The Billionaire's Housekeeper Mistress (8 page)

Was her sexual surrender simply an ego ride for him?

She swam the length of the pool several times before stopping for a breather at the shallow end. Ethan had swum beside her, apparently content to leave her alone as long as she was within easy reach, and he did instantly reach out and draw her into his embrace again, smiling into her eyes.

‘The solar heating for the pool is working well,’ he remarked. ‘The water is at the perfect temperature for this time of day. Like warm silk. Enjoying it?’

Daisy had never been skinny-dipping before and he was right. The water was like warm silk. So was his naked flesh, seducing her into wanting more of him, despite the questions spinning around her mind.

‘Yes,’ she said, winding her arms around his neck, wrapping her legs around his hips. He certainly stirred the primitive woman in her—a fierce desire for total possession. Which she knew wouldn’t happen, but it was so terribly tempting to have as much of him as she could.

He kissed her and she kissed him back, wishing she could lose the mountain of reservations building in her mind. His mouth broke reluctantly from hers, breathing a sigh over her sensitised lips. He lifted his hands, holding her face between them, his eyes dark green pools of desire demanding a positive response.

‘I’ve not had nearly enough of you, Daisy. Stay the night with me. Stay the weekend.’

An iron fist squeezed her heart. How soon would
enough
come? And how much of herself would she have given him by then? Having any kind of extended affair with him could only bring her heartache and mess up her life. However wonderful this felt with him right now, it was going to be bad for her in the end. Much worse than the break-up with Carl. She shouldn’t have let Ethan get to her, shouldn’t let it go any further.

‘I can’t,’ she blurted out, adding the first reason that made his invitation unacceptable. ‘I live with my parents, Ethan. I’m not as free as you are. They’d worry about me.’

He frowned. ‘Call them. Tell them you’ve been invited to have a weekend away.’

‘With whom? My billionaire boss?’ she mocked, the reality of the vast social gap between them finally smiting the treacherous desire he aroused in her. ‘It would upset them terribly, thinking their financial problem had led me into being seduced by a man who would only be using me for his pleasure.’

He looked affronted, then fiercely belligerent. ‘Don’t tell me you felt no pleasure with me, Daisy. It was mutual.’

‘Yes,’ she readily conceded. ‘And I thank you for it. But it can’t go on, Ethan.’

‘It’s not right to let your parents rule your life,’ he argued. ‘You’re twenty-seven, not a child.’

‘They don’t rule
my
life. They’d hate to even think they did. It’s my decision. I care about them and I’m not going to upset them. They’re going through a bad enough time as it is,’ she said vehemently, gathering the strength needed to disconnect from him and make the break that a solid block of down-to-earth sanity insisted she make.

Becoming heavily involved with Ethan Cartwright would not lead anywhere good for her. She didn’t believe the Cinderella story worked in today’s world. Like married like. He was only serious about getting her back into bed with him until he’d had enough of her.

She managed to summon up a crooked little smile and said, ‘You won the prize. Let’s leave it at that.’

Then she pushed herself away from him, resolutely determined on leaving the swimming pool, getting dressed and going home.

Tomorrow she would find another job.

Any job.

It was best if she never saw Ethan Cartwright again.

She couldn’t trust herself not to give in to him if she stayed working here and putting herself in that kind of constant emotional jeopardy would be hell.

E
THAN
couldn’t believe it. He’d had Daisy Donahue precisely where he wanted her. She’d responded to him just as he’d imagined she would. The sex had been fantastic. Best ever. For her to reject it, reject him and all they could share together was a development he certainly hadn’t anticipated. It was enough to make a man tear his hair out in frustration.

She was up the steps and out of the swimming pool before his fighting spirit erupted through the shock of being told this was all he was going to have with her. No way was he going to accept that. He’d finally found a woman who met all the criteria that satisfied what he’d always been missing and he wasn’t about to let her walk away.

Which she was doing, her gorgeously perky bottom bouncing as she strode swiftly towards the cabana, stirring the caveman in him again. But this wasn’t the stone age. He couldn’t club her over the head and force her to stay with him. Somehow he had to challenge her decision, persuade her to change it. His mind attacked the problem from every angle as he left the pool and followed her to the cabana.

She lived with her parents.

He had to remove her from that situation so she didn’t have to consider their feelings about having a connection with him, set her up independently.

But then pride came into the equation.

Her parents were unlikely to accept her rent money if she wasn’t living with them and they needed it to keep the mortgage on their home running. Daisy wouldn’t leave them in need.

He could pay off the lot with barely a dent in his personal wealth, free them all from the financial bind they were in, but he suspected they would take serious umbrage at such an offer. He very much doubted that Daisy’s parents were people who would countenance the idea of him buying their daughter, not even to save themselves from serious debt, and Daisy herself wouldn’t accept money she hadn’t earned.

Money was at the heart of the barrier she was putting between them.

Because of it she was putting her own life on hold to help her parents.

But she did want him.

