‘You could change your mind and accept my offer to stay on as my mistress,’ he prompted with a grin. ‘Currently I have a vacancy—in fact I will always have a vacancy for you, Selina.’
Stepping back, Selina laughed up at him, shaking her head. ‘You are incorrigible, Antonio—and, no, I could not. But if you ever need a translator again you know how to find me.’
‘True. And if you ever change your mind, Selina, or need me for anything you have my number. Call me. If I can’t have you as a lover I’ll settle for a friend.’ He smiled.
Selina saw the warmth in his dark eyes and was touched. ‘Thank you. I will. Goodbye.’ And, turning on her heel, she headed for the bank of elevators without looking back.
Once in her room, she gave a sigh of contentment as she closed the door. Another successful job completed, she thought and, kicking off her shoes, crossed to sit on the edge of the king-sized bed. She began unpinning her hair from its intricate chignon.
Antonio Soares, the head of the largest mining consortium in Brazil and with interests worldwide, was one of the good guys, Selina reflected. She had met him two months ago, as a client in Australia, and she had travelled to China with him. Then he had hired her again for a Chinese delegation visit to Brazil. The trip had been a success for both parties, and tonight had been the final celebratory dinner before the delegation left in the morning.
She finger-combed her hair, smiling. Antonio was a self-confessed womaniser but he was also fun, and he made her laugh with tales of the doyennes of Brazilian society who kept trying to get him to marry their daughters. He was like Rion in a way—he worked hard and played hard—but, unlike Rion, Antonio was not hard of heart. She had met his ten-year-old son, Eduardo, and knew his much-loved wife had died in childbirth and he had no intention of ever replacing her.
In fact, she thought, given a year or so to get over Rion she might even accept Antonio’s offer to be his mistress …
Rising to her feet, she reached around to untie the halter neck of her dress and paused. For the first time in the three months since leaving Rion she realised she was beginning to think more positively of the future, even considering another man. That had to be a sign she was getting better.
She was about to unfasten the bow at the back of her neck when she heard a loud knock on the door.
Odd, she thought, it was after eleven, and she had not ordered anything from room service. She walked towards the door, not intending to open it until she’d asked who it was. But she never got the chance. The door opened and a man walked in, slamming the door behind him.
‘You!’ Selina exclaimed, her eyes widening in shock even as her traitorous heart leapt as she recognised Rion. His hair was longer and falling over his brow, she noted, and his usual sartorial elegance had slipped a little. The superbly tailored navy suit he wore no longer fitted so well. The jacket was loose across his chest and he looked leaner, his handsome features honed to an even more chiselled edge.
‘What on earth are you doing here?’ she asked, shocked rigid. Her insides were shaking. ‘And how did you get in?’ Stupid question. ‘Never mind. Just get out or I will call the manager.’ She didn’t like the ferocious look on his face and suddenly she was afraid.
‘Call away, but it won’t do you any good. I own this hotel, I have a key, and I want to talk to you.’
‘Own the hotel?’ she parroted, a host of conflicting emotions flooding through her. ‘But how did you know I was here?’ she demanded.
Rion ran his hands through his hair. It was that or grabbing Selina, and he didn’t trust himself to touch her after witnessing the scene between her and Antonio Soares in the foyer. But he could not take his eyes off her. Her glorious hair tumbled around her bare shoulders and the golden-brown shot satin dress she wore revealed a tempting cleavage. The satin slid sensuously over her shapely body to the floor. She looked beautiful and sexy and she was driving him out of his mind.
Rion shrugged his shoulders in an attempt to ease the fierce tension in his long body. ?
??I decided to look you up.’
‘Look me up … Hunt me down, more like,’ Selina said, her voice rising incredulously. Her amber eyes flashed with temper, clashing with blazing black, but she was too angry to care. A few minutes ago she’d been congratulating herself on beginning to get over Rion, and now, like some evil genie, he’d popped back into her life.
‘What the hell for?’ She swore. ‘It is almost midnight in Brazil—halfway round the world from where you live, for heaven’s sake—and yet here you are. Are you crazy?’ she demanded furiously.
Rion grabbed her around the waist and hauled her hard against him. For an instant desire flared between them, and savagely she tried to crush it. But too late. She registered his eyes, glittering with an almost manic light.
‘Crazy, maybe—but it is you who have made me this way. And I’ll hunt you down to the ends of the earth if that is what it takes to get you back. Because I can’t stand the thought of you with someone else. Everything in me—everything I am—yearns for you,’ he declared harshly.
This was a Rion she had never seen before. He was like a man possessed. ‘You can’t just hunt—’
But he carried on as though she had not spoken, and being held against his body was making her temperature rise.
‘Do you think I haven’t suffered the torment of the damned since we parted? Knowing the truth almost unmanned me. You were mine first, and I don’t give a damn about any in between as long as you are mine last. As for Antonio Soares—I spoke to him downstairs and he won’t bother you again.’
‘Spoke to him? Bother me?’ She was turning into a parrot. ‘Antonio is a client—a friend, you Neanderthal,’ she shot back furiously, and tried to wriggle free. But he tightened his grip and with one hand stroked up her back, tangling his fingers in her hair and forcing her to look up into his dark face.
‘Where you are concerned I am. I can’t help myself. I lied when I told you I didn’t do jealous. I only need to see you smile at a man to be consumed by the green-eyed monster because I love you. I don’t expect you to believe me but I do.’
Selina blinked. Had she heard right …? No, it was impossible. She glared at him belligerently. ‘If this is another ploy to get me into bed you are wasting your time. Now, let me go.’
‘No. Never again, Selina.’ He lowered his head and kissed her with a possessive, seductive hunger that she fought to resist. But her traitorous body betrayed her and she felt her heart thud, the blood flow thicker in her veins. She raised her hands to push him away, but somehow her fingers involuntarily splayed across his broad chest and crept around his neck as she gave in to the sensual awareness Rion never failed to arouse in her and kissed him back.
Rion groaned and buried his face against her throat, inhaling the delicate scent of her skin. ‘Forgive me.’ He lifted his head. ‘I swore I wouldn’t do this, wouldn’t touch you until we’d talked and I’d explained.’ His anguished expression tore at Selina’s heart. ‘I know I don’t deserve you, but I do love you, Selina.’