she really been disappointed when she'd first met him on the pier? She must have been exhausted and nearly blind from her arduous trip up the Amazon.
He was the most beautiful man she had ever seen, in a rugged, utterly masculine way. His features were pleasing to look at, despite the fact that his brows seemed to knit together in a permanent frown and his nose was slightly crooked, as if it had been broken. His was a strong face, a face etched by time and, she suspected, experience. Pain and pride and hatred had moved across that face and left their indelible mark on it.
Without warning, he glanced up and caught her studying him. She looked down quickly, concentrating on her food to keep from staring at him.
To her shame, she realized that she wanted to see him again like that, to run her hands over the hard ridges of muscle that had played upon his back and chest.
"I'm afraid I'm not accustomed to having a woman around," he told her. His voice held a rich, deep texture, like a soft breeze over dry sand, that shivered down her spine.
Caroline glanced up and met the full force of his ice-blue gaze. A tremor pulsed through her body but she refused to look away.
"Especially such a curious one," he added sardonically. "We were clearing some land this morning and I stepped into a sinkhole. It was more convenient to bathe and—"
"You needn't explain," she told him a bit breathlessly, not at all anxious to discuss the circumstances that had led to her happening upon him that morning.
Just the mere mention of it brought the images vividly to her mind, not that they had been far from it all morning.
"You're right, of course, I don't have to explain," he agreed in a tone that conveyed the message, / am king here and you'd best remember it. "I was only trying to… If you want to see the fazenda—"
"Fazenda?"
As if drawn by a magnet, his gaze flickered downward over her body for the briefest instant. When his eyes returned to hers, a dark fire shone in their pale depths.
"Plantation," he explained, his voice deep and coarse. "If you want to see the plantation, you need only ask and I'll take you on a tour, but I must insist that you not venture forth on your own. My men are no more accustomed to having a woman around than I am."
For a moment, Caroline was unable to speak. She'd been so intent on watching his facial expressions, she'd forgotten to reply, though she knew a response was required.
Clearing her throat nervously, she picked up her fork and began pushing her food around on her plate. It gave her something else to concentrate on while she spoke. "But I wasn't alone, and besides—" It was on the tip of her tongue to mention that Ines had evidently been on the fazenda for some time. Instead, she mustered as much enthusiasm as she could and said, "I would like that."
He stopped eating and gazed at her, his face a mask of confusion. "Pardon me?"
"The tour," she reminded him. "I would like to see the fazenda, if you really meant what you said."
He looked at her as if seeing her for the first time, staring at her as intently as a scientist would study a specimen under a microscope. His gaze left her face and slid down her throat to her bosom once again.
It took a force of will on her part, but she managed not to squirm as his glance touched her like a caress.
"If you'd like," he said, slowly lifting his gaze back to hers, as if reluctant to do so.
"Shall we go now?" she asked, wondering if he were aware of his effect on her, if he guessed at the tumult he caused inside her.
He laughed, a short sound that was more a snort. "Not now. It's too late in the day. I'll show you the premises first thing in the morning before the sun gets too hot."
She started to protest that she had been active at high noon every day of the journey up the Amazon and the Rio Branco, but something stopped her. She hadn't been able to dispute his authority that first day, and she couldn't now.
It annoyed her that she could not seem to argue with him, but when he turned that proprietary glare on her, that look that brooked no disagreement, her throat tightened and she fell silent