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He lifted a hand, lightly exploring her jawline with the lightest touch. ‘To see if I can seduce you.’
His touch ought to have been easily escapable, but she couldn’t seem to move.
Desperately she quelled the flare of heat deep and low in her belly and deliberately rolled her eyes. ‘Sorry. I’m immune. That’s why we’d be perfect together.’
‘I agree,’ he answered urbanely, but his eyes danced with devilish laughter. ‘Perfect together. In bed.’
‘I’m not going to sleep with you.’
‘So determined…’ His lips curled. ‘Afraid you might catch something?’
It was a low, teasing drawl, but there was a sharp warning underlying his tone that made her wary. She’d been offensively rude in her outright rejection of any kind of intimacy with him. But as if it was even a consideration! He was the one being rude now.
You did just ask him to marry you.
And she had implied that he was a complete man whore.
‘No.’ She flushed uncomfortably, because he kept switching from serious to teasing. ‘I’m just—’
‘Scared you might like it?’ he interpolated with a low chuckle.
Yes, this was the Alessandro Zetticci she’d read about—the irrepressible tease who worked hard but played harder.
‘You really can’t help yourself, can you?’ She glared at him in exasperation. ‘You think you can seduce every woman you meet!’
‘Most don’t need to be seduced.’ He shrugged, then muttered with outrageous insouciance, ‘Most are willing to let me do whatever I want before I even know their name.’
He was so close his words whispered over her lips…so close he seemed to see all her secrets. She closed her eyes—only to regret it instantly. Because now she was even more attuned to his nearness. His heat. His strength. His will. But she knew his words were designed to shock her, to repulse her. Because beneath the seductive slide of his whisper she still heard that steely anger.
She opened her eyes and glared at him. ‘I’m not most women. And I’m not challenging you. This isn’t about that and never will be.’ She drew in a deep breath. ‘If we marry I’ll have no expectations, put no restrictions on you. And I’d expect the same for you.’
He straightened, and from his towering height shot her a censorious look as if he’d suddenly become the epitome of virtue.
‘I may be many things, but a breaker of promises I am not. Even in a civil ceremony I’d promise fidelity, and I’d never break that promise. If you want me to marry you, you’d better agree to the same.’ He was very curt and very clear.
She slammed her hands on the arms of the chair to stop herself slithering down to the floor. Was he going to say yes?
‘You’d—?’
‘Honour our vows for the duration of our marriage. Of course.’
‘But—’
‘Does it really come as that much of a shock?’ He pinched the bridge of his nose.
‘It’s just that you—’
‘I’ve never got married before? No. Never had the desire nor reason to.’
Her jaw hung open. ‘Are you saying you’re going to—?’
‘I’m just ascertaining the rules in play before I decide,’ he pre-empted her coolly. ‘How many lovers do you take in a month?’ he asked. He immediately followed up with another question purely designed to shock. ‘I enjoy sex and generally have it regularly. I assume you’re the same?’
Katie shut her mouth and swallowed. How could he possibly think that she’d have anywhere near the interest he had?
‘The past doesn’t matter,’ she said briskly, fighting down the all-consuming heat this conversation was creating within her. ‘There’s only the future. Best not to dwell on what’s gone before. I’ll not be unfaithful, if that’s what you’d prefer. I have no problem with celibacy.’
‘Well, see…here’s the thing,’ he drawled with an impossibly wicked glint in his eyes. ‘I don’t like celibacy.’
‘We don’t need to be married long,’ she said crossly. ‘I’m sure six months will be long enough to…to…’
‘Ensure you’re left utterly undesirable?’ he finished for her tartly.
‘Get our business affairs straightened out.’ She threw him another exasperated look.
‘Six months of celibacy?’ He clutched his chest and gasped theatrically, apparently appalled at the suggestion.
‘Please yourself,’ she retorted through gritted teeth, goaded to the extreme.
He cocked his head and that devilish smile spread over his too-perfect face. ‘Is that what you do?’
CHAPTER TWO (#uc187f517-af20-5f2f-a0f9-78c7b94503e8)
ALESSANDRO KNEW HE was being outrageous, but he figured she’d asked for it by waltzing into his office and demanding not just money but his damned hand in marriage, whilst casting him as an insatiable libertine at the same time. She seemed to think he was some satyr, unable to control his voracious sexual needs.
Her ‘research’ had flicked his pride, and he’d been unable to resist retaliating by playing it up and making Her Total Primness here blush again. And then again.
Frankly, he’d only agreed to see her out of mild boredom. While he’d remembered her name, he hadn’t remembered much else—he’d always refused to spend any time dwelling on that painful period of his past. But his commonplace curiosity had grown acute when she’d determinedly waited almost two hours to see him, and he’d turned his mind to what few memories he had of her.
