by Lucy King
‘Good,’ he said, leaning forwards in a way that for some bizarre reason made her breath catch and her pulse skip a beat all over again. ‘So. Kate. Tell me about Belle’s Angels.’
And just like that—bang!—there went her composure. Talk about being lulled into a false sense of security, she thought, her smile fading as the churning started up again in her stomach. What did Theo Knox know about Belle’s Angels? And how? Surely he couldn’t be a member. He’d have no trouble getting a date. But had he visited the site? Had he seen her page? She had no idea why when her profile had racked up over a thousand views since she’d rashly stuck it up last night but the thought of him looking at her photos made her feel quite weak.
‘What about it?’ she said carefully, since his expression was giving absolutely nothing away.
‘You’re on it.’
Ah. Right. Busted.
Since Mr Knox—Theo—was allegedly insanely sharp, Kate didn’t see the point in trying to come up with an excuse. ‘I am,’ she said, reminding herself that she had nothing to apologise for and nothing to be embarrassed about. What did it matter if he had seen her page? The photos were good. Empowering. Or something like that. At least she’d come up with a solution to the traumatic situation that had been robbing her of what little sleep she did get, even if it had had unexpected and rather unsettling consequences.
‘You tried to access it while at work.’
Indeed she had. Earlier this afternoon. Her profile had attracted a great deal of interest, her alluded-to virginity in particular, and she’d been inundated with emails, some merely curious, some a bit odd, some downright creepy. Not having a clue what to do about any of it and wanting the deluge to stop, she’d decided to alter her account settings while she figured it out. ‘I did.’
‘Which is an infringement of company policy.’
At that Kate went very still, her heart giving a great lurch.
Oh.
Oh, dear.
That hadn’t occurred to her. But it should have done because of course it would be. Belle’s Angels, registered in Germany and possibly skirting the boundaries of legality in the UK, was just the sort of website that would be blocked by a firewall. Which was undoubtedly why it hadn’t opened. She hadn’t thought to reflect upon that. She’d just wanted to switch off the interminable stream of responses. But clearly she’d been an idiot. More than an idiot, actually. She could very well have put herself out of a job.
‘That was a mistake,’ she said as the potential ramifications raced through her head and a sweat broke out all over her skin. ‘A one-off. It won’t happen again.’
‘You’re right,’ he said flatly, his eyes dark and inscrutable. ‘It won’t.’
A ball lodged in her throat and she swallowed it down with difficulty. ‘Are you firing me?’ she asked, the rising panic making her voice tight.
She needed this job, she needed all her jobs, but if she lost this one, she’d be in even more serious trouble than she already was. Fired accountants weren’t exactly desirable potential employees and who knew how long it would be before she got another job? The bills were mounting up daily and the correspondence from the debt agency was growing increasingly threatening, not that her salary was anywhere near enough to cover the repayments or the cost of her sister’s care, but Milly depended on her and only her since there was no one else now Mike had died, and if she had to leave Fairview she’d be devastated, and, oh, she really should have thought this whole crazy plan through.
‘I’m not firing you.’
Phew.
‘Then what do you mean?’ she said as her racing heart slowed and the jumble of panicky thoughts faded.
‘I had the site shut down.’
What? The tension that had ebbed a moment ago shot straight back.
No.
No.
This was not good.
‘You can’t do that,’ she breathed, appalled, as it dawned on her that if what Theo was saying was true then he’d scuppered what, as far as she could see, was her only chance of making some serious, much-needed money fast.
‘I can,’ he said grimly. ‘And I have.’
‘How?’
‘It wasn’t hard.’
No, it wouldn’t be to a man of his considerable influence and power, but—‘You had no right.’
‘Probably not.’
‘So why?’
His eyebrows shot up, the only sign of expression she’d seen in him since she’d walked in. ‘Why?’
‘Yes, why?’ What was it to him? Even if he did know who she was, which was doubtful, why would he care all of a sudden?
‘You signed up to an escort agency, Kate.’
His tone was brutal and icily condemning but she refused to be intimidated. It was all very well for him and his billions in the bank. Lesser mortals had to think more creatively if they didn’t want to firstly destroy the happiness and security of their vulnerable younger sister, secondly lose the home they’d once shared with their adored, much-missed brother and lastly be declared bankrupt and never work in the field they loved again.
‘And so what?’ she said, resisting the urge to lift her chin since a punchy show of defiance could well make him reassess his decision not to fire her.
‘How could you be so reckless?’
Reckless? She wasn’t reckless. Desperate and exhausted and all out of options, yes, but reckless, no. ‘I’m not. I did my research.’
‘So did I,’ he said ominously.
‘Well, then.’
‘Belle’s Angels is basically an online brothel.’
‘Possibly,’ she had to admit, since there was that aspect to it, ‘but it’s a very high-class one.’
A tiny muscle began to tic in his jaw. ‘That is utterly irrelevant.’
