A blinding flash hit him in the eyes as a round of paparazzi cameras went off.
‘Luiz, tell us about your mystery date,’ a journalist said. ‘Everyone’s talking about her. Who is she?’
‘Are you going to see her again?’
‘What’s your name, sweetheart?’
Luiz took Daisy’s arm and pulled her back behind him. ‘Don’t tell them.’
‘Ooh!’ a female journalist crowed. ‘It must be serious. He’s never done that before.’
‘Her name’s Daisy,’ someone offered from the back of the assembled press. ‘I spoke to one of her friends earlier. She’s a kindergarten teacher from a posh school in London.’
‘Can we expect a double wedding with your brother, eh, Luiz?’ one of the old regulars asked.
Luiz laughed it off. ‘We’re just friends.’
‘How about we hear what Miss Wyndham has to say?’
Luiz’s fingers clamped down on Daisy’s wrist. ‘She has no comment to make. Now, if you’ll excuse us—’
‘Yes, I do.’ Daisy poked her head around his shoulder before he could stop her. ‘I’m in love with Luiz and he’s in love with me.’
Somehow Luiz kept his composure but it was a near thing. Thank God for the improvisation drama classes way back in his boarding school days. He smiled stiffly and put his arm around Daisy’s waist, tugging her close to his body; registering again how neatly she fitted against him. ‘That’s right.’ He swallowed to get his next words out without choking. ‘We’re officially a couple.’
The cameras went crazy. So many flashes and clicks it sounded like rounds of artillery on a battlefield.
But this was one battle Luiz was determined to win. No one—not even a pretty little English girl or her overbearing father—was going to manipulate him into a relationship. He was a free agent and he was going to stay that way.
He shepherded Daisy back inside his suite and closed the door firmly, hoping the paparazzi would get the message and move on. When he was certain they had left he nailed her with a hardened look. ‘Want to tell me what that was all about?’
She stood before him, straight-backed and defiant. ‘I didn’t want them to think I was one of your groupies.’
‘In love?’ Saying the words felt as if he was coughing up a fur ball.
Her cheeks stained with spreading colour. ‘OK, I admit it might’ve been a bit over the top but I had to say something.’
‘No, you did not.’ He didn’t bother softening his tone. ‘I told you to keep quiet. But no. You go and announce to the world you’re in love with me. Seriously?’
A combative light came into her eyes. ‘It’s all right for you. You don’t care what people think of you, but I have to think of my reputation. I don’t want to be seen as another one of your trashy one-night stands. I have children who look up to me.’
He looked at her blankly. ‘Children?’
She whooshed out a flustered breath. ‘My pupils. You heard what the journalist said. My school’s not just your common or garden variety one. The parents pay extortionate fees to have their little darlings educated. As a staff member I have standards to uphold both professionally and personally. Kindergarten kids are highly impressionable. If word got back to the school board that I was cavorting in Vegas with a layabout play—’
‘Hey, watch your language.’
She rolled her eyes. ‘Whatever.’
Luiz raked a hand through his hair. Did she really think he was—? No, don’t even go there. He didn’t care what she thought of him. Why would he? He didn’t have to explain himself to her or to anyone. ‘I don’t care if you want to pretend to be in love with me, but why throw in that porkie of me being in love with you?’
She gave him a pert look. ‘How do you know I’m pretending?’
He narrowed his gaze. ‘You’re…you’re not serious?’
She flashed him a teasing smile. ‘No, of course not. You’re the last person I’d ever fall for.’
‘Why?’ You so should not have asked that.
She put a finger to her lips, tapping them thoughtfully. ‘Let me count the ways…’ She held up each finger as she ticked them off. ‘You’re arrogant. Overly confident. Egotistical. Self-serving. Morally corrupt.’
Luiz let out a hissing breath, following it up with a choice expletive. ‘I should’ve left you to that sleazeball last night. That’s who I’d be calling morally corrupt.’ Along with her mob-connected father, a fact he declined to mention because, as angry as he was, he wasn’t the type of guy to judge her for who her parents were or what they did.