The Fiancee Charade Page 3

  ‘Natasha’s available,’ Lucas said softly.

  ‘Now you’re being crazy.’

  Lucas threw up his hands. ‘But I’m right. Come on. I know you…how can you resist a challenge?’

  Alex wasn’t going to argue with his friend. Lucas had listened, given his views, and now it was up to him and him alone to make a decision—no matter how flawed.

  ‘Here’s the first challenge now.’ Lucas stepped back so Alex could see her, standing in the foyer. ‘Hell, she’s a looker.’

  Lucas was right. She was stunning. And passionate. And from the way she was glaring at him—her eyes narrowed and her mouth pulled thin—he’d have to do a lot of smooth talking to get her to like him, let alone fall for him.

  He strode up to her. ‘Jess.’

  ‘Calahan.’

  He ignored her cool tone. He hadn’t expected anything less. Had he? Had he hoped in some juvenile way that just meeting him again would change her mind about him? That somehow his suave ways and charms would thaw the brick of icy armour she had standing between them?

  It didn’t matter. She’d come round eventually. They were going to spend a fair bit of close time together, that would give her a better perspective of him, show her what she was missing by hating men.

  ‘This is my good friend and colleague Lucas,’ Alex offered, straightening his tie.

  She clasped Lucas’s hand. ‘Pleased to meet you.’

  Lucas shook her hand, his smile widening and his chest filling out. ‘I hear you’re going to try to straighten out this lad and his debauched ways.’

  She shrugged. ‘I’ll do what I can.’

  Alex had to smile at her lack of enthusiasm. But he’d show her he was seriously committed to this, and then things would change.

  Lucas slapped him on the back, his eyes on Jess, his face all smiles for the woman. ‘I’ll leave you to your lost cause.’

  She nodded, watching Lucas leave as though she wanted him to stay.

  A chill ran through Alex’s chest as he watched her gaze follow Lucas all the way back down the hall. Did she like Lucas? That would be a disappointment. For her. He was worse than Alex at finding love, and had no intention of changing his reputation or his ways with women at all.

  Alex shrugged, turning his attention solely to the woman he’d hired to help him. She was simply dressed, making the point that she hadn’t gone to any extra effort for him—just cream trousers, a tunic and the same taupe jacket as last week.

  She looked incredible.

  ‘Is that what you think I am?’ he asked, unable to resist probing her thoughts. ‘A lost cause?’

  She lifted a finely arched eyebrow.

  ‘Do you think I’m just some arrogant playboy looking for a good excuse to tie up a beautiful woman by my side all day?’

  She pursed her full lips. ‘I wouldn’t put it past you.’

  ‘At least you’re honest.’

  ‘Can I say the same about you?’

  Alex crossed his arms over his chest. ‘You don’t really want to be here, do you?’

  She shook her head. ‘No, but I’m hoping you’re going to make it worth my while.’

  He nodded, but the familiar focus on money chafed at him. Why he was surprised he had no idea. It was what made the world go round, what women were always thinking of to fund their next shopping fix.

  Alex slid a gold pen from his jacket pocket and scribbled a figure on a piece of paper. ‘What’s your day job?’

  ‘Much the same as this,’ she lied, her voice sweet and low. ‘But enough about me. Let’s talk about…you.’

  He straightened and handed her the paper. Whoever had screwed her over had done it big-time. Her abhorrence for this job—and him—was obvious. And Lucas was right. He couldn’t help feel the thrill of the challenge ahead of him.

  Would it take long to learn serious relationship etiquette? And would it take longer to teach her to like men again?

  ‘Is that enough to compensate you for putting up with me all day?’ he asked tightly.

  She glanced at the paper. ‘Are you this big a bastard?’

  He couldn’t help but smile. ‘You have to ask?’

  She managed a smile too, meeting his gaze with fiery green eyes, jerking her chin up and her shoulders back. ‘Of course you are. Silly me. You’re the most arrogant ass in the city. I should wonder that there are any women left for you to screw over.’

