“No.”
“I see.” Elise leaned back and regarded him thoughtfully. “Lucien, would you mind telling me why you were going to marry Margot when you didn’t and don’t love her?”
“Maybe we should wait. You look—”
“Lucien,” she warned in a no-nonsense tone he knew meant she wouldn’t let it go.
He ran a hand through his hair and debated the best way to begin—starting with all the ways he could manipulate the truth, but in the end gave Elise the short version to a long, complicated story. “If I don’t get married by the time I turn thirty, my grandfather will disown my sisters.”
Elise gasped.
He grimaced. “It wouldn’t be so bad if my sisters hadn’t been sheltered by my grandfather. Sheltered such that they’ve never held a job in their lives. They live for shopping and organizing charity benefits.” He held up a hand as she opened her mouth. “But that’s not all. During my last argument with the old man, he threw down the gauntlet and said if I don’t follow through and get married, then he’s downsizing more and cutting my mother’s purse strings, too.” He toasted her with his beer then turned it up at the mouth.
“Of all the horrible, despicable… he manipulated you and… ohmiword, that’s blackmail!”
Luc agreed.
“But Luc, can’t you hire your sisters? They could work for you.”
“Elisabeth, you and your sweet, little self can do more in one day than all three of my sisters and they’re combined resources can accomplish in a month.”
She blushed and waved aside his comment. “You could teach them and—”
“And what? Elise, I make a good living. But I can’t afford to hire three granddaughters of a billionaire. Which reminds me,” he said belatedly. “I was going to make the offer after the final meeting with Andersen, but why wait? When this job is done, I could use your help with a new one.”
“What,” she asked, confused.
He peeled at the label on the bottle. “You heard me. A buddy of mine needs me down in Texas to give him my expert opinion on a company he wants to purchase. And I’d like for you to come with me.”
“Texas? But… what about my job here?”
He thought about answering her with a smartaleck comment then changed his mind. “Ben has assured me that the company—Intrinsic Incorporated—is worse off than Andersen.”
“Ben?”
“My friend.”
Elise didn’t look like she’d heard him. “Where would I live?”
He smirked and wanted to say, “You can live with me. I’ll—” He stopped abruptly. Elise. Damn. Why hadn’t he thought of it before?
“And… how much does it pay?”
“What,” he asked, distracted with his own thoughts. She was the answer to his problems. She needed money to save her mother and he needed a wife. It was the perfect solution. If she agreed.
“How much will it pay?”
He whipped out his lucky pen and calculated how much of his money she’d get after fulfilling his grandfather’s demands. “That’s a roundabout figure. It’s all dependent upon the market—”
Elise squeaked, gripping her drink with white knuckles. “That is an awful lot of money. Luc, you can take care of your sisters with that kind of money. You don’t need to let your grandfather jerk you around. Wow. I could live for twenty years off of that amount. If that’s what you’re gonna pay me, I’ll do it.”
Luc shook his head and grabbed for her hand. “Elise, that figure is what you would get if you married me.”
He heard her sharp intake of breath then an audible gulp. “What did you say?”
Damn. He hadn’t meant for it to come out like that. “Elise, you need money to save your mother and I need a wife to save my mother and sisters. Raven could keep Aphrodite and—”
“Married? Married?” She raised a shaking finger and pointed at him. “You’re nowhere near turning thirty. Your birthday isn’t for another—”
“Ten days.”
“Ten days,” she practically shouted. “You let Margot walk out of the building when you were only ten days away from… what the devil were you thinking?”
“At the time, I was more concerned with controlling certain urges,” he retorted dryly. “Another minute and Margot would have encountered an entirely different scene.”
“Lucien, don’t you try and sway me with your glib tongue.”