His Poor Little Rich Girl by Melanie Milburne Read Free Book Online Page A

us. Once Lucia is back you are free to go.’
    She put her hands on her hips and continued to glare down at him. ‘So you’re not even going to consider backing my label?’
    ‘One thing you need to know about me, Rachel, is I don’t rush headlong into things without serious consideration,’ he said. ‘I am not putting my name to something that is not worthy of my time and commitment and hard-earned money.’
    ‘Will you at least look at my designs and my business plan?’ she asked.
    ‘I will consider it if you behave yourself.’
    ‘You mean if I sleep with you,’ she said with a hardened look.
    His eyes slowly moved over her, leaving a smouldering path on her flesh in their wake. ‘Is that the way you normally conduct business?’ he asked.
    ‘No, of course not!’ Rachel said. ‘I just assumed you would want to—’
    ‘You should not assume anything when it comes to me,’ he said with one of his enigmatic barely there smiles.
    Rachel felt emotionally stranded. What did he want from her if not to sleep with her? Their brief affair had not been consummated five years ago. Wouldn’t forcing her to sleep with him for money be the perfect revenge? In the past he had always only ever touched her once she had given him encouragement, which was more than she could say for her ex-fiancé who had seemed to think he could do anything he wanted whenever he wanted irrespective of her wishes.
    But if Alessandro were to sleep with her he would find her a very poor partner, certainly nothing like the exotic and physically confident women he was used to. It would be so humiliating to have him find out how limited she was sensually. But for all her inadequacies sexually, she still felt anelectrifying energy in the air when she was with him, an undercurrent of sensual heat that was visceral. She felt the dancing nerves of her skin when his eyes rested on her. She felt the stirring of her blood, the escalation of her pulse every time he spoke in that rich, deep, well-modulated voice of his. He was having a tumultuous effect on her senses that she could not in any way control. Was he aware of it? Was that his intention in having her here like this? To show her how it felt to be the one spurned? Why hadn’t she realised one day there would be a price to pay?
    ‘I will give you the rest of the day to think it over,’ Alessandro said. ‘I will have an agreement drawn up legally. It will be ready by dinner for you to sign.’
    Rachel frowned at him. ‘An agreement? What sort of agreement? Why does it have to be so formal?’
    ‘By agreeing to live here with me for even a day or two you will be required to sign a contract that forbids you to speak to the press,’ he said.
    ‘You don’t trust my word?’ she asked.
    ‘You should go and shower,’ Alessandro said, ignoring her question. ‘You will burn if you stay in the sun any longer.’
    ‘Are you coming in now?’ Rachel asked, not really liking the feeling of being summarily dismissed.
    ‘No, I want to swim some more,’ he said. ‘I’ll see you at dinner. I hope you can find your way around the kitchen. Lucia keeps it well stocked. I would like to dine at eight-thirty and I expect you to dine with me.’
    ‘Isn’t that a bit unusual?’ she asked. ‘You don’t take any of your meals with Lucia.’
    ‘This is an entirely different situation,’ he said. ‘You are here as a guest as well as a temporary employee.’
    ‘I’m not really a guest though, am I?’ she said. ‘You never wanted me here in the first place, or so you said.’
    ‘If I am not the most welcoming host you have only yourself to blame,’ he said. ‘But now that you are here I am prepared to make the best of it. I suggest you do the same.’
    Rachel collected her dress and sandals but decided against dressing and instead took one of the towels that was lying on the sun lounge and used it like a sarong. She glanced back at the pool but Alessandro was still sitting on the edge looking at