Living the Charade (4 page)

‘
We need to go downstairs.’ She sounded as if she was about to face a firing squad.

She grabbed a black wrap from the back of the cream chair and stopped suddenly, nearly colliding with him. He felt a shaft of heat spear south as he touched her elbow to steady her, and knew she felt the same buzz by the way she pulled back and went all wide-eyed with shock, just as she had by the car.

A shock he himself still felt. He hadn’t anticipated being this physically attracted to her. He reminded himself of his iron-clad rule of not getting involved with a woman this close to the end of the season—particularly
this
season, which had started going pear-shaped three months ago.

So why couldn’t he stop imagining how she would taste if he kissed her?

He stepped back from her, out of the danger zone. ‘You might want to think about not jumping six feet in the air every time I touch you.’ He sounded annoyed because he was.

‘And
you
might want to think about not touching me.’

Large aquamarine eyes, alight with slivers of the purest gold, stared up at him, and the ability to think flew out of his head. Her eyes reminded him of a rare jewel.

Then she blinked, breaking the spell.

Get a grip, Ventura. Since when did you start comparing eyes to jewels?

‘You really have the most extraordinary eyes,’ he found himself saying appreciatively. ‘A little glacial right now, but extraordinary nonetheless.’

‘I don’t care what you think of my eyes. This isn’t real so I don’t need your empty compliments.’

How about the back of my hand across your tidy tush?
The thought brought a low hum of pleasure winging through his body. He did his best to ignore it. ‘Are you usually this rude or do I just bring out the best in you?’

Her shoulders slumped and she stepped back to put more space between them. ‘I’m sorry. I’m...uncomfortable. This weekend is important to me. I wish I’d just given you chicken pox and handled everything myself. I let Ruby convince me this would be a good idea.’

Tino felt contrite at her obvious distress. ‘Everything will be fine. Just think of us as two people going away for a weekend to have some fun. You’ve done that in the past, surely.’

‘Of course,’ she said, her reply a little too quick and a little too defensive. ‘It’s just that I would never choose to come away for a weekend with a man like you.’

He stiffened even though he knew by her tone that she was being honest rather than deliberately insulting, but, hell, he had his limits. ‘What exactly is it about me that you don’t like, Sunshine?’ he queried, as if her answer didn’t matter. Which, in the scheme of things, it didn’t.

Her lips pursed at the mocking moniker, but he didn’t care.

‘We really need to go down.’

Tino crossed his arms. ‘I’m waiting.’

‘Look, I didn’t mean to offend you. But I’m hardly your type either.’

‘You’re female, aren’t you?’ He couldn’t help the comment. The desire to get under her skin was riding him.

‘That’s all it takes?’

Her incredulous tone drew a tight smile to his lips. ‘What else is there?’

She shook her head. ‘See, that’s why you’re not my type. I like someone a little more discerning, a little more...’ She stopped as if she’d realised she was about to insult him.

‘Don’t stop now. It’s just getting interesting.’

‘Okay—fine. You’re arrogant, condescending, and you treat everything like it’s a joke.’

Tino deliberately kept his chuckle light. ‘For a minute there I thought you were going to list my faults.’

She threw up her hands and stalked away from him. ‘You’re impossible to talk to!’

‘True, but I make up for it where it counts.’

Her sexy mouth flattened and he just managed not to laugh. ‘Sunshine, you are
so
easy to rile.’

She huffed out a breath and eyed him with utter disdain. ‘Please remember that we are playing by my rules this weekend, not yours. When we’re in company just...’ She smoothed her brows. ‘Just follow my lead.’

She pinned a frozen smile on her face and sailed through the door, leaving a faint trace of summertime in her wake.

Tino breathed deep. He didn’t understand how a woman so intent on behaving like a man could smell so sweet. Then he wondered if she had sex like a man as well: enjoyed herself and moved on easily.

The unexpected thought made him snort as he followed her down the hall.

He might not know the answer to that, but he was damn sure they were bound to have another argument when she learned he played by no one else’s rules but his own.

And as for following her lead...

CHAPTER FOUR

‘S
O
,
HOW
did you two meet?’

