Who Wants to Marry a Billionaire? (16 page)

       There was
a loud knock on the door of the cabaña, and then Nina heard the door opening. 
She untangled herself from Daniel, wrapped the sheet around her, and called
out, “We’re not up yet,” hoping that it was housekeeping as she ran to lock the
door.  Nothing quite prepared her for the sight of Elsa standing in their
little living room. 

       Elsa
looked like she had just eaten a dozen lemons when she saw Nina in the sheet. 
Nina froze, trying to surreptitiously wind the sheet a little tighter.  After a
long pregnant pause, Elsa spoke, “Well, well, well.  I truly underestimated the
Lowell hoi polloi.  I suppose gold digging is incredibly motivational.”

       Nina
chewed at her lower lip.  Anything she could think of to say seemed wrong, but
saying nothing somehow seemed worse.  It was, she felt, unfair for her to face
the music alone.
“Daniel, we have a guest.”  Slowly Nina backed toward the bedroom, “If you’ll
excuse me, we weren’t expecting anyone, and I’m going to get dressed.” 
Suddenly, she broke and dashed into the bedroom, slamming the door.

       Daniel,
thankfully, had his sweatpants on, and Nina looked at him, horrified.  “Elsa is
out there.  I thought it was housekeeping.  She saw me like this.”

       “Please
don’t freak out, Nina, I’ve known Elsa my whole life.  I—I told her that it was
getting serious between us.”

       Nina
started to cry, “Can you please make her go away?  She hates me, and I’m still
trying to process what happened after a lot of rum punch.”  Daniel came and put
his arms around her, “It’s okay, please don’t cry.  I know Elsa comes off like
a tough nut, but it’s just because she’s protective of me.  Once you two get to
really know each other, everything will be fine.”

       “Yeah? 
Well, I don’t think she really wants that to happen.”

       Daniel
kissed her, “This is like the zip line—please trust me.”  He wiped at Nina’s
tears with his thumbs.  “It makes me sad to see you cry, and well, I know the punch
may not have been the best idea, but it doesn’t change the fact I care about
you.”  Nina nodded. “Get dressed, I’ll deal with Elsa.”

       “What is
going on in that pretty little noggin of yours?” Elsa hissed when Daniel
emerged from the bedroom.  “Please tell me this was an accident.  She’s a gold
digger Daniel, she’s just after your money.”

       “You
know, I seem to recall that you’re the one who decided to wave DeVere money in
front of her.  Until then, she was minding her own business.”    

       “Well,
yes, but now she has delusions of grandeur!” 

       “Nina is
not delusional.  She is probably the first genuinely good woman I have ever been
interested in—you should be happy about that.”

       Elsa
searched for some way to tarnish Nina in Daniel’s eyes, “She’s making getting
this deal done complicated.  You haven’t lost sight of why you’re here, have
you?”

       “So now I
impress Arturo with a real relationship instead of a fake one—what’s wrong with
that?” 

       Temporarily
out of ammunition, Elsa relented.  “So Arturo is getting back today, introduce
Nina, and then I’m taking her off to do some Foundation business while you
solidify the deal.  You don’t need her mooning around, gumming up the works.”

       “Is that
really necessary?”  Daniel found it difficult to stand up to Elsa, though.

       “If she’s
going to be promoted to field coordinator, then by god, she’s going to have to
learn how to do it, right?”

       “Yeah,
okay.”

       “I’ll be
back tomorrow morning to pick Nina up right after breakfast.  Tell the little
tart to be ready.”   

       “Elsa, I
really care about her, and if you care about me, you’ll be nicer to Nina—or
it’s really going to start affecting our relationship.  Be respectful.”

       “Whatever
Daniel.”  But Elsa’s mouth was a hard straight line as she walked out the
door. 

       Back in
the bedroom, Nina was trembling as she tried to brush her hair.  She’d managed
to put on a long linen skirt and a tank top, but Elsa had really unnerved her,
and sleeping with Daniel seemed to have changed everything.  The thought of three
million dollars hanging in the air, and Elsa’s remarks about her being a gold
digger, made her feel like a high priced call girl.  Had she really sold out
her integrity for an apartment and medical bills and tuition fees?  She
couldn’t look at Daniel as he came back in the room, but he watched how her
hands were shaking and went to where she sat at the end of the bed.

