Buoyed up and full of confidence, her esteem shattered when Jett had taken one look at her and laughed himself silly. Fleeing to the bathroom, she’d locked herself in, hurled every one of those wasted cosmetic products into the bin, and cried her heart out.
‘You have an amazing mouth,’ Ricardo told her. ‘You should use it to smile.’
Dear Lord! She saw a flush form beneath his tanned skin. The hoarseness she heard in his voice made her break out in shivers of need.
This had to be another cruel joke.
‘I can see you don’t believe me, but I speak the truth,’ he stated resolutely.
All she could do was stare in disbelief, sure the man must’ve inhaled too many petrol fumes in his racing days.
‘Ditch the glasses and wear contact lenses. Take a trip to a stylist. With a new wardrobe and the right attitude between us, people will believe you’re my lover,’ he continued. ‘Your essential features are quite perfect.’
She shook her head, unwilling to believe him, still sure he was tricking her and using her in some terrible joke. Without conscious thought she looked up toward the ceiling. As she did, she realised she was still the adolescent at the school formal. She half expected to see a bucket resting precariously on a beam above her.
Her horror at the memory must surely show on her face, and her hands flew there to cover her vulnerability from him.
‘All it will take is a very clever stylist,’ he coaxed. ‘I’ll have my staff make enquiries and arrange for you to see one.’
Two of her fingers moved apart over her eyes so she could look at him from behind the cover of her hands. ‘So you won’t be a laughing stock if I agree to this charade and allow you to parade me in front of your friends.’
‘You’ll receive help to show yourself to advantage. My friends and colleagues must believe we’re in a relationship.’ He reached over, took her hands and lowered them gently away from her eyes. ‘I like to help people if I can and I’m convinced this can work out well for you, too. By pretending to be the woman in the photo you’ll benefit by having me pay off your debts. You’ll also gain personally from a make-over.’
‘You’re talking about superficial looks,’ she told him scornfully. ‘I believe it’s what’s on the inside that counts.’
He shook his head in exasperation. ‘I’m not debating that. You’ve shown your inner strength of spirit in the way you’ve stood up to me. It makes for a refreshing change, and you have my respect. But I’m sure you can look better than you do now. There’s no reason to look so...’ His jaw snapped closed as he bit back the word he would have used.
‘Bookish?’ she supplied with saccharine sweetness.
His lips tightened. ‘I’m sure with a little effort my plan can succeed.’
Jess stiffened and tried not to flinch as his words punched her like a verbal assault.
She was still seventeen, standing in the middle of the school hall drenched in sticky, foul-smelling milk, her dress ruined, her spirit crushed as the cruel laughter of the rest of her cohort tortured her. As much as she’d wanted the earth to open up and bury her whole, she hadn’t been able to move a muscle to escape the taunting and the laughter. It had been the most mortifying occasion of her life.
As much as she repeated the saying, It’s what is on the inside that counts, hadn’t she longed for someone to give her a makeover? Hadn’t she wished someone would find just a tiny bit of beauty in her looks and bring it to the surface? Many nights she’d drifted off to sleep wishing she could face those nasty teenagers and have them think she looked every bit as good as they did.
Part of her longed to accept Ricardo’s offer, but fear of failure held her back. She’d thought the make-up artist at the department store had made her look wonderful, but Jett had laughed.
Ricardo’s standards would be way higher than Jett’s had been. What if a ‘clever stylist’ couldn’t do anything with her? She’d have to live with the knowledge forever.
But what if she could look half-decent?
Part of her was tempted and she felt herself starting to cave to his suggestion.
Her conscience took over, batting down her vanity. If she agreed to this plan she would involve herself in a web of deceit when she’d always prided herself on her honesty. Truthfulness was more important than looks.
Yet, would it hurt anybody if she were to accept his offer?
