"With that kind of attitude, I'm not surprised," she said, calmly breaking a brownie in two and popping a piece in her mouth.
He sighed. "I live in a small outback mining town. Relationships aren't my thing."
"I live in a bustling cosmopolitan city and relationships aren't my thing either," she said, licking cocoa crumbs off her fingertips.
His gaze riveted to her tongue, the instant flare of heat garnering an answering reaction deep within.
"That's surprising."
"Why, because I'm a woman and we cravesoulmates?" She made an inverted comma sign with her fingertips and a mock gagging sound. "Don't get me wrong, I date. It's fun. But there's been no one serious."
"Ever?"
She picked up a fork and pushed the rest of the brownie around the plate. "You're one to talk, Mr Outback."
His lips twitched. "Guess that makes it easier for people to buy our story."
She nodded. "Yeah, we've been smitten for a few months, have kept it private because we didn't want publicity, especially—"
She paused too late, by the shadows darkening his brow.
"Especially since my dad's appeal is coming up and the media are all over it,” he finished for her.
She nodded. "You don't have to talk about it, but I probably need to know some stuff in case I get ambushed by the press."
He snorted. "I can see the headlines now.Society princess wedsunderworld offspring. What was she thinking?"
For the first time since they met, she glimpsed a fleeting vulnerability scudding across his eyes before he blinked. She placed her hand over his on the table between them, hers small and pale, his large and tanned.
"Maybe she was thinking he's a good catch? Maybe she was thinking he's powerful and successful? Maybe she was thinking of indulging her latent bad boy fantasy while saving her business in the process?"
The undeniable spark between them returned, potent and smouldering as his burning gaze challenged her.
"Elaborate, please.”
"On saving the business? Well, it's quite simple really—"
He raised her hand to his mouth, brushing his lips across her knuckles and sending a shiver of longing through her. "Tell me about the bad boy fantasy."
It would be so easy to tell him in exquisite detail what she'd like him to do to her. But they had a business deal to finalise—namely, their marriage—and being distracted by sex could potentially lead to mistakes later. She didn't want people to doubt the validity of this marriage. She needed them to buy the romantic tale in order to achieve her goal: saveSeabornfrom extinction.
This entire farce was much easier for him, sitting there all gorgeous and brooding and mysterious. What would he lose if the marriage failed? Face in the community? The odd business deal? The guy owned one of the biggest mines in Western Australia. As if a few botched deals would affect him.
Her, on the other hand…
She inwardly shuddered, not daring to contemplate what would happen to Sapphire ifSeabornwent under.
She eased her hand out of his on the pretext of picking up her latte. "Save it for the honeymoon. For now, we have details to work out."
"There's going to be a honeymoon?"
His silky smooth tone rippled over her in an invisible caress and she resisted the urge to rub her arms.
"Only if you're lucky." She sipped her coffee, the slight bitterness matching her mood.
She could do teasing. Teasing kept her mind off the constant niggle that what they were doing must be plain wrong.
What would it be like to discuss marriage plans with a real fiancé? A guy she adored, a guy she loved, a guy she couldn't live without? She assumed it might happen some nebulous day inthe future, but now her dreams of a fairytale wedding wouldn't happen.
