“Yes,” he said heavily. “I am going slowly insane. Every moment my father’s company is in the hands of another man, every moment I know I lost my family’s legacy through my own stupidity, I feel I am losing my mind. I’ve endured it for almost twenty years. And I’m close now, so close to getting it back.”
She should have known it had something to do with regaining Açoazul. “But how can I possibly help you?”
He looked down at her, his jaw clenched. “Play the part of my devoted mistress for twenty-four hours. Until I close the deal.”
“How on earth would that help you close the deal?” she asked, bewildered.
He set his jaw. “I’ve hit a snag in the negotiations. A six-foot-tall, bikini-wearing snag.”
“What?”
Gabriel ground his teeth. “Felipe Oliveira found out I used to date his fiancée.”
“You did?” Laura said in surprise, then gave a bitter laugh. “Of course you did.”
“Now he doesn’t want me within a thousand miles of Rio. He thinks if he doesn’t sell me the company after all, I’ll go back to New York.” Gabriel looked at her. “I need to make him understand I’m not interested in his woman.”
“That doesn’t explain why you’d need me. Thousands of women would be happy to pretend to be in love with you. For free.” She took a deep breath, clenching her hands at her sides. “Some of them wouldn’t even have to pretend!”
He set his jaw. “They won’t work.”
She exhaled with a flare of her nostrils. “Why?”
“Oliveira’s fiancée…is Adriana da Costa.”
“Adriana da…” Laura’s voice trailed off, her eyes wide.
Adriana da Costa.
Laura could still see those cold, reptilian eyes, that skinny, lanky body. Gabriel had dated the Brazilian supermodel briefly in New York several years ago, while Laura was his live-in personal assistant. She could still hear Adriana’s pouting voice. Why do you keep calling here? Stop calling.
Find the whiskey, you stupid cow. Gabriel always gets thirsty after sex.
Laura cleared her throat. “Adriana da Costa, the bikini model.”
“Yes.”
“The one Celebrity Star magazine just called the sexiest woman alive.”
“She’s a selfish narcissist,” he said sharply. “And for the short time we were together, she was always insecure. Only one woman has ever made her feel so threatened. You.”
“Me?” Laura gasped. “You’re out of your mind! She would never feel threatened by me!”
Gabriel’s dark eyes gleamed. “She complained to me constantly. Why did I always take your calls, but not hers? Why did I always have time for you, day or night? Why would I leave her bed at 2:00 A.M. in order to go home to you? And most of all, why did I allow you to live in my apartment, only you and no one else?”
Laura’s mouth fell open.
“She never understood our relationship,” Gabriel said. “How we could be so close without being lovers. Which we weren’t.” He paused. “Not until…Rio.”
The huskiness of his deep voice whipped through Laura, causing a sizzle to spread down her body.
“Adriana has made it clear she wants me back,” he said in a low voice. “She’d leave Felipe Oliveira in an instant for me, and he knows it. Only one thing will convince them both I am not interested in her.”
Laura stared at him.
“Me?” she whispered.
He looked right at her. “You are the only woman that Adriana would believe I could love.”