by Sarah Morgan
‘I’m not some journalist, Rio!’ She swept her hand through her hair, her confusion evident in every movement she made. ‘We slept together, for God’s sake. We shared—’
‘Sex,’ Rio drawled. ‘We shared sex. A physical relationship, however satisfying, doesn’t give you access to the rest of my life. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that it does.’
Her head jerked as if he’d slapped her and for a moment he thought she was going to do exactly that to him. Instead, she lost still more colour from her cheeks and nodded stiffly. ‘Of course it doesn’t. My mistake. You have a child. Forgive me for thinking that’s something you might have mentioned.’ She turned away from him and stalked towards the table that had already been laid for breakfast. ‘Are those today’s papers?’ Her hands shook as she lifted one and flicked through it. ‘Have they used the photograph? Or haven’t you bothered to check? I’m worried we didn’t give them much of interest last night.’
She was rigidly polite and Rio watched her in silence, knowing that he was going to have to tell her the truth and wondering why that felt like a difficult conversation. He’d done what needed to be done. In the same circumstances, he’d make all the same decisions. So why did he feel so uncomfortable? ‘They haven’t used it. They have, however, printed the one they took when you kissed me.’ He watched her face as she picked up a tabloid paper and scanned the headline.
Her face was expressionless as she scanned the photograph. Truly a time for miracles—Rio in love. Some of the tension left her. ‘Well, it seems we’re off the hook for another day.’
Rio’s jaw tightened. ‘Evie—’
‘Sorry—it’s just that I’m finding this whole thing quite stressful, in case you hadn’t noticed. Every morning we go through the same thing. And the worst thing is, there is never going to come a point when it goes away—they have that photo for ever, don’t they? They can use it this year or next year—it never ends.’
Wondering exactly when he’d developed a conscience, Rio forced a reluctant confession past his lips. ‘Evie, they won’t use that photo.’
She looked up from the newspaper. ‘It’s all very well to say that while you’re giving them something more interesting to print, but sooner or later they’re going to get bored with our “romance” and then they’ll be on the lookout for something more juicy.’
‘I can guarantee they’re not going to print that photograph.’
‘How? Has your security team managed to track the man down?’ With a soft gasp, she dropped the newspaper on the table. ‘They found him?’
He had to tell her now. ‘Yes. We found him.’
Relief crossed her face, to be followed quickly by consternation. ‘But that doesn’t mean you can stop the photograph. I mean, he’s had loads of time to have sent it all over the place. It’s probably too late.’
‘He hasn’t sent it anywhere. My security team confiscated his camera.’
‘But how—’
‘They confiscated his camera less than fifteen seconds after he took the offending photograph,’ Rio confessed in a raw tone, telling himself firmly that he’d do exactly the same thing again in the same circumstances. ‘That’s how I know for a fact that he didn’t send it anywhere. Antonio was outside the door of the Penthouse. He apprehended the guy before he’d taken two steps.’
A heavy silence descended on the room. Evie stared at him, digesting the enormity of his confession and Rio felt the tension inside himself double.
‘You’re saying—’ she swallowed hard ‘—you’re telling me—oh, my God.’ She sank down hard on the nearest sofa, her breathing rapid. ‘There was never a risk that the photograph would be published. You told me…you let me think…’ She lifted her head to look at him and her eyes were huge and shocked. ‘How could you do that?’
‘Because it was necessary. It was the right thing to do.’
‘The right thing?’ She lifted her hands to her face and then let them drop again, clearly struggling to find the words to express herself. ‘I was almost out of my mind with worry! My grandfather is eighty-six years old and I thought…I thought…’ Her face was contorted with pain. ‘I thought it would crucify him to see that photo. I was so worried—’
‘Which is why I assured you that they wouldn’t use the pictures.’
‘But you didn’t tell me why you were so sure!’ She stood up, shock giving way to anger. ‘You arranged the photographer! You were in league with creepy Carlos!’
