Manhattan Millionaire’s Cinderella: HarperImpulse Contemporary Romance (10 page)

“Surely a demo job goes with that rip-off price?” He slid a finger down the bridge of his nose, and pursed his mouth.

Her hands stilled over the folds of the fabric, and she rammed him with a glassy stare. Was that a shadow of tenderness in his eyes? It couldn’t be for her. It was either that or a trick of the twilight glowing behind the sealed shutters.

“A demo—what?”

“You know, model it.”

“Sorry, the model has left for the day.”

“You’ll do.”

“No.”

“Scared?”

“No private showings without security present.” Her words were

barbed, and she hoped she hit the mark…right into his heart. “And none to strangers.”

He winced, but quickly rebounded. “I’m no stranger.” He green-lighted her head to toe with his gaze, spot checking her cleavage, the apex of her thighs and back up to her mouth, her eyes.

Her stomach plummeted, and then righted, her nerves twittered, but she managed to toss him a haughty look. “That could be disputed.”

A smirk, and he chuckled
.
“Not from where I’m standing.”

“What is it you want, Cade?”

“To spend money on my lady.” He pulled out a wad of bills from his wallet, tossed them on the counter, and then shoved the wallet in his back

pocket. “Throw that red number on my tab too. A wedding gift.”

Nina gripped the counter with one hand and squashed gold ribbon with the other. The hotshot from Manhattan had returned in full form on

Roman soil; swinging in the groove and brandishing his wealth on gifts for his new
amour
. And already talking about another nuptial hook up.

A bitter taste scoured her throat, her heart, and her emotions. She had been foolish to entertain even the remotest possibility that he’d come for her…come to work things out.

A dry sound whisked from her mouth.

“Something amusing?”

“Ye…no.” No way would she strut before him in that x-rated froth of fabric simply for his joy ride. The padlock around her heart clicked in place. It hurt. Too much.

He’d seen her in less, touched her everywhere, kissed, fondled …  She didn’t want to remember, but her body thrummed with awareness. A silent moan spread through her, every cell vibrating to alertness…desire.

“Shall I call
my
security, Nina?”

“No need,” she said, her tone dismissive. “You can take your business elsewhere.”

“Can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Stores are closed, remember?”

“Not my problem.”

“Could be?”

“How so?”

“Had a talk with your father.”

She laughed. “You can’t play that card on me again, Cade. I talked with him too.”

“And?” He caught her in his hawkish sights, challenging… assessing.

Her lashes dipped. “He explained about your father…your uncle…

not…” Her words trailed off, her tone softening, and she lifted her lashes,

giving him a direct look.

“Yeah, well,” Cade grunted. “I’m a big boy.”

A tense silence fractured only by the sound of traffic along the Via Cassia, the main route south to Rome.

“I’ll…uh…have this wrapped up for you in a sec,” she murmured.

He propped his elbows on the counter and leaned forward, so closely she could smell his aftershave…cool spice…mingled with sweat and man. It brought back all the memories she had tried to forget.

Erotic.

Sensual. Arousing.

Maddening.

“Then you don’t know?” he said, his tone confidential, his breath tickling her cheek.

“Know what?” She snapped away from her thoughts, her hands hovering over the negligee.

A wolfish smile slashed his mouth. “You play and I’ll say.”

“What?”

“
Model it.”

“Blackmail, Cade?”

He grinned. “Never.”

She slapped her hands on the counter, and her bracelet jiggled. “I want to know what it is first.”

“Go change, and I’ll spice up the conversation.”

“You first.”

He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand and pushed away from

the counter. “Your father and my uncle hatched a—”

“Go on.”

“Uh, uh.” He motioned her to the fitting room. “Your move.”

How dare he come in here, buying sexy gifts for—well she wouldn’t dwell on that—and if that hadn’t been enough, demanding she play pinup girl and spinning some tale of intrigue to trip her up. A hissy fit was in the making, but she squashed that inclination, deciding instead to teach him a lesson he wouldn’t soon forget.

“Well, okay.” She swept her hair to one side, her earring jangling and turned her back.
“Unzip me, please.”

Or would she get burned in the process?

“Careful, it might get stuck.”

