Ways To Ruin A Royal Reputation (Mills & Boon Modern) (Signed, Sealed…Seduced, Book 1) by Dani Collins (best contemporary novels .TXT) 📕

Coiled through all of this contemplation was an infernal curiosity. Luca intrigued her. If he became a client... Well, if he became a client, he was absolutely forbidden! There was a strange comfort in that. Rules were rules, and Amy would hide behind them if she had to.

“I’ll have to tell my partners something,” she warned, her gaze landing again on the exorbitant sum he was offering.

“Say you’re raising the profile of my charity foundation. It’s a legitimate organization that funds mental health programs. We have a gala in a week. I’ve already used it as an excuse when I asked my staff to arrange this meeting.”

“Goodness, if you’re that adept at lying, why do you need me?”

Still no glint of amusement.

“It’s not a lie. The woman who has been running it since my mother’s time fell and broke her hip. The entire organization needs new blood and a boost into this century. You’ll meet with the team, double-check the final arrangements and suggest new fundraising programs. The full scope of work I’m asking of you will remain confidential, between the two of us.”

His offer was an obscene amount for a few press releases, but Amy could come up with a better explanation for her friends later. Right now, the decision was hers alone as to whether to take the job, and there was no way she could turn down this kind of money.

She licked her dry lips and nodded.

“Very well. If you wish to hire me to promote your charity and fabricate a scandal, I would be happy to be of assistance.” She stood to offer her hand for a shake.

His warm, strong hand closed over hers in a firm clasp and gave it a strong pump. The satisfaction that flared in his expression made all sorts of things in her shiver. He was so gorgeous and perfect and unscathed. Regal.

“Now tell me why on earth you would ask me to ruin you,” she asked, trying to keep her voice even.

“It’s the only way I can give the crown to my sister.”

CHAPTER TWO

LUCA RELEASED HER hand with a disturbing sense of reluctance. He quickly dismissed the sexual awareness dancing in his periphery. Amy Miller had a scent of biscotti about her, almonds and anise. It was going to be incredibly distracting to sit with her on the plane, but she was now an employee and he finally had a foot on a path that would allow his sister to take the throne. His entire body twitched to finish the task.

“Eccellente,” he said in his country’s Italian dialect. “Let’s go.”

“Go?” Amy fell back a half step and blinked her sea green eyes. “Where?”

“I’m needed in Vallia. We’ll continue this conversation on our way.”

He glimpsed a flash of panic in her expression, but she quickly smoothed it to show only professional calm.

“I have to take your details first. Prepare and sign the contract. Research—”

Impatience prickled his nape. “I want a secure location before we discuss this further.”

“My office is secure. We don’t have to go to Vallia.” She made it sound like his home was on another planet.

“It’s only three hours. My jet is waiting.”

Amy’s pretty, glossed mouth opened, but nothing came out.

Luca had had his doubts when she had first come onto his radar. He didn’t trust anyone who seemed to enjoy being the life of the party, and her job involved nonstop networking with spoiled, infamous attention-seekers. Her online presence was filled with celebrity selfies, club events and influencer-styled posts. It all skated too close for comfort to the superficial amusements his father had pursued with such fervor.

Along with awards and praise from her colleagues, however, she came highly recommended when he’d made a few discreet inquiries. In person, she seemed levelheaded and knowledgeable—if aware of her ability to dazzle with a flick of her more-blond-than-strawberry locks and not the least bit afraid to use such tactics. She was mesmerizing with her peaches and cream skin. Her nose was cutely uptilted to add playfulness to her otherwise aristocratic features, and there was something intangible, a certain sparkle, that surrounded her.

But the very fact she entranced him kept him on his guard. He was long practiced at appreciating the fact a woman was attractive without succumbing to whatever lust she might provoke in him. He was not and never would be his father.

Even if he had to convince certain people he was enough like him to be undeserving of his crown.

“But—” She waved an exasperated hand. “I have other clients. I can’t just drop them all for you.”

“Isn’t that what I just paid you to do? If you needed more, you should have said.”

“You really don’t know what my work is, do you?” She frowned with consternation before adding in a disgruntled voice, “I’ll have to shift things around. I wish you’d made it clear when you called that you expected me to travel. I would have brought a quick-run bag.” She moved to the leather satchel she’d left on a stool at the bar.

“Are you a PR rep or a secret agent?” Luca asked dryly.

“Feels like one and the same most of the time. At least my passport is always in here.”

He eyed her slightly-above-average height and perfectly proportioned curves. Amy wore nothing so pedestrian as a skirt suit. No, her rainbow-striped dress was styled like an ankle-length shirt in lightweight silk. She’d rolled back her sleeves to reveal her bangled wrists and left a few buttons open at her throat and below her knees. It was a bohemian yet stylish look that was finished with a black corset-looking device that made him want to take his time unbuckling those five silver tongue and eye closures in the middle of her back. Her black shoes had silver stiletto heels that glinted wickedly, and the shift of filmy silk against her heart-shaped ass was positively erotic.

Not her, Luca reminded himself as a bolt of want streaked from the pit of his gut to the root