‘No—’ Rio interrupted her hastily ‘—that isn’t true. It was a set-up.’ He raked his fingers through his hair, wondering how, of all the difficult negotiations he’d ever made, this one seemed the most challenging. ‘But I admit that I turned it to my advantage. I had no choice.’
‘You did have a choice. There is always a choice. You could have told me the truth.’
‘I didn’t know if you were involved or not.’
‘I told you I wasn’t.’
He decided not to waste time pointing out that plenty of her sex lied for a living. In the short time he’d known her, he’d started to realise that Evie didn’t seem to think the same way as other women. ‘By the time I realised that you were telling the truth, we were already deeply involved in the pretence. I was afraid you’d walk out on me.’
‘So you used me. Is that what you’re trying to tell me?’
Unable to find an alternative take on the situation, Rio felt sweat prickle his brow. ‘Yes.’
‘But you…’ She jabbed her fingers into her hair, an expression of shocked disbelief on her face. ‘But we had sex—what was your justification for that? Were there cameras in the room?’
‘You initiated the sex.’
She gave a painful laugh. ‘Well, that’s you off the hook, then.’ Her eyes were glazed with tears. ‘You warned me you were ruthless and you told me that I’d find it easy to dump you—well, you were right. I’m dumping you. We now have the shortest engagement on record.’
‘I accept that I was wrong not to tell you,’ Rio breathed, ‘but don’t walk out.’
‘Why? Because you haven’t closed your precious deal yet? What is wrong with you? You don’t need more money but you’re so desperate to win you’re willing to do whatever it takes.’ A toss of her head sent her hair flaming down her back and she stalked back into the bedroom without glancing in his direction, flinging words over her shoulder like missiles. ‘There are some things in life that are more important than money, Rio. People’s feelings are more important. Integrity. Honesty. And if you don’t know what any of those words mean then use some of that money of yours to buy a dictionary.’
Rio searched his brain for slick words that would extricate him from this hole, but found none. His instinct was to leave her alone, but his legs had different ideas and, moments later, he found himself standing in the doorway of the bedroom, watching her.
‘I understood that you were worried, which is why I constantly reassured you that the photograph would not be published. You should have trusted me.’
‘Trusted you!’ She turned on him, her eyes flashing. ‘Why would I trust you? You’re impossibly arrogant. You think you’re right about everything. How was I to know that in this case the reason you knew the photograph wouldn’t be published was because you had it in your possession all the time? I don’t believe this is happening—’ Her breathing was shallow and rapid. ‘You were so angry with Carlos. I thought you were going to finish him off—but why would he have arranged that photograph?’
‘Because Carlos is the brother of a woman I once had a relationship with,’ Rio said savagely. ‘It was a difficult relationship. She wanted more—’
‘Then she was looking in the wrong place, wasn’t she?’ Her tone acid, Evie scraped her make-up from the top of the dressing table into her bag. ‘Didn’t she read the newspapers? Didn’t she know that you don’t do “more”?’
Telling himself that her anger was only to be expected, Rio ploughed ahead. ‘She wanted me to marry her.�
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‘She wanted to spend the rest of her life with you? Clearly she was deranged.’
Knowing that he deserved that, Rio took it on the chin. ‘She stopped taking contraception.’
Evie paused, a tube of lipgloss in her hand. ‘She became pregnant? On purpose?’ The shock in her voice almost made him smile.
‘Yes, on purpose. On purpose, Evie.’ He said the word twice, each time with emphasis, knowing that she had absolutely no idea what people could be like. She was such a crazy idealist, wasn’t she? ‘Are you going to ask me why?’
‘I’m not stupid. I presume she thought you’d marry her.’ She stuffed the lipgloss into her bag. ‘Which, of course, you wouldn’t.’
‘No, because it never would have worked.’ Rio growled the words angrily. ‘I offered her everything but that. I offered to buy her a house near me—I offered her financial support. But all she wanted was marriage and I’d made the mistake of being honest about how much I wanted to see my child. She used that knowledge to carry on blackmailing me. Only this time, instead of “I’m pregnant, marry me”, it was “if you want to see your child, marry me”.’
