‘You can’t put a deputy in your place for an event like this, Karina,’ he made clear.
‘I know that. And it won’t happen,’ she assured him.
They stared at each other for a few moments longer until Luc shifted in his seat.
‘I’m sorry to break this up, but I’ve got somewhere else to be,’ her brother informed them. ‘Copy me in on your reports, Karina, but wait until you’ve assessed the facilities at Dante’s ranch before you finalise anything.’
‘Of course.’
‘I’ll leave you two to it, then.’ Luc came around the desk to shake Dante by the hand. ‘I know you’ll take good care of my sister.’
Karina clenched her jaw. She was as close to her brother as it was possible for siblings to be, but where Dante Baracca was concerned Luc didn’t have a clue.
For the sake of maintaining a good client relationship, she called Dante to formally refuse his invitation to supper. She decided it would be better to slip it casually into the conversation with the excuse that she had to pack for the trip tomorrow. The main thrust of the call would be to ask what time she should be ready for his driver to pick her up.
‘Senhor Baracca isn’t taking calls, Senhorita Marcelos,’ the receptionist told her, when she rang Dante at the office.
Whose bed was he in now?
Stop being ridiculous! she told herself firmly, adjusting her grip on the phone, noting that her fingers had turned white with the pressure she was applying.
‘If he’s not in the office, may I leave a message, please?’
‘Of course. Oh—wait a minute. My apologies for not seeing this right away, senhorita. Senhor Baracca has left a handwritten note on my desk. He is having supper at Cellini’s tonight, and expects to see you there. If you can’t make it, I can try and get a message to him?’
‘That won’t be necessary, but thank you. I was just calling to confirm our arrangements.’ She cut the line. Why shouldn’t she meet up with him? Did she want Dante to think she was too affected by him to meet him out of the office? Theirs had to be a relationship of equals if she was going to work alongside him to make the polo cup the best it could be.
* * *
Dante had invited Karina to supper because he had to be sure she shared his vision for the event. He’d read her notes and was still worried she was playing it safe.
In life and in business, he mused as he drove to the restaurant, wondering why that should be so. Tonight was an opportunity for her to taste the energy and passion that brought people together and gave them the will to create carnival. He was certain the Karina he’d once known was still in there somewhere, and it was up to him to strip her barriers away. He smiled at the thought. Then he frowned. Up to now she had done everything he’d asked, when at one time she would have challenged every word he said. But without conflict there was no story, and he didn’t want the event he was hosting to be a bland affair. He wanted it to be remembered for all the right reasons, for Karina’s magic, the magic he was sure she could still bring.
* * *
The doorman took her coat and then the ma?tre d’ escorted her into the main body of the upscale restaurant—where she stopped dead. Dante was certainly hosting a supper, but it wasn’t the intimate get-together she’d anticipated. Far from it. It seemed that every member of the samba group who’d appeared at the hotel was seated at his table, along with their mothers...and grandmothers—and probably their aunts and cousins too, by the look of things. And they were all dressed in their finest clothes. She fingered the collar of her tailored office suit self-consciously. Champagne was flowing, while the chef’s finest dishes were being carried aloft.
He’d seen her.
Dante threw a sharp glance her way. Then his face mellowed into a look of confident amusement. She’d been set up. He’d known what she’d think when she saw that note. He’d put out the bait and had let her imagination to do the rest. The look on her face must have pleased him. It would have told him more about how she felt about him than anything else could.
She’d make the best of it, she determined as she wove her way through the tables. She wanted her life back, and hiding in the shadows behind her business was no way to do that.
‘Karina.’ Dante stood when she reached the table. ‘What a pleasure,’ he added. ‘I’m so glad you could join us. I wasn’t sure you would come.’
‘I wouldn’t miss this for the world,’ she said, smiling at everyone.