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She broke off sharply, stunned into silence as Lucas grinned broadly, his eyes lighting with a devilish, totally unrepentant gleam that mocked her response for the overreaction it was.

‘Just practising,’ he murmured. ‘You said you wanted someone who could make people think that you are the centre of their universe, the sun in the sky.’

That grin widened, became positively malevolent.

‘And if I can convince you, then I can convince anyone.’

‘Convince-—rs; The word cracked disastrously in the middle as the reality of just what he was saying hit home to her. ‘You—!’

She couldn’t say which was worse, the skill with which he had duped her, or the nagging ache around her heart that told her he had only been able to deceive her so easily because some weak, foolish part of her had actually wanted to believe his extravagant protestations. No, not wanted, she hastily corrected herself, but she had listened to them with more attention than was wise.

Instead of which, every ounce of common sense, every trace of self-preservation she possessed should have screamed at her to reject Lucas’s attentions out of hand After all, she knew it was the type of thing he must do to almost every girl he met, and as such it was the last thing on earth she wanted. But somehow, even as she formed it in her mind, the stern admonition didn’t quite ring true.

‘But your reaction was a little lacking in enthusiasm,’ Lucas persisted, apparently blithely unaware of her withdrawal. ‘You’ll need to be a lot more relaxed, more responsive, if we’re ever to have anyone believing we’re a couple.’

The last word caught on some raw spot in Georgia’s strangely vulnerable heart, tugging at it sharply so that she had to struggle to ignore it.

‘It’s only for a few hours! Just for the party!’

‘A few hours can seem a very long time in the wrong company. And I presume that if this party means travelling to Yorkshire, then it also involves the necessity for an overnight stay. Unless, of course, you plan on doing a Cinderella act and disappearing as soon as the celebrations are over. If we’re going to keep up this farce for a day or so, and put on a performance that appears even halfway credible, then we’ll have to look as if we’re comfortable in each other’s company, as if we’ve been together for some time.’

Once again Georgia’s heart gave that uncomfortable little kick, making her draw in her breath on a sharp, uneven gasp.

‘We have to work on this face to face. So come on, Gia…’

His voice had softened again, becoming huskily cajoling.

‘What harm could dinner do?’

Shockingly, disturbingly, it seemed that gentleness could break through her defences more swiftly and easily than any more forceful approach. Georgia found herself considering both his question and the invitation behind it with unexpected seriousness.

‘I—’

But somehow the act of opening her mouth, of forming the single syllable managed to shake her out of the sense of weakness to which she had almost succumbed. Not for nothing had Lucas reminded her of her father, she reflected bitterly. Like her parent in her childhood, and others since, he wanted it all his own way, and to hell with anyone else.

She wasn’t going to be bulldozed into doing as he wanted! She wouldn’t let him take charge in this way, wouldn’t surrender control to him. If she did then he would take over completely, make her play by his rules, and that was not how she wanted things to be at all.

‘No,’ she said firmly, feeling as if she had just taken a hasty step backwards from a carefully baited trap over which her unwary foot had been hovering. ‘I told you, I want no personal involvement in any of this. It’s strictly business, and nothing more.’

Her sharp tone had Lucas’s grey eyes narrowing dangerously, the muscles in the forceful jaw drawing tight around his mouth and thinning it to a hard, slashing line.

‘Strictly business,’ he snapped. ‘Fine. But even in my business deals I try to give the best I can, and to do that I’ll need to know all the facts. If you can’t-’

Abruptly he broke off, shaking his dark head before swinging away from her, looking round for his discarded jacket.

‘No, this isn’t going to work,’ he told her, snatching the expensive garment up from the chair on which it lay and pulling it on, the controlled force of his movements betraying his mood and the difficulty he was having in keeping his anger at her prevarication in check. ‘It’s been a mistake from the start, so let’s just call the whole thing off before we make matters worse. We’ll say goodbye now and put it down to experience.’

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