‘Don’t be such a cynic. It doesn’t suit you. Your choice is simple. Stay here and nothing changes, or come with me on the biggest adventure of your life. Which is it to be, Danny?’
DANNY TOOK A firmer grip of her suitcase when Tiago threatened to swoop on it. Half an hour ago, over breakfast, he’d shown her the contract his lawyers had drawn up on the screen of his phone. When she had expressed surprise that he had been able to rouse his team at such short notice just before the holidays, he’d set the tone by telling her that holidays were for wimps and that he didn’t take them.
Money bought everything, she thought. And now here they were, in the hall, about to leave the house on their way to Brazil. She’d called her mother, but there had been no reply. She hadn’t wanted to disturb Lizzie, so she had sent her an email. And her wedding to Tiago...? That lay some time in the future and still didn’t feel real.
Just as Tiago had promised, the terms of the contract were solid enough. She’d been given everything she’d asked for, and to build her confidence before she took this final step Tiago had pressed an open first-class airline ticket home into her hands, and told her she could bail out at any time. Yet even now she felt she’d sold out.
Or, as Tiago had so romantically put it, ‘Congratulations, chica! You’ve got the guts to seize the opportunity of a lifetime and share my bed.’
Yes, she knew he’d been teasing her, in that old, tormenting way, but this time she hadn’t fired back. The reality of intimacy with Tiago was only just dawning on her. Yes, of course she knew that intimacy was part of any married couple’s life, and Tiago had said that their marriage would be as close to normal as it could be for a year, but she was certain that sharing his bed would be very different from her fantasies.
‘I said I’d carry it,’ she insisted now, attempting to wrestle back her case.
‘Too late,’ Tiago told her.
Five minutes into the trip and they were already at odds. What did that say about her decision to do this? Tiago was holding the car door open, waiting for her impatiently. There was no going back now. She was leaving everything familiar behind.
Yes, but to embark on an adventure. If she wasn’t up to it she had better decide now.
She hurried down the steps to join him.
The car dropped them off at the side of a sleek executive jet, which Tiago and his team would pilot to Brazil, he’d explained. And just in case she was still uncertain as to her status, ‘Santos Inc’ was written in bold blood-red down the side of the fuselage. She really was entering another world—and it was a faster moving world than she was used to.
‘There’s no time to hang around,’ Tiago insisted, seizing her arm. ‘My take-off slot is non-negotiable.’
He wasn’t joking. He indicated left rather than right once they were inside the cabin.
‘Into the cockpit?’ she queried.
‘I thought you might like to sit with me when we take off. If you prefer you can sit in the back?’
‘No. This is good.’ Normally she was a nervous passenger, but since everything else had changed why not this too? ‘Thank you...’
Thankfully, she sounded so cool, so certain—but her emotions were in a riot. ‘I’ve always wanted to sit next to the pilot.’
‘You won’t be sitting next to me. That’s the co-pilot’s job. But you will still see everything.’
Probably a lot more than she wanted to, Danny thought ruefully, hoping some of Tiago’s confidence would wash off on her.
‘If you’re having second thoughts...it’s too late.’ He slanted her that dangerous smile that flooded his eyes with amusement and reached all parts of her too. ‘There’s a bedroom in the back,’ he added, ‘if you need it.’
‘Hopefully not. And I’m not having second thoughts,’ she assured him.
‘Not yet,’ he said dryly. ‘It’s a long flight, Danny, so go to bed if you have to.’
‘What about you?’
‘Don’t worry about me,’ he murmured, with one last look.
They took off smoothly, with Tiago handling the jet with the same easy skill he employed on his horses. When they reached cruising height and levelled off he handed over control of the plane to his co-pilot and came to ask Danny how she’d liked the new experience.
Having turned at just the wrong moment, he caught her chewing her lip as she tried to work out if this was the best decision of her life, or the biggest screw-up ever. It didn’t help when she looked at the man who would shortly be her husband. Her body thrilled at the thought, though she still had major concerns.
Flying a jet was all in a day’s work for Tiago—as was running a multi-national business and playing polo at international level—while she had a neat line in handing out pony nuts, and not a clue when it came to negotiating contracts, let alone those with a marriage clause involved.
She would just have to be a fast learner, Danny concluded as Tiago smiled down at her.
* * *
A couple of hours later she was glad to take him up on his offer to use the bedroom in the back of the plane, and was surprisingly snug between crisp white sheets in a very comfortable bed when the door opened.
‘Coffee?’
She shot up, and only belatedly remembered to yank the covers to her chin. Having stripped off her clothes, she was naked, while Tiago had rolled back the sleeves of his crisp white shirt, leaving his powerful forearms bare. Her body clenched with pleasure at the sight. There should be a law against being so attractive.
‘Sit up,’ he urged, putting the coffee down on the nightstand at her side. ‘Drink your coffee before it gets cold. Do you have everything you need?’
She wasn’t sure she could answer him honestly, and confined herself to a prim ‘Thank you for the coffee.’
His lips slanted in a smile. ‘Aren’t you going to invite me to sit down?’
‘No.’ When he looked at her like that? Absolutely not.
He sat down anyway. She held her breath as he made himself comfortable. Kicking off his boots, he arranged the pillows to his liking and lay down.
‘Are you quite comfortable there?’ she enquired sarcastically.
Tiago turned his head to shoot her an amused glance. ‘Very. Why?’
Sitting up in bed, she drew her knees up to her chin. Sipping the steaming coffee, she allowed her hair to cover her face like a curtain, to hide her burning cheeks.
‘Am I keeping you?’ he growled.
She have him a look. ‘From drinking my coffee?’
‘I don’t know, chica. You seem tense to me. Are you naked under those sheets?’
Tiago reached out to hook some hair behind her ear and she exhaled with shock. But then, just as she relaxed, he touched her naked thigh.
‘You are naked...’ His mouth tugged in a lazy smile. ‘Silky smooth skin and silky hair.’ He wound a strand of her hair around his finger, and then, taking the coffee mug from her hands, placed it safely on the nightstand out of reach.
‘Relax,’ he murmured, his mouth curving in a smile. ‘This is a long flight. Why not enjoy it?’
Because...