A Deal for Her Innocence

by Williams Cathy

  Was she the embodiment of the irresistible challenge?

  When was the last time he had had one of those?

  When had he ever had one of those?

  He felt a kick of excitement. His libido, which had been temporarily resting, awakened with vigour, reminding him that it had been a while since he had had sex. He slid down a little in the chair and adjusted his big body to ease the ferocious ache in his groin.

  ‘Now that you’re here,’ he said gruffly, ‘You’re going to have to see for yourself what the atmosphere is like, what the people are like, what they enjoy doing. You’re going to have to get the complete picture.’

  Ellie’s brain had frozen. He was saying something, of that she was aware, but she wasn’t taking any of it in because she was still reeling in shock at what he had just said.

  How had her life managed to move from pitching for a job to being asked to pretend to be involved with a billionaire?

  She sneaked a glance at him, to see whether she had misinterpreted a situation. Their eyes tangled and she realised that he was being deadly serious.

  ‘You’re mad,’ was her response to that.

  ‘It makes sense.’ Unaccustomed to losing at anything, Niccolo wasn’t going to lose now. Being told that he was mad was not going to encourage him gracefully to back down.

  ‘In what world does it make sense?’ Ellie gasped. ‘We don’t even know one another!’

  ‘If you’re wandering here, having arrived with me on my private jet for no discernible reason, you’re going to spook the guests and you’re going to get tongues wagging amongst my members of staff. If you spook the guests, you could end up losing me their business. They come here to avoid publicity, not to court it. They’ll think I’ve brought a journalist here to spy on them, and you know what they say about word of mouth.’

  Appalled, Ellie stared at him. Nothing he said made sense even though everything he said seemed very logical.

  ‘This is crazy,’ was all she could find to say.

  Niccolo wondered how he had managed to find himself in a situation of having to persuade a reluctant woman into pretending to have a relationship with him. The pulsing ache in his loins and the drift of his imagination as he looked at her natural, unadorned prettiness answered the question.

  ‘You should have thought about this before you dragged me out here!’ Ellie hissed angrily, careful to keep her voice down, leaning towards him, then pulling back because, the closer she got, the more she felt the tug of something that screamed danger.

  Her heart was thumping inside her like a sledgehammer. Her skin was burning hot, prickly and uncomfortable. She wished she could blame it on her poor choice of clothing but she couldn’t.

  Just the thought of getting close to that danger filled her with dread—and something else that was terrifying.

  ‘I never signed up to this when I came here!’ she cried.

  ‘The mark of true creativity is an ability to think on one’s feet.’

  ‘I’m thinking that this is a ridiculous situation!’

  ‘What are you so afraid of?’

  ‘I’m not afraid of anything.’

  ‘As my partner, you will be able to get all the information you need to build a really good campaign for me, one that incorporates the subtleties of the resort and what it offers. You’ll have the chance to change some of your hard and fast preconceptions. You should be seeing this as an opportunity and a challenge instead of trying to run away like a coward.’

  ‘I’m not running away like a coward!’ Ellie gasped indignantly.

  ‘Seize the day,’ Niccolo urged, liking the way her eyes glittered when she was angry. ‘There is little I appreciate more than someone who can adapt to unforeseen circumstances and use them to their advantage. Take this on and you will certainly have my guaranteed attention when it comes to future advertising campaigns for my companies. As you know, I have extensive business concerns.’

  ‘No one would believe for a second that I’m anything other than your employee,’ she pointed out, making herself think like him, without emotion, rationally, coolly.

  ‘Opposites occasionally attract.’ Niccolo shrugged, lounging back in his chair and watching the play of emotion on her face with brooding intensity.

  Ellie bared her teeth in a polite smile. ‘Perhaps it would be best if I returned to London.’

  ‘Are you prepared to refuse this contract, and the vast potential advertising portfolio that could come with it, off your own bat?’