Evie stood still. Some of the anger in her face was replaced by uncertainty.
‘She used my child as currency,’ Rio said thickly. ‘An object to be bartered with. I gave her sufficient funds to live in luxury for the rest of her life but she frittered it away on unsuitable friends and people I would not have allowed anywhere near my daughter. Because she had my child, I carried on trying to help. I even gave her useless brother Carlos a job in my hotel, under close supervision. But I was working behind the scenes to get custody of my daughter.’
‘Custody?’ Her eyes widened in shock and he gave a bitter smile because he’d seen exactly that same look on the faces of others.
‘Yes, custody. And, yes, I know I’m a single man. A single man with a self-confessed relationship phobia. I am no one’s image of ideal father material. It was easy for her to build a case, making me look unsuitable. I work inhuman hours, I have no history of commitment—’ he breathed deeply ‘—it’s possible I would never even have had a chance if it weren’t for the fact that Jeanette left Elyssa unattended.’
‘She left her child alone?’
Rio wanted to tell her not to be so naive, but realised that would be unfair. It wasn’t naivety that prevented her from understanding why another woman might leave a child alone; it was her nature. He’d seen the way she cared about her grandfather. She was warm and loving—a nurturer who believed that families stuck together and supported each other through thick and thin.
‘Jeanette didn’t ever want a child. All she wanted was a tool to manipulate me. She doesn’t have a maternal bone in her body.’ He watched Evie flinch as he took a hatchet to her illusions. ‘I imagine someone like you would find that almost impossible to believe, so let me tell you just how unhappy my daughter’s life has been so far and maybe then you’ll understand that there are times when “ruthless” is justified.’
‘Rio—’
‘She was left on her own in the house because there was no way Jeanette was wasting any of the money I gave her caring for a child she never wanted. I sent her staff; she fired them. I interviewed eight nannies personally. None of them lasted a day. Jeanette said she’d care for Elyssa herself, but she didn’t. I’ve been fighting for custody since before my daughter was born but it was only six months ago, after she had a nasty fall in the house while she was on her own, that the tide turned in my favour. The police were called. Elyssa was taken into foster care while they reviewed the case. It’s been a long, hard slog but we were almost there.’
‘Were?’
‘Elyssa is Jeanette’s meal ticket,’ Rio said, struggling to keep the emotion out of his voice. ‘She doesn’t want me to have custody. She reinvented herself as a model mother. She’s been volunteering at the church, visiting the sick and the elderly, generally behaving like a perfect citizen.’
‘And at the same time she’s been trying to destroy your reputation? Make you look like an unsuitable carer for a child?’
‘Unfortunately, over the years, I’ve managed to do that for myself. I’ve made no apology for the fact that I don’t want commitment, never realising that the time would come when I’d regret expressing those sentiments in such a public fashion.’
‘So that’s why Carlos wanted me to spend the night. That’s why he arranged the photographer. That’s what the deal is.’ Her breathing quickened and her eyes held his. ‘This deal isn’t about money, is it? It isn’t business. It’s your daughter. The reason you didn’t want those photographs published was because of your daughter. They were trying to make you look bad.’
Rio stood still, watching her. So much was riding on this conversation and yet, for once, his slick way with words had abandoned him. ‘I’ve worked for years to reach this point.’
‘But if your security team caught the man immediately—if you knew there was no danger of that photograph being exposed—why go through with that farce?’
‘Because I thought you could help my case.’ He didn’t flinch from the truth. ‘My lawyer told me to stay whiter than white or find a wholesome-looking woman. Until Carlos intervened, I’d settled on the first option. Then I saw you lying on the bed.’
‘I was naked,’ she said dryly. ‘Not exactly wholesome.’
‘No one looking at you could ever believe you were anything other than a thoroughly decent person,’ Rio said roughly. And he’d used her. ‘I’m a man who has said I’d never settle down—to convince people I’d changed my mind, it would have to be with someone completely different from the usual women I date. You fitted that description.’
