Chapter 1
The helicopter swooped low over the trees and Sara felt her stomach
roll.
Beneath her lay acres and acres of lush tropical rainforest, the canopy-forming a dense green umbrella that sheltered and concealed the exotic
mysteries of the forest floor. At any other time, she would have been
captivated by the wild, breathtaking beauty of her surroundings, but she
was far too tense to think about anything except the meeting that lay
ahead of her. The meeting and the man.
What on earth was she doing dressed in this ridiculously hot, scratchy
the suit, flying over the top of the African rainforest to throw herself at the
the mercy of a man who didn’t know the meaning of the word?
William Willson.
Brilliant, dangerous, damaged. So many words came to mind when
thinking of him, none of them tame or soothing. Shockingly wealthy and
wielding more power than kings and presidents, he was reputedly so
clever with figures that the financial press had likened him to a walking
computer. Which didn’t bode well, Sara thought gloomily as she
clutched at her seat, given her allergy to technology.
Beneath her, the trees parted and a swollen river snaked through a
deep gorge and plunged over rocks in an explosion of white froth. ‘He has properties all over the world—’ she turned to the pilot, seeking
answers to the questions bubbling in her mind ‘—so why is he living out here?’
The pilot kept his eyes on the treetops. ‘Because the world won’t leave
the man alone. He likes his privacy.’
Which fitted with what she’d heard about him. Ruthless, unemotional,
unsentimental—the list of unflattering adjectives went on and on.
Considering the man never gave interviews, there was no shortage of
information on him. ‘He’s a loner?’
‘Well, I wouldn’t exactly call him soft and cuddly, if that’s what you’re
asking, not that women seem to mind. Being bad and dangerous just
seems to bring them flocking. That and the power. Women can sniff out
power from a hundred paces. Power and money.’ The pilot fingered the
controls and then glanced towards her. ‘You don’t look like his usual
type.’
His usual type?
Wondering how anyone could mistake her for a billionaire’s
girlfriend, Sara almost laughed. ‘I have a meeting with Mr. William Willson.
His company put up the original investment for my business.’ And that
investment had changed her life. ‘He’s what they call a business angel, but
I expect you know that, given that you work for him.’
‘Angel?’ The pilot convulsed with laughter and the helicopter swooped
alarmingly close to the treetops. ‘William Willson —angel?’
‘It’s an expression. It means that he invests in small businesses that
interest him.’ And he’d been interested in hers. Until recently. The sick
feeling in her stomach was suddenly back and Sara lifted her briefcase onto her lap and stroked the surface, trying to solder her fractured
confidence.
The pilot was still laughing. ‘Angel. I don’t know what he does to
make his money but I can tell you one thing,’ he fixed his gaze on the
horizon and fiddled with the controls, ‘the man is no angel.’
Refusing to let him frighten her, Sara straightened in her seat. ‘I
don’t believe everything I read in the papers.’
‘Obviously—’ he glanced towards her and the smile on his craggy,
weathered face was faintly pitying ‘—or you wouldn’t be here. I can see
you’re a gutsy girl with a mind of your own and that’s good, it will get
you a long way out here in the jungle.’
‘There’s nothing gutsy about attending a business meeting.’
‘That would depend on who you’re doing business with.’ The
mountains rose and dipped and the helicopter swooped through a green-
clad valley. ‘And where. Not many people dare to visit the
wolf in his lair.’
Despite her determination to keep an open mind, Sara felt her mouth
dry. ‘You call him the wolf?’
‘Not me. That’s what everyone else calls him. I just call him the boss.’
His hands shifted on the controls and the helicopter lost height.
Losing her stomach and her nerve, Sara closed her eyes briefly and
tried not to also lose her lunch. She’d never been any good on roller
coasters. ‘I’m sure Mr. Willson is a very reasonable man.’
‘Are you?’ He fixed his eyes on a spot far below them. ‘Then you’ve
never met him. Hold on. We’re going down.’‘Going down?’ Sara stared at him in alarm, her worries about
sickness and the dangers of William Willson momentarily eclipsed by
that less than a reassuring statement. ‘Do you mean we’re landing or we’re
crashing?’
But the pilot didn’t answer. His eyes were narrowed and his jaw
clenched as he played with the controls. For a moment it looked as
though they were going to plunge into the trees and then, at the last
minute, a small landing pad revealed itself and he lowered the machine
down, landing like a giant insect in what seemed like a ridiculously
the small gap between the trees.
‘Not crashing, then.’ Sara gave a wobbly smile and let out the breath
she’d been holding. ‘I had a mental image of carnage.’
‘If you’re meeting with William then there’s going to be carnage.’ The
pilot flicked a switch in front of him. ‘I’ve seen grown men in tears after
five minutes with him. Take my advice and fight your corner. If there’s
one thing the boss hates, it’s wimps. Welcome to the Atlantic rainforest,
Miss Sara. One of the most endangered little ecosystems on our
planet.’
‘You’re leaving me? Here? In the middle of nowhere?’ Sara turned
her head and looked out of the window and only then did she see the
lodge—a building that seemed to consist of nothing but glass domes and
smooth, weathered wood, it blended into the forest so cleverly that it
seemed almost to have grown naturally amongst the trees. ‘Oh.’ She
looked at the walkways suspended high above the forest floor. ‘It’s
stunning. Amazing.’
The pilot was laughing to himself. ‘William —angel.’ Still chortling, he wiped a hand over his forehead and removed the beads of
sweat. ‘Out you get and keep your head down until you’re clear of the
blades. I’m flying back to Rio to pick up a package and then back to São
Paulo.’
Sara sat glued to her seat, unwilling to abandon her last link with
civilization. ‘You’re not waiting? He said I could only have ten minutes
…’
And it was completely ridiculous to have traveled all this way just for
ten minutes, but what choice did she have? It was that or give up and
there was no way she was giving up. Her one hope was that he’d agree
to give her more time because she knew that ten minutes was never
going to be enough time to dig herself out of the hole she’d fallen into.
‘If there’s anything left of you when he’s finished, I’ll come back and
pick up the pieces. Take the walkway over there to the left and,
whatever you do, don’t stray off the path. This is the jungle, not a theme
park. Watch out for the wildlife.’
‘Wildlife?’ She’d been too busy worrying about the meeting to even
think about wildlife. She glanced dubiously into the dense forest that
surrounded them. Some parts were in total shade whereas in others the
sun penetrated the thick canopy of trees and was channeled onto the
forest floor like spotlights. Was it her imagination or was it all moving?
‘You mean insects?’
He gave a wicked smile. ‘Over two thousand different species at the
last estimation. And they’re just the ones we know about.’
Trying not to think about all those legs scurrying towards her, Sara
smoothed her skirt over her knees and wished she’d worn trousers. ‘And snakes?’
‘Oh, yes, there are snakes—’ his grin widened as he glanced towards
her thoroughly inadequate shoes ‘—and then there are the giant
anteaters, jaguars, and the—’
‘OK, I think I’ve heard enough,’ she said breathlessly, interrupting him
with a shaky smile. Any moment now she’d be clinging to his arm and
begging him to fly her home. ‘I’m sure Mr. William wouldn’t live here if it
were that dangerous. The pilot threw back his head and laughed. ‘You don’t know
the first thing about him. He lives here because it’s that dangerous, baby
doll. He has a low boredom threshold. Likes to live life on the edge, so to
speak.
