‘You mean sex?’
‘Well, yes,’ she nearly spluttered.
‘You object to having sex with your husband?’
‘I object to marrying someone I don’t feel anything for, someone I don’t even know—’
‘Yet people have been doing that for centuries. Millennia.’
‘Even so...’
‘You told me you weren’t interested in romance.’
‘Not at this point in my life, no.’
‘Or perhaps ever, I believe your words were. So...?’
‘That doesn’t mean I want to marry you.’ She sounded exasperated now. Alex allowed himself a cold little smile.
‘Would five million euros change your thinking?’
Her mouth opened. Closed. And then again. Her eyes wide and as brown and soft as pansies. ‘That’s a lot of money,’ she finally said, her voice faint.
‘Indeed.’ He cocked his head. ‘Would you like to hear the particulars now?’
She bit her lip. ‘You think I’ll change my mind simply because of money? That’s insulting.’
‘Financial stability,’ he reminded her. ‘It’s a powerful incentive.’
‘I’m not some gold-digger.’ The words burst out of her, like an old wound breaking open. Alex wondered at it.
‘I know you’re not.’
‘I won’t sell myself.’
‘So you keep saying, but to think of it that way is distasteful. We are talking marriage, remember. Not being a mistress.’
‘Yet it’s true nevertheless.’
‘Not necessarily. It’s a deal, Miss James. We both get something out of it.’
She shook her head slowly, her eyes still wide. ‘Considering the nature of our conversation, perhaps you should call me Milly.’
Victory loomed closer, elusive but possible. Probable, even. She hadn’t stormed out of the room. She hadn’t slapped his face. She hadn’t seen it, either. They would get to that all in good time. ‘Very well, Milly. Why don’t you take a seat?’
‘All right.’ Milly walked with careful, deliberate steps to one of the leather club chairs in front of his desk and sank into it, ankles neatly crossed, hands linked at her waist like a respectable matron. ‘Can we turn the light on?’ she asked. ‘I can barely make you out, and I’ve never actually seen you in person, which seems ridiculous considering the nature of our discussion.’
He tensed, and then made himself relax. ‘I’m averse to light.’
‘You’re not a vampire, are you?’ It was obviously a joke, but she still sounded uncertain.
‘No, most certainly not.’ He turned to face her, angling his head in a way he knew would hide the worst. ‘I’ll turn it on in a moment, perhaps, after we’ve discussed some of the details.’
‘Why me?’ Milly asked bluntly. ‘Why not someone far more suitable?’
‘Because you’re here,’ Alex answered just as bluntly. ‘And you’re happy to remain on this island. And in the six months you’ve been in my employ, you’ve seemed trustworthy and hardworking, or so my man here, Yiannis, tells me.’
‘Yiannis has been reporting on me?’