After a few bites and a sip of wine, she said, ‘If the documents are in your mother’s home and she’s not the person who’s hidden them, why don’t you just go over to the villa and look for them instead of all this deception?’
‘That is not possible.’
‘Why not? Just pop over one afternoon on your private jet. It’s not hard.’
Something that sounded remarkably similar to laughter escaped his mouth. Similar to laughter but too cutting to be real.
‘What’s so funny?’
‘You’ll understand when you meet Celeste. Trust me, she’s not someone you drop in on.’
‘I drop in on my mum all the time.’
‘Celeste is not like a normal mother. Our appointments are made by her staff.’
It took a beat for her to understand what he meant. ‘You have to make an appointment to see your own mother?’
He inclined his head as if this were perfectly normal.
Trying very hard not to let her mouth drop open, she murmured, ‘This sounds like something out of a soap opera.’
Damián’s fingers tightened around his fork but he tilted his head in the manner of a man whispering sweet nothings to his lover. ‘I assure you, this is no soap opera. This is my life and unless I find those documents my life as it stands is over and everything I’ve spent my life working for will be taken from me.’
‘How?’
‘That isn’t relevant.’
‘Of course it is. You’re dragging me into it. How do I know the documents you’re searching for aren’t actually proof of something illegal you want to cover up?’
‘Criminal acts are your speciality, not mine.’
Her indignation at this was immediate, and it must have shown on her face for he covered her hand again and pressed his fingers into her skin. ‘Soft and loving, Mia. Do not forget we are being watched.’
Swallowing her feelings back, she rested her chin on the hand not being held by his and gazed adoringly at him. ‘You say criminal acts are not your speciality and yet the only reason I’m here is because you’ve blackmailed me.’
Damián stilled and narrowed his eyes at this heinous slur. ‘I haven’t blackmailed you.’
Anger flared from the bright blue eyes gazing into his but her voice kept its sweet modulation. ‘Yes, you have.’
‘No, mi vida, I have not.’
‘You said that if I walked away you didn’t want to ruin me through petty spite. That sounded like a threat.’
‘If you interpreted that as a threat then that’s on you.’
‘“I don’t want to ruin you.” That’s what you said. That implies you would ruin me but the fault would be mine for walking away.’
Damián found himself fighting his own swell of anger. As someone used to his word being taken as gospel, Mia’s cynicism was infuriating, her assertion that he was blackmailing her doubly so.
‘Again, your interpretation of my words is on you,’ he said tightly. ‘If I’d wanted to blackmail you I wouldn’t have bothered with the financial inducement.’
Her gaze continued to hold his speculatively while she chewed her food. There was something about the fire that smouldered behind the speculation that made his blood thicken and stirred his nerve-endings, and he took a large drink of his wine to quell it.
She swallowed, dabbed her lips with her napkin and then bestowed him with a smile that could melt an iceberg as quickly as the fire in her eyes. ‘Then why choose an actress with a sealed criminal record? You must have gone to a heck of a lot of trouble and expense to unearth mine.’
Dios, the evening was not playing out at all as he’d imagined. Mia was playing ball with the role he’d given her but, instead of listening dutifully to the information he relayed, she was arguing the toss on everything.
Trying hard to speak through a jaw intent on clenching at her stubborn disbelief, he forced his mouth to curve into a smile to match hers. ‘Because, mi vida, as I explained earlier, I need an actress without scruples. There is a good chance our search for the documents will involve looking through personal, private spaces. A convicted self-confessed drug dealer does not have scruples...’ He enjoyed the flash of anger this reminder of her criminality clearly provoked. ‘But that was only one of my requirements. I need someone who can fit into my world without anyone looking twice. Look at you now—one new outfit and already you look the part. But you have intelligence too, although I think you need to keep a lid on the overactive part of your imagination. The job requires someone with a sharp brain. There are times, I’m sure, when you will need to think on your feet. On top of that, I needed an actress who was unknown but talented. You were one of only a handful who fit all the criteria.’
She laughed. Anyone listening would believe it genuine. Only Damián heard the bite behind it. ‘The unknown part is obviously accurate but what makes you think I’m talented?’
‘I watched your performance last night.’
Her mouth dropped open. After all their verbal jousting, it was hugely entertaining to see her suddenly lost for words.
It took a few attempts for her to croak, ‘You were there?’
‘I needed to see with my own eyes whether you were good enough to pull this off.’ He covered her hand again. Adopting a caressing tone, he said, ‘Seeing you on that stage was the moment I fell in love with you, mi vida.’
Mia shook her head in disbelief. ‘You should be on the stage.’
Damián smiled. ‘Believe me, the weekend at my mother’s is too important for either of us to give anything less than a convincing performance.’
CHAPTER THREE
AS SOON AS they were in the back of Damián’s car Mia pressed herself against the door to keep maximum physical distance from him. After three hours of locked eyes and hand-holding it was disconcerting to find her eyes wanted to stare some more and her fingers felt all tingly...everything felt tingly.
Resting her cheek against the window to cool her overheated skin, she rubbed her lips with her thumb and tried hard to tune him out. Her brain was too overloaded to cope with anything else that day.
Strangely enough, the thing playing on her mind the most out of everything was Damián’s indifference towards his family. It was an indifference she guessed was reciprocated. Who called their mother by their first name? How utterly alien was that? And what kind of mother only saw her children if they made an appointment through her staff? That wasn’t just alien. That was... She couldn’t think of the word to describe how mind-blowing she found it, but figured it explained a lot about his icy persona.