‘I’ll pay you double what you bid.’
Double? Did she really want the piece that much? He already knew she was a woman who was easily distracted by such fripperies, but double his price? He didn’t miss the frown of irritation which creased her brow briefly. He couldn’t push her much longer with his silence. The outcome of this was now inevitable. He would get what he wanted, but he did need her to at least be willing if he stood any chance of getting the information he needed.
‘Double what you paid and I will have a contract drawn up to represent your company for twelve months.’
‘You are desperate, aren’t you? Maybe it’s a bit more than just a trinket.’ He couldn’t help but goad her, just to see those sparks of anger fly in her eyes.
‘It’s a whole lot more, but I wouldn’t expect a man like you to understand.’ The barb of her words wasn’t lost on him. Did she know the truth of his past? She’d already accused him of being a thief. Had she investigated far enough and found the evidence damning his character for ever?
‘A man like me? And what is that supposed to mean, Ms Di Sione?’ She could wait a little while longer for his answer. Then he would put his deal on the table.
‘What you’ve just done proves you are heartless and ruthless.’ She almost spat the words at him. ‘No better than a thief.’
‘I don’t need you to tell me that.’ He fought hard to keep the growl of anger from his voice. His destroyed childhood had made him the man he was today and he didn’t need a spoilt little rich girl reminding him of his past, dragging it all back up.
‘Treble what you paid,’ she said flatly. ‘And that’s my final offer.’
‘I don’t think you are in a position to be making me offers, Ms Di Sione.’
‘And the offer to represent your company still stands.’ Her hard voice held lingering traces of desperation. This was what he originally wanted, but the stakes had suddenly become much higher. Her desire for the bracelet had raised them far more than three times the price he’d paid. She was the key to everything he hungered for. All he needed to extract revenge for his parents’ needless and untimely deaths was in place, thanks to her fancy for emeralds and diamonds. He had Bianca Di Sione precisely where he wanted her and he intended to exploit that fully.
‘When you’ve quite finished making ridiculous offers, I have a proposition to put to you.’
* * *
So this was it. The moment he finally made his intentions clear, and she was sure she wasn’t going to like the terms of his so-called proposition. Bianca could hardly believe this was happening. If it hadn’t been for the family selling the bracelet, insisting on it going to auction, she would never have ended up in this position. Beholden to a man who unnerved her yet excited her at the same time.
She looked at Liev, an uncomfortable suspicion settling over her once more. Why was he here—buying jewellery? He must have known she wanted the bracelet, known that she would be at the auction. How had he found out and, more importantly, what was in it for him?
She inhaled, trying to instil calm into her jangled nerves. Allowing him to see just how annoyed she was would only give him more power over her—and he had enough of that already. ‘And what is this deal, Mr Dragunov?’
‘I need acceptance.’ The cold words smarted with fury as she sensed the tension in his body. Despite the world revolving so closely around them, the throng of people attending the auction, it seemed as if they were alone, as if somehow she had connected to him on a level she’d never before experienced.
Such a thought only served to heighten her awareness of him. Or was that her shock and anger at what had just happened? The bracelet she’d promised her grandfather she’d get for him had slipped through her fingers. Straight into the hands of a ruthless Russian billionaire with a hidden agenda.
‘Acceptance from who?’ The unguarded question came out as she tried to make sense of all he was saying. He must have set this up. But why? Hers wasn’t the only PR company in New York capable of promoting his company. Why was he obsessed with securing a contract with her?
‘Society.’ The word was fired harshly at her, his accent more noticeable. As was his anger.
‘You can’t buy that.’ She thought of her life growing up in that very society, accepted simply because she’d been born into its ranks. But she’d also seen those ranks close against outsiders. It wouldn’t matter how much money a man or woman had; it would take much more than that to infiltrate the elite of New York.
‘Precisely. Which is why I need you.’ He fixed her with a cold glare which sent a shiver of apprehension rushing down her spine. Whatever his reasons for wanting acceptance in society, he was hell-bent on achieving it.
‘Me?’ Still stunned from the deal he’d put to her, she couldn’t form a sentence. She was good at her job. Damn good, but what he asked was a tall order, professionally as well as personally.
She didn’t have the power to gain him the acceptance he craved. It was her grandfather who held all the power in her family. Or Alessandro as the eldest grandson. She was just one of three Di Sione daughters whose parents had been killed tragically when she was only two. She wasn’t even the eldest daughter. How could she possibly gain this man acceptance among those she’d grown up with?
‘I need you at my side. You will be my key to their world.’
His icy grey eyes held hers, and if it hadn’t been for the harsh seriousness in them she would have laughed. ‘Seriously, you have picked on the wrong person if you think I have enough influence to give you standing within New York society.’
The hint of laughter in her voice served only to irritate him further. She could sense it with every nerve in her body and shivered.
‘You can if you are my fiancée, and the announcement of our engagement will be the first step towards that change.’
‘Our engagement!’ She almost choked over the words. ‘We are not, under any circumstances, going to become engaged.’
He moved closer to her, intent clearly etched on his face. She wanted to back away, to remove herself from danger, but if there was one thing her past had taught her, it was to face things sooner rather than later. As this thought raced through her mind, he laid out the final terms of his deal.
‘If you want to stand any chance of getting your precious bracelet back, we will become engaged.’ He said the words so softly, all but whispering them in her ear, that to anyone watching they would have looked like lovers. She backed away, bumping into someone passing behind her. She didn’t apologise. She couldn’t speak. All she could think of was his cruel terms.
‘What?’ Finally she managed to speak, the word so loud people nearby glanced over at them. She tried to decipher what he’d said, but her mind was so shocked and muddled it was impossible.
‘We will become engaged.’
‘I have no intention of becoming engaged and certainly not to a man like you.’ She glared angrily at him, totally shocked he could even be suggesting such a thing just to gain entry into a world he was obviously not born into. A world he didn’t belong to.
‘A man like me? A thief and a nobody?’ He snarled the words at her, his voice a low growl, laced with menace.
She lifted her chin, not wanting to show him her fear. ‘That’s not what I meant and you know it.’
‘For your information, if I had a choice, I would not be engaged to a spoilt little rich girl such as yourself.’
She smarted at his inference that she was materialistic and counted every last gem and diamond she owned. It was so far from the truth it was laughable, but right now she couldn’t laugh.
‘Then