Before she could begin an explanation, he spoke again. “Seriously, Angie. I’m impressed. I really am. I’ve worked with you on a daily basis for eighteen months. And not once, not one single time, did you deviate from your role. That’s truly an amazing feat. Very difficult to sustain, long-term. And I must say that choosing suits to match my office furniture was probably the coup de grâce. A stroke of brilliance. It was the final detail that sold the entire scam.” He slowly clapped his hands. If the sound of clapping could be described as sarcastic, he’d perfected a sarcastic clap. “Brava, Angie.”
“You know about the Pretorius Program.”
He smiled in genuine amusement. “Why, yes. I do know.”
She swallowed past the thickness clogging her throat. “How…?”
“Pretorius discovered Jett tampered with the results. As soon as he put it together, he called me.” He folded his arms across his chest, stretching the fabric of his black suit across the impressive width of his shoulders, underscoring the sheer physical strength and power of the man. “I’m curious… I assume when you accepted the position of PA you hoped the job would eventually transition into that of my wife. How would you have attempted to trick me into marriage if I hadn’t been foolish enough to offer you the perfect opportunity with the Pretorius Program?”
She couldn’t control the soft laugh that bubbled free at the bizarre turn the conversation had taken. “Oh, gosh, let me count the ways. Maybe I’d have done a striptease on your desk. Gotten accidentally pregnant. Found some deep, dark secret hidden away in your files and blackmailed you into marriage. I’m sure I would have come up with something.”
“None of those things would have worked. Not on me.”
She blinked. Good grief, he actually believed her. “Well, damn, Lucius. Now I’m really disappointed, because God knows marrying you just has to be the ultimate goal of every woman in Seattle. Maybe in the entire Northwest.” She snapped her fingers. “Maybe even in the whole of the good ol’ U.S. of A.”
“You think this is funny?”
His voice flicked like a lash, cutting painfully, and she flinched. “Not even a little. Explain something, Lucius. Why are you so angry? I thought you wanted a wife. What difference does it make how you got one if she fulfills your requirements?”
“But you don’t fulfill my requirements. You lied about your abilities. Pretorius discovered that, as well.”
She released a sigh. “True enough. I did lie. Though if you don’t mind my saying, they were ridiculous requirements.”
“That’s not for you to decide!”
“Oh, right.” She planted her hands on her hips, her anger rising to meet his, exceeding it. “And we both know how well those requirements were working before I agreed to marry you, don’t we? How many women did you go through, Lucius? How many of them told you to go to hell like Ella? Do you think you’d have found someone else by now, your perfect wife, if I hadn’t stepped in?”
“How the hell do I know? Maybe she would have been the next name on the list.”
“And maybe she doesn’t exist.” Angie ticked off on her fingers. “A gourmet cook. A superb housekeeper. An excellent interior designer. A mother. A wife with fringe benefits. Come on. Are you kidding me?”
A hint of color swept across the arch of his cheekbones. “Those aren’t unreasonable requirements.”
She swept them aside with a wave of her hand. “They’re ridiculous requirements. The only important ones, the only ones you should have been focused on were acquiring a wife who would love and care for Mikey and who would—” She broke off, her throat closing over, preventing her from finishing her statement. She stood in front of him, utterly exposed, aware he’d have no problem deducing the rest of her comment. …and who would love and care for you.
He shook his head, fury melting through the ice and burning across his expression. “Don’t. Don’t try and turn this into some sort of grand romance. What we shared was purely physical. Sex and nothing more. Our marriage is for Mikey’s sake, not for any other reason. Are we clear on that point?”
“Crystal.” She tugged off the engagement ring and held it out to him.
He took her wrist in an unbreakable hold and thrust the ring back on her finger. “Our engagement doesn’t end until I say it does. You will marry me, Angie. Only now you’ll do it on my terms, as per our contract.”