He eyed her carefully, clearly still suspicious. “Why?”

She paused. She had to choose her next words carefully. “It’s…Grandfather…” She cleared her throat and began again. “Mama thought it would be nice if we all spend Christmastide together. One la…last Christmastide.” She couldn’t keep her voice from faltering.

“Your mother, you say?” Sebastian narrowed his eyes on Veronica and rubbed his freshly shaved chin.

“Y…yes,” she insisted, biting her lip.

“It’s not your grandfather’s wish, then?” He paused for a moment, still eyeing her carefully. “His dying wish?”

In her mind, Veronica let fly a string of expletives. Outwardly, however, she merely pressed her lips together and blinked, struggling to keep her face entirely blank. Why did Sebastian have to be so clever? Shouldn’t a man gifted with his good looks stand to be a bit dull in the mind? It was unfair. She remained silent, contemplating her next statement. It would only hurt her case that he’d realized it was Grandpapa’s dying wish. Sebastian knew how much she loved her grandfather.

Apparently, her silence was all the affirmation Sebastian needed, however. “I’m correct, am I not?” he asked, his grin widening, making her want to stalk across the rug and slap it off his handsome face.

“Grandpapa has always adored Christmastide,” she said. There. That was all she intended to allow him.

The infuriating grin remained. “I see. So, the question is…” Sebastian tugged at the towel on his hips and her eyes were inexorably drawn to the line of hair that trailed down his flat belly and disappeared beneath the towel. She immediately averted her gaze to the fine rug below her black leather traveling boots. This was torture, plain and simple.

“Wh…what’s the question?” she asked, forcing herself to remember why she was here. And it was certainly not to ogle the man. She did, however, glance back at him.

His eyes narrowed, and he caught his plump lower lip between two white teeth. “The question is…what are you willing to do in return for my…compliance?”

She lifted her chin and met his green gaze. This was it. The moment of truth. Expelling her breath, she asked, “What do you want in return?” Her voice was higher than she intended, a bit more tremulous than she would have liked, but at least they’d finally got to the place she’d been dreading since Mama had arrived on her doorstep yesterday afternoon. It was time for Sebastian to name his terms.

He poked his tongue into his cheek, crossed his arms over his bare chest, and lifted one dark eyebrow like the complete rogue that he was. “Seems to me that compliance for compliance is a fair trade.”

Her heart hammering in her chest, she bit the inside of her cheek to keep from saying something she ought not. “What sort of compliance?” She forced the words past her dry lips.

He cocked his head to the side, a boyish smile on his lips. “I will come with you, and I will play the part of the doting husband in every way…on two conditions.”