“Sure thing.” Cade stepped closer, tempted to bend his head and nuzzle her neck, feasting on her pulse point.
Don’t rush it.
He tautened his torso, crushed the craving but couldn’t resist brushing the stray curls from her nape. He lowered the zipper until his fingers skimmed the dip of her back, itching to explore further. A blast of air from his mouth, and he curved his palm on her hip.

“Did it catch?” she whispered, denting his already tenuous control.

She shifted in his hands, and he wanted to take, hold—

“Naa.” He checked the alluring curves of her derriere and just when he made up his mind to touch, stroke, cup, she turned around in his arms.

“Thank you.” She tilted her head his way, her voice husky, her lashes shadowing her eyes.

His gut coiled. Had he just lost command of the situation? This five-foot-two with eyes that could turn to midnight with passion and glitter ice blue with annoyance had in the last two minutes gotten the upper hand. And he didn’t like it, not at all.

“Sure, anytime.”

She swept up the negligee and trotted to the fitting room, tossing over

her shoulder. “Continue.”

Hmm, playing games was she? He’d go along and see where it got him.

“My father and your uncle plotted…” she prompted, her voice catching.

“To get us hitched.”

She jerked to a stop, her back stiffening, her hands squeezing the silk. “They conspired to get us— why?”

“To protect—”

She spun around. “Who?”

He inclined his head toward the changing room.

She scurried inside.

“You.”

“Protect me?” She poked her head out from behind the curtain.

“Why? From what? Whom?”

He shook his index finger at her. “Tuh, tuh.”

She quickly withdrew, the dress slid to her ankles and she stepped from it.

“Married to me, you’d have legal claim to Century Corp.” He glimpsed her feet from beneath the drapes, the graceful arch of her instep, her—
Focus, man
. “Securing your financial future—a payoff for your father’s lifetime of service. And” –he paused, debated— “A sleight of hand against the hacker.”

“Really?” she queried, the word muffled by the swish of cloth behind the curtain.

“Sheltering a portion of Century’s assets—”

“In my name,” she said, her words clearer now.

“—in the event the hacker gutted the company before we could spring him with the goods.”

“You mean I own half of Century Corp?”

“Not exactly,” he grunted. “When you ditched, the hacker…hackers scrambled to revise their plan.”

“Your uncle…real father—”

“And yours.”

“I see.” But did she? Nina slipped the sheer fabric over her head, wiggled and it fell, a soft caress upon her breasts and barely covering her tush. “And now?”

“It’s over.”

She didn’t have to wonder if his words carried a double meaning. She brushed her hands over her hips, the sensual feel of silk an answer. But it was for another woman. A sour taste skimmed her tongue
,
tainting her words.

“Let’s see,” she murmured, more to herself than to him. “About to tank, you sold out for three mil and a stint at matrimony.”

“A strategic move, Nina,” he said, impatience in his voice. “In a dire financial clinch.”

“Not your usual M.O,” she mocked. Any way she looked at it, she’d been played. By Cade, his uncle and her father. “I became your collateral, in case things collapsed.”

“It was a protective device, okay.”

“For whom?” she sniped back.

“I told you,” he bit back. “You.”

“How chivalrous.” Sarcasm dripped from her words. “A defunct company is useless.”

“Okay, and me,” he barked. “At the time I hadn’t realized uncle… er…dad, was on my side.” He paced the floor outside her dressing room.

“When I first began work at Sloan Global—”

“You tagged Century—”

“Yeah.” He scrubbed a hand across his face.

“Your uncle—” she prompted, wanting to wrap her arms around him, comfort him.

“Hedged me from the company, taking the brunt of the scandal, and I almost annihilated him.” His words ripped from him in a harsh sound. “At the Limassol Wine Fest I refused his help and almost sabotaged the sting.”

“A little hard-headed are you, Cade?” she mouthed the rhetorical question more to herself than to him.

“Is that what you call it?” he shot back, sounding ticked off that she even voiced it.

She grinned. Served him right. “Anything else I should know?”

He chuckled at the double entendre of her words. “To disrupt the hacker’s op, the IT—”

“My father.”

“And my uncle tapped funds from Century…a trickle at a time, into your secured account.”

