‘I’ll do it,’ Chloe said. ‘What are you thinking, Poppy? He’s gorgeous. He’s rich. He’s everything a woman could want in a man.’
Poppy set her mouth. ‘Not this woman.’
‘You’re mad,’ Chloe said. ‘What would it hurt to have a little fling with him? He would probably give you heaps and heaps of ridiculously expensive jewellery at the end of it. You could sell them and retire.’
Poppy threw her a look of reproach. ‘I had no idea you were so shallow.’
Chloe shrugged. ‘Not shallow, just pragmatic. Think about it. When are you going to get the chance to move in his sort of circles? It’d be worth it just for the publicity. It’d really put the tearoom on the map.’
‘I am not going to sleep with Rafe Caffarelli in order to bring more customers in the door.’ Poppy folded her arms tightly across her chest. ‘I have far more self-respect than that.’
‘You’re stuck in the dark ages,’ Chloe said. ‘Who waits for Mr Right these days? Most girls lose their virginity before they leave school. You’re twenty-five for God’s sake. Think of all the sex you’re going to have to have to catch up.’
‘I don’t think about sex.’ Well, not until recently.
‘That’s because you don’t know what you’re missing. It’s not wrong to have sex before you get married. Not in this day and age.’
‘I’m not necessarily waiting until I get married,’ Poppy said. ‘I’m waiting until I feel sure it’s really what I want, and that the man is right for me.’
‘It’s because of what happened to your mum, isn’t it?’ Chloe said. ‘It’s made you gun-shy.’
‘Maybe a bit,’ Poppy confessed. ‘OK, more than a bit. It ruined her life to be cast aside like that. She never got over it. She was truly heartbroken. She loved my father and he treated her like a silly little toy he had grown tired of. And it didn’t just wreck her life, it ruined my gran’s life because she got landed with a little kid to bring up.’
‘Your gran loved bringing you up.’
Poppy let out a sigh. ‘But my mother died so young and she didn’t get to do all the things she wanted to do. I don’t want that to happen to me. I want to have control over my future.’
‘There are some things in life that you just can’t control.’
‘I know, but I’m going to focus on the ones I can.’ Poppy untied her apron and tossed it on the nearest chair. ‘Starting right now.’
* * *
Rafe was working on some preliminary sketches in the makeshift study he’d set up at the manor when he heard a car rumble up the driveway. He knew who it was without looking through the window. Only someone with an axe to grind would slam their car door, stomp across the gravel, to put their finger on the doorbell and leave it there. He smiled as the tinny sound assaulted his eardrums. How boring had his life been before meeting Poppy Silverton?
This was the most fun he’d had in years.
‘We have to stop meeting like this,’ he said as he opened the door. ‘People will talk.’
Her toffee-brown eyes were slitted, her hands were fisted and her slim body was rigid. ‘You.
..you calculating, low-life swine.’
He raised a brow at her. ‘It’s nice to see you too.’
She vibrated on the spot like a battery-operated tin soldier. ‘I can’t believe how ruthless you are. You bought my shop!’
‘So? I’m a property developer. I buy property.’
Her pretty little mouth was white-tipped with fury. ‘I know what you’re doing but it won’t work.’
Rafe leaned casually against the doorjamb. ‘What is it you think I’m doing?’
‘You’re going to blackmail me.’ She glowered at him darkly. ‘You must know I can barely afford the rent as it is. But it won’t work. I won’t prostitute myself to someone like you.’
He tapped his index finger against his lips for a moment. ‘Mmm, I can see I have some work to do to improve the impression you have of me. What makes you think I’m going to raise the rent?’
She looked at him warily. ‘You mean...you’re not?’