“You didn’t have to.”
“Look. You can hire nannies. You can’t back out on this deal. Your uncle agreed.”
“Oh, my uncle agreed, did he?” He was still looking at her in that way. It was almost physical, as if his hands were roving over her body. Skin tingling under his touch…his lips brushing her neck…his groan of pleasure in her ear…
“Stop that!” She took a step back.
“Stop what?” He was all polite, wounded innocence.
“Stop looking at me as if you like me!” she spluttered.
“I do like you. Always have.”
“Yes, you made that quite clear.” That came out more bitter than she would have expected.
His smile faded and he nodded solemnly. “I know,” he said. “I was… Things were different. I was different. I’m not the wolf I was back then. I just want you to give me another chance.”
Another chance to rip her beating heart out of her chest? Sounded like fun. Given his recent history of dating and dashing, it didn’t seem as if he’d changed at all.
She forged ahead. “That ship has sailed. I need this job, and if you keep flirting with me, I’ll get fired. If you care anything at all about me, you will stop flirting with me and start being nice to Regina, at least in front of the cameras,” she said desperately. “And you need to go through with the bridenapping.”
He stared at her for a long, long moment, as if trying to see whether she meant what she said. Mary tried to look as uninterested and bored and impatient as possible.
“Okay?” she prodded him.
To her surprise, he nodded. “Okay. Absolutely.” He turned and walked back inside without a backward glance, letting the door bang shut behind him.
Well, that had been easy. Too easy. She’d gotten what she wanted – and she was left standing there feeling cold, hollow and alone in the damp heat of the night.
