by Parker Paige
Once he finished talking, he put the recorder aside and sat up straight.
“So, Miss Wallace, finally we meet!” He smiled slow smile, the pearls of his white teeth showing clearly in a mouth that was temptingly kissable.
Good grief! Eva scolded herself for behaving like a smitten fan girl. She had to have a grip on herself if she wanted to land this job and making a complete fool of herself in front of this dangerously handsome man was surely not going to make that happen.
“I am Philip Richardson and it is a pleasure to meet you,” he stretched out his hand which Eva shook a little hesitantly, as if fearing that she might get electrocuted by his touch.
If he noticed her hesitation, it didn’t show on his face.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you too Mr. Richardson,” Eva managed to reply.
“I’ve seen your work at the Stockwood Manor and I must say, I am mighty impressed.”
“Thank you, Mr. Richardson,” Eva replied with a smile. She was genuinely delighted that he’d found her work impressive.
“Please call me Philip. I prefer to be addressed by my given name, especially when I am in the company of a woman as beautiful as yourself,” he smiled devilishly.
There he goes unleashing his charm, Eva thought to herself. She had to be careful around this man. For all she knew, he probably used this line on every other girl he met!
“Mr. Brown informed me that you quit working at the estate a few months back.”
“Well, I uhhh… I had to quit due to some personal reasons. But don’t worry, I have everything sorted now. I am all set to resume my work at the Stockwood estate,” replied Eva. “That is, of course, if you plan to offer me the job at all,” she added hastily, hoping that she hadn’t sounded too eager.
“Hmmm… Of course I intend to hire you, that’s the reason why I called you here. But….”
“But?” Eva felt her heart sink. She desperately needed this job and the contemplative look on Philip’s face was showing that he was having second thoughts about hiring her.
“But not as a Landscape Architect,” he finished.
Eva looked at him for a few long seconds, trying to make out what the enigmatic man was saying. He wanted to hire her, but not as a Landscape Architect? Whatever did that mean?
“I beg your pardon sir?”
“Yes, you heard me right. I want to hire you to play the role of my fiancée and accompany me to my home in New York!”
Chapter 3
The moment Eva Wallace walked in through the doors of his office, Philip had been enchanted. She was neither too tall nor too short, just about perfect at 5’7. Her peaches and cream complexion coupled with deep blue eyes and a small, pert nose made her look unbelievingly stunning. And those lips….ah, he longed to have a taste of those perfectly arched lips! She’d tied her blonde hair severely in a bun but a few tendrils had escaped and his hands were itching to see if they were as silky and soft as they looked.
It was not Philip’s plan to make such an outrageous offer before he’d actually seen her. He was genuinely interested in hiring her as the Landscape Architect for his new house, but the moment he’d laid his eyes on her, something about Eva Wallace had stirred a deep emotion inside his heart and he’d immediately come upon this plan of asking her to be his fake fiancée. It would serve two purposes- first, it would keep his mom and grandmother off his back for a while and second, he’d get to know this enigmatic beauty better by spending quality time with her.
Philip Richardson prided himself in being a good judge of character and after running a background check on Eva, he’d concluded that she was not just beautiful on the outside, she had a heart of gold too. He knew that her father had ruined himself both physically and financially and he was the reason why she’d left her previous job. Despite his misgivings, she had proved to be a devoted and kind daughter who’d left her career to look after her paralyzed father.
Philip also knew that Eva was in deep financial crisis at the moment and as cruel as it may sound, he had taken that opportunity to give her an offer that she’d find hard to refuse.
“Excuse me, can you please come again? I think I may have been dreaming!”
“No, you were not dreaming Eva. I know it probably sounds bizarre….but I am offering you the job of playing the role of my fiancée in front of my family.”
He saw a spark of anger flash in her huge blue eyes.
“Mr. Philip Richardson! Let me make it amply clear to you that I am not some naïve teenage girl who’d be taken in by your charms. I came here in the hope of resuming my position as the Landscape Architect at the estate but I see that I have been fooled by your staff. And as for enacting the role of your fiancée, I am sure you’ll find plenty of women who’d do anything to grab that offer!” Eva found it hard to contain her anger. So what if the man was a billionaire and looked sexy as sin! She was a woman of integrity and even thinking about what he was suggesting her to do made her feel petty and lowly.
When Philip noticed that she was almost getting up to leave, he said, “Please at least hear me out Eva. I am sure you’ll find my proposal too hard to resist.”
“Oh really? I must say you are pretty self assured!” she scoffed.
“That is one of the finer qualities I possess,” he gave her a lopsided smile that did funny things to her insides.
“Please be quick. I have some important matters to tend to.”
Philip was glad that at least she was ready to lend him an ear.
“Well, to begin with, I am not some rich spoilt playboy that the media makes me out to be, so you really don’t have to worry on that account. I am not saying that I am a saint, but I am no womanizer either. Now as you probably know, I have a vast empire that leaves me with very little time to devote to a serious relationship. But my mom and my grandmother don’t really get that and they are hell bent on seeing me married. They keep asking me to settle down and give them a grandchild to pamper.”
