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Xander Fraser scowled darkly. ‘Wouldn’t it have been more convenient, with Josh still so young, for you to have found a job in the day—?’
‘I do have a job in the day!’ she told him impatiently, feeling at a distinct disadvantage as his body, with its superior height, loomed over hers; Xander Fraser was at least a foot taller than her own five feet two inches. ‘I work five days a week cooking at a local café as well as the four evenings at the hotel,’ she revealed, still reluctant to discuss her personal business with this man who exuded such wealth and power.
‘Why?’ he probed.
Her cheeks flushed. ‘That is none of your—’
‘Business?’ Xander finished for her. ‘What if I’m making it my business?’ he added softly, becoming more and more convinced as he talked to Casey that he had found the answer to getting out of the corner Brad was pushing him into.
That what he was about to propose would solve Casey’s problems, too…
She gave a disbelieving laugh, at once looking younger, even if the expression in her green eyes was derisive rather than genuinely amused. ‘And why would Xander Fraser, multimillionaire film producer, want to do something like that?’ she scorned, highlighting the immense gulf between their vastly different circumstances.
Not that she wanted to be mega-rich. Comfortably off would be nice. But the garden centre and the money that her father had left her when he died were long gone—the first bankrupted in a year under Sam’s management, the second frittered away as he had struggled to make a success—played at?—landscape gardening.
The only thing Sam had succeeded at was ending their torturous marriage once and for all by meeting Chloe Fraser!
‘Well, Mr Fraser?’ she said belligerently.
His mouth thinned at her tone of voice. ‘I have—a business proposition to put to you,’ he finally bit out.
Casey shook her head. ‘I’m afraid you’ve misunderstood my cooking abilities, Mr Fraser. I don’t cater for dinner parties—’
‘Not that sort of business proposition!’ he growled, pacing the small confines of the kitchen, his gaze narrowed to vivid blue slits. ‘Are you familiar with Brad Henderson?’
Her eyebrows raised at the mention of the rich, retired owner of a Hollywood film studio. ‘Not personally, no.’
‘I am,’ Xander said.
Casey shrugged. ‘You’re both in the same business.’
‘He’s also Chloe’s father,’ Xander expanded. ‘And therefore Lauren’s grandfather.’
Casey hadn’t known that—although it probably went a long way towards explaining why Chloe had always been so sure of having her own way. A privileged, over-indulgent father, followed by marriage to an even richer husband—what choice had the other woman had but to be spoilt and selfish?
All of which was of absolutely no relevance whatsoever now that Chloe was dead.
Was it…?
Casey put up a tired hand to brush her hair away from her brow. ‘I really don’t see what this has to do with me.’
‘I’m getting to that,’ Xander assured her impatiently. ‘Lauren and Josh are already friends. Things obviously aren’t going too well with you if you have to work at two jobs in order to remain even this financially solvent—’
‘Now, look, Mr Fraser—’
‘Will you just hear me out, Casey?’ Xander cut in. ‘I have something to say, and your constant interruptions aren’t making it any easier!’
She raised blonde brows, indignant colour in her cheeks. ‘Maybe if you stopped making this so personal…?’
His mouth twisted humourlessly. ‘But it is personal, Casey. Very personal,’ he added heavily. ‘For reasons that I will explain in a moment, I’m here to ask if, in return for my financially providing for you and Josh, you would consider becoming my wife.’
Speechless.
Xander Fraser had rendered her completely speechless with his announcement—his question?
He couldn’t possibly be serious!
Could he?
CHAPTER THREE (#ulink_2e42b04c-fda5-5add-a706-bc39f1e03f44)
CASEY felt as if she were fighting her way through cotton-wool—thick, wispy clouds of it that stopped her reaching the surface, stopped her from remembering—
This was all a dream! Xander Fraser was a dream. As his marriage proposal had been a dream—
‘Drink this,’ rasped an autocratic voice. ‘Come on, Casey, open your eyes and drink.’
Unfortunately, that voice was all too familiar. Not a dream, then. Or even a nightmare! Which meant that Xander’s marriage proposal had been very real…
‘I know you’re awake, Casey.’ His voice was softer now. ‘I’m not going to disappear just because you refuse to open your eyes and look at me,’ he taunted gently.
Her lids snapped open and she glared up at her tormentor. She was now sitting slumped in the armchair Xander must have carried her to when she’d fainted, and he was bent over her, holding out a glass of clear brown liquid.
A rueful smile touched those beautifully sculpted lips as he made no effort to back off. ‘Drink some of the sherry, Casey,’ he ordered as he held the glass closer to her. ‘It should be brandy, I know, but it’s all I could find in the way of alcohol,’ he added wryly.
