Renegade Millionaire (6 page)

She kept telling herself that very thing while standing on Rio's front porch, hangers full of clothing draped over her arm, waiting for the doctor—dressed in tattered jeans and black leather jacket—to open the door. Today he'd pulled his hair back on the sides and top, the rest falling to his shoulders. He looked like an A-1 fantasy, a woman's dream. So did his residence.

She'd heard about the King William district, but nothing could compare to witnessing its splendor. The well-kept house resembled an English manor, beautiful and bigger than any home Joanna had lived in during her thirty-four years. Unlike her neighborhood, the area was absent of noisy cars and deafening music. No threatening characters and criminal activity, at least on the surface.

“There's something I forgot to tell you.”

The declaration drew Joanna's attention to Rio, his hand on the brass knob, a box tucked underneath his arm. Nothing in his expression gave any indication of what that “something” was.

She backed away from the porch and studied the facade all the way up to the third-story dormers. “Let me guess. You have a commune living here.”

“No, but I do have a roommate.”

Before Joanna had the chance to unpack, the secrets had already begun. Now she would have to explain to her mother that she was not living with only one man, but two. “You should have told me before I agreed to come here.”

“I didn't want to give you any reason to change your mind. Besides, I think you'll like her.”

Her?
He had a woman living with him? A lover? That shouldn't matter one way or the other to Joanna, but for some reason it did. “Your roommate's female?”

“Yeah, Gabby. She's great.” His tone was full of pride and affection.

Joanna tried to mask her shock, hide her frustration with an even tone. “What does she think about me moving in?”

He grinned, his white teeth set off against his warm brown skin. “I haven't told her yet.”

That set Joanna's teeth on edge. “You didn't tell her?”

“She wouldn't understand.”

Oh, marvelous. What had Joanna gotten herself into? What if this woman refused to let her live here, forcing Joanna to reside in her own car or a seedy motel? “Well then, maybe I should wait out here until you make sure it's okay.”

“She won't mind. She's pretty friendly.”

“Are you sure you don't want to talk to her first?”

“Nope. Just be prepared for the welcome.” Rio pushed open the door and waited for Joanna to move past him.

The roommate was all but forgotten when Joanna stepped inside the circular foyer. The floor's majestic white marble tile glistened like the surface of a frozen pond. A chandelier hanging from the two-story ceiling dripped diamond-like crystals. Straight ahead, a staircase with a black iron banister climbed upward until it took a turn to the left at a large landing. Above that landing, a window set with stained glass shot laser beams of light over the walls and white-carpeted stairs. The panes
shaped a black cat with exotic gold eyes. Breathtaking, but almost out of place among the traditional elegance. Joanna continued to stare as if cemented in place by the animal's metallic gaze.

“That's a beautiful window,” she said.

“Thanks. I designed it.”

She studied Rio Madrid, now facing her at the bottom of the stairs, amazed at how much he resembled the animal, how he possessed the ability to hold her captive with his topaz eyes. Maybe this was Rio Madrid's idea of a self-portrait, because in Joanna's opinion, he, too, contrasted with the environment. Rugged appeal surrounded by refinement.

Danger in the midst of majesty.

Click-clack noises that sounded like hooves drew Joanna's attention to the hallway flowing into the vestibule from her right. Before Joanna could brace herself, a huge black and gray mottled thing came bounding into the foyer, streaking past her to Rio.

“Some watchdog you are.” The beast rose on hind legs, massive front paws propped on Rio's chest. “Get down, Gabby.”

This was Gabby, the mysterious roommate?

Rio slid the box and dog to the floor then shucked off his jacket and hung it over the banister. He scratched the head of the monstrosity with heavy jowls and pointy ears. “Gabby, this is Joanna. Joanna, my roommate, Gabby.”

Joanna wasn't sure whether to be really angry or really relieved. “Very funny. I thought you meant you lived with—”

“A woman. I know, but I wasn't sure how you'd feel about residing with an overgrown lapdog.” Rio tried to affect little-boy innocence with a shrug, but it was lost
on Joanna due to his toxic smile, the snug fit of his long-sleeved white thermal shirt and soft, washed jeans that molded him in all the right places, leaving no doubt he was all man.

She looked down at the dog, whose tongue hung out one side of her mouth, her head cocked as if totally enthralled by her master. Joanna couldn't blame her. The doctor made her want to pant and fawn, but she sure as heck wouldn't do that.

Joanna clutched the hangers to her chest when Gabby cautiously moved to sniff her feet. At least the dog's tail was wagging, a good thing, Joanna decided, considering the size of the canine's teeth.