  He rubbed his chin. ‘There are a couple I’ve had my eye on…But they’re from good families with real marriage potential and I don’t want to mess it up this time.’

  She bared her teeth in a forced smile. ‘I’ll do all I can to help you see the error of your ways.’

  Alex clapped his hands, the buzz of anticipation sizzling through him. ‘Great.’

  Step one accomplished. Agreement to the task at hand, and the sacrifice of spending time with him.

  He had nothing to worry about.

  He’d have no problem at all in running through the protocol for lasting relationships, mastering it, then pursuing and obtaining the woman of his dreams and having the perfect life.

  Then he’d have everything. He’d be happy. And not even his father could take that away from him.

  Jess followed Alexander Calahan’s more than sexy body to his office, pinching herself on the leg as she went. This couldn’t be happening. She was living her darkest nightmare.

  She’d thought of standing the guy up—thought of leaving the country or just staying under the warm covers of her bed this morning. But she couldn’t have lived with disappointing Kath. Not when Kath believed in her crazy plan to take on Calahan and destroy him when no one else would.

  Just the thought of spending time with Attila of the ad world made her blood drain to her toes. Actually being with him was surreal.

  Seeing him standing in the foyer, in a killer tailored suit that hugged his wide shoulders and hunky body to perfection, with his smooth shave and sexy mouth, with his blue gaze on her like that, had made her nerves quiver.

  She touched the piece of paper in her trouser pocket. At least she’d be reasonably compensated for putting up with him.

  She could do this. It shouldn’t take long to weasel the truth out of Calahan about his latest publicity stunt and knock this silly bride idea on the head. As if he’d be serious. Did he really think she was going to swallow this act of his?

  She shook her head, still following Calahan. Kath owed her big-time for this.

  ‘Mrs Samuels, this is Jess. She’ll be consulting with me today,’ Calahan stated smoothly to an older woman sitting at a desk in front of a set of double doors. ‘Jess, this is Mrs Samuels, my secretary. If you have any questions or problems, she’s the one to ask.’

  Jess managed to nod to the woman.

  ‘She’s one of the natural wonders of the world,’ he offered, moving to the doors. ‘She’s the mother of five boys, grandmother to two girls, and still manages to run my office and organise my life for me.’

  Jess darted a second look to the woman, then to Calahan. He sounded…as if he cared…as though he were nice.

  Calahan flung open the double doors.

  An office of conference room proportions lay before them. The impossibly large mahogany desk stood close to floor-to-ceiling windows that framed a magnificent vista of the city. A deep brown leather lounge sat to one side of Jess, pot plants, artworks and a bar to the other.

  He strode into the room and swung around to face her, the smile on his face like a schoolboy’s. ‘You like?’

  She bit her bottom lip, jerking her attention away from his too blue eyes, walking slowly into the room.

  Only in her wildest dreams could she imagine working in an office this amazing—with glorious views, lavish furniture, and so much space.

  She turned back to Calahan slowly, quelling the excitement rising in her belly, counting the stunts he had to have pulled, the clients he had to have stolen, the lives he’d wrecked to get this.

  �
��Over-compensating, are we?’ she blurted.

  He blinked, touching his jaw as though she’d slapped him.

  The doors closed behind her. Mrs Samuels?

  ‘Come on,’ she goaded, moving across to the windows, clamping down the response rising in her throat at the incredible view. ‘What are you saying with this? That you’ve got no talent, no personality, nothing to offer except a load of money?’

  Calahan crossed his arms over his formidable chest. ‘I know you’re here to be honest, but—’

  She lifted her chin, a bubble of excitement rising up in her chest because she’d hit home. ‘Are you feeling threatened?’ she lilted, narrowing her gaze.

  He shook his head. ‘No, not at all,’ he said easily, spreading his arms wide. ‘This is for the clients—to show them how successful this company is and highlighting all the talent I employ. I personally wouldn’t mind working in a six-foot-square cubicle.’

