scrambled wits. âRisking your own life to save my dog was incredibly foolish and incredibly brave,â he murmured with a reflective smile that in spite of its haunting brevity had more charm than she had believed any smile might possess.
âI just didnât think,â she mumbled, transfixed by the drop-dead gorgeous effect of him smiling.
âYou are a heroine. I contacted your family.â His strong jawline squared. âI understand that they are very busy people and, of course, I told them that you were already recovering. I am not sure whether or not they will find it possible to visit.â
Paling at that sympathetic rendering of her familyâs evident lack of concern at the news that she had been hospitalised, Emily veiled her pained gaze. âThanksâ¦â
âIt is I who am in debt to you. One of the grooms had the courage to confess that, but for you, Jazz would have spent every hour of my absence imprisoned in that barn,â Duarte admitted grimly. âYou are the only one in a staff of almost twenty who had the kindness to take care of his needs.â
Embarrassed by that unsought accolade, Emily muttered, âI just like animals and Jazz may be a bit daft but heâs very loving.â
The forbidding look on his lean dark features dissipated and he vented a rueful laugh. âJazz has a brain the size of a pea. He was my sisterâs dog. After her death, he should have been rehomed but I did not have the heart to part with him.â His face shadowed again. âPerhaps that was a selfish decision for I am often away on businessââ
âNo. He just adores you. I couldnât get him to settle at night until I got the housekeeper to give me an old sweater of yours to put in his bed,â Emily volunteered in a rush.
There was an awkward little silence. Faint colour now scored his superb cheekbones. He studied her through black lashes lush as silk fans, palpably questioning why he had unbent to such an extent with her. A minute later, he had been the powerful banker again, politely taking his departure, having done his duty in visiting her. A magnificent bouquet of flowers and a basket of fruit had been delivered soon after his departure. She had not expected to see him again except at a distance when he was at the manor.
But the next day when she was released from hospital, Duarte picked her up and insisted on driving her home to convalesce with her family. She spent the whole journey falling deeper and deeper in love with a guy so out of her reach he might as well have come from another galaxy. There was only a little conversation during that drive for Duarte was often on the phone.
Her family took one astonished but thrilled look at Duarte and his chauffeur-driven limousine and invited him to stay to dinner. Billionaire single bankers were hugely welcome in a house containing two young, beautiful single blondes. Indeed, her sisters Hermione and Corinne had competed for Duarteâs attention with outrageous flattery and provocative innuendoes. Sunk in the background as usual by their flirtatious charm, Emily had felt painfully like the ugly duckling amongst the swans.
Emily was sprung back to the present by the necessity of boarding the jet. Soon after take-off, she realised that Jamie was overtired and cross. The steward showed her into a rear compartment where a special travel cot already waited in readiness for its small occupant. It took Emily a good twenty minutes to settle Jamie and then, with pronounced reluctance, she returned to the luxurious main cabin again.
Duarte rose from his seat and straightened to his full commanding height. âIs Jamie asleep?â
Emily nodded jerkily, her tension rising by the second.
âVerbal responses would be welcome,â Duarte added drily.
Encountering brilliant dark golden eyes, she reddened hotly. âYes, heâs asleep but maybe I should sit with him for a while in case he wakes up again.â
âTrying to impress me with maternal overkill? Tell me, who looked after Jamie while you were giving riding lessons?â
âNobodyââ
âNobody?â Duarte queried with hard emphasis.
Emily frowned in surprise. âIt really wasnât a problem. I was only instructing a couple of hours a day and I would park Jamieâs buggy outside the paddock. He was never more than a few feet from me and he usually had the company of parents watching their childâs lesson.â
As Duarte listened, his lean powerful face tautened, his wide sensual mouth compressing. âUsually? A working stables is no place to leave a baby unattended. You know as well as I do that riders canât always control their mounts and that your attention mustâve been on your pupilââ
Under that attack, Emily had stiffened and lost much of her natural colour. âJamie was always safe. I did the very best that I couldââ
âBut your best wasnât halfway good enough,â Duarte cut in with biting derision. âYou left my son at the mercy of passing strangers instead of ensuring that he received proper careââ
âI wanted to spend every minute with him that I could and youâre making this sound much worse than it was,â Emily protested defensively. âEverywhere I worked, Jamie got loads and loads of attention. Most people like babies, especially happy onesââ
âThatâs not the point,â Duarte said coldly.
Emily worried at her lower lip and then said heavily, âEven if I had wanted to, I couldnât have afforded to pay someone to look after himââ
âAnd whose fault was that?â
As her tension climbed, Emily trembled and her tummy churned. Thinking straight had become a challenge; she had never been much good at confrontations. However, on this occasion she found herself struggling to speak up in her own defence. âWhose fault was it that I left Portugal in the first place?â
Far from looking impressed or indeed startled by that comeback, Duarte inclined his arrogant dark head to one side and levelled his incisive gaze on her in the most formidable way. âPresumably you are about to give me the answer to that strange question?â he prompted.
âI only left Portugal because I thought that you were planning to try and take my child off me the minute he was born!â Emily countered in an accusing rush.
Duarte angled an imperious brow. âWhat kind of a nonsensical excuse is that? Before this morning, I never made a threat in that line. To be frank, my patience with you came to an end today. But who or what gave you the idea that I might have been considering such a dramatic move last year?â
Emily flinched and dropped her head, shaken at how close she had come in her turmoil to revealing Blissâs role in events eight months earlier. Had she done that, she could never have forgiven herself. Bliss had been the truest of supportive friends during Emilyâs troubled marriage, cheering Emily up when her spirits were low while offering helpful advice and encouragement. Although Emily had not contacted the other woman since leaving Portugal, she assumed that her friend still worked as Duarteâs executive assistant. Bliss had eavesdropped on that confidential dialogue between Duarte and his lawyer and had forewarned Emily. Were Duarte ever to discover that a member of his own staff had been that disloyal, Blissâs high-flying career
