himself and reached for her hand. ‘We should go.’
‘All right.’
And with her fingers loosely threaded through his, he led her out of the room.
* * *
The terrace was bathed with the last rays of the setting sun as Luca led her through the open French windows and out onto the smooth paving stones. Torches flickered in the deepening twilight and couples milled around along with several staff members proffering trays of champagne and frothy-looking cocktails.
Smiling wryly to herself, Hannah took a flute of champagne with murmured thanks. She took a sip, enjoying the crisp bubbles bursting on her tongue, and gazed around at the assortment of people. There were two other couples, an urbane, blond man with a tall, bony-looking woman who Hannah vaguely recognised, and a middle-aged man with greying hair and a smiling wife who had squeezed herself into a dress of green satin. Their host, as far as she could tell, was nowhere to be seen.
Next to her Luca looked relaxed and faintly amused, but Hannah could feel the tension emanating from him. The fingers that clasped his flute of champagne were white-knuckled. She wondered again why he cared so much, and knew he would never tell her. And she would probably never work up the courage to ask.
‘Greetings!’ A jovial-looking man in his seventies appeared in the French windows, rubbing his hands and smiling in expectation. Hannah recognised Andrew Tyson from the photograph she’d seen on the Tyson Resorts website. Genial, running slightly to fat, with sandy silvery hair and deep-set brown eyes. In his youth he must have been quite handsome. He still possessed a vigorous charisma now.
‘I’m so pleased to have you here at last,’ he said as he strolled onto the terrace. ‘Luca, James, and Simon. You all know each other?’
The men exchanged quick glances and terse nods. ‘Excellent, excellent. And you all have drinks?’ His gaze moved over the crowd to rest on Luca.
‘Luca Moretti,’ he said as if accessing a mental Rolodex. ‘We’ve never actually met, but I have, of course, heard of your many accomplishments in the world of real estate.’
Hannah glanced at Luca and saw his expression was bland. ‘Thank you,’ he murmured.
‘And you are recently engaged?’ Andrew’s gaze sharpened, his smile turning almost sly. ‘For I’ve heard of your accomplishments elsewhere.’
Luca drew Hannah forward, as if displaying a trophy. She tried to smile even though she didn’t like being pushed forward as if for inspection. ‘Indeed. Please meet my wife-to-be, Hannah Stewart.’
‘Hannah.’ Tyson glanced at her appraisingly, and for one horrible second Hannah wondered if he would see through this whole ridiculous charade. And she realised she didn’t want to be exposed in such a way, and she didn’t want Luca to be exposed. He might have lied and tricked her terribly, but now that she was embroiled in this ploy she wanted it to succeed.
‘I’m very pleased to meet you,’ she told Tyson, and stuck out her hand for him to shake. He kissed it instead, his lips a little damp, and next to her Luca shifted restlessly.
‘Likewise, of course,’ Tyson said. ‘Now how did the two of you meet?’
‘Hannah is my PA,’ Luca intervened swiftly. ‘We met at work. I’m not one to advocate mixing business with pleasure, but in this instance it was impossible not to.’ He sent Hannah a lingering, loving glance that didn’t quite meet his eyes. Still she felt herself tingle. Her body was reacting to Luca’s, or maybe it was her mind reacting to his words. She knew them to be lies but they affected her anyway. It had been a long time since she’d been complimented by a man in any shape or form.
‘I can see why,’ Andrew said with a charmingly flirtatious smile for her. ‘How did he propose, Hannah? If you don’t mind me asking?’
Uh-oh. Her mind blanked for one awful second before she thought screw it and gave a light, teasing laugh. ‘Oh, it was so romantic, wasn’t it, Luca?’ she practically purred, sliding an arm around her intended’s waist. His body tensed under her hand and she enjoyed the feel of bunched muscle and taut abs before she continued with her story. ‘He surprised me with a trip to Paris for the weekend—on a private jet.’ She slid Luca what she hoped was an adoring look from under her lashes, enjoying the way his wary expression changed to one of cautious interest. He wanted to know where she was going with this. ‘And then one magical evening he took me to the top of the Eiffel Tower—he’d rented the whole thing out so it was completely private.’
‘I didn’t think you could rent the Eiffel Tower,’ Andrew said and Hannah continued without missing a beat.
‘Oh, you can, if you know the right people.’ She dared to wink. ‘Isn’t that right, Luca?’
He smiled blandly. ‘It is.’
‘And then what happened?’ The woman in green satin had asked. Everyone was listening to her story now, clearly intrigued by the over-the-top romanticism. Hannah knew she shouldn’t lay it on too thick; this was Luca Moretti, after all, and his reputation had clearly preceded him. And yet...if Luca was going to do a thing, she knew he’d do it properly, proposing marriage included.
‘And then he told me how madly in love he was with me,’ she finished blithely, ‘and he proposed. Down on one knee.’ She ended this utter fabrication with a happy sigh.
Andrew Tyson smiled faintly as he nodded towards her hand. ‘But you don’t have a ring, my dear.’
‘Oh, but I do,’ Hannah assured him. ‘Luca presented me with the most magnificent ring—a family heirloom, actually, hundreds of years old, although he changed the design for me. Sapphires and diamonds,’ she added, remembering what Luca had said earlier. ‘Gorgeous.’ She paused for a moment, picturing the fictitious ring, while everyone remained silent and spellbound.
‘What happened to it, then?’ asked the lanky woman rather sulkily.
‘Oh, it was too big. Silly Luca.’ She patted him playfully on the cheek and ignored the glimmer of warning in his mahogany eyes. ‘It’s at the jeweller’s being resized.’ She turned a twinkling smile onto Andrew Tyson. ‘But I assure you, the next time I see you, you’ll be suitably blinded.’ Now why had she said that? She didn’t want to see Andrew Tyson again. She certainly didn’t want to keep up this pretence. She’d just got carried away.
‘I’m sure,’ Andrew murmured. ‘Charmed, my dear, charmed.’ He turned to another guest and Hannah only just kept from sagging with relief, now that the adrenaline was leaving her in a cold rush. She could feel the watchful gazes of the other businessmen and their wives, no doubt wondering what a man like Luca Moretti saw in her.
‘You’re a natural,’ Luca murmured in her ear. ‘You should be on the stage.’
‘Shh,’ Hannah chided. They eased away from the group as they both gazed out at the sea, now swathed in darkness. The moon was just rising, sending a sheen of silver over the water. ‘Actually, I quite enjoyed myself.’
‘I could tell.’ He shot her an amused look, although Hannah could still feel how tense he was. ‘You almost had me believing I gave you an heirloom ring.’
‘Well, that’s the point, isn’t it?’ Hannah replied. Actually, she had enjoyed believing in the fantasy for a few moments. Wearing
