In the Brazilian's Debt

‘It has,’ she agreed coolly. ‘I’m sorry I kept you waiting, but I had to be sure I’d picked everything up, and that Flame was properly settled for the night.’

He inspected the work she’d done on the horse. She’d done a good job, but not good enough to meet his exacting standards. He’d pulled Lizzie’s report from her college. She’d passed out top of her class, which was why she had been awarded the scholarship to train under him at Fazenda Fernandez. He remembered her grandmother telling him that Lizzie needed something to lose herself in. He had understood immediately that Lizzie found the affection denied her by her parents from the horses she cared for, because he’d found that same solace, but what was driving her now?

‘Well, if that’s all?’ she said pleasantly.

She waited patiently for him to move out of the way. She had inherited none of the supercilious qualities of her parents, he noted, but her eyes were wounded. The past had damaged them both, but why had she chosen to believe her parents’ lies over him? The answer came to him as they stared at each other. However a child was misled or mistreated, they never gave up hope of winning the love of their parent, even if that parent was incapable of giving love.

‘You have a wonderful facility here, Senhor Fernandez. I’m thrilled to have been given the opportunity to train here.’

She was close enough to touch, to kiss, to reassure...

‘And we’re very glad to have you here,’ he replied in the same measured tone. ‘You come with an excellent recommendation from your college.’

She smiled in response to this, and tension crackled all around them, making him wonder if they would ever be easy with each other again.

‘Anyway, thank you,’ she said, breaking the spell as she hefted her belongings into a more comfortable position. ‘I really do appreciate the chance you’ve given me.’

‘My selection team did that. Everything I do here is in honour of my sponsor, Eduardo. You do remember Eduardo?’

‘Yes, of course I do.’ For a moment her confident mask slipped. ‘I was very sorry to hear of his passing. I read quite a lot about him before I came here.’

‘Oh?’

‘When you both came to Rottingdean I just knew him as a leading polo player in Brazil. What I didn’t realise was that Eduardo had devoted himself to providing education for children from deprived backgrounds.’

‘Children like me?’

‘Yes.’ She held his gaze, unflinching. ‘I don’t say that to offend you, Senhor Fernandez.’

‘I appreciate your honesty, Senhorita Fane.’

She slanted him a thoughtful look and almost smiled again. ‘I guess Eduardo got lucky with you.’

‘There are many deserving children,’ he argued sharply as their hopeful faces flashed into his mind.

Lizzie blushed bright red. ‘I realise that—I didn’t mean...I just meant—’

‘I know what you meant. You’re wondering how I can afford all this?’ Not by cheating like Lizzie’s parents, that was for sure.

‘No,’ she protested, and for the first time he thought he saw the real Lizzie, rather than the girl who was trying to please her boss. ‘It makes perfect sense to me. With your natural talent you were always bound to succeed.’

‘And you also realised that success such as mine pays well?’ he pressed, thinking of her mother and wondering if Lizzie had inherited any of Serena’s acquisitive traits.

‘Your financial success is well documented,’ she defended, her cheeks pinking up again beneath his suspicious stare.

Was she after a slice of the pie? ‘Hard work and straight dealing is my only secret.’

‘And a sponsor like Eduardo,’ she suggested, that steel he’d seen before returning to her gaze.

Even now, hearing Eduardo’s name coming from a member of the Fane family’s lips grated on him, though he had to admit that the fact Lizzie had no problem speaking up for herself was to her credit. Her parents had always delivered their barbs from a safe distance.

‘I’m in awe of the legacy Eduardo Delgardo left behind, and I don’t just mean his money,’ she explained. ‘He inspired so many people with his good works, including me.’

Her steady gaze convinced him that in this, at least, Lizzie Fane was being totally honest.

‘I should go to supper now. My friend’s expecting me—’ She started to move past him.

He wasn’t ready to let her go yet and stood in her way. ‘You bandaged him?’

