“She’ll be fine.”
“She’ll hate me!”
“I was never interested in her at all, so I don’t see what she’d be angry about.”
“My hypocrisy.” Ruby got out of bed, and his gaze traced hungrily over her naked body, her full, gorgeous breasts, her tiny waist, the generous curve of her backside. “And I’m supposed to teach a kids’ ski class at nine. I can’t be late!”
The last thing he wanted her to do was leave his bed. “So quit that job. Stay with me.”
She stared at him. “Are you crazy? I’m not going to blow off my job!”
“Quit all your jobs.” He gave her a slow, lazy grin. “Run away with me.”
Pulling on her panties, she straightened in shock. “What do you mean?”
Still stretched out on the huge bed, Ares tucked his hands behind his head. “I got a call from my pilot. My plane is ready.”
“Are you going somewhere?”
“Sydney.”
“Australia?”
“I’ll be there a few weeks.” He looked at her. “Come with me.”
Ruby stared at him, swallowed, tried to speak. He saw the yearning in her dark eyes.
Then her jaw tightened. Shaking her head, she said roughly, “It’s a fantasy.”
“Fantasies are meant to come true.”
She gave a bitter laugh. “Maybe in your world.”
“So come join my world.”
For a moment, Ruby stared at him. Then she shook her head with a glare. “Stop. Just stop!”
“Stop what?”
“I’m not going anywhere. I told you, my mom is sick. I’m the only one bringing in income. I can’t just leave.”
Ares relaxed, relieved. So it was a question of money, nothing more. For a moment he’d thought she was actually rejecting him. Financial problems were easily solved.
And if part of him felt disappointed Ruby was already asking for money, he stomped on the feeling. So she wasn’t entirely different from other women. What had he expected? Women always wanted his money. And why wouldn’t they? It was the main thing he could offer, other than sex. It wasn’t like he was going to give any woman his days, his heart or his name.
Rising from bed, he pulled on his boxers and went to his desk. He only had a few thousand dollars in cash—he was on vacation after all—so he reached for a checkbook. Anachronistic, but occasionally useful. “How much money do you need?”
Awkwardly hooking the back of her bra, Ruby said blankly, “Money?”
“Yes. Fifty thousand dollars? A hundred?”
Looking at him, she stumbled back a step. “A hundred thousand dollars?”
“Is that not enough?”
“Why would you give me money? What are you paying me for?”
Ares frowned, pausing with the pen still in his hand. She didn’t sound as grateful as he expected. “I just want you to come with me. To Australia.”
“If you want to spend time with me, you don’t have to pay anything. Just stay here!”
“In Star Valley?” He snorted. “Vacation can’t last forever. I have things to do.”
“So do I!”
His eyebrows lifted incredulously. “Like what? Pouring drinks? Teaching children how to ski?”
Her beautiful dark eyes turned cold as her jaw set. “Ah. So what you do is important, but what I do is not?”
“You can’t seriously compare your minimum-wage jobs to running a multibillion-dollar conglomerate,” he said tersely. “I have shareholders and thousands of employees. While you…”
Ruby’s eyes narrowed dangerously. Still dressed in just her underwear, she folded her arms. “I what?”
Did he really have to spell it out? “Your talent is wasted here.”
If her eyes had looked dangerous before, they were positively shooting sparks now. “Which talent are you talking about?”
Ares didn’t understand why she seemed so angry, or why the temperature in the bedroom had suddenly turned icy. “You’re better than the jobs you do, Ruby. Obviously, you deserve better.”
“And by better—you mean instead of working honest jobs for honest pay, I should be employed full-time in your bed?”