A Hint of Scandal. Tara Pammi

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СКАЧАТЬ temple stretched taut, as if they would snap at any minute. He pointed her toward the phone on the wall.

      With a cheer, she plucked it from the wall and rattled away in French, ordering enough food to feed an army.

      He threw her cell phone onto the glass table in between them, along with the giant metallic silver handbag he’d picked up from Kim’s suite. “Call her.”

      Her eyebrows shot into to her hairline, her molten gaze looking daggers at him. “You went through my things?”

      “You stood next to me and pledged to be my wife.” He smiled, despite the fact that the situation was slipping out of his control. “Life’s a crapshoot.”

      She tucked the phone into her bag, a frown on her face. “Didn’t you see the calls I’ve been making every fifteen minutes? She’s not picking up.”

      “Then we’ll go find her. Tell me where she is.”

      For the first time this evening she looked anxious. “I don’t know. I think she wanted to postpone the wedding but didn’t know how to tell you.”

      She folded her hands and leaned against the gleaming marble counter, a little frown furrowing her brow. He followed her glance to the floor-to-ceiling glass doors leading to the beach and the silence he had always cherished was suffused with tension.

      “I don’t think she left the island. She said she would be back by now.”

      “You think this a joke?” He hated the spiraling tension he could feel in himself. He needed to get control of this situation, and if that meant dealing with someone who didn’t have a responsible bone in her body, so be it. “Why would Kim walk out at the last minute if it wasn’t to deal with whatever mess you’ve gotten yourself into this time?”

      Olivia glared at him. “Do you think anything in the world would tempt me to spend time with you other than for my sister? Whether you believe me or not, I did it because Kim asked me to. Now, if you’re done blaming me for helping you, I would like to get out of here.”

      “You can’t leave.” His face settled into a mocking smile. “Even if that sounds very unappreciative of me after all your help.”

      Sarcastic jerk. “Listen, Alexander. All Kim said was that she couldn’t marry you today. God knows why.”

      Olivia felt a tightness around her chest. Her sister hadn’t confided in her. Kim had always been the rock between the two of them. It didn’t bode well that she’d had to leave on the day of her own wedding. That was just not...Kim. Fear for her safety began a rapid tattoo inside Olivia’s head. Where was she?

      “But she still wants you. I mean, she persuaded me into this deception precisely because she didn’t want to lose you—as she put it.”

      He didn’t bat an eyelid. “If there had been a problem Kim would have come to me—not gone through some elaborate deception and roped you in, of all people.”

      Meaning he had a special dose of contempt reserved just for her? She let his comment pass by, even though his prejudice pricked her. She was used to it now. She was, truly. Yet it still shocked her that people judged her based on her history before spending even an hour with her.

      “So, if she had come to you and said that she couldn’t marry you tonight it would have been okay? Because she said you would hate even a hint of scandal.” She should stop there, the oh-so-small sensible part of her warned her. But she had left that part behind years ago. “Not that it really is scandalous to postpone a wedding.”

      “You slapped my friend at my engagement party and made a spectacle of yourself. A man with whom you broke a business contract after he had been decent enough to hire you.”

      His lush lower lip tapered into a stiff line, hardness entering his blue gaze, and she braced herself.

      “Even the word broke is too professional for your conduct, because you simply upped and left one day, didn’t you? Nothing is scandalous enough for you, Olivia.”

      It wasn’t anything she hadn’t heard before. But his scornful words lanced through her and found a vulnerable spot, leaving her shaken to the core.

      “Assuming you’re telling the truth, if Kim had talked to me I would have been married to her—instead of arguing about what constitutes a scandal with you.”

      Olivia took a deep breath, trying hard to suppress the fury rising through her. This wasn’t her fight. She couldn’t and she didn’t care what he thought of her. She had done what her sister had asked her to do. Still, his arrogant assumption that Kim would have gone through with the wedding rankled. Didn’t he care about Kim’s feelings?

      Obviously he didn’t. Appearances were everything to Alexander King. Even the knowledge that she was in his life for no more than a day couldn’t dispel his distaste. And her twin was planning to spend her life with him. She couldn’t let him get to her.

      “But she didn’t talk to you. My sister asked me for help and I stepped in. And I look forward to the moment when you know the truth and will grovel at my feet for forgiveness.”

      Hell would freeze over before Alexander King groveled at her feet. She knew that. But a girl needed her wild fantasies to keep going. It was right up there with making out with Johnny Depp and being able to survive on strawberry martinis. It was better that he’d found her out. She didn’t have to pretend to be Kim anymore and could go back to her own life. Far away from make-one-mistake-and-I’ll-cut-you-out Alexander King.

      “So really there’s no reason for you and me to stick it out here.”

      She would have been less shaken by a display of temper in response. But the absolute silence that met her declaration made the hairs on her neck stand up. His broad shoulders blocked everything else. The hint of stubble on his jaw gave him a roguish look. The folded cuffs of his white shirt displayed strong forearms. Her throat dry, she stared back, waiting.

      She steeled herself for some scathing remark, but could do nothing about the awareness spreading through her limbs as he loomed over her. He smelled like dark chocolate wrapped in decadent male arousal. If she could bottle the scent she’d be able to sell it without writing a slogan for it. One whiff and women of all ages would be falling over themselves for it.

      His finger flicked the tip of her nose, his blue gaze glittering with dark amusement. “You’re not suggesting I go on our honeymoon by myself, are you?”

      Her smile faltered on her lips, her gut dropping through an endless fall. “You can’t be serious,” she murmured. His posture screamed unyielding determination, confirming her worst fear. “There’s no need. Kim will be back.”

      “Then you better start hoping she’s here tomorrow morning.”

      She gripped the counter behind her. “I can’t go anywhere with you. We hate each other, remember?”

      He laughed, the rippling sound of it surrounding her in overwhelming waves. “Yes, but not as much as I hate being front-page fodder for trashy tabloids.”

      “This isn’t funny.” She moved away from the intoxicating scent of the dratted man and opened the calendar on her phone. “I have to do a pitch for our agency in two weeks. I can’t miss it.”

      “Still СКАЧАТЬ