The Italian Proposal: His Virgin Acquisition / Her Little White Lie. Maisey Yates

banishing the images that were parading through her mind’s eye.

      “That’s half of doing business, Elaine. You should know all about that.”

      Angry color rose in her cheeks. Leave it to this arrogant, infuriating man to remind her of her own personal black moment. “I do. I’m just not accustomed to seeing a public image that’s so well crafted and so far removed from the true individual.”

      “Image is half, but business acumen and unflinching ruthlessness make up the rest.”

      She felt as if his dark eyes were looking into her, as though he could see through her polished, smooth façade, to the insecure girl inside her. She didn’t like it.

      “You have the ruthlessness, and a mercenary streak a mile wide. Selling yourself to me proves that.”

      Heat spiked through her. “I did not sell myself to you. Don’t make me sound like a harem girl. I made a business deal with you. Yes, I used unconventional means, but there was no other way. Believe me, if there had been I would not be standing here with you.”

      “You misunderstand, cara mia. I admire your ability to shut off all of your finer feminine emotions in favor of marrying for mutual gain.” He jerked open the passenger door of his car, which was parked closely to the curb. “So long as you remember that all you’ll be getting out of this is your father’s company.”

      He dipped his head close to her, his dark eyes blazing. She smelled the clean, musky scent of his aftershave and it made her stomach feel as if it had inverted.

      She swallowed. “As I’ve already assured you, I have no interest in a husband. Nor do I have any interest in your vast fortune. I want what belongs to me. As my father’s only child, I don’t think it’s outrageous for me to expect to inherit the company. I know I can do it, and if he would give me a chance he would know it too.”

      “Is that what all this is about? Proving yourself to your father?”

      She ground her teeth together. “No. I want to take control of my life and make something of myself. Surely you can understand that.”

      She sank into the car and he slammed the door behind her. He got in and turned the key aggressively, the engine of the car purring like a big exotic cat. “I’m a self-made man. Whatever I have I’ve worked for.” He shifted into second gear as he eased into traffic and the engine growled as if emphasizing his point. “Including my reputation. A solid reputation is difficult to build, and one indiscretion can undo decades of work. That’s why image is so important. I’m sorry if you find it duplicitous.” His tone made it perfectly clear that he wasn’t sorry in the least.

      “It’s why you need a wife,” she said, trying not to sound smug.

      He laughed—a low, dark sound. “I don’t need you, cara, but I will certainly find use for you.” He flicked an unconcerned glance at his wristwatch—a watch that undoubtedly cost more than her annual salary. “I have an appointment this evening that I cannot break.” He turned to look at her, his dark eyes heating her, filling her with a longing that was nearly unbearable. “But you and I have a date tomorrow night.”

      CHAPTER THREE

      THE PHONE HAD BEEN ringing all day. How reporters had gotten hold of the extension to access his office line, he didn’t know. Once the phone stopped ringing he would have to interrogate his staff.

      Granted, he wanted press. That was the point of the arrangement. But he certainly didn’t want the paps to have personal access to him. It was his PA’s job to field phone calls, and he paid her handsomely for it.

      The trip to Tiffany’s had done its job, just as he’d planned. The picture of Elaine and himself entering Tiffany’s together, and exiting holding the telltale robin’s-egg-blue bags, had spawned a host of articles in every news source from the New York Times to TMZ—the latter speculating that it was a Mafia arrangement. His Italian heritage was all he could credit for the creation of that rumor. But then, when did a tabloid need anything silly like facts to come up with a story?

      That, combined with strategically leaked information about his reservations at La Paz, a trendy restaurant in Manhattan, had the press engaged in a feeding frenzy to extract more information about Marco De Luca and his mystery woman.

      He answered the phone midway through the first ring. “I’ll tell you the same thing I’ve told everyone else. Ms. Chapman and I will comment when there is something to comment about.” Denial, in his experience, was the best way to fuel a rumor. The more he downplayed it, the more interest would be piqued.

      “That’s a shame. I thought you’d be a little more straightforward with your own brother.”

      “Rafael.” He was pleasantly surprised to hear his younger brother’s voice. Despite living less than half an hour from each other, with Marco being a workaholic and Rafael being a family man, it was hard for their schedules to coincide. “I take it you picked up the paper this morning?”

      “Actually, Sarah showed me. She loves all forms of gossip media. Though I doubt you’re getting married to this woman to save her father from a mob hit.”

      Marco laughed. “Not even close. The Mafia has recently quit asking my opinion on whose knees they should break.”

      “Why are you getting married, then?”

      Marco picked up a pen and started doodling on his day planner. “Oh, the usual reasons.”

      “Love?” Rafael asked, in what Marco thought was a hopeful tone. His brother had drunk the love Kool-aid a couple of years ago, and seemed to think that he should want to do the same.

      “No. Financial gain.” He explained how the arrangement had come about.

      “Well, that sounds typically you,” Rafael grumbled.

      “That’s because it is typically me, little brother. We can’t all be happy running a dinky little real estate office. Some of us have ambition.”

      “My ‘dinky little office’ is a multi-million-dollar operation. And anyway, I have a wife I like to go home to every night.”

      Marco cut him off. “Well, that’s fine for you. But I’ve raised one kid already, and I’m not planning on willingly doing anything like it again. Commitment of any kind is not on the agenda. This is for business.”

      Rafael cleared his throat. “I know that taking care of me wasn’t easy. But I’m grateful for it.”

      “I don’t need your gratitude, Rafael. You’re my brother and I did it gladly. But this marriage, if you want to call it that, is strictly a business arrangement. The length of the marriage isn’t indefinite. The longest it will last is a year. If neither of us has achieved our goal by then, we’ll go our separate ways—no harm, no foul.”

      “And the woman? She knows that you’re not madly in love with her?”

      Marco huffed out a laugh. “I’m a ruthless bastard, Rafael, but not even I’m that bad.”

      Rafael sighed. “You’re going to go ahead with this no matter what I say, aren’t you?”

      “Always. But you will agree to be my best man? It’s the only chance you’ll have.”

      “Of course I will. No one else would do it.”

      Marco barked out a laugh. “That’s probably true. Now, let me get back to work, little brother. Some of us work for a living.”

      Marco turned back to his computer and tried to get on with his work day. The phone rang again.

      * * *

      The phone in Elaine’s workspace rang for what seemed like the twentieth time since she’d come back from lunch.

      She looked at it dubiously. It was either a reporter