That forced a reluctant grin from him. ‘A tag like that might be very difficult to live down.’
‘Is...is it true? Are you a bed-hopping guy?’ She held her breath for his reply.
‘No. Of course I’ve had girlfriends since my divorce. Serial monogamy, I think they call it. But nothing like what this scurrilous interview with my ex claims.’
Andie let out her breath on a sigh of relief. ‘But do you actually need to pursue this deal if it’s becoming so difficult? You’re already very wealthy.’
Dominic’s mouth set in a grim line. ‘I’m not going to bore you with my personal history. But home life with my aunt was less than ideal. I finished high school and got out. I’d tried to run away before and she’d dragged me back. This time she let me go. I ended up homeless, living in a squat. At seventeen I saw inexplicably awful things a boy that age should never see. I never again want to be without money and have nowhere to live. That’s all I intend to say about that.’ He nodded to her. ‘And I trust you not to repeat it.’
‘Of course,’ she said, rocked by his revelations, aching to know more. Dominic Hunt was a street kid? Not boring. There was so much more about his life than he was saying. She thought again about his scarred knuckles and broken nose. There had been nothing about his past in her online trawling. She hoped he might tell her more. It seemed he was far more complex than he appeared. Which only made him more attractive.
‘My best friend and first business partner, Jake Marlow, is also in with me on this,’ he said. ‘He wants it as much as I do, for his own reasons I’m not at liberty to share.’
‘Okay,’ she said slowly. ‘So we’re working on the party to negate the Scr...uh...the other reputation, to get Mr Burton on board. What do you intend to do about the bed-hopper one?’
‘When Burton contacted me I told him that it was all scuttlebutt and I was engaged to be married.’
She couldn’t help a gasp. ‘You’re engaged?’ She felt suddenly stricken. ‘Engaged to who?’
‘I’m not engaged. I’m not even dating anyone.’
‘Then why...?’ she said.
He groaned. ‘Panic. Fear. Survival. A gut reaction like I used to have back in that squat. When you woke up, terrified, in your cardboard box to find some older guy burrowing through your backpack and you told him you had nothing worth stealing even though there was five dollars folded tiny between your toes in your sock. If that money was stolen, you didn’t eat.’
‘So you lied to Mr Burton?’
‘As I said, a panic reaction. But it gets worse.’ Again he raked his fingers through his hair. ‘Burton said he was flying in to Sydney in two weeks’ time to meet with both me and the other guy. He wants to be introduced to my fiancée.’
Andie paused, stunned at what Dominic had done, appalled that he had lied. ‘What will you do?’
Again he leaned towards her over the table. ‘I want you to be my fiancée, Andie.’
DOMINIC WATCHED ANDIE’S reactions flit across her face—shock and indignation followed by disappointment. In him? He braced himself—certain she was going to say no.
‘Are you serious?’ she finally said, her hands flat down on the table in front of her.
‘Very,’ he said, gritting his teeth. He’d been an idiot to get himself into a mess like this. Panic. He shouldn’t have given in to panic in that phone call with Walter Burton. He hadn’t let panic or fear rule him for a long time.
Andie tilted her head to one side and frowned. ‘You want me to marry you? We hardly know each other.’
Marriage? Who was talking about marriage? ‘No. Just to pretend—’ Whatever he said wasn’t going to sound good. ‘Pretend to be my fiancée. Until after the Christmas party.’
Andie shook her head in disbelief. ‘To pretend to be engaged to you? To lie? No! I can’t believe you asked me to...to even think of such a thing. I’m a party planner, not a...a...the type of person who would agree to that.’
She looked at him as though she’d never seen him before. And that maybe she didn’t like what she saw. Dominic swallowed hard—he didn’t like the feeling her expression gave him. She pushed herself up from the chair and walked away from the table, her body rigid with disapproval. He was very aware she wanted to distance herself from him. He didn’t like that either. It had seemed so intimate, drinking coffee and eating breakfast at her table. And he had liked that.
He swivelled in his chair to face her. ‘It was a stupid thing to do, I know that,’ he said. He had spent the entire flight back from Perth regretting his impulsive action. ‘But it’s done.’
She turned around, glared at him. ‘Then I suggest you undo it.’
‘By admitting I lied?’
She shrugged. ‘Tell Mr Burton your fiancée dumped you.’
‘As if that would fly.’
‘You think it’s beyond belief that a woman would ever dump you?’
‘I didn’t say that.’ Though it was true. Since it had ended with Melody, he had always been the one to end a relationship. ‘It would seem too...sudden.’
‘Just like the sudden engagement?’
‘It wouldn’t denote...stability.’
‘You’re right about that.’ She crossed her arms in front of her chest—totally unaware that the action pushed up her breasts into an enticing cleavage in the V-necked top she wore. ‘It’s a crazy idea.’
‘I’m not denying that,’ he growled. He didn’t need to have his mistake pointed out to him. ‘But I’m asking you to help me out.’
‘Why me? Find someone else. I’m sure there would be no shortage of candidates.’
‘But it makes sense for my fiancée to be you.’ He could be doggedly persistent when he wanted to be.
He unfolded himself from the too-small chair at the kitchen table. Most chairs were too small for him. He took a step towards her, only for her to take a step back from him. ‘Andie. Please.’
Her hair had fallen across her face and she tossed it back. ‘Why? We’re just client and contractor.’
‘Is that all it is between us?’
‘Of course it is.’ But she wouldn’t meet his gaze and he felt triumphant. So she felt it too. That attraction that had flashed between them from the get-go.
‘When I opened the door to the beautiful woman with the misbehaving skirt—’ that got a grudging smile from her ‘—I thought it could be more than just a business arrangement. But you know now why I don’t date anyone hired by the company.’
‘And Party Queens has a policy of not mixing business with...with pleasure.’ Her voice got huskier on the last words.
He looked her direct in the face, pinning her with his gaze. ‘If it ever happened, it would be pleasure all the way, Andie, I think we both know that.’ She hadn’t quite cleared her face of a wisp of flyaway hair. He reached down and gently smoothed it back behind her ear.
She trembled under his touch. A blush travelled up her throat to stain her cheeks. ‘I’ve never even thought about it, the...the pleasure, I mean,’ she said.
She wouldn’t blush like that if she hadn’t. Or flutter her hands to the leather laces of her neckline. Now who was lying?
She