Reckless in Paradise (2 page)

S
OPHIE
perched uneasily on the edge of the waiting-room chair, the leather portfolio that contained all the details of Monica and Jake's wedding resting on her knees. She couldn't help but notice the bloom of pink spread over the young PA's cheeks as reluctantly she placed the second call to her boss in less than a minute. Clearly what she'd read on the Internet about Daniel Caruana's take-no-prisoners reputation extended beyond his business rivals and his girlfriends to his staff; the girl looked petrified.

Sophie might have felt guilty at insisting the girl call again and explain, but she wasn't about to waste an entire day travelling from Brisbane to Cairns and back again for no good reason—not when Monica had told her today's meeting had been all arranged and how much they were both relying on her.

‘Oil on the waters', Jake had labelled her role, not exactly imbuing her with confidence. Apparently Daniel was super-protective of his little sister, having practically raised her since their parents had died, so of course he'd take the news of Monica's plans with less than enthusiasm. Especially given Jake and Daniel hadn't exactly hit if off back in high school, which Jake had admitted when attempting to explain why Daniel might not have bothered to answer his calls.

Something seriously wrong had gone on between them, Sophie mused, if Daniel wouldn't even speak to him. Her suggestion had been for Jake and Monica to visit Daniel themselves, given he could hardly refuse to see Jake if Monica was with him, but Monica had come up with what she thought was a more diplomatic solution.

She'd break the news to her brother in an email and then the to-be-weds would disappear for two weeks while Sophie ran through the wedding arrangements with Daniel. By the time the happy couple returned from Hawaii, Sophie would have everything arranged and Daniel would have come to terms with the idea that his little sister was a grown woman, old enough to make her own decisions about getting married and to whom.

It was simple, Monica had told her.

Failsafe.

Monica had hugged her tight and thanked her. She'd looked so hopeful, if not half-desperate, this bride-to-be who wanted everything to be absolutely perfect, Sophie had swallowed back all her arguments that it should be them visiting Daniel and ironing out any problems face to face, and had nodded her agreement instead.

Now it seemed a crazy idea. Conscious of time spinning away while the PA waited for a response, she clamped down on the bubble of nervousness that had her suddenly fidgeting with the folder perched on her knees.

Failsafe? She wished she could be so sure. Anyone who could put the fear of God into his receptionist with just a word or two was hardly likely to be the pushover Monica imagined her brother to be. But she supposed she had to meet the man some time, especially given they were practically related.

How ironic. She'd always wanted family; reconnecting with Jake after all their years apart had been amazing, even if it had taken their mother's death to get the siblings back
together. Now it looked like her tiny family was set to expand. Monica was a sweetheart. The two of them had hit it off from the first time they'd met, and she couldn't imagine a nicer sister-in-law.

But somehow the prospect of being Daniel's sister-in-law didn't come with quite the same thrill. That was the down side of families, she supposed: you didn't always get to choose your relatives.

What was taking the man so long?
Impatiently she crossed and uncrossed her ankles, unclipping the portfolio to check its contents were all present and correct before snapping it shut without having registered a thing. Damn the man and his arrogance! If he'd just bothered to talk to her brother, she wouldn't have to be here at all.

The girl shrugged apologetically at Sophie's questioning glance, and Sophie sighed and turned her attention out of the full-length windows to where the palm-fringed, sandy shore met the Coral Sea. Some PA's office, she thought. It was a million times better than her own office in Brisbane which boasted not even a sniff of river view between the multi-storey office blocks. Maybe there were compensations for working for the boss from hell. At least his PA had a decent view between the no-doubt frequent ear-bashings.

‘Mr Caruana will see you now.'

Sophie jumped, her insides lurching at the announcement, and not entirely with relief. Sure, she'd got what she'd come here for—admittance to the hallowed inner sanctum for an audience with Mr High and Mighty—but there was no sudden burst of enthusiasm at the prospect. The time he'd taken to make up his mind was hardly welcoming, and if it was up to her she'd like nothing better than to turn and snub one Daniel Caruana's churlish and clearly reluctant agreement.

