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The thought of that child being lonely and scared in an unsafe place was untenable. It hadn’t been often for Elias, but he had felt unsafe at times. And while Elias had never wanted to be a father—he knew he didn’t have the skills—he didn’t hate children. And the thought of this one orphaned and alone made his gut ache. A child needed and deserved to be wanted. And Lily was. By Darcie. But it was more than the thought of Lily driving him now. It was the expression in Darcie’s eyes when she’d described the little girl’s situation, and her desire to be there, that compelled him.Herheartbreak.
He ached to ease it for her. More than that, there was a fierce, irrational drive to keep her close.
Not irrational. It was pure basic instinct. He’d not acknowledged to himself before how much he wanted her because he’d had to push it away. It had been inappropriate and out of bounds. But now?
‘I don’t do love, Darcie, but it seems you understand that already,’ he suddenly snapped. ‘You’re not in love with me, correct?’
‘Correct,’ Darcie instinctively snapped back.
‘Then this is nothing more than another deal. After a year we’ll understand the likelihood of success in your application to care for the child. We’ll review the arrangement then.’
She blinked. He’d give her one whole year to try for Lily. ‘Why would you want a wife for a year?’
‘Why wouldn’t I?’ he countered. ‘Especially a wife who understands the pressures of my work upon my time. A woman who understands my lifestyle. A wife will give me the air of humanity I’m often accused of lacking and a beautiful wife is the one thing I currently don’t have as a societal measure of success.’
Abeautifulwife? She shook her head as she realised how out of her depth she was. ‘I’m not the sort of wife you should have.’
To her amazement he actually smiled. ‘In what way could you possibly be deficient?’
She rolled her eyes. ‘I’m not well-educated. I didn’t go to the right schools and know all the right people. I don’t have the required etiquette. I’m not a clothes model. I’ll embarrass you.’ There. A matter-of-fact assessment of her shortcomings. Notquiteall of them, but the only ones she was prepared to articulate now.
‘I don’t want a model wife,’ he said bluntly. ‘I want someone who understands what I do and how much it matters to me. Someone who can fit in with minimal disruption. And, yes, I’m aware you’re bringing a child with you but your demands upon me won’t be those of a normal wife because we already understand that this is going to be a business relationship. My benefit is knowing I’ll no longer be judged for dating or for my lifestyle.’
‘But you don’t care what anyone says about you,’ she pointed out, equally bluntly.
‘I care when it impacts on my deals.’ He lifted his chin. ‘And Vince Williams doesn’t like my lifestyle.’
So it really was only for business.
‘After the end of our brief marriage, I will, naturally, be devastated and vow never to marry again. Perhaps people will finally consider I have a valid reason to remain single.’
‘That’s preposterous.’
‘Yet enchantingly believable.’ He actually smiled again. ‘People will think it serves me right. You’ll have to be the villainess who breaks my formerly impenetrable heart, Darcie. Can you cope with the momentary vilification or shall you not care?’
‘No one will ever believe I broke your heart. People will perceive it to be the other way round.’
‘And will you cope with that?’
She straightened. ‘Of course, because I’ll have Lily and I really don’t care what anyone says about me. And this is just a pretence.’
‘Exactly. A pretence that serves an admirably worthy goal.’
Yet she still couldn’t quite say yes. There was still one thing they had to address. ‘What would you expect of me personally?’ She braced when she saw a flicker of amusement around his mouth. ‘Do you expect we’ll be intimate?’
He shot her a coolly devastating look. ‘You weren’t averse to the idea of being intimate with me a couple of weeks ago, Darcie.’
Yeah, it had been inevitable that he would point that mortifying fact out.
‘Why did you do it?’ He finally asked the question that had been hanging between them for days. ‘Why did you proposition me that night in Edinburgh?’
Darcie swallowed, buying time even when she’d had days to dream up some flippant reply. But she had none. She had to be honest, because apparently the man was seriously still willing to give her the chance to get almost everything she wanted.
‘You were planning to marry someone else,’ he added when she didn’t immediately reply. ‘I assume you were engaged at the time you asked me back to your room?’
‘Yes.’
‘You would have cheated on him.’