It was cooking sherry, Casey recognised with a grimace as she took the glass from him, used to flavour a trifle she had made for Christmas, several months ago. And not a very good cooking sherry, either. But he was right. She needed something to dispel some of the numbed shock she was feeling.
Xander Fraser was the type of man who was always right, she decided, thoroughly disgruntled. She gulped down the sherry, finding it as disgusting as she’d thought it would be, but nonetheless reviving for all that.
Great, Xander muttered inwardly when he saw those green eyes begin to sparkle unnaturally and the flush that suddenly coloured Casey’s previously pale cheeks; one glass of bloody awful sherry and the woman was drunk. No doubt the fact that she obviously didn’t eat properly hadn’t helped.
‘That’s enough of that,’ he said firmly. He took the empty glass away from her and placed it on the coffee table, straightening as he did so to move slightly away from her. His deliberately bland expression showed none of the concern he had felt a few minutes ago, as he’d carried her limp body from the kitchen to place her in the chair in the sitting room.
The woman had been like gossamer in his arms—so light she’d felt as though she didn’t weigh much more than Lauren. As he had looked down at her he’d wondered what difference a few good meals and some TLC would bring to the hollows of her cheeks and the slender curves of her body. How she would look if the worry and stress she was obviously suffering were to be removed and she could actually start to enjoy life again.
Then he had chastised himself for even thinking along those lines. His idea that the two of them marry was a business proposition. Nothing more, nothing less. Far better that he didn’t even think of Casey Bridges’ undoubted beauty, or the possible allure of her with a fuller, more curvaceous body…
No, thinking about her like that certainly wasn’t a good idea. Not if she agreed to marry him.
And he had every intention, now he had actually voiced the idea, of making sure that she did!
Casey looked up at Xander from beneath long golden lashes, easily recognising his leashed strength as he paced the room restlessly. He was a man who wielded power along with supreme self-confidence. A man, she was sure, who never took no for an answer. A man who had just suggested, with the offer of a financial incentive, that she marry him!
She moistened stiff, unyielding lips before speaking. ‘I think you had better leave now.’
‘I’m afraid I can’t do that, Casey. You and I have a lot more to say to each other before I agree to go anywhere.’
‘But you can’t have seriously just suggested the two of us get married?’
‘Oh, I’m serious,’ he replied grimly. ‘Very much so.’
‘But you don’t even know me—’
‘I know all I need to know,’ he declared. ‘You’re hardworking. Independent. A good mother—’
‘My teeth are sound, too,’ she put in sarcastically.
Xander gave an appreciative grin. ‘There—you have a sense of humour as well!’
‘It’s hysteria, Mr Fraser, not humour,’ Casey pointed out, sitting up straighter in the armchair to look at him searchingly. ‘Why?’ she finally voiced in a guarded tone.
‘Add astute to your list of attributes!’ he teased, not unkindly.
‘Well, I certainly know you aren’t suggesting I marry you because you’ve suddenly decided you’ve fallen madly in love with me!’ she retorted.
‘No,’ he acknowledged seriously. ‘Do you want to know why you? Or why I need to get married at all?’
‘Both,’ Casey snapped.
‘Does Josh have any paternal grandparents?’ he asked, instead of answering either of those questions.
Casey looked surprised. ‘Yes.’
‘And have they ever considered trying to take Josh from you?’
‘After the way their son behaved? They wouldn’t dare!’ she assured him, wings of angry colour appearing in those pale cheeks.
‘Well, Brad feels no such scruples where his granddaughter is concerned,’ Xander said coldly.
‘Your father-in-law wants to take Lauren away from you?’ Casey gasped. ‘But why?’
Xander raised an eyebrow. ‘Why does he want Lauren? Or why does he think he has reason to take Lauren from me?’
‘Either. Both!’ Casey frowned her agitation at his habit of answering her questions with more questions, at the same time wondering how she would have felt if Sam’s parents had ever threatened to try and take Josh from her.
As desperate as Xander Fraser obviously did, if his marriage proposal to her was anything to go by!
He sighed. ‘Brad is hurting very badly at the moment. His daughter—his only child—died four months ago, and now that his initial shock has receded I believe he sees Lauren as a replacement in his life for Chloe. He informed me on Sunday that he intends applying for custody of Lauren. I tried reasoning with him, and pointed out that he isn’t thinking rationally at the moment. He isn’t listening,’ Xander concluded darkly.
