(A/N-Special thanks for Bekki for beta reading this. You are amazing and I thank you so much! Thank you all who read, review, follow and fav this. You liking this story is what keeps me going with it.)
*No disclaimer needed as I helped create Outlaw Queen*
There was a silence on the other end of the line, a silence that was so heavy with suspicion that it almost oozed out of the phone. Then she finally spoke, "I don't follow you."
"It's quite simple," he said, his blood once again fizzing with the heady buzz of a plan coming together beautifully. "Are you doing anything for dinner tonight?"
"No. Rob-Mr. Locksley. No!" This could not be happening. There was no way she was going to dinner with Robin Locksley and pretend to be his fiancee. No way!
"Excellent," she heard him say through the mists of her panic. "I'll have my driver pick you up at seven."
"No! I meant yes, I'm busy. I meant no, I can't come," Regina clarified.
"Why? Is there a Mr. Mills I need to smooth things over with first?" Robin asked.
"No, but-"
"Then what's the problem?" Robin asked.
She squeezed her eyes shut. Tried to find the words with which to give her denial, words he might understand, before realizing she didn't have to justify her position to him. "I don't have to do this. And neither do you, for that matter. Mr. Malto knows you've only just in from overseas. Would he really be expecting you to display a fiancee at a business dinner?"
"But this is why it's so perfect, Regina. My fiancee happens to be here in England. What could be better?" Robin asked.
She shook her head. For her own benefit maybe, but it made her feel better. "It won't work. It can't."
"Regina," he said carefully, "it can work and it will. If you let it."
"Mr. Locksley-"
"One evening, Regina. Just one dinner," Robin said.
"But it's so deceiving. We would both be lying to everyone," Regina reminded him.
"I prefer to think of it as offering faith where faith is needed. And if Malto needs reassurance before finalizing this deal, who am I to deny him such?" Robin asked.
But pretending she was his fiancee? "I don't know."
"Look, I haven't got time for this now. Let's cut to the chase. I said I was willing to pay someone quite well, and that goes for you too. This dinner is crucial to me, Regina. I don't have to tell you how much. What do you think it's worth for a few hours of work?" Robin asked.
"It's not about the money!" Regina stated.
"In my experience, it's always about the money. Shall we say ten thousand dollars?" Robin asked.
Regina gasped, thinking of all she could pay off, and putting some money into her savings for the one thing she wanted more than anything...
"You're right," he said. "Let's make it twenty thousand. Would that be enough?"
Regina's heart almost stopped, even as she felt her eyes widening in response to the temptation. "Twenty...twenty thousand dollars? For one dinner with you?" Regina asked.
"I told you it was very crucial to me. It is enough, do you think, to entice you to have dinner with me?"
Twenty thousand dollars enough! It didn't matter that his tone told her that he was laughing at her. But for someone who had been willing to spend the night with him for nothing, the concept that he would pay so much blew her away. Did tonight really mean so much to him? Was there really that much at stake?
Really, the idea was so bizarre and ridiculous and impossible that it just might work. And besides, what were the odds he would remember her? It had been almost three years ago and in a different city. The day she had met Robin Locksley, she had been in New York, shopping for a friend's baby shower. She had been chatting with a friend as they had waited for the light to change for them to cross, when someone from behind her had pushed her into the incoming traffic. She had barely missed being hit by Robin's limo as the next thing she knew she was looking up into the most beautiful clear blue eyes.
He had asked her if she was alright, did he need to call an ambulance? She had quickly declined, as she could only feel a slight bump to her head where she had made impact with the road. She had been so distracted by him, that she couldn't focus on what he was saying, just heard a few words here and there. Asking her if he could take her to the hospital himself to be checked over, this time she could only shake her head no.
That was pretty much their communication that day and she doubted he even remembered her name, let alone what she looked like. And since then he'd met a thousand women in a thousand different cities, all of them beautiful, plenty of whom he'd no doubt slept with.
This meant she would have one hell of an afternoon ahead of her, if she was to be ready by seven. A glance at the wall clock told her she had less than eight hours to find a saloon to squeeze her into to, and an outfit somewhere.
"Regina?" Robin asked.
"There's a couple of things I have to square away," she decided. "Can I call you back in a few minutes to confirm?"
"Of course," he said, in that velvet rich voice that felt like it was stroking her skin,"Call me. So long as it's a yes."
Robin slipped his phone into his pocket as the car came to a smooth halt outside his hotel. A doorman touched his gloved fingers to his hat as he pulled open the door, bowing his welcome. "We've been expecting you, Mr. Locksley." He handed him a slim pink envelope that bore his name on the front. "Your suite is ready if you'd like to go straight up."
"Excellent," Robin said, nodding his thanks as he strode into the hotel entry and headed for the lifts, feeling more and more confident by the minute. He'd known Regina would soon have that little problem fixed, although maybe he hadn't exactly anticipated her sorting so quickly and efficiently.
What was she like? he wondered as the lift whisked him soundlessly skywards. Was he wrong not to insist on a picture from her to be safe? Originally he'd had looks on his list of requirements, on the basis that if he had to act as someone's fiancee, he'd expected it would be a hell of a lot easier to act the part if he didn't have to force himself to smile whenever he looked at her or slipped his arm around her shoulders. But maybe someone ordinary would be more convincing. Malto didn't strike him as the sort of man who went for looks over substance and, given his circumstances, he'd be looking for a love match in the people he did business with. In which case, some nice plain girl might just fit the bill better.
It was only for one night, after all.