  Jess pursed her mouth tight. Sure. She was really meant to believe that? She stared out at Sydney, his formidable presence behind her giving her the impression she was hunting a tiger in his own jungle.

  She shouldn’t be here.

  She dragged in a deep breath and swung around. ‘So, how about we get started? Are you going to a meeting? Touring your workplace? What? I think it best if I just observe you.’

  ‘I thought we’d start right here.’ Calahan reduced the distance between them. ‘I figure I’ll run past you my modus operandi for getting the ladies, and you can tell me if I’m mucking it up.’

  Jess took a step backwards, pressing her back against the cool glass, her heart leaping into her throat. ‘What?’

  ‘I figure my whole approach might be wrong for attracting a serious relationship.’ He shrugged, as though he didn’t quite believe it could be. ‘But let’s run through it, and you can tell me if there’s anything not quite right, okay?’

  She opened her mouth, but the protests wouldn’t come. His stormy blue eyes were far too bright, his sexy kiss-me lips curving softly, his bearing far too confident. And he was getting far too close.

  ‘You have the most beautiful eyes,’ he murmured with all sincerity, and he moved even closer to her.

  She watched the space between them disappear, her pulse skittering. Role-playing? She was meant to endure his pick-up lines and charm? First-hand?

  Oh, gawd.

  ‘They called to me from across the room,’ he murmured softly, leaning down towards her.

  She could smell the softly spiced scent of his cologne, could feel the heat of his body emanating from him, could feel his words brush her neck, making spirals of sensation sizzle down her spine. ‘I—’

  He put an arm on the window above her and leant closer, staring into her eyes as though he wanted to drown in them, as though he could stay right where he was for ever.

  Her breath snagged in her throat, her heart thundering in her chest. What in heaven’s name was he doing to her?

  She hated men. Womanisers. Him.

  His gaze drifted down to her lips. ‘Say the words I want to hear,’ he murmured, his breath against her ear.

  Jess dragged in a breath, opening her mouth, willing her brain to work over the rush of heat through her veins. This guy was dangerous to every woman on the planet.

  His gaze drifted again to her lips, something glittering deep in his eyes, dark and dangerous.

  She moistened her lips instinctively, with only one thought spiralling through her mind.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  ALEX breathed in her sweet perfume, the scent of vanilla and cinnamon invading his senses like the allure of her lips.

  It would be just so easy to lean closer, to claim those full red lips that were just begging to be taken. He could feel it, just as he could feel her heart pounding in her chest, her short, shallow breaths, the fire in her eyes.

  Was it so easy to awaken a Women Against Womanisers’ heart to a man again…? Could she want him?

  The thought excited him, filled him, swept through him with a surety that he knew he could rely on. Maybe she hadn’t been romanced, appreciated and seduced by an expert…Maybe he personified everything she wanted in a man and she just hadn’t realised until now.

  ‘Say it,’ he whispered, almost touching the creamy smooth skin of her cheek with his lips.

  She dragged in a deep and shaky breath.

  He couldn’t help but smile. Did he really need to know anything other than this? It could be just a matter of fate or luck when it came to love…but this he had down to an art form.

  She raised her eyes to meet his, flickering with a hot intensity, and she placed her hands against his shirt, branding him.

  ‘I’ll tell you what you want to hear,’ she whispered, her breath on his neck. ‘Get your self-centred, self-important sloppy routine away from me.’

  She shoved him backward.

  He stood back. ‘What?’

  The cool air of his office licked around him like a rude awakening. He’d been so sure he had her. The signals had all been there—or was he just deluding himself because he’d wanted them to be?

  She wasn’t going to be easy. The thought rushed through him like liquid fire.

  He leant back against his desk, crossing his arms, kicking himself—because he was doing something wrong, something that chafed against her like rubbing fur the wrong way.

  ‘What was wrong with that?’ he asked, pushing down the stir in his loins. She was a consultant, not one of his women. All that mattered was what he could learn from her.

  ‘What was right?’ She straightened her clothes, staring at his plush carpet. ‘You came on all sex, as though you were God’s gift to the bedroom.’