Casey gave him a searching look, knowing by the grimness of his expression that he took his father-in-law’s threat seriously. But surely Brad Henderson, no matter how rich and influential, could never succeed in such a threat?
‘You didn’t answer my other why,’ she prompted.
Xander Fraser’s eyes flashed. ‘Why does he think he might succeed in such a claim?’ His lips briefly compressed into a tight line before he continued. ‘Whether you believe me or not, I consider myself a good father. But there have been—problems since Chloe and I separated. I’m away on business a lot, obviously. Lauren has been—difficult at school. She has also managed to dispatch the four nannies I’ve employed in as many months. Brad intends using all of the above as a way of proving he would be a better guardian for Lauren than I am.’
‘But those things don’t mean anything.’ Casey shook her head. ‘Josh has been a little—troubled at school, too. But with his father leaving, the strangeness of having another woman in his father’s life, and then their sudden deaths—it’s only natural that there should be some sort of reaction. I’m sure that’s all that’s happening with Lauren, too.’
He shrugged. ‘You know that. I know that. Brad obviously sees things differently. He’s angry, upset, and he’s blaming everything and everyone, including me, for Chloe’s death. At the moment he simply doesn’t see that he helped form Chloe into the selfish person she undoubtedly was. And no doubt he would make Lauren equally selfish if he were to get his hands on her.’
It wasn’t too difficult for Casey to imagine the scenario Xander described.
It was difficult, however, to understand how proposing marriage to her was going to solve his dilemma!
‘So you think marrying a complete stranger is going to stop him from going ahead with a custody battle?’ she said with a frown.
‘I think marrying a woman whose young son is already friends with my daughter—she’s talked about Josh incessantly the last four months!—and providing Lauren with a stepmother and the stability of a proper family life, is going to stop him from even trying, yes!’
‘One big happy family, hmm?’ Casey grimaced.
‘Can you come up with a better idea?’ Xander snapped.
‘How about marrying someone you actually love?’
He gave her a pitying glance. ‘Don’t tell me, after seven years of marriage to a man like Sam Bridges, that you still believe in the love myth? Any more than I do after seven years of marriage to Chloe?’
Her eyes flashed deeply green. ‘I think we should leave my marriage out of this.’
‘How can we?’ Xander asked. ‘It’s because your marriage was as disastrous as mine that I believed you might be receptive to my proposal—’
‘That I might be financially desperate enough to be “receptive” to your proposal you mean, don’t you?’ Casey bridled angrily, standing up to glare at him. ‘I’m sure there must be dozens of women you could find who would marry you without the offer of financial inducement!’
‘Someone who would expect more from me than I’m willing to give, you mean?’ His mouth twisted cynically. ‘I would rather pay up front for the privilege, thank you very much. At least that way we would know exactly where we stood!’
‘I don’t need your damned charity—’
‘No—you’re managing just fine on your own, aren’t you?” he taunted. ‘You’re working at two jobs and you still don’t have enough money to feed both Josh and yourself. And from the looks of things you’ve been selling off the furniture a piece at a time, too—’
‘Get out, Mr Fraser.’ Casey cut him off with quiet determination, her hands clenched into fists at her sides. ‘Take your offer and—’
‘But you haven’t heard what my offer is yet, Casey.’
‘I don’t need to hear it—’
He ignored her protest. ‘As my stepson, Josh would go to the same private schools as Lauren. University later, too. And I would put funds in trust for him to receive when he’s twenty-one. Neither he nor you would ever have to worry about money ever again.’
‘And in return for all that, what do I give you?’ Casey asked, with more than a touch of sarcasm.
‘Just your name with mine on a marriage certificate.’
Casey shook her head. ‘I understand why you’re doing this, Mr Fraser—I really do,’ she reiterated as he gave a derisive snort; if anyone tried to take Josh away from her she would do what she had to do to keep him, too. ‘But Brad Henderson would never believe in a marriage between the two of us.’
‘You’re wrong there, Casey,’ Xander contradicted her flatly. ‘I’ve had four days to think—to worry about this—and after my seven hellish years of marriage to Chloe, I can assure you I’ve made my views on marrying again only too plain. Which is why I think a marriage between the two of us—Sam’s deserted wife and Chloe’s deserted husband—is the only one that Brad would even half believe in.’
‘If it was so hellish, why did you stay married to Chloe for so long?’ she snapped, stung by how he’d described her as deserted; he made her sound like a pair of old shoes Sam had simply laid to one side and forgotten!
‘Why did you stay married to Bridges?’ he retorted.
But Casey knew the answer to the question even before they both answered at the same time.
