Marriage Bargain With His Innocent. CATHY WILLIAMS

      ‘You were so wrapped up in cheering up my mother that rational thought took a back seat?’

      ‘Something like that.’

      ‘So, it’s a very good thing that I’m going to be in charge of making sure that that doesn’t happen again. We will do what is necessary and make sure that the boundary lines are firmly in place.’

      ‘Meaning...?’ Georgina automatically bristled.

      Matias didn’t say anything for a few taut seconds. Out of the blue he was thinking back to that luscious body—a body he would never have guessed lay beneath the layers of unattractive flowing sacks she was so fond of wearing. His libido kicked into gear again and he scowled.

      ‘Meaning we don’t forget that this is a convenient charade...’

      There was no way Matias was going to give in to that sudden, inexplicable surge in his libido. When it came to relationships Georgina White was after the real thing. Once upon a time she’d been engaged, and she’d been stood up at the last minute. That didn’t mean she’d shut the door on her dreams. That wasn’t her nature. But she’d been hurt once. There was no way he would ever be responsible for hurting her again by taking what his libido had wanted when he’d seen her in those next-to-nothing pyjamas.

      ‘I won’t forget,’ Georgina returned stiffly. ‘And once again I apologise for landing you in this mess. Your life is so well ordered—this must be a nightmare for you to take in.’

      ‘Now, why do I sense an implied insult behind that butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-your-mouth remark?’ Matias drawled, glancing at her full lips and absently noting how perfectly defined they were. Like rosebuds the colour of crushed raspberries. Funny he’d never noticed that before...

      He lifted his dark eyes to hers. ‘I really wouldn’t waste time regretting what you’ve done. What’s the point? The fact is that we’re here now...in this together for better or for worse, so to speak.’

      ‘I didn’t stop to think things through.’ Georgina chewed her lip and shot him a worried glance. ‘I never considered the ramifications of how your mother would feel when it all...you know...collapsed...’

      ‘That’s a bridge to be crossed when we get to it. You’re projecting ahead. She’ll be fine.’ He looked at her, his dark eyes brooding. ‘At least once it’s over she’ll be able to think that I’m capable of holding down a relationship with a woman who isn’t obsessed with her physical appearance.’

      ‘Until you return to your catwalk model blondes,’ Georgina pointed out absently.

      He shot her a crooked grin that did all sorts of annoying things to her heart-rate. Had she spent her entire life oblivious to just how spectacular Matias was? she wondered. No, that wasn’t it. She’d always known just how spectacular he was. It was just that now the situation between them was leading her to think thoughts that were taboo—wicked thoughts about what that lean, muscular body might look like underneath his clothes.

      A Pandora’s box was opening and she knew that she had to make sure it stayed shut. She wasn’t an impressionable teenager any more! And, as he had coolly pointed out, this was a charade—a piece of fiction with no basis in reality.

      ‘Maybe I’ll go for a different type next time round,’ he drawled, standing up. He stretched, flexed his muscles and strolled towards the door.

      ‘What about all these details you want to put into place before tomorrow?’ Georgina remained where she was. ‘I thought you rushed over here to iron everything out because you’re going to work in the car on the way down?’

      His hand was on the doorknob as he turned to look at her thoughtfully. ‘Question: did you ask for the house tour because you needed some background information to consolidate the myth that we’ve been meeting secretly, and it would have seemed odd if my mother had asked you about my house and drawn a blank?’

      Georgina reddened, and then nodded sheepishly, at which Matias burst out laughing.

      ‘You’re one of a kind, Georgie,’ he mused, rocking on his heels and looking at her in silence for long enough for her to start feeling hot and bothered. ‘And one of a kind is certainly going to be a novelty for me.’

      He opened the door. ‘I’ll text you before I leave tomorrow to come and fetch you. And then our little adventure will begin...’

       CHAPTER THREE

      HE’D PHONED TO SAY he would be there at two sharp, and right on time Matias arrived to collect her. He didn’t leave the car, instead choosing to phone her mobile and then wait, working in the back seat of the Mercedes, while she settled the bill and exchanged a few pleasantries with the owner.

      It was another lovely day. Summer was promising never to end and Georgina wished that she had brought something other than the long skirt she had worn the day before and a change of top.

      Shielding her eyes from the glare of the sun, she walked briskly towards the one and only car on the road she knew had to be his because it was the one and only car that had tinted windows and looked as though it had been driven straight from a showroom. She stepped into air-conditioned cool and shut the door behind her.

      Knowing that her plan was in danger of being put into action, she had spent what had remained of the night tossing and turning and projecting into the future. Matias had made it sound easy. They’d appear together, they’d begin to argue, they’d break up and lo and behold everything would be done and dusted in two weeks, leaving a saddened but more upbeat Rose who would no longer be prone to depression.

      Georgina was uneasily aware that she might have bitten off more than she could chew, and that the easily digestible scenario Matias had painted might turn into a horrendous nightmare. But he had come on board and it was too late to back out now.

      She met his eyes as she shuffled to find a comfortable position next to him while strapping herself in. Suddenly she was lost for words, and shy in a way she never had been before in his presence.

      ‘I’ve had a few hours to think about this,’ he opened without preamble, snapping shut his computer and fixing her with his amazing silver-grey eyes.

      He slid shut the partition separating his driver from them for privacy.

      ‘Have you had a change of mind?’ she asked,

      ‘On the contrary,’ Matias drawled. ‘If you knew me at all, you’d know that once I make my mind up on a certain course of action I stick to it. Which brings me to what I was thinking about after I left you.’

      ‘Which was what?’

      The car had slid silently away from the kerb, and with the tinted windows and the lack of noise she felt cocooned in a luxurious bubble. The outside world had ceased to exist. From his house to his car, every single aspect of him oozed extreme wealth. No one would ever guess that he came from a working class background where luxuries had been few and far between.