Free Pretending with the Greek Billionaire by Kira Archer

already loved them. Their House Mother fell ill and wasn’t going to be able to continue caring for them. There were no other homes available that could take so many. If I hadn’t stepped up, Sophia, Magdalena, and Callie might have been split up. I couldn’t let that happen. With Lexi and Irene, it was the same thing. And Elena…” Her smile grew a bit sad. “I already had more kids than I’d meant to take on, but she doesn’t trust many people. Won’t even speak to most people. We formed a bond, somehow. I figured she was meant to be with me.”
    He nodded, but a small crease in his forehead suggested he couldn’t quite understand her choices. She didn’t expect someone like him to understand so it was hardly surprising.
    “Aren’t you curious about where I live when I’m not here? What I do?” he asked.
    Constance shrugged. “I don’t read the tabloids, of course, but I’ve heard enough of the gossip to know most of it, I think.”
    Luca’s face hardened. “You shouldn’t believe everything you hear,” he said, his voice low and gruff. “Those so-called journalists don’t know anything about me.”
    She searched his face, hoping for a hint as to what he was really thinking. She couldn’t possibly have hurt his feelings. Could she? Shame tugged at her. Despite his playboy reputation—and nothing she’d seen so far had suggested the gossip about Luca was anything but true—even a man like him must have feelings. Whether the stories she’d heard were true or not, it must suck to have people assume they knew everything about you when they didn’t even know you.
    “You’re right. I apologize,” she said.
    He glanced at her, a bit surprised, but waved it off. “Don’t worry about it.”
    “So, spill it then. I know you don’t live here full time, and I can’t imagine that even half the stories I’ve heard can be true. So what do you do when you’re not in Greece?”
    Luca’s body relaxed and the tension level in the car decreased.
    “I’m in New York frequently, so we have that in common. And if all this works and I start running the New York offices I suppose I’ll spend most of my time there.”
    She’d known that much. She’d seen the pictures to prove how much he enjoyed the nightlife the city offered. But she kept her mouth shut and let him talk.
    “I try to come here a few times a year. It’s quieter but still offers more than enough entertainment, and even with paparazzi roaming around, it’s still not as bad as back in the States. Usually. I’m afraid our little escapade yesterday might have stirred up the hornets a bit.”
    “To put it mildly,” Constance said, letting the sarcasm liberally soak her words.
    “Anyway,” he said, the eye roll evident in his tone, “my family is in real estate. I guess I don’t spend as much time at the office as my father would like.”
    “Do you spend any time there?”
    Luca scowled at her and Constance braced herself against the natural inclination to cringe.
    “I keep abreast of what’s going on. My father has always had everything under control. He doesn’t need me there.”
    Before Constance could dig at that particular can of worms, Luca turned down a narrow lane and weaved the car through several more streets before finally pulling to a stop in front of a jewelry store set in among the other shops on a typical brightly colored street. This shop was definitely more upscale than the rest. The façade looked carved from marble with double glass doors instead of the whitewashed stone and bright blue or red painted wood doors of the surrounding shops. Her stomach bottomed out. She couldn’t go in there. What had they been thinking? She couldn’t be engaged…especially to someone like him. She was so ordinary and he was the playboy prince of the Mediterranean.
    Luca got out and walked to her side, opening her door. When she didn’t get out he poked his head inside, getting way too up close and personal. She tried to sit back