problem if you hadnât kissed me.â
âIâm fully aware of that fact.â He paced over to the window, keeping his back to her. âGet dressed.â
Wriggling into the housekeeper uniform, Evie stared at his broad shoulders. âI donât understand why youâre so stressed about this. You celebrities are always in the newspapers. You may be the reason they want that photo, but itâs going to damage me far more than you.â
He turned, and the expression on his face was all it took to silence her. His eyes were haunted and there was a tension in his body that was unmistakably real.
âThe damage to me could be incalculable,â he said coldly and Evie thought back to the exchange heâd had earlier with Carlos.
Whatever the âdealâ was, he was obviously prepared to stop at nothing to make sure it went through. It had to be about more than money, she thought. It had to be something to do with ego. Winning. The addictive quality of power.
âAnd creepy Carlos did this to you on purpose and I got caught in the middle, is that right?â
âSo it would seem.â
She wondered what Carlos had against Rio Zaccarelli. What was he trying to achieve with that photograph? If ithadnât been her, would he have used someone else? âIf there is no way you can stop that photograph being published then Iâd better make a phone call.â
His eyes narrowed. âYouâre calling a lover?â
Evie gave a hysterical laugh. âOh, yesâI have loads of thoseââ Catching the dangerous gleam in his eyes, her laughter faded. âNot a lover. Iâm calling my grandfather, if you must know.â
Bold black eyebrows met in a fierce frown. âHow old are you?â
âTwenty-three, but, like most people of his generation, he doesnât believe in public displays of affection,â Evie said wearily, âand he absolutely doesnât believe in one-night stands. Neither do I, for that matter.â She tried to sound casual, as if talking about sex was something she did all the time, rather than something she never did.
She stared at Rio Zaccarelli, the epitome of male sophistication, and felt her face grow scarlet.
Her grandfather definitely would have classed him as a real man.
It was the ultimate irony, she thought, to have been caught naked with him.
As ifâ
âSo you donât have a lover at the moment.â His slumberous gaze rested on her mouth. âThatâs good.â
âWell, that depends on where youâre standing,â Evie muttered, wishing she wasnât standing quite so close to him. She was getting hotter and hotter. âIf you must know, I was supposed to be getting married yesterday but my fiancé dumped me. If that hadnât happened Iâd be in Bali now, not London. I wouldnât have lost my job and my flat and generally had a completely awful six weeks and there might have been the smallest, remotest chance that my grandfather might be bouncing a baby on his knee next Christmas. As it is, thereâs no chance. None. I donât expect you to understand. You looklike the sort of person whose life always goes according to plan.â
âMy plan,â he said tightly, âwasnât to find a strange woman lying naked in my bed. Fortunately, Iâve always considered adaptability to be an asset. I can turn this situation around.â
âYou can?â Evieâs gaze drifted to the neck of his shirt. Dark hairs tangled at the base of his throat and disappeared inside the snowy-white shirt. She imagined the hair hazing his chest and narrowing over his abdomen, which was no doubt as muscular as the rest of him. Shocked by her own thoughts, she lifted her eyes back to his and discovered that he was watching her with an unsettling degree of sexual interest.
â Why did he dump you?â
âWhy does it matter?â Was she supposed to read him a
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