AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He shrugged, giving her nothing. ‘I see this more as an opportunity to get an outcome that is long overdue.’
‘You running your family business.’ Him making even more money.
‘Yes.’
He really was a shark, Poppy thought, a shark who swam around in shallow waters. What was she doing getting mixed up in this? ‘Can’t you tell them we broke up and take one of those breathtaking blondes you apparently date instead?’
‘No.’ His jaw hardened. ‘My grandfather has it in his head that you are “the one” for me, and no blonde, no matter how breathtaking, will cut it.’
What didn’t cut it for Poppy was how attracted she was to him. He was a shining example of how little taste her hormones truly had when it came to choosing men. ‘Don’t you find this all a bit deceptive?’ she pleaded.
Sebastiano’s lids came down to shutter his gaze. ‘Your point?’
‘My point is that you don’t seem to care.’
She wasn’t sure she’d kept the distaste from her voice when he scowled. ‘What I care about right now is taking over CE.’
‘So you believe that the end justifies the means?’
‘When it fits.’
Just like the well-dressed louse who had picked her up. But this wasn’t the same thing, was it? She had her wits about her this time. And this man was granting her three wishes, not trying to take something from her.
‘Poppy?’
She bit her bottom lip, and, when her eye finally lifted to his, his were softer. ‘I can see this is not as easy for you as I thought it would be—but my grandfather needs to retire. If him believing I am in love with you achieves that, then I’m willing to bend the truth a little.’
Poppy’s eyebrows rose. ‘A little?’
He smiled. ‘A lot.’
Something in his tone told her that the deception wasn’t as easy for him as he made out. Maybe it was that, or maybe it was just the fact that she could already see the expression on Simon’s face when he received his new trainers—not to mention Maryann’s delight when she learned she would be moving into a ground-floor flat beside a park—but Poppy found herself
oddly compelled to agree. ‘Okay.’ She released a long, drawn-out breath. ‘I’ll do it.’
He gave her a faintly mocking smile. ‘That face is not going to convince anyone you think I’m the love of your life.’
‘That’s because I feel sick,’ she said.
As sick as she used to feel whenever the social worker would turn up and tell her that she and Simon were moving on to yet another family. She had that same dreadful sense that her life was headed over a cliff and she had no idea if the landing would be soft or hard, experience warning her to prepare for the worst.
Sebastiano shook his head. ‘I’m not sure you’re actually real.’
Poppy grimaced. ‘Well, that makes two of us, because I’m not sure you are either. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get my head around a presentation for Mr Adams. Oh, and feel free to change your mind about all this. I won’t be sorry.’
‘I won’t change my mind.’
* * *
Long after the building had emptied for the day, Sebastiano sat in his office, staring across at Big Ben but not really seeing it. He couldn’t quite believe he had just coerced a woman into posing as his fake lover, or how difficult it had been to get her to agree.
Honestly, he’d expected the whole process to take no more than five minutes. Offer her a large sum of money and count the seconds until she said yes. When Poppy had baulked he had initially believed she’d been holding out for more money. No surprise there. What had been a surprise was how hard he’d had to work to convince her, and how heated his blood had become in the process. He knew it was just ego, but still the whole time she had been resisting him that voice in his head had said, Take her! and Now! with predictable consistency.
A voice he would not be listening to next weekend. Sebastiano had met enough women on the make to encourage a lifetime of bachelorhood. Women who would do and say just about anything to marry up in society. Since he was from a centuries-old Italian dynasty with all the trappings that entailed, he’d been a target for avaricious types ever since he’d reached puberty.
But he wouldn’t be caught. And not just because he distrusted most of the women he met, but because his life was perfect as it was. Why interfere with that?
A pair of bold velvet-blue eyes slid into his consciousness. Was Poppy Connolly for real? He didn’t think so, but he wasn’t going to waste time wondering about it. She had agreed to go with him and that was all there was to it.
