Million Dollar Christmas Proposal

by Lucy Monroe

  “Yes, I am.”

  “I am glad to hear it.”

  “You are? I was pretty sure you had no intention of considering me for the position,” she offered candidly. “I thought you’d have a stack of files on women you would find a lot more suitable.”

  “You are not the only candidate, naturally.”

  “No, of course not.” Her perfectly shaped lips twisted wryly.

  A sudden inescapable desire to see how they would look swollen from kisses assailed him.

  “I’ll bring some coffee,” Gloria inserted smoothly.

  Enzu nodded his approval of that plan, but Audrey turned her head to meet Gloria’s eyes. “I’d prefer tea, if it’s not too much trouble.”

  A spark of admiration shone in his PAA’s pale gaze. “No trouble at all.”

  Enzu appreciated Audrey’s willingness to assert her own preferences, albeit politely, as well. His years of experience and study of business psychology had taught him that a person who was capable of that combination usually made a reasonable if strong negotiator.

  “Thank you.” Audrey gave Gloria a small smile before turning back to face Enzu.

  The door to his office closed quietly in Gloria’s wake.

  Enzu glanced down to the interview questions he’d prepared. “Right, then, let’s get started.”

  “Before we do, I have a question for you.”

  He frowned, irritated. Did she not realize who was doing the interviewing here? Not that he expected her to have no questions of her own, but to insist on having the first one indicated either a lack of understanding of business protocol or significant self-importance.

  Curious in spite of himself, he inclined his head.

  Serious brown eyes met his. “My brother is gay and he will always be welcome in my home and my life.” There was no give in her voice or the square set of her lovely shoulders.

  “That is not a question.” But it might well explain certain circumstances he had discovered on reading her dossier.

  Her hands clenched in her lap. The only indication Audrey was worried about his reaction to her revelation. “Is that a problem for you?”

  “Hardly.” He might be the controlling and arrogant powerbroker some accused him of being, but Enzu wasn’t a bigot.

  Her eyes widened, his answer obviously a surprise to her.

  “I take it your parents are not as accepting?” That would explain the fact that Audrey had been raising her brother for the past six years despite the fact their very wealthy parents were still living.

  “That’s putting it mildly.”

  “So, your brother came to live with you. Why not your older siblings?” She had two, both successful professionals who presumably would have found it much easier to provide for a twelve-year-old boy.

  “They share my parents’ prejudices.”

  “That is unfortunate.” And unforgivable, in his opinion, but he left that unsaid.

  It was the job of parents and older siblings to protect. Enzu had spent a lifetime protecting his younger brother Pinu, but in the end even he could not prevent tragedy.

  Audrey shrugged. “It is what it is.”

  The flat line of her lips and the hardness that briefly masked her features said Audrey was not as insouciant in the face of her family’s betrayal of the youngest child as she appeared.

  “Is this also the reason your parents cut you off financially halfway through your junior year at uni?” He’d been trying to figure out the dynamics that had led to that set of circumstances.

  She’d been attending one of the most prestigious and one of the few remaining female-only institutions of higher learning in the country. Her grades had been good. Her behavior exemplary. Her known associates had all been from good families with no hint of scandal to their names.

  There was no record or even hint of inappropriate behavior on Audrey’s part that might have caused such a move on the part of her parents.

  “Yes.”

  “You were forced to get a job?” At his family’s bank. For some reason the fact that his bank had given her the means to support herself and her brother pleased Enzu. “You had to transfer from Barnard to the state university in your final year and pursue your degree part-time?”

  “Yes.”

  “That could not have been easy.” In any aspect. “And still you chose to take Tobias in.”

  For a moment anger burned in her dark gaze. “He would have ended up in foster care or living on the street. Would you have let that happen to your younger brother?”

  “No.” He’d tried to protect Pinu even from himself. Grief pierced Enzu.

  “I’m sorry.” Sincerity and honest sympathy infused her tone and demeanor. “I should not have said that.”

  “It is truth. Tobias is a lucky young man to have you for his sister.”

  “Toby. He hates Tobias.”

  No doubt because it was their father’s middle name.

  Enzu allowed his lips to curve in a half-smile. “Duly noted.”

  “Toby is my family.” Her tone implied an only in there.

  He could not blame her for the sentiment. “I find your loyalty and tenacity in the face of the many challenges you’ve faced admirable.”

  “Just how detailed is that dossier?” she asked with an edge of annoyance.

  “Very,” Gloria answered for him as she placed tea things on the table beside Audrey. “Tomasi Enterprises employ only the best. The investigative firm we use knows how exacting Mr. Tomasi’s standards are.”

  Far from looking impressed, Audrey was clearly disgruntled. “I don’t suppose it occurred to you to simply ask me about my life?”

  “You might lie. My investigator has no impetus to do so.”

  “I guess most men as high up on the corporate ladder as you are cynical.” Again, Audrey didn’t sound particularly impressed by that observation.

  He took his coffee, already prepared to his specifications, from Gloria. “In my experience, that is true.”