Chapter Four
Ricardo had always been able to read people. Beyond the false façade individuals presented to the world, he recognised a thirst for power or fame, a greed for wealth and social position or a blatant interest in sexual gratification. Everyone in his world was striving to get ahead and most didn’t mind who they stepped on in their climb to the top.
This woman was different.
This woman knew who he was, yet she hadn’t been impressed by his fame. When any other female he knew would’ve seized upon the flirtatious banter he’d engaged in over the Screaming Orgasm cocktail, Jessica Harris had been offended and even outraged.
She’d had enough spunk to put him firmly in his place, yet he sensed she was far from tough. For all her outward display of resolve, her indecision now as she contemplated his suggestion was transparent. Clearly she needed the money and the make-over. What held her back?
When he’d first seen her photo in the investigative report, he’d thought it must have been a bad shot. Seeing her tonight, he’d been aghast. He’d wondered how, in God’s name, he’d ever be able to pass her off as his latest bed mate. Then he’d removed her glasses and seen those eyes...He slammed the door on his thoughts as something hot swirled within him and arrowed all the way to his groin.
Shifting uncomfortably on his seat, he renewed his determination to have her agree to his plan and be presentable enough to pass off as his lover. There was no option. He had no other plan to protect himself from scandal.
Besides, she needed him to pay her debt. It was unthinkable she could contemplate turning him down and end up facing the loan shark again. He wouldn’t allow it. Hell, when he’d left the club, followed Tiffany’s directions toward Jessica’s bus stop, and found her being assaulted and possibly on the point of being raped, he’d wanted to beat the guy to a pulp.
‘You really believe my appearance can be changed so dramatically?’
The vulnerable note in her voice was impossible to miss, even though her backbone was stiff. Without warning, her unwilling yearning for reassurance pierced right through to the heart of him. ‘I believe so.’
He hoped it was true.
‘I’d draw the line at plastic surgery or Botox injections or breast implants,’ she warned adamantly. ‘Absolutely no medical enhancement.’
‘Upon that we’re completely agreed.’ The women in his circle placed far more importance on their appearance than was healthy. With many of them it was hard to tell what was real and what was plastic. ‘I’d never suggest cosmetic surgery to someone who had no physical scars.’
‘Oh.’ She eyed him a little suspiciously, obviously having expected a fight.
‘Agree to this. Pose as my lover,’ he urged.
She crossed her arms defensively in front of her chest and sat worrying her lower lip with her teeth. ‘Just how long would this arrangement last?’
‘Three months.’ His longest relationship to date had probably lasted less than three weeks. A three month time frame should be long enough to convince the board he was committed to a serious relationship.
More to the point, the vote for the new CEO would be conducted during that time. In their present weakened financial position, it would be unwise to leave the company afloat in stormy seas without a commander firmly at the helm.
The problem was that if he was elected to the role, it would be on a trial basis for a couple of months. He must have Jessica by his side until his management performance convinced board members he was the right man for the job and his appointment was permanent. Hopefully it wouldn’t be necessary to endure the char
ade of being lovers for any longer.
‘Exactly what would I be required to do?’ she asked hesitantly.
‘Move to Barcelona for that time. Live in my home and travel with me wherever I go.’
‘Up and leave my job, my home and friends, just like that?’
He shrugged. Although the private investigator had prepared the report in less than a twenty-four hour time frame, it stated that Jessica had no close living relatives and very few friends. ‘Think of it as a holiday, but at the end of three months you’ll be debt free and completely out of reach of the scum who attacked you tonight.’
Even as she paled, she argued. ‘What about my job? I couldn’t expect the clinic to hold my position for three months.’
‘I understand you’re highly sought after as a remedial masseuse. I shouldn’t think it would be hard for you to find employment again. However, if you’d like me to, I can make sure you find work at a suitable clinic when you return to England.’
‘You’re not only asking me to put my life on hold, Mr Garcia. You’re —’
‘Ricardo,’ he corrected.
