Page 17 of Fiancée for the Cameras

“Exactly!”

She frowned. “I don’t understand Mrs. Rossi’s thinking. Why risk losing you by playing all these games? Why not be straightforward with you about her affections?”

He chuckled, though not quite to mock her. “You and Mama are peas in a pod.”

Monica had no idea what he meant but she knew what she had to do. “I’ll make a statement to the press immediately that the whole incident has been twisted and that I’ve been simply recovering at your mother’s—”

“I thought you were terrified of talking to the press?”

“I am, but your reputation is not something I take lightly. I...”

“I have a different solution. One that would addressbothproblems.”

And here was the thing he’d clearly been reluctant to bring up, even as he’d made up his mind. Monica braced herself for anything, even though her heart ached at the thought of being sent away from Flora or Romeo or even...him.

Three weeks ago, as distressing as it had been, her transfer to a different department had felt necessary. To keep at bay all the feelings she’d discovered in her near delirious state.

But now, hearing this confirmation that Andrea had no interest in Mrs. Rossi, knowing that he cared abouther, albeit in his own autocratic way, she didn’t want to go away. She didn’t want to stop working for him, or being near him. Which was really the pinnacle of the kind of foolish, clingy attachment she couldn’t afford in a million years.

It wasn’t as if anything could happen between them. So what was she doing feeling like this? Was she simply attaching herself to him because he was the most stable, genuine man she’d known in a long while? Why didn’t she feel like this with Romeo, who was not only more handsome but also warm and open and approachable?

Something about him consumed her, as if finally, she had tuned in to the right frequency of her own heart and body. “What’s the solution?”

“We will pretend that the story the tabloid press made up is true. That we’ve been in a relationship for months and that day, we had planned to elope to city hall but realized that Mama would be heartbroken at not being able to throw us a wedding. At the last minute, it became necessary to cancel it anyway because you were sick and had to be hospitalized. In two days, we’ll arrive at a charity gala together. That will be enough of an announcement that we are together.”

Try as she might, Monica couldn’t muster up a response. Shock enveloped her so fully that all she could do was freeze and stare and...

Pretend they were together, that they’d been in a relationship for months. Go to a party with him. Pretend like she had the right to touch him, and kiss him, and want him...

Suddenly, she felt feverish all over again.

CHAPTER SIX

ANDREA’SHANDSCAMEover her shoulders when she swayed. He smelled like pine and cloves and the deepest, darkest want she hadn’t admitted to herself. His fingers on her flesh reminded her of the ache between her thighs when he’d touched her scar. Two more steps and her nipples would brush against his chest, and it was such an overload of sensory pleasure that she felt dizzy. The back of his hand came against her forehead. “Do you feel faint again?”

The pang of concern in his tone dissipated the shivers. God, she was acting like some Victorian virgin given to swoons at the slightest touch of a man. She needed distance, needed to fight the haze of desire he enveloped her in with his mere presence. Slowly, she edged back from his touch. “No, I’m fine. I just...”

“Ah...is the very idea of being affianced to me that frightening?”

“Of course not,” she said, raising her gaze to him. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“As sure as I can be.”

“And it has to be an engagement? Not just...a fling.” Just saying it made a lick of heat flash through her.

“If it’s a fling, that just proves the media’s point, no? That I used you when you were under my power and then discarded you? An engagement also gives me armor against Chiara’s mind games. Her father can come back to the table to discuss the merger without thinking that I rejected his daughter.”

“Because you were already serious about me! And everything Flora said that day at the dinner to Mrs. Rossi adds up to it,” she said, nodding. Then she blew out a breath that seemedto settle right between her throat and chest. “But what about Francesco?” Just saying his name made shame sit on her chest like a boulder. “He won’t keep quiet when he hears this version. While he’s not evil or anything, he’ll try to twist this into some kind of gain for him and—”

“I will deal with him.”

She raised a surprised gaze to him. “You will?”

“I’m Andrea Valentini. I havesomeresources available to me.”

“As if anyone can forget who you are,” she said, warmed by his attempt at humor.

Silence grew between them, gathering every twitch of her hands, every hitch of her breath, saying more than she wanted to say, betraying her.

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