He glanced at his Sleeping Beauty again—remembering the softness of her lips, the stirring in her muscles...the spark. He couldn’t regret that—no matter the complication that now arose.
But now he was stuck with the story that she and he were engaged. He’d smiled his way through the shocked shouts of congratulations from every one of his guests as he’d ushered them out. He’d explained that Catriona had been overwhelmed by the attention and that they’d have another party soon. It was ridiculous but he hadn’t been able to find it within himself to reveal the truth. He’d seen that vulnerability when she’d looked at him. He’d seen that hurt. It echoed within him. Didn’t he know what it was like to be that isolated? And afraid.
She was a contrary mix of assertiveness and insecurity, a bit broken but bluffing anyway. He liked that spirit. And he wanted her.
Well, if he was going to have her, he was going to have to play it carefully. She obviously wasn’t someone who went from affair to affair.
He felt the vibration again and quietly extracted her phone from his pocket. He didn’t want to wake her yet, not when she was so obviously wiped out, but it seemed someone was concerned for her welfare. The name ‘Teddy’ was written across the screen and the photo beneath the lettering was of the two of them. The resemblance was impossible to miss. The man was blond rather than red-haired, but he shared the same smile, the same shaped eyes. He had to be her brother.
Alejandro didn’t answer the call; rather he put the phone on the wide arm of the chair he was sitting in and picked up his own phone. A simple Internet search was all it took to remind himself of the family details. Teddy—Edward—and Kitty—Catriona—Parkes-Wilson were the twin children of the man he’d bought this house from. He entered another search and soon enough came up with a photo of an elderly woman—Margot Parkes—wearing the diamond choker Kitty had come here to collect.
And then there were the pictures of Kitty herself. It seemed she was something of an artist—a sculptor. She’d had a few mentions in the society pages; there was the announcement of an engagement to some man named James that hadn’t lasted. Another reason to take care with her. But Alejandro was confident; his affairs always ended easily and well and maybe something light and sexual was exactly what the woman needed. Something fun—he did fun really well.
There were more mentions of her brother. And then there was the item about Alejandro’s purchase of Parkes House. Apparently it had been in her family for generations. He didn’t feel bad about the transaction. He’d paid more than a fair price and if businesses failed, they failed. He’d needed a London base and he’d got one.
When her phone rang for the tenth time he finally relented, feeling only the smallest sympathy for the man who’d allowed his sister to put herself at such risk for his sake.
He touched the screen to take the call. Teddy spoke before Alejandro had the chance to say hello.
‘Kitty? For God’s sake, are you okay? Did you get the diamonds?’
‘I’m sorry, Teddy,’ Alejandro replied calmly. ‘Both your sister and the diamonds are with me.’
CHAPTER FOUR
KITTY OPENED HER EYES, blinking at the bright light streaming in through the gap in the heavy brocade curtains. She frowned as she took in the familiar surroundings. She was in the second floor library on her father’s sofa—
She froze as it all came flooding back. Alejandro Martinez now owned Parkes House. He’d coerced her into being his date. He’d kissed her. He’d said they’d have a reckoning and here she was, waking the next day—
‘Good morning.’
She sat up quickly, clutching the soft woollen blanket to her, taking a split second to realise she was still fully clothed. Then she looked up, gaping as he took a seat in the armchair opposite. For a moment all she could do was stare. He looked even more striking in the daylight. So gorgeously striking.
Then she snapped herself together.
‘What happened?’ Warily she brushed her hair back from her face and shifted so she was sitting up properly, her feet on the floor ready to run.
‘You fell asleep while I was getting rid of the other guests,’ he said easily. ‘You’ve been out for hours; I was starting to get concerned.’
Kitty’s skipping pulse didn’t settle. He must’ve showered not that long ago because his hair was still damp and now he wore jeans and a white tee, but he looked no less wolfish than he had the night before. No less to-die-for.
Half her innards melted. She loathed her reaction to him. How superficial could she get? Wowed by chiselled cheekbones, a fit body and a cockier-than-hell attitude.
In that instant he smiled at her as if he knew exactly what she was thinking.
‘I have a proposition for you,’ he said.
‘I already said no thank you,’ she said primly. Determinedly.
He gestured to a mug of coffee on the low table beside her. Steam curled in the light. ‘I’m guessing you like it strong and unsweetened.’
Clearly she was that predictable after all. ‘Why do you think that?’
‘You’re a starving artist who needs to make the most of every drop she gets.’
Silently she reached out for the coffee. He’d been doing some research.
‘I made your father an offer he couldn’t refuse,’ he said. ‘I’ll make you one too.’
‘My father didn’t much care for this place anyway,’ Kitty muttered and drank the coffee. She needed to kick-start her grey matter. ‘He thought it was cold.’
‘It is cold,’ Alejandro said dryly. ‘I’ve ordered a new heating system.’
Because he had the bajillions required to maintain and upgrade a heritage building like this one. She knew it was petty, but she hated him for that. He had no idea of the history of this house.
‘But you like this building.’ He smiled when she didn’t answer. ‘I can tell by the way you look around it. Listen to my offer.’
