Bride For A Year

‘At least you honestly admit it would be a mistake,’ she said with a shake of her head. ‘I can’t believe you aren’t joking. So you honestly think my options are to stay here and have you take advantage of me, or go to Seattle and have someone else exploit me?’

‘I’m not about to take advantage of you, Paige,’ he said slowly. His eyes were perfectly serious now. ‘But I can’t vouch for the other guy—can you? Who is it, anyway? Not that guy you brought back here in the summer holidays last year?’

‘I’m not about to discuss my boyfriends with you.’

‘Spoilsport.’ He leaned back against the counter top. His eyes lingered on the softness of her lips. ‘I suppose what you’ve got to ask yourself is, do you want to keep your family home or is the guy in Seattle worth giving everything up for?’ he drawled lazily.

‘Oh, this is ridiculous.’ She shook her head. ‘I’m not listening to another word. We can’t get married; it’s preposterous.’

‘I think it would be a good deal for the both of us.’

‘A good deal!’ She was outraged. ‘How can you talk about marriage in those terms?’

‘If I talked in other terms...talked about love... would you be interested?’ he asked calmly, a hint of mocking sarcasm in his voice.

‘I’m not interested in any terms.’ Her heart slammed against her chest.

‘So you are going to run away to Seattle.’

‘I’m not running away.’ She denied that firmly. ‘I’m starting over again.’

‘You can start again here,’ he said nonchalantly. ‘I know how much this place means to you. You can have it all back in twelve months.’

Her skin flared with heat.

‘You’ll feel a lot better and clearer in twelve months.’

‘Or a lot worse.’

‘It’s a calculated risk. At least you’ll have your home back. You can’t lose.’

Paige doubted those words very much. ‘On the contrary, I think I could lose a great deal. My freedom...my sanity.’

One dark eyebrow lifted at that. ‘I don’t think living with me will be that bad!’ he said dryly.

‘That’s a matter of opinion.’ She glared at him.

‘Well, if that’s how you feel I’ll just ask someone else.’

The audacity of his words made her heart thump wildly. ‘Yes, you do that. What about Carolyn?’ She flung the words at him, wanting to see his reaction, wanting to know how he felt about Carolyn finishing with him.

‘I told you. Carolyn no longer figures in my life at all.’

His words were firm, the darkness of his eyes showing no hint of indecision or emotion on that point.

She pushed a hand through the length of her hair. ‘Are you by any chance on the rebound, Brad?’

He looked surprised by the question, then he laughed. ‘Certainly not. Carolyn wanted more from me than I was prepared to give.’

Paige thought about that for a moment before she said softly, ‘But she finished with you...didn’t she?’

‘Does it matter who finished with whom?’ he countered. He glanced at his watch. ‘Look, I haven’t come over here to discuss my past affairs. I was wondering if you would have lunch with me? I think it would help if we could sit down and discuss things in a mature manner.’

She shook her head. ‘I can’t honestly believe that you think we have anything to discuss. You know how I feel about you.’

‘You and I have always got on extremely well.’

‘Until I found out what you are really like.’

He shrugged. ‘I’ve always thought very highly of you, Paige. I like your sparky manner...’ His eyes slipped down to her figure. ‘Among other things.’

‘Don’t try to flatter me, Brad,’ she told him shakily. ‘I mean it. I’m not going along with this business deal of yours. I’m a romantic. When I many, it will be for love, not business.’

‘I can send roses,’ he said casually.

‘It would take more than roses to win me around now,’ she said bluntly. ‘After the way you treated my father.’

‘Let’s not go through that again. Your father’s problems were of his own making,’ he said derisively.

‘I’m sure you would like nothing better than for what you did to be forgotten,’ she said abrasively. ‘But that isn’t going to happen. I’ll never forget nor forgive how you stabbed my father in the back. He died a broken and bitter man and you contributed to that... I hate you for it—’

‘For hell’s sake, Paige, grow up.’ He cut across her words with contempt. ‘Your father was a foolish man; he ruined himself...’ He leaned across the table, meeting the fierce glitter of her eyes. ‘Shall I tell you why his finances were in such a bad state? Shall I tell you the truth?’

She frowned, her heart thudding overtime. ‘What do you mean? I know everything there is to know.’