  Ellie hesitated. Was she? She was a partner in the agency, with the power to judge situations and make decisions, but she had come this far—was she really and truly prepared to walk away now from the pot of gold? She glared at him, trapped by his logic, desperate to wriggle free and yet not knowing how.

  ‘You’re here for a week,’ Niccolo told her softly. ‘Why don’t you live a little and take a risk? Do you imagine that you have anything to fear from me?’

  ‘Of course I don’t,’ Ellie said uncomfortably.

  Take a risk? Ever since she’d been confronted by him pumping iron in a gym her whole life had felt risky and she hated the feeling.

  ‘If you imagine that I’m going to suddenly start making a nuisance of myself, then you’re quite mistaken,’ Niccolo murmured, watching carefully as denial and doubt turned to embarrassment.

  ‘I never thought... I would never suggest that...that you would make a nuisance of yourself...’ Ellie stammered, mortified at the wry amusement in his dark eyes.

  ‘Naturally we would be expected to share accommodation,’ he murmured, lowering his eyes but very clearly picturing her aghast expression at the unfolding of a nightmare scenario. ‘Which works, incidentally, because there are far more guests here than I originally expected. Freeing up a villa for you would require some expert juggling.’

  Who would have imagined that the thing that was not easily accessible could be so powerfully tempting? Okay, so maybe a deal... Yes, he could understand why and how he might pursue a deal in the face of fierce opposition. But a woman? What was that about?

  And would he have been tempted if he had truly believed that there was nothing between them?

  No.

  There was something there, something hot and simmering in a place she was barely aware of. He sensed it and it was as powerful as a live electric charge. Her eyes on him were as assessing as his were on her, even if she had no intention of admitting it.

  ‘I refuse to share anything with you,’ Ellie said vehemently, her anger spiralling a few more notches, because he remained unruffled by her agitated protests.

  ‘I repeat,’ Niccolo drawled, ‘Do you imagine I would ever make a nuisance of myself?’

  ‘That’s not the point.’

  ‘You shared my private jet with me.’

  ‘That’s not the same and you know it.’

  Niccolo shrugged. ‘I have my own private villa here. Out of bounds for guests. It’s a four-bedroomed plantation house. Think we might be jostling for space if we shared it?’

  ‘Why would you have a four-bedroomed villa here?’ Ellie demanded suspiciously and Niccolo burst out laughing.

  ‘Because I can,’ he told her mildly. ‘So I do. Who knows when something like that can come in handy? Care to see whether it’s big enough for the both of us? Because, if you choose to dig your heels in, then you’re free to go back to London and explain that you blew a fortune in possible contracts out of the water.’

  ‘That’s blackmail.’ Ellie paused. ‘And why are you so determined that I fall in line with what you’re suggesting? Isn’t it just going to cause complications for you?’

  Niccolo gave that some serious thought. Complications? The last woman he’d temporarily had in his life had involved complications and she hadn’t been the first. Complications came from women who wanted more than he was prepared to give.

  In comparison, this was flirting. Ellie was interested in him and he was interested in her. Scratch the surface, and that w
as about the size of it. But he wasn’t her type. She’d made that perfectly clear. No, there would be no complications on that front.

  He wasn’t going to try and seduce her, but there was a strong possibility that the chemistry between them would ignite, and he wouldn’t fight to put out the fire.

  Maybe she would see that not all relationships were worthless because they weren’t destined for the long term.

  Niccolo knew that he could try and dig up a thousand reasons for doing what he was doing but, in the end, the biggest pull was that, for the first time in a very long time indeed, he was having fun.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  APPARENTLY NOT. APPARENTLY there would be no complications. Apparently it was a straightforward solution to an unexpected situation.

  Apparently, apparently, apparently.

