Page 8 of Their One-Night Rio Reunion
‘My security firm is the same one used by Luca Fonseca—that’s presumably how he was approached about using his island. And considering his level of zeal when it comes to protecting his family, together with the involvement of the special forces, if they can’t catch them then I don’t know who can.’ He couldn’t help adding with a slight bite to his voice, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll have my assistant book you on the next available flight to Europe as soon as we get back to Rio. I know you’re eager to leave.’
A flare of pink appeared in Ana’s cheeks. She lifted her chin. ‘I would have thought you’d be pleased to get your life back. You only married me for a business deal.’
‘You married me to secure your brother’s freedom and future, as well as your own,’ Caio reminded her. ‘So you got something out of it too.’
She immediately looked chastened. ‘Yes, I did get something out of it—and so did Francisco. We’re both grateful for that.’
He clenched his jaw. ‘I didn’t mention that to ask for your gratitude.’
‘I know. And you have treated me with the utmost respect. What could have been a nightmare scenario was...not.’
‘You mean the bit where you thought I was going to demand my conjugal rights on our wedding night?’ He still smarted to think that she’d been so averse to the idea of sleeping with her husband that she’d tried to run away.
Ana’s cheeks flushed. ‘We hadn’t covered that in the prenuptial agreement. I didn’t know you... I didn’t know what to expect. Whatyouwould expect.’
She bit her lip, as if to stop more words spilling out. Caio wanted to know what she was holding back but she stayed silent.
He sighed. ‘I can’t blame you, after meeting your father. It was only natural you’d fear that I was similar.’
‘I wasn’t scared of you.’
Caio looked at Ana and saw the defiant set of her chin. It made his mouth want to quirk. He could recall only too easily how pale she’d been that night, when he’d found her trying to open a staff entrance door to the apartment. She’d changed out of her wedding dress and had been dressed in jeans and a loose top. Her hair, long and silky, had been tumbling over her shoulders and down her back...
He folded his arms and regarded her now. ‘Where were you even planning on going?’
Caio hadn’t asked her that question at the time. Why now?
Ana prickled self-consciously under his gaze. It reminded her too much of the sense of exposure she’d felt when she’d stood beside him on their wedding day in her very plain, long white dress overlaid with lace. The dress that had made her look‘like an old maid’, as her father had stated so memorably.
She’d thought it was a good idea, sending a strong signal to Caio not to view her as anything but a convenient wife, but standing beside him she’d felt hideously frumpy and out of date.
The indiscreet whisperings of the stylist to the hair and make-up team hired to get her ready had come back to haunt her.
‘This man is Brazil’s sexiest playboy...is she deliberately trying to turn him off?’
Ana had fought the urge to turn around and inform the woman that that was her plan precisely.
She’d always told herself she didn’t care what people thought, but when they’d arrived at the church and everyone had turned to look at her, including Caio, she’d never felt more exposed. She’d felt as if everyone was judging her and finding her lacking. She’d never been more acutely aware of the fact that not even her own mother had found her lovable enough to stay.
Those few steps down the aisle had been the longest of her life, but she’d found to her surprise that Caio’s gaze had searched for hers and held it the whole way down. As if he was silently commanding her to think only of him and nothing else. And for that moment shehadthought of nothing else.
But then, up close, he’d been so intimidating—resplendent in a steel-grey morning suit, clean-shaven, hair swept back—and all her self-consciousness had surged back. She’d burned with embarrassment. And awareness.
By the time they’d returned to Caio’s apartment that evening Ana had been a bag of jangling nerves, exhausted after a long day of meeting more people than she’d met in her lifetime. Seriously wondering if she’d made a huge mistake.
She really hadn’t known what Caio would expect after her stunt with the wedding dress, and she’d imagined him appearing in her bedroom, demanding to consummate their marriage. She’d even thought that it might be a legal requirement. She’d imagined the humiliation of his finding out that she reallywasa virgin. That her father hadn’t lied.
Not to mention the humiliation that she wanted him.
So...she’d panicked.
She’d changed and packed and found the staff entrance to the apartment. And then Caio had appeared behind her, divested of his wedding waistcoat and tie, top button of his shirt open.
‘Ana? Where the hell are you going?’
She’d turned around, gripping her small case. She’d felt very young and very foolish. And vulnerable.
Caio’s hands had been on his hips, effortlessly drawing attention to the leanness of his waist. She’d swallowed painfully before saying, ‘I don’t know what you’re expecting, but I won’t sleep with you.’
