Humiliation engulfed her as she became brutally aware of what he could see, and smell. The dirty, broken fingernails, the rough calluses, the scent of sweat and horses and manure.
His grasp loosened and she tugged her hand free. She closed her grubby, work-roughened fingers into a fist and hid the offending hand behind her back.
She braced herself, the swift kick of vulnerability almost as disturbing as the crippling disappointment. Would he withdraw the job offer, now that he had incontrovertible proof of how unsuitable she was to play his wife?
But instead of breaking their deal, his sensual lips lifted in the first genuine smile she’d seen on his face. The light dancing in his eyes turned the gold flecks to molten magma.
‘You have forty-eight hours, Tallulah, to make yourself presentable,’ he said, his tone more amused than judgemental. But as the string of orders continued, Tali’s relief proved to be short-lived. ‘My legal team will arrive today. You must sign the pre-nuptial agreement before we meet in Milan to announce our engagement in two days’ time. I will arrange a separate apartment for you there, while we attend events as a couple. But at the end of the following week, we must travel to Sicily for my sister’s wedding,’ he continued, the dispassionate tone comprehensively obliterated by the purpose in his eyes which seemed to detonate in Tali’s sex.What the hell?‘I will tell Aldo to make all the necessary arrangements and assist you over the coming days.’ He walked back around the desk, but then his gaze skimmed over her. ‘He can start by arranging a manicure.’
She wanted to be outraged at his high-handedness and that dictatorial tone. But how could she be, when she’d totally signed up for this? What bothered her more, though, was the schedule he’d outlined so dispassionately.
It was all too much, way too soon.
‘But I can’t join you in two days. I’ll need more time to get my assistant Ellie up to speed here. And I can’t spend a fortnight in Milan, especially if you then want me to travel to Sicily with…’
He held up his hand, halting her babbled plea in mid-babble.
‘Are you reneging on our deal so soon?’ he asked, one brow lifting ominously.
‘No, but I’m needed here. Ellie’s good, but she’s never handled everything on her own. Exactly how long would we be in Sicily…?’
‘That is not your concern.’ He cut her off, making the panic threaten to choke her. He didn’t look amused anymore, his scarred cheek clenching, signalling his irritation. Unfortunately, he wasn’t the only one getting annoyed. ‘You will be with me whenever, and wherever, and for as long as I require,’ he added.
‘But…’ she tried again.
‘This is not a negotiation, Tallulah. Either you accept these terms, or I close the Hall as planned and investigate how to have it demolished…’
The threat felt like a knife to her gut, but she couldn’t quite control her own temper. He was being unreasonable. And she wasn’t even sure why. What on earth would she be doing in Milan for close to two weeks?
‘But I can’t just abandon my staff…’ she said, the anxiety making her lungs hurt. ‘I’ve never been away for more than a weekend.’ The truth was, she hadn’t taken a full day off work in the last two years, and she had never had the chance to travel… She was pretty sure her day trip to Calais at school didn’t count. But he didn’t need to know any of that, because he had far too much information on how unsophisticated she was already—thanks to broken-nail-gate.
One of the things she loved most about her job at Westwick was the sense of purpose and achievement it gave her. She’d always been industrious and hard-working and, as much as she’d hated seeing the Hall’s decline, she’d also adored the challenge of running a place of this size and complexity on a shoestring.
She’d feel utterly useless in Milan twiddling her thumbs, and hideously guilty. Because how on earth were her already beleaguered staff going to manage everything without her?
Lorenti was utterly unmoved by her pleas. His features set in the stony expression of disapproval she had become familiar with in the past twenty minutes. But then, to her surprise, as he stared at her, the muscle in his jaw stopped clenching.
‘For this to work, I expect you to be available to me at all times,’ he growled, his voice husky with intent.
Tali tensed, the wave of heat which flushed through her shocking in its intensity. ‘But I…’
‘Hear me out,’ he interrupted her again. ‘If you wish to continue your work here during the year ahead, I will allow it. Up to a point.’
Allow it!
‘I… I do wish,’ she managed, feeling like a rabbit in the headlights of an oncoming juggernaut. And not just because he was being such a dictatorial jerk.
She wanted this deal to go ahead, so Westwick would have a future, but the shocking heat flushing through her system like a tsunami made her feel as if her whole life—and everything she had ever known about herself—was being swept away before her eyes.
‘Then you may continue your work here in person,’ he said. ‘When I do not require your presence at my side. Otherwise, you can oversee your responsibilities via the internet. And hire any extra staff you feel appropriate, at my expense. This is my final offer.’
She could see he meant it.
A part of her wanted to tell him she couldn’t accept—that she couldn’t be his fake wife for a whole year if it meant spending weeks away from the estate. Westwick was more than a job to her. This place made her feel valued and safe, and it always had, ever since she’d first arrived as a child. It was where she’d recovered from her father’s rejection, and where she’d helped her mum eventually heal her broken heart.
And while another part of her knew she couldn’t throw away this chance to give Westwick the lifeline it so desperately needed… What if saving Westwick Hall and the estate—and looking after all the people who depended on her—wasn’t the only reason she wanted to say yes?
Lorenti was demanding and scarily intense, and pretending to be his wife, even in public, was going to be much more of a challenge than she had originally anticipated. But she also knew he had always intrigued her. And agreeing to do this felt weirdly exhilarating as well as intimidating.
