Brazilian Escape: Playing the Dutiful Wife / Dante: Claiming His Secret Love-Child. Carol Marinelli

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СКАЧАТЬ looked up at the most stunning, complicated man who had ever graced her vision and thought of his prowess and the movement of his body. All of it had been for her, and she shivered at the thought of the days and nights to come, of getting to know more and more of him. Already she knew that she was starting to want for ever, but that wasn’t what this was about.

      And then she tasted him again.

      His hands moved her head as he promised she would not hurt him and told her exactly what to do with her mouth. She was lost in his scent, the feel of him in her mouth, and the shock of his rapid come was a most pleasant surprise. It was a surprise for Niklas too, but this was how she moved him.

      He did not want to get out of bed—did not want to get back to the world. Except no doubt it was screaming for him by now—he had never had his phone turned off for so long.

      He climbed out of bed and she lay there, just staring at the ceiling, lost in thoughts of him and the time they would take to get to know the other properly.

      And Niklas was thinking the same. He had been looking forward to some time off, had been aware that he needed some, now he could not wait to take it.

      He showered quickly and considered shaving, and then he picked up his phone, impatient to speak to Carla, to change his plans yet again. He grimaced when he saw how many missed calls he’d had, how many texts, and then he frowned—because there were hundreds. From Carla, from Miguel, from just about everyone he knew …

      It was his first inkling that something was wrong.

      Niklas had no family, and the only person he had ever really cared about was in bed in the next room, so he didn’t have any flare of panic, but there was clearly a problem. Problems he was used to, and was very good at sorting them out.

      It just might take a little time, that was all, when really he would far rather be heading back to bed. He dialled Carla’s number, wondering if he should tell Meg to order some breakfast. He would just as soon as he made this call.

      She could hear him in the lounge, speaking in his own language into his phone. She lay there for ages, twisting her new ring around her finger. Then, as he still spoke on the phone, she realised she wasn’t actually terrified at the prospect of telling her parents, and even if this wasn’t the most conventional of marriages, even if he had warned her it would end some day, she was completely at peace with what had occurred.

      The only thing she was right now, Meg realised, was starving.

      ‘I’m going to ring for breakfast,’ she said as he walked back into the room, and then she looked over and frowned, because even though he had been gone ages she was surprised to see that he was dressed.

      ‘I have to return to Brazil.’

      ‘Oh.’ She sat up in the bed. ‘Now?’

      ‘Now.’

      He was not looking at her, Meg realised. What she did not realise was that precisely two seconds from now he was going to break her heart.

      ‘We made a mistake.’

      As easily as that he did it.

      ‘Sorry?’

      ‘The party’s over.’

      ‘Hold on …’ She was completely sideswiped. ‘What happened between there and here?’ She pointed to the lounge he had come from. ‘Who changed your mind?’

      ‘I did.’

      ‘What? Did you suddenly remember you had a fiancée?’ Meg shouted. ‘Or a girlfriend …?’ She was starting to cry. ‘Or five kids and a wife …?’ It was starting to hit home how little she knew about him.

      ‘There’s no wife …’ he shrugged ‘… except you. I will speak with my legal team as soon as I return to Brazil, see if we can get it annulled. But I doubt it …’

      He didn’t even sit on the bed to tell her it was over, and she realised what a fool she had been, how easily he had taken her in.

      ‘If it cannot be annulled they will contact you for a divorce. I’ll make a one-off settlement,’ he said.

      ‘Settlement?’

      ‘My people will sort it. You can fight me for more if you choose, but I strongly suggest that you quickly accept. Of course if you are pregnant …’

      He stood there with the sun streaming through the curtains behind him, and all she could see was the dark outline of a man she didn’t know.

      ‘It might be a good idea to think about the morning-after pill.’

      And then there was a knock on the door and it was a bellboy to take his case.

      ‘I’ve asked for a late check-out for you, if you want to reschedule your flight. Have breakfast …’ he offered, as if this was normal, and then he tipped the bellboy, who left with his luggage.

      ‘I don’t understand …’ She was turning into some hysterical female, sitting screaming on a bed as her one-night stand walked off.

      ‘This is the type of thing people do in Vegas. We had fun …’

      ‘Fun!’ She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

      ‘It’s no big deal.’

      ‘But it is for me.’

      ‘It’s about time that you grew up, then.’

      She had never expected him to be cruel, but she had no idea what she was dealing with. Niklas could be cruel when necessary, and today it was.

      Very necessary.

      He could not look at her. She was sitting on the bed in tears, pleading with him, and also, he noted, growing increasingly angry. Her voice rose as she told him that he was the one who needed to grow up, that he was the one who needed to sort out his life, and her hands were waving. Any minute now he thought she would rise and attack him. He wanted to catch her wrists and kiss the fear away, wanted to feel just for a moment her body writhing in anger and to reassure her—except he had nothing he could reassure her with. He knew how bad things would be shortly, so he had to be cruel to be kind.

      ‘What did you have to marry me for?’ she shouted. ‘I was clearly already going to sleep with you …’

      She was about to lunge at him, Niklas knew. She was kneeling on the bed, still grabbing the sheet around her for now, but in a moment it would be off. Her green eyes were flashing, her teeth bared and with his next words he knew he would end this.

      ‘I told you yesterday.’ He went to the bedside and flicked a few foil packets to the floor. ‘I don’t like condoms.’

      He took the clawing to his cheek, stood there as she sprang towards him, then caught and held her naked fury by the arms for a moment. And then he pushed her back on the bed.

      And as simply as that he was gone.

      A minute ago the only things on her mind had been breakfast and making love with СКАЧАТЬ