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A Marriage Worth Saving
Therese Beharrie
Never too late…Once, Mila Thomas had love, marriage and the promise of the family she'd always longed for, until tragedy struck. Now, with the ink still drying on her divorce papers, no matter how painful it is, it's time to move on…To begin again?Leaving Mila was the hardest thing Jordan's ever had to do. However, when fate brings them back together, he's reminded of what drew him to his beautiful wife in the first place, and he wonders if it's ever too late to try again?
Never too late...
Once, Mila Thomas had love, marriage and the promise of the family she’d always longed for, until tragedy struck. Now, with the ink still drying on her divorce papers, no matter how painful it is, it’s time to move on...
To begin again?
Leaving Mila was the hardest thing Jordan’s ever had to do. However, when fate brings them back together, he’s reminded of what drew him to his beautiful wife in the first place, and he wonders if it’s ever too late to try again?
Mila had done it out of desperation, to pierce through that controlled façade he clung to even though she could see that he felt beneath the surface.
She wanted Jordan to feel the earthquake that was happening inside her, to know the emotions that spurred from the hole the quake had opened, and the only way she knew how to do that was to kiss him.
But as she sank into the kiss, she thought that she was a fool for being so impulsive, for letting go of the control she fought for around him. And then she stopped thinking, her body pressing itself closer to his as she tasted him. The same—he tasted the same. Of fire and home and pure man. Her anger turned into passion, and there was no sliding back into the heat that they had always shared. No, they jumped straight into the fire, greedily taking in each other, hands moving over bodies that had changed yet were somehow still the same.
When he lifted her from the ground she went willingly, her arms around him, refusing to lose contact with him...
A Marriage Worth Saving
Therese Beharrie
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
THERESE BEHARRIE has always been thrilled by romance. Her love of reading established this, and now she gets to write happily-ever-afters for a living, and about all things romance on her blog at theresebeharrie.com (http://theresebeharrie.com). She married a man who constantly exceeds her romantic expectations and is an infinite source of inspiration for her romantic heroes. She lives in Cape Town, South Africa, and is still amazed that her dream of being a romance author is a reality.
To my husband, Grant, thank you for showing me what a strong relationship is. It’s knowing that we can face whatever comes our way that helped me to write a relationship that survives after the unthinkable. You are my inspiration.
I love you.
And for the incredibly strong women in my family. Your courage in facing the most heartbreaking of losses inspired this story. Your determination in facing the future inspired these characters. I hope it brings you a measure of comfort.
Contents
Cover (#ub2b9419d-8170-56eb-aac1-c3cae10701f2)
Back Cover Text (#ue37bb45a-f1cb-5d64-b929-ac7bb342a536)
Introduction (#u670db414-b5ef-5a0b-be93-297ec98284df)
Title Page (#u1c00d4d3-24b4-5ffd-8cb7-3ddddf8bb474)
About the Author (#u0678f5ae-b5bb-542b-9449-d2609b96c409)
Dedication (#ud0156967-06d2-5582-9458-468166a11296)
PROLOGUE (#ulink_57131021-9961-50d6-a346-4312ab9661e0)
CHAPTER ONE (#ulink_4a78b40c-149e-5ea5-b217-07b4481bb982)
CHAPTER TWO (#ulink_010746e3-6446-5e12-9811-a243834bec82)
CHAPTER THREE (#ulink_50c08ada-00e6-50e3-b941-2d7c631389a7)
CHAPTER FOUR (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER THIRTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FOURTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FIFTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIXTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
EPILOGUE (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
PROLOGUE (#ulink_98229526-f210-524a-95e7-955035f8bbf2)
JORDAN THOMAS COULDN’T take his eyes off his event planner.
Well, he supposed he couldn’t exactly call her ‘his’ when his father had been the one to hire her. But since he had inherited his mother’s half of the vineyard—which he would have gladly traded to have her back—he figured his father’s decision went for the both of them.
‘Are you going to keep staring at her, or are you going to introduce yourself?’
His father, Gregory, barely glanced at him as he said the words. The serious tone Greg had used would have alarmed anyone who didn’t know him—would have made him seem almost angry—but at twenty-seven years old Jordan knew the nuances of his father’s voice. Greg was baiting him.
‘I’m still thinking about it. I’m not sure I want to bother her an hour before the event,’ Jordan answered.
When his father didn’t reply, he sighed.
‘Maybe you should call her over so that I can introduce myself, Dad.’
His father nodded his approval. ‘Mila! Would you come over here for a second?’
The minute she started walking towards them, Jordan’s heart raced. She was absolutely beautiful, he thought as he took in the perfectly designed features of her face. A small nose led to luscious lips, pink as a cherry blossom and which curved into a smile when she saw his father. The smile kicked his heart up another notch even though her brown eyes watched him carefully, surrounded by the fullest, darkest eyelashes he had ever seen.
He wondered idly if they were like that with help from cosmetic enhancements, but something told him that everything about her was natural. She made him think of the fields where his grapes grew in the vineyard—of the vibrancy of their colours and the feeling of home he always felt looking at it.
He didn’t have time to ponder the unsettling thought when she stopped in front of them.
‘Mila, you haven’t had the chance to meet my son yet.’ Greg nudged Jordan, and if Jordan hadn’t been so mesmerised by the woman in front of him, he might have wondered at his father pushing him towards her.
But all thoughts flew out of his head the minute he introduced himself and she said, ‘Mila Dennis,’ and took his outstretched hand.
