Page 8 of Fiancée for the Cameras

Her attempt to stop jerking away made her do a weird convulsion on the bed, pulling her closer to his hard body. She wiped at her damp lip and wondered what she’d done wrong in this life to receive such torment. “You trust me in a professional setting, then?”

“Of course, I do. In a personal setting, too. Because you operate it with the same principles.”

He pulled back as if he needed a wider view of her, and his mouth—why was she looking at his mouth constantly?—lost that annoyed set. “Then what is it you fear would happen if you accepted Mama’s gifts? If say, you had let her buy you a nice wedding dress instead of this chemical-soaked death trap that has caused you so much pain? If you had let her meet Francesco a few times and make sure he was right for you?”

Monica blinked back a new spurt of tears. When he put it like that, when she thought this all could have been avoided, she truly felt pathetic. “I have gotten so used to all the time I spend with Flora and Romeo. I like having them in my life. I adore meeting her for dinner every Wednesday. I adore playing chess with Romeo and practicing Italian with him and just...being around him. I have never had such wonderful people who...cared about me in my life before. I don’t want to do a single thing that would jeopardize that.”

“And my second question?”

“I...” Monica met his gaze and then skittered away. Clearly, he wasn’t going to let go until she admitted what a fool she’d been. “Francesco was desperate to meet Flora. And Romeo. And you. Especially after I confessed how sweet it was that Flora wanted to buy me jewelry for the wedding. Then there was that one time when you picked me up in the middle of our date and demanded that I find that communication with the Japanese company... He was elated that whole day. I think because he realized how much you valued my work.”

In retrospect now, Monica could see that Francesco had proposed soon after that. He’d also been unbelievably annoyed until she agreed to bring him to the Valentini estate sometime to meet them all. “Something about his eagerness didn’t...sit well with me.”

“And yet you chose to bury that instinct?” Mr. Valentini sounded so angry that Monica felt herself shrink under his gaze.But enough was enough. She’d already let one man treat her like garbage.

She looked up, meeting that gray gaze straight on. “He is an orphan, like me. Wanting shiny things like a new car or nice clothes or wanting to use my connection to you to establish himself in his life is not wrong, Mr. Valentini. Not all of us are born into wealthanda loving family.”

A curse escaped his mouth, the contempt in his eyes deepening. Monica swallowed at the intense reaction, fighting the need to fix it.

“So you think he was right to use you like he did?”

“Not if he loved me a little and thought it was an advantage we could use to build our future. Not when I’ve worked hard to build that reputation with you. Not when life is...hard and unfair. But he didn’t love me at all and he thought I was a foolish girl with outdated ideas. He’s made that clear.”

His rough fingers lifting her chin sent Monica’s pulse skittering across her body like an unearthed wire. If she’d expected to see tenderness in his eyes, she’d have been disappointed. “Whatever you do or don’t do in the future, it would be impossible to separate Mama and Romeo from you, Ms. D’Souza. Even if I wished it. Neither of them will stand for it. Trust me in that, too,si?”

“Si,”she said, trying to not drown in the warmth that promise drenched through her.

“Once your fever goes down, you’re moving to the estate while you recover.” He pressed a finger to her parted lips before she could protest. “Let Mama look after you. Spend more time with Romeo. He’s always complaining that I work you too hard.Si?”

“Si.”

“Mama thinks of you as her daughter and wants to spoil you, just a little. With me and Romeo, she does not have a chance toindulge that side of her. So next time, when she begs to buy you a little something, just for her own pleasure, let her,si?”

Monica licked her dry lips. If he asked her in that tone, she was afraid she’d agree to anything.“Si.”

Something hot and feral sparked in his eyes and was shut down before she could even be sure she’d seen it.

Andrea Valentini was not attracted to her, no. Not at all. Never in a million years. He was too old and experienced and sophisticated and cynical and gorgeous and way too out of her silly, safe, secure sphere tolike herlike that. God, she couldn’t even say it right in her own head.

This wasn’t a relationship she would ever mess up by forcing her own stupid romantic ideals on it. Never. Her fever was clearly making her hallucinate.

“Now, lie down and let me finish this.”

“Si,”she said automatically and plopped, facedown, onto the bed.

There were two different fevers going on in her body, she thought with a near hysterical giggle trapped in her throat. One was caused by the rash on her back, and the other made her nipples pinch deliciously against the cool sheets, her entire body thrumming in anticipation of his touch.

His sudden laughter exploded into the space between them, running down her spine like a warm, delicious trickle that was both comforting and arousing. Just the husky, deep sound of it did things to her belly and lower, more effectively than Francesco ever could have. She burrowed her cheek into the cool pillow, grateful that he couldn’t see her face right now. The last thing she needed was for her expressive face to give away her...arousal.

“You are dangerous, Ms. D’Souza. A man could get used to hearing all those yeses from such a mouth.”

Monica tried to stay stiff, even as his words filled her with a delicious ache.

No, he wasn’t flirting with her. Not at all.

“Surprising that you think it might go to your head, Mr. Valentini,” she said, fighting the urge to catch his gray gaze, “when you’re unused to hearing anything but yes from the whole world.”

“You’re not as malleable and lacking in spine as you think you are,” he said gruffly, after a beat of silence that crackled with tension. “I definitely do not remember you blindly agreeing to anything I proposed. In fact, your meteoric rise through the company to my side has to do with how well you stand up to me, even as you act like a scurrying mouse.”

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