Let her think he hadn’t considered her at all.
He couldn’t disappoint that way.
He sipped his coffee and sauntered deliberately over to where they sat, pulling out a chair and sliding down easily into it. Alex barely glanced up as the over-eager pair began falling over each other to introduce themselves to him, and he politely acknowledged them then affected insouciance, all the while taking in every possible detail.
By the expressions and body language of the group he’d lay a bet that the two women had barely socialised with Alex before yesterday’s papers had come out, and more specifically the grainy, pixelated image of him escorting her out of the kitchen entrance of the gala event the other night—clearly taken by one of the kitchen staff on their mobile phone, he was already dealing with them—and suddenly Alex had become everyone’s new best friend.
Another thing he was guilty of.
Louis managed to smooth out the grim expression before it could settle on his lips. He refused to apologise or feel remorse. It had been him or being publicly ejected through the main doors by the security team. Though she’d probably have been the first woman to choose the security team after his outlandish proposal to her.
There was no reason for him to still be grinning about it.
‘Ladies, it’s a pleasure to meet you but I wonder if Alex and I could have moment?’
She sucked in her breath audibly and he knew what was coming the moment the women left the room. Sure enough, as soon as the doors slammed Alex practically exploded.
‘Oh, why don’t you just drive a tanker of fuel into the damned fire?’ she seethed. ‘They’ll be gossiping all over the hospital as we speak.’
‘Isn’t that the idea?’ He grinned. ‘Generate publicity and all that.’
Her eyes narrowed.
‘The papers are already speculating, thanks to that photo,’ she hissed. ‘Grubby little rumours about how I’m the latest notch on your bedpost.’
‘Ah, well, the quicker you agree to marry me, the less grubby they can make it. The story will go international and you’ll be the woman who tamed me.’
‘No woman will ever tame you,’ she snorted. From anyone else he would have taken it to be a compliment, but for some reason her contempt needled at him.
He pointedly ramped up his grin.
‘Of course not. But the story is bigger if they think you have. And the more publicity the more chance we can help Rainbow House before my father gets his way.’
She frowned.
‘I thought that if you got married, you got control of the Lefebvre Group and then Rainbow House and others like it would be safe anyway.’
‘You might think that,’ he agreed, carefully concealing his amusement that she’d just revealed she had actually been considering it, despite her rather vocal rejection of the idea last night. ‘But I’ve been looking into the specific clauses ever since the gala. It seems that unless we get married before the official vote on any transfers then any such decisions will still carry through.’
‘For pity’s sake.’ A torn expression contorted her face.
So this was what it felt like to be such a heel, putting more pressure on her than she already had. But, then, she was the one asking for his help. She just needed to set her prejudice against him aside for long enough to agree this was the only way given the short timeframe she’d given him.
Not that he really blamed her for her vacillation. He’d hardly set himself up to be keen to help.
The sound of her fingers drumming on the plastic table echoed in the vaulted space.
‘Why?’ she demanded abruptly.
‘Why what?’ It was a feeble attempt to stall but her question had caught him off guard.
‘Why do you want to help Rainbow House at all?’ She eyed him shrewdly. ‘You didn’t when I first asked you. And then said you did but really it was all a joke to you. Yet suddenly you’re getting me onto your surgical team and trying to collar me in public places. So, what’s going on?’
Louis arched one brow.
‘You know what they say. It’s a surgeon’s prerogative to change his mind.’
‘No one says that, Louis.’