by Fiona Brand
She knocked on his window. “You’re supposed to be helping me.”
He wound down his window and pointed to the first sentence of the schedule. “You want me to do this first scene, right now?”
For a moment, she was actually speechless. “It’s not a scene, Mike. It’s real life.”
“Oh...yeah!” Grinning, Mike climbed out of his truck and folded and jammed the pages of the schedule into the back pocket of his jeans.
Allegra drew a deep breath and attempted to relax. “Don’t forget, you’re supposed to be pretending to be my fiancé.” A little grimly, she noted he had his glasses on, which was not ideal, because he looked far more impressive without them. She was about to tell him to take them off, put them in the truck and leave them there, but then the front door to the mansion popped open.
Tobias strode down the front steps, looking more muscular than she remembered in faded jeans and a T-shirt that molded his broad shoulders. His gaze immediately went to Mike, who was in the process of hauling her luggage out of the front seat.
“You must be Allegra’s fiancé.”
Mike set the suitcase down on the gravel. For a moment, he looked utterly blank, and Allegra wondered if her scheme was going to unravel before it even got off the ground, then he grinned and stepped forward to grip Tobias’s hand. “Yep, that’s me. Uh... Mike Callaghan’s the name.”
Tobias seemed ultra-relaxed. “The personal trainer. I saw you at the resort when I called in this afternoon.”
A little shocked that Tobias knew Mike worked for her, when she was hoping that he would remain a mysterious figure, Allegra inserted herself into the conversation. “Mike doesn’t work for the resort, he works for me. That’s how we met.”
She wound her arm through Mike’s, and did her best to look as if she was happily relaxed and content to snuggle into her new fiancé’s side. The situation was made all the more difficult by the fact that she was Mike’s employer and, while he had agreed to act as her fiancé for money, the last thing she wanted to do was cross a line when it came to physical contact.
Tobias directed his next question at Mike. “How long have you worked at the spa?”
Mike froze like a deer in the headlights, and Allegra’s stomach sank. She had briefed him extensively; she had just not thought he would need an actual script.
She smiled brightly. “He’s been with the spa for a few weeks, isn’t that right, Mike?”
“Uh—yeah. A few weeks.”
Allegra kept the smile on her face. “It was a whirlwind...relationship.” She could not quite say engagement.
Tobias crossed his arms over his chest. “Must have been.” His gaze seemed to pin her in place. “I guess congratulations are in order. So, when is the happy day?”
Allegra glanced at her watch, in an effort to convey that she really did not have time for this chitchat. “We haven’t gotten around to thinking about that just yet.”
“Just like you haven’t gotten around to getting a ring?”
Six
Allegra stiffened. Tobias’s voice was neutral, but she knew him well enough to know that, when he was quiet, he was at his most dangerous. He had used that same kind of flat tone when he had ditched her. She had also heard it when he had queried Esmae’s medical bill, which had sprouted one more zero than it should have had.
She had hoped to slide by without the necessity of a ring. Firstly, she could not really afford to buy one. After she paid Mike, her discretionary spending was gone for the next two months. Secondly, for Allegra, an engagement ring had always signified the promise of true love. It was bad enough that the engagement was a facade, she did not want to deepen the dishonesty of what she was doing by wearing a ring.
As loath as she was to give Tobias any information at all, she was left with no choice. She had planned for Mike to meet her in town tomorrow so she could pay him the first installment of his fee. She had also planned to get a ring. With any luck, she would be able to source a ring from the keepsakes Esmae had left her. Failing that, she could always use some of her own collection of fake and real diamonds, and have a ring made, but that would probably be almost as expensive as buying something new.
“As a matter of fact,” she said smoothly, “we’re planning on getting a ring tomorrow.”
Feeling more cheerful, she released Mike’s arm and tried not to look as relieved as she felt. “If you don’t mind, we need to get on with moving my things into the house. I’m guessing I can use my old room?”
“Marta’s already gotten it ready for you.”
For the first time in days, a warm wave of pleasure washed through Allegra. Obviously, Tobias had kept on Marta Gomez, who had been Esmae’s housekeeper and cook for a good thirty years, and her husband, Jose, who had looked after the grounds.
A burst of rap music made her start. Mike extracted his phone from his back pocket, and turned away to take the call. Long seconds passed as he strolled a few paces, then leaned against his truck, evidently in deep conversation.
Working to keep her expression smooth and unruffled, as if it didn’t matter that her “fiancé” was now completely ignoring her, Allegra bent down into the car and dragged out the smaller of her two cases, which was wedged behind the seats. As she set it on the gravel and closed the car door, Tobias picked up the heavier case, which Mike had abandoned.
“Looks like your boyfriend’s busy for a while. I’ll show you to your room.”
Following in Tobias’s wake, Allegra walked into the familiar cool interior of the Spanish mansion, which his grandfather had built for Esmae. Classic blue-and-white mosaic tiles flowed into vaulting rooms. The dark, ornate furniture that Allegra remembered from her teen years was long gone, and in its place were rustic dressers and coffee tables, low couches upholstered in neutral linen, gorgeous chandeliers that looked as if they were made of translucent shells and thick comfortable floor rugs in neutrals and deep blues.
