Substitute Engagement

‘Are you sure of that?’ he returned smoothly. ‘You care about what people think of you or you wouldn’t have made use of the face-saver I offered you for as much as a minute. You didn’t want people knowing your pride was hurt. But this isn’t for you; it’s for Nadine—’

‘No way—’

‘Wait until I’ve finished, please,’ he cut in, hard-faced now. ‘I’m not wasting time using persuasion on someone as cussed as you, so here’s the deal: I’ve said I don’t interfere with the hiring and firing at my hotels, but in this case I’m willing to break my rule because I have a personal interest in doing so. Play this thing out, and properly—no giving the game away—or I will instruct Chester Watson to think again about the position he has for you.’

Lucia shot him a furiously resentful glance but remained silent, her fingers busy with the shell again. This was blackmail, and the thought of giving in to it made her blood boil, but did she have any choice? She needed a job, and urgently. Chester Watson thought that he had one for her here. Looking elsewhere might take time that she couldn’t afford. So she couldn’t afford pride either. She had to be practical.

‘Couldn’t you have thought of something that didn’t involve our having to spend time together?’ she asked resentfully, leaving her submission merely implied, since there was always the possibility that she might yet find a way of thwarting him.

‘Something involving less intimacy? I wish!’ he admitted feelingly. ‘But what? Anyway, it’s too late to change our story now.’

‘And the whole thing is full of pitfalls,’ she went on critically. ‘Think of all the traps waiting for us, especially as we don’t know a thing about each other-even if you do believe you’ve got me taped. I don’t even know when you were in Johannesburg.’