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Her Marriage Secret
Darcy Maguire
Meg has fought hard for her independence, so she's stunned to find herself staring at a gorgeous stranger one day, wondering if there's more to life than a successful career. She's even more surprised to realize she's looking at her own husband!Jake Adams is determined to reclaim his wife, and unravel the tangle of secrets that pulled them apart three years ago. The chemistry between them is still strong, and Meg can't deny the intensity of her attraction for Jake.But she's guarding her heart–and a baby secret that will change their lives forever….
“Hello, Meg.”
She froze. His voice was unmistakable, low and smooth, awakening her body to long-suppressed reactions. Jake, her Jake. Her heart skipped a beat. She’d thought she’d never hear that voice again. She wasn’t sure whether to cry or scream. She looked up.
His eyes bored into hers. Green eyes that tore at her heart, and she had the perverse urge to leap into his strong arms and hold him. But there was too much between them to embrace him, too much to even move. He was part of the past and there was no way she’d let him or any other man into her heart again, just to break it.
He turned to Meg’s best friend, Suzie. “Jacob Adams. I’m Meg’s—”
“Friend.” Meg found her voice. “An old friend….”
We’re delighted to present a fresh new talent for Harlequin Romance®
DARCY MAGUIRE
We hope you enjoy Darcy’s first novel, Her Marriage Secret. This is the emotional story of Meg, whose life is disrupted by the arrival of her handsome estranged husband….
Darcy Maguire wanted to grow up to be a fairy, but her wings never grew, her magic never worked and her life was no fairy tale. But one thing she knew for certain was that she was going to find her soul mate and live happily ever after. Darcy found her dark and handsome hero on a blind date, married him a year later and found that love truly is the soul of creativity. With four children too young to play matchmaker for (yet!) Darcy satisfies the romantic in her by finding true love for her fictional characters. It was this passion for romance, and her ability to sit in a chair every day, that led to her first sale. Darcy lives in Melbourne, Australia, and loves to read widely, sew and sneak off to the movies without the kids.
Darcy Maguire’s second novel, Accidental Bride
Her Marriage Secret
Darcy Maguire
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
CONTENTS
PROLOGUE (#ucb60f2ef-601d-5602-8910-42e24dc18189)
CHAPTER ONE (#uf68b22f4-37b1-5dd6-92e3-f308438f6aad)
CHAPTER TWO (#u5331d483-8606-527d-a146-a3c7c9c033bf)
CHAPTER THREE (#u170c874e-f1c2-516a-9266-822ddc0e377f)
CHAPTER FOUR (#ua3fbc71c-5f8f-5c34-8ea0-c6934137cff5)
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)
PROLOGUE
THE house was dark.
Jake quickened his pace, tightening his grip on his case as he moved through the shadows. She should be home. It was too early to be asleep. An unusual time to be shopping. She wouldn’t be out on a Tuesday night…
His heart hammered in his chest, drumming against his ribs, deafening his thoughts as he fumbled for the keys.
He paused. Took a deep breath. Plucked the right key from the bunch and shoved it in the lock.
Jake pushed open the door and felt the cold emptiness of the house envelop him. Fear gripped him. Where was she?
He moved quickly through the house, flicking the switches, flooding the rooms with light. The place was neat, cool, tidy. He swiped a finger along the kitchen bench and examined the fine layer of dust on the tip of it. Jake shuddered.
He yanked his mobile from his belt and punched Danny’s number. The painful knot of fear in the pit of his gut swelled with every ring.
‘You’re back,’ Danny said.
‘Where is she?’ His voice cracked.
A pause. ‘I’ll come round.’ And Danny rang off.
Jake dialled again, getting a message service. What the hell was going on? What couldn’t Dan tell him over the phone?
He ran a hand through his hair. If something had happened to Meg, Danny could have rung him. He always had his mobile with him. Icy fingers squeezed his chest. Why the hell hadn’t Danny rung him?
Jake clenched his fists by his sides. She was his life, his reason for being. What the hell had happened? He snatched the phone book up and slammed it onto the bench, rifled the pages for hospitals.
‘You won’t find her in there.’ Danny’s voice was slow and gentle.
Jake swung around. Danny stood in the doorway, his hands in his pockets, his shoulders hunched, his face dour.
‘What is it? What’s happened to Meg? Where is she?’
‘She’s gone.’
Gone. His legs shook under him and he sank into the nearest chair. ‘What do you mean gone? Gone where? How?’
‘She left you three weeks ago.’
‘What?’ His voice broke and he covered his mouth with his hand, rubbing his bristles. This couldn’t be happening. Not to them. Not to him. Not after all he knew. He was never going to muck up his life like his parents had.
‘She packed up and left you.’
‘I don’t understand.’ The words choked him. He did everything right, didn’t he? Sure, he was away a lot. He was working hard for the security of owning their own home. Which was more than his own father ever had…half-sloshed in the front lounge and out of work until he walked out the door one day and didn’t come back.
Danny touched him on the shoulder. ‘She didn’t love you, mate, that’s all.’
‘That’s all?’ The words burst from his throat. How could it be? They were like music together. His loins heated at the memory of her.
‘You shouldn’t have swept her off her feet like that, so soon after her dad dying and all.’ Danny stalked to the door. ‘You didn’t deserve her.’
Jake lifted his head.
‘You weren’t good enough for her, mate.’ Danny stood tall and rigid, glaring at him. ‘You took her at a vulnerable time but now she’s woken up to her senses. She wants a life that doesn’t include you.’
‘How do you know that?’
‘Apart from being here when you weren’t?’ He shifted his weight and looked at the floor. ‘Because I love her.’
