Page 14 of Her Diamond Deal with the CEO

He studied her now for a long, level moment. ‘Actually, I do.’ He tilted his head, that mouth of his pulling into a mocking curl. ‘We have nothing in common and neither of us have any desire to get married but—’ he held up his hand as she opened her mouth to protest ‘—it’s for exactly those reasons that in this very specific instance I think we would be right for each other.’ He took a step closer, his golden eyes holding her captive. ‘Think about it. No more money worries. You could be debt-free. You wouldn’t have to work two jobs.’

No debts. Only one job. The possibilities filled her, stunned her. She felt his eyes on her face. He looked calm and complacent. The complacency of one who was used to winning.

She folded her arms across her chest. ‘And what do you get out of it? Why do you need a wife?’

‘You don’t need to worry about that.’

‘Then you don’t need to waste any more of my time.’ She had found out the hard way that other people’s agendas mattered as much as her own. Not that she was planning on taking him up on his offer.

Jack stared at her for a moment, and then he shrugged. ‘My grandfather is the CEO of the family business. He’s also eighty-two years old. He needs a succession plan, someone to take over when he steps down. That’s me.’

‘Congratulations!’ She glared at him. ‘But I don’t see what that has to do with marrying me.’

‘It doesn’t. Not directly.’

Catching sight of her expression, he sighed. ‘Look, I’m not going to bore you with the details but, in a nutshell, I messed up at work. So now I need to show my grandfather that I’ve changed, that I can change. I need to show him that I can make good life choices, that I’m mature.’

She gave a small, brittle laugh. ‘And you think that proposing marriage to a total stranger nails that?’

A muscle pulsed in his jaw. ‘We’re not strangers.’

She felt it again, that ripple of need, and her body felt suddenly tense and loose at the same time.

‘It was sex, Jack. That’s all.’ ‘That’s all’ made it sound perfunctory. Mundane. It had been neither of those things. It had changed everything she thought she knew about sex. Made her catch fire, and she could still feel the flames now. His gaze hovered on her face and she knew she was blushing. ‘It doesn’t mean we know each other.’

‘Okay, fine, we don’t know each other but that isn’t a problem. It’s the solution. We’ll be like strangers on a train.’

Her whole body felt as if it were going to implode. This was insane. Why was she even having this conversation? ‘Didn’t they murder each other’s wives?’

His face creased with impatience. ‘I just meant that together we could solve the problems we can’t fix on our own.’

‘I’m quite capable of fixing my own problems,’ she said crisply.

He jerked open the drawer. ‘So why have you got so many unpaid bills?’

Because my first husband discarded me when I couldn’t get pregnant and I felt ugly and stupid and useless so I married a man on the rebound. Only he liked to have fun and I couldn’t face another divorce so I shut my eyes to the fact that we were spending more than we earned.

But that was nobody’s business but hers.

‘They’re old bills. Most of them are paid off,’ she lied.

‘So take the money and go on a cruise. Buy a new car. If not needing the money is the biggest problem you can come up with, then I think it’s a go.’

‘Our biggest problem is that nobody is ever going to believe that we’re madly in love.’ That wasn’t true either. Everybody would believe she was in love with him, but men like Jack Walcott didn’t marry waitresses or lifeguards except in the movies.

‘Particularly your grandfather.’

‘My grandfather’s a romantic and I can be very convincing.’ His eyes locked with hers and she felt heat surge through her, a heat that scorched her skin and flooded her veins. ‘Look, you’re overthinking this. Maybe it would be easier if you just treat it as a job.’

‘I have a job.’

‘You have two. Both low-paid, going nowhere.’ He glanced around the small, shabby kitchen. ‘I can change your life, Ondine. I can change your brother’s life. Think about that. If you won’t do it for yourself then do it for him.’

For a moment, she saw herself through his eyes and felt a flicker of shame. So many failures in such a short time.

And then anger bubbled up inside her. How dared he stand there and judge her when everything had been handed to him on a plate? Make that a platter, she thought, catching sight of the gold signet ring.

‘My brother doesn’t need your money and you know nothing about my life.’

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