For the briefest second she saw indecision in his dark eyes. Then he shrugged. ‘Your father was weak, Paige, and the sooner you face up to that the better.’

‘He didn’t have very many good words to say about you either,’ she said succinctly. ‘He said you were hard and ruthless. And, judging by the offer you are making me, I’d say he was right.’

His eyebrows rose. ‘If offering to write off the money still owing to me, offering to rebuild and invest in this vineyard then hand it back to you in twelve months is your opinion of cold and ruthless, then there is no point in us talking any further.’ He put his coffee cup down on the table.

‘Just tell me this, Brad.’ She stopped him as he made to move towards the door. ‘How come you can afford to write off my father’s loan now and yet when we begged you for some extra time to pay you back you refused flat?’

He stopped and looked at her. ‘I had very good reasons for doing what I did, Paige. I’m asking you to take my word for it.’

There was something about his tone that rang with sincerity. She felt confused suddenly.

He saw the shadows in her eyes, the grief, and he moved towards her.

‘Don’t, Brad.’ She moved back from him. ‘Don’t touch me. I mean it when I say I hate you.’

‘No, you don’t.’ He shook his head. ‘You’re scared of the future and you are desperately grieving for your father, but you don’t hate me.’

‘I’m not scared of anything,’ she told him staunchly.

His eyes moved gently over her pale skin, the soft, vulnerable curve of her lips. ‘I’ve known you since you were thirteen years of age, Paige Jackson, and I know every expression that flits across that beautiful face almost better than I know my own reflection in the mirror. I know you are hurting now...and I want you to believe that I want to make things better for you.’ He touched her face, raising it so she was forced to look up at him. ‘I want to kiss those trembling lips and hold you and tell you that you are never going to have to worry about anything again.’

She bit down on her lip. The strange thing was that despite everything she had been telling him she wanted him to kiss her, to hold her. She was so bewildered by the range of emotions inside her that she didn’t know what to think any more.

His thumb brushed the softness of her skin. ‘I’m sorry I said the things I did about your father, about him being weak. I shouldn’t have said anything.’

‘No, you shouldn’t have.’ Her eyes ached suddenly with the effort not to cry.

‘I want you to believe me when I say I always liked your father, Paige. I certainly wasn’t out to ruin him.’

Paige didn’t answer; her heart was beating so fiercely against her chest that she felt sure he would be able to hear it. His closeness was making all sorts of strange emotions surface with an intensity she couldn’t stem.

‘We won’t talk about the past again, all right?’ He lowered his voice to a gentle, persuasive tone. ‘The future is all that matters now. Let’s go out for lunch and discuss it together in a positive manner.’

Paige frowned. What was her future? Leaving everything and everyone she had ever known and loved, and that included Brad Monroe, starting again in a strange town? But if she stayed and married Brad, how would she feel in a year’s time when the marriage was over? She would have her home back, but would she really be able to pick up the pieces of her life, forget that she had shared a year with Brad, forget that she had shared his bed and act as if nothing had happened? She didn’t think she was capable of that, but then going away seemed an equally harsh solution.

‘Say you’ll marry me, Paige, and I’ll look after you.’

‘I don’t need looking after,’ she said fiercely. ‘I can look after myself.’

‘OK. say yes and we’ll work out the details later.’ He grinned at her. Then he leaned down and kissed her.

The sweetness of his lips against hers sent a shock of pleasure spinning deep inside her. She made no attempt to pull away from him; instead, some deeper, stronger instinct seemed to take over and she found herself reaching out, resting her hands against the warmth of his chest. He smelled wonderful—of expensive soap. She could feel the heat of him emanating through her, warming the coldness that had gripped her since her father’s death. She closed her eyes and found that she wanted to lean against him weakly, that she wanted just to give in and say, Let’s give it a go.

When he pulled back from her she looked up at him, feeling totally dazed. ‘Can you hear ringing?’ she murmured, feeling disorientated.

He smiled. ‘I think you’ll find it’s your phone.’

‘Oh!’ She stepped back from him. He sounded so...together, unaffected, and she felt so totally opposite to that, it was embarrassing. With difficulty she gathered herself together and crossed to pick up the phone.