Miller swallowed the piece of succulent fish she’d been chewing for five minutes on a rush and felt it stick in her throat. It was the question of the night, it seemed, as TJ’s guests tried to work out how an uptight management consultant could possibly ensnare the infamous Tino Ventura.

She grabbed her water glass and stiffened as she felt Valentino’s strong fingers grip the back of her chair. He’d done that constantly throughout the meal, sometimes playing with the beads on her top, and she’d felt the heat of his touch sear through her clothing and all the way into her bones. The man was like a furnace.

Fortunately he took control of the conversation, having already warned her to say very little, but she could see he was as tired of the interest as she was.

Tuning out, she wondered if she shouldn’t stage a massive fight right here and end the charade before they slipped up. Or before
she
slipped up—because he seemed to be doing just fine. And maybe she would feel better if Dexter didn’t keep throwing her curious glances that told her in more than words that he didn’t buy the whole international-racing-driver-boyfriend thing one bit.

When they had arrived for dinner the men had immediately enclosed Valentino in a circle as if he were an old friend, and the women had raked their eyes appreciatively over his muscular frame. Most of them had looked at him as if they wouldn’t say no to being another notch on his well-scarred bedpost. Something that didn’t interest Miller in the slightest.

Oh, she found him just as sexy as they did, but she had a ten-year plan that she had nearly accomplished, and she wasn’t about to get involved with a man and let him distract her. Especially a man who treated women like sex bunnies.

Pushing back her chair, Miller politely extricated herself to the powder room. After locking the bathroom door she leant against it, closed her eyes and felt her heartbeat start to normalise now that she was out from under Valentino’s mesmeric spell.

It didn’t help that he kept touching her, and she really needed to talk to him about his ability to follow her lead. He hadn’t taken
any
of her subtle hints all night. And every time he touched her—whether it was a fleeting brush of his fingers across the back of her hand at the dinner table or a more encompassing arm around her waist while sipping champagne—it made her feel as if she’d been branded.

When she had envisaged having a fake boyfriend she’d imagined someone dutifully trailing in her wake and playing a low-key, almost invisible role. But there was nothing invisible about Valentino Ventura, and it annoyed her that her own eyes were constantly drawn to him, as if he really was some god who had deigned to grace them with his presence.

Deciding she couldn’t hide out in the powder room any longer, Miller exited to find Dexter lounging against the opposite wall, waiting for her.

She didn’t want to think about Ruby’s suspicions that Dexter was interested in her as more than just a work colleague, but there was no doubt he was behaving differently towards her all of a sudden.

‘So...’ Dexter drawled, a beer bottle swinging back and forth between his fingers. ‘Tino Ventura?’

Miller smiled enigmatically in answer.

‘You
do
know he’s got a reputation for being the biggest playboy in Europe?’

She knew he
had
a reputation—but the
biggest
playboy? ‘You shouldn’t believe everything you read,’ she said, though by the way he’d charmed everyone at dinner she could well believe it. Women were always falling for bad boy types they hoped to reform, and even clean-shaven he looked like a fallen angel.

‘I don’t see it, you know,’ Dexter added snidely.

Miller narrowed her eyes. He might be her direct superior, but he wasn’t behaving like it right now. ‘My personal life is none of your business, Dexter. Was there something you wanted?’

‘Your part of the presentation we’re supposed to give to TJ tomorrow.’

‘I e-mailed it just before I left to come down here.’

‘Cutting it a bit fine?’

About to ask him what his problem was, she nearly screamed when she felt a warm male hand settle on the small of her back. She tried to quell the instant leap of her heart but it was already galloping away at a mile a minute.

She knew her reaction hadn’t done anything to alleviate Dexter’s scepticism about her relationship, but frankly this internal sense of excitement when Valentino came close was too unfamiliar and disconcerting to deal with head-on. She would have given anything to do what she’d done as a child in uncomfortable situations: run away to her room and lose herself in her drawings.

‘Hey, Sunshine, I wondered where you’d got to.’ Valentino’s warm breath stirred the hair at her temple, and his gaze lingered on her mouth before lifting to hers.