She stood for a moment. ‘And it didn’t occur to you to just tell me the truth? You could have just asked for my help. You could have trusted me.’
‘No, I couldn’t.’
‘Have you ever trusted a woman?’
Rio didn’t even hesitate. ‘I’ve never had reason to.’
Pain flickered across her face and he knew she was thinking about everything they’d shared. ‘So what happens now?’
He clenched his fists by his sides, wondering why it suddenly felt so hard to remain detached when that was his normal default mode. ‘That’s your decision,’ he said flatly. ‘If you want to go home to your grandfather for Christmas, then I can arrange that. And of course you have a job as receptionist. You’re overqualified for the position, but if that’s what you want then that’s fine by me. The one thing I ask is that you dump me, as we agreed, rather than telling the media the truth.’
‘How have you kept your daughter’s name out of the press?’
‘That was part of my deal with Jeanette. And I admit we’ve been lucky. I suppose because I’m the last man in the world to want a child, they didn’t look.’
‘So you want me to dump you—’ She rubbed her fingers across her forehead. ‘But you haven’t won your case yet, have you? I could make things difficult for you.’
‘Yes.’ The thought brought a bitter taste to his mouth. ‘But I’ll have to take that chance.’
‘What makes you think you’re the right home for a little girl, Rio? What can you offer a child?’
He didn’t hesitate. ‘Security. The absolute certainty that I’ll always be there for her.’ He’d never felt the need to explain or defend his decision to anyone before, but suddenly he had a burning need to defend himself to Evie. ‘I’m not planning to nominate myself for super-dad any time soon, but I can offer her a stability that has never been present in her life.’
‘That’s quite a promise, coming from a man who doesn’t believe in commitment.’
‘This is one commitment I’m prepared to make.’ He didn’t expect her to believe him. How could he when he was well aware he’d given her no reason on which to base that belief?
And already his mind was computing the options because he knew she was going to walk out. Why wouldn’t she? He’d deceived her. He’d used
her. He’d hurt her. He’d had sex with her—
And now she was going to make him pay.
He needed to ring the lawyers and warn them, although what they would be able to do, he had no idea.
Reaching into his pocket for his phone, his fingers encountered his wallet. He paused and then pulled it out and retrieved the photograph from behind a stack of dollars. Hesitating for only a fraction of a second, he handed it to her. ‘This is Elyssa. It’s not a brilliant one—I took it with my phone in the summer. Her hair is darker than it looks in the photograph.’ He watched as she stared down at the photograph.
‘Please leave me alone,’ she said hoarsely. ‘I need a minute to myself.’
Rio hesitated, and then turned and walked back into the living room. Conscious of how much he’d hurt her, he retrieved his BlackBerry from his jacket pocket. The only option open to him now was damage limitation.
He was in the process of dialling his lawyer when her voice came from behind him.
‘Put the phone down.’ She stood in the doorway, stiff and unsmiling, the photograph still in her hand. ‘I’ll stay and finish this charade if you think it will help you. Not because you shoved a photograph of a vulnerable little girl into my hand and made me feel guilty which, by the way, was yet another example of ruthless manipulation on your part, but because you took that photograph in the first place. It’s the first time I’ve ever known you to use your BlackBerry for anything other than work. If you carry a picture of your daughter around, there must be some good in you somewhere. I have yet to see it, but I live in hope. Unlike you, I’m prepared to take some things on trust. Given that Elyssa seems to have drawn the short straw with her mother, she needs someone who is prepared to stand up and fight for her, not that I think that excuses your appalling behaviour.’
Stunned by her words, Rio inhaled deeply. ‘Evie—’
‘And you need to learn to take some things on trust, too. You need to show some faith in people.’ She walked across the room and placed the photograph carefully in his hand. ‘A little girl’s future is at stake—you should have known I’d do the right thing. I didn’t need a guilt trip to set me on the right path. If you’d told me the truth in the first place—’ there were tears in her eyes ‘—I just wish you had told me the truth, Rio.’