       Taking
the brush from her hands, he eased her to the floor between his legs as he sat
on the bed, and began brushing her hair is slow, soothing strokes.  “Everything
is okay.  It’s all going to be okay.  Do you trust me?”  And Nina felt her head
nodding up and down.  She did trust Daniel, and she was just as responsible for
their rum-fueled episode as he was, so she didn’t have any reason to be mad at
him.  “Just because we needed a little liquid courage last night, doesn’t make
what happened any less real.  But if you want to slow things down, I’m okay
with that.  Let’s do the deal, and then we can date like normal people, how
about that?”

       Nina
looked at the giant emerald on her ring finger, and had no idea what to do
about that.  “But you’re not a normal person Daniel.  You’ll never be a normal
person.  You’re a billionaire’s son.”

       “And that
disqualifies me from being interested in Nina Alves?  I don’t think so.”  He
put the brush down and gently rubbed her shoulders, “Nina, you’ve got to
relax.  Let’s go have some brunch.  Maybe Arturo is back and you can meet him. 
Despite his opinion of me, I really like the guy.”

       “Okay,
you’re right, I’m wound up, I just need to shake it off.  But Daniel, what is
it with you and Elsa?  Why are the two of you so close?”

       Daniel’s
hands grew still and he rested them on Nina’s shoulders.  “When I was a kid, I
mean little, like five, my Mom had a kind of nervous breakdown.  She was
homesick for France, she had this crazy little boy running around, my Dad was
always gone, and she was really sick.  My mom…had bulimia.  She was from a
normal middle class family, and as Dad got more and more wealthy, I think she
felt like she had to be perfect, and the pressure was too much.  At any rate,
Elsa was the person that was there for me.  She’d gone to Harvard with Dad, and
then she came to work for him in the early days.  They’d known each other
forever, and my Mom was gone for a really long time getting treatment.  So I
guess Elsa is the person I’ve always told my secrets to, the person who didn’t
require me to be perfect.”

       Nina
wrapped an arm around Daniel’s leg, “But your parents, they’re okay now?”

       Daniel
cleared his throat and sniffed, and Nina realized he was trying not to cry. 
“Yeah, they’re great.  And I know they love me—but there’s always this
background pressure for me to live up to their high expectations.  Whenever I
screw up, they act so…disappointed.  I’m tired of feeling like I’m still five
years old.  That’s why this deal means so much to me.”

       “I get
it, I do.  Okay, let’s go buy an eco-resort.”

       “I’m glad
you’re here Nina, and not just because I need you to impress Arturo, you make
me feel like there’s hope for me.”  He swallowed hard, and then smiled as he
leaned his head down to Nina.  “Alright, first brunch, and then a deal.  You
can’t do business on an empty stomach.” 

       They
spruced themselves up and then headed over to the restaurant’s veranda.  Nina
looked at the menu, “You know, for being kind of hung over, I’m really
hungry.”  

       “Me too,”
Daniel said.  If you’ll get the giant omelet, I’ll get pancakes and we can
share.”

       The food
arrived and Nina and Daniel launched into it, eating with gusto, when an older
man approached the table. 

       Daniel
put his flatware down with a clatter and stood up suddenly, ‘Arturo!  Welcome
back.  How is your new grandchild?  Boy or girl?”

       “A little
girl, Paloma, everyone is doing well, thank you for asking.”  He turned to
Nina, “And who is your charming companion?”

       “This is
my fiancé, Nina Alves, Nina this is Señor Arturo Calderon.” 

       Nina half
stood to shake his hand, “So pleased to meet you.  The resort is amazing, we’ve
been having a wonderful time.”

       Daniel
gestured to the empty chair at their table, “Please, join us, we were just
going to ask for some more coffee.”

       Arturo
pulled the chair out and Nina considered Arturo.  He was in his early 60s, very
fit in a trim way, with thick black hair that was greying at the temples.  He
had bright, sharp eyes and she could tell that he was taking everything in; she
also had the sense that he didn’t smile easily, but when he did, it would be
like the sun coming out after a storm.

       A waiter
poured coffee for everyone, and Arturo stirred a little sugar into his.  “So
Nina, about the only thing I know about you is that you sit on an elephant well. 
Are you from Boston too?”

