Page 16 of The Prince's Game
“I’m fine with you in a towel.”
“I’m sure you are.” I picked a pair of black shorts and a tank top from my suitcase before going into the bathroom to change. I didn’t bother with a bra. It was late, I was tired, and my breasts enjoyed their freedom. He could deal with it. I combed my wet hair again before joining him on the bed. I sat cross-legged and faced him. His eyes went to my chest as I expected they would. He was a man, after all.
“I’m fine with this, too,” he murmured. His chocolate gaze flicked over my exposed legs before settling on my face. “I’ll pay you to stay.”
“Excuse me?” There was no way I heard that right.
He sat up and rested his back against the headboard. Drawing up a knee, he wrapped one arm around it and laid the other over his thigh. “There’s a clause in my inheritance that requires me to produce an heir before I’m thirty-eight. If I don’t, I forfeit the company to the next in line, which would be Wyatt.”
I didn’t know much about his younger brother other than he lived up to the rebel nickname. “I’m guessing by your tone, you don’t want that to happen.”
“My wayward brother has no interest in running Mershano Suites, let alone working. Putting him in charge would be catastrophic for the company and my employees. Why else would I agree to this frivolous dating game?”
Why else indeed?“Does the inheritance clause apply to Wyatt as well?” I couldn’t remember his exact age but recalled him being in his thirties.
“It does, and he’s already fulfilled it despite being very single.”
I frowned. “You’re saying he has a kid?”Totally missed that fact while researching.The younger brother really was a rebel.
“Yes. Not one he ever sees or takes care of, but I don’t want to discuss my brother’s antics. What matters is that Wyatt meets the archaic qualifications but lacks the maturity and desire to run Mershano Suites.”
“Okay.” I could understand one’s desire not to run a multibillion-dollar organization, but it seemed Wyatt Mershano had an aversion to responsibility. “That’s quite the predicament, but I don’t understand what it has to do with me.”
“Well, this show is a bargain of sorts. My parents picked the thirty contestants based on qualities they think make a good wife, and I have to propose to one in the end. If she says no, the clause is null and void, and I’m a free man. The problem is they went out and picked a bunch of women who would never refuse, except you.”
“Because they interviewed Abby.”
“Exactly.”
“Meaning you believe me.”And forced me to stay on this show despite me telling you I wanted to leave.
He looked me over and grinned. “You don’t giggle, Sarah.”
“I don’t giggle?” What the hell did that have to do with anything?
“Abby giggles, but you laugh. I saw it on the camera footage Paul forced me to watch this morning. Your laugh was nothing like the woman in the interview despite your identical appearance.”
I stared at him. He was right, but few people ever noticed our minute differences. How strange that this man who knew little about me recognized something so nuanced.
“You’re also a terrible liar,” he added. “I watched the conversation you had with Will. When he asked if you wanted time with me, you said no and tried to cover your tracks. It was almost sad.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s an insult.”
He grinned. “Probably. But the point is, you’re not the woman my parents picked for the show, and that gives me an advantage. Let me be blunt, Sarah. I’ll pay you to stay on until the end and refuse my proposal.”
I gaped at him. He couldn’t be serious. “You think money will make up for having to go through all this crap every day for the next two months? Not to mention putting my life on hold and losing my job, and probably my apartment, in the process. For a man I hardly know? Yeah, I’m going with ‘no way in hell.’?”
His chuckle was all confidence. This was a man who was used to being told no and negotiating his way out of it. “Your dream is to own a marketing firm that caters to companies with altruistic values, but you know it’s a false hope because they don’t pay well. Isn’t that what you told me the other day?”
“Yes, and—”
He pressed a finger to my lips. “Hear me out. What you need is a silent partner, someone to provide initial funding to get you on your feet and help you network. I can provide all of that and more.” He traced my mouth before dropping his hand and laying it a scant inch from my bare legs. “I can contract with your firm for certain marketing needs for the Mershano empire and pay you handsomely for it. It’ll be enough to sustain you for life and grant you the opportunity to do what you love, and I’ll require minimal services in exchange.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“Oh, I’m very serious.” All amusement fled his features. His eyes burned with a fervor that elicited a shiver from deep down inside me. That was the kind of look a woman wanted to see in the bedroom. His words, however, were anything but sexy. “I have no desire to marry. Ever. And if it means beating my parents at their own fucked-up game, then that is exactly what I will do.”
“And if I say no?”
