THE VALQUEZ SEDUCTION(66)

                He held her gaze with an unreadable look. ‘What if I cover your wages?’

                Daisy pulled away to stand with her arms folded across her middle. Hurt knifed through her with shame closely on its tail. He was reducing her to that? Nothing more than a plaything he was prepared to pay for? ‘You know, for a scary moment there I thought you were asking me to be your kept mistress.’

                There was another beat of silence.

                ‘Would that be a problem?’

                She dropped her arms and blew out a breath. ‘Of course it’s a problem. I’m not one of your good time floozies. I have a career that’s important to me.’

                ‘It’s only for a month.’

                ‘A month is a long time in a child’s life,’ she said. ‘This is the winter term. There’s the Christmas pageant to organise. I have heaps to do and I can’t just drop everything because you want to party a little longer.’

                He rose from the sofa and shoved a hand through his hair. ‘Fine. Go back to London. I’ll see you when I see you.’

                Daisy looked at the tight set to his back and shoulders as he faced the windows. A wall had come up and she was on the wrong side of it. ‘You’re asking too much, Luiz. Surely you can see that?’

                He turned to look at her with an inscrutable expression. ‘It was just an idea. Forget about it. Let’s stick to the plan.’

                ‘It’s not that I don’t want to—’

                ‘Can I ask you to refrain from speaking to the press?’ He gave her a formal smile that didn’t involve his eyes. ‘They have a habit of twisting things.’

                Daisy turned back to the bedroom, her spirits sinking like a ship’s anchor. She could feel the dragging weight of it in the pit of her stomach. How could he dismiss her so casually after the passionate night they’d spent together? Or was this the way he ended all of his hook-ups? Cleanly and coldly and clinically.

                When she came back out, showered and dressed, Luiz informed her he had a taxi waiting.

                She hoped she wasn’t showing anything of the disappointment she was feeling. It was a tight ache in her chest like a band of steel squeezing against her heart and lungs. ‘You’re not coming to see me off?’

                ‘I have a conference call with the sponsors.’

                Daisy could see which way his priorities lay. She would be out of sight and out of mind. How soon before he found a replacement? Her spirits plummeted even further. How had she let this happen? Why hadn’t she seen it coming? Her four days of fun had set her up for a lifetime of misery.

                He handed her into the taxi and leaned down and kissed her on the mouth through the open window. ‘Be safe, little English girl.’ He tapped his hand on the rim of the window and then stepped back, his expression as blank as if he was seeing off an acquaintance.

                Daisy waved to him as the taxi pulled away from the hotel concourse, her heart feeling as if it was being pulled in a vicious tug-of-war. She wanted to stay but she had responsibilities she couldn’t drop on a whim. But even if she had stayed, how could she agree to his terms? He wasn’t offering her a future. He was offering her a position. A temporary one. A tawdry one. He wanted to grease the wheels with his sponsors. She was nothing more than a means to an end. He would achieve his goal and she would be out of his life, just like every other woman he had associated with before.