She’d been a shy little thing, always hiding in the orchard and the gardens of that massive estate. Pale and too quiet. But she wasn’t that quiet now Brian was trying to make her marry Carl Westin. And not now he’d provoked her.
She was much more interesting when provoked. In fact she’d invigorated what had been lining up to be a tedious day facing a trillion clamouring employees, all of whom wanted a piece of him because he’d spent the last couple of weeks crisscrossing the globe as he shed a stake in one company while acquiring two others. Frankly, he’d wanted a bit of a break.
He’d figured Katie was after money and he’d been right. But her marriage proposal alongside that request had come as a complete shock.
Alessandro had crossed paths with Carl Westin a couple of years ago and the guy was a total jerk. Alessandro might party hard, but he was upfront and honest about it. He didn’t cheat. Carl Westin did—in both his business and his personal life. No way was Katie Collins going to marry him.
But, as snappy as she might be with Alessandro, she was vulnerable to Brian’s bullying.
Brian Fielding, together with his sister Naomi, had forced Alessandro out of his home. They’d taken the company that should have been his. But, most appallingly, they’d all but killed his father.
He picked up his phone, but didn’t take his gaze off Katie.
‘Cancel my next appointment, please, Dominique,’ he instructed his assistant. ‘I’m not to be disturbed.’
His interest was rooted in her absurd request, right? Nothing else. Certainly not physical attraction. From what he could see, given the boring ponytail, she had nondescript brown hair. Her eyes were a mix of green and brown and gold—he supposed they were hazel. And hidden beneath those ill-fitting ugly clothes he suspected there were some tidy curves, but not exactly generous ones.
Alessandro had been with too many women to have a particular ‘type’ but, even so, if he’d passed her on the street he wouldn’t have given Katie Collins a second glance…
Yet there was something about her that was drawing the attention of his more basic instincts. The spark that sometimes lit her eyes, the slight pout of her soft mouth, the luminosity of her pale skin when she fired up… Yeah, it was those unexpected little flashes of spirit. He wanted to see more of them. Actually, to his total bemusement, he wanted to see her sparkle.
What he’d told her was true. He’d achieved far greater success than both Naomi and Brian had in their handling of his father’s company. But Katie was more insightful than he’d acknowledged. The chance for a little revenge was tempting. He could buy White Oaks outright and evict them all—claim Katie’s little sauce company and disband it.
If he wanted to, Alessandro could destroy everything that family owned.
That plan ought to be far more appealing than some mad idea of a mock marriage. But Katie had been desperate enough to come to him rather than run away… She really didn’t feel she could. She was desperate. He’d seen it in her eyes, in the way she’d pushed past her natural reticence and snapped at him when he’d tested her. In the way she wanted to do everything she could to protect the woman she regarded as a mother…
That was a desire he did understand. That was the only thing that might actually sway him. Because once upon a time he’d wanted to do that—but he’d failed.
Grimly he shut down that line of thinking. The wound was too deep to heal and too sore to dwell on. He focused on Katie, sitting rigidly in that chair, clutching her bag, too terrified for his conscience to handle.
‘Do they know you’ve walked out?’ he asked abruptly.
‘I left a note for Susan, so she doesn’t worry.’
Alessandro had always thought of Susan as the wraith of White Oaks. She was thin, and had been sort of otherworldly as she’d wandered about the vast gardens, directing operations. Brian had seduced the aging heiress, and he’d married her promising Susan everything. And yet it had come with a price. Because Brian, like his sister Naomi, had the gold-digging gene.
Alessandro’s father had lost everything because of Naomi. And now it seemed Susan might lose it all because of Brian, just as her health was deteriorating to the point of complete dependence. And with Katie as her designated carer…
He wasn’t seriously considering agreeing to her outlandish suggestion, was he?
But Katie’s proposition had fired a reckless burn in his blood that he hadn’t felt in a long time. It wasn’t all about the amusement of blocking Brian…it was the prospect of sparring with Katie a little more.
‘Is there no one else who can be the lucky guy?’ he asked.
His question about her sexual appetite had resulted in blushing speechlessness, which in turn had tightened his skin. How innocent was she? Surely not completely? No woman got to her early twenties without having at least one boyfriend.
‘Or am I the only one you thought of?’ he prompted when she didn’t immediately reply.
‘I don’t know anyone else to ask,’ she said in a small voice. ‘And not many men have your kind of money.’
He stared at her for a second and then laughed, enjoying her guileless ability to cut him down to size. ‘Well, at least you’re honest about why you’re here.’
No sex, please—she just wanted his hard cash. And in return he’d get cold, ruthless revenge.
‘We have to keep White Oaks for Susan,’ she said earnestly. ‘She’s vulnerable.’
Once again her loyalty struck that infinitely raw spot he thought he’d buried deep.
