by Sarah Morgan
‘Is that supposed to make me feel better?’ She put the remote control down slowly and carefully, as if it were a potential murder weapon. ‘You’ll look fine, Evie, once I’ve turned you into something decent. Is that what you’re saying?’ Her tightly worded question triggered all the alarms in Rio’s internal warning system.
‘If this is going to be one of those, Does my bottom look big in this? conversations, then don’t go there,’ he warned, his tone thickened with frustration. The clock was ticking and her resistance was an obstacle he hadn’t anticipated. Not for one moment had it entered his head that she’d be anything other than compliant. ‘If you hadn’t been lying naked on my bed, I would not have been tempted to kiss you,’ Rio exploded with the tension that had been building since the photographer had chosen to elbow his way into his life. ‘If you had worn clothes or at least slept under the covers—’
‘If you had shown some self-control—’
Rio breathed deeply because that was a charge from which it was almost impossible to defend himself and that particular aspect of this whole seedy situation disturbed him far more than he was prepared to admit. He was always extremely careful with his liaisons and he never indulged in one-night stands. And yet where had his self-control been a few hours ago when he’d seen her lying on his bed? Not for the first time, he wondered what would have happened had the photographer paused before taking his photograph. How much more revealing and incriminating would a later picture have been?
‘There is no point in dwelling on what is done,’ he said tautly, ‘and the truth is that a photograph of you naked in that bed was all that was needed. The rest would have been easily created from association and artistic use of Photoshop.’
‘You mean they would have manufactured a photograph of the two of us together?’
‘Photography software is increasingly sophisticated and you were in my bedroom. Stop throwing out obstacles when the solution I’m proposing is in both our interests. Your reputation stays intact. You mentioned that you have nowhere to live—I’m offering you somewhere to live. You get to stay here, in the most highly prized hotel suite in London. Anything you want, you can have. Most women in your position would be extremely excited at the prospect of an all expenses paid holiday complete with shopping.’
‘Women are not a homogeneous breed, Mr Zaccarelli—we’re individuals with individual tastes and needs. And why do you care so much about whether it looks like a one-night stand or something more? What is this deal you keep talking about?’
The question caught him off guard. For a brief moment he felt his control start to unravel. ‘You don’t need to know. Rest assured that I have a whole team of lawyers working night and day to make sure that it doesn’t fall apart at the eleventh hour.’
‘And if it does?’
A chill ran down his spine. ‘It won’t.’
‘Providing I do as you say. I don’t understand why this story could ruin it for you. Is this deal of yours with some old-fashioned guy who thinks you should have a blameless reputation or something?’
‘Something like that.’ Rio realised that his palms were sweating and he turned away from her, locking down his emotions with ruthless efficiency.
‘So you’ll do all this to win one deal? Money, money, money. Is that all that matters to you?’ Increasingly agitated, she rubbed her hands down her arms. ‘Well, I’m sorry if my decision loses you a few million, but I’m not prepared to do it.’
Back in control, Rio turned to look at her, sure that he must have misheard. ‘Excuse me?’
‘I won’t do it. I’m just going to look more of a fool.’ She covered her face with her hands and gave a moan of embarrassment. ‘Every time I think about that photo being printed I just want to hide. Grandpa is never going to be able to hold his head up at senior poker ever again.’
Banking down his own frustration, Rio crossed the room. Gently, he pulled her hands away from her face. ‘You are not going to hide. You are going to hold your head up high and look as though you are in love with me.’ Appreciating the irony of his own words, he gave a faint smile and she instantly picked up on it.
‘Don’t tell me—usually you’re telling women not to fall in love with you.’
‘I’m not into serious relationships. They don’t work for me. I’m not that kind of guy.’ Once, just once, and look where it had got him.
‘And I assume the public know that.’
‘If you’re worried that I won’t be able to play my part, then don’t be. I can be very convincing,’ Rio assured her. ‘The fact that I’m not usually serious about a woman will make this whole story all the more plausible.’
