Page 15 of Emergency Engagement

The joke fell flat.

‘Actually.’ Rafael suddenly looked uncomfortable, uncomfortable enough for Sammy to feel a shiver of apprehension thread through her. ‘This concerns you a little more than you might expect.’

‘How so?’

‘Because you and I are an item...’

‘I beg your pardon?’

‘Practically engaged, as it happens. Just for the week, you and I are very much in love. It was the only way I could get her off my back...’

CHAPTER FOUR

FORAFEWseconds Sammy thought she must have missed a crucial link somewhere. How had Rafael’s dilemma suddenly becomeherproblem? Her mouth dropped open and she stared at him, oblivious to a smiling waiter with a jug of punch topping up their glasses.

‘Hence my reason for waylaying you,’ Rafael volunteered into the yawning silence.

‘Rafael,’ Sammy was constrained to enquire, ‘How hasyourproblem becomemyproblem?’

‘I’m not proud that I’ve dragged you into this but on the spur of the moment, and with that woman standing in front of me at two in the morning, my options seemed limited. I told her to get lost or I’d see what Clement makes of her after-hours escapades and she immediately warned me not to try reporting back—said all she was looking for was a bit of closure for herself. Like I said, Sammy, Victoria has a vindictive streak and if she wants to cause chaos she’ll make sure to do so—she would try and spin some fairy story to Clement and, trust me, the story would not be in my favour. But if I have a serious girlfriend in tow? She wouldn’t dare try and there would be no risk to the deal being done.’

‘But...’

‘Hear me out.’ He pushed the half-empty plate of nibbles to one side and leaned towards her, his fingers linked on the table, his whole presence swamping her.

‘Do I have a choice?’

‘I realise that this was possibly not what you were expecting...’

‘Possibly not what I was expecting?Rafael, that’s the understatement of the decade! I was expecting an oven, a hob and a non-stop round of food preparation!’

‘So, it might be a brief with a slight difference, but I’ll make it more than worth your while.’

‘Really. And how exactly are you going to achieve that?’

‘I’m prepared to...er...alter the terms and conditions of the agreement we had in place.’

‘You’re losing me.’

‘No working here for six months, no probationary period. I know you were probably a little apprehensive about having to prove yourself in unfamiliar surroundings...were you? Maybe you were excited at the opportunity...’

‘No probationary period? What does that mean? No working here for six months? And, just for the record, more apprehensive than excited, as it happens. Six months on an island where I don’t know anyone...’

‘Naturally, you would have been introduced to the various people at the hotel.’

‘Like I was saying...where I don’t know anyone, at the end of which I could have been found wanting, didn’t exactly make for a relaxing prospect.’

‘Look, it’s a big ask. I know that. Work with me here and I’m prepared to release you from any commitment to prove your worth to me. When this stint is over, you leave here with a cheque in your hand and the wherewithal to advance your career however you want to.’ He reached for his mobile, typed something in and pushed the phone towards her.

Sammy’s mouth, already open, opened a lot wider. In fact, her jaw hit the ground. The figure he had typed in was eye-watering and she wondered whether he had accidentally hit too many noughts by mistake.

‘You’re buying me.’

‘In a manner of speaking. But look at it this way: what I’m buying is just a week of make-believe from you. You’re my personal chef, an old friend who’s now my lover... You’ll still do the catering, and you can mingle on the side-lines as befits the working woman that you are. We really won’t be spending much time in one another’s company. You’ll be preparing food and I’ll be working to get this deal done before it can be scuppered. I refuse to let malice destroy the lives of innocent people who are depending on this.’

Sammy’s brain had got stuck on the word ‘lover’and she felt slow heat crawl into her cheeks. She tried to think of herself in that role; her mouth went dry and her thoughts became a big, scrambled mess.

‘I get it that you’re horrified.’

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