Free Reckless Night in Rio by Jennie Lucas Page A

woman?’ she demanded. ‘Do I know her?’
    ‘My former secretary,’ he said. ‘Laura Parker.’
    Adriana sucked in her breath. ‘I knew it,’ she declared. Her eyes glittered. ‘I always knew there was something between you. Every time you ran to her in the middle of the night, every time you explained why she was the only woman who could possibly live in your flat, every time you swore your relationship was innocent, I knew you were lying !’
    ‘I wasn’t lying,’ he said. ‘At the time, she was just my employee.’
    ‘She was always more than that!’
    ‘All right. We were friends,’ he said tersely. ‘But never more. Not until last year, when—’
    ‘Spare me the details!’ Adriana hissed.
    A wide shadow suddenly fell between them from the front of the cabana, blocking the sun’s reflection off the pool. ‘Is there a problem?’
    Gabriel turned to see Felipe Oliveira standing behind him. His shapeless shirt covered his large belly, and his eyes were hard as bullets in his jowly face. He must have seen Gabriel come down the terrace steps and apparently make a beeline for Adriana. Perfeito , Gabriel thought, irritated.
    ‘No problem.’ He glanced at Adriana, who’d folded her arms to look away in sulky silence. ‘I was just telling your future bride that her love for you has inspired me to make a similar commitment. My secretary and I have had an on-off affair for the last year, and I’ve asked her to move in with me.’
    Silence fell, until Adriana cried, ‘Move in with you?’
    Oliveira stroked his double chin with shrewd watchfulness in his heavy-lidded gaze. ‘So you’ve decided to make a commitment to another woman. How romantic. How very…convenient.’
    The older man was no fool. Deliberately, Gabriel shrugged. ‘Laura is everything I’ve ever wanted.’
    Adriana muttered a blasphemous curse. ‘I always knew the little mouse was in love with you.’
    In love? Gabriel frowned. Adriana was mistaken. Laura couldn’t love him. She was too smart for that. She knew his deep flaws far too well. Laura wouldn’t give her heart to an undeserving man who would break it.
    Or would she? He paused, remembering how she’d let herself conceive a child by a man who wouldn’t marry her, a man she didn’t even love.
    Adriana said scornfully, ‘With her adoring, sickening gaze on you all the time, I knew it was just a matter of time.’ She gave him a hard look. ‘But your relationship won’t last. Because we both know you care about only one thing.’
    Aware of Oliveira watching them, Gabriel stared down at her coolly. ‘And what is that?’
    ‘Power. Glamour. Blatant sex appeal. And your secretary does not have it.’ Adriana tossed her head. ‘She’s nothing but a drab little nobody who…’
    She paused, tilting her head. Gabriel frowned, then he heard it, too—a low hum of male voices behind them, rolling across the pool and terraces like gathering thunder. Adriana leaned forward to look around the doorway of her cabana. Oliveira and Gabriel slowly turned.
    A woman had just stepped out of the mansion, and was coming down the stairs from the upper terrace toward the pool. She was wearing a tiny bikini, typical attire for Rio. Carioca women were among the sexiest in the world, and the women at this party were among the most beautiful in the city. One new beauty should have been nothing, and yet something about this particular woman caused every man who saw her to stop in his tracks.
    Even the young men who’d hovered around Adriana suddenly were craning their necks to stare. A waiter who’d come to refill Adriana’s drink accidentally poured vodka on her bare thigh, causing her to curse aloud as she rose to her feet. ‘Oh, you stupid—get away from me!’
    But no one was looking at Adriana. Not anymore.
    The beautiful new guest was petite and curvy, her hips swaying as she moved. Long honey-blonde hair hung in waves down her bare back. She had creamy skin, and beneath the triangles