Page 114 of Tuxedos and Tinsel

‘So you’re going to say “yes”?’

She shook her head vehemently. ‘No. I’m not. It wouldn’t be right.’

‘What’s the harm? You’d be helping me out.’

She spun on her heel away from him and he faced her back view, her tensely hunched shoulders, for a long moment before she turned back to confront him. ‘Can’t you see it makes a mockery of...of a man and a woman committing to each other? To spending their lives together in a loving union? That’s what getting engaged is all about. Not sealing a business deal.’

He closed his eyes at the emotion in her voice, the blurring of her words with choking pain. Under his breath he cursed fluently. Because, from any moral point of view, she was absolutely right.

‘Were you engaged to...to Anthony?’ he asked.

Her eyes when she lifted them to him glistened with the sheen of unshed tears. ‘Not officially. But we had our future planned, even the names of our kids chosen. That’s why I know promising to marry someone isn’t something you do lightly. And not...not for a scam. Do you understand?’

Of course he did. He’d once been idealistic about love and marriage and sharing his life with that one special woman. But he couldn’t admit it. Or that he’d become cynical that that kind of love would ever exist for him. Too much rode on this deal. Including his integrity.

‘But this isn’t really getting engaged,’ he said. ‘It’s just...a limited agreement.’

Slowly she shook her head. ‘I can’t help you,’ she said. ‘Sorry.’

Dominic braced himself. He’d had to be ruthless at times to get where he’d got. To overcome the disadvantages of his youth.To win.

‘What if by agreeing to be my fake fiancée you were helping someone else?’ he said.

She frowned. ‘Like who? Helping Walter Burton to make even more billions? I honestly can’t say I like the sound of that guy, linking business to people’s private lives. He sounds like a hypocrite, for one thing—you know, rich men and eyes of needles and all that. I’m not lying for him.’

‘Not Walter Burton. I mean your nephew Timothy.’ The little boy was his big gun.

‘What do you mean, Timothy?’

Dominic fired his shot. ‘Agree to be my fake fiancée and I will pay for all of Timothy’s medical treatment—both immediate and ongoing. No limits. Hannah tells me there’s a clinic in the United States that’s at the forefront of research into treatment for his condition.’

Andie stared at him. ‘You’ve spoken to Hannah? You’ve told Hannah about this? That you’ll pay for Timothy if I agree to—’

He put up his hand. ‘Not true.’

‘But you—’

‘I met with Hannah the day after the dinner with your family to talk about her helping me recruit the families for the party. At that meeting—out of interest—I asked her to tell me more about Timothy. She told me about the American treatment. I offeredthento pay all the treatment—airfares and accommodation included.’

The colour rushed back into Andie’s cheeks. ‘That...that was extraordinarily generous of you. What did Hannah say?’

‘She refused.’

‘Of course she would. She hardly knows you. A Newman wouldn’t accept charity. Although I might have tried to convince her.’

‘Maybe you could convince her now. If Hannah thought I was going to be part of the family—her brother-in-law, in fact—she could hardly refuse to accept, could she? And isn’t it the sooner the better for Timothy’s treatment?’

Andie stared at Dominic for a very long moment, too shocked to speak. ‘Th...that’s coercion. Coercion of the most insidious kind,’ she finally managed to choke out.

A whole lot more words she couldn’t express also tumbled around in her brain. Ruthless. Conniving. Heartless. And yet...he’d offered to help Timothy well before the fake fiancée thing.Not a Scrooge after all.She’d thought she’d been getting to know him—but Dominic Hunt was more of a mystery to her than ever.

He drew his dark brows together. ‘Coercion? I wouldn’t go that far. But I did offer to help Timothy without any strings attached. Hannah refused. This way, she might accept. And your nephew will get the help he needs. I see it as a win-win scenario.’

Andie realised she was twisting the leather thronging that laced together the front of her top and stopped it. Nothing in her life had equipped her to make this kind of decision. ‘You’re really putting me on the spot here. Asking me to lie and be someone I’m not—’

‘Someone you’re not? How does that work? You’d still be Andie.’

She found it difficult to meet his direct, confronting gaze. Those observant grey eyes seemed to see more than she wanted him to. ‘You’re asking me to pretend to be...to pretend to be a woman in love. When...when I’m not.’ She’d only ever been in love once—and she didn’t want to trawl back in her memories to try and relive that feeling—love lost hurt way too much. She did have feelings for Dominic beyond the employer/contractor relationship—but they were more of the other ‘l’ word—lust rather than love.