‘What?’ Jake stood up and reduced the distance between them in a heartbeat, his blood surging with fury.
Danny quailed. ‘I didn’t tell Meg. Truly, I didn’t.’ He looked to the door. ‘I wish I had.’
Pain branded Jake deep in the chest. ‘Get out!’
The man who had been his best mate for as long as he could remember turned away from him like a stranger and melted into the shadows.
Jake blindly stumbled to the mantelpiece, his breath coming harsh and hard. He reached out, touching the photos, tracing Meg’s smiling eyes, her soft lips, her silky blonde hair that used to drape over his chest as she slept.
So he wasn’t what she wanted.
Regrets assailed him. Yes. He’d done a lot wrong. Too fast. Too busy. Too blind. He looked to the door and it was all he could do not to go after her. But it wouldn’t change anything. He was still the man he was.
Jake sat in lonely silence, his thoughts jagged, painful. A bitter battle raged between his own desires and the needs of the woman he loved with all his heart and soul.
There was only one decision to make. He was going to become his own man, become more civilised, become the man that would win Meg’s heart. And then he’d find her, make her his…and never let her go.
CHAPTER ONE
‘WOW, would you get a load of that one?’ Suzie gestured wildly. ‘He’s a 9.9 on the male Richter scale!’
Megan James turned in her seat and smiled at her best friend’s enthusiasm. She scanned the busy Melbourne restaurant obligingly, perusing the suited men that crowded the place. Suzie sure knew how to pick restaurants for single women to have lunch in—there had to be at least ten men for every woman, and the added bonus of the very virile, handsome Italian waiters.
‘The tourist.’ Suzie pointed to the well-built man at the bar.
His casual attire made him stick out among the businessmen. He was tall, broad-shouldered, slim-hipped and long-legged. A tailor’s delight. It would have been nice to design that shirt and trousers around his body.
A warm tingle caressed her spine. He certainly radiated ‘wrap your arms around me’. Meg sighed. So he had a nice body, but nothing outstanding she could see that would elicit such a response from Suzie—except his taste in clothes. But then, she couldn’t see his face.
Suzie nudged her. ‘Well?’
Meg shrugged and pushed a strand of her short blonde hair back from her face. ‘I can’t even see him properly. He could have a face like—’
He turned towards them as if on cue. His vivid green eyes scanned the room with a casual indifference.
Meg’s stomach clenched tight. He was clean-shaven, his strong jawline giving his features a power that she’d forgotten. His dark hair was cut short now, but there was no mistaking him; his ruggedly handsome face was all too familiar.
Meg grabbed the menu she’d left idle in front of her and slapped it to her face, her heart thudding fiercely.
‘What are you doing? Have you gone crazy, Meg?’
‘We’ve got to get out of here,’ she whispered shakily from behind the menu. Meg’s mind tumbled around in confusion. How could he have found her after all this time? It had to be coincidence.
Desire pulsed hot through her veins, bringing a deep low ache to her body, enticing her mind into fantasies of what they’d shared once, long ago.
Damn him. She was still as disturbed by him as she had been three years ago. And now he was here. She shook off her body’s traitorous response. She’d always told herself that if he came looking for her it would be out of obligation, but as the days, weeks and then months had gone by, and he hadn’t turned up, she’d concluded soberly that she hadn’t meant anything to him. She’d been a notch for his ego with a dose of obligation thrown in—nothing more.
‘Why?’ Suzie sounded bewildered. ‘Don’t you like him? You’d look great together, and he’s definitely loaded. He’s perfect for you.’
‘Believe me, he’s not.’ Meg lowered the menu slightly to see her over-zealous friend ogling the man she could only label as an ordeal personified. The man who had sent her whole life awry.
‘Come on, Meg. Gosh, you sound like some old prude. He looks like the perfect stranger to me.’
He’s not a stranger—and he’s far from perfect! she wanted to yell. For years Meg had fostered a crush on him. Years of teenage fantasies about the boy next door falling in love with her. Time had dragged by until the day when he’d come back from overseas and had set to seducing her. It had been all her dreams come true and she’d been so keen to believe every word he’d uttered, every touch and every kiss.
Blood pooled in her cheeks. He hadn’t needed to try very hard. She’d been a young, naive idiot to think there could’ve been anything between them—anything serious, anything that would stand the test of time.
‘Come on, Meg. You’re being silly.’ Suzie cast a long look in his direction.
Meg could see the admiration in Suzie’s eyes. Almost a mirror of what she must have looked like years ago. She slapped Suzie on the arm. ‘With a look like that he’ll come over!’ If he did she’d just die. How could she look at him after all that had happened between them? Guilt assailed her. For the running, for the hiding, and for the secret that hung heavily in the base of her stomach.
Suzie frowned. ‘That’s the point. You’ve got to get a guy in your life. There’s more to life than work. I could go over and get him to—’
Meg’s hand flew out and grabbed Suzie’s wrist. ‘Don’t you dare!’ The look of shock on her friend’s face snapped her back to reality. ‘I’m sorry.’ She tried to slow her breathing. ‘I know him, okay, and it didn’t work out.’ That was an understatement!
Suzie recovered quickly. ‘Can I go over, then, and have a go at him?’ She pulled her long auburn hair over her shoulders, arranging it over her chest to look as though she had just fallen out of a fashion magazine. ‘Could you introduce me? What’s his name?’
‘No, you can’t go over.’ A wave of unfamiliar emotion swept over her. She froze. She couldn’t still feel for him? After all the pain he’d caused her? After all this time?
Meg gritted her teeth. She was annoyed at her idiocy. It was over, she proclaimed to herself—as she’d done many times before. So Suzie was welcome to him. As long as she didn’t bring him anywhere near her.
