The Problem with Seduction - By Emma Locke Page 0,33
I lo—how devoted I was to him. He even tried to prove I’m still attracted to him.”
Con’s eyes narrowed. In jealousy? As ridiculous as that seemed, he couldn’t help but wonder what Finn had done to her. Where he had touched her. Or when. “Are you?”
Blast, but he even sounded jealous.
Her answering recoil gave him immense satisfaction. “No! I hate him for what he’s done to me.”
That did simplify the situation, even if he took his burgeoning jealousy out of the equation. If she’d had latent feeling for the father of her child, Con wouldn’t have wanted to interfere in their lovers’ spat.
But since her antipathy toward Finn was palpable, Con’s inquisitiveness when it came to her was equally pricked. That surprised him. He hadn’t expected to become so interested in learning her story.
Ah, but he wouldn’t pry. He must be patient. A virtue he’d mastered dealing with his twin. Her past should be something she decided to share with him, once he’d earned her trust.
Why did he need to earn her trust?
He raised his wine to his lips and finished off the glass. The fact was, he had a soft spot for a dark horse. He set his wineglass firmly on the table. “Be my mistress. That will resolve any concern Finn has that we didn’t actually spend the night together. We’ll do our best to appear smitten; the rest of the world will believe it and Finn will look dotty for saying otherwise.”
She pressed her lips together, looking doubtful.
“You’re my ‘mistress’ tonight, and it’s not so bad, is it?” Con smiled reassuringly, feeling as though he were putting on the performance of his life. “We can continue on like this. An arrangement in word only. I can’t afford your services and even if I could, that would be a deuced awkward arrangement.”
Her puzzlement deepened. “You think it would be odd for us to—”
“Don’t even say it.” God, please don’t say it. “While I find you very attractive, I feel strangely friendly toward you. I don’t know how it’s been in your experience, but I can’t think that’s a usual sort of arrangement between a man and his paramour. How would we undress in front of each other?”
She looked at him as if he’d gone daft. Earlier when she’d teased him, she’d sent him suggestive looks. Now he was left in no doubt that had been an act. Not that he cared if she’d been playing a role, since they were just friends from now until forever. Platonic, asexual friends.
What was he thinking?
“You should take up the townhouse again,” he continued, as if his mind weren’t racing with all the many ways he was setting himself up for a lifetime of ball-crushing pain. “I assume you can afford it? Then I can see Oliver from time to time, and my mother may, too.”
Elizabeth frowned, considering. “I never thought that you would have people in your life who would take an interest in us. Now, it seems, they are all involved.”
His family was a fixture in his life that he’d taken for granted. He felt a touch of sadness for her lack of close family. What would it be like to be that alone?
“They are,” he said firmly. “They will always be. And they must never know. Mine is the best sort of mother. I can’t tell her I lied to her. I must continue on as if Oliver is truly my child, if only so she will never have a chance to be disappointed in me.”
He had a reasonably good idea why Elizabeth was still regarding him as if he were babbling nonsense. He’d met her parents, after all.
“Your relationship with your family is incomprehensible to me,” she said, confirming his suspicion that she truly didn’t understand why he didn’t want to hurt his mother. “I suppose of the two of us, you are of a healthier mind when it comes to family matters.” She appeared to think it over. He tried not to look too hopeful.
“Very well,” she said at length. “I will set up as your mistress under three conditions. The first is that you keep your word that you won’t try to seduce me. The second is that you allow me to compensate you for your time with Oliver, as if you were his governess or tutor.”
“No,” Con said firmly.
She silenced him with a slashing motion. “No matter how much you argue otherwise, this was a business arrangement intended to last only the time it took