‘And you’re seriously suggesting that I’m safer with you?’ she exclaimed incredulously.
‘I’m saying—you’re staying here, with me.’
Neither of them blinked as the band started up again, until, lifting his hands, he let her go. He’d felt her body yielding when he’d held her, and, as he could have predicted, Lizzie wasn’t going anywhere. Wound up like a spring, she had to have the fire of the music and the energy of the dance to stand any hope of releasing her tension.
‘I think you take pleasure in tormenting me,’ she said angrily as she came back into his arms.
‘You only think?’ he murmured, his lips slanting in a grin. ‘I think you love dancing with me, so why pretend?’
She huffed and raised a brow.
‘Some might call dancing with me an opportunity,’ he pointed out, tongue in cheek.
‘While I would simply call it a risk to my toes.’
‘We dance too well together for that,’ he said confidently.
‘Stop it!’ she warned him in an undertone. ‘Don’t you dare flirt with me.’
‘Or...?’ Pulling her close, he stared into her eyes, and then with every inch of them connected, body and mind, coaxed her back into the dance.
‘Don’t you care that we’re being stared at?’ she asked him after a couple of circuits of the floor.
‘I doubt anyone has any interest in us,’ he argued. ‘And if they do,’ he added, in a whisper in her ear, ‘I don’t care.’
Only a few months before, and the thought of being close to a member of the Fane family would have been unthinkable for him, but Lizzie Fane was the only woman he wanted in his bed.
When the music stopped, he was irritated to see Lizzie’s friend Danny waving imperatively to Lizzie from the edge of the dance floor. ‘What does she want?’
‘You’ll have to excuse me—’
‘I will?’
They glared at each other for a moment and then he stood back.
‘I’ll watch out for wolves,’ she said, flashing him one last challenging glance.
If she didn’t, he would.
* * *
Denied Chico’s heat, the enclosing warmth of his arms, and the sheer challenge he presented every time they were together, she felt his loss immediately, but the presentiment of trouble ahead worried her more as she hurried across to join Danny. She had to shake this feeling off. She was in danger of looking for trouble everywhere. She was in the middle of a party, for goodness’ sake. What could possibly go wrong?
It didn’t matter where she was, Lizzie realised as she made her way out of the crush to where Danny was standing. She felt like that fifteen-year-old girl again, sitting on the stairs listening to her parents fight, and Chico had triggered this uncertainty by reminding her of the past. She still wasn’t sure exactly what part he’d played in the drama, and sometimes she wondered if she would ever find out. She passed Tiago, who was leaning back against the bar and raising his glass to her, and ignored him as she walked on towards Danny. By the look on Danny’s face, something was seriously wrong.
‘What is it? What’s happened?’ she pressed urgently.
‘I got a call from Scotland, because you were, um, otherwise engaged.’
‘And?’ The expression in Danny’s eyes was alarming her now.
‘It was Annie calling me—she needed to speak to you, but your phone was off.’
Not just off, ignored while she was in Chico’s bedroom.
‘She asked me to be there for you.’
‘Annie did? Why?’
‘I think your grandmother’s taken a turn for the worse.’
‘Oh, Danny.’ Everything seemed to crumple inside her. Only one thing mattered now, and that was getting back to Scotland as fast as she could.
‘There’s something else, Lizzie.’
‘Something else? What else could there be? Just tell me.’ She had started shaking, Lizzie realised.
‘The bank has repossessed the Rottingdean estate.’
‘What?’ Lizzie reached for the edge of the bar to steady herself. ‘Why didn’t Annie ring me before tonight? My grandmother must have known, and she would have told Annie.’
‘Because your grandmother wouldn’t let her tell you. Lizzie, come back here—’
Lizzie was already heading away from the party. She had to leave Brazil for Scotland right away.
‘Lizzie!’
Danny caught up with her in the stable yard. ‘Don’t do anything drastic. I wish I hadn’t told you now.’
‘You couldn’t keep this from me. I have to do something. I can’t stay here half a world away, leaving Annie to cope with everything.’
‘Of course you can’t—but just remember we have to graduate, and none of us can afford to miss too much term time.’
Danny was right. Not being awarded her diploma would be a disaster for Rottingdean, and the equine business Lizzie was determined to revive.
There was no Rottingdean.
She would not accept that.
‘You won’t leave now, will you, Lizzie? Word on the street is you’re going to pass out top.’
‘That’s just not important now,’ Lizzie called back.
‘Then it should be.’ Running after her, Danny stopped dead, blocking Lizzie’s way. ‘Your grandmother wouldn’t expect you to bail from the course. What help will you be to her then? And you are supposed to be captaining this year’s student team against the students from a neighbouring fazenda. What about us—your teammates?’
Lizzie was thrown for a moment. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘Haven’t you read the notice in the tack room? Oh, no,’ Danny groaned, clutching her head. ‘Chico must have put it up before he came to the party, and then you two disappeared.’
Lizzie let go a sharp breath. Danny was right. She didn’t want to let her colleagues down. ‘Sorry—I wasn’t trying to give you the brush-off. I’m just so shocked.’
‘Of course you are,’ Danny agreed, giving her a hug, ‘but rushing back to Scotland won’t solve anything. It’s too late for you to do anything, according to Annie,’ she added with compassion. ‘And this isn’t a fun match like the game we played against Chico’s team. This is a serious game with talent scouts coming to watch how we handle the ponies.’
Which would be a unique opportunity for Lizzie, not just to impress but to spread the word about the Rottingdean she still hoped to save. ‘If I catch a flight in the morning, I could be in Scotland the day after.’
‘But you’d miss the match and the chance to impress the top scouts and horse breeders,’ Danny pointed out sensibly.
Scotland had to come first, or there would be nothing to show anyone.
‘This has nothing to do with Chico, does it?’ Danny asked as she hesitated.
‘No,’ Lizzie said too quickly.
‘I’m not trying to say this call from Scotland is a convenient excuse for you to leave, but it is an out.’ Danny’s mouth slanted as she waited for Lizzie to respond.
Only a friend could say that, Lizzie reflected as she examined her motives.
‘This has nothing to do with Chico,’ she said finally, ‘and everything to do with my grandmother and an estate that has been in the Fane family for generations. My parents almost lost it, and my grandmother held it together, and I can’t let her down now. It’s up to me to step up.’
Danny still looked as if she thought Lizzie was wrong to race
back to a grandmother she couldn’t save and an estate that was lost, but Lizzie knew she had to try.
CHAPTER TEN
GUILT CHASED LIZZIE all the way to the door of the grooms’ accommodation, where she felt a firm hand on her shoulder. ‘Chico!’ she exclaimed, swinging round. Clutching her chest, she caught her breath. ‘You frightened me half to death.’
‘What’s wrong, Lizzie?’
‘What’s wrong is, you have to let me go.’