Bought To Wear The Billionaire's Ring

‘Trust you to put that spin on it,’ Sammy muttered under her breath, which seemed to amuse him further. ‘I won’t do it,’ she said flatly. ‘You can have your pick of any woman you want so go ahead and pick one of them.’

‘But none of them will do,’ Leo said smoothly and Sammy paused to frown.

‘Why not?’

He looked at her for a long while in perfect silence and it didn’t take her long to get the message.

‘Too glamorous,’ Sammy said slowly, while she pointlessly wished the ground would open and swallow her, disgorging her somewhere on the other side of the world. ‘You need someone plain and average, someone who would give the right image of a responsible other half, able to take on a young child.’

Accustomed to telling it like it was, Leo had the grace to flush. ‘The women I date would be inappropriate—’ he smoothed over the unvarnished bluntness of her statement ‘—it has nothing to do with looks.’

‘It has everything to do with looks,’ Sammy retorted, her voice shaking. ‘I want you to leave. Right now. I’d love to be able to help your father but I draw the line at being manipulated into playing the part of your dreary fiancée so that you can try and fool the authorities in Australia into believing that you’re a halfway decent guy with a few responsible bones in his body!’

Leo was outraged at the barrage of insults contained in that outburst. Halfway decent guy? A few responsible bones?

He stayed right where he was, a solid mass of sheer physical strength. He wasn’t going anywhere and she would be more than welcome to try and budge him if she wanted. She wouldn’t get far.

‘Leave!’ she snapped.

‘Sit,’ he returned.

‘How dare you come into my house and...and...?’

‘I’m not done with this conversation.’ Leo looked at her steadily and she gritted her teeth in impotent fury.

There was no way she could force him out. He was way too big and far too strong. And he knew it.

‘There’s nothing else to say,’ she told him in a frozen voice. ‘There’s no way you could persuade me to go along with your scheme.’ Those cruelly delivered words from when she was a teenager had rushed back towards her with the force of a freight train. As an awkward, self-conscious adolescent she hadn’t been his type and as a twenty-six-year-old woman she still wasn’t his type...

She didn’t care because, as it happened, he was no more her type than she was his, but it still hurt to have it shoved down her throat.

‘Sure about that?’

Sammy didn’t bother to answer. Her arms were still folded, her face was still a mask of resentment, her legs were still squarely apart as she continued to stare down at him.

He couldn’t have looked more relaxed.

She marvelled how someone who adored his father so much could actually be so odious, but then he was a high-flying businessman with no morals to speak of when it came to women so why was she surprised?

‘One hundred per cent sure,’ she threw at him.

‘Because I haven’t just popped along here to ask a favour without bringing something to the table...’

‘I don’t see what you could possibly bring to the table that could be of any interest to me.’

‘I like the moral high ground,’ he murmured in a voice that left her in no doubt that the moral high ground was the very last thing he liked. ‘But, in my experience, moral high grounds usually have their foundations built on sand. Why don’t you sit down and finish hearing me out? If, at the end of what I have to say, you’re still adamant that you want no part of this arrangement, then so be it. My father will be bitterly disappointed, but that’s life. He won’t be able to accuse me of not trying.’

Sammy hesitated. He wasn’t going anywhere. The wretched man was going to stay put until he had said what he had come to say—the whole speech and nothing but the whole speech.

Why waste time arguing?

She perched on the edge of the chair and waited for him to continue.

He was truly a beautiful human being, she thought. All raven-black hair and piercing black eyes and fantastically chiselled features. It was hardly the time to be thinking this, but she just couldn’t help herself.

Was it any wonder that there weren’t many women between the ages of twenty-one and ninety-one who wouldn’t have crashed into a lamp post to grab a second look?

She tried to imagine one of those women he dated trying to pass herself off as a suitable bride-to-be and, whilst it certainly worked from the gorgeous couple aspect, the whole thing fell apart the second a little girl was put in the equation.

‘Your mother hasn’t been well,’ Leo said quietly. ‘I’m sorry that this is the first time I’ve...commiserated.’