‘No,’ she said. ‘It isn’t. Because this one has different levels of service agreement, and I only signed up to level one.’
He looked at her as if she’d grown two heads. ‘Did you honestly think someone was going to pay you a thousand pounds an hour for conversation?’
‘Why not?’ she said. ‘My conversational skills are first class.’
‘I have no doubt they are. However, believe me, your...clients...would have been expecting far more.’
‘Yes, well, you obviously have more experience of such sites than I do.’
In response to her demure yet pointed little dig Theo’s face darkened and the look he gave her was hard and forbidding. ‘I’ve heard stories,’ he said flatly. ‘None of them good. Do you have any idea of how dangerous it could have been?’
Kate opened her mouth to reply and then closed it because he might have a point there. Truth be told, she hadn’t exactly been thinking entirely rationally when she’d signed up to the site late last night. Another exorbitant bill had just come through from Fairview on top of a none-too-friendly email from the loan company Mike had used and a letter from her mortgage company informing her that she’d missed a payment, as if she needed reminding.
She’d had a couple of glasses of wine to dull the resulting anxiety, but they hadn’t worked; they’d just made her feel even sicker. A documentary about webcamming had been on TV in the background, and in the midst of her despair it had suddenly struck her that sex sold. Extremely well, apparently. And while she wasn’t desperate enough—yet—to perform for the camera, she’d figured there had to be other less extreme options.
It had been remarkably easy to find an appropriate site and register. When she remembered the stash of normal-sized clothes she’d bought over the years because it made her feel dainty and feminine just to know she owned them even though none of them actually fitted, it had seemed as though the stars had aligned. In fact, the most challenging aspect of the whole exercise had been mastering the self-timer on her phone.
Of course she’d considered the possible
consequences of her plan—she wasn’t a complete fool—but she’d been at her wits’ end and as a result her assessment had been brief. Conveniently, the pros had vastly outweighed the cons. What cons there were—mainly concerning the sort of people who might use such a site—she’d presumed would be neutralised by the application of filters and a robust screening process.
Clearly, however, there’d been little of that because some of the creepier emails she’d received had been downright disturbing. The staggering sums of money she’d been offered for her virginity, not to mention the many ways it could apparently be relieved, had been even more alarming. And, actually, even the more moderate correspondence had hinted at something other than conversation, so maybe Theo also had a point about her would-be clients’ expectations.
Perhaps, then, in hindsight, she’d had a lucky escape, even if it did mean that her only hope had vanished and she was now back at a terrifying square one. Because if she was being brutally honest, the reality of what the site offered was far seedier than in her naivety she’d imagined, and, regardless of the amount of money on offer, the thought of actually having to go through with some of the more lurid scenarios described made her want to throw up.
‘It is absolutely none of your business,’ she said, not inclined to admit that Theo could be right and give him the upper hand.
‘That’s not strictly true.’
No. Well. There was the small issue of pesky company policy, but still. He had no right to meddle in her affairs in this way. In any way. ‘I don’t need rescuing, Theo,’ she said steadily. ‘I’m twenty-six. I’m eminently sensible and perfectly capable of making my own choices.’ Not that she had many at this precise moment.
‘It doesn’t look like it from where I’m sitting.’
Ooh, he was insufferable. ‘Why do you even care?’
He stared at her silently for a moment, as if he couldn’t work it out either, and the hard intensity of his gaze coupled with the way he seemed to be trying to see into her soul was sending a strange sluggish heat oozing through her blood, detonating tiny sparks along her veins and electrifying her nerves.
To her consternation she found she couldn’t look away. She could hardly breathe. All of a sudden she wanted to get up, clamber over his desk and plaster herself against him. And then she wanted to—well, she wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to do next since she had little experience of such things, but she wanted to find out. So badly she was ablaze with it.
Appalled at and bewildered by her reaction, she shifted in an attempt to alleviate the fizzing of her stomach and the prickling of her heated skin, but all that did was inch her skirt up her thighs, at which point Theo’s darkening gaze dropped to her legs and lingered there a while, which sent the heat buzzing through her shooting straight down to the spot where she suddenly, alarmingly, burned.
Maybe she moved again, maybe she let out an audibly breathy gasp. She didn’t know. But Theo jerked his gaze back up, his expression once again cold and inscrutable, and the tension snapped.
‘I take it you need the money,’ he said bluntly, and all she could think was money? What money?
Ah.
Well, of course she needed the money, she thought, tugging her skirt back down with annoyingly shaky fingers as the reminder of her precarious financial state obliterated the bizarre heat and dizziness and refocused her attention. Why else would she do it? She wasn’t that desperate for a date. ‘I do.’
‘How much?’
‘A lump sum of a hundred thousand, plus around five thousand a month on an on-going basis for the next sixty, possibly seventy, years.’
Up shot his eyebrows. ‘That’s a lot of money.’
Really?
‘I am aware of that,’ she said coolly. And now, thanks to him and his high-handed ways, it was a lot of money she still had to somehow find because, quite apart from the distressing threat of homelessness, she was not having Milly moved when she was so happy and secure where she was.
