Secrets of the Playboy's Bride

His mouth lifted in a half smile as his gaze fell over her possessively. “Are you speaking from experience?”

Her mind slammed back to visuals of their heated lovemaking and she bit her lip, bothered by the way her feelings for him seemed to jerk from one end of the spectrum to the other. “An observation,” she said.

He turned off his laptop and stood. “Okay, but I can only stay for an hour or so.”

Forty-five minutes later, Calista helped an elementary-age girl named Kelly with division while a crowd formed around Leo. She assisted Kelly until the little girl’s attention waned and her mother collected her. Curious about what Leo was discussing, she joined his class.

“Whenever you’re selling anything to someone, including yourself, you have to find out what the buyer wants. What does the buyer need? Your job is to give him what he needs.”

“What if you don’t have it?” a young man asked.

“Then you tell him where he can get what he wants, or prove that your product is the answer to his problems. The biggest part of sales is listening to the buyer and helping him see that you’re part of his solution. How many times have you gone into a store and asked for help only to have a salesman take you to the most expensive model of whatever you’re looking for instead of asking you questions about what you want and need?”

“But I just sell candy for my community group,” a little boy said.

“Then you sell the experience of being a part of making the world better by buying one of your candy bars. Be what your buyer is looking for—a clean, well-mannered young man,” Leo said. “Same thing when you’re looking for a job. Do your research. Find out as much as you can about the company where you’re applying. Be prepared. You can learn a lot on the Web. You may even find out something about the person who will interview you.”

“What if I ain’t got no Internet?” another young man asked.

Calista watched Leo, wondering if this question would stump him. He looked so magnetic, so self-assured. She wondered if anyone ever succeeded in making him feel self-conscious.

“The library has Internet,” he said. “All for now. Good luck with your future sales.”

She saw the crowd, both adults and children, push toward him. Everyone seemed to want to shake his hand. It was almost as if they hoped his magic would wipe off on them. She wondered if he’d learned his selling technique from his father. A bitter taste filled her mouth. He’d certainly sold her father down the river. Yet, even now she could tell that he wasn’t all evil. He appeared as if he sincerely wanted success for each person with whom he spoke. Was appearance the operative word? Underneath it all, what was he really thinking?

He glanced up and searched the crowd, his gaze landing on her. She felt a frisson of excitement at being singled out by him. Yes, the rest of the world knew she was his wife. But she knew the truth. He didn’t love her and she needed something from him. Nodding in her direction, he walked toward her.

“Let’s go,” he said and slid his hand to her back as he guided her to the Town Car.

“What is it?” she asked. “They loved you. They were hanging on your every word.”

His body was tense, his mouth taut. “Maybe. They hear what they want to hear.”

“What do you mean?” she asked as he opened the door to the car and followed her inside.

“Home,” he said to George.

“Which one, sir?” George asked.

“Out of the city,” Leo said.

She studied his face and instinctively lifted her hand to his clenched jaw. “Why are you so upset?”

He caught her hand just before she touched him. “I’m not upset. “He shrugged, his eyes dark and full of tempestuous emotion. “Seeing them reminded me…It brought back memories.”

“Of what?” she asked.

He narrowed his eyes and shrugged again. “Nothing I want to remember.”

She felt a strange twinge of compassion at odds with her wall of defense against him. “You gave them hope.”

His mouth twisted cynically. “That’s what I was selling.”

“You don’t believe there’s any hope?”

“I believe in hard work, good timing and good luck,” he said. “It’s not easy being poor and wanting a better life.”

“No, but what you told them is true. Selling a product, selling yourself, is a life skill. Don’t you believe that? Or were you just telling them what they wanted to hear?”

“No,” he said. “I gave that up.”

She lifted her eyebrows at his revelation. “When?”

“Shortly after my time in the egg,” he said.

“But you still used your sales techniques,” she said.

“Yes. I found out what the buyer wanted, but I also found out that people believe what they want to believe. Some are harder to read than others.” He lifted his finger to her lips. “Like you. What do you want to believe, Calista? What do you want to believe about me?”

