dress that somehow leached all the color from her face, he knew she had come to him directly from the party.
Had somehow found the strength to come to him.
He shoved away the protectiveness that rose like a storm within him, to be discerned later.
It had been a while since a woman had surprised him with her words or actions.
The fact that it was Clio, a woman he had written off as a lost cause, intensified the surprise.
“As tempting as your proposal is, I have no intention of associating myself with a woman romantically, bella. Even for a pretense. Even for a few months. Even for saving a friend. I will never be good to the woman who occupies that role in my life, Clio.”
Her chin tilted down, but there was determination in her gaze. “It’s just a pretense, Stefan. I won’t ask anything of you.”
“No.”
“Then you get nothing from me about Jackson.” Her gaze flashed with determination. “And just so you know what you’re saying no to, I’m a board member on his company.
“Of course, I have been nothing but a figurehead all these years but at least it’s unrestricted access. To his company’s finances, his bank accounts, even his offshore investments.”
“Anything shady ever caught your interest?”
She shook her head. “I’ve never had reason to doubt him.”
“The minute the media links my name with you even in a whisper, Jackson will shut you out. You’ll be of no use to me. Our antipathy is mutual.”
Exhaling slowly, she loosened her fingers, her relief palpable in the way her features relaxed. “Obviously, it’s my first time plotting something vicious like this, so you’ll have to excuse me if I don’t go all Kill Bill on you right now, Stefan. I’m thinking on my feet here.”
He laughed, glad to see a spot of color in her cheeks again. “Then let’s put shopping for a yellow suit and a samurai sword on the agenda, sì? First stop will be Japan.”
An almost smile glimmered around her pink mouth and Stefan had the oddest urge to tease it out completely. The way flashes of the old Clio peeked through the desperation and defeat in her eyes stirred him.
A challenge—that’s what she could become to him, if he let her. Because, even a decade ago, he had wanted her, had pursued her doggedly that first year.
But once they had become true friends, he had backed off, cherishing that friendship more; then he had met and fallen in love with Serena.
His mind was more than eager to wander on the paths they had never gone on, that they could take now.
But there were plenty of uncomplicated, desirable women in the world for his taste. Ones who didn’t look as if they were barely holding on.
Clio, for him, clearly needed to be in the Do Not Touch camp.
He couldn’t help teasing her, though. “As far as I can see, you’re in good shape, so that’s good.”
Utter silence stretched between them, the moment building and building.
“Since we’re counting if I’ll be useful to you or not, are you considering my proposal?”
There was a self-deprecation in her tone that masked something beneath. The way she held herself so stiff, the way her fingers clutched her opposite hands—Stefan knew it was fear.
Realizing how close she was to falling apart only made him wonder at the strength of her. But whatever Jackson had done, she was still riding that wave of adrenaline.
Which meant she would crash soon.
And he had no doubt that she would back away, even recoil at the very idea of them joining forces to bring down Jackson.
The young woman he had known at Columbia had possessed the biggest heart he had ever seen, had possessed amazing capacity for love and forgiveness.
That she had come to him like this, that Clio was considering this path, spoke of the damage Jackson must have done to her.
Fury filled Stefan that Jackson’s ambition had led to this. If he didn’t take care of her, she could end up like Marco. Or worse.
And the thought of anything happening to her at the hands of Jackson drove him wild with panic.
With a control that had taken him years to hone, he forced himself to sound casual. “Your proposal is beneficial to me. So yes, I’m considering it.”
“What do I have to do to convince you completely?” she retorted instantly and he found relief in her mutinous gaze.
What he needed now was time with Clio.
Time in which Clio didn’t see Jackson and revert back to that pale shadow she had been earlier tonight. Time in which she would crash from whatever was driving her right this minute and consider going back to him again.
Time in which he could keep her close. And even if things didn’t work out as per the plan between them, he had no intention of letting her go back to that man.
Even as he had struggled with getting a handle on his intense reaction to seeing her again, he had come to terms with some of it.
He felt responsible for Clio. It didn’t matter where it grew from, only that he did.
“I will accept your deal based on one condition.”
* * *
Clio forced herself to shrug, to affect a casualness that she was far from feeling. She had known the man he was today wouldn’t just follow along with her plans.
That he would demand something from her struck fear in her, though. “I have nothing else to give you. My career, my life, even my savings account is tied to Jackson and his company. As of this moment, I don’t even have a place to go back to.”
“That works out perfectly for what I have in mind, then.”
“Was that my miserable life that you were referring to just now?”
A dark smile turned the corners of his serious mouth upward. “If you want to be publicly engaged to me, if you want me to act the part of besotted fiancé, first you have to prove it to me that you have enough guts to see through this whole thing. I won’t let you go back on it when it’s time for your part.”
“I already told you that this is...”
He shook his head. “My way or no way, Clio.”
She blew out a long breath, her aristocratic nose flaring with her struggle for control. “Fine. What do I have to do to prove that I’ll see this through, that you won’t have a hysterical female who’s dying to go back to Jackson?”
“You have to come with me to Christian and Alessandra’s wedding,” he said.
It