Impossible for her to have responded to him as she had with such passionate intensity if the attraction—the desire—didn’t run deep.

Money…sex…

His mouth twisted cynically as he picked up a towel from the pile laid out on the bench beside the cabana and tucked it around his waist. He hated choosing the bartering path with Daisy but she was leaving him no other option.

A nasty thought struck.

It was quite possible that her resistance—her rejection—had
actually been a ploy to force his hand, induce him to offer his expertise to fix her parents’ financial problem. In fact, given the way women generally manipulated their sexual power, it was even probable.

He could do the fixing if her parents were prepared to gamble.

But he sure as hell was going to get his pound of flesh from Daisy for it!

Pumped up with ruthless purpose, Ethan entered the cabana, moved to the opened doorway to the bedroom and propped himself there, blocking the exit. Daisy had dressed so hastily there were wet patches on her T-shirt where she hadn’t dried herself properly. Her body was bent over, her fingers working fast on the laces of her shoes.

‘It’s not so late that your parents would be worrying about you, Daisy,’ he drawled. ‘There’s time for us to talk this situation over.’

She finished tying the laces and straightened up, her cheeks flushed, her hands clenching into determined fists at her sides, her eyes shooting unbreakable resolution at him.

‘I’m grateful for the stopgap work you’ve given me, Ethan, but I have to move on now,’ she stated, as though nothing he could say would make any difference. ‘I won’t come back. I’ll find some other way to manage. I’m sure Charlie Hollier would keep a more frequent check on the renovations if you asked him. Please…just let me go.’

‘Not until you let me have my say,’ he answered, adopting a tone of reason backed by rock-like determination to win what he wanted.

One of her hands uncurled and gestured an impatient dismissal. ‘It’s pointless. I won’t change my mind.’

‘Give me the courtesy of hearing me out.’

She grimaced at the criticism of her curtness, then emitted a deep sigh of resignation. ‘Say what you want to say then.’

He laid the groundwork for the barter to end up on
his
terms. ‘The best estimate at the moment is five years for the market to recover. Five years for the value of your parents’ investments to regain enough income for them not to need your financial input any more. Which means you’ll be thirty-two before you can lead an independent life again.’

‘My parents supported me for many more years than that, Ethan,’ she retorted unflinchingly.

‘You were a child. That was a natural responsibility. I don’t believe your parents want to be dependent on you. I can’t imagine they like accepting this sacrifice from you.’

She frowned. ‘No, they don’t like it, but the other choices…’ She shook her head. ‘They’re not fair. They’re not right.’

‘I can offer a choice that will resolve the financial worry and minimise the waiting for it to be over,’ he stated matter-of-factly.

She stared at him, an anguished hope in her eyes that spoke of immense inner turbulence, and Ethan instantly knew she wasn’t immune to the deal he was about to put on the table. Money won. It always won if you tapped into the weakness that would give way to it.

‘This will only work if you’re prepared to remain on the job here in your supervisory capacity,’ he ran on, blocking any escape route via some other job. ‘I promise you that will be the only connection between
us until after I’ve delivered the relief your parents need from their current debt.’

No immediate sexual pressure.

This was a waiting game.

He saw that fact register, but the money hook was in far enough for her to ask, ‘How do you propose to accomplish that?’

No rush to get away from him now.

‘Doing what I do—make money out of money,’ he replied with sardonic satisfaction. ‘When you go home this evening, tell your father I’m so pleased with how you’ve managed this renovations project for me, I’ve agreed to look at his investment portfolio and give him my expert advice on it. I’ll put aside a meeting time with him at eleven o’clock on Monday morning. You have to persuade him to come.’

She nodded, looking unsure about where this was leading but willing to do anything to help her parents. ‘I think he’d be quite eager to listen to your advice, Ethan.’

‘I can’t make him take it, Daisy, but if he does and lets me act fast enough for him, there’s a very big chance his money worries will be over by the end of next month. Your parents should end up financially secure for the rest of their lives.’

‘You can guarantee that?’ she asked warily, not completely sold on the plan.

‘No. It’s a gamble, but one I’d highly recommend, not without good reason. What I can guarantee is they won’t be any worse off than they are already. If your father agrees to go with my advice and it does pay off as handsomely as I anticipate, I want a reward in return.’

‘You mean…a commission?’

She was shying away from where he was heading.
Maybe she hadn’t deliberately set out to ensnare him into doing what she wanted of him. Irrelevant now. He wanted what
he
wanted and nothing was going to stop him from getting it. Not when she had already conceded the strength of the attraction between them by sharing that bed with him.

‘No. I’d prefer your parents to think I’m doing this as a favour to you. The outcome will be you’ll no longer have to give them rent money, no longer have to live with them. You can resume an independent life, free of any worry about them.’ He paused to let that sink in before pointedly adding, ‘And that’s where my reward comes in, Daisy.’

Hot colour whooshed into her face, but there was no shock in her eyes. She had already grasped the deal he was holding out. Her expression was more a wry acceptance of his reason for making the offer. ‘You want an affair with me,’ she said flatly.

