An Innocent, A Seduction, A Secret. Эбби Грин

wasn’t his type. She might have sparked something, but surely it was just the resurgence of his dormant libido. Slightly above average height, she was even more delicate up close. Yet once again he had an impression of steeliness underneath her slender frame.

      Their dialogue bore that out. He wasn’t used to meeting anyone who didn’t say How high? when he asked them to jump. In fact, she had an air of palpable reluctance to deal with him. It intrigued him as much as it irritated him—not a reception he was used to.

      Sebastio forced himself to focus. He needed this woman to take care of things he didn’t want to think about. The more reluctant she was, the more determined he became.

      He spoke with a patient tone that belied his frustration that this conversation wasn’t going as easily as he’d planned. ‘Are you telling me you couldn’t do with a considerable bonus in the run-up to Christmas?’

      He glanced up and down at her very functional but boring workwear. He could appreciate that she had the kind of elegant figure that would look good in anything. And suddenly he had a desire to see her in something altogether more feminine and soft.

      She glared at him now, and Sebastio’s desire sky-rocketed. It mocked his assertion that she wasn’t his type. Apparently, right now, she was.

      ‘It’s not about whether or not I need a bonus. I’m afraid it’s just not an option to walk away from my job here and work for you, no matter how much you’re offering.’

      Edie had a vision at that precise moment of her parents up in Scotland. They both looked a lot older than their years and her conscience pricked. That was because of her. They’d worried about her so much... And then, just when her father had retired and should have been looking forward to some time off, he’d had a heart attack. The Caribbean cruise they’d spent their savings on had had to be cancelled, and with no insurance and an indifferent travel company they’d lost out on the trip of a lifetime.

      With the kind of money Mr Rivas was offering so casually Edie could afford to send them on three cruises! And she could afford to pay for private health insurance—something that would make them a lot less anxious in the future.

      But there was no way she would jeopardise her job to work for a man who was arrogant enough to demand that she do so. She ignored another prick of her conscience telling her it was for far more varied and personal reasons that she felt disinclined to work for him.

      ‘I’m sorry, Mr Rivas. As intriguing as your offer is, I’m afraid I can’t just leave my job here at the store.’

      ‘Well, yes, you can, actually—for a brief time.’

      Edie blinked and turned around. She hadn’t even heard her boss come back into the room, she’d been so engrossed by the man in front of her.

      Her stomach fell. ‘But, Helen—’

      The women lifted her hand. ‘Mr Rivas is newly located to London from Argentina, and we welcome him as an esteemed client. We would be more than happy to release you to work privately for him in the run-up to Christmas, with the understanding that once the work is complete you will return to your job here.’

      Edie couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Do a private commission for Sebastio Rivas and keep her job? He had to be verging on royalty to precipitate this kind of fawning... She’d never seen any sports star get this level of treatment before.

      Edie tried again. ‘Helen, I really don’t think that—’

      But the woman was now ignoring Edie and opening the door to let Sebastio Rivas out of the office, saying officiously, ‘Leave it with us, Mr Rivas. We’ll do everything necessary to get Edie released from her schedule here as soon as possible.’

      The door closed on an image of Sebastio Rivas looking directly at Edie with unmistakable challenge. She shivered at what that challenge might be—to do a job, or to let her know he’d noticed her reacting to his presence and could see all the way through her skin to where there was a pulse of something intimate.

      It reminded her of that night in the club, when she’d felt as if he was looking right into her soul. It was galling that he had the same effect on her now.

      Her boss turned around to face Edie. ‘Do you have any idea who that is?’

      Edie swallowed, feeling curiously flat now that he had left the room. ‘He’s a rugby player with the Argentinian rugby team.’

      Helen waved a dismissive hand. ‘He retired as a rugby player a few years ago. Sebastio Rivas is now CEO of Rivas Bank—he’s descended from one of the most powerful banking families in the world.’

      Edie absorbed this. That would explain his air of arrogance and entitlement. He came from a rarefied world.

      Her boss went on to explain breathlessly what an important addition to London society he was. How generous he was to charity. Then she said, ‘So, the fact that he wants you to decorate his house for Christmas is obviously something we will facilitate.’

      Edie recognised Helen’s steely tone. She also recognised that this was an amazing opportunity. She’d been offered a ridiculous amount of money and her supervisor had just assured her that her job would still be there when she came back.

      So why was she so reluctant?

      Because, said a small voice, that man rejected you at a time when you ached to be normal and know what it was to feel like to be a woman. And because he’s a reminder that you still don’t know what it is to be a real woman.

      It was humiliating to think that within the last four years she’d obviously changed and matured on many levels, but on a very private and intimate level she was the same girl she had been that night. Gauche and inexperienced. Desperate to fit in. Desperate for experience. Desperate to live.

      ‘Edie? If you’re reluctant to do this I can always find someone else...’

      Edie’s attention snapped back to the present and her boss, who was looking at her, clearly impatient to have this dealt with. Edie knew she’d have no hesitation in asking the next person.

      A determination settled in her gut not to allow this opportunity to slip away just because seeing Sebastio Rivas again had been disconcerting. To say the least.

      ‘No, of course I’ll do it. I’d be crazy not to.’

      Helen smiled approvingly. ‘Good. If you like, you can go home early—you’ll be very busy up till Christmas. Mr Rivas said he’d send further instructions via his assistant.’

      Edie didn’t fancy the long bus journey home to her bedsit in north London, with too much time to think about things, so she said, ‘No, I’ll finish the window with Jimmy. It’s almost done anyway.’

      Helen shrugged. ‘Whatever you want, Edie. Most people would jump at the chance to go home early.’

      Edie smiled weakly. She wasn’t most people and she didn’t need the reminder.

      For the rest of the day she and Jimmy worked in companionable harmony. Thankfully he didn’t seem to notice her tension. When they were leaving work he asked if she’d like to join him and his friends at a nearby bar, but she smiled and declined. Her brain was addled after everything that had happened that day. Seeing Rivas again. Feeling the same things.

      As she sat on the crowded bus, heading north from the centre of town, she told herself to stop being so trepiditious. Maybe getting to know Sebastio Rivas a little would help her to topple him from the almost mythic place he’d taken up in her consciousness, where no other man could touch him.

      After all, he hadn’t ever known her circumstances, had he? That night in the club she’d been just another woman approaching him for a sliver of attention... He couldn’t possibly have known just how fragile she’d been then.

      But she wasn’t fragile any more.

      Edie forced her mind away from the past and pulled her phone