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‘You really have to do better with your social skills than this. Or I’ll have to do something drastic to retain your attention.’ The hard bite to Theo’s voice slashed through her thoughts. ‘Or were you really that into Delgado?’
‘No, I wasn’t.’
Her immediate denial seemed to pacify him. ‘Then tell me what’s on your mind.’
Inez found herself speaking before she could snap at him not to issue orders. ‘Have you ever found yourself in a position where everything you do turns out wrong, no matter how hard you try?’
‘There have been a few instances.’ He pulled her close and slid an arm around her back. Heat transmitted to her skin via the soft material of her dress and flooded through her body. This close, his scent washed over her. Strong but not overpowering, masculine and heady in a way that made her want to draw even closer, touch her mouth to the bronze skin just above his collar.
Deus!
‘You think this is one of those occasions for you?’
‘I don’t think; I know.’
‘Why?’
Her laugh grated its way up her throat. ‘Because I have a perfectly functioning brain.’
‘You’re worried because your father and brother are displeased with you?’
‘Everything else this evening has gone according to plan except…’
‘Delgado. You’re worried that your father offered you up on a silver platter because he seems to think you’re a prize worth winning and now he’ll demand to know what you did wrong.’
Her eyes snapped to his, the insult surprisingly painful. ‘What do you mean by seems to think? What do you know about my father? Or about me, for that matter?’
Theo forced himself not to tense at the question. Or let the fact that her body seemed to fit so perfectly in his arms impact on his thinking abilities. ‘Enough.’
‘Do you always go around making unfounded remarks about someone you’ve just met?’
He let a small smile play over his mouth. ‘Enlighten me, then. Are you a prize worth winning?’
‘There’s no point enlightening you because it will serve no useful purpose. After tonight you and I will never meet again.’
She took a firm step back. Attempted to prise herself out of his arms. He held her easily, willing back the thrum of anger and bitterness that rose like bile in his throat.
‘Never say never, anjo.’
Her fiery brown eyes glared at him. ‘Don’t.’
He feigned innocence. ‘Don’t what?’
‘Don’t keep calling me that.’
‘You don’t like it?’
‘You have no right to slap a pet name on someone you just met.’
The hand holding hers tightened. ‘Calm down—’
‘No, I won’t calm down. I’m not an angel. I’m certainly not your angel.’
‘Inez.’ A warning, subtle but effective.
Inez’s pulse stalled, then thundered wildly through her veins.
‘Don’t,’ she whispered again. Only this time she wasn’t sure what she pleaded for.
He leaned closer until his mouth was an inch from her ear. When he breathed out, warmth teased her earlobe. ‘Don’t use your given name? It’s either that or anjo. All the other words are only appropriate for the bedroom.’
Heat flamed through her belly as indecent thoughts of rumpled sheets, sweaty bodies and incandescent pleasure reeled through her mind.
She shook her head to dispel the images and heard his low laugh.
When she stared up at him, his eyes blazed down at her with a hunger that smashed through her body. Her nipples slowly hardened and the fire raged higher as his lips parted on another heart-stopping smile. Unable to help herself, her eyes dropped to the sensual curve of his mouth.
‘I think it’s my turn to say don’t. Not if you don’t want to be thrown over my shoulder and raced to the nearest cave.’
She forced a laugh despite the sensations rushing through her. ‘This is the twenty-first century, senhor.’
‘But what I’m feeling right now isn’t. It’s very basic. Primeval, in fact.’
He swerved her out of the path of another couple and used the move to draw her even closer. At the fierce evidence of his arousal against her stomach, Inez swallowed hard.
Her confusion escalated.
Constantine had been charismatic and breathtaking in his own right. But he’d never made her feel like this, not even in the beginning…before everything had gone disastrously wrong.
Thinking of the man who’d broken her heart and betrayed her so cruelly threw much needed ice over her heated senses. She’d made a fool of herself over one man. Foolishly believed he was the answer to her prayers. She was wise enough now to know Theo Pantelides wasn’t the answer to any prayer, unless it was the crash and burn type.