‘I’ll refuse anything you offer me,’ she said fiercely. She wouldn’t be bought as easily as her father had been. She’d never say yes to this man.
Now she remembered the humiliation of Sarah being here last night and seeing her. And the story she’d spun—that they were engaged? Oh, hell, the sooner she ran back to Cornwall the better.
‘Maybe.’ He smiled. ‘But you might not want to. Why not hear me out first and then decide?’
He stood and walked over to the desk and returned with a large platter. Kitty looked at the freshly sliced fruit and pastries and swallowed to stop herself drooling. She was starving.
‘Go ahead and eat,’ Alejandro commented lazily. ‘It’ll make you feel better.’
She restrained herself from sending him a stabbing glance. He might be right, but he didn’t need to sound so patronising.
‘What’s your ever so fabulous offer?’ she asked, reaching for the fruit.
He watched as she bit into the pineapple before replying and for a moment Kitty wouldn’t have heard or understood a word he said anyway. She was famished—and this fruit was so fresh it was all she could do to stop herself devouring it all in two seconds flat.
She heard his low chuckle and he sat back in the chair and pulled the diamond choker from his pocket.
‘Tell me about this,’ he said.
She gazed sadly at the coil of glittering stones in his hand but shook her head.
‘You think you’re protecting someone?’ His eyebrows lifted. ‘I know it belongs to your brother.’
He had been doing his research. ‘Yes.’
‘But you’re the one who loves it.’
She bristled at the hint of censure. Did he think she was a materialistic, do-anything-for-diamonds kind of girl? ‘I loved the woman it originally belonged to,’ she said haughtily. ‘I love what the diamonds symbolise, not what they’re worth. The
y have irreplaceable sentimental value.’
His frown hadn’t lessened. ‘So why do they belong to your brother?’
She sighed. ‘Because he’s the firstborn and the boy.’
Now a baffled look crossed his face. ‘Are we still in the Middle Ages?’
‘You’re the one who forced me to be your date last night, so I’d say I’m currently living in the Neanderthal era. Barbaric caveman,’ she muttered beneath her breath.
‘Poor baby.’ His smile flashed and he leaned back in his seat, oozing sensual confidence. ‘So what are you willing to do to get your necklace back?’
‘Not that.’ She picked up a pain au chocolat and chomped on it.
‘I’m not that crass. We’ll sleep together only when you’ve grown up enough to admit how much you want to.’
He laughed at her expression. His arrogance knew no bounds.
But then he sobered. ‘You didn’t think that you could have just contacted my lawyer? Or perhaps knocked on the front door and asked me politely? Explained there was a mix-up?’
Was that a glimpse of hurt in his eyes? Surely not.
‘Am I such a monster you had to resort to breaking the law to get what belonged to your family?’
Kitty finally managed to swallow the lump of concrete masquerading as pastry in her mouth. ‘You’re the one who admitted to doing whatever necessary to get what you want. At the time I thought this was necessary.’
‘Fair enough, but you know there are consequences to your actions. All your actions.’
‘You’re calling the police?’
‘You should be so lucky.’ His smile this time wasn’t so nice. ‘No, if you want the necklace back, then you make amends.’
‘How do you want me to do that?’
‘You fulfil the role you claimed last night. You be my fiancée.’
‘What?’
Calmly he put the choker back into his pocket and then shot her a look. ‘You remain here as my fiancée for a few weeks until we amicably break up and then you leave.’
‘Why would you want me to do that?’
‘Because it suits me.’
‘And it’s all about you.’
‘Right now, yes, it is.’ He shrugged. ‘You broke into my house. You spread stories about me to all my friends. I think you owe me.’
She felt guilty enough already; she didn’t need him laying it on with a trowel.
‘I’m opening up the London office of my company,’ he went on. ‘It’s a big investment and I don’t want this sideshow overshadowing or impacting on its success. It doesn’t need to be a big deal; interest will fade very quickly once the company set-up is fully underway.’
‘I can’t just stay here as your fiancée. I have a job.’
‘You have a part-time position in a failing art gallery in the south of England where you don’t actually get paid; you merely get a roof over your head and use of the small studio out the back.’
Yes, he’d done a lot of research. She’d gone to Cornwall on a whim when her engagement to James had ended in that blaze of exposure and humiliation. She’d been there for the last six months. Happy enough, but lonely. She’d been unable to resist Teddy’s call for help.
‘It’s not failing,’ she grumbled, just so she could fight with him about something. ‘It’s a beautiful gallery. The light down there is amazing.’
‘I want you to work here and catalogue everything in this mausoleum. There are things in piles of boxes that I haven’t the time to open and sift through.’
‘So you can auction it off and make money from every little thing?’
‘I don’t need the money from these trinkets. They’d add less than a drop to my financial ocean.’
Oh, please—bully for him for being so wealthy. ‘I could steal from you, you know.’
‘I’m willing to take that risk.’ He smiled.
‘Don’t you have ten personal assistants or something?’
