.

asked her to walk the plank above an ocean full of sharks.

      He indicated the chair for her to sit on with a sweep of his hand.

      ‘Please, take a seat.’

      ‘I’d rather stand,’ she said through stiff lips.

      ‘As you wish.’ He sat back down and picked up a pen off his desk and gave it a click. ‘Have you come to a decision regarding my proposal?’

      ‘I’m surprised you still have the gall to call it a proposal,’ she said. ‘I would prefer the term blackmail.’

      ‘Blackmail is a strong word.’ He gave his pen another audible click. ‘I’d like to remind you now that you can walk out of that door at any point and accept the consequences.’

      She tightened her spine at his chilling warning.

      ‘But you’ve made it impossible for me to do so, haven’t you?’ She eyeballed him directly.

      ‘I take it you’re referring to my real estate dealings over the weekend?’ He leant back in his chair and propped his feet on his desk in an indolent pose that made the blood simmer in her veins.

      ‘You did it deliberately, didn’t you? To flush me out like a rat down a drainpipe.’

      ‘Not quite the metaphor I would have chosen, but it will suffice, I suppose.’

      ‘You’re totally sick!’

      ‘I’ll take that as a ‘‘no’’ then?’ His dark gaze glinted with lazy amusement.

      She clenched and unclenched her fists in an effort to keep control.

      ‘I’m going to make you a promise, Mr Papasakis, one that I hope you won’t forget.’

      ‘You intrigue me.’ The corner of his mouth lifted sardonically. ‘Pray tell me what delightful pledge you have in store.’

      Her eyes flashed with fire. ‘I will marry you, but you will live to regret it; I’m going to make absolutely certain of that.’

      He lifted his feet off the desk in one easy movement and stood up, straightening to his full height as he came around the desk to her side. She stood her ground determinedly, but on the inside she was shaking and was sure he was aware of it.

      ‘You and whose army?’ He reached out and touched her flaming cheek with one idle finger.

      She jerked her head out of his reach and glared up at him.

      ‘Mock me all you like but I’ll be the one laughing in the end,’ she promised.

      ‘How absolutely terrifying you are when aroused.’

      ‘I’m not aroused!’ She stamped her foot at him. ‘I’m angry, blindingly so!’

      ‘Come now, Maddison.’ He caught her upper arms with his hands and held her gently but firmly. ‘Why not give in with good grace? You’ll be the envy of single women everywhere. A rich husband, all the clothes and trinkets you want in exchange for a few months of your time. What more could you ask?’

      ‘I could ask for a lot more in a husband,’ she threw at him coldly. ‘Being tied to an unprincipled playboy is not my idea of nuptial bliss, nor is the prospect of being a laughing stock when you carry on with your perfidious behaviour behind my back.’

      ‘It won’t be behind your back,’ he said. ‘I’ve already informed you of the terms of our agreement.’

      ‘Your double standards make me sick!’

      ‘No doubt they are a little distasteful, but that’s the deal. I can’t have people wondering why my wife is having a bit on the side; it’s not good for my reputation.’

      ‘I can’t believe your arrogance,’ she spat.

      His hands on her arms tightened momentarily.

      ‘I also can’t have my wife calling me names, is that understood?’

      She met his implacable look with defiance. ‘I won’t be your wife for long.’

      ‘No, but while you are you’ll do as you’re told.’

      She gritted her teeth against the string of invectives on her tongue.

      ‘You’d much rather be my temporary wife than see your brother go to prison, wouldn’t you?’ he added when she didn’t speak.

      ‘I’d much rather like to see you rot in prison,’ she ground out.

      ‘Answer me, Maddison.’ He tilted her chin to meet his eyes. ‘Tell me how much you’d rather be married to me than see your brother’s future go up in smoke.’

      She hadn’t thought it was possible to hate another person so much as she did him at that moment. Her blood thrummed with it, thundering in her ears as she felt every last remnant of her pride being stripped away by his ruthlessness.

      ‘I…I don’t want to see Kyle go to prison,’ she bit out.

      ‘And the rest?’

      ‘And…and I’d rather be your temporary…wife.’

      He smiled one of his hateful smiles and her palm itched to wipe it from his face. He lowered his mouth towards hers in a slow motion movement which should have been enough warning for her to get out of the way but somehow wasn’t. She closed her eyes as his lips connected with hers, surprised at how warm and dry they felt as they brushed along hers. Her lips clung to his, her mouth opening to the heated probe of his tongue as he traced the line of her bottom lip in spine-weakening intimacy. She felt the slight graze of his teeth as he took her bottom lip between them, holding her for a heart-stopping moment until releasing her, only to dive between the soft folds of her lips to taste her completely. She felt the unmistakable thrust of his hard thighs between her quivering ones, felt too the evidence of his essential maleness as he leaned into her softness.

      He lifted his head a fraction and her eyes sprang open to see him watching her steadily, his own dark gaze inscrutable.

      ‘I’ll be in contact with you over the arrangements.’ He stepped away from her.

      She watched him silently as he returned to the chair behind his desk, irritated beyond measure at his calm indifference to what had passed between them in that one brief kiss.

      ‘Under the circumstances I thought it would be best if we have a small ceremony,’ he added. ‘Is there anyone you’d particularly like to invite?’

      ‘Apart from a sniper, do you mean?’

      His eyes held hers for a lengthy pause.

      ‘Careful, Maddison, you’re supposed to be in love with me, remember? Not planning my demise behind my back.’

      ‘I could never be in love with you. You’re everything I most detest in a man.’

      ‘All I’m asking you to do is pretend.’

      ‘It’s going to take every bit of acting ability I possess to do so.’

      ‘I don’t care what it takes as long as you do it. Otherwise you know the score.’

      ‘I suppose you’re going to hang that threat over my head for as long as our marriage continues?’

      ‘Think of it as my insurance policy,’ he said. ‘I’ll let your brother off the hook if and when I feel you’ve done what is required.’

      ‘Am I to be allowed to contact him?’

      ‘I can hardly stop you,’ he said. ‘Besides, you’ll have to tell him of our impending marriage for no doubt he’ll read about it in the papers.’

      ‘How am I going to explain our sudden marriage to him?’

      ‘You’re a woman. Think of a suitable lie to put him off the scent.’

      ‘Your