Billionaire, Boss...Bridegroom?. Kate Hardy

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СКАЧАТЬ Hugh walked into the office—clearly not in a good mood, again—and Bella rather wished she hadn’t done a name-card for him after all.

      ‘Ms Faraday—a word?’ It was more of a command than a question, and his expression was completely impassive.

      ‘Yes, Mr Moncrieff,’ she said, and followed him meekly up to his office.

      Even though he didn’t say a word to her on the way up, she had a pretty good idea what this was about. He hadn’t been amused at all by his name-card.

      ‘I’m sorry,’ she said as soon as he closed the door. ‘We were messing about yesterday—’ Then she stopped as she realised how incriminating her words were. ‘Over lunch, that is,’ she said swiftly, hoping that she’d saved the situation. She didn’t want to get her new colleagues into trouble. ‘We were talking about the song title that could be used instead of your name to describe you, and I drew the cards last night at home. It was just a bit of fun and I didn’t mean anything by it.’

      ‘You picked an appropriate one for me,’ he said.

      Though every single day seemed to be Monday, where his mood was concerned. He really wasn’t a morning person. She winced. ‘Sorry. Are you very cross with me?’

      ‘No—and, just for the record, I don’t mind a bit of messing about in the office. It helps creativity, and I know everyone on the team puts the hours in. As long as the job gets done on time and within budget, I don’t actually care how it’s done.’

      ‘Then why did you want to see me?’ Bella asked, now completely mystified. If he wasn’t about to haul her over the coals for unprofessional behaviour, then what?

      ‘Your hair.’

      She frowned. ‘What’s wrong with it?’

      ‘You were blonde, yesterday. Platinum blonde.’

      ‘Ye-es.’ She still didn’t follow.

      ‘And today your hair’s red.’

      A tiny bit brighter red than she’d intended, because she’d been so busy making the name-cards the previous evening that she’d left the dye in for a few minutes longer than she should’ve done, but she liked it. ‘Yes.’ Where was he going with this? ‘Is there a problem with my hair colour?’ she asked carefully.

      ‘No, not at all.’

      She really didn’t understand. ‘Then why did you call me into your office?’

      ‘Do you have a boyfriend?’

      Apart from the fact that you weren’t supposed to answer a question with a question, what did that have to do with anything? She frowned. ‘You’re not supposed to ask me things like that. My relationship status has nothing to do with my job.’

      ‘I know. I’m not asking you as your employer.’

      She caught her breath. Did that mean he was asking her out?

      No, of course not. That was totally ridiculous. Just because she had a secret crush on him, it didn’t mean that her feelings were in any way returned. And in any case her boss was the last man she’d ever date. It would cause way too many problems, and she really couldn’t afford to give up her new job. There was no guarantee that the receivers dealing with her former client would give her any of the money owing to her, because she’d be way down the pecking order in the list of creditors. And, with Kirk having cleaned out their joint bank account so she no longer had any savings to her name, she was stuck. ‘Why do you want to know?’ she asked, trying hard to sound polite rather than aggressive.

      ‘Because I need you to do something for me, and I need to know whether I’m going to have to have a conversation with an overprotective boyfriend first.’

      She was still none the wiser. ‘Now you’ve 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 СКАЧАТЬ