Chapter Three #4
Hope signed it quickly and put the pen down. ‘Don’t worry, I won’t be telling anyone about this.’
‘Why not?’ Axel should be welcoming her intention to be discreet but instead he wanted to know why she would be reluctant to share this information.
‘Because it’s completely ridiculous! No one would believe me anyway.’
This was so surreal, Axel couldn’t think of anyone who wouldn’t jump at the chance to be associated with him. And make the most of it.
‘You’ll be appearing in the press and media when we go out in public together.’
Now she went pale. ‘I hadn’t thought of that.’
‘I’ll protect you as much as I can but I won’t be able to stop them disseminating your image.’
Hope gave a small shrug. ‘No one will recognise me but I should let Claire, my flatmate, know where I am.’
‘What will you tell her?’
She looked at Axel as if seeking guidance. ‘I’m guessing not the truth?’
Axel nodded.
Hope said, ‘Well, then, I’ll just have to tell her that, as improbable as it sounds, I’ve struck up a whirlwind affair with someone I met at work.’
It didn’t feel all that improbable right at the moment when Axel was battling a surge of lust for this sprite in front of him.
Then she sat up straight and said, ‘Actually, what exactly did you mean by making this look “as real as possible” in public?’
‘Exactly that.’ Axel folded his arms across his chest, as if that could contain the welling heat inside him. ‘We’ll have to make people believe we’re lovers.’
‘Are you going to be kissing me? In front of people?’
Axel recoiled at the thought of such a public display of affection.
‘No, I do not do that.’ Because he didn’t feel affection and because no woman had ever driven him so crazy that he had to touch her and claim her in front of people.
He didn’t have to—when a woman was with him she made it pretty obvious she didn’t want to be anywhere else.
The thought of exposing himself like that made him feel clammy.
‘So just…some hand-holding, light touching?’
Axel nodded.
Hope said, ‘I tend towards being tactile. I think it comes from having been abandoned as a baby, something about needing to feel warmth. But if I’m being too handsy you can let me know.’
Axel had to reflect that he hadn’t been abandoned but he might as well have been for all the affection he and his siblings had received. He couldn’t remember one moment of warmth or benign touch from either of his parents and they certainly hadn’t shown warmth for each other.
And yet he’d never sought out tactility, no one he knew behaved like that.
Axel’s face must have been reflecting his thoughts because Hope put a hand to her mouth and then said, ‘Sorry, that’s TMI, forget I said anything. I’ll take my lead from you.’
But now Axel’s head was filled with incendiary images of her cleaving close to him, taking his hand, and suddenly he wasn’t feeling a sense of clammy horror, he was feeling hot.
Then she said, ‘So what happens now?’
He forced ice into his veins. ‘We start preparing you to look the part.’
* * *
‘Am I too pale?’ asked Hope of the friendly stylist who had arrived not long after that meeting with Axel, laden down with bags. They were in Hope’s bedroom suite, in the dressing-room.
‘No way, pale is in right now.’
Hope figured that, since she had little or no discernible fashion sense, she’d have to take her word for it. She regarded her image in the mirror. She’d wondered if the gold colour might be too garish but now that it was on her, it didn’t look garish at all. It looked…spectacular.
The dress was silk and had a halter-neck design. The bodice was slightly loose to the waist and then it came in above her hips before falling in folds to the floor. She felt naked. She wasn’t wearing a bra and her entire back was bare.
‘Put on these shoes.’
Hope slipped on a pair of gold high-heel sandals. The dress still pooled around her feet.
‘I’m too short,’ she said.
‘It’s not a problem. I’ll have the dress altered and waiting for you with the shoes and accessories. I believe you’re going to Paris?’
Was she? Hope struggled to remember what Axel had said.
‘Um, yes, I think so.’ God, she must sound so clueless.
She’d only been in this realm for a few hours and she was already losing the ability to retain information.
But she was still reeling from that meeting, and the contract and the NDA and the way Axel had rattled off the places they would go within just the next couple of weeks.
‘I’ll be back here tomorrow for a more thorough fitting. This was just to get you something for this evening. Now that we’ve met I have a better idea of what will suit you. You can take off the dress.’
Hope changed back into her own clothes and just as the stylist left, the housekeeper appeared and said, ‘The car is waiting for you.’
Hope looked at her blankly. ‘Car?’