‘Yes?’ Her concern was obvious.

‘Put your things down outside the stable, and come back in here.’ Her eyes widened. ‘Back in here,’ he repeated.

He was already hunkering down to check the poultice when she returned to the stall. Apart from wanting to show Lizzie how her bandaging technique could be improved, and disregarding the obvious questions jostling in his mind, he was intrigued by this new Lizzie. Forget intrigue. He wanted her. In the past he had put her on a pedestal and wouldn’t have touched her. But now...

CHAPTER THREE (#ulink_680e9acd-6831-5415-bf06-0b6eaf8c0d48)

COULDN’T THIS WAIT? There were classes tomorrow. What did Chico really want? He was such a compelling presence he made her feel tongue-tied. Her lips felt wooden and when she tried to speak her voice sounded hoarse. Seeing him again after all these years had completely thrown her. Had she really thought she was ready for this? Just because Chico Fernandez had been the stuff of her fantasies throughout all her teenage years, didn’t mean she knew him. She was keenly aware that she didn’t know him, not now, which was why she felt so awkward around him—and nothing could dilute the impact of a man dressed in nothing more than a pair of banged-up jeans and a black top that showed off his impressive muscles, who had turned from an attractive youth into the hottest thing on two powerful male legs.

‘It’s hot in here, isn’t it?’ she said, finding it hard to breathe suddenly.

‘Not overly so,’ Chico replied. ‘The temperature in here is controlled.’

Unlike her heart, she thought, feeling the effects of being trapped in a small stall with so much undiluted sex. Chico’s physical presence was overwhelming. Shoulders broad enough to hoist an ox, stomach flat, waist slim, from all his exercise on horseback—and, when he was hunkered down like this, a grandstand view of the tightest butt on earth. Added to which, a heavy-duty leather belt was drawing her gaze where it definitely shouldn’t wander. And his face—if Helen of Troy could launch a thousand ships, Chico Fernandez could launch a thousand erotic fantasies. He looked so stern, but his mouth was the mouth of a sensualist, and she loved his sharp black stubble. She had always loved his thick, wild black hair—

What was she thinking? She wasn’t a naïve girl now, daydreaming in the stables at Rottingdean. She was a woman with a goal, who had won a scholarship to Brazil, and who couldn’t afford to be distracted. What must she look like to Chico? Hot, sweaty, and grubby— Quite suddenly, she didn’t have confidence in anything—not in herself, or her work, or in her future. This wasn’t the youth she had made a friend of all those years ago. This was Chico Fernandez, acknowledged equine expert—and expert between the sheets too, she had no doubt; a man with testosterone flying off him like white-hot shards that pierced her body with sensation until she couldn’t think. Chico was said to be a man’s man; a lone wolf who ruled his territory like a feudal lord. Was she here to take him on? Was she going to suck him dry?

‘Not a bad job,’ he remarked, glancing up at her.

‘Really?’ The last thing she had been expecting from him was words of praise.

‘But not good enough for the standards we set here. That’s why you’ve come to train at Fazenda Fernandez, isn’t it, Lizzie?’

There was a flash of suspicion in his eyes, and for a moment she had no idea why she was here, only that she was mad to have come. Echoes from the past came back to haunt her—snatches of conversation, that she had barely understood as a young teen.

‘Are you listening, Lizzie? If you don’t pay attention, you’ll learn nothing.’

She shook herself round. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘If you intend to stay on here and complete the training—’

‘I will complete the training.’

Chico’s eyes sparked as he sprang up to confront her. A clash of wills was the last thing she had intended, but she had never learned how to admit defeat, and she was determined to achieve all her goals here, including keeping Chico Fernandez at arm’s length.

She regretted her outburst when she saw Chico’s expression turn cold. She would have to keep her feelings closely guarded in future.

‘You will attend my tutorial here, tomorrow morning, at six a.m. sharp,’ he said without a hint of warmth.