‘She’s going to be fine.’ Sammy tilted her chin at an angle but, as always when she thought about her mother, the tears were never very far away.

‘Yes. I’ve been told the chemotherapy has been successful and that the tumour has shrunk considerably. You must be relieved.’

‘I don’t understand what my mother has to do with any of this.’

‘Then I’ll come straight to the point.’ He hadn’t felt a single qualm when he had considered using money as leverage in this bartering process. This was the world he occupied. It was always a quid pro quo system.

Now, however, he was assailed by a sudden attack of conscience. Something about the way her eyes were glistening and the slight wobble of her full pink lips.

No wonder she and his father got on like a house on fire, he thought. They were equally sentimental.

It was yet another reason why the arrangement would work for them because her emotionalism was guaranteed to get on his nerves. There would be no chance of any lines between them getting blurred.

‘It would appear,’ he said heavily, ‘that there’s a problem with the mortgage repayments on the house your mother’s in.’

‘How do you know that?’

‘The same way you seem to have great insight into my personal life,’ he returned coolly. ‘Our respective parents seem to do an awful lot of confidence sharing. At any rate, the fact is that there is a real threat of the bank closing on the house if the late payments aren’t made soon.’

‘I’ve been to see the bank.’ Sammy’s skin burnt because she hated this sliver of her life being exposed. It was none of his business. ‘Mum’s had to give up her job, with all the treatment, and I’ve had to move to a different, more expensive place here because the landlord in my last place wanted to sell. Plus there’ve been all the additional costs of travelling back and forth every weekend, sometimes during the week, as well. I haven’t been able to contribute as much as I would have liked to the finances but they said they understood at the bank.’

‘Banks,’ Leo informed her kindly, ‘have never been noted for their understanding policies. They’re not charitable organisations. The most sympathetic bank manager, under instruction, will foreclose on a house with very little prior warning. I also appreciate that it costs you dearly to be working so far from your mother at a time when she needs you to be on hand.’

‘Your dad had no right to tell you all that stuff...’

‘Was any of it confidential information?’

Sammy didn’t reply. No, none of it was confidential, although sitting here right now and listening to him explain her life to her made her think that perhaps it ought to have been.

Naturally, he would never understand what it might be like to really have to count pennies and to struggle against all odds to meet the bills. He had been born into money and, even in the village, his name was legend as the guy who had built his own empire and turned it into a gold mine.

‘Didn’t think so. I know he offered to give your mother money to help her out of this little sticky patch but she refused.’

‘And I don’t blame her,’ Sammy said, her cheeks dully flushed. ‘There’s such a thing as pride.’

‘Yes. It usually comes before a fall. No matter. I get it. But the fact remains that you are both facing considerable financial challenges, so here is my proposal.’ He allowed anticipation to settle before continuing. ‘In return for your services, so to speak, I will settle all outstanding money owing on your mother’s house.’ He raised one hand as though she had interrupted although, in fact, she couldn’t have uttered a word if she’d wanted to. She was mesmerised by him. By the movement of his mouth as he spoke, by the steady flex of muscle discernible under his clothing, by the elegance of his gestures and the commanding timbre of his voice.

‘Furthermore,’ he continued, ‘I understand that your dream is to work freelance. Your degree was in graphic art and, whilst you do as much freelance work as you can get your hands on, it’s impossible to make the jump because you need to have a steady income.’

Sammy paled. ‘Now that,’ she burst out, ‘definitely was confidential!’

‘Is that some of your work over there?’ Leo nodded to a desk by the window and the layers of stiff board piled to one side. Without giving her time to answer, far less swoop to the rescue of the job she was currently trying to find the time to work on, he began rifling through the illustrations she had so far completed while she remained frozen to the spot, mouth open.

‘They’re good.’ Leo turned to face her. He was genuinely impressed. ‘Don’t glare at me as though I’ve exposed state secrets,’ he said drily. ‘This is the second part of my proposition. Not only am I willing to settle the debt on your mother’s house but I will also get builders in to construct a suitable extension at the back of the property.’

‘A suitable extension?’ Sammy said faintly.