But this wasn't about her. She was here to champion Jake and Monica, and telling the man where to get off was hardly
going to help. So instead she took a deep breath and smoothed the silk of her skirt as she rose, doing a last-minute check of her sheer stockings for ladders, and putting a hand to the sleek coil behind her head for any escaping tendrils.

Cool, poised and professional was the look and manner she was aiming for. The Daniel Caruana she'd researched demanded first-class presentation and she intended to deliver. Later, in the afterglow of a successful wedding between their respective siblings, and when they knew each other better, there would be time to relax in each other's company.

Because, while the prospect seemed unlikely at the moment, it would be nice if she could at least like the man who was soon to be her brother-in-law.

Though given what she'd experienced so far of Daniel Caruana, she wasn't too confident.

She smiled her thanks to the PA, whose colour had returned and who managed to smile back, clearly relieved she wasn't going to have to ring her boss a third time. Sophie rapped her knuckles lightly on the door and let herself into the largest office she'd ever seen.

She stopped dead, stunned by the sheer dimensions of the room. All this space for one man?
Maybe he needed it to accommodate his ego.
She shoved her scorn back where it belonged. He
had
agreed to see her, even if it had taken an eternity; maybe the man wasn't completely beyond redemption.

She worked up a smile, remembering the old adage that to think positive was to be positive. ‘Mr Caruana,' she offered with an enthusiasm she didn't feel and that barely cloaked her nerves. ‘It's a pleasure to meet you at last.'

He was standing with his back to her against the wall of windows that brought the best of the far-north Queensland beach views into the office, his arms crossed and feet planted wide apart. Maybe it was because she'd already witnessed
the view that five storeys could offer over the coast line that Sophie found herself assailed with impressions that had nothing to do with the view outside and had no place on today's agenda.

Broad shoulders.

Narrow hips.

Long, lean legs.

Then he turned and the view outside faded to grey. She blinked, wondering what it was exactly that the pictures on the Internet had missed. Sure, they might have captured the short, tousled black hair, the steel-like gaze and the wide, generous lips. They might have contained a hint of the aura that surrounded him of power and success and raw masculinity. Yet they'd been unable to capture that grace of moment, that animal-like quality that turned even his slightest movement predatory.

His head tilted and his narrowed gaze assessed her, as if he had stripped through all her professional-development bluff and seen her for the nervous sister of the groom anxious to make a good impression that she really was. ‘Is it a pleasure?'

Maybe not. Not that he was waiting for her answer. She got the distinct impression Daniel Caruana wasn't used to waiting for anything, even before he continued, ‘You wanted to see me?'

‘Ah.' She swallowed, his prompt reminding her why she was here, and that it wasn't to ogle the brother of the bride or lose herself in her thoughts. ‘Of course.' She forced her frozen legs into motion and crossed the space between them, holding out her hand. ‘Sophie Turner, from One Perfect Day. One Perfect Day makes perfect memories to last a lifetime.' The business's advertising blurb rattled off her tongue before she could stop herself. She was proud of her business and all she'd achieved. She believed that she offered her clients as
perfect a wedding day possible, but right now in this office, faced with this man and battling her own rattled thought-processes, her words sounded trite and hackneyed.

He surveyed her hand for what felt like an eternity before his eyes once again lifted to snag on hers. This close she could see the dark shadow of a beard accentuating the strong line of his jaw. This close his dark eyes seemed to swirl with un-plumbed depths, the hint of a smile in those ever-so-slightly-upturned lips.

Then he finally took her hand in his and sent a jolt to her internal thermostat. She dragged in much-needed oxygen, only to find it fuelled with the warm, spiced tang of male. She pressed on, trying to ignore the feel of her hand in his, trying to discount the skin-on-skin contact and the scramble it was making of her senses. ‘Monica has told me a lot about you. She wishes she could have visited you herself, to tell you about her plans, but—'

‘But she was suddenly whisked away to Hawaii?' His voice was deep and rich and with the merest trace of an accent. It rolled over her senses much like the way his thumb seemed to be skimming the back of her hand. ‘By the latest man she's apparently fallen head over heels in love with?'

