The Serena DePiero he’d pegged as a reckless and wild party girl out only for herself was the woman he’d expected. The one he’d expected to leave Rio de Janeiro as soon as she’d figured she was on a hiding to nothing.
But she hadn’t left.
So who the hell was the woman waiting for him now, if she wasn’t the spoiled heiress? And why did he even care?
* * *
Serena bit her lip. The light was fading fast and there was no sign of Luca returning. She felt intensely vulnerable right then, and never more aware of her puny insignificance in the face of nature’s awesome grandeur and power. A grandeur that would sweep her aside in a second if it had half a chance.
And then the snap of a twig alerted her to his presence. He loomed out of the gloom, dark and powerful. Sheer, abject relief that she wasn’t alone made her feel momentarily dizzy, before she reminded herself that she really hated him for scaring her earlier.
Luca must have caught something of her relief. ‘Worried that I’d got eaten by a jaguar, princess?’
‘One can but hope,’ Serena said sweetly, and then scowled. ‘And don’t call me princess.’
Luca brushed past her and took in the camping stove, commenting, ‘I see you can follow instructions, at least.’
Serena scowled even more, irritated that she’d done his bidding. Luca was now gathering up wood and placing it in a small clearing not far from the tent. Determined not to let him see how much he rattled her, she said perkily, ‘Can I help?’
Luca straightened from dumping some wood. ‘You could collect some wood—just make sure it’s not alive before you pick it up.’
Serena moved around, carefully kicking pieces of twigs and wood before she picked anything up. One twig turned out to be a camouflaged beetle of some sort that scuttled off and almost made her yelp out loud.
When she looked to see if Luca had noticed, though, he was engrossed in building up an impressive base of large logs for the fire. It was dusk now, and the massive trees loomed like gigantic shadows all around them.
Serena became aware of the rising sound of the forest around them as the night shift of wildlife took over from the day shift. It grew and grew to almost deafening proportions—like a million crickets going off at once right beside her head before settling to a more harmonious hum.
She brought the last of the wood she’d collected over to the pile just as Luca bent down to set light to the fire, which quickly blazed high. Feeling was returning to her feet and they had started to throb painfully.
Luca must have seen something cross her face, because he asked curtly, ‘What is it?’
With the utmost reluctance Serena said, ‘It’s just some blisters.’
Luca stood up. ‘Come here—let me see them.’
The flickering flames made golden light dance over his shadowed face. For a second Serena was too transfixed to move. He was the most beautiful man she’d ever seen. With an effort she looked away. ‘I’m sure it’s nothing. Really.’
‘Believe me, I’m not offering because I genuinely care what happens to you. If you have blisters and they burst then they could get infected in this humidity. And then you won’t be able to walk, and I really don’t plan on carrying you anywhere.’
Fire raced up Serena’s spine. ‘Well, when you put it so eloquently, I’d hate to become more of a burden than I already am.’
Luca guided her towards a large log near the fire. Sitting her down, he went down on his knees and pulled his bag towards him.
‘Take off your boots.’ His voice was gruff.
Serena undid her laces and grimaced as she pulled off the boots. Luca pulled her feet towards him, resting them on his thighs. The feel of rock-hard muscles under her feet made scarlet heat rush up through her body and bloom on her face.
She got out a strangled, ‘What are you doing?’
Luca was curt. ‘I’m trained as a medic—relax.’
Serena shut her mouth. She felt churlish; was there no end to his talents? She watched as he opened up a complicated-looking medical kit and couldn’t help asking, ‘Why did you train as a medic?’
He glanced at her swiftly before looking down again. ‘I was on a visit to a village near a mine with my father when I was younger and a small boy started choking. No one knew what to do. He died right in front of us.’
Serena let out a breath. ‘That’s awful.’
A familiar but painful memory intruded before she could block it out. She’d seen someone die right in front of her too—it was seared onto her brain like a tattoo. Her defences didn’t seem to be so robust here, in such close proximity to this man. She could empathise with Luca’s helplessness and that shocked her...to feel an affinity.
Luca was oblivious to the turmoil being stirred up inside Serena with that horrific memory of her own. He continued. ‘Not as awful as the fact that my father didn’t let it stop him from moving the tribe on to another location, barely allowing the parents time to gather up their son’s body. They were nothing to him—a problem to be got rid of.’
He was pulling down Serena’s socks now, distracting her from his words and the bitterness she could hear in his voice. He sucked in a breath when he saw the angry raw blisters.
‘That’s my fault.’
Serena blinked. Had Luca just said that? And had he sounded ever so slightly apologetic? Together with his obvious concern for others, it made her uncomfortable.
He looked at her, face unreadable. ‘New boots. They weren’t broken in. It’s no wonder you’ve got blisters. You must have been in agony for hours.’
Serena shrugged minutely and looked away, self-conscious under his searing gaze. ‘I’m no martyr, Luca. I just didn’t want to delay you.’
‘The truth is,’ he offered somewhat sheepishly, ‘I hadn’t expected you to last this far. I would have put money on you opting out well before we’d even left Rio.’
Something light erupted inside Serena and for a moment their eyes met and locked. Her insides clenched hard and all she was aware of was how powerful Luca’s muscles felt under her feet. He looked away then, to get something from the medical box, and the moment was broken. But it left Serena shaky.
His hands were big and capable. Masculine. But they were surprisingly gentle as he made sure the blisters were clean and then covered them with thick plasters.
He was pulling her socks back up over the dressings when he said, with an edge to his voice, ‘You’ve said a couple of times that you didn’t do drugs... You forget that I was there. I saw you.’
His blue gaze seemed to sear right through her and his question caught Serena somewhere very raw. For a moment she’d almost been feeling soft towards him, when he was the one who had marched her into the jungle like some kind of recalcitrant prisoner.
Anger and a sense of claustrophobia made her tense. He’d seen only the veneer of a car crash lifestyle which had hidden so much more.
She was bitter. ‘You saw what you wanted to see.’
Serena avoided his eyes and reached for her boots, but Luca got there first. He shook them out and said tersely, ‘You should always check to make sure nothing has crawled inside.’
Serena repressed a shudder at the thought of what that might be and stuck her feet back into the boots, but Luca didn’t move away.
‘What’s that supposed to mean? I saw what I wanted to see.’
Getting