SUSAN MEIER - The Boss's Fake Fiancée

He nodded, but his gut knotted. Why would she want to keep something from him? What would she want to keep from him? It couldn’t be a criminal record—her record had been clean when he hired her. Which meant she didn’t sell drugs. Or rob banks. Or even have a permit to carry a gun. But maybe she dated losers? Or collected spiders? Or was one of those people who dressed up like a zombie and went to those weird parties—

Maybe he didn’t want to know?

After all, as she’d said, this charade would be over in two weeks. And if he forced the issue, he’d know an ugly detail of her life that he probably shouldn’t know.

When five minutes went by with neither of them saying anything, she pulled out her e-reader.

Trepidation filled him again. She was about to walk into the heart of his family. They would ask her a million questions. Yes, he understood that she could make up answers about their dating and her life, since this whole deal was fake, but—

No buts. She was right. They’d spent a year working together, not getting to know each other. If she had a private life she wanted to keep private, he should just accept that and trust that she could handle this ruse.

He relaxed a bit, settled back in his seat, used the remote to activate the television and nodded off thinking that his assistant had handled every job he’d ever given her. He should trust that whatever she wasn’t telling him it wasn’t relevant to her job—

Except she wanted to leave his employ and she’d never fully explained why.

Damn it! What the hell was up with her?

* * *

The jet landed in Spain a little after one o’clock in the morning, Spain time. The pilot’s announcement woke Lila and she yawned and stretched.

“So much for meeting your family tonight.”

Mitch blew his breath out on a groan that spoke of someone desperately wanting to continue sleeping. “I don’t know how I got so scattered that I forgot about the time difference, but we’ll get to the winery by two. I can show you to your room and you can either go back to sleep or take a shower or something to wake yourself up enough you can adjust to the new time zone.”

She waved her e-reader at him. “Don’t worry about me. I can always entertain myself.”

He smiled tiredly. “Great.”

His unenthusiastic tone sent a little jangle skipping along Lila’s nerve endings. Now that they were on the ground in Spain, near his family, he didn’t seem as convinced about this plan as he had in New York City. And part of that might be her fault. He hadn’t been pleased that she refused to talk about her past. But, really, they’d spent a year together and he’d never once asked her what she’d done over the weekend, let alone chitchatted about her past. So maybe a little part of her had decided to hold back. But she was still right about the ruse. It would be too difficult to explain how a high-powered executive, a charmer with a killer smile and tons of money, would want her. He hadn’t wanted her in a whole year. They were better off to make up an interesting past for her that turned her into a woman who would attract him and keep his interest enough that he’d want to marry her.

They exited the plane and Lila stood by Mitch as they waited for the copilot and limo driver to unload their luggage and pile it into the trunk of a big black car.

Finally finished, the driver opened the back door of the vehicle and greeted Mitch. “Buenas noches.”

Mitch laughed. “Shouldn’t that be buenos días?”

The driver chuckled. “Sí.”

Good day rather than good night.

Lila had to agree with that because it was after midnight, already an hour into the new day, except her body was on New York time. Though she’d had a nap on the plane, a few hours from now when his family was waking, she’d want to go to sleep for real.

Once they were settled on the long, comfortable back seat, Mitch said, “Don’t worry. My family and the entire staff speak English.”

She shrugged. “I toyed around with being a social worker, so I took enough Spanish in college that I’m fluent.”

He frowned. “You thought about being a social worker?”

“Everybody does.” She met his gaze, throwing him a bone with a little personal information since she’d clearly insulted him before when she wouldn’t tell him anything beyond the basics. “Everybody wants to save the world.”

Shaking his head, he said, “Not my family.” He motioned toward the window even though she could see nothing in the dead of night through the darkened glass. “We have a legacy to protect.”

“I think that’s kinda nice. You know—” She lifted one shoulder slightly, trying to be nonchalant, even though she envied him and his casual acceptance of not just having a mom and dad, a brother, a nanna, an aunt and uncle and a cousin, but also a legacy. “A place to belong.”

“Oh, we belong all right. Sometimes I feel like an indentured servant.”

She studied him, confused that he couldn’t see how lucky he was. “Is that why you came to New York?”

“My father released me to more or less follow my dream of setting up a website to sell Ochoa wines online after I caught Alonzo and Julia together. There was no way Dad could have picked sides. Picked one son over the other. Especially since what I’d walked in on was basically Alonzo and Julia’s first kiss. I’d more or less been ignoring her, traveling around Europe, trying to sell wine. So I didn’t have to do a lot of soul-searching to realize I didn’t really love her, and from the way Alonzo protected Julia the next few days, it was clear he did. Allowing me to create and head up Ochoa Online and move it anywhere I wanted, my dad put a positive spin on what could have potentially caused a huge rift in our family.”

“And then you came to New York and you were successful and now it all seems to have had a purpose.”

He tilted his head. “That’s basically how it’s panned out. Except I took it one step further, started the general wine site and headed off in my own direction. Forged my own success. I don’t want this wedding to take the luster off the fact that I stepped away and started my own businesses, any more than I want to have people thinking of me instead of my brother during what should be the happiest time of Alonzo’s life.”

She nodded, totally understanding. But she didn’t want to know too much more or to tell him too much more about herself. That would be a heck of a lot like confiding, a heck of a lot like actually becoming friends, and that was risky to her heart. Not to mention the fact that he might not think highly of a little girl who’d gotten herself sent into foster care and cost her mom a chance to pull herself together and become a good parent.

Worse, while he had told her the stories about himself and Riccardo, she’d pictured him as a devilish little boy and her heartstrings had tugged. So no more confiding. She had to stay strong.

“Oh, I almost forgot.” He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small black velvet ring box.

Her gaze leaped to his.

He smiled as he opened it. “Will you marry me?”

He said it casually, but her breath froze in wonderment. She remembered her first day of working with him, how he’d knocked her for a loop with his good looks and charm, remembered how much she loved that he was strong and smart. She thought of all the things that she imagined she would think about if he were asking her to marry him for real. Her heart lodged in her throat and her chest got so tight she could barely breathe, but she reminded herself this wasn’t real. And that falling into this kind of emotional land mine was the very thing she had to avoid.

So she laughed and said, “Sure,” as if her feelings weren’t going in a million directions, and she was able to see the humor in their charade.