leverage in this bartering process. This was the world he occupied. It was always a quid pro quo system.
Now, however, he was assailed by a sudden attack of conscience. Something about the way her eyes were glistening and the slight wobble of her full pink lips.
No wonder she and his father got on like a house on fire, he thought. They were equally sentimental.
It was yet another reason why the arrangement would work for them because her emotionalism was guaranteed to get on his nerves. There would be no chance of any lines between them getting blurred.
‘It would appear,’ he said heavily, ‘that there’s a problem with the mortgage repayments on the house your mother’s in.’
‘How do you know that?’
‘The same way you seem to have great insight into my personal life,’ he returned coolly. ‘Our respective parents seem to do an awful lot of confidence sharing. At any rate, the fact is that there is a real threat of the bank closing on the house if the late payments aren’t made soon.’
‘I’ve been to see the bank.’ Sammy’s skin burnt because she hated this sliver of her life being exposed. It was none of his business. ‘Mum’s had to give up her job, with all the treatment, and I’ve had to move to a different, more expensive place here because the landlord in my last place wanted to sell. Plus there’ve been all the additional costs of travelling back and forth every weekend, sometimes during the week, as well. I haven’t been able to contribute as much as I would have liked to the finances but they said they understood at the bank.’
‘Banks,’ Leo informed her kindly, ‘have never been noted for their understanding policies. They’re not charitable organisations. The most sympathetic bank manager, under instruction, will foreclose on a house with very little prior warning. I also appreciate that it costs you dearly to be working so far from your mother at a time when she needs you to be on hand.’
‘Your dad had no right to tell you all that stuff...’
‘Was any of it confidential information?’
Sammy didn’t reply. No, none of it was confidential, although sitting here right now and listening to him explain her life to her made her think that perhaps it ought to have been.
Naturally, he would never understand what it might be like to really have to count pennies and to struggle against all odds to meet the bills. He had been born into money and, even in the village, his name was legend as the guy who had built his own empire and turned it into a gold mine.
‘Didn’t think so. I know he offered to give your mother money to help her out of this little sticky patch but she refused.’
‘And I don’t blame her,’ Sammy said, her cheeks dully flushed. ‘There’s such a thing as pride.’
‘Yes. It usually comes before a fall. No matter. I get it. But the fact remains that you are both facing considerable financial challenges, so here is my proposal.’ He allowed anticipation to settle before continuing. ‘In return for your services, so to speak, I will settle all outstanding money owing on your mother’s house.’ He raised one hand as though she had interrupted although, in fact, she couldn’t have uttered a word if she’d wanted to. She was mesmerised by him. By the movement of his mouth as he spoke, by the steady flex of muscle discernible under his clothing, by the elegance of his gestures and the commanding timbre of his voice.
‘Furthermore,’ he continued, ‘I understand that your dream is to work freelance. Your degree was in graphic art and, whilst you do as much freelance work as you can get your hands on, it’s impossible to make the jump because you need to have a steady income.’
Sammy paled. ‘Now that,’ she burst out, ‘definitely was confidential!’
‘Is that some of your work over there?’ Leo nodded to a desk by the window and the layers of stiff board piled to one side. Without giving her time to answer, far less swoop to the rescue of the job she was currently trying to find the time to work on, he began rifling through the illustrations she had so far completed while she remained frozen to the spot, mouth open.
‘They’re good.’ Leo turned to face her. He was genuinely impressed. ‘Don’t glare at me as though I’ve exposed state secrets,’ he said drily. ‘This is the second part of my proposition. Not only am I willing to settle the debt on your mother’s house but I will also get builders in to construct a suitable extension at the back of the property.’
‘A suitable extension?’ Sammy said faintly.
‘To accommodate this—’ he gestured to the desk and the artwork he had just been rifling through ‘—you setting up your own business where your mother is. No more commuting. No more wasting money on rent you can barely afford. And not only that, Sammy, but I will immediately instigate a steady income that will cover the transition period between you giving up your teaching post here and establishing yourself in your field.’
Sammy was beginning to sympathise with anyone unfortunate enough to have been run over by a steamroller. ‘It’s a ridiculous suggestion...’ she protested, but she could hear telltale signs of weakness in her voice. ‘Go to Melbourne...? Pretend to be engaged to you...? It’s crazy.’
‘Perhaps if you just had yourself to consider,’ Leo pointed out with inexorable, irrefutable logic, ‘you could spend the next hour talking about your pride or maybe just chuck me out of here immediately, but this isn’t just about you. Your mother’s future is involved here, as well.’
‘And it’s not fair of you to drag her into this.’
‘Who said that life was fair? If life was fair, that harridan wouldn’t be trying to hang on to a granddaughter she probably doesn’t even want for the sake of what she thinks she might be able to coerce out of me. Agree to my proposal and I could have builders at the house first thing in the morning to ascertain what needs to be done. All you would have to do is hand your notice in and look forward to a life of no stress, close to your mother.’
Sammy thought of the amount of time she had spent trying to get the books to balance and trying to work out how many more hours she could put into her illustrations so that more income could be generated.
‘What happens if you get custody of the little girl?’ she questioned eventually, forcibly tearing herself away from that stress-free vision he had been dangling in front of her.
‘I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it. I can afford the very best day care, the very best schools and during the holidays there will be the option of spending time by the sea with my father.’
Sammy’s brow pleated and Leo felt he should jump in before she began testing the moral high ground once again.
‘I’m going to give you forty-eight hours to think about my proposition. Time for you to work out the nitty-gritty details and break the glad tidings to your mother, although there’s a fair to middling chance that she already knows that I’m here with you right now, thanks to my father. I’ll leave the engagement ring here. Try not to misplace it.’ He told her how much it had cost and her mouth fell open. ‘No point getting something cheap and nasty. You’d be surprised what a nosy reporter can spot through a telephoto lens. If you agree to this, no one must think that it’s anything but genuine.’
‘I may not agree to anything.’
‘Your call.’ He shrugged. ‘Just think about the trade-off.’ He stood up and glanced at his watch to find that far more time had gone by than he’d expected. ‘One more thing to consider...’
Sammy had scrambled to her feet but she was still keeping her distance. She wasn’t going to touch this offer with a bargepole. Was she? It smacked of blackmail and surely any form of deceit, however well intended, was a bad thing...
‘What’s that?’ She eyed him warily.
‘You asked why you’re perfect for this...arrangement.’ He kept his eyes fixed on her face as he began putting on his