  Audrey opened her mouth to reply and then seemed to think better of her words. She focused on putting sugar and just a dash of milk into her teacup before pouring the hot beverage.

  “What were you going to say?” he asked, curious.

  If nothing else, he had not yet found himself bored in this woman’s company. He could not say that about a great many people he was forced to spend time with in the name of business.

  Her brow furrowed in thought. “It’s just that I’m not sure I see the point of this interview if you already know all the answers to your questions.”

  He almost smiled, but held the expression in. She had no idea how much a simple meeting could reveal, even if the only thing discussed was the temperature outside.

  “You do not think it is important to establish whether or not there could be a possible rapport between us?”

  “Well, if you had the children here, that particular consideration would make more sense.”

  “You do realize that being their mother mandates also becoming my wife?”

  Or hadn’t she?

  Was it possible that, however she had learned about the position, Audrey had not been made aware of that particular aspect? The stunned expression on her lovely features implied just that.

  She jolted, setting the teacup down without taking the sip she’d planned. “What?”

  “Surely you can see that you must be my wife in order to actually be their mother?”

  “I hadn’t thought about that.”

  “Does the knowledge mean you would like to withdraw your application for the position?” he asked, with no doubt about the answer.

  Who would not want to be married to a billionaire?

  To his chagrin and grudging appreciation, Audrey took several moments to consider the question.

  Finally she said, “Not immediately, no.”

  He frowned, less than pleased.

  “I’m sorry if that offends you. I just hadn’t considered…”

  Her vo
ice trailed off and he realized Audrey was seriously rattled.

  “Yes, well, consider it.”

  She nodded, still looking a little dazed. “You’re not looking for a real wife, though? Right?”

  “The woman I choose will share my home, my family and many aspects of my life. In what way is that not real?”

  “Oh, I…uh…I just thought…” Her lovely features went an interesting shade of pink before something seemed to occur to her and they paled to an alarming level.

  Nonplussed that the idea of becoming his wife was more daunting to her than parenting two small children, he asked, “Are you all right?”

  “Y-ye…” She cleared her throat. “I mean, yes.”

  He watched with interest as she lifted the teacup in trembling hands to take a sip.

  Her eyes closed and she took another sip and several deep breaths before carefully placing the cup down again. “Um…does that mean you’re expecting…uh…conjugal relations?”

  Humor vied with a vicious spike of arousal at the thought of sharing a bed with Audrey and her reaction to the concept.

  The prospect did not send most women into stuttering panic. He was surprised she was reacting so gauchely to the idea. Was it possible she did not feel the passion sparking a steadily building electric current between them?

  Or was it that she felt it and was overwhelmed by it? She was twenty-seven years old, not some blushing virgin, though.

  “Naturally I would expect to have sex with my wife.” He did not mention that he’d actually had no intention of any such thing until this very moment.

  But he’d had a sudden and inescapable self-revelation. No way could he live in the same house as this woman and not act on the desire she evoked in him.

  Shortsighted of him not to realize the efficiency of such an arrangement as well, regardless of who he chose for the role. Enzu wasn’t usually a shortsighted man.

  “I didn’t realize. I’m not… Well, you probably already know.” She gave him an appealing look. “I’m sure it’s in that invasive report. Your top-notch investigators wouldn’t have left something like that out. Right?”

  Enzu was unacquainted with the level of confusion he experienced at her disjointed words. “What exactly are you talking about?”

  “My… That I’m a…” She didn’t finish her thought.

  Enzu found himself more intrigued than confused. That she was a what?

  An idea came to him. One he dismissed almost immediately as impossible. She was twenty-seven, had attended university, and raised her own brother for the past six years.

  Still, considering how little information on that front there was in the report, he could not help wondering. He had thought she was simply more private in this area than anyone he’d ever come across. Even himself.

  And Enzu made it a policy never to get his name splashed across the tabloids for his sexual liaisons.

  There was no evidence of any kind of sex life in the report on Audrey, but that didn’t mean she did not have one. An investigator would find it difficult, if not impossible, to name Enzu’s sexual partners in the past year.

  “Your discretion in that area bodes well for your ability to maintain my confidences.”

  Enzu had no intention of telling his wife sensitive information, but living together in the same house for at least two decades risked her being exposed anyway.

  Audrey was back to blushing and looking into her teacup as if it held the secrets of the universe. “I am a very private person.”

  “I had surmised that.”

  “But it’s not so much a matter of discretion as there being nothing to be discreet about,” she admitted, almost as if she was embarrassed by that fact.

  He was glad to hear she wasn’t promiscuous, but he did not want her to think he expected her to have no past sexual experiences. He was not a Neanderthal.

  “I find sex a satisfactory stress-reliever but, like you, I do not indulge as often as some might expect.” Enzu wasn’t celibate by any stretch, but he was not and never had been a player like his brother, either.

  He worked sixty-hour weeks, rarely taking days off—even on the weekend; Enzu didn’t have time for a lover, or even frequent hook-ups.