A cute blush crept up Eva’s cheeks that made her look even more stunning.
Afraid that she might be tempted to leave before hearing him out, Philip hastily added, “Believe me, I did try to find myself a suitable bride a couple of times but each time I felt that the ladies were more in love with my status and money than with me!” he sighed. “Eva, my grandmother hasn’t been keeping well these past days. She is pining to meet her future granddaughter-in-law and just yesterday, she somehow manipulated me to make a promise that I’d get married within the next one year.”
“So you are planning to take a fake fiancée to your family and pretend that you’re engaged?”
“Precisely! I know it doesn’t sound too good when you put it that way but trust me Eva, that is the only way to make them happy.”
“But wouldn’t that happiness be short-lived? Won’t your mom and grandmother be heartbroken when they find out that your engagement was a sham?”
Eva looked as if she was giving some serious thought to his proposal and this made Philip even more confident of his plan. The moment he’d laid his eyes on her, he’d known that she was special. The way she was taking into consideration his family’s feelings spoke volumes about her character and the kind of person she was.
“I just need to buy some time Eva. Maybe I’ll come across a suitable woman in the meantime….”
“Or maybe not!”
“Yes, could be! Eva, I am willing to pay you a very handsome sum if you agree to take up my offer. With your father’s condition and loans that still need to be repaid, I know that you could do with some extra cash in your bank account…”
“How do you know about all this?” Eva’s guards immediately went up.
“Well, I did some background check on you before calling you here,” he admitted sheepishly. “I am sorry for this invasion of privacy, but I usually make it a point to get all the details on my prospective employees before hiring them.”
After a few minutes of deep thought, Eva replied, “Mr. Richardson, as tempt
ing as your offer is, I don’t think I can take it up. As you mentioned, I am going through a rough patch in life and though I need the money, I don’t think I can leave my father behind and follow you to the US. He is suffering from partial paralysis and there is no one to take care of him….”
“I’ve thought about that too Eva. I know one of the top neurosurgeons in London, Dr. Thompson. You’ll have to accompany me to New York for about two to three weeks and in the meantime, you can get him admitted to his hospital where he’ll undergo the best treatment and there’ll be nurses to care for him too.”
“But…but I can’t afford such expensive treatment,” admitted Eva, looking a little embarrassed.
“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of that. I’ll even recommend your name to my business associates after you come back from New York to ensure that you have plenty of work.”
Eva didn’t know what to say. On one hand, Philip’s offer seemed too good to be true. Hell, it could be the solution to all her worries! But on the other hand, she couldn’t trust her traitorous body around this devilishly handsome man. Each time he looked deep into her eyes, she felt butterflies doing somersaults in her stomach. And if she were to play the role of his fiancée, she’d obviously have to pretend to be in love with him too! Just the thought of being too close to this gorgeous man set her head spinning.
No, she needed time to think about this. She hardly knew anything about Philip Richardson apart from the fact that he was a billionaire and a renowned playboy.
“I need some time to think about all this. I hope you understand my apprehensions. I hardly know you and you are asking me to play the role of your fiancée! As far as I know, engaged people are supposed to behave as if they are madly in love with each other,” she blurted out.
A slow smile crept on his handsome face.
“So are you telling me that it would be difficult for you to pretend that you are mad about me?” Philip leaned forward, his eyes boring into hers. There was also a hint of amusement in his dark eyes.
Eva felt her breath catch in her throat. When he looked at her with such intensity, she almost forgot to breathe.
“Why don’t we meet for dinner tonight? That way, we can both get to know each other a little better.”
“Uhh…alright!” Eva agreed somewhat reluctantly. “But that doesn’t guarantee that I’ll accept your offer.”
“Of course not! Though I very much doubt that you’ll have the heart to resist me by the time we’re done having our dinner.” Once again that self assured grin was back on his face!
Chapter 4
As soon as Eva got home, she talked to her dad about Philip’s offer. Of course she didn’t tell him that her so called job entailed pretending to be his fiancée in front of his family. Instead, she merely told him that she was required to go to New York for a few weeks to work on one of Philip Richardson’s townhouses. She hated to deceive her father like that but she knew that he’d not let her take up the job if she spoke the truth.
And how could he? No sane parent would ever allow their daughter to do such a thing, especially if the man in question had the reputation of being a hardcore playboy. Eva even told him about Philip’s generous offer of getting him admitted to a renowned private hospital for treatment in the meanwhile. While her father had maintained that it has totally unnecessary and that he could manage quite well for a few days by himself, she could see that he was genuinely pleased.
“This Philip Richardson seems to be a good man. I’d like to meet him personally some day and thank him for this wonderful opportunity he’s given you,” her father beamed at her.
“Sure! But right now, you must go and take some rest. I see that you’ve been keeping yourself busy while I was away,” said Eva, glancing at the huge stack of paperwork that was lying on the table. “And dad, I am meeting Philip for dinner tonight to….uhh…discuss more about this project since he wants us to leave for the US as soon as possible.”