He was terribly good at this, Miller thought, swallowing heavily. It was just a pity that
she
wasn’t.

‘Just discussing work. Nothing important,’ she said breathlessly.

‘In that case, you won’t mind if I join you?’

‘Of course not.’ She smiled at Dexter, as if her world couldn’t be more perfect. Anything was better than gazing up into Valentino’s sleepy grey gaze.

‘So, by my reckoning,’ Dexter said, looking from one to the other, ‘you will have met around the time of Tino’s near fatality earlier in the year. In Germany. Funny, I don’t recall okaying any trip to Europe in—what?—August, was it? In fact, I can’t recall your last holiday at
all
, Miller.’

Near fatality?

Miller’s eyes flew to Valentino’s calm face and too late she realised she would of
course
know about this if they really were going out. Collecting herself, she attempted fascination with the conversation.

‘Miller wasn’t on holiday when we met,’ Valentino answered smoothly. ‘It was while I was recuperating in Australia.’

Dexter frowned theatrically. ‘I thought you convalesced in Paris? Your second home town?’

‘Monaco is my second home town.’

Miller noticed he hadn’t directly answered Dexter’s question. Clever.

‘So, what do you make of your run of bad luck since your recovery?’

‘It’s nice to know you’re such a fan, Caruthers.’ Valentino’s voice was smooth, but Miller felt sweat break out under her armpits.

She tried to keep her expression bland, but mild sparks of panic were shooting off in her brain. She had a vague recollection of Dexter talking sport during various meetings, but she’d had no idea he was such a motor racing fan either.

‘I follow real sports.’ The beer bottle swung a little too vigorously in his loose hold. ‘Football, rugby, boxing,’ Dexter opined.

Valentino smiled in a way that made Dexter’s comment seem as childish as it was.

Undeterred, her boss tilted his head. ‘And you know, of course, that Miller doesn’t follow
any
type of sport.’

‘Something I’m hoping to change once she sees me race in Melbourne next weekend.’

Miller felt like an extra in a bad theatre production, and wondered why they were talking over her head as if she was some sort of possession.

‘Ah, the race of the decade.’ Dexter’s remark was as subtle as a cattle prod.

Again, Miller had no idea what he was talking about and snuck a glance up at Valentino—to find his easy smile still in place.

‘So they say.’

She could feel the tension coming off him in waves, and knew he wasn’t as relaxed as he wanted them to believe. She couldn’t blame him. It couldn’t be easy, having Dexter grill him this way.

‘You’ll have to wear earplugs, Miller. It gets loud at the track,’ Dexter said, valiantly trying to regain a foothold in the conversation.

‘I’ll take care of Miller,’ Valentino drawled. ‘And you’d do well not to believe everything you read on the internet, Caruthers. My private life is exactly that. Private.’

There was no mistaking the warning behind his words and Miller stared up at Valentino, slightly shocked at the ruthless edge in his tone. Gone was the dishevelled rogue who had baited her so mercilessly in the car on the drive down, and in his place was a lean, dangerous male you’d have to be stupid to take on.

And what was Dexter doing, talking about her as if they had a more personal relationship than they did?

Miller was about to take him aside and ask him but TJ chose that moment to intrude.

‘There’s the guest of honour!’ he announced, his eyes fixed on Valentino.

Guest of honour? Since when?

Miller was starting to feel like Alice down the rabbit hole, but at least she could tell that TJ had backed off in his openly male interest in her; his awe of Valentino clearly overrode his lustful advances.

Almost ignoring her completely, TJ launched into a spiel about his newest car on order and Miller was glad of the reprieve.

Eyes gritty with tiredness, she wished herself a hundred miles away from this scene.

Then she noticed the men looking at her and realised she’d been unwittingly drawn into a conversation she hadn’t been following. Turning blindly to Valentino for assistance, she immediately became lost in his heated gaze.

Her breath stalled and she had to remind herself that this was just pretend. But,
wow
, the man could go into acting when his racing career ended and win a truckload of awards.