Her heart pounded at the intent way he looked at her. She feared he could almost read her mind. She swallowed hard over the sensation of her emotions wrapping around her windpipe and squeezing. “I want to—” She broke off. “I believe that you’re a powerful, charismatic man. I believe some part of you wants a family,” she added impulsively.

He lifted his eyebrows. “Is that what you believe or what you want to believe?”

Her thoughts whipped through her mind. She wanted to believe that he was a bad person and that she should feel no guilt about marrying him for his money. She wanted to believe that she couldn’t have feelings for him because he’d been part of her father’s downfall. “I don’t believe that humans are hatched. Humans are born and want and need to be loved.”

His eyes bored into hers. “A word of caution. Don’t overestimate my emotional needs. I’ve spent a lifetime learning to live without. I’m not going to start now.”

His statement made her blood run cold. “Are you saying you have no real feelings for me?” she asked. “If that’s true, then why did you marry me? Oh, wait, you wanted a wife to make your business deals go through more smoothly. So why me? Other than the fact that I was convenient.”

“I told you that you fascinated me.”

“And you thought I could be an asset,” she said, digging into the dirty truth as much for herself as for him. She had to find a way to keep him from getting to her.

“Yes, but many women could be an asset.”

“So all women are interchangeable?” she asked.

“I didn’t say that. I told you that you fascinated me. I couldn’t get enough of you,” he said, pulling her against him. “I still can’t.”

Her breath squeezed tight from her lungs again. “You don’t have an emotional attachment to me and you never plan to. What do you expect of me?”

“Everything,” he said. “Your mind, your body. Everything.”

She gasped. “That’s ridiculous, and it’s not fair.”

“I never said anything about being fair.”

That night, he made love to her, consuming every inch of her, wringing a response from her that surprised even her. When she awakened in the morning, Calista felt like a prostitute. What was she selling in order to secure her sisters’ future?

Feeling suffocated by her feelings and her fake marriage, she took Pooh and drove to visit her sisters. With each mile she put between her and Leo, she breathed a little easier.

She brought a picnic lunch to share with her sisters and cousin’s family on the back porch.

“Best picnic food I’ve ever had,” Sharon said afterward when the girls and Justin adjourned to play a video game.

“Leo’s chef prepared it. He’s amazing,” she said.

“But of course. The great Leo would have nothing less than amazing, including his wife,” Sharon teased.

“I’m not amazing, but I get the job done,” she said cryptically.

Sharon stared at her and blinked. “What do you mean by that?”

Calista waved her hand. “Oh, nothing. I was just joking.”

“How are things going with the newlyweds?” her cousin asked.

“Good,” Calista said. “Great. Being Mrs. Leo Grant means I have a full-time job of turning down social invitations, so I quit my job.”

Silence followed. “You don’t sound happy about it.”

Calista laughed to cover her discomfort. “Of course, I’m happy. I can become a lady of leisure now. What could be better?”

“If you say so,” her cousin said.

“I do,” Calista said. “How is Tami doing?”

Her cousin lifted crossed fingers. “I’m hoping better. She’s still hanging out with a crowd I don’t like, but she’s been getting home on time. I worry now, but she’ll be leaving for college in the fall and I won’t be able to do a thing.”

“I’m so lucky you worry about her. I do, too. If anything changes and you need help, let me know. Now that I’m not working, I can be down here in no time.”

“Thanks for the offer, but I think I have it under control.” Sharon glanced around. “Where’d your puppy go?”

“Oh, no,” Calista said, a spurt of anxiousness driving her to her feet. “Pooh likes to chew. We better find him.”

Minutes later, they found him in the kitchen, his head in the trash can. “Pooh! Stop!” Calista said, pulling on the dog’s collar. “I’m sorry.”

Sharon giggled. “No big deal. At least he didn’t make a mess.”

“Good point,” Calista said. “I should probably head back now.” She gave Sharon a hug. “Let me say goodbye to the rest of the crew.”

She embraced her sisters, and her cousin’s husband and son. As soon as she got into her car, Sharon’s words weighed heavily on her. Was it so obvious to others that she was unhappy?