Uncertain what to do next, Joanna said, “Hey, Gabby.”

As if totally disinterested in Joanna's greeting, the dog turned her attention back to her master with a look that could best be described as love-struck.

“I found her on the side of the road about three years ago,” Rio said, scratching Gabby behind the ears. “She was starved, I think maybe even beaten. It took me a year to get her to trust me and not to cower.”

Obviously Rio Madrid made it a habit to pick up distressed females. “She looks healthy now. And big.”

“She's a big baby.” Rio pointed at the floor. “Stay.” Gabby tucked her tail between her legs and stretched out on the black Oriental rug at the foot of the stairs, her head resting on crossed paws.

Joanna suspected that many females, regardless of their species, would gladly drop to the ground in answer to his command. Not this female. Joanna was stronger than that. At least she hoped so, although at times she greatly questioned her strength in his presence. Especially now.

Rio gestured toward the staircase. “You, Ms. Blake, may come with me.”

Joanna silently followed behind him trying hard to avert her gaze from the roll of his narrow hips as he took the stairs with a long stride. Even when they arrived on the second floor, she couldn't seem to stop looking, imagining, remembering the night he'd kissed her, the night he'd taken off his shirt at her apartment. And that tattoo. Below that tattoo…

“My bedroom's down there.” Rio pointed to his left.

“Really?” Joanna's voice sounded high-pitched and scratchy.

“Yeah. Do you want to see it?”

She didn't dare. “Maybe later.” Maybe never, if she knew what was best for her.

He gestured in the opposite direction. “There're two baths and three other smaller rooms at the other end.”

“What's in those other rooms?”

“Not much. One's my office, the other two have a few odds and ends, but no real furniture to speak of.”

“Oh. So where am I staying?”

“Right this way.” He crossed the hall and opened a door that led to another stairwell enclosed by narrow walls. “Be careful,” he said over one shoulder as he began to climb the steps. “It's pretty steep.”

Joanna made sure to concentrate on her footing, not Rio Madrid's finer points, as she scaled the stairs. She'd hate to have to explain that she'd taken a tumble while shamelessly staring at his butt.

At the top of the staircase, he opened another door and stepped inside the room. Joanna could only gape once she entered behind him. The whole area was swathed in sunlight spilling from the triple windows. The four-poster white canopy, covered in a frilly spread
dotted with lilacs, the antique-white dresser, the immaculate hardwood floors with scattered throw rugs, looked like something from Victorian times. A matching lilac-colored chaise set below one window served as an invitation, a place to curl up with a good book and a cup of tea. Or with a lover on a lazy Sunday afternoon. She swallowed hard.

“Wow.” It was all Joanna could manage at the moment. The room was almost twice as big as her old apartment, and no comparison as far as comfort was concerned. Never in her wildest imaginings had she envisioned this lovely place.

Rio laced his hands at his nape, his gorgeous face shining with satisfaction. “Yeah, it's nice. Not exactly my kind of decor, but I didn't have the heart to change anything. It has a personality all its own.”

Joanna couldn't agree more. She walked to the bed and ran one hand down the post. “It's wonderful.”

He pushed open another door and leaned against the wall next to it. “The bathroom's right here. It's not very big, and it only has a tub. An old claw-footed tub, but it's been restored. If you'd rather take a shower, you can use one of the second-floor bathrooms, or you could use mine. It's big.”

Joanna locked on to his sensual smile. The image of showering with Rio Madrid arrived in great detail, including fogged-up glass from heavy breathing, not steam. Slick bodies, roving hands…

Good heavens. She didn't need to think about that now. Or ever. “Is there somewhere I can hang these?”

He pointed behind her. “In the closet.”

She turned. “A closet? That's great. I haven't had one of those in a while.” She hadn't had a lover in a while,
either, a fact apparent every time Rio Madrid walked into the room.

After hanging her things in the moderate-size closet, she faced him again. “I guess I'll go get the rest of the boxes and bring them up.”

“I'll do it in a minute. Care for some lunch?”

“Sure. I thought I'd go to the store and pick up a few groceries.”

He pushed away from the wall. “I had my housekeeper do that yesterday.”

“You have a housekeeper?”

“Yeah. I can't keep this place clean by myself, nor do I want to. She comes in twice a week, during the day.”

“I think I've died and gone to heaven.”

His grin resurfaced. “So your idea of heaven is a housekeeper?”

Joanna strolled to the bed and dropped onto the edge. “One of my ideas.” Laughing, she fell back and sank into the soft mattress, arms raised above her head. “And this bed.”

