The Billionaire's Blackmail Bargain. Margaret Mayo

forgetting that you have me to bail you out,’ he said with a droll smile. ‘Your money worries are over.’

      He looked calm and reassuring, happy to be of help, and yet she knew perfectly well that beneath the surface lay a cold, calculating brain, and that he was going to walk all over her. She desperately needed his help—he was her lifesaver—but she couldn’t rid her mind of the fear that one day she would regret her decision.

      ‘I’d like to go home now,’ she said quietly.

      ‘Home?’ he repeated, crooking one eyebrow. ‘Have you already forgotten we’ve struck a deal? Your place is here with me.’

      Simone hadn’t expected him to want his pound of flesh so instantly, and fire flared from her deeply purple eyes. ‘Forgive me, but I don’t remember setting a date and time for the deal. No job starts immediately.’

      ‘Job?’ Distinct amusement curved his mouth and added creases to the corners of his eyes. ‘Is that how you see the title of mistress? Interesting! But of course you must go home.’

      Instant relief filled Simone, though her reprieve was short-lived.

      ‘You’ll need to collect whatever clothes and toiletries you might need—and perhaps tell your father what you’re doing.’

      ‘So I’m expected back here this evening?’ she questioned, panic in her voice now.

      ‘You have a problem with that? We can of course forget the whole thing. I’ll sit by and watch your company sink into the Pacific without trace, and then I’ll pick up the threads and establish myself a very profitable concern.’ His voice dipped lower and his eyes locked into hers. ‘Would you like that, Simone?’

      The expression on her face was his answer.

      ‘No, I didn’t think so. Excuse me a moment…’ He summoned his driver to have the car ready, and when it came she had no choice but to accompany him out of the hotel to the waiting limousine.

      She didn’t speak for the entire journey, far too conscious that in a few hours’ time she would be sharing Cade’s bed. It would be the ultimate sacrifice, and would mean that the family business would be safe for ever. She was doing all this for her mother’s sake. At least that was what she kept telling herself. It couldn’t be that she hungered for Cade’s body, could it? No! She wanted to put money back into the bank in the sure knowledge that her father would be unable to touch it. How he would hate that. And how happy she would be.

      When they arrived at her house she scrambled out of the car. ‘I won’t be long,’ she promised, and ran up the steps, unaware that Cade had silently followed until he took the key from her hand. ‘Allow me.’

      ‘There’s no need,’ she declared in panic. Was there to be no respite from this man? She had hoped for breathing space before committing herself to him. Instead he wasn’t giving her a second’s time to herself. Was he afraid that she might change her mind?

      He turned the key and pushed open the door, stepping inside before her. The alarm was set and Simone turned it off, accepting the fact that her father was not home. Perhaps that was just as well! She didn’t want the two men to meet.

      ‘I find it hard to believe you’re still living in this house,’ he said with a surprising change of subject, moving further along the hall towards the family room. ‘Doesn’t it bother you? Where did you live when you were married—not here, surely?’

      Simone couldn’t see that it was any of his business. She loved this house. It was where she had been born and brought up, and she would always call it home.

      ‘We bought a house,’ she told him quietly. ‘But I came home when it didn’t work out.’ And now she hadn’t the money to live anywhere else. Her time would come, though; her saviour was right here beside her, a stepping-stone to a better life.

      Simone didn’t realise that she was staring at Cade until he took a step closer, his eyes on her lips, and she sensed that he was going to kiss her again. She moved quickly. ‘I’ll go and pack my bags,’ she said quickly in a tight, strangled voice.