Kidnapping the Brazilian Tycoon (6 page)

She rubbed her thumb on the ring. Bruno had told her that the diamond was the real thing, a rare, natural green. Whatever. To sit in front of his family and pretend to be engaged when the truth was far from it didn’t come natural to her. How could she grin when their relationship was as superficial as a plastic candy ring?

…

Bruno opened the door of the storage room, where gardening tools, pool cleaning chemicals, and a lawn mower fought for space. There was also a twin bed with rumpled sheets and a thin mattress.

“
Meu amor, I saw you coming in early,” she said with a giggle, sauntering out of the tiny bathroom. He drew in a breath, taken aback by her huge brown eyes, which matched the easy smile on her gorgeous face. Her slick brown hair tumbled down her body, and she had on the same yellow knee-length dress she’d worn when they first kissed the month before. “I couldn’t wait ‘til my parents left.”

He snatched her into his arms and kissed her. “I suppose the weeds and bushes can wait…”

Bruno blinked, leaving behind the memory of a much different door, and knocked on the one in front of him. “Pai? You wanted to talk to me?”

Tereza, the nurse, opened the door. “Please come in.”

After a couple seconds of hesitation, Bruno strolled into his father’s bedroom. Pai lay on the raised hospital bed. Though health care equipment and supplies took up most of the room, a large wood-framed window offered an enticing view of the outside gardens. Strategically placed lamps outlined the rose bushes and the trees.

Bruno had been back in Brazil for half a day, and the puzzling emotions tormenting him since his arrival hadn’t prepared him for a chat with his father. Sergio had exchanged a couple of words with him during lunch, and after everyone had gone to enjoy a cup of
café
in the living area, he’d muttered he wanted to talk to his son. Tereza had wheeled him to his room, giving Bruno a few minutes to gather his wits.

What could they have to talk about? So much yet so little. Years of monosyllabic, superficial greetings over the phone echoed in Bruno’s ears. As he sat next to his father’s bed, time regressed. Like thorns, anxiety pierced his chest.

“You may go,” his father told Tereza.

With a nod, the nurse sauntered out of the room and closed the door behind her.

“When you left, I didn’t imagine it would take this long for you to return.” Sergio’s voice sliced the air.

Bruno cleared his throat. “You told me you never wanted to see me again.”

Sergio moved his head to the side to regard his son. Bruno’s feet tapped on the hardwood floor, and he wished he could run from this awkward conversation. “This woman. Addie. She’s different from the women in the newspapers.”

“Addie’s special. She goes through great trouble to protect those she loves.”

His father shifted on the bed. “Does she love you?”

Restless, Bruno rose to his feet as though his father’s words had struck him. “Where are you going with this?”

“I didn’t mean to offend.”

Bruno shook his head. The years of blame, pain, and regret lumped in his throat. How could he say everything to a man whose life was coming to an end? “I’ve moved on in my professional life. It was time I addressed my personal life.”

Satisfaction pursed Sergio’s mouth. “I like her. Does she know you well?”

“I’m not discussing my misspent youth with you, Pai.” What was the point?

“I don’t want to, either, son. In fact, if anything, this disease has taught me we can’t cling to what once was. The past is buried. Your mother is buried, and soon I’ll join her.”

Buried
. The word punched Bruno in the gut. He’d missed his mother’s funeral. “Why did you want to talk?”

“You should sell Toca do Tigre.”

“I am. I just had to postpone it to relocate the Kwanis.”

“Don’t postpone happiness, Bruno. If you want to be happy with Addie, you shouldn’t allow the past to have such a part in your life anymore. You bought that land to take it from someone who threatened to ruin you. You’re obviously not ruined. However, keeping it will always remind you of why you bought it.”

Bruno paced in a small circle. “I wanted to give it to you.”

“I never wanted anything to do with that land.”

“Why does it matter that I sell it now?”

“I’ve seen your mother.” His father’s voice lost energy. Bruno stopped pacing and checked his father’s monitor to make sure he was okay. “The nurses tell me hallucinations are part of the cancer. They don’t believe me. Your mother comes to me, and we talk. She’s told me the only way for you to move forward is to let go of the past. Therefore, you must sell it. Bury it forever,” he whispered before he dozed off to sleep.

