Tomorrow, she repeated to herself desperately. They would go home to their little farmhouse in the great north woods, safe and sound. She’d never have to see Gabriel again.
But that reassurance was wearing thin. Every moment she spent with Gabriel, seeing him with their son, she found herself wishing she could believe the dream. Wishing he could love them.
The truth about Robby hovered on her lips. But the rational part of her brain stayed in control, keeping her from blurting it out. If she told him the truth, only bad things could happen. And she’d no longer be in control of Robby’s future.
Gabriel glanced at his watch. The sun had started to lower in the sky over the green Dois Irmãos mountain rising sharply to the west. “We should go. Your stylist is waiting at the penthouse.”
“Stylist?”
He rose to his feet. “For the gala.”
He held out his hand, and Laura hesitated. A wistful sigh came from her lips. The brief happiness of feeling like a family was over. “All right.”
She allowed him to pull her to her feet. Tucking a yawning, messy, sand-covered Robby back into the stroller, she followed Gabriel across the beach toward home. By now the avenue was so crowded that Gabriel had to physically clear a path for the stroller.
When they safely reached the opposite side of the street, he looked at her. “I’m looking forward to seeing your dress tonight.” He gave her a sensual smile. “And seeing it off you.”
He was so sure of himself it infuriated her. But as his dark eyes caught hers, her feet tripped on the sidewalk. He caught the stroller, grabbing her arm. Then, leaning forward, he kissed her.
“Nothing will stop me from having you,” he whispered in her ear. “Tonight.”
With an intake of breath, she felt butterflies of longing and sharp bee stings of need all over her body. Tightening her hands on the handle, she pushed the stroller as fast as she could toward the building. She told herself that the sexy, tender, strong man she’d just seen on the beach, playing with their baby son, was a mirage. She couldn’t let herself be fooled by his act. Gabriel was always ruthlessly charming when he wanted something. And right now, he wanted her.
Gabriel Santos always won by any means necessary. Both in business and his romantic conquests. But once he’d had what he wanted, once he’d possessed her in his bed, he would be done with her. He would no longer be willing to tolerate the fact that she had a child. He would toss her out, or drive her out. He would replace her.
She licked her lips as he caught up with her. “What’s going to happen tonight?”
His sensual mouth curved. “You already know.”
She looked at his face. There was a five o’clock shadow on the hard edges of his jaw, giving his handsome face a barbaric appearance. “Felipe Oliveira is no fool. He’s suspicious. What if after tonight, he still doesn’t believe that you love me?”
“He will.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
Gabriel’s dark eyes glinted with amusement. “Then I have a plan.”
CHAPTER TEN
THE Fantasia gala ball was the single most sought-after invitation of Rio de Janeiro’s Carnaval. Laura had read about it in celebrity gossip magazines in the United States. The glamorous event, held in a colonial palace on the Costa Verde south of Rio, attracted beautiful, rich and notorious guests from all around the world. And tonight, Laura would be one of them. Tonight, she would be Gabriel Santos’s beloved mistress. His pretend mistress, she corrected herself fiercely.
The door of the black Rolls-Royce sedan opened, and she and Gabriel stepped out onto the red carpet that led inside the palace, which had once been owned by the Brazilian royal family.
Gabriel looked brutally dashing in his black tuxedo. Laura felt his hungry gaze on her as he took her arm. She tried to ignore it, tried to smile for the benefit of the paparazzi flashing cameras around them, but her body shook beneath the palpable force of his desire.
I want you, Laura. And I will have you.
Liveried doormen in wigs
opened tall, wide doors. Gabriel and Laura went down a gilded hallway, then entered a ballroom that sparkled like an enormous jewel box. Standing at the top of the stairs, Laura looked up in awe at the huge chandeliers glittering like diamonds overhead. From a nearby alcove, a full orchestra played, the musicians dressed in clothes of the eighteenth century, except with sequins and body glitter.
The guests milling around them drinking champagne, laughing, were in gowns and tuxedos that were even more beautiful. More outlandish.
As they paused at the top of the stairs, Gabriel turned to her. “Are you ready?”
Laura held her breath, feeling like a princess in a fairy tale, or maybe Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, with her strapless red sheath gown and long white opera gloves that went up past her elbows. “Yes.”
When Gabriel had first seen her in this dress, he’d choked out a gasp. “You are without question,” he’d said hoarsely, presenting her with two black velvet boxes, “the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”