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‘So there is no danger of your family finding out about this engagement?’ She flung the question at him, giving voice to the concerns she had over how her family would take the news. He didn’t appear at all worried about deceiving everyone.
‘Not at all. My parents died when I was young.’ She saw his jaw clench, saw the flash of pain in his eyes. Pain she knew only too well. Her heart twisted. He’d lost his parents too. He knew the pain she’d grown up with wishing she had known her mother and father, wishing she had more than snippets of memories.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said softly, not wanting to open up to him about such things. She never told anyone that she could barely recall her mother and had no memories of her father whatsoever, but hearing Liev’s pain, seeing it in his eyes, opened up that shame and exposed her pain. She fought hard against the urge to confide in him, reminding herself they were not in a real relationship. This man was not to be trusted. In any way.
That connection they shared from the past still didn’t alter the fact that her brothers and sisters would find out about the engagement and she wondered how she could make them believe it was real. She would be lying to them, but she had no choice. If for one moment her brothers thought she was being blackmailed, or set up, as she preferred to think of it, she was certain Liev Dragunov wouldn’t be getting the acceptance in society he craved. And that would mean she wouldn’t get the bracelet. She would fail her grandfather in his last wish.
That thought made sadness sweep over her and she took a sip of the wine, trying to ignore the intensity of Liev’s eyes on her. She wished she could talk to Allegra. All her life she’d looked up to her as more of a mother figure than a sister, but when it came to troubles of the heart, she was always her big sister, someone she could confide in. But for the first time, that wasn’t available. She was miles away in Dar-Aman with what appeared to be the love of her life.
‘Losing my parents is not something I dwell on.’ Liev’s words, more sharply accented than usual, dragged her from her melancholy thoughts.
‘You may not have family to consider, but whatever plans you have to instigate this engagement will need to be good if I am to convince my brothers and sisters that we are engaged.’ She thought of their probable reaction to her even dating, let alone getting engaged. They knew she’d never taken a man home, let alone frequented the dating scene of New York.
‘It will be.’ His high and mighty attitude was beginning to wear thin. He was far too self-assured, far too confident she’d fall into line with his ludicrous plan.
‘I’m serious, Mr Dragunov. If you want doors opened, then you first have to get past the whole Di Sione family, convince them we are in love, because they will not just accept my sudden engagement without question, not when I haven’t dated in years.’
‘Not dated in years? You make it sound as if you have never been in love, never had an affair.’ He regarded her with suspicion and disbelief which only spiked at her irritation.
‘I haven’t. Not that it is any of your business, Mr Dragunov.’
‘If you don’t start referring to me as Liev all will be lost. No doors will be opened, which means no bracelet. I will return to St Petersburg with the bracelet and it will never again leave Russia.’
Take the bracelet back to Russia! That was something she hadn’t considered at all. There was no way that bracelet was going anywhere else except to the Di Sione family estate.
* * *
Liev could see the moment Bianca finally realised he was serious. He saw her eyes wash with resignation, watched those very kissable lips press together, and it was all he could do to keep his thoughts on his mission, instead of thinking how they would feel crushed beneath his as passion burst to life between them. Did she really expect him to believe she’d never dated? A woman as beautiful as her would have exploited that beauty along with her family name and wealth, of that there was no doubt.
‘I do not know why this item is so precious to you, but I mean what I say. Only when you have achieved your side of the deal will I allow you to have it. Not a moment sooner. Three months should be sufficient. Don’t you think?’
He watched as the colour drained from her face, now satisfied there wouldn’t be any last-minute attempts to thwart his plans. He’d waited too long for this moment, and when he’d told her of his parents he’d had to clench his hands into fists, to prevent himself from revealing the truth, from telling her that she and her brother were a crucial part of avenging their untimely deaths.
‘You’re despicable,’ she whispered at him, her breath coming hard and fast. Better that she hated him. Hatred drove a person more than any other emotion. He’d learnt that the hard way as he’d fought and brawled—and worse—for every morsel he’d eaten since the day, at twelve years of age, he’d seen his father’s coffin lowered into the ground, joining that of his mother.
‘Then we have a healthy respect of one another, Bianca.’ He saw her jaw clench as he used her name.
‘How exactly are you going to convince the world that our engagement is real? When we obviously dislike each other so intensely?’ The tartness of her words touched a raw nerve, one that had been exposed by remembering his past.
‘I will give you a ring. The rest is up to you.’ He thought of the large diamond ring he’d bought. Proof, if she needed it, that this whole scenario had been planned down to the last detail. But that was of no importance now; she’d agreed to the deal. He had her right where he wanted her.
As soon as he’d discovered her desperation to get the bracelet he’d done everything in his power to prevent her buying it privately, making a deal with the seller and then bidding for it all over again. It had cost him a fortune, but one he could easily stand, and he’d forced Bianca out into the open where he could snatch it away from her. It was his bargaining tool, but what he hadn’t been prepared for was just how badly she wanted it.
‘Up to me?’ Shocked, her blue eyes widened, sending his thoughts briefly off course again.
‘Yes. The sooner our engagement is known, the sooner you can gain my acceptance with the use of your family name.’
‘And that’s all it’s about?’ Her dark eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion and he wondered if he’d been too unguarded, let too much slip. It was a fine line he was walking between gaining all the information he could from her and telling her too much.
‘I am to attend a charity function this Friday and you will also attend—as my fiancée.’
‘So soon?’
‘I intend we are seen in public as a newly engaged couple as soon as possible.’
She inhaled deeply. ‘Very well. I agree but only for three months and not a day longer.’
‘You will also use your business connections to introduce me to those people who would be most influential in establishing my company here in New York.’ He pressed home the need to be accepted by society, which whilst being beneficial, it was not the main purpose for his deal. The main purpose was to extract information from Bianca about Dario Di Sione and the finer details of ICE, the company he intended to bring down.
