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In her mind it was one thing to submit, but quite another to enjoy being touched by him to such an extent that she had had to knot her fingers into fists by her sides. Desire was in her like a cruel enemy, eager to betray her. And she could not win such a battle, nor even wish in the circumstances that she could. Suddenly she felt as trapped as if she had been put in a dungeon behind a solid steel door.
Pale as milk, she shot him an appalled glance from vivid blue eyes.
‘l can’t do this…1 can’t’
Cursing himself for moving too fast, even while he wondered what had unnerved her to such an extent, Cristiano settled a chair down beside her as if she had not spoken and invited her to sit down. Unwittingly guided back into the safer tracks of polite behaviour, Lydia sank down, closing out her agitated thoughts in a desperate effort to regain her composure.
Cristiano handed her a document. ‘This is the co-habitation agreement that l would like you to sign.’
Her brow furrowed. ‘It’s a…what?’
‘A co-habitation agreement. l haven’t lived with a woman before, and there must be no misunderstanding with regard to the nature of our relationship. It merely defines our arrangement in the simplest terms possible and gives it a business rather than a personal basis,’ Cristiano proffered smoothly.
‘In it, the money which l am to repay the charity on your behalf becomes your fee for assuming the role of my hostess for the next year.
You’re lucky that l’m not including the donation l gave as part of that debt.’
Ludicrously unprepared for what he was telling her, Lydia nodded very slowly. ‘Your…hostess?’
‘A convenient label ‘ Her eyes were widening and her sense of unreality was increasing.
‘You’re giving me an employment contract?’
His lean, strong face was sardonic. ‘Nobody working for me earns that much.’
Lydia flushed red, then white, and focused carefully on the third button on his jacket.
‘l’ m agreeing of my own free will to all your demands…surely it’s not necessary to tie me down to an actual written contract, with rules and conditions? ‘
‘l believe that it is. Trust is a definite issue here.’
Her throat closed over, making her voice a little hoarse as she fought back angry tears. ‘I think you’re determined to make this entire affaires humiliating as you possibly can.’
‘That’ s not the case. I think it s important that you know exactly where you stand with me,’ Cristiano spelt out.
‘lf you break the agreement, you will have to pay back the money.’
Lydia was aghast at that information. |But that would be impossible! Do you think I’d be here now if I had an alternative’?’
‘1 know,’ Cristiano confirmed without remorse. But I want to be assured of your loyalty.’
My…loyalty’?’ she queried uncertainly, clutching the thick document while she strove to work out exactly what he meant.
His brooding dark eyes took on a derisive light. ‘Your track record on that score is abysmal. Tell me, out of interest,’ he murmured, there you shagging Mort Stevens the entire time l was seeing you?’
Feverish pink stained her porcelain-pale complexion.
‘How can you ask me that’? Of course l wasn’t… l mean, nothing happened ‘
‘Even as a kid, l didn’t go for fairy stories,’
Cristiano sliced back very drily, his attention welded to the soft fullness of her lower lip. ‘We need to move on and fast.
l have to get back to work.’
She bit her lip painfully at that tone of dismissal.
l’ve made an appointment for you to see a solicitor so that you can enjoy independent legal advice,’ Cristiano continued. ‘lf you decide to sign the contract, do so before three this afternoon. You’ll then be returned to the airport for your journey home by private plane. A limo is waiting now to take you to the solicitor. Any questions?’ She was intimidated by his inhuman detachment.
‘You said something about a year. ls that how long you expect this arrangement to last?’
Cristiano shrugged with fluid ease of movement.
‘A day, a week, a month… A year is your limit, not mine. lf you’re still with me then, and l doubt it, you’ll be free at the end of that period to renegotiate your terms.’
Lydia could not credit what she was hearing. Even the use of that horrible word ‘renegotiate’ demeaned her. Was his opinion of her so low that he assumed she was content to accept money in return for her sexual favours’? But taking off with Mort Stevens had given him that impression, and she had only herself to blame for that. Her conscience reminded her that while that might be true, it was never too late to sp
eak up and tell the truth even if she was only prepared to offer a part of the truth.
‘can l say just one thing’? And will you listen?’
Recognizing that a last-minute plea was about to come his way, Cristiano hardened his heart against her deceptive appeal. With that gorgeous face and lithe, shapely body, she was every guy’s fantasy, he acknowledged with bleak conviction. Add to that an air of vulnerability that implied she was a deeply sensitive soul and she became lethal. This time around, however, he had no intention of swallowing her sweet bait and being played for a fool.
He consulted his watch.
‘You have one minute.’
‘ I just think l should warn you that I’m not what you think I am… ‘
Yet, now that she had the opportunity she had sought Lydia was having difficulty finding the right words.
‘You’re expecting a woman with a lot more knowhow than me. I doubt that I can be what you want-‘ ‘You’ll be exactly what l want because you don’t have a choice. Don’t embarrass me with this bull ‘gioia mia’.
Cristiano sent her a winging glance of scornful amusement that rubbed her raw as an acid bath. ‘Next you’ll be fluttering those phenomenal eye lashes and swearing that you’re a virgin untouched by human hand !
Lydia was rigid her eyes as bright a blue as a peacock feather against the hectic flush that had climbed her cheeks as he spoke.
‘And what if l wasn’t?’
Cristiano threw back his arrogant dark head and laughed with sardonic appreciation.
‘I can safely promise you that if you turn out to be a virgin I’ll marry you! ‘
‘ls that a fact? Well l wouldn’t have you for a husband if you were the last man alive on this earth!
She bit out fiercely as she stalked to the door.
‘Do you hear me’?’
‘Don’t forget your deadline.’
While Lydia waited for the lift she was conscious of being watched by a bunch of male executives chatting in the hall. Did others already suspect that she might be Cristiano Andreotti ‘s latest acquisition? Her lovely face heated all over again and a hard knot of chagrin and misery formed in her tummy. She had thrown proud words with no substance behind them because he had made her feel such an idiot when he laughed at her but of course he would never marry her or even offer to do so. Men didn’t marry women they could buy or women they despised. Yet when she had been seeing him she had dreamt of the impossible and that lowering memory hurt almost as much as his derision.
