at her. “I’m looking forward to seeing your dress tonight.” He gave her a sensual smile. “And seeing it off you.”
He was so sure of himself it infuriated her. But as his dark eyes caught hers, her feet tripped on the sidewalk. He caught the stroller, grabbing her arm. Then, leaning forward, he kissed her.
“Nothing will stop me from having you,” he whispered in her ear. “Tonight.”
With an intake of breath, she felt butterflies of longing and sharp bee stings of need all over her body. Tightening her hands on the handle, she pushed the stroller as fast as she could toward the building. She told herself that the sexy, tender, strong man she’d just seen on the beach, playing with their baby son, was a mirage. She couldn’t let herself be fooled by his act. Gabriel was always ruthlessly charming when he wanted something. And right now, he wanted her.
Gabriel Santos always won by any means necessary. Both in business and his romantic conquests. But once he’d had what he wanted, once he’d possessed her in his bed, he would be done with her. He would no longer be willing to tolerate the fact that she had a child. He would toss her out, or drive her out. He would replace her.
She licked her lips as he caught up with her. “What’s going to happen tonight?”
His sensual mouth curved. “You already know.”
She looked at his face. There was a five o’clock shadow on the hard edges of his jaw, giving his handsome face a barbaric appearance. “Felipe Oliveira is no fool. He’s suspicious. What if after tonight, he still doesn’t believe that you love me?”
“He will.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
Gabriel’s dark eyes glinted with amusement. “Then I have a plan.”
CHAPTER TEN
THE Fantasia gala ball was the single most sought-after invitation of Rio de Janeiro’s Carnaval. Laura had read about it in celebrity gossip magazines in the United States. The glamorous event, held in a colonial palace on the Costa Verde south of Rio, attracted beautiful, rich and notorious guests from all around the world. And tonight, Laura would be one of them. Tonight, she would be Gabriel Santos’s beloved mistress.
His pretend mistress, she corrected herself fiercely.
The door of the black Rolls-Royce sedan opened, and she and Gabriel stepped out onto the red carpet that led inside the palace, which had once been owned by the Brazilian royal family.
Gabriel looked brutally dashing in his black tuxedo. Laura felt his hungry gaze on her as he took her arm. She tried to ignore it, tried to smile for the benefit of the paparazzi flashing cameras around them, but her body shook beneath the palpable force of his desire.
I want you, Laura. And I will have you.
Liveried doormen in wigs opened tall, wide doors. Gabriel and Laura went down a gilded hallway, then entered a ballroom that sparkled like an enormous jewel box. Standing at the top of the stairs, Laura looked up in awe at the huge chandeliers glittering like diamonds overhead. From a nearby alcove, a full orchestra played, the musicians dressed in clothes of the eighteenth century, except with sequins and body glitter.
The guests milling around them drinking champagne, laughing, were in gowns and tuxedos that were even more beautiful. More outlandish.
As they paused at the top of the stairs, Gabriel turned to her. “Are you ready?”
Laura held her breath, feeling like a princess in a fairy tale, or maybe Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, with her strapless red sheath gown and long white opera gloves that went up past her elbows. “Yes.”
When Gabriel had first seen her in this dress, he’d choked out a gasp. “You are without question,” he’d said hoarsely, presenting her with two black velvet boxes, “the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
Now, Laura looked at him, tightening her hand over his arm as he escorted her down the sweeping stairs. A thick diamond bracelet now hung over her gloved wrist. Diamond bangles hung from her ears set off by her highlighted hair tumbling in soft waves down her shoulders.
She’d never felt so beautiful—or so adored. This ball was truly a fantasy, she thought in wonder.
Silence fell around them as Gabriel, the dashing, powerful Brazilian tycoon, led her onto the empty dance floor. Laura hesitated beneath the gaze of so many people. Then, seeing them, the orchestra changed the tempo of the music, and it was irresistible.
Within twenty seconds, other couples had joined them. By the second song, the floor was packed with people. But Laura hardly noticed. As Gabriel held her, she felt hot and cold, delirious in a tangle of joy and fear and breathless need.
He swirled her around on the dance floor, in perfect time with the music. She felt his heat through the sleek tuxedo that barely contained the brutal strength of his body, and all she could think about was the night he’d made love to her, when he’d pressed her against his desk and ripped off her clothes, taking her virgin body and making it his own. He’d filled her with pleasure that night. Filled her with his child.
Now, his dark eyes caressed her as he moved. Leaning her back, he dipped her, his handsome face inches from hers. Pulling her back to her feet, he kissed her.
His lips moved against hers, soft and warm, whispering of love that was pure and true. Promising her everything she needed, everything she’d ever wanted.
Promising a lie.
With an intake of breath, she jerked away from him, tears in her eyes. “Why are you doing this to me?”
“Don’t you know?” he said in a low voice. “Haven’t I made it clear?”
“We had a deal,” she whispered. “One night in Rio. One million dollars.”
“Yes.” He looked down at her. “And now I’m not going to let you go.”
She stared up at him, frozen, even as other couples continued to swirl around them in a dark, sexy tango.
“I’m not going to let you seduce me, Gabriel,” she said, her voice shaking. “I’m not.”
He looked down at her, his eyes dark with desire. He didn’t argue with her. He didn’t have to.
With a gasp, she turned and ran, leaving him on the dance floor. Looking wildly for escape, she saw open French doors that led outside to some sort of shadowy garden. She ran for them, only to smack into a wall.
Except it wasn’t a wall. A man grasped her shoulders, setting her aright as he stared down at her. “Good evening, Miss Parker.”
“Mr. Oliveira.” She licked her lips. Dressed in a tuxedo that only served to accentuate his bulk, he was drinking a martini beside the bar. Behind him, she saw the gorgeously pouting Adriana in a skimpy silver cutout dress that clung like spackle over her breasts and backside, leaving everything else bare down to her strappy silver high heels.
“Lovers’ spat?” Felipe Oliveira said mildly.
Gabriel appeared behind
