‘Just how far are you prepared to go to protect your brother?’ he asked after another tight little pause.
‘As far as it takes.’ She lifted her chin a fraction.
His smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. ‘As far as having a relationship with me?’
She held his direct look without speaking, her heart skipping a beat in her chest.
‘I need the smokescreen of a new alliance. You could prove to be very useful in my current circumstances.’
‘I can’t imagine how.’ She finally found her voice.
‘I need a cover,’ he said. ‘I have a situation, so to speak; I need an alibi, the ironclad sort.’
‘I don’t think I can help you.’
‘On the contrary, I think you can. I want you to pretend to be my current mistress. How would you feel about that?’
‘Do you want the truth or politeness?’
‘Both.’
‘Well—’ she tilted her head at him ‘—for a start I would never allow myself to be your mistress.’
‘What about as my wife?’
‘That’s even more unlikely.’
‘What about if you had no choice?’
She gave him an arctic look. ‘I would always have a choice.’
‘Not if your brother’s freedom depended on it.’
Maddison felt cornered and she was sure he was aware of it.
‘What do you mean?’ she asked, trying to buy time.
‘It’s easy.’ He gave her an unreadable look. ‘I can call Kyle’s probation officer right now to tell him he’s flown the coop, or you can agree to do a favour for me, simple as that.’
‘You want me to pretend to be your wife?’
‘No.’ He shook his head. ‘I’ve changed my mind. I have much more specific plans for you.’
She gave him a blank stare. ‘I don’t think I’m following you.’
‘I don’t want you to pretend anything,’ he said smoothly. ‘I want you to actually be my wife.’
Her mouth dropped open in shock. ‘You can’t possibly mean that!’
‘In time, Maddison Jones, you will come to learn that I mean everything I say.’
She could well believe it, but didn’t want to add to his already monumental ego by expressing it verbally.
‘You surely can’t expect me to agree to this outrageous proposal,’ she said instead.
‘I think I’ve made it clear what will happen if you don’t,’ he answered. ‘Kyle will find himself in a four-by-four cell, playing cards with who knows what unsavoury inmates.’
She closed her eyes against the image his words conjured. Her brother was wilful and wayward, but he didn’t deserve imprisonment, and she would do everything in her power to stop it happening.
‘I…I need some time to think about this.’ She avoided his eyes.
‘I’ll give you a week, no more.’
‘A week?’
He gave a single nod. ‘But, let me warn you, I’ll be following your every move, so if you have any plans to escape, forget them.’
He reached into his back pocket and handed her a business card. She took it with nerveless fingers and stared at it sightlessly for a long moment.
‘You can reach me on that number when you’ve made your decision,’ he informed her. ‘I’ll tell my secretary to expect your call by five p.m. on Monday.’
She wished she had the courage to tear the card into a thousand pieces, and if it hadn’t been for Kyle she would have, but instead she closed her palm around it, feeling its sharp edges digging into her flesh like an instrument of torture. She lifted her gaze back to his unwavering one, the cold fingertips of fear edging their way up her spine at the self-satisfied gleam reflected in his black-hooded eyes.
‘I’m assuming from all this that your boat wasn’t adequately insured,’ she said.
‘It was very adequately insured,’ he informed her. ‘But this is my way of ensuring I get the best possible return.’
The predatory look he gave her caused her stomach to turn over unexpectedly.
‘You’re taking a very big risk; you don’t know where I might have been or who I’ve been with.’ She was deliberately provocative, even though she had never been so close to a man until he’d stepped into her personal space a few minutes ago.
‘I have no real interest in your sexual proclivities,’ he said dismissively. ‘This will not be a real lasting marriage.’
‘It’s to be temporary?’ She clutched at the life-line hopefully.
‘Of course.’ His eyes glinted darkly. ‘Isn’t every marriage?’
She didn’t have it in her to argue the point, even if she’d wanted to. She’d read the latest figures on marital success and they weren’t all that promising.
‘Aren’t you worried I might take you to the cleaners at the end of our…arrangement?’ she asked.
‘Not at all. By the time our marriage is annulled you’ll be very much aware of what sort of outcome such an action would produce.’
She lifted her chin at the thinly veiled threat behind his words.
‘Do I have your word the marriage would stay in name only?’
‘I can assure you, Maddison, my physical needs are being very satisfactorily catered for elsewhere. I have absolutely no interest in chasing you around the bedroom. You will be able to sleep in peace.’
She knew it was highly inconsistent of her to be annoyed by his callous dismissal of her attractiveness to the opposite sex; she knew she was hardly model material but surely she wasn’t ready for the shelf yet?
‘So, if I agree to this arrangement it is safe to assume I’m to turn a blind eye to your activities for appearance’s sake?’
‘You will not only turn a blind eye, you will do everything in your power to maintain the illusion of a happy union whenever we are in public, which means, of course, the same freedom I enjoy will not be available to you.’
‘Meaning?’
‘Meaning any dalliances you might be tempted to conduct will have to be temporarily shelved until such time as our marriage is over.’
‘So you can have your cake and eat it too, but I must not?’
‘That’s correct.’
‘That’s archaic!’
‘That’s the deal, take it or leave it.’
She longed to tell him what to do with his preposterous proposal but a vision of her brother in handcuffs flitted unbidden into her mind and she snapped her mouth shut.
‘Don’t forget, Maddison, I’m doing you a very big favour here. One point five million dollars is a huge debt for someone in your position to pay. This way the debt can be cleared within a short space of time. Your brother can stop looking over his shoulder and you can walk away with a clear conscience knowing you saved him from a fate thought to be worse than death.’
‘What sort of time-frame are you thinking of?’ she asked, her insides twisting painfully.
He