She followed Tobias up the long, sweeping staircase, with its soft white walls lined with Hunt family portraits. When she realized that he probably wouldn’t deposit the bag at the door of her room, but would carry it in, a sudden tension gripped her.
Maybe she was being too sensitive now, but during the next month, her bedroom would be the only part of the house that was off-limits to Tobias. It would be her sanctuary. The last thing she needed was for him to invade her very private haven, so that every time she was in the room she had to fight off memories of his presence there.
She sped up, but he reached the doorway before her.
“Thanks very much for the help,” she said briskly, “but you can leave my case in the hall—”
“While you wait for lover boy to carry it in?”
Ignoring her completely, Tobias strolled into the room and placed her suitcase at the foot of her bed.
To compound matters, as Allegra set the case she was carrying down, he walked over to a set of French doors, opened them and stepped out onto the balcony, which overlooked the drive. Jaw taut, she followed him, intending to order him out of her room.
Her stomach sank when she saw Mike below, still leaning on his truck and talking on his phone, a relaxed grin on his face, as if he had totally forgotten he was supposed to be helping her move in. As if he was enjoying talking to whomever was on the other end of the phone more than he enjoyed being with her.
Tobias lifted a brow. “Looks like Callaghan’s still busy.”
Probably with his real girlfriend.
That was a little detail Allegra had not yet had time to address. The first opportunity she got, she would make sure Mike understood that while he was employed as her fiancé, he could not have a girlfriend on the side.
Tobias’s gaze shifted to her. “That’s just as well, since I would prefer it if he didn’t come upstairs into your bedroom.”
“You’re in my room.”
“I’m not your lover.”
And, suddenly, the air was alive with tension. Allegra was burningly aware that, if she’d thought Tobias had forgotten the night they had spent together, she was wrong.
He closed the gap between them, until he was close enough that she could feel the warmth of his body, smell the fresh scent of some expensive cologne. His gaze locked with hers. “Damn, I wasn’t going to do this. Not yet, anyway.”
She knew she should move. Alone with Tobias on the balcony, it was the perfect moment to take a stand and demonstrate that the old attraction that had held her in thrall for so long was now as dead as a doornail. The only problem was that, like the moments in the parking garage, knowing that Tobias still wanted her had done something crazy to her body. She felt frozen to the spot, yet burning and melting inside; she couldn’t have moved if her life depended on it, because deep down, she realized that she didn’t want to resist him. Just for once, she wanted to have what she wanted, and right now, that was Tobias.
She tilted her chin back and met his gaze boldly. “And what is it that you shouldn’t do?”
“Kiss you,” he ground out. “Not with him here.”
Warm, calloused hands cupped her face, sending further fiery shivers of sensation through her. The calluses reminded her that Tobias was not just a high-powered executive running a multi-national empire. Apart from his time in the military, he had always spent a lot of time in and on the water. When she had vacationed with Esmae, she had used to watch him obsessively as he had sailed yachts in the bay.
Tobias’s mouth closed over hers. White heat burned through her, and she found herself going up on her toes, her arms automatically looping around his neck as she fitted herself against his body and melted into the kiss.
This shouldn’t feel so familiar, she thought breathlessly.
And it shouldn’t feel so good.
Tobias groaned, which sent another hot thrill through her, lifted his head, then settled back down for a second, deeper kiss and memories she had suppressed for two long years flooded back.
The brazen way she had thrown caution to the winds and virtually seduced Tobias.
She had found the spare key to Esmae’s beach house, which was kept under a potted plant, and they had stumbled into the darkened hall. Switching one light on, and leaving the rest of the house in dimness, she had taken Tobias’s hand and led him to the stairs. Several long, drugging kisses later, they had located a bedroom. As they undressed and fell together on a muslin-swathed four-poster bed, moonlight had flooded through the French doors, investing what they were doing with an otherworldly romanticism that had added to the sense that what was happening wasn’t quite real.
But the sharp memory of what had happened just two days later put the lovemaking in context. It had been casual sex. Nothing more, nothing less, and that was exactly where this was heading.
Aware that they had been brazenly kissing on the balcony, in full view of Mike, she jerked free of Tobias’s hold. Not that Mike had noticed. At that precise moment, he finally finished his call, looked around, then up, and grinned and waved.
If ever there was a moment that Allegra reflected on why she didn’t feel the slightest attraction for Mike, that was it. If she had any dragons to slay, he just wouldn’t be there. He would be phoning one of his girlfriends or talking to his agent, and she would have to take care of business herself.
Feeling suddenly annoyed beyond belief and suspicious, she met Tobias’s gaze squarely. “Why did you kiss me?” She lowered her voice, just in case Mike could hear. “No, don’t answer, because I know why. You wanted to see if I was here to seduce you into a marriage that neither of us in our most insane moments would ever want. I would just like to reiterate that, despite the kiss, which was totally inappropriate and dishonorable on your part because I am engaged, I do not want you.”
Tobias folded his arms across his chest, his gaze oddly brooding. “I wasn’t testing you.”
