‘We can agree a time limit. Say...four weeks.’
In two smooth motions he downed the remaining whisky and set the glass on the counter. ‘Let me get this straight. You want to play-act at being my mistress—’
‘Girlfriend.’
He flicked a hand in the air. ‘Same thing—in return for granting your father a grace period?’
‘Of sorts. Yes.’
He closed his eyes. Ran a wide palm over his jaw. ‘That’s insane.’
Totally.
She hiked her chin, swatted away the inclination to agree with him. ‘Why? We’d each be doing the other a favour. What’s so insane about that?’
‘Because I don’t need—’
‘I know. I know.’ Her turn to flick a hand. ‘You don’t need or want anything from me.’ She let that hang a moment. ‘But Carlos has met me now, and you said yourself he’s an important client. Why decline his invitation if you don’t need to? And, assuming you do want Anna to get the message loud and clear that you’re unavailable, why not make use of the opportunity?’
He folded his arms, his shirt stretching over biceps that bunched and flexed with what she guessed was a surge of testosterone-fuelled pride. ‘I can handle Santino’s daughter without your help.’
She let a knowing smile curve her mouth. ‘I’m sure you can. And, let’s face it, you’ve done a stellar job so far. So stellar, in fact, that she went to all the trouble of tracking your whereabouts and arranging to be at the same event as you—in a different city. A different country.’ She shook her head, turned her smile into a pitying grimace. ‘I hate to say this, Leo, but that’s not a girl who’s accepted no for an answer. That’s a woman still hot for the chase.’
His muscles deflated slightly, though the arrogant set of his jaw remained. ‘That’s quite some proposition, Helena. You and I pretending to be lovers. How do you think your father would feel about that?’
Helena swallowed, or tried to, but her mouth had gone suddenly dry. Lovers. The word had skimmed off his tongue with such ease and yet it drove home the reality of what she’d suggested. Of precisely the kind of role-playing required to convince a crowd of partygoers that she and Leo were a committed couple. Her belly quivered with something much more unsettling than nerves, but she couldn’t back down now.
She moistened her lips. ‘I don’t mix in my father’s circles. Not any more. Few people of note would recognise me, and certainly not in Rome. And if they did, well...why would you care? Isn’t that the reason I’m here tonight? Because you like the idea of getting under his skin?’
He frowned at that, eyes narrowed, his fingers yanking loose another button at his throat. He tugged at the collar and the shirt gaped, exposing the base of his strong neck and a triangle of chest deeply bronzed and dusted with fine whorls of dark hair.
Helena jerked her gaze north of his chin. Focus.
‘There’s no reason this can’t work. If people in Rome question why they haven’t seen us together before we’ll say we wanted to keep our relationship private until we’d figured out the long-distance thing. If we’re convincing, Anna will back off and lose interest, and once she’s moved on you can tell Carlos we broke up. That way he won’t ever have to know you lied to his daughter—’ she paused for a significant beat ‘—or to him.’
His jaw ground from side to side. ‘You really think you could pull that off? Convince the Santinos and their hundreds of guests—and there will be hundreds—that we’re a couple?’
‘Sure.’ She shrugged, strove for nonchalance. ‘Why not? We were lovers once.’
Briefly, admittedly, and then only after she’d convinced him that at nineteen, besides being a legally consenting adult, she was a level-headed young woman who knew her own mind. He had been older, yes, but six years was hardly cradle-snatcher territory. She’d wanted it, wanted him, as she’d never wanted anything before. And not once had she regretted what they’d shared—even in the days and months of heartache that followed. Sex with Leo had been the most intense, most beautiful and physically liberating experience of her life.
Nothing, and no one, had come close since.
Drawing courage from the alcohol warming her blood, she stepped forward and cupped a hand around his jaw. ‘It wouldn’t be so difficult, would it? Pretending we’re lovers? Pretending we’re enamoured of each other?’
She swayed her hips—a gentle, seductive grind that bumped their bodies and sparked a slow blossoming of heat low in her pelvis.
Bone and muscle shifted under her palm. He ground out an oath, seized her wrist. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Proving I can play the part. I can, Leo, if that’s what you’re worried about.’
There was no mistaking the growl in his throat this time. Or the sudden flash of heat in his eyes. His grip tightened and she thought for one heart-stopping moment he was going to kiss her—haul her against him, crash that harsh, beautiful mouth down on hers and kiss her. Her breath stalled. Her heartbeat hitched. A tiny, forbidden thrill of anticipation skimmed her spine.
Then his head was snapping back, his hand thrusting hers away as if he found her touch, her very proximity, repugnant. ‘How do I know your father didn’t put you up to this? That everything you’ve told me tonight isn’t more lies? Tell me why I should trust you.’
Heat seared Helena’s face even as the flare of desire in her belly iced over.
Because I loved you once! she almost shouted. Broke my heart in two for you. And, by God, doesn’t that make me the world’s biggest fool?