Page 39 of Bound By Her Shocking Secret

Shock made Mia stop and turn back to look at Daniel. Her heart thumped. ‘You asked for me...specially? But you didn’t even know me.’

‘I saw you on a billboard. The picture where you’re blowing a bubblegum bubble.’

Mia saw the image in her mind’s eye. It had been an ad for a teen clothing line. Youthful and playful. Hence the bubblegum.

She shook her head. ‘But that couldn’t be further from the elegance and sophistication of Devilliers. What were you thinking?’

Daniel’s eyes stayed hidden behind his shades. ‘It was an instinctive thing. Your image resonated with a freshness I wanted to bring into Devilliers. Something less...reverent.’

She’d been less reverent, all right. They hadn’t even styled her that day, and the photos that Daniel had asked her to pose for hadn’t been used in the final campaign.

But, the knowledge he’d specifically asked for her made her feel even more vulnerable now. ‘It wouldn’t take long for you to get another model here,’ she said.

Daniel shook his head. ‘This shoot is off the radar. It’s something I want to present to the board as a fait accompli. I’m trying to move them in a more modern direction, and they’re resistant to change, to say the least.’

Daniel had spoken of this before—his desire to haul the company into the new century before it became known as just a legacy brand.

He said, ‘If I have to book a new model now, the chances are they’ll hear about it. They think I’m here on a personal holiday. With you and the baby.’

Mia felt silly for not realising he had an agenda. ‘So it wasn’t just to get us out of Paris and away from the media?’

Daniel shrugged. ‘When you said you’d come, I made the best use of the situation to deflect their attention.’

Mia didn’t know why she hadn’t expected that. A man like Daniel was all about strategy. He took advantage of every angle.

‘I...’ She trailed off, realising she didn’t have an excuse to say no.

‘Please?’ Daniel said.

Mia’s mouth quirked. ‘Now Iknowyou’re desperate.’

Daniel put a hand to his chest. ‘You have such a low opinion of me.’

A delicate moment hung between them, reminiscent of the past and the very easy banter they used to have. Mia didn’t have a low opinion of Daniel at all. In fact, from the moment they’d met he’d blasted through all her prejudices and confounded her expectations. He’d proved himself to be surprisingly humble for a titan of industry. He was arrogant, but never rude. More intelligent than anyone else she’d ever met. But he’d never used that intelligence to make someone—her—feel stupid, even if he had used to tease her for being a typical American with no appreciation for culture.

He’d hurt her, yes. Badly. But it was her fault. She’d let him in too deep. And there was no way she was going to let that happen again.

Mia folded her arms. ‘I don’t know if you can afford me.’

Daniel listed the fee they’d been paying the other model. Mia nearly fell backwards. This was another league.

She unfolded her arms. ‘That sounds...reasonable.’

‘You’ll do it, then?’

Mia looked for a smirk or a hint of triumph on Daniel’s face, but it was impassive. ‘Okay. I don’t see why not.’

In truth, Mia had never been good at relaxing. She preferred to be busy. So the thought of having something to do other than ruminate on memories or think about that kiss last night was all too welcome.

Except Daniel hadn’t alluded at all to that kiss. In fact, he’d behaved as if nothing had happened. Maybe he was already regretting it and realising that pursuing Mia again wasn’t worth it.

Which would be agoodthing, she told herself now, as she followed Daniel back up to the house and tried to keep her gaze off his very taut backside.

A few hours later, Daniel was regretting his impetuous decision to ask Mia to fill in for the model. Not because she wasn’t suitable for the job—the minute he’d seen her ready for the cameras he’d known that, actually, she was better than the original model—but because right now it was taking all his control and strength not to haul her away from the small crew, tear that skimpy swimsuit off her body and ease the throbbing ache that emanated from his groin to every part of his body.

Uncannily, he’d also realised at this moment thatshehad been the genesis for this very shoot—seeing her play around with the jewellery dressed in her jeans and T-shirt that first time he’d seen her had sparked something inside Daniel that was coming to fruition right here.

The whole concept was sexy decadence, which was a world apart from the refined elegance of most Devilliers campaigns, and that was why Daniel wanted to keep it top secret until he knew it would work.

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