“Have you been online at all tonight?”
“Not tonight, no.”
Constance took a deep breath and nodded. “Well, there are photos of us…from earlier…”
“Oh?” Luca’s smile was full blown now. “And what exactly are the pictures of?”
Constance huffed, already done with the game. “You know very well what they are of. I want to know what we can do about it.”
“Do? Why should we do anything? They’re pictures. Ignore them.”
“I can’t ignore them! Because of those pictures I might lose my girls.”
Luca’s amusement faded. “What girls? The ones who were here? They are yours? All of them?”
Constance glared at him. “My directors think I brought my charges here and exposed them to…”
Luca’s eyebrow rose a notch.
“Well, brought them here so I could…so we could…”
Luca’s brow rose higher and Constance glared at him. “I’m sure you can figure out what they think.”
“I’m sure I can, too. Maybe I want to hear you say it.”
“Mr. Vasilakis,” she said, her temper overriding her determination to keep herself under control.
“Call me Luca.”
“I’d rather not.”
“Why?”
She frowned again. “Because I don’t know you well enough.”
That damned eyebrow rose again. “I think we know each other well enough for first names. Besides, I wish it.”
He sat back as if that decided the matter, and she opened her mouth to argue the issue with him, and then reminded herself there were more pressing matters than what she’d call him. Especially since she didn’t intend to see him again after tonight.
She closed her eyes for a brief second and composed herself, drawing in a deep breath and straightening her back. But she opened them to find Luca’s gaze boring into her with an intensity that sent a shudder rippling through her. Maybe if she avoided looking directly into those impossibly dark eyes she’d be able to get through this. She looked instead at the slight dimple in his chin.
“Mr. Vasilakis, I came to ask if you would speak with my directors on my behalf. Explain to them that nothing happened.”
“That might be rather hard to explain considering the images they’ve seen,” he said with a laugh.
She glared at him. “You said you hadn’t seen the pictures.”
“No, I said I hadn’t been online tonight. I didn’t say I hadn’t seen the pictures.”
He reached over to a stack of printouts on the table next to the couch and handed her a tabloid from the top of the pile.
“I don’t normally read these, either, but Joe thought I might want to see these so he took the liberty of printing out a few articles from a few of the more thorough sites.”
The top page showed an overblown, up-close image of her in Luca’s arms, bodies pressed together from head to toe, looking like she was extremely happy to be there. She should have taken the face-full of dirt. It might have hurt, but it would’ve saved her a lot of trouble.
“Oh God,” she groaned. “I’ll be sacked for sure.”
“Maybe not,” Luca said, a tone in his voice that Constance couldn’t identify.
“What do you mean?” she asked, afraid to hope he’d actually agree to help her.
“I have a proposal for you.”
“What kind of proposal?”
Luca turned to Joe who stepped forward. Constance frowned.
“Mr. Vasilakis is in a bit of trouble of his own,” Joseph said. Luca grimaced but he didn’t interrupt. “His father wishes him to”—his gaze flicked to his employer and he appeared to be choosing his words carefully—“live a more sedate lifestyle.”
Luca snorted.
“Well, I can understand that, but what does it have to do with me?”
Luca gestured to the tabloid Constance had dropped on the coffee table. “Some enterprising peon in my father’s employ saw the pictures of us and did a little digging on you. Seems you are a fine, upstanding young woman with no warrants, arrests, or blemishes on your record of any kind. Moreover, you have dedicated your life to help those less fortunate and are currently working as a House Mother in one of the children’s village homes where you spend your days looking after orphans and foster children. My father is over the moon.”
Constance’s frown deepened. “I can’t possibly see why.”
“You are the type of woman with whom he’d love to see his son settle down,” Joseph said. “One who might ‘tame Luca’s wild ways’ as I believe he put it.”