Page 8 of Fake Engagement Arrangement (Wilde Billionaire Brothers #1)

Jago reached into his jacket pocket for a single-sheet document. He unfolded it and handed it to her.

‘What’s that?’

‘A contract.’

She stared at it for a moment before taking it with a hand that was not quite steady. She drew it closer and scanned it with her gaze, her teeth momentarily snagging her lower lip. Then she released her lower lip and looked at him in a guarded manner. ‘You want me to sign this?’

‘Of course.’

She glanced back at the sheet of paper in her hand, but he had a feeling it wasn’t to reread the contract written there but rather as a way to avoid his gaze.

Her jaw worked for a moment like she was clenching her jaw to control her emotions.

Then she lifted her gaze back to his, her mouth in a line so tight her lips were almost white.

‘You’re way more like your grandfather than I thought. ’

Jago acknowledged her comment with a wry smile. ‘I’m not sure he would agree with you. He’s made it his life’s work to toughen my brothers and me up.’

‘It’s clearly worked.’ There was a stinging note to her voice, and it pleased him to have got under her skin.

Jago lifted one shoulder in a careless shrug. ‘I’m tough when I need to be.’ He took out his gold pen and handed it to her. ‘Sign the contract between us. I’ll get the money to you first thing tomorrow.’

Mollie took the pen from him with another gelid glare. ‘I’m not signing until I have the money.’

Jago ground his back teeth and mentally apologised to his dentist for the damage he was probably doing. ‘I’m not handing over a penny until you sign. Take it or leave it.’

Mollie flicked the pen back and forth between her fingers, looking as if she’d rather use it as a weapon. ‘You don’t trust me, do you?’

‘Nope.’

If she was wounded by his response she didn’t show it.

Instead, she leaned forward to put the paper on the coffee table, then signed the contract with a flourish, before handing both the pen and paper back to him.

‘You can transfer the funds into my back account right here and now. I’ll text you the details.

’ She sat back and took her phone out of her purse and texted him her details.

Jago’s phone pinged a few seconds later, and he swiped the screen open to view her message. ‘I’ll give you half now and the rest at the end of the weekend.’

‘But you said you’d—’

‘It’s in the contract you just signed.’

Mollie gestured with her fingers for him to hand the contract back to her. He did so, and she scrutinised it like a forensic detective. Her mouth tightened, and her gaze blazed, and she handed the contract back. ‘Fine. Half now, the rest later.’

Jago opened his banking app on his phone and transferred the funds.

There was no way he was going to let her out of his sight, contract or not.

He pushed back his sleeve to glance at his watch then brought his gaze back to hers.

‘It’s getting late.’ He stood and, scooping the now empty ring box off the coffee table, handed it to her.

She took it with a scowl and opened her purse and dropped it inside, clicking it shut with a snap.

‘Come on,’ he said. ‘I’ll escort you home.’

Mollie rose to her feet with regal grace, but her eyes were on still on fire. ‘That is totally unnecessary. I can find my own way home.’

‘I’m sure you can, but I have a burning desire to see where you live.

’ He had another burning desire, one he wished he could switch off, but his body wouldn’t obey the rational commands of his brain.

It had its own agenda, and it was making it hard for him to imagine getting through the next few minutes without touching her, let alone sharing a bedroom at Wildewood Manor this coming weekend.

Mollie had no choice but to do as Jago commanded.

Even she could see the sense in Jago making sure he knew where she lived since he had just handed over a veritable fortune.

But allowing him to see her ghastly little bedsit was the ultimate in humiliation, especially when he knew she had already been given a large sum of money by his grandfather.

Still, she was supposed to be playing the gold-digger, so she would have to act like a pro to get through it.

She followed Jago out of the swish hotel bar and stood by his side as he used a rideshare app.

Normally, she walked or caught public transport, but it had started raining, and even though it was spring, the Edinburgh air was bracing to say the least. She tucked her evening purse under one arm and cupped her elbows with her hands in an effort to keep warm.

She had lived in Edinburgh long enough to know how capricious the weather could be.

