Free A Devilishly Dark Deal by Maggie Cox

move on psychologically too, and truly put that horrific episode behind her?
    On her arrival at the palatial villa, his housekeeper Inês greeted her with the invitation to wait in garden while Marco finished an important phone call. Sitting under a parasol in her host’s incredibly beautiful private shaded garden, Grace made herself breathe out very slowly to help calm her nerves. Her time with Marco yesterday had taken on the surreal quality of an unbelievable dream. Finding herself yet again with the prospect of not only his arresting company but a conversation she was bound by promise to have with him about his proposition it was surely understandable that she should be seized by sudden nerves?
    Reaching for the long cool glass of lemonade that Inês had thoughtfully brought her, she glanced down at the sleeveless red and white maxi-dress that she’d donned. It was one of only two dresses she had packed to come out here, and it was pretty and cool in the heat and indisputably feminine. It certainly wasn’t the kind of clothing she wore every day. At work she invariably got away with the much more casual attire of T-shirt and jeans, and sometimes a trouser suit if she had to go a meeting with a potential patron. Now she was glad of the protection of the parasol, as already she sensed her exposed shoulders were frying a little beneath the hot sun.
    She sipped her drink. Time ticked by. A drowsy buzzing insect flew right by her ear and startled her. She wondered how long Marco would be, then decided there was no option other than to try and relax and simply enjoy a garden that had all the seductive attributes of a floral sensual paradise. Sighing, she briefly shut her eyes to appreciate more fully the sweet bouquet of the yellow and white gardenias that wafted beneath her nose and the hypnotic sound of the splashing waterfall just a few feet from where she sat.
    But suddenly impinging on her enjoyment came the contrasting images and sounds of an African city slum, where the poorly erected houses were fashioned from mud and metal and where the children played in an area teeming with heaving mounds of garbage. The heat there was unbearable and stifling, and made even more intense by the ever-present heavy smog …
    The disturbing memory jolted her sickeningly and tears of compassion and frustration because more people didn’t try and do something to alleviate the situation surged hotly into her eyes.
    ‘My sincere apologies for keeping you waiting, Grace. Ah … I see that Inês has given you a cool drink? That’s good. Today is going to be even hotter than yesterday, I believe.’
    She hadn’t heard his soft-footed approach across the grass, and when she opened her eyes to acknowledge the figure that instantly captivated her gaze, the nerves she’d tried hard to subdue sprang into unsettling life again. The sight of Marco wearing an immaculate white shirt, with the sleeves casually rolled up to just beneath his elbows, and fawn-coloured chinos that were clearly meant to be equally casual but on his tall, athletic frame looked effortlessly stylish and elegant too made her heartbeat hop, skip and jump, and her mouth turned as dry as though she hadn’t had a drop of water to drink for days.
    Before she could summon up words of greeting, he moved towards her and leaned down to plant a sizzling little kiss at the corner of her startled lips.
    ‘I—I didn’t mind waiting,’ she responded at last, with the imprint of his warm mouth lingering disturbingly, like an intimate brand. ‘It’s so lovely out here, and anyway … it was me that was late in the first place. I’m sorry about that, by the way. I overslept.’
    ‘So Miguel explained.’ His dark eyes twinkled. Then he pulled out the sunchair opposite Grace at the table and adjusted the aviator sunglasses he’d been wearing on the top of his head over his eyes.
    Now it would be impossible for her to guess what he was thinking …
    His unexpectedly personal