It vexed him that the idea of an ongoing relationship between them aroused no anticipation of any pleasure for her. Clearly she found the money angle distasteful, too. But she’d left him no other choice. He’d had to force the situation, break all the barriers she’d been putting up, clear the way.

‘I’ll set you up in an apartment of your own so there’s no one else to consider,’ he said just as flatly, still determined on the course that would give him the satisfaction she seemed intent on denying him. ‘You can find another job at your leisure, carry on whatever career you set your mind to. But your free time for the rest of this year is mine.’

The rest of this year…

The time span jagged around Daisy’s mind, hitting
painfully on what she had already known. Ethan Cartwright saw no real future in a relationship with her. He was proposing to keep her as his mistress, undoubtedly thinking his interest in her would lose its current edge over the months he had stipulated for exclusive rights to her free time.

‘Nine or ten months on easy street should not be too big a hardship for you,’ he said harshly, impatient with her silence. ‘Not compared to struggling on to keep your parents out of crippling debt for five years.’

He was angry—angry that she had been bent on walking away from what they had shared in this room. The green eyes were glittering with fierce challenge. He’d probably never had his interest knocked back by a woman in his whole privileged life. And one of the reasons for that was very much on display.

Physically he was the perfect male. The towel tucked around his waist only seemed to emphasise how splendid the rest of his naked physique was, and the power of his sexuality tugged at her even now, when he was pushing a deal that made her feel like a secondclass woman, only fit for his bed for as long as his desire for her lasted, tossing money at her to sweeten that humiliating truth.

But if he could do what he believed he could with her father’s investments…what a huge difference it would make to the rest of her parents’ lives! Instead of fretting over losing their home and moving to a much less welcoming place to the family they loved, they might even have the pleasure of helping her brothers and sister with the windfall Ethan was virtually promising.

And no one need know why it had come about.

Not the real reason.

She had to give Ethan credit for coming up with a plan to save her pride in that sense. Never mind her own personal pride. She might have to lick that wound for the rest of her life. Could she swallow the pain of being only considered mistress material for the rest of this year?

Just keep thinking of the advantages he had laid out, she savagely told herself.

They were very solid advantages. Apart from the lifting of the financial burden, there would be worry-free time for her to find her own feet again career-wise, forge a better future for herself. Besides, it certainly wasn’t a hardship to have Ethan Cartwright as her lover. All she had to do was not get too tangled up emotionally with him.

‘What haven’t I covered?’ he demanded, pushing for an answer to break the tense impasse between them, to get his teeth into whatever objection she might have. Ethan Cartwright was a winner.

Losing was only acceptable if he’d done everything in his power to win.

Daisy couldn’t help being impressed by this quality in him even as she bridled against being the target of this particular game…the prize…the reward. Those terms didn’t feel special right now.

‘I think you’ve covered everything admirably,’ she said, finally making the decision to accept his proposition. ‘I’ll pass on your offer of advice to my father as soon as I get home.’

He nodded, a look of mocking satisfaction on his face as though he had known all along she would fall in with his plan, but would have preferred a different surrender from her. ‘You have my telephone number.
Call me and let me know if he agrees to the meeting so I can rearrange my schedule.’

She nodded, wishing she had refused him, sickened by his view of her—a woman who could be bought. Not in ordinary circumstances, she thought fiercely. This wasn’t primarily for herself. Her parents had always been good, hard-working people. They deserved a happy retirement. Ethan was holding out the power to give them that and she couldn’t turn away from it. There were worse things than suffering the heartburn of being his mistress for the rest of this year. Much worse.

She swallowed down the surge of bile which had erupted from her churning stomach and took a deep breath. ‘I’d like to leave now. If you’ll move aside from the doorway…’

His eyes narrowed suspiciously. He folded his arms across his chest in a pose of deliberate rebuttal to her request. ‘You haven’t given me your word that we have a deal, Daisy.’

The wish to give him a bit of heartburn made her say, ‘My father might not want your help. I’ll let you know.’

It was a way out, free and clear of Ethan Cartwright.

He stared at her, possibly suffering a moment of uncertainty.

She savagely hoped so.

It wasn’t fair that he had all the power and she had none, except for the desire she stirred in him, desire that would be thwarted if she didn’t play his game. He didn’t like that possibility. She could feel him seething over it and exulted in the little victory over his confidence.

The grim line of his mouth took on a sardonic twist. ‘Still the challenging little witch. Well, have it your
way, Daisy. The deal is on the table. Take it or leave it. I won’t run after you.’

He unhitched himself from the doorway and moved aside, unfolding his arms to extend one in an invitation to take her leave.

The tension inside her was like a compressed spring, needing release. She wanted to bolt from the room. It took considerable willpower to walk at a normal pace, maintaining an air of dignity. His sexual magnetism made her insides quiver as she passed him. Her legs, however, did perform their function of holding her up and she was out of the cabana in just a few nervejangling moments and heading up to the house to collect her bag.