‘If you do what Brian wants and marry Carl you can keep it all,’ he pointed out with ruthless precision, even though every cell rebelled at the thought of her going anywhere near that jerk.
‘I shouldn’t have to sacrifice the rest of my life,’ she said fiercely. ‘They’d expect the marriage to last. But it’s my life. It would ruin my chances of having my own family in the future.’
Alessandro grimaced inwardly. Of course she wanted a family of her own. He couldn’t think of anything worse. He had no intention of marrying and having a family. Because, much as he’d disliked her judging tone, she was right—he had plenty of options and he liked variety in his life. One woman for the rest of his days just wasn’t going to happen.
‘I’ll work for them. I’ll care for her,’ she added vehemently. ‘But who I marry? That’s my choice.’
More memories stirred, adding to the discomfort brewing within him. He remembered those little digs at dinner. Brian always reminding her to appreciate their generosity in fostering her… Asking her wasn’t she so lucky to have been chosen by them? Telling her she’d better remember that and always be grateful, because otherwise…
He realised now that Brian’s underlying threat that it could all be taken away from her at any moment had been constant. He had no idea what had happened to her birth parents, but he recalled the mutinous looks she’d sometimes cast at Brian. He also remembered the pleading looks her foster mother had sent her—stopping Katie’s rebellion. Keeping the peace, keeping Brian happy, had been essential to her survival.
At the time Alessandro had been too consumed by his own bitter agony of loss to think about intervening. Now he remembered it, and a lick of shame at the emotional abuse he’d witnessed burned.
He’d done nothing about it. But he’d only been a teen himself, struggling to cope with what was on his plate already. And she’d seen something of what they’d done to him, hadn’t she? She knew that he’d argued with them, knew that he’d left and never looked back.
He released a tight breath, uncomfortable that she knew anything of that time. It wasn’t something he ever thought about, let alone discussed. Even so, she intuitively understood that part of him still wanted to make them pay. She understood because she had that need in common—even if she’d never admit it.
Fact was, she’d been lonely and insecure most of her life. Shy, romantic, idealistic. Of course she wanted a family of her own when she was ready and met the right man. Carl Westin wasn’t that man. But nor was Alessandro.
‘You know what it’s like to lose something—someone—you love,’ she said softly. ‘Won’t you help to stop that from happening to me?’
Yeah, she knew a little too much about him.
‘Are you trying to appeal to my generous nature now, Katie?’ he asked, as idly as he could.
‘I’m sure you can be a kind person…’
Meaning he wasn’t most of the time? Her challenge sparked the desire to retaliate, and he was almost undone by the urge to haul her to her feet and into his arms. He’d show her kind…
The surge of desire was shocking. And wrong. She already had the unwanted attentions of one man—she didn’t need them from another. He’d teased her before, but he had no intention of bullying her into anything intimate with him. No more of those jokes.
He curled his fists and shoved the inappropriate response back down deep inside. ‘So, either I do this because I’m kind, and I don’t want to see you suffer the same loss I did. Or I do it out of petty revenge…’ He sent her a perplexed look. ‘You can’t have it both ways, Katie.’
‘I only said that about revenge to persuade you.’ She looked adorably shamefaced. ‘I played it that way because you’re the only person I could think of who might possibly have a reason to say yes to me.’
He sucked in a sharp breath. Yeah, she was alone and isolated. Didn’t he know how that felt? And he’d had far more than her. For the first fifteen years of his life he’d had happy, loving parents…she’d never had that.
His concern for her grew when he thought of Carl Westin’s reputation, of Susan’s frailty, of Brian’s greed…
His father hadn’t been frail, but he’d been vulnerable in his own way. He’d badly wanted love. And he’d been taken advantage of just as Susan had.
Alessandro wasn’t going to let Katie be forced into marrying anyone. She needed some time out to see her way free of this puzzle. And she needed to feel in control. She obviously didn’t feel that she could stand up to Brian for long Maybe Alessandro could be her temporary fix-it guy. Just not exactly in the manner she envisaged.
He straightened up decisively. ‘What exactly did you have in mind? Do we announce our engagement immediately?’
Her jaw dropped. ‘You’re going to do it?’
‘For my sins. Yeah, why not? I’ll marry you.’ He nodded.
She looked like a terrified deer. She sat utterly still, with her head slightly angled, as if she sensed an unseen predator, was keenly aware of the lethal danger she was in. But then she moved. She almost dived into her bag and rapidly pulled out a piece of paper covered in handwritten notes.
‘I’ve thought it all through…’
She was suddenly a bundle of nervous energy, as if she was afraid he’d change his mind at any minute.
Of course he was going to change his mind—but she didn’t need to know that yet.
‘I imagine you’ve thought of everything…’ he muttered.