‘You’re asking me to live a lie,’ she protested hotly.
‘I’m asking you to turn a lie told by someone else into a form of truth before it wreaks destruction in a number of very important arenas. In the process you’ll be helping me bring a company back from the brink of financial ruin and safeguarding the livelihood of thousands of employees. You’ll wipe away the threat of scandal to a charity that assists hundreds of underprivileged children and their families. You’ll also benefit financially and won’t be living with the threat of that bastard who came after you tonight.’
She shuddered, but looked thoughtful. ‘You’re saying this deal will benefit people rather than hurt them.’
‘Yes. It’s a win-win deal and this would be a very short term relationship.’
Her eyes narrowed. ‘The word relationship implies something of a personal nature. We are just talking business arrangement, aren’t we?’ she asked immediately.
‘Definitely,’ he said without hesitation. Jessica was in no way the sort of woman he’d engage in an affair with.
‘What if I come with you to Spain, people see through the pretence and realise this whole arrangement is staged?’
‘If you do everything you can to convince people we’re a couple, you’ll have kept to your part of the bargain. The debt will be paid even if the relationship is exposed to be a fraud.’
‘But, don’t you see? If you’re thought to be covering up an affair with a married woman it’s going to look worse than if you just admit to the truth of what happened.’
‘First, it was not an affair. We only met a couple of times. Second, you’re forgetting that if I admit to the truth, I incur the wrath of a man who can bring down the entire company. I believe I was deliberately set up, but if I wasn’t, do you honestly think this man would see my side of the story? Carla would no doubt find a way of twisting the story so I looked like the guilty party.’
She sat a little more upright. ‘I take it you don’t still have any romantic feelings for Carla?’
Romantic feelings?
Mierda. This woman really was different.
The look he shot her was one that surely left her in no doubt as to his pure disdain. ‘I had no romantic feelings for her, only passing, casual interest. That’s been extinguished. I have no time for cheats and liars.’
‘And yet, your very proposal would make us both liars!’
‘For the greater good.’
‘A lie is a lie.’
Oh hell! How was he supposed to get this woman off her moral high-horse?
‘Jessica, please think clearly about what’s at stake. Not only will this pretence help people, but we won’t be hurting anybody. This is a chance for you to live without having to look over your shoulder all the time for the lowlife who wants to collect on the debts you’ve been saddled with.’
Her teeth recommenced worrying at her lower lip and he felt the weight of her conscience pressing down on her. Again, it threw him. How long had it been since he’d dealt with a person who had such a distinct sense of right and wrong? It was both refreshing and in this case, annoying.
‘In a way this wouldn’t be a lie,’ he reasoned.
‘What do you mean?’
‘For three months there’ll be no other woman in my life. You’ll be at my side at all social functions. To all intents and purposes you’ll be the woman in my life.’
Her head drew back. ‘The woman in your life, but not the woman in your bed.’
His mouth softened at the denial in her words. She was in no way immune to him. As he searched her eyes, his regard peeled beyond the outer layer she presented to the world. There was some intrinsic quality about her that captivated him, but she was vastly different from the sophisticated women he slept with. ‘Nobody’s going to ask directly if we’re sharing a bed. You’ll be living at my home. A physical relationship will be presumed.’
‘Even if I looked fabulous, people would still know there’s no way you’d be involved with me,’ she retorted, her eyes still firing sparks at him. ‘It’s obvious I’m not part of your world.’
‘Jessica —’
‘This is all wrong.’ Her hands moved agitatedly in the air. ‘When you have a world of women at your feet, nobody is going to believe you’re involved with me.’
‘The stylist will deal with that detail.’
Looking him squarely in the eye, she inhaled audibly. Her whole body stiffened as though she steeled herself to continue. ‘Mr Garcia, did your investigator dig up the information on my birth certificate that says, Father Unknown? Did he tell you my mother was a prostitute?’