Later that day, Regina felt like she had some idea of how Cinderella must have felt on her way to the ball. Half an hour ago, she'd left her old life behind and was being whisked off in a silken gown to a world she had only dreamed that she would one day be in.
Had Cinderella thought that she would throw up her bagel when she met her Prince? Had she felt this tangle of nerves withering in her stomach as she neared the palace on that fairy tale night? Had she felt this sense of dread that something could go wrong?
Not that her story was any kind of fairy tale. There had been no fairy godmother who could transform her into some kind of princess in an instant with a touch of her magic wand for a start. Only her Visa card and a few boutiques had managed to do that.
Now instead of the coach, she was in a stretch limo on her way. Why was she doing this? Why had she agreed to be Robin's pretend fiancee, when everything inside of her was screaming for not to do it. Why hadn't she insisted on saying no to his crazy idea? Sure the money was going to help a lot, it would help in repairs to her apartment that she desperately needed.
So what was it about this that had made her agree to do it?
Because she was curious?
You want to see if he still has some sort of affect on you as he had three years ago.
You want to those eyes of his are the ones she was born to gaze into forever!
"Ugh!" Regina said to herself, as she shuffled restlessly against the leather. She had to stop thinking like this. It was one night, and one night only and then things could go back to being normal.
She bit down on her lip, remembering only then that she was wearing lipstick for a change and that she shouldn't do that. She had been half tempted to call Robin back and tell him that something had come up, she had had a busted pipe, something, anything.
But she hadn't.
God what had she been thinking, agreeing to go along with this ridiculous idea?
Outside the limo's windows the city of London was lighting up. It wasn't long after seven, the sky caught in that time between day and night, washing with soft shadows that told of the coming darkness, and building were preparing, showing their colors, strutting their stuff.
Just like she was, she thought. She wore a gown of black silk, which cost her the equivalent of a month's salary in her old office job, but she figured the evening called for something more grand than that of her usual chain store purchases. Robin would no doubt expect it, she figured. And she had loved the dress as soon as she had tried it on, loved the look and feel of it over her body. She loved how it brought out her eyes as well.
And now they were there. The driver pulled into a turnaround and eased the car to a stop. He passed her a key card as a doors man stepped forward to open her door. "Mr. Locksley says to let you know he's running late and to let yourself in." She smiled her thanks as he recited a room number, praying she'd managed to remember it as the doorman welcomed her to the hotel.
Breathe, Regina, breathe.
Cautiously she stepped out of the limo, carefully on heels that seemed perilously high, when once upon a time, she would have thought nothing of sprinting to catch a cab in shoes even higher.
And then she stepped through the sliding doors into the hotel and almost turned around and walked straight out again. What was she doing?
She so did no belong here in this amazing place. She was an imposter, pretending to be someone that she was not, and everyone would be able to see through her in a second.
She must have hesitated too long or maybe they recognized her as a fraud because someone emerged from behind the concierge desk and asked if they could help her, "I'm here to meet Mr. Locksley in his suite," she answered
She was shown to the lift that would take her up there, moments later she was walking out onto his floor.
Would he remember her?
Did she want him to?
She shivered, he heart thumping almost out of her chest.
Lift doors pinged softly behind her and she glanced around as a couple emerged from the lift, forcing her to move both her feet and her thoughts closer to Robin's door.
Seriously, why would he remember her? It had surely escaped his memory by now. He'd probably forgotten her the moment she had been seen by a local EMS personnel.
And it was only one night, she kept telling herself, willing herself to relax as she arrived at the designated door. Just one short evening. And then she looked down at the key card in her damp hand and found she had a death grip on it.
Let herself in, his driver had told her Robin had said.
When this was the last place she wanted to be.
She took a deep breath, trying to remember to breathe as she rapped softly on the door. Maybe the driver was wrong. Maybe he wasn't even there...
There was no answer, even after a second knock, so taking another breath she slid the card through the reader. There was a whirr and click and a green light winked at her.
The door swung open to a large sitting room decorated in soft greys and blues. "Hello?" she ventured softly, closing the door behind her. A desk faced the window, a laptop open on top. Through the open door alongside she could just make out the sound of someone talking.
Robin, if the way her nerves rippled along her spine was any indication. And then the voice grew less indistinct and louder as she heard him say, "I've got the figures right here. Hang on..."
A moment later he strode into the room without so much as a glance in her direction, all his focus on the laptop that flashed into life with just a touch, while all her focus was on him, clad in nothing more than a pair of black silk briefs that made nothing more than a passing concession to modesty.
He was a god, from the tips of his damp tousled hair all the way down, over broad muscled shoulders that flexed as he moved his hand over the keyboard, over tan skin that glistened under the lights in the room, and over the tight V of his hips to the tapered muscular legs below.
And Regina felt muscles clench that she hadn't even known she'd possessed.
She must have made some kind of sound, she hoped to god it wasn't a whimper, because he stilled and glanced at the window in front of him, searching the reflection. She knew the instant he saw her, knew it in the way his muscles stiffened, his body straightening before he slowly turned around, his eyes narrowing as they drank her in, so throughly, so heatedly she was sure they must leave tracks on her skin.
"I'll have to call you back," he said into the phone, without taking his eyes off her, without making any attempts to leave the room to cover himself, "Something's come up."
She risked a glance...there...and immediately regretted it, for when she looked back at him, his eyes glinted knowingly, the corners creasing, as if he'd known exactly what she'd been doing and where she'd been looking.
"Regina?"