‘This will only work if you’re prepared to remain on the job here in your supervisory capacity,’ he ran on, blocking any escape route via some other job. ‘I promise you that will be the only connection between us until after I’ve delivered the relief your parents need from their current debt.’
No immediate sexual pressure.
This was a waiting game.
He saw that fact register, but the money hook was in far enough for her to ask, ‘How do you propose to accomplish that?’
No rush to get away from him now.
‘Doing what I do—make money out of money,’ he replied with sardonic satisfaction. ‘When you go home this evening, tell your father I’m so pleased with how you’ve managed this renovations project for me, I’ve agreed to look at his investment portfolio and give him my expert advice on it. I’ll put aside a meeting time with him at eleven o’clock on Monday morning. You have to persuade him to come.’
She nodded, looking unsure about where this was leading but willing to do anything to help her parents. ‘I think he’d be quite eager to listen to your advice, Ethan.’
‘I can’t make him take it, Daisy, but if he does and lets me act fast enough for him, there’s a very big chance his money worries will be over by the end of next month. Your parents should end up financially secure for the rest of their lives.’
‘You can guarantee that?’ she asked warily, not completely sold on the plan.
‘No. It’s a gamble, but one I’d highly recommend, not without good reason. What I can guarantee is they won’t be any worse off than they are already. If your father agrees to go with my advice and it does pay off as handsomely as I anticipate, I want a reward in return.’
‘You mean…a commission?’
She was shying away from where he was heading. Maybe she hadn’t deliberately set out to ensnare him into doing what she wanted of him. Irrelevant now. He wanted what he wanted and nothing was going to stop him from getting it. Not when she had already conceded the strength of the attraction between them by sharing that bed with him.
‘No. I’d prefer your parents to think I’m doing this as a favour to you. The outcome will be you’ll no longer have to give them rent money, no longer have to live with them. You can resume an independent life, free of any worry about them.’ He paused to let that sink in before pointedly adding, ‘And that’s where my reward comes in, Daisy.’
Hot colour whooshed into her face, but there was no shock in her eyes. She had already grasped the deal he was holding out. Her expression was more a wry acceptance of his reason for making the offer. ‘You want an affair with me,’ she said flatly.
It vexed him that the idea of an ongoing relationship between them aroused no anticipation of any pleasure for her. Clearly she found the money angle distasteful, too. But she’d left him no other choice. He’d had to force the situation, break all the barriers she’d been putting up, clear the way.
‘I’ll set you up in an apartment of your own so there’s no one else to consider,’ he said just as flatly, still determined on the course that would give him the satisfaction she seemed intent on denying him. ‘You can find another job at your leisure, carry on whatever career you set your mind to. But your free time for the rest of this year is mine.’
The rest of this year…
The time span jagged around Daisy’s mind, hitting painfully on what she had already known. Ethan Cartwright saw no real future in a relationship with her. He was proposing to keep her as his mistress, undoubtedly thinking his interest in her would lose its current edge over the months he had stipulated for exclusive rights to her free time.#p#分页标题#e#
‘Nine or ten months on easy street should not be too big a hardship for you,’ he said harshly, impatient with her silence. ‘Not compared to struggling on to keep your parents out of crippling debt for five years.’
He was angry—angry that she had been bent on walking away from what they had shared in this room. The green eyes were glittering with fierce challenge. He’d probably never had his interest knocked back by a woman in his whole privileged life. And one of the reasons for that was very much on display.
Physically he was the perfect male. The towel tucked around his waist only seemed to emphasise how splendid the rest of his naked physique was, and the power of his sexuality tugged at her even now, when he was pushing a deal that made her feel like a secondclass woman, only fit for his bed for as long as his desire for her lasted, tossing money at her to sweeten that humiliating truth.