Million Dollar Christmas Proposal

“You do?”

“If you were that insightful you would realize the very real risk to your children in attempting to buy them a loving mother.”

“And yet you are here to apply for the job?” he asked with unmasked cynicism.

“Yes.”

“Isn’t that hypocritical?”

“No.”

Disbelief filled him. “No?”

“I know I am prepared to give them what another woman might only promise for a luxurious lifestyle and multimillion-dollar payoff.”

“I assure you I did not build an empire without an ability to read people.”

“But you are going about this emotionlessly.”

“Which should make me even more capable of making the best decision for Franca and Angilu.” And why was he having this discussion with a stranger standing uninvited in his office?

“Not when that decision is about the emotion you are hoping to provide for them.”

“A woman does not have to love them to be loving toward them.”

“That you believe that only shows how little you know.”

“Excuse me?” Ice laced his tone.

She closed her eyes, as if gathering her thoughts. When she opened them he read frustration, even disappointment, but that determination he’d seen there at first hadn’t dimmed. “May I sit down?”

What the hell? “You have fifteen minutes.”

Something like anger washed over her features, but she crossed the room and sat in one of the sleek leather armchairs facing his modern, oversized executive desk.

When she didn’t speak immediately, he found himself demanding impatiently, “Well?”

“You are looking for someone who will make your children the priority in her life, is that right?”

“You keep calling them my children, but you do realize I have custody of them only because their parents are dead?”

“I know, but your desire to give them a loving mother has made me believe you want to fulfill the role of dedicated father. I guess I shouldn’t have assumed.” She said the last as if she was talking to herself.

“You are not wrong.” He would be a better father than Pinu, who had been borderline indifferent to his two offspring.

“Then they are your children?”

“S?.”

She nodded, as if in approval of his admission. He should not care, but he found himself pleased by that.

“So back to my question: you want a woman who will put Franca and Angilu first?”

“Yes.”

“And you do not think she has to love them to do that?”

“Financial compensation will ensure it.”

“Will it?”

“Of course.” He understood money and how to wield it.

“And if something comes into her life that is more important than the money you are paying her to pretend the children are a priority?”

He did not like her description of the job. “She will not be pretending.”

“If it is for the sake of the money, how can it be anything but pretense?”

“Regardless, I doubt very much that something will come up that would make someone lose sight of ten million dollars.”

“Really? What about a husband who is worth thirty million?”

“I am a billionaire.”

“Presuming you are married to this woman, there would be an ironclad prenuptial agreement that only provides her with a yearly stipend and a ten-million-dollar payout nearly two decades down the road.”

“You are so certain there would be a prenup?” He hadn’t mentioned it to Gloria.

“It only makes sense. A man like you isn’t going to offer a woman half of your empire under any circumstances, but particularly if she comes into your life as part of a business proposal, no matter how personal the terms might seem.”

He inclined his head in acknowledgment of her insight. “There aren’t that many marriage-minded multimillionaires out there.”

“But moving in your circles will increase her chances of meeting them exponentially.”

“I’m not going to get hoodwinked by a gold digger.”

“Maybe. But even if you don’t, you must realize that while money can be a very compelling motivator, it isn’t always the most important one.”

There was something about her tone that made him think she not only believed this, but had personal experience. “Few things trump it.”

“You’d be surprised.”

Audrey—he found it difficult to think of her as Miss Miller—sighed with the kind of weariness that came from a lot more than a single conversation.

“Tell me, do you think Johana Tomasi married your brother primarily for the lifestyle she could enjoy as his wife?”

Enzu shocked himself by saying honestly, “Yes.”