From Enemy's Daughter to Expectant Bride (The Billionaires of Blackcastle 1)

Her laugh tinkled like crystal. “I did give him a minor one with that kiss when we first came in. The poor man always bragged he was the only man he knew whose daughter never gave him any nightmares about boyfriends, since I never had any. Then I go and get all mixed up with someone who’s as much trouble as ten thousand men put together.”

“So I’m all his postponed nightmares come all at once.”

And she didn’t know how literally true that was.

“Exactly.” She laughed, her gemlike eyes radiating mischief and joy in Rio’s midday sun. Entranced as he gazed into them, he threw some bills down, and she giggled harder. “That tip could make you a partner in this restaurant.”

“The food and service were impeccable. They earned it.”

“It was lovely. But then it didn’t have to be. Just being with you would make anything wonderful.”

He knew she meant every word. She was the first woman, the first person, who’d ever told him everything she felt, no games. And it was intoxicating.

“I also want to thank you for not talking business.”

“I want to discuss a few things with you before I bring up anything with him. I have reports, but I want what only an insider would know.”

“Let it go altogether, okay? Even my father didn’t bring up business. Now that he saw us together, I believe he won’t.”

“I know he has big problems, Eliana.”

Dismay flooded her eyes. “I guess it was too much to hope that you of all people wouldn’t find out. But we’re working on a resolution, and I’m hopeful we’ll soon have it.”

“I know a partnership with me would help resurrect his business. Even if I don’t give it to him, I still want to help.” He did intend to save her father’s business, for her, to preserve her legacy. He’d seen Ferreira’s will, and she was his only beneficiary. No matter what he felt about her father, he wouldn’t let her inherit an ailing enterprise. He buried his lips in her palm. “Let me help.”

She caressed his cheek, hand trembling as it was singed by his passion, her gaze softening with gratitude. “It doesn’t matter if you can help, it’s enough you want to.”

“I can do anything, remember?”

“Oh, yes, you can.” Her smile was tenderness itself. Then suddenly she pushed her chair back and stood up.

He rose at once. “Where are you going?”

“Back to work. Then to the orphanage.” She grinned as she reached for her coat. “As you already know.”

He helped her on with the coat that matched the deep royal-blue dress he’d spent much of the lunch hour fantasizing about ripping off her.

She hooked her purse across her body. “See you at my place later? Or would you rather I come to yours?”

“I’ll come to you. And I don’t want you driving on that road alone again, so whenever you want to come to my place, I’ll pick you up. Eight o’clock?”

“Make it nine.” Her smile lit up the whole world as she walked into his arms and met him halfway in a kiss that had the whole restaurant watching.

After she left, some men gave him the thumbs-up. One was giving him two.

Mock bowing to them, he walked out into the hubbub of Rio’s midday congestion. Cariocas filled the streets as they did every hour of the day. Anyone coming to Rio came for its laid-back beach culture as much as its breathtaking landscapes and abundant tourist attractions. And everyone got the impression the Cariocas were on perpetual vacation.

He breathed deep of the ocean breeze and the unique scents of this city he’d spent his formative years in. It was strange how alien he felt here. His kidnapping had truly cut all the ties he had with his past, with the being he’d been.

But Rio was still the place he’d been taken from, and it was where he’d returned to enact the vengeance he’d waited for almost a quarter of a century. Three quarters of his life.

Then in three days, Eliana had turned his world upside down and shifted his priorities.

But his plans were only postponed, not cancelled. He would still punish her father.

Just not before he secured her.

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