Page 28 of After-Party Consequences

Ridiculous? Extreme? An over-reach of epic proportions?

She was so astounded at the steely determination in his expression she was speechless, for one whole second. ‘I refuse to do it. I don’t want to date you, in public or in private. We don’t even like each other.’

‘We like each other well enough,’ he said implacably, as if he hadn’t just yelled a profanity across Lake Como for most of Lombardy to hear.

‘I see. Do you shout like that at all your girlfriends, then?’

‘Nope, but I’ve never dated a woman before who’s as contrary as you are,’ he announced. Strangely, although frustration still tightened his tone, she could also see approval in his expression.

That would be the same approval which had derailed her common sense once before. The answering pulse of awareness in her belly, right alongside the nausea, only disturbed her more.

What was wrong with her? Cade Landry was a domineering alpha jerk. He was only here because he needed her to win astupid bet—and he’d used underhanded methods to put her at his mercy. How could she possibly still be attracted to him?

‘It won’t work,’ she said. ‘Apart from the fact I have more important things to do than being your stunt date for the summer—such as setting up my workshop in London and working on my new commissions,’ she added forcefully, to make it clear her business was just as important as his. ‘We’d end up killing each...’

‘Would those be the new commissions I helped you secure at the Broussards’fais?’ he cut in, slicing through her indignation and making guilt flare in her queasy stomach.

‘I don’t see how that’s relevant...?’ she managed, determined to believe it wasn’t.

Sowhatif he’d helped introduce her around at the party? He’d only done it because he wanted to get into her knickers. And the quality of her work spoke for itself.

‘Uh-huh...’ He placed his elbow on the table and leant forward, which made her uncomfortably aware of the way his tailored shirt stretched across his pecs. ‘Well, how about this for relevance? If you don’t accompany me and pose as my loving girlfriend for the next five weeks, until Labor Day, I’ll sue you for invasion of privacy, and using my name and image without my permission to garner free publicity for your business.’

She stiffened, shocked by the steely threat, and the flicker of challenge in the sapphire blue eyes. Was he getting off on this?

‘You wouldn’t dare!’ she snapped. He was bluffing. He had to be. ‘And anyway, it would be completely counterproductive... If you sued me, it would torpedo your chances of winning that bet.’

‘Try me,’ he murmured. ‘But fair warning, Charlotte. You don’t want to underestimate how ruthless a guy who grew up in the child welfare system in St Martin Parish, Louisiana—being bumped from one place to another like a piece of trash—can be. Or how dirty I’m prepared to fight to get what I want.’

She tensed, shocked by the ruthless tone and the brittle cynicism in his eyes.

But then her heart wedged in her throat as she noticed the muscle ticking in his jaw, and the scar which cut through the day-old stubble on his chin—and she digested what he had revealed about his past without intending to.

She’d been vaguely aware of the stories about his background. That he had grown up in foster care and come from nothing to build the Landry empire. It was all part of the self-made man myth which he had helped to promote. But there had been a raw note in his voice when he talked about the boy who had felt like trash, which was very different from the man she had met in San Francisco and all those years ago in Las Vegas. The charismatic, arrogant, supremely confident man who hadn’t appeared to have a single chink in his armour.

And the strangest thought occurred to her.

Had she hurt him? By running out on him that morning?

She tried to bury the sentimental thought. She couldn’t drop down that rabbit hole again, of believing they had shared more than an intense physical connection. But she couldn’t seem to stop herself. It occurred to her his presence here, his decision to fly to Italy and buy out a whole hotel just to trap her into having a private dinner with him, and his determination to make her date him—rather than just dating no one for the rest of the summer to keep to the one date rule—didn’t make a lot of sense.

She cut off the wayward thought because it wasn’t helping with her nausea, especially when he picked up his fork and began to eat the antipasti, apparently waiting for her to capitulate. He ate calmly and methodically as if he didn’t have a care in the world—and hadn’t just threatened her with legal action to bend her to his will.

Think on that, Charley, before you start getting choked up about his difficult childhood.

Whatever Cade Landry had been through as a boy, he certainly wasn’t vulnerable any more.

‘Even if I wanted to, I can’t spend the next five weeks in the US,’ she said, trying for pragmatic, because having a pissing contest with someone as ruthless as he was not likely to end well for her. ‘I’ve signed contracts, so my clients could sue me, too, if I don’t deliver. And I’m about to start hiring seamstresses to help with the work who will be based in London.’

To her surprise, the muscle in his jaw relaxed.

‘I have an event I want you to attend with me in Manhattan tomorrow night. But after that, I’ll be based on the West Coast. You can’t stay in London if we’re gonna make this fly, but I can have my people organise suitable workspace in San Francisco and have anything you need shipped out to the West Coast so you can relocate your business there for the summer. You can hire whoever you want for the duration. All expenses paid, including their salaries.’

The offer was surprisingly generous and, annoyingly, more than a little tempting.

Adam had released the fifty thousand pounds from her trust fund, but money was still going to be tight until she saw the turnover from her new commissions. The salaries for the two seamstresses were also a big expense, because she wanted to hire the best.

But she wasn’t ready to surrender yet...especially as she wasn’t sure where the little leap in her belly—which felt too much like exhilaration—was coming from.

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