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“Me?” she whispered.
He looked right at her. “You are the only woman that Adriana would believe I could love.”
A roar of shared memories left unspoken between them washed over Laura like a wave, and her heart twisted in her chest. She’d been only twenty-one when, on her second day in New York City, the employment office had sent her to Santos Enterprises to interview in the accounting office. Instead, she’d been sent up to the top floor to meet with the CEO himself.
“Perfeito,” the fearsome, sleek Brazilian tycoon had said, looking at her résumé. Then he’d looked at her. “Young enough so you will not be planning to immediately quit to have a baby. At least ten or twenty years before you’ll think of that. Perfeito.”
Now, Gabriel looked at her with dark eyes. She felt a cold winter wind sweep in from the north and shivered.
“Be my pretend mistress in Rio,” he said. “And I will pay you a hundred thousand dollars for that one night.”
Her lips parted as she breathed, “A hundred thousand!”
She almost said yes on the spot. Then she remembered her baby, and her heart rose to her throat. She shook her head. “Sorry,” she choked out. “Get someone else.”
His brow furrowed in disbelief. “Why? You clearly need the money.”
She licked her lips. “That’s none of your business.” “I deserve an answer.”
She set her jaw. He didn’t know what kind of trouble he’d made for her by coming here. Didn’t know and didn’t care. He couldn’t see how Laura had changed through the anguish of the past year. Who would be the first neighbor to gossip that her ex-boss bore an uncanny resemblance to her son?
She exhaled, clenching her hands. He still thought all he had to do was tell her to jump, and she’d ask how high. But she wasn’t his obedient little secretary anymore.
With a deep breath, she closed her eyes. It was time to let it all go.
Let go the sound of Gabriel’s warm, deep voice for the last five years as his executive assistant. Miss Parker, there’s no one as capable as you.
Let go the brightness of his delight when he came home at 6:00 A.M. to find her silently waiting with freshly made coffee and a pressed suit for his early meeting. Miss Parker, what would I do without you?
Let go the memory of their time in bed, when his dark eyes, so vulnerable and warm, had caressed her face with unspoken words of love. Let go the memory of his lips hot against her skin. Let go the feel of him inside her. Laura, I need you.
She opened her eyes.
“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice shaking. “You don’t deserve an explanation. My answer is just no.”
Around them, the dusting of snow reflected light into the white-gray lowering clouds, in a breathless hush of muffled silence. He blinked, looking bewildered.
“Did it end so badly, Laura?” he said softly. “Between us?”
She pressed her fingernails into her palms to keep from crying. Robby. She had to think of Robby. “You shouldn’t have come here.” Her cheeks felt inflamed in the winter air, her body burning up and yet cold as ice. “I want you to leave. Now.”
He took a step closer, looking down at her. A sliver of moonlight pierced through the clouds to illuminate his face. She noticed the dark shadow on his hard jawline, saw the hollows beneath his eyes. She wondered when he’d last slept.
Her heart twisted in her chest. No. She couldn’t let herself care. She couldn’t! Choking back tears, she edged away. “If you won’t leave, I will.”
He grabbed her wrist. He looked down at her, and his eyes glittered. “I can’t let you go.”
For a moment, she heard only the panting of their breath. Then a door banged open, and she heard a baby’s whine. A chill went down her spine and she whirled around with a gasp.
Too late!
“Where have you been, Laura?” her mother called irritably, holding a squirming Robby in her arms. “It took me ages to find you. What on earth are you doing out here in the cold?”
Ripping her arm from Gabriel’s grasp, Laura gave her mother a hard, desperate stare. “I’m sorry, Mom. Just go back inside. Go back. I’ll be right there!”
But her mother wasn’t looking at her. “Is that—is that Mr. Santos?” she said tremulously.
“Hello, Mrs. Parker,” Gabriel said, smiling as he stepped towards her and held out his hand. “Congratulations on Becky’s wedding. You must be very proud of your daughter.”
“I’m proud of all my daughters.” She came closer to shake his hand. “It’s nice to see you again.”
Laura stared at them, her heart in her throat. Her mother had always liked Gabriel, ever since he’d paid for the family to take a vacation to Florida four years ago, one they wouldn’t otherwise have been able to afford. The Parkers had traveled in his private jet and stayed at a villa on the beach. It had been a lavish second honeymoon for Laura’s parents, a big change from their first at a cheap motel in Niagara Falls. Pictures of that Florida vacation still lined the walls, images of their family smiling beneath palm trees, building sand castles on the beach, splashing in the surf together. With that one gift, Gabriel had won her mother’s loyalty forever.
