sometime before dawn. She needed to compose herself and regain her professional demeanor—or what was left of it—before she confronted him again.
His enormous white dogs greeted the sunrise with a chorus of enthusiastic baying. Heat crept up her neck when she heard the sound.
She dressed carefully in a plain black dress and arranged her hair into a chignon. It was too tangled to wear down. Her lips were red from kissing and she tried to tone down her flushed cheeks with loose powder.
There wasn’t anything she could do about the dazzled look in her eyes.
When she heard Rosa arrive in a car and start clattering around in the kitchen, Susannah took a deep breath and went downstairs, determined to act as if nothing had happened. Her offer to help was politely rebuffed so she sat in front of the unlit fireplace.
When breakfast was ready, Rosa yelled up to Amado. Susannah rose from the sofa and held her breath as his door creaked open.
Amado appeared, sleepy and disheveled, at the top of the stairs. He stopped when he saw her. Susannah swallowed as he rested his eyes on her and a smile spread over his face. He eased down the stairs on bare feet.
“Morning,” he whispered. His eyes had the same dazed look she’d seen in her own mirror that morning.
His pale blue shirt hung unbuttoned, revealing an enticing slice of tanned chest.
“Hi,” she stuttered. Then she refocused her eyes on the door to the dining room, blinked, and attempted to guide her feet in that direction.
Rosa tutted at the sight of Amado. He simply smiled at her.
He pulled out a chair for Susannah. “Sit down. Eat.”
Susannah snuck a glance at Rosa, whose stolid face was characteristically expressionless.
Did Amado always eat breakfast half dressed?
Or only when he’d slept with his guest the previous night. No need to stand on ceremony when you’d spent the night writhing and moaning in each other’s arms.
She fanned her napkin out over her lap. She had nothing to be ashamed of. They were both adults and she…
Rosa’s withering look made her shrink into her chair.
Amado didn’t even bother to make polite conversation. Relaxed and at ease, he enjoyed the breakfast Rosa had prepared for them.
Susannah wanted to concentrate on her creamy cafécon leche and the delicious fresh baked rolls and pastries with homemade jam, but it was hard with Amado sitting across the table, staring right at her.
He caught her gaze time after time, his dark eyes shining with pleasure, until her heart was ready to flutter right out of her chest.
I’ve got to get out of here, was the thought foremost in her mind. Amado had an unhealthy and dangerous effect on her libido.
She was here to do a job. She was actually being paid for this, and she’d better start to earn her salary—if she wanted to keep it, that is.
She checked that Rosa was out of earshot.
Her heart thudded as she leaned forward. “You will give me the DNA, won’t you?”
Amado’s expression hardened. The smile slipped from his mouth and faded from his eyes. “Yes.”
A chill descended over the breakfast table. He pulled his napkin from his lap and rose to his feet. Padded silently away, leaving her sitting, staring after him.
She kept her breathing steady and forced a smile as the grim Rosa came back into the room with more coffee. “No, thanks.”
Right now, she felt guilty eating their food and enjoying their hospitality. What if Tarrant Hardcastle was right, and she was about to show them all that Amado was the illegitimate product of a casual affair?
Amado buttoned his shirt and slicked his hair back with a comb. He had a bizarre sensation of going into battle.
Susannah Clarke was here to impugn his mother’s name. Of course, the idea that his mother had an affair was preposterous, so he wasn’t afraid of the test results. Still, his cheerful mood had evaporated.
So, she’d slept with him for purely practical purposes. Why did that bother him? He’d slept with her for his own reasons, which admittedly were far less complicated.
Had no idea what he was getting into, either. He’d never met a woman like this. So cool and composed on the outside, so fiery and abandoned in his bed. Fascinating.
Then this morning she confronted him with that prim smile. Reminded him that last night’s enjoyment was simply part of a cold-blooded business deal for her.
Irritation spiked in his gut as he buckled his belt. Still, he was a man of honor, and he’d made a promise.
He heard her moving about in the guest bedroom, and he entered without knocking. “My body is yours to do with as you like.”
She dropped whatever she was packing in her bag and looked up. She looked nervous, so slender and delicate in her long black dress.
He cocked his head. “Did I startle you?”
She blinked and swallowed. Nervous. “I’m just getting my things together.”
“I can see that. So what’s the plan? You extract my bodily fluids and head back to New York with them?” His eyes narrowed as a nasty thought crept over his brain. “Or did you already take what you were looking for?”
Susannah swallowed. “No! I didn’t take anything.” She colored. “There’s a lab in Mendoza that can process the test. It would be best if you come there with me so they can take the sample themselves. That way there’s less risk of contamination, and you’ll be sure that no one, you know, tampered with…”
She trailed off and tucked an imaginary lock behind her ear. A strange gesture since her long dark hair was secured in a tight chignon. Her dress buttoned to her neck and flared from the waist almost to her ankles.
She looked every inch the prudish missionary’s daughter.
Touch me not.
But he knew better.
“So you want me to accompany you into Mendoza?”
“Well, I’d imagine you’d need to bring your own car…”
“So you don’t have to drive me home again.” He tilted his head. “You think of all the details.”
“And actually,” her hands trembled as she struggled with the zipper of her bag, “I ran out of gas on my way here so, I’m afraid I’ll need some before I can go anywhere.”
Amado crossed his arms. “It appears that once again you are at my mercy. Lucky thing I’m a gentleman.” A wicked smile crept over his lips. “At least some of the time.”
Her lips parted and she looked like