‘Paige? It’s Ron Harrison here, Brad’s estate manager. Sorry to disturb you, but is he there?’

‘Yes...yes, he is.’ Paige held out the phone to Brad. ‘It’s for you.’

The slightest touch of his fingers against hers made her pulses start to quicken again.

‘Yes?’ His voice was brisk. Then he glanced at his watch. ‘OK; no, it doesn’t matter. I’ll come back and deal with it right away.’ His tone was businesslike.

He put the receiver down and turned to look at her. ‘I’m sorry, Paige, I’ll have to skip lunch. Problems at the vineyard.’

‘That’s OK.’ Paige shrugged and felt compelled to try to restore her protective barriers against him. ‘I wasn’t going to have lunch with you anyway.’

He smiled as if he didn’t believe that for a moment, as if he knew dam well he had got under her skin with that kiss. ‘We’ll have dinner instead,’ he asserted. ‘I’ll pick you up tomorrow night, seven-thirty.’

‘I don’t think so, Brad.’ She sounded as emotionally torn as she felt.

He grinned. ‘I won’t be late, so make sure you are ready on time.’ Then he swung out of the house. Paige watched him strolling towards the car, confident, very self-assured.

Her heart was thumping as if she had been running a race. She was still in love with Brad Monroe; the truth was very stark, very obvious in that moment and she hated herself for it.

This was the man who had betrayed her father, she told herself, but hidden behind the feelings of guilt and disloyalty to her father’s memory there was a longing so deep, so intense, she couldn’t suppress it.

CHAPTER THREE

THE scent of roses met Paige as she pushed open her front door. They were in a glass vase on the hall table, the tight buds of that morning now unfurled to heavy, nodding flowers in full glory. She leaned closer and breathed in their perfume, wondering how Brad had found a florist that stocked old-fashioned flowers that still had a scent.

She kicked off her shoes and sighed. She had spent a dreadful afternoon walking around her property with the real-estate people, cataloguing everything from the huge vats in the warehouses to the riding tackle in the now empty stables.

Everything was listed ready for the brochure and a date was set for the auction. She wrote the date in her diary on the hall table now in an attempt to trivialise it along with a few coffee mornings she already had planned with Rosie for that week. But it didn’t feel unimportant. It felt as if she was writing down the date for the end of her world.

The knowledge that she didn’t need to go through with the sale was reinforced by the scent of the roses that Brad had sent her this morning. There had been a card with them, reminding her that he was picking her up for dinner tonight. As if she could have forgotten! Even so, she had kidded herself all day that she wasn’t going to go, that she wasn’t going to consider his proposal—hence the real-estate people and the practical way she had been dealing with things.

Her eyes moved from the roses to the grandfather clock.

It was six o’ clock. If she was going to have dinner with Brad, then she should go straight upstairs and start to get ready.

She thought about it for just a second then headed for the stairs. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to listen to what Brad had to say, she told herself fiercely.

She showered and styled her hair in record time, then spent ages trying to decide what to wear. She didn’t want to look as if she had taken any extra trouble with her appearance, but on the other hand she wanted to look good.

She settled on a white trouser suit and a blue silk blouse. Then surveyed her appearance critically. The outfit complemented her dark colouring, the slender curves of her figure. She would do, she decided. It didn’t really matter what she looked like.

The sound of Brad’s car pulling up outside made her calm resolve start to falter.

She watched him walking up to the front door from her bedroom window. He looked extremely sophisticated in a classically cut, dark suit. The clothes emphasised the breadth of his shoulders, the darkness of his hair.

She heard the ring of the doorbell, but waited a few minutes. She wasn’t going to hurry to let him in... She didn’t want to appear too keen.

She took her time going down to the front door, but as soon as she opened it and he smiled warmly at her all her cool thoughts were forgotten.

‘You look wonderful,’ he said, his eyes moving in a leisurely perusal of her appearance.

‘Thank you. And thanks for the roses,’ she added.

‘My pleasure.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘Shall we go? I’ve booked a table at Henry’s for eight.’

She tried not to feel impressed by the fact that he was taking her to one of the best restaurants in the area. She nodded. ‘I’ll just get my bag.’

