Not For Sale (15 page)

She was a coward, after all. And a liar, because just the sound of his voice made her eyes fill with tears.

She spun away, ready to run, but his arms closed around her and he said her name again and she gave a little sob and he swung her toward him, lifted her off her feet and kissed her. For a heartbeat, she yielded to the kiss. Then, she pulled back.

“Don’t,” she said. “Don’t you dare touch me, Lucas Vieira!”

“Caroline. Sweetheart—”

“How could you think such a thing? That I was—that I would—”

“Because I’m an idiot. That’s how.”

“You’re worse than that.” Her voice broke. “You’re—you’re a horrid, terrible man, and I—”

“I love you,
querida.”

“Do not
‘querida’
me,” she said fiercely, and slammed her fist against his shoulder.

“Caroline. I love you with all my heart. With my soul. I’ve loved you from the minute we met.”

“Too bad, because I don’t feel anything for you.”

Lucas drew her to him. “Kiss me,” he said, “and then tell me you don’t feel anything for me.”

“No. Why would I kiss you? Why would I—”

He kissed her.

“I hate you,” she said, against his mouth. “I hate you, Lucas, I hate—”

He kissed her again, tasted her tears and his own.

“I despise you,” she whispered, and he kissed her a third time and said he understood that she despised him, she had every right to despise him, but that didn’t have to mean she didn’t love him, too.

Caroline laughed. She was still crying, but she laughed anyway. How could she not? Had there ever been a man as arrogant, as impossible as her Lucas?

“I love you,” he said. “I adore you.”

“But you said—you believed—”

“No. I didn’t. What I believed was that you were sweet and good, that you were everything I had ever dreamed of finding.” Gently, he kissed her tear-dampened eyes. “I was afraid of how you made me feel,
querida.
I thought that loving you was a weakness. If I gave you my heart and you broke it…”

Caroline looked into the dark, pleading eyes of the man she loved.

“That apartment…”

Lucas nodded. “I wanted it for you.” She tensed, and he shook his head. “Wait. Hear me out. It wasn’t the way I made it sound.” He cleared his throat. “I started out just wanting you to have a safe place to live. When we first met.”

“A week ago,” Caroline said with a watery laugh.

Lucas lowered his head, rested his forehead against hers.

“A lifetime ago,” he said. “But then I decided against it because—because I came up with a better idea.”

“What better idea?”

“I decided that the best way to keep you safe was to ask you to stay with me. To live with me.” He took a steadying breath.
Deus,
he had not felt this vulnerable since the day he’d walked into his first foster home. “To become my wife.”

Her heart skipped a beat but she kept her eyes on his.

“That’s going a long way, just to keep a woman safe.”

He smiled. “Yes,” he said softly, “it is. But that’s what a man does, when he loves a woman. He asks her to marry him.” He tucked strands of wet hair behind her ear. “I could hardly wait to get home.” He paused. This was the bad part. “I got out of the elevator and you were talking to Dani Sinclair about a job.”

“She offered me a translating job. But you thought—you thought—” Her voice shook. “How could you have believed that of me?”

“What I believed was that everything I’d always known was true. That love is ephemeral. That happiness is fleeting. That what a man most loves, he loses.”

Caroline took a deep breath. “You haven’t lost me,” she whispered, and Lucas kissed her. It was a long, sweet kiss but when it ended, he knew there was more to tell her.

“You need to know that I—that I have not led what you might call an exemplary life.”

“You have. You’re a good man,” she said with fierce conviction.

“I was not a good child,
querida.
I told you I was poor. I didn’t tell you that I was a thief. A pickpocket. That I robbed, stole money, clothing, food, anything I could. That I fought with others like savages over scraps of food. I did whatever I had to do to survive. And I learned not to trust anyone.” He paused. “Sometimes, those instincts are still with me.”

Tears rose in Caroline’s eyes.

“It breaks my heart to think of you living like that,” she whispered.

“Caroline.
Querida,
I’m not asking for your pity.”

“You don’t understand. Same as you, I know how the past can affect the present.” Her eyes searched his. “I promised myself I’d never be like my mother. That I’d never believe in a man, trust him, only to learn that he’d deceived me.”

“You can trust me. You can believe in me. I swear it.” Lucas gathered Caroline close against him. “I love you. I’ll always love you. All I ask is that you love me. And Oliver. He wants you back,” he said solemnly. “And so do I. Marry me, sweetheart. Love me forever, as I will love you.”

It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. Caroline smiled through her tears. Her arrogant, assured, wonderful Brazilian lover was back.

“I love you, Lucas,” she said softly. “I adore you. And I will be your wife, forever.”

Lucas kissed her, to a smattering of applause.

“Congratulations,” the doorman and the concierge said.

Caroline blushed. Lucas grinned. Then he swept his bride-to-be into his arms and took her home.

All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.

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First published in Great Britain 2011
Harlequin Mills & Boon Limited,
Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR

© Sandra Myles 2011

ISBN: 978-1-408-92552-2