“Then what were you doing?”
A knock on the door brought the conversation to an abrupt halt.
Marta poked her head around the door, her expression openly curious. “I’m just about to leave now, but I’ve left dinner for you. All you need to do is serve yourselves.”
* * *
Half an hour later, after Mike had driven away, Tobias walked downstairs and out onto the drive to lock his truck. He was on his way back to the house when he saw a set of folded papers where Mike’s truck had been parked. He picked them up. He wasn’t interested in snooping, but in this case, he didn’t need to be, because the sheets were folded in such a way that the words were on the outside, and clearly visible.
Dating Schedule.
Tobias gave up any idea of discretion and perused both printouts, which were produced in a spreadsheet format. There were a series of preplanned dates, instructions on where to meet, what to wear and, several times the bolded command that Mike was not to pick Allegra up in his rusted old truck, because she would be doing the driving.
Apparently, when it came to dating, Allegra liked to take the lead, and Mike didn’t just need direction, he needed micromanaging, even down to instructions on what to wear for specific dates.
He ran his eye over the dating schedule, which was top heavy on activities that centered on the Ocean Beach Resort and seemed to have more to do with Callaghan cleaning out some shed filled with old gym equipment than with actual romantic interludes. Tobias was pretty sure that the other address that figured prominently was the site for Allegra’s second proposed spa property. Those dates seemed to involve a tape measure and meetings with an engineer. There was no mention of the kind of romantic dates that would be paramount for an engaged couple except for one sketchy date that was simply labeled, I get the ring. Lunch, Atraeus Mall, twelve sharp.
He presumed that was about getting the engagement ring. Although, it sounded like Allegra was providing her own ring, and Callaghan was turning up, as ordered, for lunch. And nowhere was there any mention of meetings with either Allegra’s or Callaghan’s families.
While he knew that her family was based in New Orleans, he knew nothing about Callaghan except that he worked for Allegra. Although that would soon change, he thought grimly.
Refolding the schedule, he carried it with him into the house. When he reached the library, which housed his grandfather’s collection of rare books, an enormous carved mahogany desk and a couple of leather chesterfield couches that looked like they’d come off of a period movie set, he slipped the papers into a drawer.
The portrait of his great-grandfather, Jebediah Hunt, with his granite features and straight black brows, seemed to stare down at him. Not for the first time, Tobias noted that he looked stern and unlikeable, not the kind of character he would want to meet in a darkened alley.
Allegra’s words about Alexandra leaving Jebediah, because she had just not liked him, came back to haunt him. It was a fact that his great-grandfather had been a tough and difficult man.
Tobias had to wonder if Allegra saw him in the same light. His grandfather had used to tell him he was a chip off the old block, referring to Jebediah as the “old block.” Now Tobias was beginning to think the words had been a criticism, not a compliment.
But, for all his faults, Jeb had not lacked character. When things had gone south with Alexandra and the ranch, he had walked off the land and started again, this time as a Pinkerton agent. A few years later, he had started his own detective agency, which had been the beginnings of Hunt Security.
Tobias walked to the French doors that opened onto a patio. The view of the Atlantic Ocean from the high point the mansion commanded was impressive, although it barely impinged on his thoughts.
Ever since this morning, when Allegra had told him she was engaged, he had been tense and on edge, but now he was almost certain her engagement was fake. Especially since the fiancé she had produced out of
the blue was an employee. But he was also aware that he couldn’t risk making that assumption.
He slid his phone out of his pocket and made a call to the head of the Miami branch of Hunt Private Investigations. Tulley picked up almost immediately. Minutes later, Tobias terminated the call.
If Allegra had hired Mike to play her fiancé, Tobias had to assume she had done so to either make it look as if she hadn’t influenced the will and was an innocent party in Esmae’s machinations, or she was trying to protect herself from him.
Given that Allegra had no compunction about putting him in his place, he did not think the second reason applied.
Of course, he couldn’t rule out the possibility that he had gotten the situation completely wrong, and the engagement was real.
Although, he didn’t think so.
Just the thought of Allegra with Callaghan made his jaw tighten. Every instinct told him that, despite the engagement, they weren’t lovers, yet.
The dynamic did seem more employer-and-employee than lovers, but he couldn’t take the risk.
He had given Tulley twenty-four hours to investigate Callaghan, but whatever the PI uncovered, Tobias was already decided.
Callaghan had to go.
Seven
Allegra closed the door of her bedroom behind her and leaned on it, her heart racing.
She touched her mouth, which was still faintly swollen and tingling. She couldn’t believe she had let Tobias kiss her, in full view of Mike, while he had been taking a call down on the drive.
If Mike had turned his head by just an inch or two and looked up, he would have seen them, then the whole engagement scenario would have become...complicated.
A flashback to the moment Tobias’s mouth had come down on hers made her tense. Suddenly, it seemed unbearably hot, the air humid and close. Pushing away from the door, she walked through to her en suite bathroom and splashed cold water on her face. After blotting her face dry, she hung up the thick, luxurious hand towel and checked her appearance in case she had smudged her mascara, which she had.
