There followed a momentary hesitation, then he took the bull by the horns. 'I need you to go with me … as my lover.'
That took the wind out of her sails like nothing else. 'What?' she gasped out, sure she must have misheard somehow.
Having broached the subject, Roarke quickly regained his composure. 'I want you to attend the wedding with me,' he repeated.
She had that part; it was the other she took exception to. 'As your lover?'
Roarke hastily held up a hand to forestall the protests he knew were hovering on her lips. 'I didn't mean that the way it sounded. I need you to pretend to be my lover.'
Ginny felt as if she were gaping at him like a fish, her mouth opening and closing repeatedly but nothing coming out. She shut her mouth with a snap of teeth and took a steadying breath. 'You have to be joking!'
'I only wish I were. Believe me, I wouldn't be doing it if it wasn't important.'
Instinctively she knew that was true. Neither would seek help from the other unless business was involved. But what he was asking was out of the question. 'What about what's-her-name, the brunette you're dating? Why don't you ask her to help?' That would be the ideal solution.
The question had him grinding his teeth again. 'She was going to go with me, but as we are no longer an item, I'm left without a partner.'
Ginny stared at him, aware that there was a story he wasn't telling her, and he wasn't going to get away with keeping it to himself if he wanted her help. Not that she was promising anything. 'What happened?'
Roarke's fingers tapped out an irritated tattoo on the desktop. 'She informed me at lunch that her stars told her the weekend was a bad time to travel, so she wouldn't be going. I told her only an idiot would believe such rubbish.'
Ginny winced. 'Bad move,' she pronounced sympathetically and he grimaced.
'Tell me about it! The upshot was she took offence. Apparently, her stars also said it was a good time to end relationships that were going nowhere.'
'Oh, dear!' Ginny commiserated, biting back a laugh.
Sensing it, he sighed ruefully. 'I know, I know. Things went from bad to worse. Which brings me to you. Will you help me out?'
'Why me?' Ginny asked, spreading her hands questioningly. 'Why not ask one of those women who aren't in the little black book you haven't got?'
She got some idea how serious the situation was when she didn't get a smart comeback to her remark. 'Because most of them are known to the family, and I need someone who is a complete stranger. Grandfather won't be there and he's the only person that knows you.'
'Now, that you've simply got to explain,' she insisted.
His reluctance was palpable. 'It's complicated. There are … family complications.'
Family complications covered a multitude of sins, as she knew only too well. As an explanation, it fell way short of the mark. 'You're going to have to come up with a better reason than that if I'm to help you,' she declared bluntly, and his eyes snapped to hers.
'Does this mean you're going to do it?' he wanted to know.
Ginny shrugged, kicking herself for the slip. 'It means I'm thinking about it,' she conceded. Families were a touchy subject. Her inclination, due to her own experience, was to help if an injustice was being done, but otherwise she preferred to keep out of it. Roarke was going to have to do some fancy talking. 'Just tell me, Roarke. Whatever you say, and whatever my decision, nothing is going to go outside this room.'
He looked at her for so long a time she thought he would refuse, but then he nodded. 'OK, listen up. My latest stepmother's name is Jenna. When she was still my father's fiancée, she thought it would be fun to make it with father and son. To put it bluntly, she did her best to seduce me. Contrary to your beliefs, I don't sleep with every woman I meet. I especially do not get involved with those attached to my own family. Jenna did not take kindly to my refusal to play the game with her. She went running to my father with the tale that I had tried to force myself on her. Naturally, I denied it, but my father has always been jealous of his women, and he chose to believe her rather than me. The consequence was that he refused to talk to me for the better part of three years.
'We are back on speaking terms now, but the relationship is still fragile. Which brings me to the problem. When I visited him recently on his birthday, Jenna started getting up to her old tricks again. I managed to fend her off without upsetting my father, but I know how she works. If I turn up alone, she'll try again, and heaven alone knows what my refusal will lead to this time.'
Ginny studied his grim face and sympathised with his dilemma. 'Perhaps if you were to go to your father first, this time he would react differently,' she proposed, without any real expectation of that happening. Her own experience with her father had taught her that they didn't change that easily.
Roarke grimaced. 'I thought about it, but I can't take the risk. I decided my best option was to arrive with a woman on my arm. That way Jenna will have to keep her distance.'
'And if she doesn't, I'll be there to ward her off?' she murmured, following his line of thought easily. Roarke looked at her sharply.
'Will you be there?'
Ginny glanced down at her hands. Though he didn't know it, he had her. When it came to families she had her own vulnerabilities, which made it virtually impossible for her to walk away from helping someone else. She didn't want what had happened to her to happen to Roarke, whether she liked him or not.
'I must be crazy to even consider it,' she sighed as she raised her head.
'But you'll do it?' he urged hopefully, and she rolled her eyes.
'Yes, I'll do it,' Ginny confirmed, and was instantly consumed by doubts. But it was too late to back out. She had given her word, and it was a matter of honour with her that she kept it. Ever since the man she had trusted had abandoned her after making all sorts of promises, she had vowed that any she made she would keep, no matter what.
Roarke's famous smile appeared, but there was no glitter of satisfaction in his eyes at having won her over, only gratitude. 'Thank you, Ginny. You've probably no idea what you've done, but you've just saved my relationship with my father from total meltdown.'
She understood better than he thought, but that was another story. 'Just remember you owe me one.' She dismissed his thanks uncomfortably. 'So, what time is the wedding, and how are we getting there?'
'Saturday afternoon, so if we fly out Friday evening, we'll have some time to settle in before the ceremony,' Roarke obliged, sending a shock wave through her.
'Fly out? What do you mean, fly out?' she demanded to know, sitting up straighter. 'Just where is this wedding taking place?'
'Switzerland. Lake Constance, to be exact. At my mother's summer residence. You'll like it there,' he declared confidently.
Ginny ignored that last point and concentrated on the first. 'Switzerland! Damn you, Roarke Adams, you said nothing about the wedding taking place abroad. You know darn well I thought it was in this country!' she remonstrated with him.
Now there was a gleam in his eye as he grinned at her. 'I thought you'd refuse to go if you knew.'
Ginny ground her teeth helplessly. She might well have refused, but the die was cast. She had given her word and that was that. Getting to her feet, she glowered down at him. 'You are an impossible man. You don't just owe me, you owe me big time,' she pronounced, then promptly spun on her heel and headed for the door.
'Ask for anything you like, and it's yours,' Roarke called after her.
She halted but didn't turn round. 'Anything?'
'Just name it.'
A catlike smile curved her lips. 'Very well, I'll get back to you when I've made up my mind,' she agreed, closing the door behind her. Roarke Adams was about to find out her help didn't come cheap.
CHAPTER TWO
GINNY went out to dinner with Daniel that evening. She liked him a lot, but it wasn't always easy to enjoy his conversations, because he could be rather stuffy. He could also, though it pained her to admit it, be something of the cold fish Roarke thought him. Tonight, though, she had to work extra hard to concentrate whilst he told her about his terrible day. Unfortunately, Ginny's thoughts were miles away, and that irritated her, because she didn't like the fact that Roarke kept floating into her mind. Thankfully, Daniel didn't appear to notice her distraction, and she made a concerted effort to be more attentive whilst they waited for their desserts.
When Daniel reached across the table and took her hand, she smiled at him just a little curiously, because he wasn't a 'touching' sort of person.
'I have a surprise for you,' he declared with boyish enthusiasm, and Ginny's heart suddenly leapt into her throat as she wondered if this was to be the moment he proposed.