An Invitation to Sin(29)

‘I’ve already told you I don’t need an acting lesson.’

She ignored that. ‘The best way to convincingly play emotion is to conjure up the feeling. So if I’m playing someone sad, I try and remember a time when I was sad.’

‘I’ve never been engaged so I can’t conjure up the horror that went with it.’

‘Very funny, but not helpful. Tonight you have to look as if I’m the only woman in the world for you. Is there any chance you can do that?’

‘Are all the other women in the world dead? I suppose if that were the case, I might be relieved to be shackled to you. You’re not bad once you’re fed.’

Taylor clenched her jaw. ‘This is a nightmare. You are never going to be able to act as if you’re engaged. It isn’t in your nature.’

‘Watch me prove you wrong. I can act. I can dredge emotions from deep inside me or wherever it is emotions are stored. You want happiness, right? I can do happiness as long as I’m not expected to associate it with relationships.’

Taylor breathed slowly. ‘All right, let’s try this another way. What is the happiest moment you can remember?’

He didn’t hesitate. ‘The day they delivered my Ferrari.’

‘Fine! Tonight, you are going to look at me as if I’m your Ferrari.’

‘Do I get to put your top down?’

‘You are infuriating!’ So why did she want to laugh? ‘This was such a bad idea. You’ll blow it and this will be the shortest engagement on record.’

‘I am not going to blow it. I love my Ferrari. I love my Ferrari.’ He muttered the words under his breath and shot her a glance. ‘Perhaps I’d better dress you in red, just so that there’s a similarity.’

Taylor shook her head in despair. ‘And on that note, I have to go back to my hotel. I can’t go out to dinner in the same clothes I’ve been wearing all day, and anyway, if we’re going to stay here I need to pack up my things and move them here.’

‘One of the advantages of being engaged to the head of a fashion house is that clothes aren’t a problem.’ He sent a quick message on his phone. ‘If we’re going to be seen together, you might as well showcase something from Corretti.’

‘So now you’re using me for free publicity?’

‘Of course I’m using you. That’s what this is all about. I’m using you. You’re using me.’

Of course I’m using you.

Taylor ignored the uneasy feeling in her stomach. She told herself this was different. Yes, she’d been used before but Luca was right—this time she was using him too.

And that made this different from all the times people had used her before.





CHAPTER FIVE



LUCA DREW UP in a no-parking zone in front of the pretty waterside restaurant.

‘You can’t park here.’ Taylor turned her head, the sun glinting on her sleek, shiny hair. She’d twisted it skilfully into an elaborate confection on the back of her head and fastened it with a jewelled pin that made her look very much the movie star. ‘It says no parking.’

‘Do you always obey rules?’ The artist in Luca admired the perfect lines of her jaw and cheekbones, those beautiful cat-like eyes and the hint of a pout on that kissable mouth. ‘That dress looks good on you.’

‘I know. That’s why I picked it.’ Her cool, confident response threw him.

Raised by a woman who had needed constant reassurance and working in an industry defined by its dedication to narcissism, he was conditioned to offer praise and reassurance. These days it fell from his lips unprompted, but Taylor appeared to have no need for his approval. Presented with a choice of dresses, she’d selected one instantly, without hesitation or consultation. The only help she’d needed from him was fastening the zip.

‘Of course you’d look better out of that dress.’

‘I try not to trigger horrible headlines.’

‘Really? I try and trigger horrible headlines on a daily basis. If I don’t read at least one bad thing about myself every day I take a long look at my behaviour and try harder to be shocking.’

Her response to that was to roll her eyes but he could see she was holding back laughter and he hid his own smile because he didn’t want her to know she made him laugh.

She held everything back, he thought, remembering the way she’d tried to resist the explosive chemistry in the maze. Always up for a challenge, he wondered how hard he’d have to push before that control cracked.