Mistress: Pregnant by The Spanish Billionaire

Luiz lifted his shoulders in a laconic manner and rolled down the sleeves of his shirt, which had been turned back to his elbow revealing an expanse of strong, hair-roughened forearms, before rising to his feet.

He gave a dispassionate shrug and looked down at her. ‘There’s no point discussing this—you’re too close to it to be objective.’ The irony of his observation was not lost on Luiz, who was struggling to retain his own objectivity every time he thought of the family who had let this young woman shoulder the responsibility of caring for her father alone.

‘Don’t you dare patronise me!’ she yelled, glaring angrily at his broad back as he turned away. ‘Look at me, will you?’ she panted, stumbling across the uneven ground towards him, and grabbed his shoulder. ‘Don’t walk away while I’m talking to you.’

Luiz spun back. As his hypnotic dark stare settled on Nell’s face her hand fell away. She rubbed her tingling fingers against her thigh and, lowering her lashes protectively, looked up at him through the protective dark mesh.

Suddenly the idea of him walking away didn’t seem so bad.

‘I’m listening.’

And I’m shaking, she thought. ‘What did you mean by “too close”?’

‘Look, whether we like it or not we’re stuck here, so try and relax. This is not Las Vegas, there are no twenty-four-hour wedding chapels—if they are planning to tie the knot they are not going to do it tonight. And look on the bright side—they’re young. By now they’ve probably changed their minds. If you want to be useful go gather some dry wood.’

Forced to tilt her head back to meet his eyes, Nell folded her arms across her chest. ‘I don’t want to be useful.’ I want to go home.

Luiz watched her lip quiver and fought the alien urge to pull her into the protective circle of his arms. Once she was there he was pretty sure that less noble instincts would take over.

As his gaze lingered on her soft, quivering mouth a deep shudder passed through his body. He wanted her so badly he could taste it—he wanted to taste her. The image in his head of him parting her lips and plunging into that sweet, soft warmth within was so powerful that he was nailed to the spot and unable to speak.

When he did break the static silence his voice was harsh. ‘The list of what I don’t want to do is long.’ But not as detailed as the list of what he wanted to do… At his side his fingers curled into fists.

Dios, he could not recall being drawn so blindly to a woman this way. He had always felt vaguely scornful of men who were ruled by their libido and now frustration and a constant level of arousal were making it hard for him to concentrate. ‘Do you imagine there are not places I would prefer to be and—’

The anger in his voice, the abrupt shift in his mood aroused Nell’s combative instincts. Sticking out her chin she cut across him with a bored, ‘And people you’d prefer to be with. I get the message. Well, for the record, you’re not the person I’d choose to be trapped on a desert island with.’

CHAPTER EIGHT

DESPITE Nell’s claim she had to concede that personality-wise he would adapt more easily than most to such a situation.

Luiz Santoro was a man who liked to be challenged physically and intellectually. The air of urbane sophistication and his handmade designer shoes had fooled her at first, but Nell was belatedly realising that, should the situation demand it, Luiz Santoro would shrug off the veneer of civilisation very easily.

Only a total idiot would find his unpredictable combustible nature exciting. Nell pressed a hand to her stomach but the butterflies carried on rioting. It was not a good time to discover she was actually not that bright.

‘This is not a desert island.’

‘No,’ she said, drawing her thin cardigan tight around her body. ‘A desert island would be warmer.’ After the day’s heat she was feeling the temperature drop.

‘There are tried and tested ways to keep warm.’

Her wide eyes flew to his face. The dark, predatory gleam in his eyes sent Nell’s stomach into a slow spiralling dive and sent a paralysing stab of lust all the way down to her curling toes. The sounds of the forest faded and all she could hear was the thunderous roar of her blood in her ears as, with his eyes locked on her own, Luiz took a step towards her.

Everything inside Nell screamed to meet him halfway. She had actually lifted one foot when from somewhere a whisper of sanity made her hold back.

‘No!’

It was possible she hadn’t spoken out loud, that the yell was only in her head, because Luiz didn’t respond to it.

The awkward moment stretched as she struggled for breath and control.