He’d thought there would be heat—a natural reaction to touching someone he found attractive. But he hadn’t expected the heat to burn through his entire body. He hadn’t expected the longing that curled in his stomach, the desire to make her his. But most of all he hadn’t expected the pull that he felt towards her—a connection that went beyond the physical.
She pulled her hand away quickly, tucking a non-existent piece of hair behind her ear, and he knew she had felt it, too.
‘It’s lovely to meet you, Mr Thomas.’
Her voice sounded like music to him and he frowned, wondering at his reaction to a woman he hadn’t even known for five minutes.
‘Jordan, please. Mr Thomas is my father.’ He shoved his hands into his pockets and watched as a smile spread across Greg’s face. Jordan felt his eyebrows raise.
‘Actually, Mila doesn’t call me that,’ Greg said, and Jordan realised Greg’s smile was aimed at Mila. It was a sign of affection that made their relationship seem more than that of employer/employee. It was almost...familial. Almost, because Greg didn’t even share his smiles—a rare commodity—with his family. With his son.
He would have to ask his father about it, Jordan thought when Mila’s lips curved in response. But then she looked at Jordan and the smile faltered.
‘Well, I think it’s best that I get back. We have hundreds of people coming today. It was a great idea to host a Valentine’s Day Under the Stars event.’
‘It was mine.’ Jordan wasn’t sure why he said it, but he wanted her to know that he was responsible for the idea that had brought the two of them together.
He had a feeling it would be significant.
‘Well, it was a great one.’ She frowned, as though she wasn’t sure how to respond to him. ‘I’ll see you both a little later then. Greg...’ She smiled at Jordan’s father, but again it faltered when she turned her attention to him. ‘Jordan...’
She said his name carefully, as though it was a minefield she was navigating through. He watched her, saw the flash of awareness and then denial in her eyes, and something settled inside him.
‘What was that?’
His father had waited for Mila to leave before asking, and Jordan turned to him, noting the carefully blank expression on Greg’s face.
‘I think I’ve just met the woman I’m going to spend the rest of my life with.’
Greg’s eyebrows rose so high they disappeared under the hair that had fallen over his forehead. And then came another nod of approval.
‘I knew you were a smart boy,’ he said, and a warm feeling spread through Jordan’s heart at what he knew was high praise coming from his father.
* * *
Meeting Jordan Thomas had unsettled Mila so much that she’d almost lost her headline act.
When she heard the commotion in the tent they’d set up behind the amphitheatre stage—and saw the sympathetic look Lulu, her assistant and long-time friend, shot her on her way towards the sound—Mila knew she was about to walk into a drama.
‘Why would you do this to me on Valentine’s Day?’ Karen, the pretty singer that the whole of South Africa had been raving about since she’d won the biggest singing competition in the country, was wailing. ‘You couldn’t wait one day before breaking up with me? And right before a performance, too!’
Wails turned into heart-wrenching sobs—the kind that could only come from a teenage girl losing her first love—and Mila felt the telltale tickling of the start of a headache. She took in the chagrined look on Karen’s guitarist’s face and realised he was responsible for the tears.
She sighed, and then strode to the little crowd where the scene was unfolding.
‘What’s going on?’
‘Kevin broke up with me!’ Karen said through her sobs, and Mila wondered why she had decided that hiring a fresh young girl to perform at one of the biggest events she had ever planned—for one of the most prominent clients she had ever worked for—had seemed like a good idea.
And then she remembered the voice in the online videos she’d watched of Karen, and the number of views all those videos had got, and she sighed again.
‘On Valentine’s Day, Kevin?’ Mila asked, instead of voicing the ‘What were you thinking?’ that sat on the tip of her tongue. Best not to rock the boat any further, she thought. Kevin, who looked to be only a couple of years older than the girl whose heart he had broken, shifted uncomfortably on his feet.
‘Well, ma’am, there was this—’
He cut himself off when Mila held up her hand, affronted that he was calling her ‘ma’am’ even though she was only a few years older than him. Four, max. She’d also realised that whatever Kevin had been about to say would have caused Karen even more distress.
‘Okay, everyone, the show is over. Can we all get back to what we need to be doing? Our guests are starting to arrive,’ Mila called out and then waited until everyone had scattered, eyeing those who lingered so that they eventually left, too.
When she was alone with Karen, she turned and took the girl’s hand. ‘Have you ever been broken up with before, Karen?’
Red curls bounced as Karen shook her head, and Mila suddenly felt all the sympathy in the world for her.
‘It sucks. It really does. Your heart feels like it’s been ripped into two and your stomach is in twists. It doesn’t matter when it happens—that feeling is always the same. Stays there, too, if you let it.’
Mila thought about when she had been Karen’s age—of how moving from foster home to foster home had meant that she’d never had someone to tell her this the first time a boy had broken her heart—and said what she’d wished she’d known then.
‘But, you know, the older you get, the more you realise that the less it meant, the less it will hurt. And, since Kevin over there seems like a bit of a jerk, I’m thinking you’ll be over this in a week...maybe two.’
‘Really?’ The hope in Karen’s eyes made Mila smile.
‘I’m pretty sure. And, you know, the best revenge is to prove to him that it didn’t really matter that much after all.’
‘But how...? Oh, if I perform with him, he’ll think that I’ve got over it. Maybe he’ll even want me back!’
She said the words with such enthusiasm that Mila resisted rolling her eyes. ‘Sure... Why not?’
She watched Karen run to the bathroom to freshen up, feeling both relieved that Karen was going to perform and annoyed that she didn’t seem to have heard a word Mila had told her.
‘That was pretty impressive.’