Ricardo frowned at the disgust he heard in her tone. ‘The report mentioned those details.’ He cocked his head. ‘You see this as a problem?’
Her jaw slackened, parting her full lips. ‘You don’t?’
‘I don’t judge people on who their parents are, or what their parents did.’
A bitter smile tightened her lips. ‘Maybe unconsciously you did. Did you think I’d be a whore like my mother? Is that why you thought you could buy me?’
He was surprised at the vehemence of her attack, but her references to her mother made him realise that Jessica Harris had dragged herself up from the upbringing she’d known and was determined to chart a different course in life. Such conviction took a lot of courage and willpower, and he admired her for it.
‘How your mother earned her living has nothing to do with this.’ It was the truth. He was the last person on the planet who’d judge a person by the actions of their parents. ‘I’ve approached you because you’re the person whose identity was stolen. I’ve offered you money. That’s fair. You’re in debt and during the time you’re with me, you’ll be unable to earn your livelihood. I believe in fair compensation for the disruption you’ll endure to your life. It’s a simple business transaction. Nothing more. Although, I do admit I’ll be relieved to know you won’t continue to be under threat of attack from that loan shark.’ One hand went unconsciously to the back of his neck to ease the tightness invading his muscles. ‘I’m not offering you money for sexual favours.’
‘You wouldn’t get any even if you did,’ she said adamantly.
He gave a slight nod of acknowledgement but still her expression was full of scepticism.
‘Aren’t you worried someone might find out about my mother?’
‘Who would care?’
‘Don’t give me that!’ Her hand sliced angrily through the air. ‘I’ve been judged by people all my life because of what my mother did. You think I want to go into your world of socialites and have people sniggering behind my back and reminding me at every opportunity that I have no place in their world?’
A truth flashed at him as blindingly as a neon sign on the Las Vegas strip. ‘I’m beginning to understand why you dress the way you do.’
‘I beg your pardon?’
‘Y
ou don’t want to be noticed. You hide in those baggy clothes and behind those God-awful glasses hoping to move about in the shadows. You’re afraid of what people will see if you’re put under the spotlight. You’re afraid of judgement.’
Even as she blanched, she swung punches in her defence. ‘I’m sick of being the object of ridicule. Who could blame me for not wanting to be noticed? It isn’t a crime. You have no way of knowing what I’ve been through. I’ve been shunned because of my mother’s occupation. It’s hardly something you’d ever be able to relate to. You’ve been blessed with looks to rival Adonis and you must’ve had an extremely privileged upbringing.’
‘Must I?’ Had she known him, she would’ve noticed his sudden stillness. Jessica, however, was a stranger and right now she was obviously so caught up in her emotion, she was oblivious to his reactions.
‘Of course you were privileged. I’ll bet you were part of the cool crowd at school — that all you had to do was smile and your parents, teachers or peers would’ve forgiven you anything.’
Ricardo felt his lips tighten. Her impressions couldn’t have been further from the truth. He had far more in common with Jessica than she thought. ‘You’re judging me. You’re forming opinions on the basis of ridiculous personal biases and doing exactly what it is you claim to loathe other people doing to you.’
‘I...’ Cheeks flushed, she at least had the good grace to stop her tirade.
‘You have no idea of my upbringing and you do me an injustice if you think I’d judge you on something one of your parents did.’
Her lips parted as though she was about to reply, but no sound emerged.
‘You do yourself an injustice as well, Jessica. It strikes me that you judge your own worth on the basis of your mother’s prostitution.’
Her lower lip trembled before she said, ‘I’m hardly proud of what my mother did. Being with you would put me in the public eye. You can’t expect me to do that. I’d be the object of media speculation if I paraded as your girlfriend. The same gutter press who wanted to expose you as having an affair with a married woman would delight in exposing that you’re involved with the daughter of a woman who prostituted herself, then ended her life by throwing herself off a bridge.’
A Spanish Seduction Page 5