The tension hummed through his words, an obvious cynicism shining in the gleam of his dark-as-night eyes, despite the easy smile that revealed a line of perfect white teeth.

That man,
she wanted to say,
is my brother, and he loves Monica as much as she loves him.
But right now all her thoughts and senses were centred on the hand that somehow still remained firmly lodged within his.

Power, she felt in his touch, and a heat that radiated up her arm to fan out to her extremities in a delicious wave.

She tugged her hand free, sensing a slight reluctance on his part to let her go, and then wondered if she'd just imagined it.

Wished it were so.

Now she really was losing it.

Her eyes scanned the spacious office and fell on a nearby suite, three leather settees arranged in a U formation around a glass-topped coffee table. She sensed an opportunity to escape his close proximity and gather her scattered thoughts to the deal. ‘Perhaps we could sit there?' she suggested with wash-day brightness laid on thick. ‘And I can fill you in on Monica and Jake's plans.'

She was already seated, her briefcase beside her on the floor and unclipping her portfolio, when she realised he was still standing there, his lips curled again, a facsimile of a smile fading before reaching his eyes.

Then he seemed to shrug, making even that slight gesture look elegant and full of animal grace. ‘Perhaps we could,' he agreed, before surprising her completely by ignoring the other sofas and sitting down alongside her, as if determined to turn her escape into purgatory.

He liked the way she seemed to shrink back against her armrest after that initial look of shock, especially after he'd angled himself sideways, snaking one arm along the back of the chair. Now she squeezed herself into the corner of the sofa and focused on sorting through the contents of the folder on her knees like it was some kind of lifeline. ‘I have some brochures,' she mumbled, her long fingers fumbling.

She was flustered.

He liked a woman flustered. It kept her on the defensive, right where he wanted her. Unless she was in bed, of course, and there he welcomed the occasional tigress.

Would prim-looking Miss Turner be a tigress in bed?

He took his time to look at the woman alongside him up and down. The button-through blue silk dress with modest neckline hid more than it revealed, but first impressions had told him she had a reasonable body hidden beneath: nicely
balanced in the hip and bust departments, slim-waisted and long-legged, with her facial features arranged just as acceptably as her body parts.

Second impressions only confirmed the first. Even in profile—the real test—her features were engaging. High cheek-bones, a classic nose, that lush mouth…

He frowned. He couldn't remember the name, but something about her looked almost familiar. The thought was discarded the very next instant. He met a lot of women, and if he had met this one before he was sure he wouldn't have let her get away without knowing her better.

Unless she'd been out of bounds. Some people didn't share the same scruples, he knew from experience, but if there was one thing he wouldn't touch it was someone else's woman. ‘Are you married, Miss Turner, or engaged?'

Her head snapped around, a couple of brochures sliding unnoticed from her fingers into her lap. ‘Why do you ask?'

He smiled, scooping the pamphlets up, noticing with satisfaction the tremor as the back of his fingers skimmed the top of her legs; it was no more than a featherlight contact through the silk of her skirt, but enough to elicit the kind of reaction he was used to. The kind of reaction he welcomed when he himself was attracted. ‘You work in the wedding business—wouldn't someone who has been married themselves understand what a bride really wants to make her day perfect? How else would you know?'

‘Oh, I see, I…' Colour invaded her cheeks, and this time he kept his smile to himself.
Most definitely flustered.
Did she imagine he had ulterior motives in determining her marital status? Did she hope?

‘It doesn't work that way,' she continued, accepting the brochures back and sweeping an imaginary strand of hair behind her ear, fiddling with an already perfectly aligned pearl
earring. ‘I've arranged more than one hundred weddings now. I can assure you, I've had plenty of experience to ensure Monica's wedding goes off without a hitch. Now—'