would ever think that you … I mean …’
‘Half a man?’ he said.
‘I never said that,’ she said. ‘I never even thought it.’ ‘It’s what most people think.’
‘I’m not most people,’ she said. ‘I know you think I’m spoilt and shallow and I was before. I freely admit that. But the last few years have changed me. I don’t judge people on appearances or what they lack in terms of background or breeding. We are all the same on this earth. Everyone is equal.’
He gave a snort of derision. ‘You expect me to believe you have reinvented yourself? You haven’t got a clue how the other half lives, Rachel. You have never had to beg for a meal. You have never had to sleep rough when the cold creeps into your bones until you can barely move the next morning. You have never had to fight off predators who want your soul for the price of their next fix.’
His words seemed to hit her like physical blows and he instantly regretted revealing so much of his sordid past. As soon as he had done it last night he had wished he hadn’t. She could so easily use it against him. He’d had plenty of opportunities to tell her five years ago but he’d always held back. He hadn’t wanted to sully their budding relationship with the dark shadows of his past. He realised now part of her allure back then had been that air of sassy innocence she had perfected.
She bit her lip again. He saw the way her teeth pushed the blood away until her lip turned almost bone-white, and then how when she released it the blood flooded back, making her lips cherry-red. Damn it, why did she keep doing that?
‘I think I’ll go inside and shower,’ she said, moving back to the steps.
‘Rachel.’
She stopped and turned to look at him. ‘Yes?’
‘I have a proposition for you,’ Alessandro said.
She looked at him warily. ‘You do?’
‘I have decided to give you the backing you need,’ he said.
A gleam of excitement shone in her eyes. ‘You have?’
‘But I want something in return.’
The excitement faded. ‘Which is?’ she asked.
He nailed her with his eyes. ‘I want you to be my mistress for the rest of the month.’
Her eyes went wide and her cheeks flushed. ‘P-pardon?’
Alessandro smiled. Dio, she was good at playing the game. So coy, so convincing. ‘You heard.’
‘I’m sorry, but for a moment there I thought you said you want me to be your mistress.’ She gave her head a little shake. ‘I must have water in my ears.’
Alessandro waited for a beat. ‘I am willing to fully back your label as well as pay you generously for each day of our time together.’
Her expression tightened, her eyes narrowing in anger. ‘I knew you would do this. I knew you would change the rules to suit yourself.’
‘Whether you sleep with me will be entirely up to you,’ he said. ‘It is not a condition on the deal.’
She faltered for a moment, a frown pulling at her smooth brow. ‘I … I don’t understand … You just said you would pay me to be your mistress.’
‘In public, not necessarily in private,’ Alessandro said.
Her frown deepened. ‘You want me to act as if I’m your mistress?’
‘I am sure you can do it convincingly,’ he said. ‘After all, you have done it before, sì?’
Her mouth flattened in anger. ‘Do you have any idea of how much I hate you for doing this?’
‘Right back at you, little rich girl,’ he said.
She got out of the pool and snatched up her towel. ‘You expect me to say yes, don’t you?’ she said.
‘I expect you to think carefully before you throw away your only lifeline,’ he said.
She gave him a look that would have cut through a diamond. ‘Let me get back to you on that,’ she said.
‘I have so far managed to keep the news of my affliction out of the press,’ he said. ‘I realise that will be impossible if I am not able to regain my full mobility over the next few weeks, but I refuse to accept that outcome. I can now manage a few steps with support. My goal is to move to crutches in the next couple of days. That will make being seen in public a lot less complicated and no one will blink an eye about it. I will explain it as a sprain or something. You read and signed the disclosure contract. Do I have to remind you of the consequences of not playing by the rules?’
‘Do you think so badly of me that you think I would do something like that?’ she asked.
‘I will have another contract drawn up ready for you to sign this evening,’ he said.
‘And if I don’t sign it?’
Alessandro smiled an indolent smile. ‘You will sign it, Rachel.’
‘Your confidence is admirable but I am not for sale,’ she said with an icy look. ‘I will look at other options before I sink that low.’
‘You will sign it because you have no choice,’ he said. ‘Not unless you want to go begging on the streets for your next meal.’
‘Aren’t you forgetting something? I can’t go out in public with you without clothes.’
‘Do not worry, cara,’ he said. ‘I will make sure your luggage is delivered to the door today.’
‘And if it isn’t?’
‘Then I will pay for new clothes for you,’ he said.
She glowered at him resentfully. ‘I don’t want to owe you any more than I have to.’
‘You were the one who came to me, Rachel,’ he reminded her. ‘You are here now and who knows? Perhaps we might even be friends at the end of it.’
‘You have a very strange way of recruiting friends,’ she tossed back.
Alessandro watched as she wrapped the towel around her body and flounced off. The red-hot blood of desire thundered in his veins, filling him, making him ache with a need that refused to go away. He wanted her more than he had wanted any woman. He wanted her more now than he had five years ago. It was burning like an inferno inside him; day and night it was all he could think about. How much he longed to surge inside her, claiming her as his own, showing her the pleasures of the fiery chemistry that had always been there between them. If it was more money she wanted in exchange for her body, then he would give it. He would part with a fortune to have his fill of her.
But he would still let her go at the end of it.
Rachel stormed into the shower, turning the water on full, her anger at Alessandro practically bursting through the pores