“I’m glad someone had the sense to invite you to Becky’s wedding,” Ruth said, smiling.
He smiled back with gentle courtesy. “I’ve always asked you to call me Gabriel.”
“Oh no, I couldn’t,” she said. “Not with you being Laura’s employer and all. It just wouldn’t be right.”
“But I’m not her employer anymore.” He flashed Laura a dark look before leaning toward her mother to confidentially whisper, “And I wasn’t invited to the wedding. I crashed. I came to offer her a job.”
“Oh!” Ruth practically cried tears of joy. “A job! You have no idea how happy that makes me. Things have been so tight lately and you should see some of the ridiculous jobs she’s applied for, as far away as Exeter—”
“Mom,” Laura cried. “Please take Robby inside!”
“So she’s looking for a job, is she?” he purred.
“Oh, yes. She’s totally broke,” Ruth confided, then her cheeks turned red. “But then, we all are. Ever since…since.” She turned away.
Gabriel put his hands into his pockets. “I was sorry to hear about your husband. He was a good man.”
“Thank you,” Ruth whispered. Amid the lightly falling snow, silence fell. Gabriel suddenly looked at
Robby.
“What a charming baby,” he murmured, changing the subject. “Is he related to you, Mrs. Parker?”
Her mother looked at him as if he was stupid. “He’s my grandson.”
Gabriel looked surprised. “Is one of your other daughters married, as well?”
“Mom,” Laura breathed with tears in her eyes, terrified, “just go! Right now!”
But it was too late. “This is Robby,” her mother said, holding him up proudly. “Laura’s baby.”
CHAPTER THREE
AS her mother turned to place Robby into her arms, Laura’s heart fell to the snowy, frozen ground. The six-month-old’s whine faded, turning to hiccups as he clung to Laura. Ruth leaned forward to hug her.
“Take the job,” her mother whispered in her ear, then turned to Gabriel and said brightly, “I hope to see you again soon, Mr. Santos!”
Laura heard the dull thunk of the door as her mother went back inside. Then she was alone with Gabriel; their baby in her arms.
Gabriel’s dark eyes went to the child, then back to her. The sound of his tightly coiled voice reverberated in the cold air. “This is your son?”
She held her baby close, loving the solid, chubby feel of him in her arms. Tears stung her eyes as she looked down at Robby. “Yes.”
“How old is he?”
“Six months,” she said in a small voice.
Gabriel’s eyes narrowed. “So tell me.” His voice was deadly and still as a winter’s night. “Who is the father of your baby?”
She’d wished so many times to be able to tell Gabriel the truth, dreamed of giving her son his father. With their baby squirming in her arms between them, the truth rose unbidden to her lips. “The father of my baby is…”
You. You’re Robby’s father. Robby is your son. But the words stuck in her throat. Gabriel didn’t want to be tied down with a child. If she told him her secret, nothing good would come of it. He might feel he had no choice but to sue for custody out of duty, resenting Robby, resenting her for forcing him into it. He might try to take their child to Brazil, away from her, to be given into the arms of some young, sexy nanny.
Laura would gain nothing by telling him. And risk everything.
“Well?” he demanded.
She flashed her eyes at him. “The identity of my baby’s father is none of your business.”
His own eyes narrowed. “You must have gotten pregnant immediately after you left Rio.”
“Yes,” she said unwillingly. She shivered, looking from father to son. Would he notice the resemblance?
But Gabriel turned on her, his dark eyes full of accusation. “You were a virgin when I seduced you. You said you wanted a home and family of your own. How could you be so careless, to forget protection, to let yourself get pregnant by a one-night stand?”
Gabriel had used protection, but somehow she’d gotten pregnant anyway. She said over the lump in her throat, “Accidents happen.”
“Accidents don’t happen,” he corrected. “Only mistakes.”
She set her jaw. “My baby is not a mistake.” “You mean it was planned?” He lifted a sardonic eyebrow. “Who is the father? Some good-looking farmer? Some boy you knew back in high school?” He glanced around. “Where is this paragon? Why hasn’t he proposed? Why aren’t you his wife?”
Robby was starting to snuffle. Even in his long-sleeved shirt, he was getting cold, and so was she. Holding him close to her warmth, she shifted his weight on her hip. “I told you, it’s none of your business.”