‘To accommodate this—’ he gestured to the desk and the artwork he had just been rifling through ‘—you setting up your own business where your mother is. No more commuting. No more wasting money on rent you can barely afford. And not only that, Sammy, but I will immediately instigate a steady income that will cover the transition period between you giving up your teaching post here and establishing yourself in your field.’

Sammy was beginning to sympathise with anyone unfortunate enough to have been run over by a steamroller. ‘It’s a ridiculous suggestion...’ she protested, but she could hear telltale signs of weakness in her voice. ‘Go to Melbourne...? Pretend to be engaged to you...? It’s crazy.’

‘Perhaps if you just had yourself to consider,’ Leo pointed out with inexorable, irrefutable logic, ‘you could spend the next hour talking about your pride or maybe just chuck me out of here immediately, but this isn’t just about you. Your mother’s future is involved here, as well.’

‘And it’s not fair of you to drag her into this.’

‘Who said that life was fair? If life was fair, that harridan wouldn’t be trying to hang on to a granddaughter she probably doesn’t even want for the sake of what she thinks she might be able to coerce out of me. Agree to my proposal and I could have builders at the house first thing in the morning to ascertain what needs to be done. All you would have to do is hand your notice in and look forward to a life of no stress, close to your mother.’

Sammy thought of the amount of time she had spent trying to get the books to balance and trying to work out how many more hours she could put into her illustrations so that more income could be generated.

‘What happens if you get custody of the little girl?’ she questioned eventually, forcibly tearing herself away from that stress-free vision he had been dangling in front of her.

‘I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it. I can afford the very best day care, the very best schools and during the holidays there will be the option of spending time by the sea with my father.’

Sammy’s brow pleated and Leo felt he should jump in before she began testing the moral high ground once again.

‘I’m going to give you forty-eight hours to think about my proposition. Time for you to work out the nitty-gritty details and break the glad tidings to your mother, although there’s a fair to middling chance that she already knows that I’m here with you right now, thanks to my father. I’ll leave the engagement ring here. Try not to misplace it.’ He told her how much it had cost and her mouth fell open. ‘No point getting something cheap and nasty. You’d be surprised what a nosy reporter can spot through a telephoto lens. If you agree to this, no one must think that it’s anything but genuine.’

‘I may not agree to anything.’

‘Your call.’ He shrugged. ‘Just think about the trade-off.’ He stood up and glanced at his watch to find that far more time had gone by than he’d expected. ‘One more thing to consider...’

Sammy had scrambled to her feet but she was still keeping her distance. She wasn’t going to touch this offer with a bargepole. Was she? It smacked of blackmail and surely any form of deceit, however well intended, was a bad thing...

‘What’s that?’ She eyed him warily.

‘You asked why you’re perfect for this...arrangement.’ He kept his eyes fixed on her face as he began putting on his coat. ‘You understand the rules. I don’t mean the rules that involve pretending—I mean the rules that dictate that this isn’t for real. You’re not one of my women who might get it into their heads that a fake engagement might turn into a real engagement.’

‘No. I’m not.’ Because there was no way he would ever consider getting engaged for real to someone like her. She’d never wanted to slap someone as much as she had spent the past couple of hours wanting to slap him.

‘So we’re on the same page,’ Leo drawled, tilting his head at her. ‘Always a good thing. I’ll be in touch for your decision.’

‘You’re going to traipse all the way back here...?’

‘Oh, no. I’ll call you. And no need to give me your mobile number. I already have it.’ He allowed himself a mocking half smile. ‘I look forward to talking to you soon...my wife-to-be.’

CHAPTER THREE

HE WAS SO damned sure of himself!

Sammy had spent the next forty-eight hours fuming. Her ability for recall was obviously world-class because she could remember every detail of Leo’s visit and every fleeting expression on his face as he had laid out his proposal.

The fact that he had waltzed in with an engagement ring said it all. He hadn’t expected to leave her flat without a satisfactory conclusion to his offer.

He hadn’t arrived on her doorstep to ask a favour of her. He had arrived on her doorstep to blackmail her into helping him out. He’d held all the trump cards and he’d known that she would have been unable to refuse him.