‘My PA is extremely efficient and I’m sure she’d do a good job, but her talents are better spent on the work she knows best. It’s better for this to be done by someone familiar with the content. The place is in a mess and you know it.’
He was right and it wasn’t just the boxes; there were years of repairs that had been left undone. Like his business, her father had left the house in a mess.
‘It needs an upgrade, and you can make the arrangements, at least for the chattels to begin with. A full restoration programme will take much longer, of course.’ Alejandro regarded her steadily. ‘So what do you think?’
She thought it was a flimsy excuse to keep her here just because...he simply wanted it. And he always got what he wanted, that was obvious. Yet his plan appealed to the spot where she was most vulnerable. She’d loved this home and she wanted to save some of those things. ‘So you’re not going to modernise, but restore?’
‘The building has many beautiful features that I find attractive and would like to keep.’ He nodded. ‘Of course I want to see it restored to its glory—not just the shell, but the interior as well.’
She felt her flush of gratitude mounting. It was so stupid, but he’d got her there. And he knew it.
‘You have an understanding of the items that are here; you can assess their value and importance. Catalogue them with a sell or keep recommendation and I’ll make my decision when I have time.’
She thought about it for a long moment. It was so tempting, but it was also impossible. And insane. She shook her head. ‘I can’t go from one engagement to another.’
Not even to a fake one.
‘It’s been about six months, hasn’t it?’ Alejandro pointed out, lazily selecting one of the grapes she’d left behind on the platter.
‘Who have you been talking to?’ She was mortified that he knew of her past.
He swallowed the fruit and laughed. ‘What does it matter?’ He reached forward, his teasing expression back. ‘You know a rebound romance is the perfect solution for that bad temper.’
‘This will never be a romance,’ she snarled, shocked at the way she was suddenly burning up.
‘No?’ He looked amused. ‘I was trying to make it sound less...raw.’
‘Less tacky, you mean.’ He was talking about lust and nothing but.
‘You need a system cleanse.’ He lifted his hands in that unexpectedly animated way that made her want to smile back at him. ‘A little light fun to restore your confidence and independence.’
‘And you’re offering?’ Like the generous, do-good kind of guy he so wasn’t. ‘A little light fun?’
What, exactly, would that entail? And why was it suddenly so hot in here?
‘I’m offering many things. All of them good.’ Still leaning forward, he propped his chin in his hand as he watched her. ‘You don’t have anywhere else to stay in London at the moment. I believe your brother is between apartments as well.’
Oh, hell, he knew it all. And the truth was, the prospect of couch-surfing with Teddy’s theatre friends for the next few days was depressing. Her father hadn’t thought it necessary to consider whether she’d have a place to stay. And nor should he. She was twenty-three and perfectly capable of finding her own accommodation. But she hadn’t realised how adrift she really was. ‘Is there anything you don’t know?’
‘There are many things I don’t know about you. Yet.’
The implied intimacy brought more colour to her cheeks.
‘It is the organisation of the house that earns you back the diamonds,’ he said. ‘Our sexual relationship is outside of that bargain.’
‘We have no sexual relationship,’ she said firmly.
‘Yet,’ he repeated with a smile. ‘It’s only a matter of time, Catriona.’
‘Not everything is that predictable.’
/>
‘This is.’
She drew in a shallow breath. ‘And if I refuse to organise the house?’
‘No necklace.’
‘But it’s not yours. It wasn’t part of the house sale and you know it.’
‘As you said yourself, possession is nine-tenths of the law. I have it, Catriona.’ He patted his pocket. ‘I’ll tell the world about your attempt to break in and steal from me. That initially I covered for you last night to spare your mortification, but that in the end you had to be charged.’
‘Wouldn’t that bring the “sideshow” you’re so keen to avoid?’ she asked, delighting in pointing out his own contradiction.
He shrugged. ‘I would prefer to avoid that, but I’ve been through worse. I’m not the villain in this—you’re the crazy woman.’
She was. She’d be labelled the desperate woman who’d faked a fiancé to save face. Humiliation sucked. This was a way of escaping with some pride intact. And it wasn’t all beneficence on his part; she knew what he wanted and frankly she was amazed—and stupidly flattered. She wasn’t anything like the beautiful, curvy models he dated.
The sound of a phone ringing startled her. Even more so when she realised it was her phone ringing.
Alejandro took her phone from his other pocket and tossed it to her, his gaze alert and speculative. ‘You’d better answer this time. He keeps ringing.’
She glanced at the screen. Teddy. He’d be having conniptions.
‘Kitty? You’re still in his house?’ her brother said as soon as she answered.
So Alejandro had spoken to Teddy. No wonder he knew about the diamonds and everything else. Her brother couldn’t keep a secret if he tried.
‘How did he catch you?’ Teddy’s astonishment rang down the phone the second she answered. ‘You got in and out so many times over the years and never got caught.’
Mainly because no one had cared enough to notice if she was missing. ‘Well, I did this time.’ The guy had to have eyes like a hawk. There’d been so many people present, she never should have been spotted.
Claiming His Convenient Fianc?e Page 5