Rio slipped onto the bed beside her, thankfully not in a prone position. “I agree, a good feather bed qualifies as heavenly. So do other things.”

She stared up at him. “What other things?” Had she really asked him such a leading question?

His smile faded into a seriously sensual expression. “Walking barefoot in grass. Swimming naked in a lake. Making love in the moonlight.”

Joanna's heart lurched hard in her chest. She'd only done one of those things, but she hadn't walked barefoot in clover since she was a teenager. “Very poetic, Doctor.”

“Not poetry, just perfection.”

He was perfect, Joanna thought, from head to toe, at least superficially. But she knew soul deep that perfection was only an illusion. Everyone had flaws; Rio Madrid was no exception. But he also had an undeniable aura, a sensual magnetic field, drawing her in as if she were made of iron. She feared she might not be that strong if he made one move toward her.

Bolting from the bed, she stood before him, hands clasped tightly to keep from pulling the band out of his hair to let it completely fall just so she could experience its silky texture. “Okay, so what do you have in mind for lunch?”

The look he gave her said anything but food. His sexy smile had her thinking the same thing. “I'm kind of partial to peanut butter and jelly.”

She returned his smile. “My son's favorite fare.”

His features went solemn. “You know, Joanna, your son's welcome here. If you want to send for him, we could fix up one of the bedrooms.”

Joanna experienced a twinge of emotion over his generosity. Few men would offer their homes to a single mom and her child. “I really appreciate that, but he's settled into school right now and I wouldn't want to uproot him again until I have a decent place of my own. Maybe that will happen by this summer.”

Rio stood and sighed. “You've been here less than an hour and you're already thinking about leaving me.”

Leaving
him?
“I can't stay here forever. But I appreciate this arrangement more than you know. It will give me a chance to get back on my feet financially.” If he didn't pull the rug out from under her emotionally. Again, she didn't plan to let that happen. She'd done that once, let a man have her heart only to be left holding the remnants.

“We'll take it one day at a time,” he said with confidence as he strolled toward the door. “But in the meantime, let's go downstairs and grab some lunch. I'm starving.”

So was Joanna, for things she didn't dare want.

“Y
ou have a fountain in your pool.”

Rio couldn't stop the urge to tease Joanna a little. He had trouble stopping any urges where she was concerned. “A pool? No kidding? I didn't realize that. Guess I should go into the backyard more often.”

Joanna glanced at him over one shoulder and smiled. “You are just full of it today, aren't you?”

Rio couldn't seem to get his fill of looking at her. He took the last bite of his sandwich and sat back in his chair, enjoying the view of Joanna staring out the breakfast nook's window. Her dark hair spiraled into curls between her shoulder blades. Natural curls, Rio suspected. She did things to jeans that shouldn't be allowed. She did things to him that would definitely be considered downright sinful.

Her slender hand rested against the pane, her nails short and neatly trimmed. Good, Rio thought. Long nails
meant hard-to-hide scratches from lovemaking. And why the hell he believed that would happen between him and Joanna Blake would be anyone's guess. But something told him it could happen. Would happen. The carnal tension between them was gathering force, brewing like a spring storm, not that she would acknowledge it. At least not yet.

Pushing back from the table, Rio joined her at the window, standing close, but not too close. Patience would probably be the best way to handle what was happening between them, had been happening since New Year's Eve. Patience was something unfamiliar to him. He was the kind of guy who jumped in feetfirst and asked questions later when it came to his private life. Not a good idea in this instance.

Focusing on the backyard where Gabby lay gnawing a rawhide bone beneath an ancient cypress, he said, “There's a small hot tub in the corner of the pool with room for three.”

“You, Gabby and your current girlfriend?” He heard a smile in her voice, and curiosity.

“Are you trying to get me to come clean about my personal life, Joanna?”

She turned, putting them in closer proximity yet maintaining an intangible distance. “It's really none of my business, but I imagine you've had a woman in your hot tub before.”

He had, but not in a while. “I've been too busy to utilize my hot tub. Not today, though. Are you game?”

She frowned. “Are you nuts? It's forty degrees outside.”

“That's why they call it a hot tub.”

“It's also still daylight.”

He propped one hand on the window beside her head,
leaned closer and lowered his voice. “Are you shy, Joanna Blake?”

“I'm a mother, for Pete's sake.”

“And mothers are forbidden to use hot tubs?”

“Mothers don't have the kind of figures most twenty-year-olds have. At least this mother doesn't.”

He allowed his gaze to slide down her body and linger in certain places. He wanted to do the same with his hands. “I seriously doubt that.”