       “Well, I
live in Boston now, but I grew up in Lowell, Massachusetts.  You could say it’s
a little more blue collar.”

       Nina
could tell that piqued Arturo’s interest.  “Are your parents still there?”

       “My mom
lives there, but she’s staying with me in Boston right now, my brother had an
accident, and she’s looking after him.  My father, who was Brazilian, passed
away when I was three.”
            “My condolences,” Arturo said very sincerely. 

       Nina
nodded.  “I went to college in western Massachusetts, and then I moved to
Boston to work for the DeVere Foundation.”

       Arturo
nodded as he continued to thoughtfully stir his coffee, “So that’s how you and
Daniel met?”

       Nina and
Daniel couldn’t help but look at each other and smile, “Yes.”

       “Are you
a hard worker Nina?” 

       Nina
couldn’t tell if he was joking or not, but Daniel jumped in, “That’s kind of
why we met, the managing director of the foundation and my mother couldn’t stop
singing her praises.  So I had to go find out about her for myself.”

       Nina
blushed, and said, “Stop, I do my job like a lot of other hardworking people at
the Foundation.”

       Arturo
finally smiled.  He liked her modesty.  “Have you had time to enjoy the
rainforest since you arrived?”

       Nodding
enthusiastically Nina told him about the zip line tour through the canopy,
going to the coffee plantation, their day at the waterfalls, and dancing at the
festival.  She left out the part about the drunken sex.

       “Bueño. 
I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself.  Daniel seems pretty relaxed too.”  He
looked at Daniel pointedly.

       Daniel
smiled, “You’ll be happy to know that Nina is a very good influence.  She’s
fun…and charming…and
stable
.  She’s making an honest man out of me.” 
And he truly meant it when he said it.

       “That’s
good news.”  Arturo looked at his watch, “I have some things I have to catch up
on today, but will the two of you be my guests for dinner this evening?”

       Nina was
delighted—so far so good.  “That would be lovely Señor Calderon.”

       He nodded
his head graciously, “Please Nina, call me Arturo.  Señor Calderon was my
father.  Eight o’clock then?”

       Daniel
stood back up and shook his hand again, “Looking forward to it.”  Sitting back
down, Daniel turned to Nina, “Do you want to go horseback riding or river
rafting today?”

       Nina
rubbed her head, “I was thinking maybe we could just hang out here, sit on the
veranda, and read a book or something.” 

       It was an
idea that had not occurred to Daniel.  “Okay, sure, if that’s what you’d like
to do.”  He reached across the table and squeezed her hand, “You’re right,
that’s a good idea.  I should probably do a little work and review my proposal
for Arturo.”

Chapter Twenty Seven

       The day
passed quietly.  Nina lounged about and read a mystery, and Daniel went through
his proposal.  Suddenly in the middle of the afternoon it occurred to Daniel
that he had never told Nina about meeting Elsa the next day.

       “Nina,” he
was not hopeful that spending a day with Elsa was going to go over well, “I
forgot to mention something to you this morning.”

       Looking
up from her book, Nina said, “Yeah, what’s that?”  She’d been doing her best
all day to not think about the morning, or what had happened the night before.

       “Tomorrow
morning, Elsa wants you to go to one of the project sites with her to start
training you on being a field coordinator.”

       Nina
wasn’t sure whether she should be excited or dismayed.  “I’m guessing that is
not optional for me.”

       Daniel
waffled, “Well, she said the sooner you start learning your new job, the
better.”

       “Yeah,
okay.  I don’t suppose everyday can be paradise.”

       The E-mail
chime pinged on Daniel’s iPad.  Without thinking, or really looking at the originating
address, he clicked on the new E-mail.  A giant, high-resolution photograph
started loading, and it looked straight from the Sports Illustrated swimsuit
edition.  It was hard not to appreciate the fact that whoever she was, she
looked like a Panamanian Kate Upton.  He sucked in his breath…loudly.

       “Are you
okay?”

       “Oh yeah,
one of the stocks in my portfolio just kind of tanked, but it’s not that bad.”

       There was
a note attached to the picture.  “Hi, my name is Ariadne.  This isn’t spam —we
have a mutual friend who gave me your e-mail address.  I’m going to be at
Eco-resort Calderon tomorrow, and I’d love to meet you.”