Читать книгу The Boss's Bought Mistress - Шэрон Кендрик, Sharon Kendrick - Страница 8

“What’s wrong with getting engaged to a member of your staff?”

Giovanni’s jet black eyes narrowed as he stared at his spin doctor. “Madre di Dio! You are proposing that I ask Misty Carmichael? Are you crazy, Lucas? She serves the meals!”

“That could be useful,” said Lucas.

“And she is a single mother!” Giovanni exclaimed.

“So?”

“So I have my reputation to think about!”

Lucas shook his head. “But this is a bogus engagement, remember? Designed to take the heat off your sister’s spell in rehab. The more unsuitable the candidate, the more press coverage it will get. Think about it, Giovanni.”

Giovanni did, his arrogant lips curving with distaste. “She is plain…” he added disparagingly.

From the other side of the door, Misty froze. She had just crept back to hear the tail end of Giovanni’s conversation.

Plain?

She bit her lip and blinked rapidly. Plain?

So it was true what they said — that eavesdroppers never hear anything good about themselves. And how! Listening in to her employer’s conversation wasn’t her usual pastime, but who could blame her on this occasion?

The peculiar way that Giovanni and his new spin doctor had been staring at her had been enough to make her feel concerned, and with good cause, she now recognized.

“So ring and ask her,” came Lucas’s voice from the other side of the door.

Ask her what, she wondered?

Hurriedly, Misty pushed the tea trolley back into the kitchen. There was only a second to check her appearance in the mirror before the bell began to summon her back again.

Frizzy hair, flushed cheeks and PMS making her tummy look fat. She winced. Plain indeed. Why feel insulted by Giovanni’s description of her when it was nothing but the truth?

She rapped on the door and walked into the spotlight of Giovanni’s blazing ebony stare which, unusually, was fixed unwaveringly on her.

“I want you to do me a favor, Misty,” he said, his velvety voice tinged with his faint Italian accent.

Perplexed by his tone, Misty clasped her hands together at her waist. “M-more cake?” she asked stupidly.

Giovanni gave an impatient click of tongue. On many levels, he and his housekeeper understood each other perfectly. She knew his likes and dislikes. When to keep quiet and when to speak. Unusually, he felt he could be himself around Misty, but her question about cake drove home the great gulf between them.

How the hell did he go about asking her something like this? Especially with his enigmatic spin doctor looking on…

“You can leave us now, Lucas,” he ordered.

“Sure.”

Misty allowed herself a smug moment as Lucas left the room — he wasn’t so high-and-mighty now, was he? Dismissed like a servant himself!

“Sit down,” said Giovanni.

Misty was tempted, but she resisted. Something told her she needed all her wits about her, and flopping down onto one of those priceless brocade chairs in her working uniform would surely unsettle her even more.

Especially with Giovanni’s long body dominating her line of vision with those strong, muscular legs and the powerful jut of his pelvis. She felt an unwanted prickle of excitement in her breasts, and hastily crossed her arms. “I’m fine as I am.”

Giovanni’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully as he watched her. The unconscious way she had covered her breasts with her arms told him everything. So she wasn’t immune to him — but there again, what woman was? Funny he’d never noticed it before.

And when he stopped to think about it, mightn’t her inferior status actually work to his advantage? Because if the woman he involved in his scheme was beautiful and his equal, he might be lured into making love to her — complicating matters more than they needed to be. Whereas there would be zero temptation from this pleasant but very ordinary looking woman….

Then he remembered her pert bottom thrusting against the check material of her uniform and once again, he felt the heat to his groin. Damn Lucas for drawing his attention to it!

“I want you to pretend to be my fiancée,” he said huskily.

There was a momentary, pin-drop silence.

“Is this some kind of joke?” she demanded.

“No, Misty…” It occurred to him how rarely he had ever used her name before.

And what a strange name it was. “No. I am being deadly serious.”

“Why?” she shot out.

Giovanni expelled an impatient sigh. “I know it must sound bizarre — and it is bizarre. But I need to take the attention off my sister. You know she’s been admitted to a clinic?”

“Yes.”

“It’s just to give the press something bigger to get their teeth into. You know how dangerous they can be. They are sharks,” he finished.

But he had no qualms in throwing her to them! Hiding her hurt, Misty stared at him. “What would I have to do?”

Giovanni relaxed. Perhaps this was going to be easier than he had imagined! “Very little,” he murmured. “You would wear my ring, of course. Appear by my side in public.” His mouth curved into a half smile. “And perhaps you could be persuaded to hold my hand and gaze up at me with suitable adoration from time to time?”

Oh, but he must think she was born yesterday! That mocking tone didn’t fool her — not for a moment. He was used to adoration by the bucket-load, and no doubt expected plain Misty Carmichael to shovel on a whole heap more.