“When our engagement ends, you can keep the ring as part of your compensation package.”
“When,” she repeated.
“It won’t last, Larkin,” he warned. “Whatever we felt tonight is simple desire. And simple desire disappears, given time.”
“That’s a rather cynical viewpoint.” She made the comment in a neutral tone of voice, but he could hear the tart edge to it.
“I’m a cynical sort of guy. Blame it on the fact that I’ve been there, done that.”
“Maybe you were doing it with the wrong woman.”
“No question about that.”
“Maybe with the right woman—”
“You, for instance?” He pulled to the curb in front of an aging apartment building and threw the car into Park. “Is that what you’re hoping, Larkin?”
“No, of course not,” she instantly denied. “I just thought…”
He wasn’t paying her to think. He almost said the bitter words aloud, biting them back at the last instant. He wasn’t normally an unkind person and she didn’t deserve having him dump the remnants of his marital history on her, even if the subject of Leigh brought out the worst in him.
Nor would it pay to alienate her. Not now that he’d introduced her to his grandparents. If she chose to pack up and disappear into the night… He hesitated. Would it make any difference? Would his family believe he’d found his Inferno match and lost her, all in one night? Or would they think he’d concocted the story…or worse, that it hadn’t been The Inferno that he’d experienced, but a nasty case of lust?
No, better to stick to the plan. Better to allow his family to come to the conclusion over the next few months that he’d experienced The Inferno. Then Larkin could dump him and his family would finally, finally leave him alone to get on with his life. Until then, he would do whatever it took so that his Inferno bride-to-be stuck to the game plan.
“What are you thinking?” Her soft voice broke the silence.
“Tomorrow is Saturday. Since you’ve been fired from your job, I assume you have the day off?”
She hesitated. “I really should be looking for a new job.”
“You have a new job,” he reminded her. “You’re working for me now, remember?”
“A real job,” she clarified.
Didn’t she get it? “This is a real job and it’s one that’s going to take up every minute of your time, starting tomorrow.”
A dingy glow from the windows of Larkin’s apartment building illuminated her face, highlighting her apprehension. “What happens tomorrow?”
“I formally introduce you to some more of my family.”
“Rafe…” She shook her head. “Seriously. I can’t do this.”
He reached out and took her hand in his. The tingling throb surged to life, intensifying the instant their palms came into contact. “This is real. All I’m asking you to do is help me figure out what it is. If my family is right and it’s The Inferno, then we’ll decide how to deal with it.”
“And if it’s not?”
He shrugged. “No harm done. Our mistake. We go our separate ways. You’ll be compensated for the time I’ve taken away from your search for your mystery man. And I have the added benefit of being left the hell alone.”
“Is that what you really want?” He could see her concern deepen. “Is that what she did to you? She turned you into the Lone Wolf the scandal sheets call you?”
“It’s who I am. It’s what I want.” He refused to admit that Leigh had played any part in his current needs. She didn’t have that sort of power over him. Not anymore. “And it’s what I intend to get.”
Larkin gave it another moment’s thought and then nodded. “Okay, I’ll do it, if only to see if I can mitigate some of the damage done by your late wife.” He opened his mouth to argue, but she plowed onward. “But it’s just until we know for certain whether or not it’s The Inferno.”
If the only way she’d agree to his plan was by turning it into some sort of “good deed,” he supposed he could live with that. And who knew? Maybe it would work. Stranger things had happened. “Fair enough.” He exited the car and circled around to the passenger side. “I’ll see you in.”