  Ellie’s objections, even to her own ears, sounded feeble. Niccolo had a way of making what was a crazy situation sound perfectly acceptable. They would share his private villa. It was big enough to sleep eight. Where, he had asked patiently, was the problem? From the vantage point of being ‘involved’ with him, she would be able to get a real feel for the place. It was necessary because this was a template for other resorts. Get it right and his venture would take off. Get it wrong and it could be damaged permanently. A lot would rest on tapping into just the right approach. Not sleazy but not sunset and roses. Something in between. And she could only get what that something was if she immersed herself in the atmosphere.

  And, to do that, she would need to mingle with the staff and with the guests.

  But from a non-threatening, privileged position. She had declined the suggestion that she simply absorb the atmosphere from the perspective of guest. She was not interested in the possibility of anyone making a play for her. Fair enough. She could not see a way of tactfully quizzing the guests about their motivations for being there. Also fair enough. How many more ‘fair enough’s were there? His suggestion should not have the fear factor that it did but she still quailed at the prospect of sharing space with him under the pretence of being involved with him.

  Her panicked concerns had been dealt with in a way that had made her feel a little foolish for raising them in the first place.

  Which was why, drinks finished, they sauntered under the stars towards his villa which was in a secluded section of the resort.

  Night had fallen on the island, and a tropical star-lit sky would have been romantic in any other scenario but, with a stomach knotted with tension, Ellie stood on the threshold of the villa with her heart in her mouth.

  ‘Don’t look as though you’re about to face the hangman’s noose,’ Niccolo told her.

  ‘I honestly don’t think anyone is going to buy this crazy story.’ Ellie gave one final, feeble protest before stepping into the magnificent villa.

  On this count, at least, he had been one hundred percent truthful. The villa was absolutely enormous.

  Hot, sticky, confused and out of her depth, Ellie could still appreciate the magnificence of a place for which no expense had been spared.

  It sat in its own grounds, which at this time of the night was alive with the call of frogs, crickets and a busy, background orchestra of insect noises that was strangely peaceful. In the distance, the sea joined the chorus, a faraway ebb and flow of the ocean. The villa itself was surrounded by a huge wooden veranda. Painted cream, there was nothing to mar the view that in the morning would be revealed from all sides, which respectively gave out over the ocean, the manicured lawns and a backdrop of lush mountain. Bamboo trees reached up towards the velvety black sky, swaying like stilts in the breeze, creaking and rustling as though talking to one another in a language only they could understand.

  She glimpsed a floodlit infinity swimming pool.

  It was a thousand times bigger than her own apartment, yet the tight knot of tension in the pit of her stomach only increased as she entered the villa, where her bag was sitting neatly alongside his own far more expensive, beaten leather case with its distinctive designer logo in one corner.

  ‘My bag is here! Why is my bag here? Did you know that I would end up with no choice but to agree to this...this...crazy situation?’

  ‘Default position,’ Niccolo said, without a hint of apology. ‘You hadn’t been allocated a villa.’ He began walking quickly round the villa, his sharp eyes missing nothing. He noted the quality of the furnishings, the standard of the kitchen, the size of the air-conditioning units.

  He took in everything, while Ellie traipsed behind him, as uncomfortable as it was possible to be in clothes that were ludicrously inappropriate.

  ‘What do you think?’ He spun round and, startled, she took a few steps back, eyes wide.

  ‘You know what I think,’ she began in a shaky voice. ‘That this is not at all appropriate! I had no idea that I would be asked to partake in a ridiculous charade when I agreed to come over here!’

  ‘About the villa,’ Niccolo expanded, without batting an eye. ‘What do you think about the quality of the workmanship?’

  Ellie reddened and glared at him.

  ‘In the face of a fait accompli, if that’s what you want to call it—although I assure you this is something I had not bargained for—I suggest you stop moaning and move on. Now, why don’t you put on your work hat, to match the work outfit, and give me your professional opinion on the villa? The rest are nowhere near as big as this but the fittings are all exactly the same.’

  Ellie was mortified that she was being given a dressing down, being reminded that she was here in a work capacity, being told to handle herself like a professional adult.