But the only warm coat she possessed was so old and unfashionable she had decided against bringing it with her.

‘You’re shivering.’

‘I’m n-not.’

Jago shrugged himself out his jacket and then draped it across her shoulders.

The warmth of his jacket suddenly enveloped her, intoxicating her with his body heat as well as his spicy cologne.

Her nostrils flared to take in more of that alluring smell evoking such sizzling erotic memories that even the ice-cold rain couldn’t cool down.

Mollie glanced up at him. ‘Aren’t you cold?’

He gave a crooked smile that sent a dart to her heart. ‘I’m tough, remember?’

The rideshare pulled up in front of them at that moment, which saved Mollie the necessary brainpower to think of a witty reply.

He opened the door for her and she got in, sweeping the skirt of her dress inside the car with her hand.

He closed the door and got in the other side, greeting the driver with a polite exchange of words, before clipping his seatbelt in place.

Jago met her gaze, and she watched as his eyes drifted to her mouth. ‘Thawed out yet?’

‘Getting there.’ Mollie wasn’t entirely sure he was talking about the weather.

She knew she had to pretend to be engaged to him in front of his grandmother, which meant she could hardly act cold and indifferent towards him.

Her eyes went to his mouth seemingly of their own volition, and her heart skipped a beat.

How was she going to act cold and indifferent when he looked at her like that?

His eyes darkened to the colour of the night sky.

The focus in them was intense as if he was imagining the press of her lips against his and the meeting of their tongues.

She shivered and hugged his jacket closer, forcing her gaze to look in the direction of travel.

Mollie had always known Jago was tough, but he definitely seemed even tougher now.

More ruthless. More determined to get his way.

Had she done that to him by jilting him?

He hadn’t been in love with her, so it wasn’t as if she had broken his heart.

She had dented his pride more than anything else.

But now her pride was at stake as the rideshare took them closer to her bedsit.

Her heart rate increased as the car rumbled over every cobblestone on the back streets that looked even more dismal and dangerous in the growing darkness and driving rain.

A short time later, the driver pulled up outside her address.

Jago got out and came around to her side of the car before she had even undone her seatbelt.

Something with small, pointed teeth was nibbling at her stomach lining, and her heart was pumping like she had just run up the steps of the Scott Monument.

Jago opened her door and did his best to shield her from the pelting rain.

He thanked the driver and then closed the car door.

Mollie held his jacket over her head and dashed to the steps that led to her lower-ground flat.

She didn’t need to look at Jago’s face to witness his disgust at her accommodation as he followed her down the stone steps.

She summoned up the remnants of her pride and took out her keys from her purse and unlocked the door, stepping inside and handing him back his jacket.

‘I’m sorry it’s so wet. Thank you for the lift home. ’

He took the jacket from her and hung it on a hook on the back of the door then closed it. He turned and gave the room an assessing sweep with his gaze, his mouth tightening. ‘This is your home?’ His incredulous tone was another dent to her pride, the derision in his gaze making her cheeks burn.

Mollie raised her chin, determined to stand her ground with him. She had lived in worse. Much worse. ‘Careful, Jago, you’ll wake the neighbours speaking with all those silver spoons dangling from your mouth.’

He rolled his eyes at her attempt at humour, but his mouth was still in a tight line. ‘How long have you been living here?’ His ink-black eyebrows were drawn into a severe frown making him look intimidating but concerned at the same time.

‘I’ve only been here a few months.’ Mollie shook back her hair, determined not to show how embarrassed she was at him seeing how far she had fallen.

She had had so few choices when it came to accommodation after Eliot’s rehabilitation deposit took the rest of her savings.

She had missed meals and turned off the heating in order to get through.

It certainly wasn’t how she’d expected her life to turn out.

She had done everything possible to avoid living in the same squalor as her mother and stepfather, but Eliot’s problems made it difficult for her to get ahead.

She was unfortunately casually employed at the clinic, which meant she could be told by her employer to stay home if not enough clients had booked in on any particular day.

She literally did not know from one week to the next how much money she might earn.

But you have plenty of money now.