As he had cleverly pointed out, her agreement to go along with him would make a world of difference to her mother and would relieve her of the constant low-level stress of worrying about the house and the unpaid remainder of mortgage. The fact that she would also have her daughter around and at hand for as long as was necessary had been just another bonus factor.

The deal was done before he’d issued her a time limit in which to make her mind up. He’d even correctly predicted that her mother had been well aware of his proposition so there had been no shock or surprise when Sammy had called to discuss it with her.

And now here she was, waiting for him to show up like a sixteen-year-old nervously counting the minutes until her date showed up to take her to the prom.

Except Leo was no normal date and her nerves did not stem from eager excitement.

She saw his car when it had almost come to a stop outside the house and she hurriedly flew back from the window and then waited until she heard the buzz of the doorbell.

She had dressed in defiant combat mode—literally. A pair of combat trousers, a green long-sleeved thermal vest, over which she had on her warmest army-green jumper, trainers and her waterproof coat with its very sensible furry hood.

She pulled open the door and, for a second, the breath caught in her throat as she stared up at him.

It was freezing. Sleet was falling, the skies the colour of lead. Yet, for all the discomfort of the weather, Leo still managed to look expensive, elegant and sexy in black jeans, a black jumper and a tan trench coat.

‘You’re not wearing the engagement ring’ was the first thing he said.

‘I didn’t think there was any need to stick it on just yet.’

‘Every need. The loving couple wants to advertise their love, not hide it away like a shameful secret. Where is it?’

‘It’s in my bag.’

‘Then I suggest you fetch it out and put it on. And there’s something else.’ He eyed her outfit. ‘I’m under strict orders not to tell you this, but there’s a little surprise reception waiting for us when we get to my father’s house.’

Sammy, in the act of rustling through her backpack to locate the box with the engagement ring, froze. ‘Surprise reception?’

‘My father’s idea. You know he’s inclined towards sentimentality.’

‘This is a fake engagement, Leo! It’s going to last until Adele is over here and then there’s going to be a fake break-up!’

‘Believe me, I told him that, but he said the whole thing wouldn’t sit right without some kind of celebration marking the big event. He’s got a point. Over the years, he hasn’t exactly been reticent when it’s come to voicing his desire to see me married off. After our last conversation, he confessed that he’s done a bit of complaining to his cronies at the bowling club and the gardening club and all those other clubs he’s joined, that he’d like nothing more than to have a wonderful daughter-in-law. Apparently, it’s what my mother would have wanted. It seems he had chatty conversations with her every so often and she told him that she was keen to see me settle down. I have no doubt that that little titbit has also been discussed over fertiliser tips for the roses. It would seem odd if his dearest wish were to come to pass and he kept it to himself,’ Leo told her flatly. ‘His friends would be mortally offended and, worse, some might suspect that he was making the whole thing up.’ He glanced across at her. ‘And, like I said, there can be no room for speculation about this.’

‘It just doesn’t seem right, Leo.’

Leo clicked his tongue impatiently. ‘We wouldn’t be doing this if Gail weren’t so patently unfit to be in charge of the child.’

‘You should stop calling her the child. It makes you seem cold and unfeeling.’

‘We’re getting off-topic,’ Leo drawled. He held up a bag, which she hadn’t noticed him holding, and dangled it in front of her. ‘Little present here for you.’

‘Huh?’

‘Outfit for the engagement party you don’t know about. I thought a dress might suit the occasion a little more than jeans and a jumper, which I somehow knew you’d greet me in. Little did I know that you would go one step further and dress for all-out war. And don’t argue with me on this one, Sammy. Put it on and let’s get going.’

Sammy bristled but he wasn’t going to budge and she snatched the bag from him. Pink, with fancy black lettering, clearly designer. Clearly the sort of thing he liked seeing women in, which would be just the sort of thing she wouldn’t want to wear. ‘Bossy,’ she muttered, heading inside.

‘And another small point.’ He stayed her. ‘We’re supposed to be engaged. People who are engaged are generally happy and pleased to be in one another’s company. Sniping and snarling is going to have to stop. Do I make myself clear?’

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