‘I believe I’ve fulfilled my obligatory dance duty to you. Perhaps you’d like to find a more unwitting female to club over the head and drag to your cave?’ She injected as much indifference into her voice as possible.
‘That won’t be necessary. I’ve already found what I’m looking for.’
* * *
Theo watched several emotions chase over her features before Inez da Costa regained her impeccable hostess persona.
Although he silently cursed himself for his physical reaction, he was thankful she realised her effect on him.
Let her think she held the power. Allow her to believe that he could be manipulated to her advantage. Or, rather, her father’s advantage.
Her reaction to Delgado’s departure had shown him that fulfilling her role as her father’s Venus flytrap was most important to Inez da Costa. Or was it something else? Did she hope to bag herself a millionaire while serving her father’s purpose? She came from a family ruthless in its pursuit of wealth and power. Was that her underlying agenda?
That knowledge demanded that he rethink his strategy. The conclusion he’d arrived at was surprising but easily adaptable.
He had an opportunity to kill a few more birds with one stone. With any luck, he would conclude his business in Rio in a far shorter time than he’d already anticipated if he played his cards right.
Inez tried to wrench herself from his grasp once more. The primitive feelings he’d mentioned so casually a moment ago resurfaced. When she tugged harder, he forced himself to release her. Her soft hand slid from his, leaving a trail of sensation that made his groin pound and his blood heat.
The plan he’d hatched solidified as he gazed down into her heart-shaped face, saw her fighting to stop her clear agitation from messing with her breathing.
Theo hid a smile.
Either she was offended at his primitive declaration or she was turned on by it. Since she wasn’t slapping his face, he concluded that it was the latter.
His gaze dropped lower, and the sight of her tightly beaded nipples against her gown made his own breathing stall in his chest. Lower still, her tiny waist gave way to those tempting hips that his palms ached to explore.
Even as he talked himself into believing his reaction would ultimately serve his purpose, a part of Theo was forced to acknowledge that he hadn’t reacted this strongly to a woman in a very long time. Everything about her brought his senses to roaring life in a way only the thought of revenge had for the past decade.
Revenge…retribution over the person who had created such chaos in his life.
He gritted his teeth as the sound of tinkling laughter and animated conversation refocused his mind to his task and purpose.
‘Good evening, Mr Pantelides. I hope you enjoy the rest of your evening,’ Inez said stiltedly.
She turned and walked off the dance floor before he could reply. Not that he felt like replying. Although he’d mostly kept on track throughout the evening, a large part of him had become far too consumed by her seductive presence.
Inez da Costa was only one part of the game. To keep on track he needed to keep his head in the whole game.
He headed for the bar and sensed the moment Benedicto and his son halted their conversation and moved pincer-like towards him.
Dreaded anxiety washed over his senses but he forced himself to breathe through it.
I am no longer in that dark, cold place. I am in light. I am free…
He tersely repeated the short statement under his breath as he tossed back the shot of vodka and set it down with cold, precise care.
He was no longer weak. No longer helpless.
And he most certainly would never be put in a position to beg for his life. Ever again.
By the time they reached him, he’d regained control of his body.
‘Senhor Pantelides—’
‘We’re about to become business partners—’ his gaze slid over Pietro’s head to where Inez was holding court in a group of guests; the sleek line of her neck and the curve of her body sent another punch of heat straight to his groin ‘—and hopefully a little bit more than that. Call me Theo.’
The younger man looked a little taken aback, but he rallied quickly, nodded and held out his hand. ‘Theo…we wanted to hammer down a time to discuss finalising our agreement.’
He took Pietro’s hand in a firm grip. Benedicto started to offer his hand. Theo deliberately turned away. Catching the bartender’s eye, he held up his fingers for three more drinks. By the time he faced them again, Benedicto had lowered his hand.
Theo breathed through the deep anger that churned through his belly and smiled.
‘Tomorrow. Ten o’clock. My office. I’ll have the documents ready for us to sign.’
