He waited for the explosion.
It came. “What? Twenty grand?” The pen fell from her nerveless fingers.
“Those were custom tires, and the body… well, apart from the fact that it is the body of aFerrari,and not aMustang.”
She winced, and he almost felt bad for rubbing salt into the wound.
“The paint was also custom blended, and much of the body redesigned to my specifications. Hence the cost.” He wondered how she would react if she knew that the Ferrari was, in fact, the cheapest of his small fleet, and that the most expensive car in his garage was worth well over a quarter of a million dollars.
Alexandre felt a stab of guilt when her face went ashen and she slumped. Instinctively, he reached for her, catching her before she keeled over, face forward, and guided her to a chair. She allowed him to sit her down, meekly, her mind too busy processing the figure, he guessed.
She raised those beautiful eyes to his, shocked, pleading. “But I can’t… I don’t… Where would I find this huge sum?”
“Perhaps we can arrange a payment plan? Deduct regular installments from your salary?”
Her face crumpled. “I, uh, don’t have a job.” Then she added hastily, “I did have a job. I was employed, up to a couple of days ago but then Gregg fired me.”
“Gregg,” he repeated. “Your boyfriend.”
“Ex!” she snapped. Apparently, it was a sore point with her.
“Ex,” he accepted. The germ of an idea that had been forming in the back of his mind began to sprout. But he had to be sure. “So you are no longer in a relationship?”
As she shook her head, those red braids swooped from side to side like a thick curtain.
“And…” how did he put this delicately? “you have no children? No ties to keep you bound to your home?”
“No, I—” and then she gave him a hard, suspicions look. “Why? Why are you asking those questions? Because if you think you can make me disappear, I have news for you. I can use a knife.”
He felt bad to have frightened her, but his idea was scaring him, too. Could he really go through with it? Could he really go home? Back to Aix after such a long time, and not alone but with a stranger in tow?
It was a damn fool idea.Complètement insensée.But if he had to go back—and by now, he had accepted that, as a dutiful son, he did—he wasn’t going there alone. He needed backup. Alex looked down at this beautiful, impulsive, suspicious woman and wondered, could he?
He could.He had to.
This is where you step in,he reminded himself.It is now or never.“If you are unable to gather the funds, I have a proposal to make that will allow us both to achieve our ends. An arrangement, if you will.”
She was out of her chair like a bullet, leaping backwards over its soft arm, her face hot, eyes ablaze. “What! Who the hell do you think you are, coming in here and suggesting I offer you my body? You sick, twisted–.”
He understood immediately how he had misspoken, and raised his hands in the universal gesture meant to placate her, or any enraged female. “Mademoiselle, no. You have misunderstood—”
She began looking around frantically, probably for a weapon, and he wondered with mild panic whether she had that knife she’d mentioned close by. He had to talk fast. “That’s not what I meant at all. I promise you, I mean you no harm. I would never lay a hand on you.”
Luckily for him, she paused in her search to listen to him. He noted that she was panting slightly, like a deer that had failed to outrun a hunter. “What, then?”
Alexandre took a breath, hoping that his idea—which had come to him in a flash—didn’t sound as insane when spoken aloud as it did in his head. He began, choosing his words carefully. “A situation has arisen at my ancestral home, in France. It has become necessary for me to return to spend some time with my family.”
“And?” She frowned and crossed her arms. He couldn’t help but notice that, despite her unattractive ensemble, that motion did wonderful things for her figure.
“And for reasons which I prefer to keep to myself, I require a traveling companion—”
“I will not go whoring for you on your joyride to France!”
He flinched, but went on. “I need someone… A woman as lovely as yourself to accompany me home and pretend to be my fiancée.” He could see the protest rising to her lips, and held up a finger to silence her before she began. “It seems to me that it would be a satisfactory solution to both our problems. If you agree to take part in this subterfuge—”
“Who are you trying to fool?”
Excellent question, he thought. “My brother, his wife, and my mother all live there. Along with the servants, of course.”