Page 12 of Marriage Bargain with His Innocent
CHAPTER THREE
HE’DPHONEDTOSAYhe would be there at two sharp, and right on time Matias arrived to collect her. He didn’t leave the car, instead choosing to phone her mobile and then wait, working in the back seat of the Mercedes, while she settled the bill and exchanged a few pleasantries with the owner.
It was another lovely day. Summer was promising never to end and Georgina wished that she had brought something other than the long skirt she had worn the day before and a change of top.
Shielding her eyes from the glare of the sun, she walked briskly towards the one and only car on the road she knew had to be his because it was the one and only car that had tinted windows and looked as though it had been driven straight from a showroom. She stepped into air-conditioned cool and shut the door behind her.
Knowing that her plan was in danger of being put into action, she had spent what had remained of the night tossing and turning and projecting into the future. Matias had made it sound easy. They’d appear together, they’d begin to argue, they’d break up and lo and behold everything would be done and dusted in two weeks, leaving a saddened but more upbeat Rose who would no longer be prone to depression.
Georgina was uneasily aware that she might have bitten off more than she could chew, and that the easily digestible scenario Matias had painted might turn into a horrendous nightmare. But he had come on board and it was too late to back out now.
She met his eyes as she shuffled to find a comfortable position next to him while strapping herself in. Suddenly she was lost for words, and shy in a way she never had been before in his presence.
‘I’ve had a few hours to think about this,’ he opened without preamble, snapping shut his computer and fixing her with his amazing silver-grey eyes.
He slid shut the partition separating his driver from them for privacy.
‘Have you had a change of mind?’ she asked,
‘On the contrary,’ Matias drawled. ‘If you knew me at all, you’d know that once I make my mind up on a certain course of action I stick to it. Which brings me to what I was thinking about after I left you.’
‘Which was what?’
The car had slid silently away from the kerb, and with the tinted windows and the lack of noise she felt cocooned in a luxurious bubble. The outside world had ceased to exist. From his house to his car, every single aspect of him oozed extreme wealth. No one would ever guess that he came from a working class background where luxuries had been few and far between.
‘However weirdly unquestioning my mother has been about the details of our so-called relationship, she’s not stupid. She does know me, and she knows that it’s unlikely that I would suddenly be attracted to someone who doesn’t at the very least make an effort to dress properly.’
A slow wash of colour rushed to her cheeks and Georgina felt a swell of rage. ‘What are you trying to say?’
‘You know what I’m trying to say. Flowing skirts? Baggy tops? Shoes made for hiking in rough terrain?’
‘Do you haveanyidea how rude you’re being right now?’ she said tightly.
‘You have my sincere apologies—’
‘I’m a food photographer.’ She ignored the token lip service he had paid, trying to placate her. Her voice was cold and steely. ‘I’m freelance. There’s no need for me to have a wardrobe of power suits and cocktail outfits.’
‘Which is exactly why we won’t be heading for that section of Selfridges.’
‘What are you talking about? Why would we be going to Selfridges?’ The rollercoaster sensation was back with a vengeance. ‘I’m not following you.’
‘If we’re going to do this, then we’re going to do it properly, Georgie. No half-measures. We need to be convincing. The alternative is that my mother suspects it’s all a crock of lies and her health is set back even more than before. She will lose trust in both of us.’
Georgina didn’t say anything because he was painting a graphic picture. He was also making her realise just how sketchy she had been when she had told that first little white lie.
‘We might be able to gloss over the little technicality that we’ve previously spent most of our time together engaged in a series of low-level arguments... We might just be able to pull off that old chestnut of—as you’ve said—opposites attracting. But beyond that the details have to carry some verisimilitude.’
And after a long line of catwalk models, Georgina thought furiously,it would beggar belief that he would go for someone who didn’t think twice about snapping up bargain buys in the clothes section of a supermarket.
‘Well, what aboutyoudressing down?’ she fired back.
‘For example...?’ he returned smoothly, with an undercurrent of amusement in his voice.
‘Well, less of the designer cool and more of the beach bum!’
‘Interesting thought.’ He sat back, leaning against the car door, his legs sprawled apart, one hand resting loosely on his thigh. ‘What would that be? Ill-fitting flowered shirt? Cheap shorts? Flip-flops? Is that the kind of look you would go for?’
Georgina blushed and looked away. The man was so good-looking that he would pull off a bin bag and he knew it. Hence the smile that made her want to grind her teeth together in frustration.