Bury it? Bruno strode out of the room. Tereza smiled at him as she walked in, but her mumbled words were muffled by the pounding of his heart. Bury it. All those years, Sergio had never asked him for anything. They didn’t speak much, true, but ever since he’d acquired wealth and recognition, his father had thanked him in a rather reserved fashion.

This was the time. He wanted to sell the damned land, and his father would be glad, too. That, along with his wedding, would make things right at the end. What if Sergio only had less than a month to live? He’d make it a month in which he’d both prove his father wrong and yank some approval out of him.

Bruno stopped in his tracks. The wedding. He couldn’t deceive Addie. He owed her the truth, at least. He sprinted upstairs and knocked on her door, resolved to talk to her and come up with a new agreement. Maybe even draw up a new contract.

“We need to talk,” he said, panting by the time she opened the door.

“About?” she said and tilted her head to the side. She was dressed in a white peasant-style shirt and faded jeans. Her damp curls hinted at a recent shower.

He caught a whiff of her strawberry shampoo, which stirred his libido as she leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed and chin lifted. Her neck was soft, delicate. His eyes followed the main vein, observed it pulsating. “What’s wrong?” she demanded.

Bruno stretched to his full height. “I don’t recognize the shirt you’re wearing from our shopping trip.”

“You wanted to buy me a wardrobe I won’t need after this trip. Fine. That doesn’t mean I’ll stop wearing what makes me me.”

A sudden urge to stroke her cheeks hit him. Would she lean into his touch, or jerk back as if she’d been burned? He curled and uncurled his fingers into a fist. Musing on how she’d react was a recipe for disaster. “I bought you those clothes because they’d be suitable for my wife. I’m sure you can wear them for a few weeks?”

“I’m not comfortable with this whole thing. Your sister is very sweet, and I’m deceiving her.”

“All for the greater good.”

The voices from his brothers down the hall prompted him to move inside the room. His arm brushed against hers by accident, and she took a few steps back, frowning, then cleared her throat and turned away.

Was he crazy? Didn’t she share that zingy sexual energy flooding the room? Was this one-sided?

“What is it?” she snapped and faced him again.

A crease in the middle of the otherwise flawless bedspread caught his attention. Had she napped or laid down to relax? The image of Addie sprawled on the bed, with her hair damp and legs parted, turned his veins into lava. “There’s been a change to our agreement.”

“What change?” she asked and stepped toward him.

“My father has asked me to sell Toca do Tigre right away.”

Her eyes widened. “Well? Did you tell him that’s not possible?”

“And explain about our deal? That’d go against what I want to do, wouldn’t it?”

“No.” She licked her lips. “Tell him about why you need to keep it, and give the Kwanis more time.”

Bruno rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. “That’s not the point, Addie. All those years, my father never asked me for anything. Even when he could have. Even with me having all this money and power. He always downplayed everything. I never made it right by him. For things that happened in the past. Now it’s my chance.”

“You’re saying you’re going back on your word just because you have daddy issues? And all of a sudden you want to be a better son, after being MIA for fourteen years?”

His nerves tensed. “How do you know?”

She inhaled. “That’s not the point.”

“What else do you know?”

“I don’t tolerate lies.” She raised her voice.

Afraid they would be heard, he shushed her.

She rolled her eyes and continued in a lower but not less threatening tone, “If you sell that land before we’ve agreed on, I’ll walk out on the wedding. Hell, I can walk on you today.”

“Don’t blackmail me, Addie,” he hissed.

A mocking sound escaped her mouth. “When you change the game on me, it’s all right, but when I do it, it’s blackmail?”

“Addie…” Why did he think this would be easy? “I wasn’t screwing you over. I would suggest you try to find another way to help the Kwanis.”

“That’s the thing with liars—they always change their strategy. Trust me, I know what I’m talking about. I’m a master in reading a liar, courtesy of my mom. Here’s some food for thought: do you want me to walk down the aisle or not?”

