over her face.
She was asleep.
In one fluid movement Alejandro got out of his seat and crossed the narrow space between them, removing the computer from her knee and putting it on the table in front of her. Then, slipping one arm behind her neck, he slid the other beneath her knees and scooped her up, holding her against his chest.
Her head fell back, rolling against his arm and giving him a perfect view of her small face with its wide cheekbones and full, generous mouth. His heart gave a painful kick as he looked down at her. For six years he had painted her in his mind as a sort of cross between Lolita and Lady Macbeth, but it was impossible to reconcile that image with the soft, fragile girl in his arms. As he watched, her lips parted slightly and she gave a small, breathy sigh of contentment, and then tucked her head into his body.
With a low curse he turned abruptly and carried her to the back of the plane, kicking the door to the bedroom open and depositing her quickly on the bed. A cashmere blanket lay folded neatly at its foot, and he shook it out and laid it over her, briskly, his hands not making any contact with her body at all.
And then he left, as swiftly and as brutally as he had come, slamming the door shut behind him.
Tamsin’s eyes snapped open the moment he was out of the small room.
A few seconds ago she’d been so tired she’d felt as if her eyelids had lead weights attached to them, but now she was wide, wide awake. Her heart was thumping against her ribs like a caged animal, and every cell of her body seemed to vibrate and thrum with painfully heightened awareness. It was as if someone had just injected her with concentrated caffeine.
Being in his arms for those few moments had done that to her.
She pushed back the blanket he had laid over her so perfunctorily and sat up, running her tongue over her dry lips and looking around her in something like desperation. When she’d felt his arms around her, felt the hardness of his broad chest against her, she’d thought for a dizzy, disorientated moment that she was dreaming and had given herself up to the bliss of being close to him …
Oh, no. She’d sighed, hadn’t she? She’d actually sort of moaned with pleasure.
Springing up from the bed, she paced restlessly around it. She’d known it was going to be difficult, being thrown into such close contact with him, but she hadn’t even come close to realising how hard. They were only halfway there, for crying out loud, and already she’d managed to make an almighty fool of herself—not once but twice.
Panic rose within her as she thought of the hours that stretched ahead, but there was no escape, and nothing to be done except try to keep her mind off Alejandro D’Arienzo altogether. Work was the answer, but her laptop was in the cabin, and there was no way she was going back out there to get it—although if she could just find some paper and a pen she could make a start on some sketches now. Her gaze fell on a little drawer set into the sleek cabinetry beside the bed, and she ran her fingers along it, trying to locate the concealed catch.
It sprang open, immediately revealing a blank notepad. Tamsin gave a little hiss of triumph as she took it out, looking underneath to see if she could see a pen.
There was one. Right there in the bottom of the drawer, half-buried beneath a lot of small, silver packets.
With a trembling hand she reached out and scooped them up, staring at them as a sick feeling spread through the pit of her stomach and an assortment of unwelcome images filled her head: Alejandro, his skin dark against the white sheets, his hair falling over his face as he lifted his mouth from the pouting, scarlet lips of a sultry beauty and reached over to the drawer for condoms.
The door handle turned with a muffled click. Tamsin gave a gasp of horror and slammed the drawer shut, stuffing the condoms into the back pocket of her jeans and spinning around as the door opened and Alejandro appeared.
‘I thought I heard something. So, you’re awake.’
‘Of course,’ she said as casually as possible, holding up the pad. ‘As I said before, I’ve got work to do. I haven’t got time to sleep.’ She ran her shaking hands through her hair in the manner of someone who was perfectly relaxed and didn’t have her pockets stuffed with condoms.
Alejandro advanced into the room. Apart from the fractional lift of his eyebrows his face was as expressionless as ever, but his eyes glittered with sardonic amusement. ‘I see,’ he said quietly. ‘You were doing a pretty good impression of it before.’
‘That wasn’t sleep. That was a power nap.’ Even to Tamsin’s own ears her voice sounded ridiculously shaky, but she couldn’t help it. It was the effect of being in this small space with him. This small, intimate space, with the huge bed stretching between them like a taunt, and the images conjured up by her own pitifully overactive brain refusing to go quietly. She turned away, hoping that it would help her keep her composure. ‘I won’t need proper sleep for ages now,’ she said airily.
‘Oh, you won’t? That’s good news.’
His voice was soft, hypnotising. Unwillingly, she felt herself turning back to face him. Unsmiling, he was looking at her steadily as he took hold of the bottom of his dark cashmere jumper and pulled it over his head. Tamsin’s heart-rate doubled instantly and her mouth went dry.
‘Why?’ It came out as a hoarse croak. The pressurised air seemed to be filled with the sound of her throbbing heart.
His mocking smile was like icy water in her face.
‘Because I assume that means you won’t mind me having the bed.’ He held open the door for her. ‘Don’t work too hard.’
The sky was pale pink by the time Tamsin set aside her laptop and rubbed her hands wearily across her face. Her eyes felt gritty and her head and neck ached with exhaustion, but she had a good basis for four different designs to show Alejandro and the board of Los Pumas. Letting her head fall back against the seat, she closed her stinging eyes and allowed herself a moment of triumph as she took a couple of deep breaths in, savouring the smell of fresh coffee that was coming from Alberto’s galley kitchen, and the faint, skin-tingling scent of lime that was coming from …
Her eyes flew open. Alejandro was standing over her, smiling wryly. His hair was slicked back and damp from the shower, and in the golden morning sunlight he looked like something from an advert for men’s expensive grooming products—relaxed, tanned, fresh, and gut-wrenchingly gorgeous.
‘Good morning,’ he said. ‘I take it you slept well?’
Tamsin sat bolt upright and pushed her hair back from her face. ‘No, I didn’t, I—’ she spluttered in protest. ‘I wasn’t asleep. I’ve been working! That was just—’
‘Another power nap?’ he said, with mocking gravity. ‘Of course. Anyway, you’ll be pleased to know that we’ll be landing in a few minutes.’
She would have liked nothing more than a shower and a change of clothes, but there was no time, so had to content herself with brushing her teeth and splashing her face with water in the tiny but opulent shower room, emerging just in time to fasten her seatbelt as the plane came in to land.
It touched down with a bump and came to a standstill on the tarmac. Tamsin felt desperately impatient to be out of the confined space, and she watched as the ground crew placed the steps alongside. Alejandro didn’t seem to be in any hurry, hardly glancing up from his