This time it was Benedicto who looked taken aback. ‘I was under the impression that you wanted to iron out a few more details.’
Theo’s gaze flicked back to Inez. ‘I had a few concerns but they no longer matter. Your campaign funds will be ready in the next twenty-four hours.’
Father and son exchanged triumphant looks. ‘We are pleased to hear it,’ Benedicto said.
‘Good, then I hope the three of you will join me for dinner tomorrow evening to celebrate our new deal.’
Benedicto frowned. ‘The three of us?’
‘Of course. I expect that, since this is a family company, your daughter would wish to be included in the celebrations? After all, the company was her mother’s family’s business before it became yours, Senhor da Costa, was it not?’ he queried silkily.
The older man’s eyes narrowed and something unpleasant slid across his face. ‘I bought my father-in-law out over a decade ago but yes, it’s a family business.’
Bought out using money he’d obtained by inflicting pain and merciless torment.
The bartender slid their shots across the polished counter.
Theo picked up the nearest shot glass and raised it. ‘In that case, I look forward to welcoming you all as my guests tomorrow evening. Saúde.’
‘Saúde,’ Benedicto and his son responded.
Theo threw back the drink and this time didn’t hold back from slamming it down.
Again he saw father and son exchange looks. He didn’t care.
All he cared about was making it out of the ballroom in one piece before he buried his fist in Benedicto da Costa’s bony face. The urge to tear apart the man who’d caused his family, caused him, so much anguish reared through him.
The sound of his phone vibrating in his jacket pocket brought a welcome distraction from his murderous thoughts.
‘Excuse me, gentlemen.’ He walked away without a backward glance, gaining the double doors leading out to the wide terrace before activating his phone.
‘Heads up, you’re about to get into serious trouble with Ari if you don’t fess up as to why you’re really in Rio,’ Sakis, his brother, said in greeting.
‘Too late. I’ve already had the hairdryer treatment earlier this evening.’
‘Yeah, but do you know he’s thinking of flying down there for a face-to-face?’
Theo cursed. ‘Doesn’t he have enough on his hands being all loved up and taking care of his pregnant fiancé?’ He wasn’t concerned about a confrontation with Ari. But he was concerned that Ari’s presence might alert Benedicto to Theo’s true intentions.
So far, Benedicto da Costa was oblivious as to the connections Theo had made to what had happened twelve years ago. The older man had been very careful to erase every connection with the incident and sever ties with anyone who could bear witness to the crime he’d committed. He hadn’t been careful enough. But he didn’t know that.
Having another Pantelides in Rio could set off alarm bells.
‘You need to stall him.’
‘He’s concerned,’ Sakis murmured. Theo heard the same concern reflected in his brother’s voice. ‘So am I.’
‘It needs to be done,’ he replied simply.
‘I get that. But you don’t need to do it alone. He’s dangerous. The moment he guesses what your true intentions are—’
‘He won’t; I’ve made sure of it.’
‘How can you be absolutely certain? Theo, don’t be stubborn. I can help—’
‘No. I need to see this through myself.’
Sakis sighed. ‘Are you sure?’
Theo turned slowly and surveyed the ballroom. Rio’s finest drank and laughed without a care in the world. In the centre of that crowd stood Benedicto da Costa, the reason why Theo couldn’t sleep through a single night without waking to hellish nightmares; the reason anxiety hovered just underneath his skin, ready to infest his control should he loosen his grip for one careless second.
Inexorably, his eyes were drawn to the female member of the diabolical family. Inez was dancing with a man whose blatant interest and barely disguised lust made Theo’s fist curl over the cold stone bannister.
His stomach churned and adrenaline poured through his system the same way a boxer experienced a heady rush in the seconds before a fight. This fight had been long coming. He would see it through. He had to. Otherwise he feared his demons would never be exorcised.
He’d lived with them for far too long, and they needed to be silenced. He needed to regain complete, unshakeable hold of his life once more.
His other hand tightened around his mobile phone, his heart thundering enough to drown out the music. He spoke succinctly so his brother would be in no doubt that he meant every word.