Eva spent almost an entire hour deciding what to wear for her dinner date with Philip. Well, it wasn’t exactly a date, but then it wasn’t too different from a real date too, considering they were meeting in order to get to know each other a little better. She still couldn’t believe what she’d landed herself into. Playing the role of Philip Richardson’s fiancée! Though she’d not as yet agreed to his bizarre plan, she knew in her heart that it was an opportunity she couldn’t afford to forego. He was willing to shell out an insane amount of money for her services which she could use to pay back all of her dad’s loans and even then be left with a decent amount of cash. Not to mention her dad would be able to receive the best of healthcare in the time she spent in the US!
After much contemplation, Eva decided to wear a modest pale blue evening gown with pink roses embroidered on it that ended right at her ankles. Wearing matching heels, she dabbed a little mascara and plumped up her lips with some lip gloss. She decided to keep her hair loose and curled the lower ends slightly. Eva didn’t want to give Philip an impression that she’d spent a lot of time getting ready for their meeting so she kept things pretty simple.
Once again, a limousine came to pick her up and took her to one of the most stylish restaurants in London. The hostess greeted her warmly as she stepped inside its plush interiors and guided her to the table where Philip was already waiting for her. He had changed into a more casual crisp white shirt and faded blue denims and was looking even more handsome than the last time Eva had seen him, if such a thing was even possible!
“You are looking absolutely gorgeous Eva,” he complimented as she gracefully took her seat.
“Thank you. You look quite dashing yourself,” she returned his compliment and he acknowledged it with a polite nod.
After asking what she’d like to have for dinner, Philip placed their order.
“So what have you thought about my offer?”
“There are a lot of questions in my mind right now, Mr. Richardson….”
“Please call me Philip,” he interrupted her. “And may I ask what these questions may be?”
“Firstly, of all the women in this world, why do you want me to play the role of your fiancée?”
“Good question. You know what, even I’ve been asking myself that question since the past few hours. Why you? Why not someone I know better, like maybe one of my ex-girlfriends? But the problem is, I don’t have an answer to your question Eva,” he replied sincerely. “I’ll be honest with you. I’d not thought about all this until I’d actually seen you in person. I just wanted to hire you for the estate landscaping but when I saw you, I somehow knew that you’d be the perfect choice to play the role of my love interest in front of my mom and grandmother and somehow I am convinced that they’d genuinely like you as a person.”
“But the point is I’d be actually deceiving them by agreeing to be a part of this sham. Philip, I hope you realize what you are talking about. You are expecting me to fool your family into believing that I’d be their future daughter-in-law. And though God knows I need the money that you are offering, my conscience isn’t all too happy about this… this arrangement!”
The lines of tension that had formed on Philip’s forehead a few moments back eased and he looked visibly relaxed as Eva poured out her worries in front of him. In fact, his eyes were alight with an emotion she couldn’t put a name to.
“Now I know for sure that I made the right choice Eva,” he smiled. “Most of the women I’d known in the past would have jumped at this opportunity… but not you! The fact that you are so thoughtful about other’s feelings sets you a class apart. And so far as my folks are concerned, trust me, you’d be doing them a favor by instilling hope in their hearts. They’d be delighted to meet you and I just wish to see them happy.”
“But still…. I don’t know…it somehow doesn’t feel right!”
Philip leaned forward and casually rested his hand on hers. That simple touch sent delicious shivers down her spine.
“There’s nothing wrong in it Ev
a. You are just trying to make the two most important people in my life happy by giving them hope about the future. And it’s not as if I don’t care about their feelings….”
“Alright! If you are so confident about all this, let’s take this plan forward. When do you expect us to leave?” replied Eva after a long pause. Philip was secretly thrilled that she had finally made up her mind.
“Two weeks from now.”
The waiter chose that moment to deliver their meal. The aroma of the delicious food made her nerves relax and she was pleasantly surprised to note that she was actually enjoying her dinner in Philip’s company.
They talked about a lot of things, their likes, dislikes, their professions, their qualifications and then about their families too. Philip was impressed to learn that Eva was a self made woman who got a degree in horticulture and carved a thriving career for herself. She was simple, down-to-earth and believed in the philosophy of simple living and high thinking.
Eva found Philip to be both amusing and charming. He had the ability to make her laugh and she found that she could really be herself with him. Somehow, he had managed to put her at ease and she was amazed to see how much she was enjoying his company. Her earlier impression of him being a reckless rogue seemed to be thwarting a little as he revealed his playful and friendly side to her.
“Eva, there is one thing that I wanted to discuss with you,” Philip said towards the end of their meal. “Since you’ll be playing the role of my fiancée, we’ll have to indulge in a little PDA….like maybe holding hands and even a stolen kiss here and there…”
Eva had been dreading this conversation. All of a sudden, the playfulness in his eyes had been replaced by something more intense, more intimate and the way he held her gaze made her literally shiver with anticipation.