Powerful Persuasion. Margaret Mayo
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old lady held out her hands and Celena took them and was given a kiss on each cheek. ‘Luciano has chosen well,’ she said, smiling happily. ‘Everyone is very anxious to meet you.’
‘But I’m not who you—’ Celena began, anxious to set the matter straight. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Luciano stiffen, but she did not care. It was wrong of him to deceive his great-grandmother. Why couldn’t he tell her the truth, for heaven’s sake? But the old woman totally ignored Celena’s attempt to speak.
‘He has told you, I expect, that he is my eldest and most favourite great-grandchild?’
‘Yes,’ she admitted huskily. ‘But I really must—’
‘He has disappointed me, however, by not getting married before now. Thirty-seven!’ She tutted as though scandalised. ‘My own husband was twenty-two when I married him; I was twenty. When he was Luciano’s age our eldest was already fourteen, and we had three other children besides. How old are you, Celena?’
Twenty-eight,’ she answered reluctantly. It was quite obvious that she was not going to be given the chance to speak.
Again the old woman tutted. ‘You people today, what is wrong with you? Where is all the love and romance gone? You work, work, work. You spend all your lives working instead of bringing up a family. I do not understand.’
‘Things have changed, Bisnonna,’ said Luciano.
The woman spread her hands expansively. ‘Maybe, but I do not like it. I do not approve. At least now you have come to your senses and you have chosen a beautiful girl. Leave us alone, Luciano; I would like to talk with her.’
‘Not now, Bisnonna,’ he said soothingly, much to Celena’s dismay. It would have been the ideal opportunity to tell this quite remarkable old lady exactly who she was. ‘We were up early; we’ve had a busy day; Celena needs to rest.’
‘Then later,’ announced the woman regally.
Once outside the room Celena turned furiously on Luciano. ‘What sort of game are you playing, letting your great-grandmother think that I am your girlfriend?’
‘It is just a little deception,’ he answered easily—too easily, Celena thought. ‘It will do no harm.’
‘I don’t agree,’ she retorted. ‘The woman is in her element. How is she going to feel when she discovers that I’m nothing more than an employee? She looks so frail and ill that the shock will probably kill her.’
‘Then perhaps we should say nothing.’
Celena’s heart gave a warning thud and she looked at him warily. ‘I trust you’re not serious.’
‘Perfectly,’ he announced.
She shook her head. ‘This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. I will not be a part of it; I insist that you tell her, right now.’
‘I cannot do that, Celena.’ His brown eyes were steady on hers.
‘Then I will tell her myself,’ she declared firmly, and took a step back towards the door.
‘Oh, no, you won’t.’ Luciano grasped her arm and forcibly led her away from his great-grandmother’s apartment, and he did not stop until he reached the privacy of a book-filled study on the ground floor. There he sat her down on a burgundy leather chesterfield and his expression was utterly ruthless as he stood over her. ‘I want my whole family to accept that you are my girlfriend.’
Celena stilled. ‘This isn’t accidental, is it?’ she asked in a frozen whisper. ‘You’ve set me up. The job was nothing more than a decoy.’ She had expected something, had known he would not pay her such a high salary for nothing—but she had certainly never anticipated being put into such an uncomfortable and undesirable position.
‘I wouldn’t exactly say that,’ he said, still with the same implacable expression on his face. ‘You’re already an asset to the team—a very valuable asset. This is just some little thing I want you to do for me.’
‘Little?’ she queried tartly. ‘I don’t call living a lie a little thing. It’s outrageous; I absolutely refuse.’
‘You would hurt my great-grandmamma?’ he asked, and managed to sound astonished. ‘As you said yourself, the shock of discovering what I am trying to do would very likely finish her off. It was purely to make an old woman very happy that I came up with this idea.
‘But why me?’ she asked tightly.
‘Because—’ he sat down beside her and attempted to take her hands into his, but Celena snatched angrily away ‘—because of your likeness to Simone,’ he said. ‘It’s uncanny.’
‘The girl in the photograph?’
‘Yes.’
‘The girl you didn’t want to talk about?’
‘The very same.’
‘I think I deserve an explanation,’ said Celena, her chin high, her eyes cold.
He was quiet for a moment and then said softly, ‘Six months ago I thought I was in love with Simone; she was everything I wanted in a woman—beautiful, kind, loving. I’d had girlfriends on and off over the years, naturally, but Simone was someone special.’
‘So what happened?’
His eyes turned black—deep, empty pits that echoed a pain he kept deep in his heart. ‘I slowly began to realise that I was wrong about her, that she was shallow and selfish and nothing like the girl I’d imagined her to be. But it was not until she ditched me for a man even richer than myself—an older man—much older—’ his lips twisted in disgust ‘—that I knew I’d been conned. She was yet another fortune-hunter—and I’ve had my fair share of those. A very clever one, a very talented lady. It certainly taught me a thing or two. I shall most definitely never fall in love again. I intend to remain a bachelor to the end of my days.’
‘You had a rough time,’ agreed Celena, privately thinking that he must have been a fool not to see through this woman, ‘but I still don’t understand why I should masquerade as Simone. What’s wrong with telling your family the truth?’
‘Because,’ he said slowly, ‘they are expecting you.’
‘EXPECTING me?’ squeaked Celena. ‘I don’t understand.’
Luciano’s mouth twisted wryly. ‘I’d already told them I’d met a wonderful girl, and obviously they expected me to bring her on this visit. I couldn’t possibly let my bisnonna down. She has been so excited ever since she found out that there was finally someone serious in my life.’
He must love his great-grandmother very dearly, thought Celena, to want to carry out this charade, and found it a surprising side to his character—one she had not expected. She warmed to him a little but was still not sure that she wanted to be a part of his devious plot.
‘I can’t see it working,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘They will surely sense that there is no love between us.’
‘I’m expecting you to put on an act.’ His voice went an octave lower, his brown eyes locking with hers, and triggered her senses in a way no one else had. Not even Andrew had managed to arouse her just by the tone of his voice.
‘I couldn’t; I couldn’t do that,’ she told him breathlessly.
‘Am I repulsive to you?’ It was a sudden, animal growl, attacking her defences, sending her whole body into panic.
‘No.’ Her answer came out as a yelp and she swallowed and tried again. ‘No, you’re not, but—we’re strangers—we—I—couldn’t possibly—’ And