebuild the orphanage. It would make a monumental difference to the orphaned and abandoned children she’d so come to love, and that made everything else pale into insignificance.

She dropped back down into the comfortable sunchair, and into her mind stole the memory of Marco’s voice saying, ‘If, in the course of our time together, it should transpire that you share a similar fascination for me, then, yes … of course I want to take you to bed.’
Well, she she’d admitted that she was attracted to him. Now all she had to do was just let things unfold and see what happened.
It sounded so easy, but Grace knew it was anything
but
…

Arranging her sunglasses back in front of her eyes, she found her avid glance cleaving to the arresting sight of his tall, athletic figure strolling nonchalantly back across the verdant grass to the house …

As he pointed out various interesting landmarks on the hour long drive to his friend’s residence, Marco’s level tone definitely conveyed pride. Yet Grace detected a strange
ambivalence
too. As if he was somehow conflicted about his right to take pleasure in his beautiful country. She couldn’t help but be intrigued by the thought. But then, the more time she spent in his striking presence, the more she became intrigued by everything about him. Sometimes when he leaned nearer to her, to point out something of interest through the passenger window, she breathed in the subtly arousing warmth of his body that mingled with his expensive spicy cologne and everything in her tightened and contracted, in case she completely yielded to the disturbingly powerful urge to touch him that so worryingly kept enveloping her.

‘We are here.’

Miguel, with the much bigger-built José in the passenger seat next to him, drove the sleek Mercedes up to the tall iron gates that had appeared at the end of a narrow road shaded with tall pines. Just before they reached those imposing barriers Grace saw several cars haphazardly parked in front of them, and their waiting owners hurriedly exiting their vehicles with high-tech cameras in tow. She sucked in a breath. At the same time she sensed Marco’s cool hand firmly slide over hers.

‘There is nothing to worry about,
meu querida
. They will get their pictures and then hopefully leave us alone. If not, José will help them to do just that.’

There was a distinct twinkle in his deep brown eyes as his glance met hers, and her stomach plummeted again—but this time with pleasure.

As soon as the car manoeuvred to a stop in front of the gates the photographers literally swarmed over it, their fast-flashing cameras and camcorders all trained on Marco and Grace seated in the back. José had climbed out as the vehicle had glided to a halt, and Grace heard him shout commandingly at the voracious throng to clear a space so that they could drive through the gates. She heard plenty of curses and yelps of protest too, as he physically removed bodies from climbing across the car’s bonnet, with intrusive cameras pointing at the windscreen in a bid to get pictures of Marco and his guest.

With her heart pounding, Grace turned to glance out through the tinted window beside her at the exact same moment as a camera flash blinded her from seeing anything other than that disorientating bright light.

José jumped back into the front seat and shouted, ‘Go!’ as a uniformed man standing behind the gates spoke urgently into a mobile, nodded towards the car in recognition of its VIP passenger, and stood aside as the now opening electronic gates allowed the vehicle entry.

As the gates rapidly closed again behind them, Marco tapped on the small front window separating him and Grace from the two men in the front. When the window immediately opened, he leaned forward to speak to his bodyguard. Although she didn’t understand what he said, because he spoke in his native Portuguese, Grace intuited by the concern in his voice that he was asking his employee if he was okay. The intrepid José must have taken quite a few knocks dealing with the unruly mob that had accosted their car, she realised.

The window closed again and Marco leaned back in the luxuriously upholstered leather seat, cursing softly beneath his breath.

‘Is José all right?’ she ventured.

‘He’s fine. He has dealt with much worse than that before, I assure you. Now, let us forget about that rabble at the gates and try to enjoy ourselves … okay?’

After driving for a while through stunningly landscaped gardens, with orange, lemon and tall palm trees lining the straight drive that led to the dazzling white villa that was their destination, Marco’s chauffeur steered the car onto a sickle-shaped gravelled area that was already filled with impressively gleaming vehicles. Grace’s stomach plunged at the prospect of meeting and mingling with other no doubt extremely wealthy and important people like Marco. In a moment of doubt and uncertainty her fingers curled anxiously into the crisp cotton of her dress. She sent up a silent heartfelt plea for help.

Miguel politely helped her out of the car. As she straightened she briefly met his eyes and saw that they had a reassuring twinkle in them, as if he’d intuited how overwhelmed she must be feeling and wanted to lend his support. José was already standing outside, conversing quietly with Marco. As she tentatively moved towards the man who was his boss, Marco caught hold of her hand and smiled.

‘Grace … this is the home of—’

‘Marco!’

The loud male shout made them both turn round abruptly. Hurrying towards them was a well-built middle-aged man in a smart petrol-blue suit and an open-necked white silk shirt, with the kind of craggy good-looks that suggested the legacy of a life well lived and perhaps a little
too
over-indulgent?

A ripple of surprised recognition went through Grace.
Lincoln Roberts
… The man was a seriously famous movie-star, whose visit to rehab in California a couple of years ago had been splashed all over the tabloid newspapers … as had his previous affair with another star’s very young wife. Was that why Marco had known for a fact that the paparazzi would be very much in evidence this afternoon? An A-list celebrity like Lincoln was bound to attract major interest.

‘So glad you could make it, my friend. Francesca and I were afraid you wouldn’t. God knows, you’re a hard man to pin down!’ The well-known actor gave the businessman a brief hug and then, before releasing him, slapped him affectionately on the back.

‘I was pleased to be invited. You’re looking well, Lincoln. Very well.’

Marco sounded somewhat reserved, despite his words, and the edges of his well-cut lips lifted in a smile that was quite some way short of being as open as his friend’s. When he stepped back and automatically reached for Grace’s hand, to enfold it almost possessively inside his palm, a distinct wave of warmth and pleasure quivered through her.