  Anyone else, given the circumstances, would have had their eye on the main chance and thought nothing of what Niccolo had suggested. Instead, she had gone into an instant meltdown, had put him in a position where he had had to assure her that she was safe from him and had shrieked and protested like a distraught virgin on a ship full of marauding pirates.

  He had given her and the agency the benefit of the doubt. He had seen past the soft-focus allure she had brought to a campaign which, for him, had not been realistic enough in promoting the virtues of his resort, and offered her the opportunity of acquiring first-hand knowledge of what his hotel chain would be all about so that she could alter her pitch accordingly.

  She was surprised that he hadn’t considered the problem of how she was going to acquire that knowledge without appearing inquisitive. Maybe he’d thought that she would choose to blend in as one of the guests, but her horror at that prospect had propelled him into another solution.

  At any rate, as he said, she was here now and there was no point yelling for the smelling salts and wailing that it was a crazy solution.

  And to put him in the position of declaring his lack of interest in her! As if a man who could have any woman he wanted would pay her a blind bit of notice!

  Ellie burned with shame. She was overreacting, and of course she knew why. It was because he made her feel uncomfortable in her own skin, restless and aware. He made her whole body tingle and, when he was around, she was horribly, uncomfortably conscious of a fierce sexuality she hadn’t known existed.

  She felt scared when she thought about sharing space with him. And when she thought about sharing space with him in the capacity of fake girlfriend she practically wanted to swoon like a Victorian maiden.

  The way to deal with this was to tune him out as a man—a sinfully sexy man—and relegate him to position of business colleague. A bit like her partners in the firm, both of whom were very happily married, and both of whom she had never looked at once in any way other than as talented, ambitious guys who brainstormed with her and treated her like a talented equal, despite her relative youth.

  ‘The fittings are all magnificent.’ She walked away from him and really devoted her attention to the spectacular villa, which was a marvel of wood, cream voile, at the huge windows that were flung open to allow in every breath of sea breeze, muted, soft colours and sofas hand-made from the loca
l wood and bamboo with big, spongy cushions. Interested, she inspected the kitchen, the veranda and all the other rooms on the ground floor, asking questions about the other villas and vaguely thinking that it was actually the sort of resort where, contrary to what she had thought, a guest could come and relax and ignore everyone else there, but as a single person would not be surrounded by couples or families.

  She could see that it could be relaxing rather than pressurised.

  ‘And what’s the agenda for while I’m here?’ She turned to him at the foot of the wooden staircase, with its pale grey runner that led up to a series of bedrooms and bathrooms.

  Niccolo lounged against the wall, towering over her, hands shoved into his pockets.

  ‘First off the bat, I show you to your room.’

  Ellie said nothing but every nerve inside her body screamed with tension as she followed him up the stairs and into a bedroom that was decorated in the same style as the rooms they had left behind. Wooden floors, billowing voile at the windows, an overhead fan and a fantastically beautiful king-sized bed with a soft mosquito net draped over it.

  He had carried her case up and he dumped it on the bed now and looked around him for a few seconds before his dark eyes rested on her face.

  ‘You’re hot and tired,’ he said, and Ellie shot him a wry smile, because that had to be the understatement of the century.

  ‘Is it that obvious?’

  ‘And you’re alarmed at being put in a position you hadn’t banked on. I get that. I’m not a fan of the unexpected either.’

  Ellie softened, because his voice was low and sincere. ‘I like to know what I’m getting into. I like to be prepared for all situations.’

  ‘And that, unfortunately, isn’t always possible.’

  ‘How am I supposed to behave if we’re an item?’ Ellie asked with genuine interest and more than a little apprehension.

  For a few seconds, Niccolo was confounded. She wasn’t attacking him, and the way she was staring at him, with a slightly perplexed frown, made her look an awful lot younger than a woman in her mid-to late twenties. She looked like a teenager—sweet sixteen and never been kissed.