“Absolutelynot.”
“Why did you interview me like this, forajob?”
“What people are like on paper and in person can be very different. I wanted an escape clause, but now that I’ve met you I see you are exactly what Iexpected.”
Her body stirred, but she deferred giving her answer. "I don’t want to read every day that you're sleepingaround."
She doubted a contract meant he’d be faithful, which was another reason to run out of this room. Public ridicule was not her forte.Run,rightnow.
"Discretion is a necessary component in my life and I'd never publicly humiliate myfamily."
Raised with old-fashioned values on a Kansas farm, her parents hadn’t loved one another. Kristin had vivid memories of sitting at the kitchen table when neither of them spoke a word to each other directly, using her as a go-between to pass the butter. They’d stayed together because they’d made a promise to God, and not because they werehappy.
Every silent day slowlykilledthem.
After their deaths, she’d sold the farm and moved to the city, betraying those values. She yearned for a different life, filled with hope, but if she went and married Antonio, for wealth and security rather than working for it, there would be no redemption for her from heavenabove.
Now it was time to ask the ultimate question. Each second dragged. She stared into his brown eyes, noting his regal nose and thick, dark hair. To be in his arms might be like tasting heaven itself—she couldn’t let attraction rule her. She folded her hands over her knee to maintain control. Perhaps he meant that she’d go to a doctor for insemination? Anything was possible. "Would these children be created from ourunion?"
He leaned close and she got a hint of almond and testosterone. "Union is a nice way of talkingaboutsex."
She blinked, her body warming as she imagined them in bed. "Sex isimportant."
As if he hadn’t expected her to agree, he sat back—breaking the spell. "Yes it is, and yes, it would be included in the contract." He then pointed to the paper in her hand. "Attraction is not love. I want that made clear. This will not be a lovematch."
Secretary, wife, or go back to her desk job where nothing ever happened. Kristin tucked the strand of her French twist that had fallen out of the clip behind her ear. "How many other women have you offeredthisto?"
He pulled out another piece of paper from the folder. "I put the ad for a secretary out world-wide. Then I had all-inclusive background checks done on every applicant. You are my first and only choice at themoment."
She was the only? Seriously? She wasn't royal; her parents had been farmers. She had no family. She didn't know anyone important who could help him insociety.
Kristin realized that made her perfect for a serial killer to stalk, not a prince tomarry. "Why?"
He studied her paperwork. "Because, Kristin, you’re smart, you have no family to tie you down, your only trusted friend is your roommate, Renee. You’re in debt for over $100,000 in student loans, you owe $15,000 for your car and $200,000 for your condo. My offer means you can pay these off in less than three years without racking up more debt and since you’ve worked from the age of eight years old for your father in the stables, you understand a job isajob."
It really did come down to dollars and cents. He’d read her application and her problems in life like a spreadsheet. She adjusted her eyeglasses and focused on him. "So, I could have beenanyone?"
He raised two fingers on his right hand as a “no” gesture. "You are also attractive. That was a requirementforme."
Reconstructive surgery in the contract should have given that away her brain shouted, but her heart whispered that she was overly cynical and that the man adored on multiple continents for his charm and good looks thought she was pretty. She was sure she blushed. "Twothings."
He leaned forward and put his handstogether. "What?"
Her fingers trembled as she picked up the contract from the desk. "I'll need twenty-four hours todecide."
"Fair enough.Andtwo?"
This one was for her silly heart. She had to know, if they were going to share a bed, a life, the truth. If there was nothing, no spark, she couldn’t go through with it. She stood and Antonio stood with her. The contract fell onto her chair, but her hands shook too much to even try to pick it up. She pushed her hair out of her face and then said, "I'll need you to kiss me now. If I don’t feel anything then this willneverwork."
The guttural sound he made from his throat told her he approved and he wrapped his hands around her waist. Her body felt warm as butter melting on a summer day. Her eyelids fluttered as she waited for his touch. He said, "We're clear that our union is business andnotlove?"
She opened her eyes and met his. She had always sworn she could take care of herself and wouldn’t marry someone she couldn’t respect enough to talk to everyday. Love wasn’t a factor. "Abundantly."
Closing her eyes again, she felt his lips inches from her mouth. "Thenhere..."
His kiss set her heart soaring. She held onto his shoulders to stay steady, but her foot lifted off the ground as if she might float away. His lips crushed hers in a soul-searching sweep of passion and she joined him in some place that must be heaven itself. No boy had ever come close tothatkiss.
Once his lips left hers, Kristin used the desk behind her to hold herselfupright.
