Read Online A Devilishly Dark Deal by Maggie Cox - Free Book Online Page B

the neat pine cabinet and released a disbelieving groan followed by a very unladylike curse. Good God! She’d slept the evening and the night away. She hadn’t stirred once, not even to go to the loo. Now it was a little after ten, and some determined caller sounded as if they were intent on breaking down her door. Her dad wouldn’t be best pleased if they caused any damage … Even as she had the thought she remembered that Marco had promised to send his car for her, to take her back to the palatial mansion that was his residence. Then she remembered the reason for her return. Her insides did a one-hundred-and-eighty degree roll. She muttered another ripe curse. How could she have forgotten such a commitment for even a second? No matter how tired she was?
    Grabbing the short textured cotton robe at the end of the bed, she hurriedly got to her feet and pulled it on over her matching white nightdress. Barefoot, she flung open the door and moved quickly down the cool tiled corridor that led to the front of the house.
    ‘ Olà, Senhorita Faulkner.’
    The chauffeur Miguel stood on the other side of the door. Conscious that her hair was tousled and uncombed, and that her short robe perhaps revealed too much leg for her to be comfortable displaying in front of almost a stranger, Grace pulled the sides of the garment more securely round her, then lightly knotted the belt. ‘Hello, Miguel,’ she answered, silently noting the faint surprise in his deep black eyes that she had addressed him by his name. ‘I’m really sorry but I’m afraid I overslept. As you can see, I’ve just got out of bed, and I’m nowhere near ready to leave yet. Do you want to come back for me later … after lunch, maybe?’
    ‘No, Senhorita Faulkner. Senhor Aguilar will not be happy if I do not return with you this morning, as arranged.’
    She could well believe it. A man who probably just had to snap his fingers to have his every whim fulfilled would clearly not be happy if Grace had the audacity to be late … especially when he had been so generous with his donation to the charity. She didn’t know much about the culture in Portugal, but she’d heard via her dad that to be late for an appointment with someone—especially someone high up the business world hierarchy—was considered a serious lack of respect.
    ‘In that case you’ll just have to come in and wait while I get myself ready.’ She held the door wide to allow the chauffeur entrance into the hallway, but he stayed right where he was, his tanned face impassive as a rock.
    ‘I am sorry, Senhorita Faulkner, but that would not be at all appropriate. In any case I must phone Senhor Aguilar right away and explain the reason for our delay. Then I will wait for you in the car.’
    Grace watched him walk with purposeful gait back to the gleaming black Mercedes parked outside the villa’s entrance, with its climbing red and pink bougainvillaea trailing up traditional white-painted walls. Then she turned on her heel and headed straight for the bathroom and the quickest shower she could manage—all the while apprehensively contemplating what her answer should be when Marco Aguilar asked her if she’d decided whether or not she would become his companion for the rest of her time in the Algarve.
    Remembering the cheque he’d donated to the charity, and imagining what joy such an amount would bring to everyone concerned with the desperate and poor orphaned children it had been set up to help support, she already knew that his offer would be hard to turn down. Yesterday, when she’d sensed that Marco had very definitely not come to terms with his emotionally impoverished childhood it had made her want to know more about this darkly enigmatic man. And when she thought about the way he made her feel, the effect he had on her body … Maybe if she allowed herself to experience intimacy with him it might be a way to help herself overcome the pain of her ex’s attempted rape and allow her to