“Is he here?”
“No!”
“So he deserted you.”
“I didn’t give him the chance,” she said. “I left him first.”
“Ah.” Gabriel’s shoulders seemed to relax slightly. “So you don’t love him. Will he cause any trouble when you take the child to Rio?”
“No.” “Good.”
“I mean—I’m not taking Robby there. I’m not going.” Her baby started to whimper as she turned away. “Goodbye, Gabriel.”
“Wait.”
The raw emotion in his voice made her hesitate. Against her better judgment she turned back. He stepped toward her, and she saw something in his expression she’d never seen before.
Vulnerability.
“Don’t leave,” he said in a low voice. “I need you.” I need you.
She’d once loved him. She’d served him night and day, existed only to please him. She had to fight that habit, that yearning, with every bit of willpower she possessed.
“Is a hundred thousand dollars not enough?” He came closer, his dark eyes bright in the moonlight, the white smoke of his breath drifting around them in the chilly night air. “Let’s make it a cool million. A million dollars, Laura. For a single night.” She gasped. A million…?
Reaching out, he stroked her cheek. “Think what that money could mean for you. For your family.” His fingers moved slowly against her cold skin, the lightest touch of a caress, warming her. “If you don’t care what it would mean for me, think what it could do for you. And all you need to do,” he said huskily, “is smile for a few hours. Drink champagne. Wear a fancy ball gown. And pretend to love me.”
Pretend. Blinking up at him, she swallowed the lump in her throat. Pretend to love him.
“Although I know it might not be easy,” he said dryly. Then he shook his head. “But you are not so selfish as to refuse.”
With an intake of breath, Laura clenched her hands into fists. “Maybe I am. Now.”
His sensual mouth curved. “The Laura I knew always put the needs of the people she loved above herself. I know that hasn’t changed.” His dark eyebrow lifted. “You probably stayed up all night making your sister’s wedding cake.”
Her lips twisted with a dark emotion. “I really hate you.”
“Hate me if you will. But if you do not come with me to Rio tonight…” He clawed his black hair back with his hand, then exhaled. His dark eyes seemed fathomless and deep, echoing with pain. “I will lose my father’s legacy. Forever.”
Shivering in the cold night, cradling her whimpering baby in the warmth of her arms, Laura looked up into Gabriel’s handsome, haggard face. She knew better than anyone what the Açoazul company meant to Gabriel. For years, she’d watched him scheme and plot to regain control of it. He hungered for it. His legacy.
Living in the house her great-great-great-great-grandfather had built with his own two hands, on the land her family had farmed for two centuries, Laura could understand the feeling. She looked at his face. It was a shock to see raw vulnerability in his dark eyes. It was an expression she’d never seen there before, not in all the years she’d worked for him. She could feel herself weakening.
One million dollars. For a single night of luxury in Rio, a night of beauty and pleasure. She looked down at her baby. What could that money do for her son? For her family?
But oh, the risk. Could she be strong enough to resist telling Gabriel the truth? For twenty-four hours, could she lie to his face? Could she pretend to love him, without falling in love with him again for real?
On the country road in front of their property, Laura saw a parked black sedan turn on its headlights, as if on cue. She heard the smooth purr of the engine as it slowly drove up the driveway. Over Gabriel’s head, moonlight laced the ridges of the dark clouds with silver.
She closed her eyes. “You will never come back looking for me after this?” she said in a low voice. “You will leave us in peace?”
Gabriel’s own voice was harsh. “Yes.”
Looking at him, Laura took a deep breath and spoke words that felt like a knife between her shoulder blades. The only words he’d left for her to say. “One night,” she whispered.
An hour later they arrived at the small private airport, where his jet waited outside the hangar. As they crossed the tarmac, Gabriel felt his blood rush in his ears as he stared down at her.
Laura was even more beautiful than he remembered. In the moonlight, her hair looked like dark honey. The frosty winter air gave her cheeks a soft pink glow, and as she bit her lower lip, her heart-shaped mouth looked red and inviting. For a single instant, when he’d first seen her at the farmhouse, he’d had the insane desire to kiss her.
He took a deep breath. He was tired, flying straight from Rio on his private jet. Even more than that, he was exhausted from the months of negotiations to buy back his father’s old company in Rio, to gain back the business that had been his birthright before he’d stupidly thrown it away as a grief-stricken nineteen-year-old.
