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‘I have a brother,’ she said firmly, her eyes holding his even as the withering uninterest in his made her gut churn. ‘Jack. He’s my twin. We’ve always been close. And he got into trouble recently.’
She paused here. She had made a habit of concealing Jack’s failings from the world out of a need to protect him. But even that had to be sacrificed for any hope with Rio.
‘Do not misunderstand me. I do not wish to know you,’ he said coldly. ‘Rather, I know all I need to know about you.’
‘Please,’ she said thickly. ‘Let me tell you this.’
He flicked a lazy glance at his watch. ‘Rafaelo will be here any minute. You have until he arrives.’
Urgency made her speak faster, louder. ‘Jack owed money to some guys—bad guys—and at the same time Cressida asked me to come here and pretend to be her. She would pay me to come here as her.’ She darted her tongue out and licked her lower lip. ‘I was very worried about Jack, and then all of a sudden there was this perfect solution.’
Her eyes met his and then darted away, scared by the Arctic hatred she saw there.
‘Why would you think this a solution? Impersonating someone is not easy.’
‘I’ve done it before,’ she muttered, staring at the floor. ‘Not ever for as long as this. It started with a party she didn’t want to go to, and then there was a film premiere. Sometimes she’s asked me to leave a restaurant before her so that the press think she’s gone.’
‘And she pays you for this?’
Tilly nodded. ‘But that’s not why I do it.’
His laugh was a scoff. ‘I see. I presume you do it because you get some kind of psychopathic kick out of lying to people?’
She shook her head. ‘I feel sorry for her,’ Tilly whispered the words. ‘She’s not a bad person, Rio. Just selfish and spoiled. But she...she deserves better than the treatment she gets in the press.’
He made a noise of disagreement.
‘You weren’t meant to be here. I thought I’d meet an estate agent, get a tour of the island and then...’
The words dwindled away as embarrassment over her naivety swallowed her.
‘And then what? Take payment for the deception? Fix your brother’s problems? Go back to your life, having lied to your boss?’ He shook his head. ‘None of this is making you look any better to me.’
She nodded, her throat raw. ‘I didn’t know she was going to get married. I would never have taken part in this if I had.’
He didn’t respond, and for a second she hoped that maybe she was getting through to him. But one look at his features, set in a mask of stone, and she was absolutely sure that she’d lost him for good.
‘How much?’ he asked with a thick accusation.
She didn’t pretend to misunderstand. ‘Thirty thousand pounds.’
His eyes
swooped closed on the information as he digested it. She had no idea what he was thinking. In the distance she heard the unmistakable sound of the speedboat and panic slammed into her.
‘I love you,’ she said quietly, with complete honesty.
His eyes snapped open. ‘Another lie,’ he ground out. ‘Where is your bag?’
‘Not a lie,’ she insisted, walking around the table and putting a hand on his arm.
He stared at it as though she was wiping butter all over him. His gaze met hers with challenge.
‘I don’t want to leave you,’ she said thickly. ‘Let me stay.’
His eyes flashed with a dark emotion she couldn’t understand.
‘You want to stay?’ he murmured.