‘Am I sure that I need to bring down the man who kidnapped and tortured me for over two weeks until Ari negotiated a two million ransom for my release? Hell, yes. I’m going to make him feel ten million times worse than what he did to me and to our family and I don’t intend to rest until I bring all of them down.’
CHAPTER FOUR
‘A DOUBLE-SHOT AMERICANO, por favor.’ Inez smiled absently at the barista while she tried to juggle her sketchpad and fish out enough change from her purse to pay for the coffee.
It was barely nine o’clock and yet the heat was already oppressive, even more than usual for a Thursday morning in February. Normally, she would’ve opted for a cool caffeine drink but her energy levels needed an extra boost this morning.
She’d slept badly after the fund-raiser last night. And what little sleep she’d managed had been interspersed with images of a man she had no business thinking, never mind dreaming, about.
And yet Theo Pantelides’s face had haunted her slumber…still haunted her, if truth be told.
The last time she’d seen him he’d been leaning against the terrace bannister outside the ballroom, his eyes fixed firmly on her. Inez wasn’t sure why her attention had been drawn outside. All she knew was that something had compelled her to look that way as she danced with a guest.
Even from that distance the tension whipping through his frame had been unmistakable, as had the blatant dark promise in his eyes as his gaze raked her from head to toe.
More than anything she’d wished she could lip-read when she’d watched his lips move to answer whoever was at the other end of his phone conversation.
That last look plagued her. It’d held hunger, anger and another emotion that she couldn’t quite decipher. Brushing it off, she smiled, accepted her coffee and headed outside. She was a little early for her class with the inner city kids but she hadn’t wanted to spend another moment at the tension-fraught breakfast table with her father and brother this morning.
In contrast to Pietro’s third degree as to what exactly had happened with Alfonso Delgado, her father had been cold and strangely preoccupied. The moment he’d stood abruptly and left the table, she’d made her excuses and walked away.
Even Pietro’s reminder that they had a dinner engagement she couldn’t recall making hadn’t been worth stopping to query. All she’d wanted was to get out of the mansion that felt more and more as if it was closing in on her.
‘Bom dia, anjo.’ The deep murmured greeting brought her thoughts and footsteps to a crashing halt.
Theo leaned casually against a gleaming black sports car, a pair of dark sunglasses hiding his eyes from her. But her full body tingle announced that she was the full, unwavering focus of his gaze. Her breath stalled, her heart accelerating wildly as her pulse went into overdrive.
‘What the hell are you doing here?’ she blurted before she could stop her strong reaction.
Aside from the devastation his tall, lean suited frame caused to her insides, the thought that he could discover where she was headed or what she did with her Tuesday and Thursday mornings made her palms grow clammy. By lunchtime today, if Pietro were to be believed, Theo would be firmly entrenched as a business partner in her family’s company. Which meant constant contact with her family. Which meant he could disclose parts of her life she wasn’t yet ready to disclose to her family.
‘Are you following me?’ she accused hotly as she approached him, her senses jumping with the possibilities and consequences of her discovery.
‘Not today. My trench coat and fedora are at the laundry.’
‘Keep them there. In this heat, you’d boil to death.’
A smile broke across his face. ‘Do I detect a little unladylike relish in your voice, anjo?’
‘What you detect is high scepticism that you’re here by accident and not following me,’ she snapped.
‘You give me too much credit, agape mou. I asked for the best coffee shop in the city and I was directed here. That you’re here too merely confirms that assertion. Unless you go out of your way to sample bad coffee?’
Before she could respond, he straightened and reached for the hand wrapped around her coffee. Curling his hand over hers, he brought his lips to the small opening on her coffee lid and tilted the cup towards him.
He savoured the drink in his mouth for a few seconds before he swallowed.
Inez fought to breathe as she watched his strong throat move. The slow swirl of his tongue over his lower lip caused darts of sharp need to arrow straight between her legs.
‘Delicious. And surprising. I would’ve pegged you for a latte girl.’