  He crossed his arms over his chest. ‘And?’ He already knew that—couldn’t stop thinking about it, having her there, with him…

  ‘If you want sex—fine. If you want a woman to think of you as anything more than a hot tumble between the sheets then you have to get real.’

  He watched her hands smoothing down the fabric of her trousers, tracing the curve of her hips with a dubious fascination. ‘You think I’d be a hot tumble?’

  She shot him a cool look of disapproval. ‘I think you’re all sex and no substance.’

  He straightened. ‘So you’re saying I shouldn’t be offering bedroom eyes? Then what should I offer?’ he asked slowly, trying not to smile at the irony of getting the woman to instruct him on something he knew better than anyone.

  ‘You.’

  He frowned. ‘Me?’ Wasn’t he always offering himself? His time, connections and money?

  ‘Yes. Hello?’ She stepped forward and rapped him on the head with her knuckles, then pulled her hand back as though she’d forgotten herself. ‘What else have you got to offer besides sex?’

  He smiled. ‘Hot sex?’

  She frowned, her eyes darkening. ‘Besides hot sex?’

  ‘What else is there?’ Hell, there was nothing he wanted more than to show her just how important hot sex was—and how good it felt, flesh against flesh, dancing to the rhythm of life.

  She shook her head, glaring at him, her fists clenched tightly by her sides. ‘Well, what are you looking for in a serious relationship that you’re not getting in your shallow little flings left, right and centre?’

  He couldn’t stop the smile on his face. She was so easy to rile and so pretty when she was mad.

  Alex shrugged. ‘Someone to talk to, I guess. Be friends with. Someone on my team, you know?’

  She stared at him, biting on her bottom lip. ‘What do you think you should first offer a woman when you meet her? Apart from maybe a compliment given in good taste?’

  ‘Not sex, then?’

  She jerked to her feet and strode towards the door. ‘Look, when you decide to get real and stop wasting my time, Calahan—’

  He moved fast and beat her there, holding his hand against the timber door, looking down into her blazing eyes. ‘Okay, okay…I’m sorry. I’m just not comfortable talking abou
t this stuff.’

  Alex closed his eyes, trying to think through his past experiences. The women who’d paraded through his life, taking what they could. ‘I’d offer her something about myself that we’d have in common,’ he said slowly, watching her for a reaction, toying with the concept.

  Jess closed her eyes as though she was counting to ten. Finally she looked up at him. ‘So you’d say something like…?’

  Alex stared down into her emerald-green eyes, sizzling with irritation. ‘Hi, my name’s Alex. Did I see you last night at the Opera House?’

  She smiled sweetly up at him, making his blood heat. ‘Oh, yes, I remember now. Let’s see, out of the thousand or so people there…you’re that annoying fellow from the third row whose mobile phone kept ringing?’

  He couldn’t help but smile. ‘No, I’m the one that sat two rows behind you and didn’t see the performance at all.’

  He moved closer to her, drawn by the fire in her eyes and the challenge in every breath she took. ‘Because I couldn’t tear my eyes away from your beauty.’

  Jess raised an eyebrow. ‘Still schmoozing like a bachelor begging for a babe in his bedroom?’

  He smiled. ‘It works.’

  She put her hands on her hips and glared up at him. ‘If you’re not going to listen to me then I’d have to wonder why I should waste my time listening to your very large load of—’

  ‘Fine. I won’t heap on the flattery.’ He stepped back, giving her some room. Obviously she wasn’t going to be softened by his repertoire. ‘What now?’

  ‘Now we go and see if you are constantly selling sex to every hapless woman in the building,’ she said coolly, glancing at the doors behind her.

  He crossed his arms. ‘And that’s a problem? Why?’

  She pouted, staring at him as though drawing out his anticipation of her answer. ‘If you’re a walking advertisement for sex then what something special are you going to offer that woman of your dreams? You’re already betraying her with every passing woman. What hope is there of your fidelity—ever?’

  ‘But a hot-blooded single bachelor—’