Valentine's Day. Nicola Marsh
stared at him. ‘I won’t do it if it’s portrayed as me trying to find a man. Or to improve myself enough to find one.’
‘Just the Year of Georgia, then. The Valentine’s Girl getting back on her feet. You really cared for Daniel, our listeners will buy that.’ God... Could he hear himself? He sounded just like Rod. Always an angle. Always a carrot. ‘We’ll assign someone from the station to—’
‘No. I don’t want one of them with me.’
‘One of who?’
‘One of the people who were there for the proposal. I don’t want them coming with me.’
She didn’t trust them. And he understood why. Though what she didn’t understand was that the whole sodding mess was his fault. Not theirs.
‘OK, I’ll hire someone esp—’
‘No strangers, either.’ Her face pinched in several places.
‘Georgia, if I can’t use one of my team and I can’t hire someone, who am I going to get to do it?’
‘You do it. I know you.’
His laugh was as loud as it was immediate. ‘Do you know what I get paid an hour?’
‘Too much to actually get paid by the hour, I’m sure. But that is my condition.’ She did her best to look adamant. Even that was moderated by a faintly apologetic sheen to her steady gaze. ‘Take it or leave it.’
She had no idea how to negotiate. The innocence was insanely refreshing. ‘You’ve already signed the contract,’ he pointed out gently.
But even as the words came out of his mouth his brain ticked over, furiously. His assistant would jump at the chance for some extra responsibility, so he could offload some lower-end tasks to Casey. And if this was what it would take to get Georgia fully on board...
But he held his assent back, in case it had more power a few moments later.
His entire life was about holding things back until they had the most advantage.
‘My days are packed out from dawn until dusk.’
Georgia shrugged. ‘I have a job, too, so they’re going to be evening and weekend things anyway, I imagine.’
It was hard not to admire her for sticking to her guns. Not too many people made a habit of saying no to him these days. He had them all too scared.
‘I have things I like to do on my weekends,’ he argued. But not very convincingly. Hard-to-get was all part of the game.
One dark, well-shaped eyebrow lifted. ‘How badly do you want these ratings?’
A stain of colour came to her cheeks. Either she was shocked at her own audacity or she was enjoying giving him some stick. He used the time she thought he was thinking about her offer to study her features instead. She had a right-hand-side dimple that totally belied the determination of those set lips, and she had a chin built for protesting.
That was probably long enough. He hissed as if he hadn’t made his decision sixty seconds ago. ‘Fine. I’ll do it.’
Her triumph was so brief. It only took her a heartbeat to realise that his commitment had fully sealed hers. And her next twelve months.
‘One more condition,’ she hurried as a pair of drink menus arrived. It was his turn to lift a brow. ‘No one mentions Dan. No one. You will leave him completely alone.’
Loyalty blazed from her chocolate eyes.
Somewhere down deep where constancy used to live in him, he admired her for continuing to protect the man she’d injured. A man she still cared for even though he’d also hurt her horribly. It said she might have been impetuous and naïve but she was faithful. And that was a rare commodity in his world. Her hurt and anger were very clearly directed at herself. In fact, the most notable thing about her manner was the absence of the flat, lifeless lack of interest that he associated so closely with heartbreak—and knew so intimately.
He wondered if she’d even realised yet that her heart wasn’t broken.
‘OK, Daniel is out of it.’
‘And get the media to lay off him.’
He snorted. Whoever taught Georgia about manners forgot to teach her about pushing her luck. ‘No one can halt that train now that it’s moving, Georgia. I can promise EROS won’t use him, but there’s nothing I can do about him being London’s most wanted. He’s a big boy. He’ll be fine.’
Besides, judging by what he heard on the broadcast, Daniel Bradford could look after himself.
He leaned forward and locked his eyes on hers. ‘You’ve played this well—’ for a civilian ‘—but I’ve bent about as far as I’m going to go. I’ll have an amendment to the contract drawn up and ready for your signature next week.’
She nodded and sank back in her side of the booth.
‘How about some dinner?’
She just blinked at him.
‘You do eat dinner?’
‘Um, yes. Though not usually out. Except for special occasions.’
She truly hadn’t begun to imagine ways of spending her huge windfall? He tried one last time to prove that she was like everyone else. ‘Don’t tell me you’re another mad-keen home chef?’
Her laugh was automatic. ‘No, definitely not.’
‘You don’t cook?’
‘I prepare food. But it’s not really cooking. The latest in a number of reasons it was probably just as well Dan declined my proposal.’
She certainly was taking her failed marriage-bid a hell of a lot better than he’d taken his. Did that say more about her or Bradford?
Or him?
He fired up his tablet and tapped a few keys. ‘I think we just found your first official Year of Georgia idea.’
‘Eating out in every restaurant in London?’
‘Culinary school.’ He chuckled.
She stared. ‘I hated home economics at school. What makes you think I’ll enjoy it now?’
‘Half the women on my staff are right into those social cooking classes. Wine, conversation, cooking techniques from the experts. The sessions must have something going for them.’
Her lips tightened. ‘I’m not sure I’d want to go where your staff—’
‘God, no.’ He pushed his chair back and stood. ‘That’s the last thing I want, too.’
‘You?’
‘I’ll be coming along. Or have you changed your mind?’
Her delicate brows folded closer together. ‘It’s not me doing it for me if I’m doing it with you. The dynamic would be all wrong.’
Dynamic. That sounded almost credible. What was she really worried about?
‘I need to be there to record your progress, but...you have a point. We’ll do it together, but separate. Like we don’t know each other. I’ll just shadow you. Watch.’
A streak of colour ran up her jaw. ‘Won’t that be weird?’
He pushed his glass away and leaned in closer. ‘Georgia, I’m going to have a solution for any hurdle you put up. You’ve signed the contract. How about working with me on this instead of against?’
She sighed. Stared at him with those unreadable eyes. ‘OK. Sorry.’ She took a sip of white wine. ‘What did you have in mind?’
* * *
‘That’s a long list.’ Georgia stretched and read the upside-down sheet in