‘And all the more embarrassing.’
Rio’s jaw clenched and he spoke through his teeth, his patience severely tested. ‘Are you saying it’s embarrassing to be associated with me?’
‘I’m saying it’s going to be embarrassing when it ends. For all your so-called brilliant brain, you haven’t thought this through. It’s going to end—and then how will it look?’
‘What does it matter?’ Irritated to the point of explosion, Rio spread his hands in a gesture of exasperation. ‘Relationships end all the time—it is a part of life. And that is surely a better option for you than having the world think you had a one night stand.’
‘So basically I have two choices here—either I get to look like a big, fat slut or I get to be the only woman to be dumped twice in the space of months. Forgive me if I’m not jumping up and down with excitement at either option.’
‘Relationships end. I still don’t see the problem.’
Her eyes sparked. ‘That’s because you’re only thinking about yourself as usual. Not me. Have you ever been dumped, Mr Zaccarelli?’
‘Rio.’
‘Rio—’ Using his name brought a flush to her cheeks. ‘Has anyone ever told you they don’t want to be with you any more?’
‘No, of—’ He caught himself and shrugged. ‘No.’
‘You were going to say of course not, weren’t you?’ She gave a disbelieving laugh. ‘You are so monumentally arrogant and sure of yourself, but that explains why you can’t understand my problem. You don’t know what it’s like to be rejected.’
‘Given that this isn’t a real relationship,’ Rio said tightly, ‘it wouldn’t be a real rejection.’
‘But if you’re going to be as convincing as you say you are, then everyone is going to think it is! Six weeks ago my fiancé, a man I’d known since I was a child, called off our wedding—’ She wrapped her arms around herself as if she were suddenly cold. ‘Forgive me if I’m not rushing forward to embrace another public battering of my ego. It was bad enough the first time, having everyone feeling sorry for me. I couldn’t even walk down the street without ten people saying they understood how hideously humiliated I must feel—this would be a thousand times worse. Only this time it wouldn’t be just the village; it would be the whole world.’
‘How would that be worse?’ Genuinely baffled, struggling to understand, Rio stared at her. ‘Why would you care what a bunch of strangers think?’
‘I just would! I don’t want loads of people I don’t know discussing the fact that you dumped me. “Well, it’s hardly surprising, is it?”’ she parroted. ‘“I mean, what would a guy like him see in a girl like her?”’
‘You’d rather they thought you’d had a sleazy one-night stand with me?’
She gulped. ‘No. I’d rather they weren’t talking about me at all. But I especially don’t want them speculating on why I always get dumped.’
Aware that the clock was ticking and that they needed to get on with this if it was going to have any chance of working, Rio rubbed his hand over the back of his neck and applied his mind to a solution. ‘I’ll put out an announcement telling everyone you’re a wonderful woman and that I have huge respect for you.’
She cringed. ‘That would make people feel even more sorry for me.’
‘I’ll say that we will always be friends.�
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‘Which is basically like saying our relationship fizzled because you don’t find me attractive.’
Trying to conceal his mounting exasperation, Rio inhaled deeply and offered up the only other solution that presented itself. ‘If it’s the dumping part that really worries you, then you can dump me.’
She stared at him. ‘Sorry?’
‘I’ll allow you to dump me,’ he said tightly. ‘Problem solved.’
‘That wouldn’t work.’
‘Now what? Why wouldn’t it work?’
‘Because you’re rich and handsome. No one would believe it. Why would anyone in my position dump a man like you?’
‘That’s easy. I’m a total bastard,’ Rio said immediately, relieved to be able to deal with that obstacle so simply. ‘No one who knows me will have any trouble believing you kicked me out.’ His confession drew a tiny smile from her.
‘You’re that bad?’