“You're seriously wrong.” A blush stained her fair cheeks. “Besides, I don't own a decent swimsuit.”

“Who said anything about a swimsuit?”

She turned back to the window. “What's in that building over there?”

Obviously she was more interested in continuing the tour than his suggestion. “It's a pool house with an attached garage. I keep my bike in there.”

“Ten speed?”

“Harley.”

Once more she faced him, this time hugging herself as if she needed protection from him. “You own a motorcycle and live in a mansion. I'd say you are a walking contradiction, Doctor.”

He wished she'd call him by his first name. Right now he wasn't the doctor. Right now he was a man in the company of a woman that he wanted too much. “Is that a problem?”

“Not really. It's just that you're not at all what I thought you'd be. At least at first.”

“And what was that?”

“An average male on the make. Your generous nature surprises me. So does your attraction to material things.”

He took a step back, guilt dogging his steps as he made his way back to the table and reclaimed his seat.
“I've heard it all before, that old ‘the love of money is the root of all evil' clause. But once you've been without it, money's not a bad thing to have. I imagine you know that.”

“Yes, I do.” Joanna joined him at the table and sat across from him with her blue eyes trained on his face. “I take it you didn't have much when you were growing up.”

“I had next to nothing. My parents were migrant farmworkers, chasing the next job. After my father died, my mother moved from California to Texas. She worked as a fruit picker during the season and hired out as a domestic the rest of the time.” And a midwife at night, something he didn't care to discuss.

“What happened to your father?”

Rio didn't like dredging up the past, but he'd left himself wide open to her questions. “An industrial accident involving some kind of machinery. I don't know many details.”

“I'm sorry.” She sounded as if she truly was.

“Don't be. I don't remember him. I was too young when it happened.”

She rested her cheek on one palm. “So what made you decide to become a doctor?”

A long story, but he'd try for a condensed version. “My mother worked for a retired colonel. He knew I had an interest in medicine, so he took me under his wing since he didn't have any kids.”

Joanna leaned forward. “Did he put you through medical school?”

That, and hell on earth. “Yeah, but first he put me into boarding school when I turned sixteen. I hated it. They made me cut my hair, robbed me of my heritage so I'd fit in. I've worn my hair long ever since.”

“Your culture's very important to you, isn't it?”

“Some aspects, yes, some not.” Especially those that defied logic.

“But you believe in your… What did you call it?”

“My onen. Mayan mythology. The sun god is a jaguar. It also foretells the arrival of foreigners.”

“Foreigners?”

“Yeah. I think my mother chose that for me since I was born in the States. But she swore it came to her in a dream. I have a hard time believing it.”

He'd never put much stock in dreams before he'd met Joanna Blake, before she had begun to disturb his own dreams. Surreal dreams. Sexual dreams.

Maybe his mother had been right to give him the onen. Joanna had come into his life, foreign to him, with a deeply engrained love for her child and a strong conviction in her work ethic. The consummate mother. A woman who deserved a considerate man to attend to her needs. Some of those needs Rio would have no problem tending, others he wasn't so sure.

Suddenly he wondered if this was the woman his mother had told him about, the stranger who would change his life for the better. A nice thing to consider, if he really believed in all that mystical stuff. Maybe he was just too jaded to believe in forever-after or love. He sure as hell didn't intend to settle down, conform to what society considered fitting—a marriage license and the average two kids.

Joanna remained silent with her elbows propped on the table, palms forming a resting place for her cheeks. She stared off into space as if she'd left him mentally, if not physically. He had a good idea where her thoughts had taken her.

“You're thinking about your son,” he stated.

Joanna looked up, startled. “As a matter of fact, I was.”

“When was the last time you talked to him?”

She straightened and fidgeted with a corner of the cloth place mat. “Two days ago, when I told my mom I was moving.”

“I bet it's tough on him, being without you.”

She smiled a sad mother's smile. “It is. Tough on us both. But he's a strong little boy. He's had to be.”

Rio wanted to know more about her, what made her tick. What made her sad other than the absence of her son. “Tough divorce?”

“In some ways, yes. Especially on Joseph, not that he had a great relationship with his father.”

“So his father's totally out of the picture?”

“Very much so. I don't even know where he is. Not that I want to know.”

Sorry bastard. “Does Joseph ask about him?”

“Sometimes, but like you, he was too young to remember much about his dad. Joseph's the best thing that came out of my marriage. He's always been my strength.”

The unshed tears glistening in Joanna's blue eyes caused something deep inside Rio to hurt for her, made him want to take away that pain he saw all too clearly, even though she tried to hide it with a weak smile.

“Call him now, Joanna.”

