really got me worried.’
He raked a hand through his hair. ‘Bella, don’t be difficult.’
That was rich, coming from him, she thought. Hugh Moncrieff was the walking definition of difficult. He was also the walking definition of sexy, but she had to keep a lid on that thought.
‘Can you just answer the question?’ he asked. ‘Are you single or not?’
‘I’m absolutely single,’ she said crisply, ‘and I intend to stay that way.’ Just so it’d be totally clear that she wasn’t trying to flirt with him—or anything else.
‘Good.’ He gave her a sweet, sweet smile. One that made a lot of warning bells ring in her head. ‘Bella, remember when I helped you out last Friday night?’
The warning bells got louder. ‘Ye-es.’
‘Good.’ He paused. ‘I need a favour.’
So much for him saying that they’d forget what had happened. Clearly there were strings attached, after all. How disappointing. ‘What sort of favour?’ she asked carefully.
‘I need you to be my date for a family event.’
That was the last thing she’d expected. Had she misheard? ‘To be what?’ she asked.
‘My date for a family event,’ he repeated.
That was what she thought he’d said. The words ‘date’ and ‘Hugh Moncrieff’ were a dangerous combination. ‘Why?’
‘A more pertinent question, in the circumstances, is “when?”,’ he said dryly.
OK. She’d play it his way. ‘When?’ she asked sweetly.
‘Next weekend.’
What? ‘As in tomorrow or as in next Friday?’
‘As in a week on Saturday,’ he clarified.
Talk about lack of notice. Did he think that she didn’t have a social life? ‘Where?’
‘Oxfordshire.’
‘Right.’ She stared at him. ‘So let me get this straight. You want me to go to a family do with you in Oxfordshire and pretend to be your girlfriend.’
‘Yes.’
She folded her arms. ‘Now I think “why” might be pertinent. And I think I deserve a proper answer.’
‘If you want to know the truth, it’s because you,’ he said, ‘will annoy my family.’
She looked at him through narrowed eyes. ‘That’s not very nice—to me or to them.’ And it made her feel as if he was using her. Just like Kirk had. Even though Hugh was being upfront about it rather than pretending he loved her, the way Kirk had, it still stung.
‘Given that you told me you were flaky and unreliable in your personal life, I think that’s a fair assessment.’
He had a point. Just. ‘It’s still not very nice,’ she said.
‘I didn’t expect you to go all Mary Poppins on me,’ he drawled.
She resisted the urge to slap him or to say something rude. Just. ‘That’s because you don’t know me very well. What do you want to achieve?’
He frowned. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’
‘You said you want to annoy your family. What do you really want to happen?’
When he still looked blank, she sighed. ‘Look, you’re at point A and you clearly want to be at point B. What do you need to do to get from A to B, and is having a fake girlfriend really the most effective way to do it?’
He raised his eyebrows. ‘That’s a bit sensible.’
‘Coming from me, you mean?’ She rolled her eyes. ‘It doesn’t come from me, actually. It’s the way my sister looks at things.’
‘Your sister Grace? As in the woman who downed three glasses of champagne on an empty stomach...?’ he said, with mischievous emphasis.
She put her hands on her hips and glared at him. ‘Don’t you dare be rude about my sister,’ she warned. ‘I already told you: that was really unlike her. It was due to special circumstances—and don’t bother asking what they were, because I’m not going to tell you. It’s none of your business.’
‘Absolutely,’ he said, disarming her. ‘Actually, I like the way you stand up for your sister. And you have a point.’
‘So why you do want to annoy your family?’ she asked.
‘This,’ he said, ‘is even more confidential than anything commercial I talk to you about.’
‘That’s obvious,’ she said, rolling her eyes at him. ‘You’re my boss, so anything you say to me in this room stays in this room unless you say otherwise.’
‘Thank you,’ he said. ‘Since you ask, the reason is because I’m sick and tired of them nagging me to settle down. So if I turn up to my brother’s engagement party with someone who looks completely unsuitable, maybe they’ll shut up and get off my case.’
She digested this slowly. He was saying she was unsuitable because of her hair? ‘So basically you’re asking me to play the kooky wild child. You want me to turn up with a mad hair colour, wearing ridiculous shoes and a skirt that’s more like a belt?’
‘What you wear is entirely up to you,’ he said. Then he looked thoughtful. ‘But, as you mentioned it first, yes, I think you probably have the chutzpah to carry off that kind of outfit.’
She still couldn’t quite work out if he was insulting her or praising her. Instead, she asked the other thing that was puzzling her. Well, apart from the fact that he was single. Even though he tended to be grumpy in the mornings in the office, she knew he had a good heart. He’d rescued her and Grace when they’d needed help, even though at the time they’d been complete strangers—and at the time it hadn’t felt as if there were any strings. Plus he had beautiful eyes and an even more beautiful mouth. The kind that made you want to find out what it felt like to be kissed by it.
She shook herself. That was something she shouldn’t be thinking about. ‘So why does your family want you to settle down?’
When he didn’t answer, she pointed out, ‘If you ask me to design something for you, then I need a brief to know what your target market is and what you want the design to achieve. I need to understand why before I can design something to suit. This is the same sort of thing. If I don’t understand why you want me to play someone unsuitable, I’m not going to be able to deliver the goods, am I?’
‘So you’ll do it?’
‘I didn’t say that. I still reserve the right to say no.’ If saying no was actually an option. Would her job depend on this? ‘But if you tell me why and I agree with your reasoning, then I might consider it.’ She spread her hands. ‘Anything you tell me is confidential. But I would also like to point out that I do have a social life, actually, and I did have plans for the weekend.’
‘I’m sorry.’ He raked a hand through his hair, suddenly looking vulnerable. Which was almost enough to make her agree to help him, regardless of his motives.
Weird.
Hugh Moncrieff was old enough and tough enough to look after himself. You didn’t get to be the successful owner of an independent record label if you were a pushover. He didn’t need looking after by anyone. But that expression in his eyes had touched a chord with her. It reminded her of the look in Grace’s eyes when she’d confessed that she didn’t fit in with Howard’s family and didn’t think she ever could. That she’d felt trapped and miserable.
Was that how Hugh felt about his own family?
And why did she suddenly want to rescue him, when she was usually