Page 23 of Wilder at Heart
‘—and honestly, he believes his own bullshit. That’s the real problem.’
‘Exactly. It’s not like he tries to hurt women. He’s just far too enthusiastic about the opposite sex for his own good.’
‘He’s like a kid in a sweet shop.’ Laura shook her head sagely.
‘And if you don’t mind my saying, Laura, he doesn’t think through the consequences of his actions. Which, at his age, is tricky.’
‘Butyou’—Laura’s hand tightened on my arm—‘are a real surprise. Normally he goes for easy targets. I hope you don’t mind my saying. But my instinct is that you won’t give him an easy ride of it. At least, I’d be vastly disappointed if you did.’
She took a breath, which was my chance to get a word in. I was touched by their concern for me. Flattered by their opinion of me. And a bit gutted for Theo that his mum and aunt still perceived him as a headstrong little boy. I mean, it was understandable. But sad.
‘I fully intend to make him work hard,’ I told them, before a stab of guilt hit me. ‘But he hasn’t put a foot wrong so far—he’s been lovely, actually—and I also fully intend to do him the courtesy of judging him on his merits and not on whatever unfortunate stunts he’s pulled in the recent past.’
They nodded, chastened.
‘Quite right.’ Laura patted my arm before releasing it. ‘He’s lucky you have his back.’
Because I have a moral code, I’ve been feeling horrible about deceiving them, but I’m pleased for Theo. He told me on the walk home that it was the first time in ages he’d seen the light of pride in his parents’ eyes, and that broke my heart for him a little.
The first challenge is down, but the next one will be a killer, because it’s a Montague Group social event, and Jonathan will be there.
And Theo tells me I need to understand that that makes our objective for the evening crystal clear.
Make Jonathan jealous as hell.
Which means he’s planning on kissing me.
Oh, crap.
CHAPTER 8
Nora
The evening is warm, and my dress is red.
I'm treading a fine balance between looking professional—after all, I'm appearing in front of Miles’ family's business associates—and dressing to kill.
And when I say kill, I of course mean I want to slay Jonathan's heart.
And other parts of his anatomy.
Holy Christis Theo’s reaction when he picks me up in an obnoxious red sports car.
‘I seem to have matched my dress to my fake boyfriend’s car,’ I say archly as I slide into the gratuitously low passenger seat with as much dignity as I can muster, given the tightness of my dress.
‘Your fake boyfriend is not complaining.’ His gaze slithers up my legs to where the dress’ slit exposes my thigh. ‘You look fucking amazing.’
‘Thank you. You look very nice too.’ He does, in slate-grey trousers and a white shirt that may have one too many buttons undone, but he’s making it work for him. As he twists in his seat, I catch a sliver of tanned chest and a dusting of dark hair. His stomach, under what looks from here like a perfectly fittedshirt, is washboard flat. How this guy is British, I’m not sure. Everything about him screamsEuro trash playboy. Dear Lord. I even spot the unmistakable H of an Hermes belt buckle.
‘Thought I’d make an effort.’ He winks at me.
I’m nervous, which prompts me to be a bitch. ‘I’m not sure why you bothered. It’s not like you can openly go on the pull tonight.’ Obviously, we’ve pre-agreed that Theo needs to keep it in his pants while we date. Nothing would spoil our ruse faster than him being papped leaving a club with some scantily clad socialite.
‘I made the effort for you,’ he says evenly. He’s pretty good-natured; I’ll give him that. Not easily ruffled. ‘And for Jonathan, because the better I look, the more it’ll piss him off when he sees me getting hot and heavy with you.’
My stomach flips. ‘There’ll be no getting hot and heavy, Romeo. It’s a work function, remember? You don’t want to disgrace yourself in front of your family, not when they all seemed so happy with you at the weekend.’
‘Shame.’ He gives me a tight grin. ‘But you’re right. I need to remember that the less I behave like my real self, the more my family will approve of me.’
