“You’re not married,” he noted. “Are you engaged? In a relationship?”
“I don’t think it would be wise to offer you any more leverage than you currently possess,” she said with a faint smile.
“Interesting that you think a relationship would be a weakness, not a strength.”
“Goodness,” she said with a glance at her naked wrist. “Did my therapy appointment overlap with my business meeting? I’ll speak to my assistant. There’s no reason you should feel compelled to do double duty.”
He refused to like her, but he was a sucker for sarcasm delivered on such a frosty platter. May I assume you’re prompted by product loyalty?
He was still privately smirking over that cheeky remark.
“I find committed relationships to be a liability myself,” he volunteered, presuming he would have unearthed any serious liaisons while he’d been researching her and her family. “I have no problem with monogamy, but demands on my time are very high. I don’t like people in my space, expecting me to answer to them. I don’t like being emotionally accessible. It’s...tedious.”
“Hmm.” The noncommittal noise neither agreed nor disagreed.
Such a mysterious creature. He was reluctantly curious, wondering what it would take to get a real reaction out of her. Not a reflex like pain or fear. Laughter. Passion.
She must possess some of the latter. Callas Cosmetics was enormously successful in a crowded market. Her father’s initial investment was well-documented, and the family name had definitely helped her along, but she hadn’t relied on gimmicks or risky gambles or dirty plays that he could find. She had scaled strategically, always raising money through outside sources with sound proposals.
As someone who had grown his own business from next to nothing, Leander knew there had to be a deep emotional driver to propel a person into doing the hard work every day. His motivator was revenge. The way Ilona was prepared to sacrifice herself for her employees and customers suggested something less dark. It had to be passion.
He could definitely work with that.
“If we were to marry—” he began, then surprised himself with a fantasy of her long, slender legs squeezing his waist while he plumbed the depths of her sensuality, his mouth catching her cries of culmination.
A hot bolt of desire grounded itself behind his fly, causing the flesh there to twitch and thicken. He bit back a curse, nearly missing what she was saying.
“You have completely misconstrued my remark.” She brushed at her knee. “I meant that taking a position under you in my own company sounds like an arrangement that is doomed to fail. It would be similar to a marriage where everyone says, ‘It was obvious from the beginning that it wouldn’t work out.’ I don’t like making obvious mistakes.”
“Thank you for connecting those dots for me. I’ve moved to a new page where I am proposing—” Was he really going here? Taking a position under you...
Her words rang in his ears, but this wasn’t about sex. It was about using her as a Trojan horse to get inside the family so he could deal Midas the lethal blow he deserved.
“I propose you allow me to buy the fifteen percent from Pagonis,” Leander stated, growing more resolved as he located pieces from one of his many plans and modified them to fit this moment. “I will then give you all of my shares in Callas as a wedding gift. You will own Callas Cosmetics outright and may run it however you see fit.”
Her eyes widened with exhilaration before she dropped her lashes, screening her reaction while she looked to the hands she had arranged in her lap.
“That’s an attractive offer, but I don’t wish to marry.” Her gaze came up again, thoughts shuttered. “At all. It’s not personal.”
“No?” He thought again of that flash of fear she had revealed. Was she afraid of all men, not just him? That thought caused an uncomfortable prickle across the back of his shoulders.
Maybe she wasn’t into men at all. He didn’t see that as an impediment to a marriage for business purposes, though.
“I wouldn’t think marriage was something that interests you, either,” she said in a remote tone. “You said you don’t like people in your space. Ironically, we’re a perfect match in that regard. I’m also very private. That’s why it’s best if we stick to our own corners.”
“We could have our own corners,” he decided abruptly. “Separate bedrooms.”
“A marriage without sex? That is a compelling offer.” She was being facetious again, the minx.
“I’m serious. I happen to be straight and was under the impression you are, too, but sharing a bed with my wife is not a deal breaker for me.” He couldn’t believe those words were emerging from his mouth. He loved sex.
He wasn’t an opportunist, though. He didn’t take whatever was available for the sake of it. Besides, he’d be a fool to trust her. Yes, there was often a power imbalance when a man brought a woman into his bed, one that typically favored a man, but there were plenty of men who became ruled by lust. He wouldn’t become one of them.
She tucked her chin, brows coming together with skepticism. “A marriage in name only? Really?”
“Disappointed?” he mocked. “Do you want to have sex with me?”
“Of course not,” she said a little too quickly. “I only met you five minutes ago.” Her snippiness was the first hint of true emotion she’d displayed since walking in here. A stain of pink touched her cheekbones and her gaze slid away from his. Her spine inched a notch taller.