‘To take you to the salon.’
Hope clamped her mouth shut to avoid sounding like a parrot. Apparently this was all part of the preparation and she should just go along with it. The car whisked her to a salon not far from Axel’s house. She probably could have walked it but she had a sense that that might be frowned upon.
Once inside the plush and hushed interior, Hope was massaged, had a facial and was waxed and buffed until she felt as if she might start squeaking, she was so clean. And limp with relaxation.
Back at the house, there was no sign of Axel.
She ate a beautifully prepared late lunch on the terrace outside the dining-room, overlooking the gardens.
It was so quiet and peaceful. A different world.
She hated to admit it, but she couldn’t help feeling…
lonely, when usually she didn’t mind being alone.
For as long as she could remember, Hope had rarely had her own space.
She had been adopted as a baby, but her adoptive mother had sadly died not long afterwards and the father hadn’t felt capable of dealing with a baby on his own so he’d handed her back.
As if she were just a parcel. So she’d been in the system until she’d come of age and those foster homes had been loud and busy, full of other foster kids or the biological family.
The homes with biological children of the parents had been some of the hardest because the kids had resented the attention being taken off them, and Hope had found it far too poignant to witness a real family up close.
So, she should be relishing this moment of rare peace all to herself and a chance to get her breath back, but she couldn’t stop her mind straying to the most enigmatic person she’d ever met.
Axel Drakos. And the most disturbing. And it was even more disturbing to think that she barely knew him but already his absence made her feel alone.
No man had ever made Hope feel aware of herself in a sexual way. She was still a virgin. Even though she was a friendly and open person, she’d always held something of herself back from people.
She’d gone out with a couple of guys but she’d never revealed herself to them fully.
Oh, she found it easy enough to talk about her past but she’d never told them about the deep inner wound of abandonment she carried.
And when they’d tried to entice her into bed, she’d found herself shutting down and pulling back.
Terrified that she would open herself up to them fully only to have them leave her behind.
But when she’d first looked at Axel only a day ago and had felt that zing of electricity, none of that had concerned her. She’d been overcome with fascination for this other-worldly creature, drowning out all other noise.
She told herself now that anyone with a pulse would have reacted the same way as her.
It was simply unavoidable. She assured herself that it wasn’t as if she had anything to worry about—he wasn’t going to let her forget that he was her boss and this was just a job.
Not after signing that contract earlier, specifically to avoid any confusion or potential entanglement.
And all she had to do was play her part.
Spurred by a desire to learn more, Hope pulled out her phone and put his name into the search engine.
A slew of words jumped out at her: One of the richest men in the world… Drakos Solutions scion takes over…famously private…ruthless… Greek dynasty…still single.
And then there were pictures of him with women but rarely the same woman more than twice.
They were all elegant and sleek in a way that Hope knew she could never be.
Not after a hundred hours in a spa. Her hair was too untameable and she was too short.
They wouldn’t need dresses taken up at the last minute. She frowned.
‘Sorry I couldn’t join you for lunch. I had to take a call.’
Hope’s head snapped up to find the object of her curiosity standing in front of her. She had to crane her neck. He had taken the waistcoat off and his tie was gone, top button open, sleeves rolled back. For some reason Hope felt herself flush, as if she were seeing him half naked.
She sat up straighter. ‘Um, that’s OK. I wasn’t expecting you to join me.’
His eyes flicked down to her phone, which was in her hand face up, full of pictures of him. She gulped. ‘Sorry, I was curious to know more.’
‘And? Did you find much?’
There was a tinge of something to his voice, an edge, a weariness. She said, ‘Not really. Just that you’re about as intimidating as I thought. And apparently ruthless.’
‘Does that bother you?’
She bit her lip. ‘I guess I’ve already seen that in action with how quickly you recruited me.’
‘That was hardly ruthless.’
‘No, but it was pretty laser-focused. But I’m also wondering if you’re really sure about this… I’m not like any of these other women.’
‘That’s precisely why you’re perfect.’
Hope was wry. ‘Thanks… I think?’
‘I told you, I don’t need someone who’ll get the wrong idea or who’ll try to foster a deeper intimacy.’
‘You just need a convenient companion. Got it. Well, if you’re sure, on your head be it. I’ll keep my mouth zipped and try not to embarrass you.’