“And I had no idea,” she said with glee, peering at him through the

crack in the curtain. “I am a major shareholder of Century Corp.”

“Pocket change,” he said, his mouth lifting at the corner. “Enough for a couple of pairs of those designer shoes you’re crazy about.”

“You noticed?”

“It’s my job to notice things.”

Her heart sank. There he went, lumping her with his other work

obligations. “How good of you.” Acid dabbed her words.

“Isn’t it?” His comeback dipped in sarcasm. “Anyway, to wrap this up—”

“Yes, let’s be done with it.”

His eyes narrowed, a deafening pause and, “We got him.”

She took another peek at him between the drapes, and her pulse

faltered. Towering above the mannequins, he stood with legs astride, hooked a thumb at the fastening of his jeans, and propped the hardhat on his hip. His half open shirt revealed
the sprinkle of hair on his chest, and she longed
to touch him.

The man oozed sexual charisma.

A lock of hair flopped over his brow, and she wanted to step out and smooth it away. Of course
,
she didn’t move an inch. She had to combat his

magnetic pull with a cool retort. “You had no inkling of your uncle’s and my father’s reversed Electronic Transfer Fund conspiracy?”

“Not ’til it was almost a
fait accompli
.” He shoved his rolled up

sleeves higher on his arms, the muscles of his forearms flexing. “It took some fancy footwork to keep the company afloat.”

She pressed a hand to her mouth, muting a giggle bubbling inside her. Somehow she couldn’t see Cade doing a jig to anyone’s fiddle. “You expect me to believe that?”

“Yeah,” he struck back.

“Why?”

“Because it’s the truth.”

“Huh.” She slipped her feet into stiletto-heeled slippers and drew the curtain aside.

“Nina…” He drew in a sharp breath and gulped a grunt of sound.

Okay, she thought, pleased. His reaction at least soothed her pride, but not a moment later, he dashed it.

“An ingenious cyber sting,” he said, nudging his chin with his

fist. “The hacker snared at his own ETF game.”

“A real soap opera,” Nina said, tongue-in-cheek.

“My uncle had gotten the company and the girl—”

“Your mom,” Nina murmured, brushing the fur trim of the negligee.

A curt nod from Cade. “As runner up, ‘Daddy’ Sloan felt thwarted and set out to cause damage where he could.”

“And your uncle had no idea his half-bro forced your mother into marriage, then punished her by taking you away from her?”

“Pigheadedness runs in the family,” Cade muttered, but his mouth

curved in a reluctant grin.
“Once clued in, uncle stepped up his visits to

London until he got her away from him.” Cade’s features turned fierce. “But it was no cake walk. ‘Daddy’ Sloan had an ace up his sleeve.”

Nina walked toward him, the swish of silk against her thighs a seductive sound. About to touch his arm, she stayed the motion and opened her eyes wide. Realization smacked her brain. “Oh my gosh, his ace was you…his next target.”

Cade inclined his head in assent. “Bitterness led to booze and gambling, until his addiction took precedence over his vendetta.” He rapped his hardhat with his knuckles. “His fix—an ongoing stream of cash.”

“Sloan…Century…
you
,” Nina murmured. “Became his supply.”

He chuckled, a mirthless sound. “Quite astute, my dear.”

Nina winced, the endearment having caught her off guard. To avoid analyzing it to smithereens and to cover the awkward moment, she slipped the scarlet satin chemise off the hanger.

“He banked on knowing that nobody would suspect a Sloan stealing from a Sloan,” Cade added, a savage twist to his mouth. “It worked until the head of the tech department—”

“My father—”

“Caught him.”

Nina tottered, grabbing onto the rack for support, her hand flying to her mouth, suddenly everything clear.
“He was the one…he retaliated… spewed lies to my mom—threatened—” Her fingers fisted over the satin. “Silenced my father and shipped him off to Cyprus.”

“
Yeah,” he muttered, the tense corners of his mouth easing a bit.

“What now?” she asked.

“All’s well that—”

“Ends well.”

“Shakespeare.” They said in unison. But could that sage advice reflect on them?

Nina doubted it. Sounded more like a Romeo and Juliet curtain call.

“If your uncle had told you, none of this would’ve happened and you and I—” she broke off, swallowing the rest of her words.