the man had an unerring eye for the very best of everything. As he leaned over to speak to his bodyguard she saw even his eyes had the luxurious sheen of the finest dark chocolate. The sweltering Mediterranean sun was all but baking everything in sight, but in contrast he appeared ice-cool.
Narrowing her gaze to view him more clearly, she saw with trepidation that his hard jaw was undeniably clenched and the set of his well-cut lips formidably serious … perhaps even angry? Panicking slightly because if he was already ticked off about something then it was highly unlikely that he would even acknowledge her, she thought dismayed. Worse still, if he thought she was making a nuisance of herself he might call the police to arrest her.
Swallowing down her nerves, she tucked the leather strap of her straw bag neatly down by her side, then endeavoured to stroll casually towards the hotel entrance just as if she was a guest there—for surely this must be the window of opportunity she’d prayed for? It occurred to Grace that the reporters had made the mistake of assuming the VIP they so eagerly sought was already inside the hotel—perhaps smuggled in through a side entrance somewhere? Wishing that her heart wasn’t beating so fast that she could scarcely hear herself think above the throbbing sound of it in her ears, she endeavoured to slow and deepen her breath to calm herself. She had to do this. The businessman’s reputation and aura might be intimidating, but she couldn’t let that stop her. Come what may, there was no backing out now.
‘Mr Aguilar!’ When she was about five feet away from him on the baking walkway she called out his name. The bodyguard immediately moved his intimidating bulk Grace’s way, to prevent her from getting any nearer. ‘Mr Aguilar … please can I have just a moment of your time before you go inside to your meeting? I promise I won’t keep you very long.’
‘Mr Aguilar does not talk to anyone from the press unless it is prearranged.’
The bodyguard’s heavily accented voice was a growl as he reached out to physically waylay her. She flinched as the man’s huge hands encircled her bare arms in her sleeveless cotton dress, and at the same time saw a bead of sweat roll down his ample cheek.
His manhandling of her lit a furious spark of indignation inside her. ‘Let me go! How dare you grab me like that? For your information, I’m not a reporter.’
‘You have no business trying to talk to Mr Aguilar.’
‘For goodness’ sake—do I look like I pose any kind of threat to your boss?’ Grace couldn’t bite back her frustration. To get so close to the man she desperately needed to talk to and then be denied access to speak to him at the very last moment was beyond frustrating.
‘Let her go, José.’
The man behind them snapped out a clear-voiced command and her heart hammered even harder beneath her ribs. The bodyguard immediately released his hold and she stepped to the side of him, at last coming face to face with her hard-jawed quarry.
‘If you do not belong to that mercenary rabble from the press, who are primed to try and get me to answer questions about my private life and then embellish them for their undiscerning readership, what exactly do you want from me, Miss …?’
Indisputably his accent was Portuguese, but his English was close to perfect. The intensity of Marco Aguilar’s examining gaze threw her for a second. The rich caramel eyes with their fathomless depths seemed to bewitch her. ‘Faulkner …’ she answered, her voice not quite as steady as she would have liked. ‘Grace Faulkner. And, just to reassure you, I’m not remotely interested in your private life, Mr Aguilar.’
‘How refreshing’ His remark was like a sardonic whiplash. He folded his arms.
Grace made herself press on regardless. ‘I’m here because I’d like to tell you about an orphanage in Africa that badly needs help … specifically financial help … to rebuild the falling-down shack that houses it and to provide a school and a teacher. I’ve recently come back from there, and it’s quite unbelievable how these poor children are living—not even living … just existing. There’s an open sewer right outside where they’re sleeping, and several of them have already died from drinking contaminated water. This is the twenty-first century for goodness’ sake! We’re so rich in the west … Why are we allowing this to go on without doing something more about it—without every one of us feeling outraged on a daily basis?’
‘I admire the passion and dedication you exhibit in the name of your cause, Miss Faulkner, but I already give financial aid to several charities worldwide. Do you think it fair to corner me like this when I’m about to go into what is to me a very important meeting?’
Grace blinked. The rumour ran that he was there to oversee the takeover bid of a less prosperous resort. It was what he was known for excelling at … buying ailing resorts and making them thrive, thereby reaping the benefits. If the newspapers and magazines were to be believed, the benefits aided his playboy lifestyle. But how much more money and power did the man need before he decided enough was enough?
Her indignation and temper got the better of her. Pushing her fingers through the fall of blonde hair that glanced against her perspiring brow, she levelled her gaze with the billionaire’s and didn’t flinch even once. ‘Fair?’ she echoed angrily. ‘Do you think it’s fair that these children are dying for want of even the most basic sanitation—and more importantly for want of love and care from the rest of humanity? Surely your “very important meeting” can’t possibly be more important than that?’
In less than a heartbeat Marco Aguilar had positioned himself in front of her. The brief contraction in the side of his smooth cheekbone warned her that she’d struck a nerve. At the same time the sweltering heat that beat down on them from the dazzling sun up above seemed to magnify the hypnotic effect of his spicy cologne. Feeling a little bit more than slightly giddy beneath the twin onslaught of burning sun and aggrieved male, Grace wondered where she’d found the audacity—some might say stupidity—to imagine for even a moment that this was the way to get someone as wealthy and influential as him on her side. Clearly it wasn’t.
‘Let me give you a word of advice, Miss Faulkner … Please don’t ever seek a career in a field that requires great diplomacy. I fear you would not get past the first round of interviews. You are very fortunate that I do not get my bodyguard to physically eject you from the complex. Forgive me …’ the dark eyes swept mockingly down over her figure and up again to her face ‘… my guess is that you are not a guest here, are you? In which case you are already on dangerous ground, accosting me like this. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a meeting to go to. My fellow attendees may not be as needy as your orphans, but I assure you they will be baying for my blood if I do not put in an appearance soon.’
‘Look, I’m very sorry if I was rude to you, Mr Aguilar … Honestly, I meant no offence.’ Grace clamped even white teeth down on her lip for a second, in a bid to keep her passionate emotions under control, but it still didn’t stop her from bursting out, ‘All the same, you shouldn’t sneer at my clothes and make me feel small in order to make yourself feel superior, should you? Besides, I’m not here to try to impress you. I’m here for one reason and one reason only: the orphaned children that I told you about. Yes, I am passionate about this cause, but I defy anyone not to be if they’d experienced what I experienced over the past few weeks. I really hoped you might help us … especially when I heard that you’d been raised in an orphanage yourself.’
The businessman stood stock-still and the bronze pigment in his skin seemed to bleed out and turn pale. ‘Where did you hear that?’ he asked, low voiced.
Her mouth dried. ‘I heard it … just the other day.’ Feeling almost faint
