“Never. We never experienced The Inferno. Nor would I have ever wanted to. Not with her.”
Larkin’s mouth dropped open. “Wait a minute—”
He cut in with cold deliberation. “Let me make this easy for you. My wife and I were about to divorce when she died. Any version of The Inferno we might have shared was the more literal, hellish kind, not this fairy tale my family’s dreamed up.”
“When you say you never want to marry again…” she probed delicately.
“It’s because I have no intention of ever experiencing that particular level of hell again.”
“Okay, I understand that.” Considering how well she’d known Leigh, she didn’t blame the poor man. “But that doesn’t explain your need for a temporary fiancée.”
“My family recently discovered that Leigh and I never felt The Inferno toward each other.”
Larkin was quick on the uptake. “And now they’re trying to find the woman who will.”
“Exactly. It’s interfering with every aspect of my life. And since they won’t stop until she’s found, I’ve decided to take care of that for them.”
His smile broadened. It would have turned his stunning good looks into something beyond spectacular if it hadn’t been for the coldness in his green eyes. The smile stopped there, revealing a wintry barrenness that tugged at Larkin’s heart. She’d always had a soft spot for strays and underdogs. In fact, some day she hoped to work full-time for an animal rescue organization. She suspected that for all his wealth and position, and despite the loving support of his large family, Rafe Dante qualified as both a stray and an underdog, which put her heart at serious risk.
“You want to pretend that you’ve experienced this Inferno with me?” she clarified.
“In a nutshell, yes. I want all of my relatives to believe it, too. We’ll become engaged, and then a few months from now, you’ll decide that you can’t marry me. I’m sure I’ll give you ample reasons for calling off our engagement. You dump me and disappear. I, of course, will be heartbroken to have found and lost my Inferno bride. Naturally, my family will be sympathetic and won’t dare throw any more women my way.” He smiled in satisfaction. “End of problem.”
“And why won’t your family throw more women your way?”
“How can they, since you were my one true soul mate?” he pointed out with ruthless logic. “They can’t have it both ways. Either you were my once-in-a-lifetime Inferno match or The Inferno isn’t real. Somehow I suspect that rather than admit that the family legend doesn’t exist, they’ll decide that my one shot at Inferno happiness decided to dump me. I’ll then have no other choice but to continue my poor, lonely, miserable existence never having found matrimonial bliss. A tragedy, to be sure, but I’ll do my best to survive it.”
Larkin shook her head in mock admiration. “A trouper to the end.”
“I try.”
She released her breath in a gusty sigh. “Mr. Dante—”
“Rafe.”
“Rafe. There’s something you should know about me. A couple of things, actually. First, I’m not a very good liar.”
She opened her mouth to explain the second reason, one that would not just put a nail in the coffin of his job offer, but bury that coffin six feet down. He didn’t give her the opportunity, cutting her off with calm determination.
“I noticed that about you earlier. I admire your honesty. In my opinion, it’s the perfect way to convince my relatives that we’re in the throes of The Inferno.”
Her thoughts scattered like leaves before a brisk fall wind. “Excuse me?”
“We’re going to try a little experiment. If it doesn’t work, we’ll forget my plan and I’ll find someone else. I’ll still offer you a job, just a more conventional one.” He eyed her with predatory intent. “But if my experiment works, you agree to my plan.”
“Experiment?” she asked uneasily. “What sort of experiment?”
“First, I want to set up a few parameters.”
“Parameters.”