She looked surprised and thankful. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I'm sure.”

“I'd like that. But I insist on paying you for the—”

“Forget it. Just call your son.” He nodded toward the phone hanging on the wall.

She quickly rose from the chair and strode to the phone. Rio thought he should probably leave, give her
some privacy, but for some reason he stayed, maybe to provide some comfort if she needed it. He doubted she'd ask, though, or easily accept his consolation.

“Joseph, it's Mommy.” Her face immediately brightened. “You're playing with your train? I'm so glad you like it, sweetie. I'm sorry I couldn't give you more Christmas presents, but maybe next year.”

A long pause suspended the conversation until Joanna finally said, “I'll have to see about that bike. But you have to have training wheels until you learn to ride it.”

Rio watched Joanna from the corner of his eye while he cleared the plates from the table. She twisted the cord round and round her finger, swiped at her face now and then, raised her chin and covered her mouth on occasion. He could tell she was trying hard not to cry. If only he could do something to rid her of those tears, at least temporarily. Get her mind off her troubles. Maybe he could.

After she hung up, he held out his hand to her. “Come here. I want to show you something.”

She blinked then stared. “Where are we going?”

“It's a surprise.”

“Surely you don't mean that hot tub.”

“Nope. I want to show you my favorite place.”

 

Joanna stared with wide-eyed wonder at a room that held every indoor form of recreation imaginable, including a freestanding basketball goal on one end. A pool table sat in the middle; electronic pinball games lined the paneled walls. The only thing that even hinted at adulthood was a bar that resembled something out of a saloon, complete with a mirrored background, shelves full of liquor and inverted glasses of every shape and size dangling from a row of holders above the counter.

“This used to be a formal dining room.”

Rio's statement brought Joanna back into the real world, or his world, as the case may be. “It looks big enough to be a ballroom,” she said.

“True. The room didn't have anything in it when I bought the house, so I turned the space into play town.”

Play town was an accurate description, Joanna decided. Perfect, since it seemed Rio Madrid was still a little boy playing at being an adult—conservative doctor by day, adventurous adolescent by night. She'd known his kind before, been married to his kind, as a matter of fact. The kind of man that should be avoided at all costs.

But she couldn't avoid him at the moment since he was still holding her hand, looking as though he was awaiting approval on a job well done. Looking devastatingly handsome.

Tugging from his grasp, she walked to the leaf-scrolled wooden pool table, obviously expensive, maybe even an antique, more than likely five times more costly than her car.

She faced him and immediately noticed the pride in his expression. “Very interesting, Doctor. Is this what you do in your spare time when you're not in the hot tub?”

“Yeah. It helps me relax.” He cocked one eyebrow. “Can I interest you in a game?”

Oh, yes.
Oh, no! “What kind of game?”

He made a sweeping gesture around the room. “Take your pick, but I was thinking pool.”

Now, this could be great fun, a chance for Joanna to play her own little game. “Oh, I don't know. It's been a long time. I've never been all that good.” Not quite as good as her dad, but she could definitely hold her own.

“I'll go easy on you.” His mellow, hypnotic voice made her think of slow and easy lovemaking. She suspected he would take his time, using his skilled hands, his mouth…

She should be horsewhipped for thinking such things, but Joanna couldn't deny that Rio Madrid was the kind of man that fantasies were made of. Nothing wrong with fantasies, she guessed, as long as she didn't allow them to take flight into reality.

Rio crouched at the end of the table, retrieved the balls from beneath and rolled them onto the felt surface. After he had them racked, he made his way to the cues hanging on the only bare space of wall. He grabbed two then came back to her. “Exactly how much experience do you have?”

A loaded question, especially since he posed it as if it had nothing to do with billiards. She took the pool stick he offered and a deep breath, but couldn't avoid brushing his hand, couldn't ignore the electric current that his touch generated throughout her whole body.

“As I've said, it's been a while.” Been a while since she'd played pool, since she'd made love, since she'd even wanted to make love.

“I'll let you break then. Give you a head start.”

She could use one at the moment, but she inherently knew it would take little time for Rio to catch up.

Determined to focus on the game, she rolled her shoulders to loosen up then walked to the end of the table, lined up the cue ball and studied the angle. Feigning ignorance, she asked, “Is this okay?”

“I'd say that.”

Rio didn't appear to be looking at the ball, or the cue. He was looking straight at her cleavage, slightly exposed beneath her cotton blouse because of her position. Nor
mally she would scold him. Normally she would button up to the neck and give him a dirty look. But she didn't feel all that normal. She felt wicked, delighting in the power she seemed to have over him at that moment.