…

When the Lincoln town car came to a stop, Bruno got out and gestured to the driver he would open the door for Addie. The beach that had seduced him earlier was now just a place for him to talk with Addie without worrying about anyone hearing them. He’d told his family he wanted to take her on a romantic stroll before the wedding tomorrow.

There will be a wedding.

“We’ll need a few minutes.” He told the driver, and offered an outstretched hand to Addie as she slid out of the car.

“You’re optimistic if you think you can change my mind in a few minutes.” She curled her lips. Her pink, sexy lips. He cleared his throat.

Ever since her threat in her bedroom a couple of hours ago, he’d analyzed his situation. The odds weren’t in his favor. What was the point of coming back and arranging a marriage if she was to walk out? How embarrassing and humiliating would it be for him and his family to be jilted? Pai had been surprised by Addie; a down-to-earth, no-frills woman was willing to marry him. Did he want to give his father that last embarrassment?

Addie cocked her head in the direction of the ocean. “Or maybe you hoped the blinding sun would fry my brains and I’d just agree with whatever you said?”

Bruno studied his surroundings. Locals enjoyed coconut water and seafood pastries and occupied the kiosks lining the crowded beach. How he envied the simplicity. “Addie, I need you to marry me.”

“Why?”

“Pai told me once I’d never get married and be happy like he was with my mother,” he offered, a touch of bitterness in his voice. His father had been right, hadn’t he? Plenty of women chose him for his sexual skills or to enjoy the perks of dating a billionaire. Throughout all those years, when had a kindhearted person ever shown interest?

“You’re doing this for spite? To show him there was a woman out there crazy enough to put up with you?”

“I wanted to show him I could, yes, but more because I knew that was what he wanted. We’ve always had a different relationship.”

She drummed her fingers on her neck. “Then let’s get hitched. But you don’t sell Toca do Tigre.”

“He’s asked me to.”

A frown wrinkled her forehead. “Bruno, we had an agreement. Bound by a contract. You can’t go back on your word.”

“I won’t. I can’t tell him about not selling Toca do Tigre for months. There’s no need to upset him during his final weeks, or days.

Frustration crossed her face. “You’d deceive your dying father?”

Wasn’t it too late for a guilt trip? “Isn’t that what we’re already doing with the marriage charade?”

“That’s different. He didn’t ask you to get married. He asked you to sell. You should just tell him you’re not going to.”

“There’s more to it. That land represents the first real estate I purchased after I made money. I bought it to get back at someone. For revenge. My father thinks if I’m to marry you, I should also get rid of lingering emotions. The remains of the person I used to be.”

She plopped down on a concrete bench. “What kind of person is that?”

He joined her on the bench but scooted away so their limbs didn’t rub. The last thing he needed was to add to the tension between them. “That’s not relevant to you. I’m doing what I’m doing for personal reasons. You’re doing it for the Kwanis.”

She lifted her eyes to him, and a coy smile formed on her lips. Time froze, and an unexpected ardor rushed through him—different from the familiar stir of libido.

“True. I just don’t react well when people change the rules on me. You’re making it hard for me to trust you, Bruno.”

“What will it take?”

“How can I trust you if I don’t know you?” She frowned. “You say you’ll give me what we’ve discussed, but what if you change your mind? You’re lying to your father, the man whose approval you seek. Therefore, the last person you should lie to. How can I believe you’re not doing the same right now?”

He cracked his knuckles. “You know enough about me.”

“No. You tell me you had a sketchy reason to buy that land, and you won’t tell me what it is.”

“Has it ever occurred to you that I don’t trust you?” And could never, ever trust her. The last woman he opened his heart to bolted when she unveiled his corrupted soul.

She shrugged.

“I gave you my word, and I’ll keep it. I won’t sell the land right away. But, Addie, you must marry me and play the part. And stop digging.” With all her questions and nosy attitude, Addie proved to be a bigger problem than planned. In fact, was she still the solution? Partially. Marrying her would grant him the closure he always sought, but keeping her away from his personal affairs was going to be a real feat. He’d worked hard to bury his past. Damn it, he had too much to lose.