At the Brazilian's Command(21)

‘Please...'

‘Now?'

She cried out with pleasure as this big man, who looked so brutal but  was so careful with her, took her smoothly until he was lodged deep.  Then he rested, giving her a chance to recover from the invasion and  catch her breath. She hung on to him, her hands clutching as she gasped  with excitement. And then he cupped her buttocks, and that felt so good.  It turned her on to think of those big, strong hands controlling her.  He lifted her onto him and began to move with regular, dependable  strokes, until she was whimpering in time with every one.                       
       
           



       

She reached her climax fast-too fast-and lost control with a throaty  scream of shock. And then she was all melting, soaring, gliding on  thunderclaps of sensation.

‘More?' Tiago suggested when she was finally reduced to astonished sobs.

‘Please...' She only needed that one word in her vocabulary, Danny concluded as she stared into Tiago's eyes.

She pressed her mouth against his shoulder as he began to move again,  faster now. She clung on tightly as the primal imperative to move with  him, to work with him, claimed her.

‘Let me pleasure you,' he encouraged huskily, opening her legs wider still.

‘Yes...' she agreed. This was everything she had ever wanted, and it  thrilled her all the more to know that Tiago needed her too.

She exclaimed with disappointment when he withdrew, and then laughed  when she realised that he was teasing her. When he sank deep again she  moaned and pressed her mouth against his neck.

‘More?'

‘As much as you can give me?' she suggested. Her whole world was sensation now, and he had centred it in that one place.

He thrust deep and pulled out, then thrust deep again. Her heart cried  out to him to give her everything, to find his release. Grabbing hold of  his buttocks, so firm and muscular, she moved with him. She was  demanding now, claiming her mate and moving as strongly as he was with  every stroke. They were both ravenous for this, and she could be as  fierce as Tiago.

It was only a matter of moments before she felt the pressure building  again and, seeing the mist of pleasure reflected in Tiago's eyes, she  knew he was close too.

‘I'll tell you when,' he cautioned.

‘Now,' she said fiercely.

He could do nothing to stop her-to stop himself-as she tightened her  muscles around him. They were both lost, both swept up in a fire storm  of sensation, and when she found release he did too.

* * *

If only she hadn't read the screen on Tiago's computer. She had come  downstairs for two glasses of water while Tiago was in the shower, and  she hadn't been able to wait to get back to bed. But now she was  squatting on the kitchen floor with her arms over her head,  pressing-pressing hard-as she tried to make the words on the screen go  away.

If she hadn't come down to the kitchen she wouldn't have nudged his  computer and the screen wouldn't have flashed on. It was too late now.  She'd seen it. And, short minutes after crying with happiness, she had  tears of desperation pouring down her face.

She never learned. She always trusted. She always hoped for the best.  And now she was a ridiculous bride in a skimpy outfit that one of the  young girls had left out for her to wear on her wedding night. The  decorated bathroom, with its candles and scent bottles and flowers, had  been wasted on her. The women on the ranch had wanted her to feel like a  treasured bride, when in fact she was a complete idiot.

Burying her head again, she hugged it harder. But the words on the screen still flashed in front of her eyes.

‘You will never hear anything good about yourself if you eavesdrop, Danny,' her grandmother had used to say.

And you wouldn't read anything good about yourself either-as she had  just discovered. Tiago had been in the middle of writing an email back  to Lizzie when he had broken off-presumably because the gauchos had  arrived to escort him to their wedding. And once she had started reading  the screen she hadn't been able to stop. She had even scrolled back to  read the rest of Lizzie's messages.

It had been about then that she had ended up on the floor. Her legs must have given way as her world had shattered.

It was all lies. Tiago had lied to her by omission.

The subject line on Lizzie's email had been enough without the rest:  Chico told me. That sounded so accusatory. What could Chico possibly  have told Lizzie to make Danny's best friend so angry?

Reading on, she'd found out.

I know you'll stop at nothing to secure the ranch, because I know you,  Tiago, but your plan smacks of desperation to me. And if you hurt her-if  you force Danny to do anything she doesn't want to do-you might be  Chico's friend, but I swear I'll never forgive you.

Danny's my friend, and I will protect her. You can't marry someone  simply because you need a wife and a baby fast. When I challenged Chico  about it he said you would keep the child, but not the mother. How could  you, Tiago? I refuse to believe my friend would agree to this unless  you've lied to her-and when she finds out her heart will be broken  again.

Please send her home. The work on the roof is nearly finished, so the  house is safe to live in, and we'll be back from honeymoon soon. Please  tell Danny she always has a home here-                       
       
           



       

Tiago would keep her baby?

Danny shook her head in desperation. It wasn't so much the fact that  Lizzie obviously believed Danny's marriage to Tiago was doomed but the  thought of having her child taken from her that had stopped her in her  tracks.

Tiago had never mentioned anything about a baby. Even when she had  confronted him about the possibility of their having a child he had  shrugged it off. No system of birth control was absolutely reliable, and  they had used none today, but if Tiago thought he could take her child  away from her-he didn't know her at all. She would fight to defend her  child to her dying breath.

What was wrong with him? The terms of his grandfather's will had been  unreasonable. Tiago had acknowledged that. His grandfather had wanted  him to found a dynasty that carried his name, but they had both agreed  how outdated that was.

Saving the ranch was something she could support-but tearing a child from its mother?

A chill of dread swept over her. Tiago believed he had to comply  exactly with the terms of his grandfather's will or risk losing  everything: the community he'd built, the wonderful people... Everything  he cared about would be destroyed. And she had entered into this  arrangement with her eyes wide open. But did an unborn child deserve to  be a pawn in their game?

It wasn't going to happen. She wouldn't let it happen. She couldn't  change him. She had to get that through her head. Tiago's childhood  experience had been with utterly selfish parents and he'd built a  carapace of steel around his heart. Her past had made her determined to  survive anything-and she would survive this.





CHAPTER ELEVEN

‘DANNY?'

She could hear him coming down the stairs, and his purposeful stride  heading towards the kitchen. She was on her feet, leaning over the  kitchen counter with her arms braced and her fists planted. She didn't  move when he came into the room. She couldn't bear to look at him. She  didn't respond in any way.

‘Are you okay? Danny-what's wrong?'

Tiago was at her side in moments, still warm and damp from the shower.  She could smell soap on him, she registered numbly as she pushed his  hand away.

She stepped to one side, but he stood in front of her.

‘Speak to me, Danny.' Dipping his head, Tiago searched her eyes.

She turned her face away. ‘I think it's better if I don't talk now.'

He straightened up. ‘What do you mean?'

‘I'm angry, Tiago, and I don't want to say anything in the heat of the moment to make it worse.'

‘To make what worse?' he demanded. Raking his hair, he shook his head impatiently. ‘I'm in the dark, here. Can you help me?'

Danny didn't know if she could. ‘I owe you an apology.'

‘What are you talking about?' Tiago flared.

‘I read your email. I know I shouldn't have, but I came to get us both  some water and I nudged your laptop by mistake. The screen flashed on  and I read it. I read your exchanges with Lizzie.'

A shiver gripped her as Tiago swore softly under his breath.

‘Can you explain them?' she asked quietly. ‘Can you tell me why you didn't think to tell me that a baby was part of our deal?'

‘You must have known-'

‘That there was a possibility I could have a child? Of course I knew. I tried to discuss it with you, but you brushed it off.'

‘I didn't brush it off,' he defended.

‘Well, let me tell you this, so there can be no misunderstanding. If  I'm lucky enough to have a child, no one on this earth is going to rip  that child from my arms.'