please.â
His entreating tone had her turning once more to stare into those intense green eyes. He looked earnest, and he looked. worried.
âI didnât do any of this to hurt you, I swear. I thought if I just came out and asked you to do me this favor, youâd have never agreed to come with me, even with the promise of listening to your pitch.â
âSo you lured me here and ambushed me instead,â she said drily.
âIt didnât go exactly as Iâd planned. Iâd hoped to have a nice dinner together in our suite and I was going to ask you to do me a personal favor then. I was going to outline the entire charade and ask you to play along. Just for the time weâre here. But that all went to hell when we immediately ran into my parents.â
His hand crept over hers, and she didnât pull away. She should. She should already be on her way back to San Francisco, and she should be calling Brock to tell him that therewas no way in hell she was delivering Evan Reese on a platter to Maddox Communications.
She pressed her lips together and tried to collect her scattered thoughts. âSo you want me to pretend to be your fiancée.â She lifted her hand to angle the huge diamond in the light. âComplete with a really gorgeous ring. What happens after the wedding?â
Evan shrugged. âWe break up quietly later. Theyâll never know the difference. We donât see each other that often. One day Mom will call and Iâll say âoh, by the way, Celia and I broke things off.â And that will be that.â
She shook her head. âAll of this because you couldnât stand the thought of your fiancée thinking you werenât over her?â
Evan scowled. âItâs not that simple. There are other factors. Besides, weâve already established the fact that Iâm an egotistical, immature male. We donât have to go back into that territory.â
âPoor baby.â She patted his arm and then laughed at his disgruntled look. âI canât believe Iâm even considering this.â
His eyes glinted predatorily. âBut you are.â
âYes, dammit, I am. Iâm a sucker for immature, egotistical males. But we need to establish a few ground rules.â
âOf course,â he said solemnly.
âMy reputation is everything to me, Evan,â she said quietly. âI wonât have any notion of impropriety attached to this account. I wonât have it bandied around that I got the account because I slept with you.â
Something that looked an awful lot like lust gleamed in his eyes a second before he blinked and adopted a more serious expression.
âThis favor is separate. If I donât like your ideas, youâll go home without my business. Itâs that simple. Agreeing to be my fake fiancée doesnât buy you anything but my gratitude. It wonât land you Reese Enterprises. Are we clear on that?â
âCrystal,â she said. âTell me something, Evan. If I refuseto play the part of your lover, are you still going to hear my pitch? Are you even going to consider Maddox?â
âWell, I do have a fragile ego, remember?â
âWill you be serious?â
A grin worked at the corners of her mouth. She should be mad as hell at this man, not entertained by his self-effacing wit. And she definitely shouldnât be attracted to his boyish charm or his straightforward handling of this entire ridiculous affair.
âI tell you what, Celia. The plan was always to have a quiet dinner in tonight where I could explain my plan and beg you to go along. Then tomorrow morning we were going to have our business meeting, again, in the privacy of our hotel suite. Afterward we would perpetuate my silly hoax on my brother and his grasping, manipulative bride-to-be. See? Completely separate.â
âYou are completely irreverent, and Iâm disgusted that I like it so