Transfixed by that smile, Rio couldn’t look away from her mouth. ‘I’m terrible. I’m dominating, I like everything my own way—basically I’m horribly selfish, inwardly focused, I set myself a punishing schedule and frequently work an eighteen-hour day, which usually means that all I want to do when I’m with a woman is have sex.’ And he wanted to have sex with her, right here, right now. It exasperated him to realise that, even in this most delicate of situations, he could barely keep his hands off her.
‘You manage to fit sex into your punishing working day?’ Her voice was faint. ‘When?’
‘Whenever I feel like it—’ He was intrigued by the colour in her cheeks. ‘So that’s settled then. I’ll do something awful—’
‘You mean you’ll behave the way you usually behave.’
‘Something like that.’ He acknowledged the barely veiled insult with a dismissive shrug. ‘You’ll dump me and, just to make sure it looks completely authentic, I’ll go round looking moody for a few weeks.’
‘So you admit to being selfish, inwardly focused and a total bastard, but no woman has ever dumped you. Why? What have you got going for you?’
Rio gave a slow, confident smile. ‘If we’re spending the foreseeable future together then you’ll have time to discover the answer to that yourself.’
‘If you’re talking about sex, then you can forget it. Unlike you, I think sex should be part of a relationship.’
‘So do I.’
She backed away. ‘Yes, but the difference is that you don’t want your relationships to go anywhere, and I do. Just so that there’s no misunderstanding, I’m telling you now that I’ll be sleeping in the second bedroom.’
Rio, who had his own ideas about where she’d be sleeping, decided to handle that issue later. ‘So you’ll do it? Good. And, when the time comes, you dump me.’
‘I still don’t see how we can convince them that we’re together.’
‘By being seen together,’ he said smoothly, taking her hand and hauling her against him. ‘The first thing you need is a ring, so let’s go. I’m about to buy you the biggest diamond you’ve ever seen.’
‘I’ve never been in a chauffeur driven car. There’s masses of room.’ Evie stretched her legs out in front of her, aware that Rio was watching her with amusement.
‘That’s the general idea.’
‘Why do you need so much room? You could have a party in here.’
‘Not a party, but sometimes I do conduct business meetings in the car if I’m travelling short distances.’
‘What happens for long distances?’
‘I use my private jet.’
Evie gave a choked laugh. ‘Private jet. Of course. This year’s must have accessory. No serious tycoon should be seen without one.’
‘Not an accessory,’ he drawled, ‘but a practical, money-saving tool.’
‘Money-saving.’ Evie nodded, struggling to keep her face straight as she slid her hand over the soft leather seat. ‘Of course. I find the same thing. When I’m economizing, I turn down the heating and watch my food budget but I always make sure I leave the private jet well alone. As you say, it’s such a practical, money-saving tool.’
‘This may surprise you, but when you spend as many hours in the air as I do, that becomes a truth.’
As the gulf in their lifestyles opened up between them, Evie’s smile faltered and she flopped back against the seat. ‘This is ridiculous,’ she muttered. ‘It’s never going to work. Give me one reason why a guy like you would ever be involved with a woman like me?’
‘You have incredible legs.’ He moved so quickly that she didn’t anticipate it. Before she had time to respond, his hand was buried in her hair and his mouth descended on hers in a kiss that sent her brain spinning. ‘I love the way you taste,’ he murmured huskily and she gasped against his lips.
‘OK, enough, you don’t have to keep kissing me—’ Seriously unsettled by the way he made her feel, Evie shoved at his chest, alarmed when he didn’t budge. She’d always considered herself pretty strong for a woman but her violent push had no effect on him. ‘It was kissing me that got us in this mess—’
‘But now we’re in this “mess”, as you call it, we might as well enjoy it. They’ll believe it, tesoro, once they see you.’ He showed no inclination to stop what he was doing. ‘You have amazing hair, fantastic breasts—’
Evie moaned as his mouth trailed along her jaw. ‘Those are all physical things. That’s just sex.’
‘Never underestimate the power of sex. Sex is a very important part of a relationship.’ One hand slid down her back to her bottom and Evie wriggled away, mortified.