  Audrey winced, cherry-red washing over her cheeks. “I don’t indulge at all.”

  “Not at all?” he asked with some measure of disbelief.

  “Not ever,” she admitted, as if it was painful to do so. “I’ll understand if you want to end the interview right here. It was a reasonable assumption that I would have at least some experience.”

  He wasn’t sure why she thought he’d want to cut short the interview, but he was a lot more interested in her claim of total inexperience than just why she thought he would see it as a strike against her.

  Strangely, the urgency of his physical attraction to Audrey only increased at the knowledge of her innocence.

  “You’re saying you are a virgin?”

  “Yes.”

  “But you were engaged.” The relationship had ended shortly after Toby moved in with his sister. A formal retraction had even been printed in the paper.

  “We were waiting until our wedding night.”

  “People still do that?” he asked, bemused.

  “To hear my parents tell it, anyone with a conscience does.”

  “They seem to be rather narrow-minded.”

  “You think?” she asked with some sarcasm. “They’re also hypocrites. My oldest sister was born seven months after their wedding day. And she was not a preemie, no matter what my mom claimed later.”

  Enzu laughed cynically. “While your virginity comes as a surprise, your parents’ double standard does not.”

  Audrey nodded and then rose gracefully to her feet. “Right. I appreciate you considering me. I hope you find someone suited to both you and the children.”

  He stood, too, coming around his desk and blocking an easy exit from his office. “This interview isn’t over.”

  “It’s not?” Her forward momentum had taken her to within inches of him before she stopped.

  Her scent, a soft floral fragrance, teased his senses. Arousal spiked through him and he had to control the urge to reach out and touch. “No. Surely you realize that it is my responsibility to determine when this interview is over?”

  “Yes, of course.” She stepped back.

  He followed her.

  Chocolate-brown eyes widened, but she didn’t try moving back again. Perhaps she realized to do so might well trip her backward into her chair in a less than dignified manner.

  “I have several more things to discuss with you.”

  She swallowed, her gaze stuck on his mouth in a gratifying way. The attraction was not one-sided. He smiled.

  She inhaled sharply and then shook her head, like she was trying to clear it. “But I thought…”

  “It would take an insecure man to be intimidated by a lack of experience in his possible future sex partner.”

  “Oh.”

  The breathy little sound went straight to his sex. “Do you think I am insecure man, Audrey?”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  “UM, NO.” HER gaze strayed up to his and then back down to his lips, as if she couldn’t help herself.

  Would it be so bad to include a kiss as part of the initial interview? This position was hardly typical, or covered under usual human resources procedures.

  It was only the fact that the interview had already gone so far awry from his prepared agenda that kept him from giving in to further modification to the plan. He was still in control of this meeting. And himself.

  “Do I seem intimidated?” he asked, driving the point home.

  Audrey licked her lips and gave a small laugh. “Definitely not.”

  “Then it appears this interview is not over.” He gently but firmly grasped her shoulders and guided her back to her seat. “I will tell you when we are finished, sì?”

  “Yes. Okay. That would be good.”

  Forcing h
imself to release her, he stepped back. “Sì.”

  “You were born here in the U.S., weren’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  “So why do you say sì sometimes?”

  “I’m not sure. I grew up visiting Sicily every summer and we did not speak English at home.”

  “Is your mother of Italian descent as well?”

  “No. And our family is Sicilian.”

  “Isn’t that the same?”

  “Not to a Sicilian.”

  She grinned. “I see.”

  “Bene.” He used the Sicilian for good just to make her smile again.

  It worked and he was inexplicably pleased.

  “So, your mother learned Sicilian?”

  “Not well, but then my parents were rarely home.”

  “Your grandparents raised you?”

  “The answer to that question is complicated.”

  “Do I get to use that reply?”

  “No.”

  She looked at him patiently but with clear purpose.

  “You are stubborn, I think.”

  “Maybe.”

  There was no maybe about it. “My grandmother was from the Old Country. By the time I was born she spent most of the year visiting our family in Palermo. My grandfather ran the bank.”

  “So, you’re saying no one really raised you at all?”

  He shrugged. “It was better for Pinu.”

  “Because you tried to help raise him?”

  “For all the good it did. I could not give him a loving mother, or a father…just a bossy big brother.”

  “You’re determined his children will have a better childhood than he did,” she said with uncomfortable insight.

  She realized he wasn’t trying to improve on his own childhood, only on what he’d been able to give Pinu.

  “Sì.”

  “I think it’s a good thing.”

  But he saw doubts in her eyes. “You still do not believe I can hire a woman to fulfill that role?”

  “You’re wrong.”

  “Oh, am I?” he asked, in a tone his senior management would recognize as dangerous.

  “Yes. I have no doubt you can entice a woman to marry you and play the role of mother to Franca and Angilu, especially with the remuneration you are offering—”

  “But?”

  “But, as I told you last week, I question whether that woman will offer them genuine affection. Children know the difference.”