Hearing her phone blast Ruby’s unique ringtone in her evening purse, Miller latched onto the excuse like a lifeline, not quite meeting Valentino’s eyes as she slipped away from the group.

Heading straight for the softly lit Japanese garden she’d glimpsed from the dinner table, she let the subtle scent of gardenias and some other richly perfumed flower wash over her as she walked.

* * *

Tino watched Miller wander down the steps and along a rocky pathway towards the infinity pool that glowed as cobalt-blue as her eyes.

Dexter laughed at something TJ had said and Tino glanced back to find that his eyes were also on Miller. As they had been most of the night. Even a blind man could tell that they had history together. And the way her boss had tried to stamp his ownership all over her had Tino wondering if Miller hadn’t needed an escort this weekend for more than just a deterrent for her avaricious client. Perhaps she needed cover for an office affair as well.

He was sure he’d heard talk about Dexter being married, and as a third generation Italian from a solid family background if there was one thing Tino didn’t condone it was extramarital affairs.

His brows drew together as he considered the possibility that Miller and Dexter were lovers, and he didn’t like the feeling that settled in his gut.

Was that why she flinched every time he got within spitting distance of her? She didn’t want her “real” boyfriend to get jealous? If so, she’d soon learn that he wouldn’t play
that
particular game. Not for another second.

Tossing back the last of his red wine, Tino placed the glass on a nearby table before heading down the steps to the garden.

Obviously hearing his quiet footfalls on the loose pebbles, Miller turned, her face half in shadow under the warm light given off by the raised lanterns that edged the narrow path.

Tino stopped just inside the wide perimeter he’d come to recognise as her personal space and her eyes turned wary. As well they might.

‘I came down here to be alone,’ she said, her dainty chin sticking out at him.

Tino widened his stance. ‘Are you having an affair with Caruthers?’

‘What?’

She seemed genuinely appalled by the question, but she needed to know this was a boundary he wouldn’t cross. ‘Because if you are this little ruse is over.’

Her gorgeous eyes narrowed at his blunt comment.

‘Of
course
I’m not having an affair with Dexter. But even if I was it would be none of your business.’

‘Wrong, Sunshine. You made it my business this weekend.’

Miller shook her head. ‘That’s rubbish. You were the one who
offered
to come, and I can tell you I’m not very happy with the job you’re doing so far.’

Tino felt a surge of annoyance that was as much because of his attraction to her as because of her snotty attitude. ‘Want to explain that?’

She leaned in towards him and he got a whiff of her sexy scent. Unconsciously, he breathed deep. ‘You agreed that you would follow my lead, but despite your silver-tongued sophistication you’ve failed to pick up on any of my signals.’

‘Silver-ton...? Sunshine, you are deluded.’

‘Excuse me?’

She mirrored his incredulous tone and Valentino didn’t know whether to put her over his knee or just kiss her. The woman was driving him crazy. Or her scent was. He’d never smelt anything so subtly feminine before, and on a woman who seemed determined to hide her femininity it didn’t bear thinking about. Like his unusually possessive exchange with her deadbeat boss inside.

‘I never promised to follow your lead. That was an assumption you made before you so imperiously waltzed out the door. And if there’s nothing going on between you and Caruthers, why is he behaving like a jealous boyfriend?’

‘Why are
you
?’

‘Because it’s my job. Apparently. Now, answer the question.’

Her gaze turned wary again. ‘I don’t know what’s up with Dexter except that he doesn’t believe you and I are a couple.’

Tino rocked back on his heels and regarded her. ‘I’m not surprised.’

She flashed him an annoyed look. ‘And why is that? Because I’m not your usual type?’

Since when was a ballbreaker any man’s usual type?

‘Because you act like a startled mouse every time I touch you.’

‘I do not,’ she blustered. ‘But if I do it’s because I don’t
want
you touching me.’

‘I’m your
boyfriend
. I’m supposed to touch you.’

‘Not at a business function.’ She frowned.

He felt completely exasperated with her. ‘Anywhere.’ His voice had dropped an octave because he realised just how much he had enjoyed touching her all night. How much he wanted to touch her now.