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Evie paused, a tube of lipgloss in her hand. ‘She became pregnant? On purpose?’ The shock in her voice almost made him smile.
‘Yes, on purpose. On purpose, Evie.’ He said the word twice, each time with emphasis, knowing that she had absolutely no idea what people could be like. She was such a crazy idealist, wasn’t she? ‘Are you going to ask me why?’
‘I’m not stupid. I presume she thought you’d marry her.’ She stuffed the lipgloss into her bag. ‘Which, of course, you wouldn’t.’
‘No, because it never would have worked.’ Rio growled the words angrily. ‘I offered her everything but that. I offered to buy her a house near me—I offered her financial support. But all she wanted was marriage and I’d made the mistake of being honest about how much I wanted to see my child. She used that knowledge to carry on blackmailing me. Only this time, instead of “I’m pregnant, marry me”, it was “if you want to see your child, marry me”.’
Evie stood still. Some of the anger in her face was replaced by uncertainty.
‘She used my child as currency,’ Rio said thickly. ‘An object to be bartered with. I gave her sufficient funds to live in luxury for the rest of her life but she frittered it away on unsuitable friends and people I would not have allowed anywhere near my daughter. Because she had my child, I carried on trying to help. I even gave her useless brother Carlos a job in my hotel, under close supervision. But I was working behind the scenes to get custody of my daughter.’
‘Custody?’ Her eyes widened in shock and he gave a bitter smile because he’d seen exactly that same look on the faces of others.
‘Yes, custody. And, yes, I know I’m a single man. A single man with a self-confessed relationship phobia. I am no one’s image of ideal father material. It was easy for her to build a case, making me look unsuitable. I work inhuman hours, I have no history of commitment—’ he breathed deeply ‘—it’s possible I would never even have had a chance if it weren’t for the fact that Jeanette left Elyssa unattended.’
‘She left her child alone?’
Rio wanted to tell her not to be so naive, but realised that would be unfair. It wasn’t naivety that prevented her from understanding why another woman might leave a child alone; it was her nature. He’d seen the way she cared about her grandfather. She was warm and loving—a nurturer who believed that families stuck together and supported each other through thick and thin.
‘Jeanette didn’t ever want a child. All she wanted was a tool to manipulate me. She doesn’t have a maternal bone in her body.’ He watched Evie flinch as he took a hatchet to her illusions. ‘I imagine someone like you would find that almost impossible to believe, so let me tell you just how unhappy my daughter’s life has been so far and maybe then you’ll understand that there are times when “ruthless” is justified.’
‘Rio—’
‘She was left on her own in the house because there was no way Jeanette was wasting any of the money I gave her caring for a child she never wanted. I sent her staff; she fired them. I interviewed eight nannies personally. None of them lasted a day. Jeanette said she’d care for Elyssa herself, but she didn’t. I’ve been fighting for custody since before my daughter was born but it was only six months ago, after she had a nasty fall in the house while she was on her own, that the tide turned in my favour. The police were called. Elyssa was taken into foster care while they reviewed the case. It’s been a long, hard slog but we were almost there.’
‘Were?’
‘Elyssa is Jeanette’s meal ticket,’ Rio said, struggling to keep the emotion out of his voice. ‘She doesn’t want me to have custody. She reinvented herself as a model mother. She’s been volunteering at the church, visiting the sick and the elderly, generally behaving like a perfect citizen.’
‘And at the same time she’s been trying to destroy your reputation? Make you look like an unsuitable carer for a child?’
‘Unfortunately, over the years, I’ve managed to do that for myself. I’ve made no apology for the fact that I don’t want commitment, never realising that the time would come when I’d regret expressing those sentiments in such a public fashion.’
‘So that’s why Carlos wanted me to spend the night. That’s why he arranged the photographer. That’s what the deal is.’ Her breathing quickened and her eyes held his. ‘This deal isn’t about money, is it? It isn’t business. It’s your daughter. The reason you didn’t want those photographs published was because of your daughter. They were trying to make you look bad.’
Rio stood still, watching her. So much was riding on this conversation and yet, for once, his slick way with words had abandoned him. ‘I’ve worked for years to reach this point.’
‘But if your security team caught the man immediately—if you knew there was no danger of that photograph being exposed—why go through with that farce?’
‘Because I thought you could help my case.’ He didn’t flinch from the truth. ‘My lawyer told me to stay whiter than white or find a wholesome-looking woman. Until Carlos intervened, I’d settled on the first option. Then I saw you lying on the bed.’
‘I was naked,’ she said dryly. ‘Not exactly wholesome.’
‘No one looking at you could ever believe you were anything other than a thoroughly decent person,’ Rio said roughly. And he’d used her. ‘I’m a man who has said I’d never settle down—to convince people I’d changed my mind, it would have to be with someone completely different from the usual women I date. You fitted that description.’
She stood for a moment. ‘And it didn’t occur to you to just tell me the truth? You could have just asked for my help. You could have trusted me.’
‘No, I couldn’t.’
‘Have you ever trusted a woman?’
Rio didn’t even hesitate. ‘I’ve never had reason to.’
Pain flickered across her face and he knew she was thinking about everything they’d shared. ‘So what happens now?’
He clenched his fists by his sides, wondering why it suddenly felt so hard to remain detached when that was his normal default mode. ‘That’s your decision,’ he said flatly. ‘If you want to go home to your grandfather for Christmas, then I can arrange that. And of course you have a job as receptionist. You’re overqualified for the position, but if that’s what you want then that’s fine by me. The one thing I ask is that you dump me, as we agreed, rather than telling the media the truth.’
‘How have you kept your daughter’s name out of the press?’
