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senhor.'
    'But you won't object if I have one?' He poured out some whisky,
    and drained the glass with one swift, practised movement of his
    wrist.
    He was, she realised, far from drunk. But he wasn't stone-cold sober
    either. And, drunk or sober, he spelled trouble that she didn't feel
    equipped to deal with.
    He put the bottle down on the chest beside the bed, and began to
    unbutton his shirt under her horrified gaze.
    'What do you think you're doing?' She hardly recognised her own
    voice.
    'Taking off my clothes.' His eyes slid insolently the length of her
    sheet-veiled body. 'Don't you undress before you go to bed,
    carinha?' The look, as well as the tone of his voice, told her that he
    knew the answer to that already. The damned sheet clung.
    She made herself meet his glance firmly and directly. 'Then I'd
    prefer you to continue undressing in your own room.'
    'This is my room.'
    They were the words she'd been dreading, and her stomach lurched
    in panic. But she tried not to show it. 'Then maybe you'd be good
    enough to call Rosita, and get her to make me up a bed somewhere
    else.'
    'No, querida, I shall not be "good enough".' He gave the words a
    jeering emphasis. 'You are where you belong, as we both know,
    although it seems to please you to play the innocent.' He shrugged
    off his shirt and tossed it to the floor. He grinned at her, and ran his
    fingers with calculating delicacy along the top hem of the sheet, just
    not touching her bare skin. 'It has been an amusing game, in its way,
    but now I require a different kind of entertainment from you.'
    She slapped the marauding hand away. 'How dare you?'
    Sighing, he began to unbuckle his belt. 'A little modesty can be
    charming,' he said. 'But too much becomes tedious.' He stripped off
    his trousers and threw them after the shirt. 'You will find me
    generous, Carlotta,' he added almost casually. 'But don't imagine a
    show of reluctance will force up the price I'm prepared to pay.'
    For a moment Charlie thought she could hear thunder again, but it
    was only the beat of her own heart, harsh and erratic, filling her
    head, filling her mind, making it impossible for her to think
    coherently, to act...
    But she had to— had to. She should make a run for it, she thought
    wildly, but the enveloping sheet was wound round her like the
    tendrils of some man-eating plant. And, if she could scramble free
    of it, where could she go, naked and barefoot? She was in the
    middle of a jungle, miles from any help she could count on.
    Somehow, somehow she would have to reason with him.
    She sounded young and very breathless. 'Senhor— you're making a
    terrible mistake. I don't—I'm not...' She gulped some of the hot,
    languid air and tried again. 'I...just met Fay Preston on the boat. I
    agreed to deliver a letter, that's all. I—I had no idea...' Her voice
    faltered as she saw his cynical grin, because that wasn't the exact
    truth, and she knew it.
    He said silkily, 'And you just... happened to ask for me at the
    hotel—and then you... happened to go with my men? A whole series
    of mistakes. Is that how it was?'
    She nodded desperately. 'Yes. Oh, how can I make you believe me?'
    'You cannot,' he said succinctly. 'And this pretence of yours wearies
    me.' The dark eyes glittered dangerously down at her. 'Especially
    when there are other...more pleasurable ways of achieving
    exhaustion, querida .' His hands moved to his hips to strip off his
    remaining covering, and Charlie twisted on to her side, cursing the
    strangling sheet, closing her eyes almost convulsively. She felt the
    mattress dip as he came to lie beside her.
    She said huskily, 'If you touch me I'll scream.'
    'And who is there to hear you—or to care?' Impatience mingled with
    amusement in his voice. 'I hope you have strong lungs, carinha,
    because I intend to touch every inch of you.'
    'Oh, God.' Her voice cracked. 'You don't even want me...'
    He laughed. 'Ah, does that rankle with you, my little one? I regret if
    my reaction