and took another sip.
Thankfully, the master of ceremonies chose that moment to climb onto the podium to announce the first course and the first speaker.
Inez barely tasted the salmon mousse and the wine that accompanied it. Nor did she absorb the speech given by the health minister about what was being done to help the poor.
Her hyperawareness of the man beside her interfered with her ability to think straight. The last time she’d felt anything remotely like this, she’d wandered down a path she’d hated herself for ever since. She’d almost given herself to a man who had no use for her besides using her as a pawn.
Never again!
Six more weeks. She needed to focus on that. Once her father was on his campaign trail, she could start her new life.
She’d heard the rumours about her father’s ruthless beginnings when she was growing up; a couple of her school friends had whispered about unsavoury dealings her father had been involved in. Inez had never found concrete proof. The one time she’d asked her mother, she’d been quickly admonished not to believe lies about her family.
At the time, she’d assured herself that they weren’t true. But the passage of time had whittled away that assurance. Now, with each day that passed, she suspected differently.
‘You look as if the world is coming to an end, anjo,’ the man she was desperately trying to ignore murmured. Again the endearment rolled off his tongue in a deep, seductive murmur that sent shivery awareness cascading over her skin.
‘I hope you’re not going to ask me to smile again, because—’ She gasped as he took her hand and lifted it to his mouth.
Firm, warm lips brushed her skin and Inez’s stomach dipped in sensual free fall that took her breath away. Desperately, she tried to snatch her hand back.
‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ she snapped.
‘Helping you. Relax. If you continue to look at me like you want to claw my eyes out, this won’t work.’
‘What exactly is this? And why on earth should I play along?’
‘Your brother and father are still wondering why Delgado left so abruptly. Do you want to suffer the third degree later or will you let me help you make it all go away?’
She eyed him suspiciously. The notion that there was something going on behind that smooth, charismatic façade didn’t dissipate. In fact, it escalated as he stared down at her, his features enigmatic save for that smile that lingered on his wide, sexy mouth.
‘Why do you want to help me?’ Again she tried to take back her hand but he held on, one thumb smoothing over her inner wrist. Blood surged through her veins at his touch, her pulse racing at the spot that he so expertly explored.
‘Because I’m hoping it would persuade you to have lunch with me tomorrow,’ he replied.
His gaze flicked across the table. Although his expression didn’t change, she again sensed the tension that hovered on the edge of his civility. This man didn’t like her family. Which begged the question: what was he doing here investing in their company?
He swung that intense stare back to her and she lost her train of thought. Grabbing it back, she shook her head.
‘I’ll have to refuse the lunch offer, I’m afraid. I have other plans.’
‘Dinner, then?’
‘I have plans then, too. Besides, don’t you have business with my father tomorrow?’
‘Our business won’t take longer than me signing on a dotted line.’
‘A dotted line that gives you a permanent controlling share in my family’s company?’
His eyes gleamed. ‘Not permanent. Only until I have what I want.’
‘AND WHAT IS IT you want?’
‘For now? Lunch. Tomorrow. With you.’ Another pass of his thumb over her pulse.
Another roll of sensation deep in her belly. The temptation to say yes suddenly overcame her, despite the warning bells shrieking at the back of her mind.
She forced herself to heed those warning bells. Her painfully short foray into a relationship had taught her that good looks and charm often hid an agenda that would most likely not benefit her or her heart. And Theo Pantelides had metaphorical skull and crossbones stamped all over him.
‘The answer is still no,’ she replied, a lot sharper than she’d intended.
His lips compressed but he shrugged. As if her answer hadn’t fazed him.
And it probably hadn’t. He was one of those men who drew women like bees to pollen. He could probably secure a lunch date with half of the women in this room and tempt the other married half into sin should he choose to.
With his dark, exquisite looks and deep sexy voice, he could have any woman he chose to display even the mildest interest in.
The thought that he would do just such a thing punched so fierce a reaction in her belly that she suppressed a shocked gasp.
What on earth is wrong with me? She needed to get herself back under control before she did something foolish—like discard her plans for tomorrow in favour of spending more time with this infuriatingly self-assured, visually stunning man.
Giving herself a fierce pep talk, she pulled her hand from his grasp.
She folded her hand in her lap and wrapped her other hand over her wrist. But suddenly her own touch felt…inadequate.
She was saved from exploring the peculiar feeling when the lights dimmed and the projector started reeling pictures of miles and miles of rusted shingle roofs that formed the world famous Rio favelas.
Her father climbed onto the podium to begin his speech.
The tale of despair-driven prostitution, violence, gang warfare and kidnapping of innocents, and the need to do whatever was needed to help was one she’d heard at many fund-raisers and charity dinners.
She clenched her fist. Knowing that half the people in here, dripping in diamonds and tuxedos worth several thousand dollars, would’ve forgotten the plight of the favela residents by the time dessert was served made her silently scream in frustration.
The need to get up, to walk out almost overwhelmed her but she stayed put.
There would be no running. No walking away from the work she’d committed herself to, nor walking away from the formative minds that were depending on her.
Fierce pride tightened her chest at the part she was playing in the young lives under her charge. And the fact that she’d managed to change that part of her own life without her father or brother’s interference.
She