‘Don’t do that—’
‘Why not?’
‘Well, for a start because someone might see you—’
His eyes gleamed into hers. ‘And that would be a problem because—?’
Evie could hardly breathe. For a moment she’d forgotten that the whole objective of this charade was for people to see them. Confused, she wondered whether he was faking the attraction. But then she remembered the kiss that had started all this…
‘Unless people have X-ray vision, they’re not going to be able to see your hand on my bottom,’ she croaked and he gave a wicked smile as he ran his fingers through her hair.
‘Any red-blooded male glancing into this car will have a pretty accurate idea of the location of my missing hand.’
‘You’re not funny.’ She’d barely thought about sex before she’d met him. Now she was finding it hard to think about anything else. Was he going to keep kissing her? Did he think she was made of stone? Embarrassed by the burning heat between her thighs, Evie pulled away from him and this time he released her, smiling slightly as he watched her shift to the furthest corner of her seat.
His whole attitude should have been enough to make her dislike him, but instead she found herself alarmingly turned on by the electric combination of smooth sophistication and command. It was humiliating, she thought, squirming in her seat, to find a man as basic as Rio so attractive. But evidently she wasn’t the only one. After all, he’d never been dumped…
They were driving through the upmarket streets of Knightsbridge. The windows of Harrods, the world famous store, were decorated for Christmas and everywhere she looked there were rich-looking women wearing fur and dark glasses, stepping out of expensive-looking cars.
By the time Rio’s driver pulled up outside an exclusive jewellers, Evie had lost all desire to be seen in public. Even in the smart outfit and sexy shoes, she didn’t fit.
Two guards stood either side of the heavy glass door and, even from the protective cocoon of Rio’s car, she could see that the few pieces on display in the window would have satisfied royalty.
Thoroughly intimidated, she thought about the tiny diamond that Jeff had given her when he’d proposed. At the time she’d thought it was small because they were saving for a deposit so that they could buy their own cottage. Now she realised it had been small because he’d been spending most of their shared savings on his other girlfriend.
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nbsp; She’d been a total idiot. But it was partly her fault, wasn’t it? She and Jeff had grown up together. Everyone had assumed that one day they’d get married. Evie had told herself that the fact she felt no spark was because she wasn’t a particularly passionate person. She’d assumed Jeff was the same. And then she’d discovered what he’d been doing with Cindy, the librarian from the next village…
She stole a sideways glance at Rio, her gaze resting on his mouth, remembering the sizzling, steamy kiss. Sparks had been shooting all over the place.
And now she was expected to pretend they were in a relationship.
‘You expect me to go in there? Why can’t they come to us? In the movies you just pick up the phone and loads of jewellers come running to the hotel with a selection of rings.’
‘In the movies, they’re not trying to attract the interest of the paparazzi.’ Rio leaned across her to undo her seat belt. ‘If I’d ordered them to bring the rings to the hotel, it wouldn’t have been anywhere near as loud a statement.’
Flattening herself to the seat, Evie stared at him, determined not to be impressed. ‘I still don’t understand how this is going to work. If the whole point of this is to get the paparazzi to take a photograph of us, shouldn’t someone have called them and told them we’re here?’
‘No need. Wherever I go, you can find photographers.’ Rio’s tone was bored. ‘It’s part of my life, which means it’s now part of your life. Get used to it.’ As the driver opened the door Rio gestured for her to leave the car but Evie didn’t budge.
‘You mean there might be someone out there with a camera? Am I supposed to smile and wave?’
‘You’re not the Queen,’ Rio said dryly. ‘Just act normally.’
‘But none of this is normal for me! I wouldn’t find myself in front of rows of paparazzi,’ Evie said irritably. ‘I don’t know what I’d do. Look over my shoulder, probably, to see who they were photographing because it certainly wouldn’t be me. Unless they were taking snaps for a Miss Unbelievably Big Bottom contest.’