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He couldn’t risk that.
He wanted to believe that he’d have done it anyway because he was a noble man who knew right from wrong. But, as Faith sat down beside him, her thigh close enough to touch his, he knew that gentlemanly behaviour had nothing to do with it.
He’d have hurt that man for touching Faith. Any other woman...he’d have reported it to Jerry’s superiors, to the police if it had gone far enough. But Faith...was different.
‘You okay?’ she asked, bumping her arm against his.
He gave a humourless laugh. ‘Shouldn’t I be asking you that?’
‘Probably. But I’m clearly fine.’
Dominic studied her, taking in her pale skin, and the spots of pink on her cheeks that were probably the fault of the whisky. ‘Are you?’
She gave a half-shrug, and took another sip. ‘Just a little shaken. I should have known better than to let him walk me back, really.’
‘This is in no way your fault,’ Dominic said firmly.
‘Oh, I know that. Trust me, I blame him entirely.’
‘Good.’ Leaning back against the sofa, Dominic began to imagine ways of making Jerry pay. At the very least, he was going to get every meeting request for every video conference until the end of time, whether he needed to be there or not.
‘You’re thinking of torture techniques, aren’t you?’ Faith curled her feet up under her again, twisting to face him on the sofa, and he couldn’t help but notice the way the skirt of that bloody black dress rode up her thighs. God, he was as bad as Jerry.
‘Corporate torture,’ he promised. ‘Entirely legal.’
‘Well, that’s okay then. Wouldn’t want my boss getting into trouble.’
Her boss. Of course that was all he was to her. And he wouldn’t even be that much longer. Once the Americans were on the plane home, she’d be gone. Onto the next job, the next adventure. He couldn’t even plan on calling her back next time he had guests in town; God only knew where she’d be by then.
Unless...
‘I meant to talk to you about that, actually.’ Or he would have, if he’d thought of it before now.
Faith’s eyebrows drew together. ‘About what?’
Dominic took a deep breath, and made his play. ‘About whether you’d like to make the boss thing a more permanent arrangement.’
* * *
Faith stared at him long enough that he started to go out of focus, then snapped her gaze away. Of course he was so impressed by her professional abilities that he wanted to keep her around. Nothing to do with her more personal attributes. She had to remember that.
But still...he did want to keep her around. Just the idea gave her a warm glow greater than anything she’d got from the alcohol in her glass.
Except, she couldn’t stay. The realisation made her wince into her whisky as she looked down so she didn’t have to see his face as she answered.
‘That’s...very kind...’ She scouted around her poor scrambled brain to find the right words, but Dominic was already talking again before she got to them.
‘It makes sense, right? I mean, I need a new tour company, one way or another, and I got to thinking that it would be easier if I just had someone on staff to take care of these things. Obviously we’d need to come to a more formal arrangement—you’d need an office in my building, and we’d have to discuss salary, relocation expenses and all of that.’
She wanted to say yes. It was a fantastic offer, something that would really let her build up her life as Faith Fowler. But how could she do it in the shadow of her family name? How could she risk living in London again, knowing that any moment they could find her and thrust her back into the limelight?
Dominic gave her an encouraging smile and she tried to return it.
Would it really be so bad, even if they did find her? She was a grown woman. They couldn’t make her go home. And with a stable job with Dominic, she’d never be reliant on them for money, or anything else again. This could be her chance at true independence.
Until Dominic found out the truth. No way he’d hang onto an employee who brought the paparazzi down on him for harbouring a missing heiress. And once they’d found her, all the stories would start up again, and the pictures of her leaving that damn hotel room would be back in circulation, and the rumours about her relationship with a married drug addict rock star...no. Dominic wouldn’t stand for any of that. Even if she could make him believe that the papers had it all wrong.
No. She couldn’t stay. There was no place for her in Dominic’s world any more, if there ever really had been. Getting close to Dominic...it was a mistake. One she was very afraid she might have already made. But there had to be a line, a point she couldn’t cross. She couldn’t fall in love. And so she couldn’t risk staying.