‘Which goes to show you know next to nothing about me,’ she retorted.
He slowly raised his sunglasses and speared her with his mesmerising eyes. Although a smile hovered over his sensual lips, some unnameable tension hovered in the air between them. A charged friction that warned her all was not as it seemed.
Hell, she knew that. Theo Pantelides spelled danger. Whether smiling or serious, dallying with him was akin to playing with electricity. Depending on his mood, you could either receive a mild static frizzle or a full-blown electrocution. And she had no intention of testing him for either.
‘Sim, I don’t know enough about you. But I intend to remedy that situation in the near future.’
She shrugged. ‘It is your time to waste.’
He merely smiled and turned towards his car.
‘I thought you came to get coffee?’ she probed, then bit her lip for prolonging a meeting she wanted over and done with. Last night she’d told herself to be thankful that she would never see this man again. And yet, here she was, feeling mildly bereft at the notion that he was leaving.
He paused and his gaze slid over her. Immediately, she became supremely conscious of the white shorts and blue tank top she’d hurriedly thrown on this morning. Her hair was caught up in a ponytail because it helped keep it out of the way during her class. Her face was devoid of make-up except for the light sunscreen and the gloss she’d passed over her lips. All in all, she projected a much different image this morning than the sophisticated hostess she’d been last night.
Catching herself wondering whether he found her wanting now, she mentally slammed the thought down. She didn’t care what Theo thought of her.
‘I have the kick I need to keep me going. See you tonight.’
‘Tonight? Why would you be seeing me tonight?’ she demanded.
His smile slowly disappeared as his gaze slid over her again. This time, his hot gaze held an element of possessiveness that made her fight to keep from fidgeting under his keen scrutiny.
Stepping back, he activated a button on his car key and the door slid smoothly upward. She watched, completely captivated, as he lowered his tall masculine frame inside the small space. A touch of a slim finger on a button and the engine roared to life.
‘Because I want to see you. And I always get what I want, Inez,’ he said cryptically, his tone suddenly hard and biting. ‘Remember that.’
* * *
I always get what I want.
Another shiver of apprehension coursed down her spine.
All through the two art and graphic design classes she taught from ten till midday, the infernal words throbbed through her head as if someone had set them on repeat.
She managed to keep her focus, barely, as she demonstrated the differences between charcoal and pencil strokes to a group of ten-year-olds. Once or twice she had to repeat herself because she lost her train of thought, much to the amusement of her pupils, but the satisfying feeling of imparting knowledge to children who would otherwise have been left wandering the streets momentarily swamped the roiling emotions that Theo had stirred with his unexpected appearance this morning.
The suspicion that he had been following her didn’t go away all through her hurriedly taken lunch and the meeting she’d scheduled with the volunteer coordinator at the centre.
Her decision to forge her own path by seeking a permanent position at the centre had solidified as she’d tossed and turned through the night.
Seeking her independence meant finding a paying job. To do that she needed more experience, which she hoped her longer hours spent volunteering would give her.
Thanks to her father’s interference, all she had was one semester at university. It wasn’t great but, until such time as she could further her education, it was better than nothing. That plus her volunteering was a starting point.
A starting point that was greatly enhanced when the coordinator agreed to increase her hours to three full days.
She was smiling as she activated her phone on the way to her car after leaving the centre.
The first text was from Pietro, reminding her that they were dining out that evening. With Theo Pantelides.
The unladylike curse she uttered won her a severe look of disapproval from an elderly lady walking past. The urge to text back a refusal was immediate and visceral.
After last night and this morning, exposing herself to the raw emotions Theo provoked was the last thing she needed.
And even more than her suspicions this morning, she had a feeling he’d engineered this dinner. Hell, he’d as much as taunted her with it with his last words to her this morning.
As much as she tried to think positive and hope that the dinner would be quick and painless, a premonition gripped her insides as she slid behind the wheel and headed home.
* * *
‘Filho da puta.’ Her brother’s habitual crude cursing wasn’t a surprise to her. That it had seemingly come out of nowhere was.