‘It’s a concern,’ he said.
‘You’re telling me.’
‘It’s my concern.’
‘How?’
‘You’re an accountant,’ he said. ‘You’re about to finish your probation, at which point you will have access to certain aspects of the company’s bank accounts. Fraud is a risk.’
What the—?
Kate blinked at him, for a moment completely lost for words. Was he being serious? ‘Are you suggesting I might indulge in a little light embezzlement in order to pay my bills?’
‘It’s a possibility.’
‘It is not a possibility because I am not a criminal,’ she said heatedly.
‘What do you need it for?’
Kate took a deep breath to soothe the outrage surging through her. ‘I have a younger sister,’ she said. ‘Milly. She was in the car accident that killed our parents ten years ago.’ She swallowed hard but made herself continue. ‘She survived but she suffered catastrophic brain injuries. She can’t live on her own. She needs twenty-four-hour care. The insurance pay-out only covers the most basic of facilities, which just aren’t good enough.’
For a few long moments, Theo said nothing, just frowned. And then he nodded, as if something in his head had slotted into place. ‘Your brother used to fund the rest.’
Ah. So he did know who she was.
Well.
‘He did,’ she said, steeling herself against the surge of grief that still sometimes shot out of nowhere and walloped her in the chest. ‘And there was some money from his estate, but it’s run out.’
‘His flat?’
‘Rented. A few months before his death he gave it up and moved in with me.’
‘Life insurance?’
‘He didn’t have any.’ If only. ‘Believe me, if there was any money anywhere I’d have found it. After he died I discovered that he’d been taking out high-interest loans. They need repaying, like, yesterday.’
‘I see.’
Did he? she wondered, swallowing down the tight ball of emotion that had lodged in her throat. She doubted it. The gut-wrenching combination of despair, guilt, anger, grief and dread she’d felt when she’d found out what Mike had done had to be unique. Besides, had Theo ever needed money so badly he’d do anything to get it? Unlikely. He’d made his first million by the age of seventeen and his fortune had rocketed year on year since.
‘You’ll have it.’
She stared at him in bewilderment. What was he talking about? Have it? Have what? ‘I’m sorry?’
‘Give me the details and I’ll pay off the debt and set up a trust fund to pay for whatever your sister needs for however long she needs it.’
What?
Oh.
Right.
Wow.
‘Are you serious?’ she asked in stunned disbelief.
‘Yes.’
‘Why would you do that?’
His eyes clouded and she caught a glimpse of what bizarrely looked like...what? Guilt? Anguish? Regret? As if. By all accounts he didn’t do emotion any more than he did friends, so who knew? It was most likely irritation that he’d had to interrupt his no doubt busy schedule to deal with what he perceived to be a problem. ‘Because I can,’ he said eventually.
That was undeniably true. He was one of the ten richest men in the world according to one newspaper article she’d read. What she needed might amount to millions but to him it was a rounding error. Nevertheless, what ultra-successful reportedly ruthless businessman did something like that?
‘Do you really expect me to believe you’re that altruistic?’ she asked, unable to keep the scepticism from her tone.
‘I don’t particularly care what you believe.’
Nice. ‘Well, thank you,’ she said primly. ‘But I can’t accept it.’
‘Why not?’
Hmm. Where to start? B
ecause she didn’t like him and the thought of being indebted to a man she loathed was abhorrent? Because any man who could single-handedly close down a large, foreign website was to be treated with caution and she didn’t trust him an inch? She could hardly tell him any of that. He was still her boss.
‘It’s too much,’ she said instead.
‘Not from my perspective.’
‘Still no.’
‘Where else are you going to get the money?’
‘I’ll think of something.’ Hadn’t her brief foray into the shady world of online escorts proved that? Surely she’d be able to come up with a workable solution, one that didn’t involve seedy sex or overbearing men.
‘It sounds like you’d better think of it quickly.’
Well, yes, there was that. She was running out of time. Fast. How much longer did she have? How much more could she take? She was so tired of worrying about the money. About the debt and the reduced quality of life her sister might have if she had to move because she—Kate—had failed. About losing her home and the precious memories she had of her brother. The responsibilities she now had, which landed entirely on her shoulders, were crushing, bewildering, overwhelming. Sometimes she wished she could just go to bed for a month and cry.
‘Just out of interest, what would you want in return?’ she asked, because even if she had been considering it, which she wasn’t, surely that amount of money would come with strings.
‘Nothing.’
She stared at him. ‘Nothing?’
He gave a brief nod. ‘That’s right.’
‘Why not?’
‘Do I need a reason?’
‘I would. You’re in the business of deal-making. No one ever gets something for nothing. Even I know that.’
‘You have my word.’
‘I don’t know what your word is worth.’ What if hypothetically she agreed and he suddenly decided that his money gave him the right to influence Milly’s future? What if at some point he decided to stop?