Surprisingly, Paige felt very relaxed with Brad throughout the meal. The food and the service were excellent and Brad was attentive and amusing. Not once during the main meal did the conversation touch too heavily on personal ground.

‘Would you like a dessert and coffee?’ Brad asked as he leaned across to refill her wineglass.

‘Just a coffee, thanks.’ Paige turned from her contemplation of the restaurant to find he was regarding her steadily. The intentness of his gaze flustered her.

‘I’m glad you changed your mind about having dinner with me tonight,’ he said softly.

‘I’ve enjoyed it,’ Paige said truthfully. Then, in case he got the wrong idea, she added hastily, ‘This is one of my favourite restaurants but it’s ages since I’ve been here. You have to reserve a table so far in advance that it tends to be a place just for special occasions.’

‘I hope this is a special occasion,’ Brad said, his eyes lingering on the soft curve of her lips.

There was something so blatantly sensual about the way he was looking at her that she could feel heat rising in waves inside her. ‘How did you manage to get a reservation at such short notice?’ She tried very hard to keep the conversation on an impersonal level.

He smiled as if he knew exactly what she was doing. ‘I can be persuasive when I want something badly enough.’

She looked away from him. ‘You mean you bribed them... just like you are trying to bribe me into marriage?’

His eyebrows rose at that. ‘I’ve never bribed anyone in my life. Hell, Paige, I suggested marriage to you because I believe it will be to our mutual benefit. Do you really have such a low opinion of me?’

Their eyes met across the table and her heart thudded unsteadily. ‘I don’t know what to think any more,’ she admitted, regretting her outburst. Brad had been so charming throughout dinner. ‘I’m sorry; perhaps the word “bribe” was a bit strong.’

He leaned back in his chair, looking relaxed again. ‘Yes—especially for a prospective mayor.’ Humour danced in the darkness of his eyes.

Her eyes moved contemplatively over his features. He looked strong and uncompromising, but the impression of strength was one of positive integrity and honour. If it wasn’t for the way Brad had behaved towards her father in the last months of his life, she would have had no compunction about believing he was the type of guy you could trust.

‘You must be very eager to become mayor if you are prepared to get married in order to secure more votes.’

‘It has become very important to me.’ He nodded. ‘I think I can make a difference around here, make life better.’

‘Then what... Washington?’ she asked lightly, a smile in her voice.

He laughed. ‘Give me a chance. I haven’t been elected here yet.’ He reached across and poured the last of the wine into her glass.

She shrugged. ‘You’re ambitious. If things go well for you, I shouldn’t think you’ll want to stay in such a small pool.’

‘This town is my home. Like you, I’ve been brought up with a healthy respect for the land, for my heritage. I wouldn’t give that up lightly.’

Paige thought of his mother. ‘No... Elizabeth wouldn’t have wanted that.’ For a moment her eyes clouded. She still missed Elizabeth.

Brad’s eyes met hers. ‘She would have approved of my proposing to you, though,’ he said with a wry twist of his lips.

Paige smiled. ‘Isn’t that enough to make you do the opposite? She always said you were your own man, a free thinker, stubborn as the day is long.’

Brad grinned. ‘Funny, she said very similar things about you.’

For a moment they looked at each other and Paige could feel the poignancy of those memories very strongly between them.

‘Elizabeth was a lovely person. You must still miss her terribly.’

He inclined his head. ‘But life goes on,’ he said slowly. ‘My mother taught me that lesson when I was very young, and my father had just died. She was very brave and strong and she worked very hard at keeping the vineyard going from success to success.’

Paige nodded. ‘She was an extraordinary woman.’

‘She used to say, Paige, that the secret of life was not to be afraid of it, but to embrace it firmly.’

Paige’s eyes misted with sudden tears.

He reached across and took hold of her hand. ‘Marry me, Paige... I need you. I want you.’

She swallowed hard. ‘You don’t need anyone. You’ll walk this election whether you are married or single.’

He smiled. ‘It’s nice of you to have such faith in me. But I think my chances will be greater with you by my side. What is it they say? Behind every successful man there is a woman?’

‘A surprised mother-in-law, I believe, is the other ending to that particular line.’ Paige laughed.

‘As I never knew your mother I don’t know whether she would be surprised or not. But I know my mother would feel nothing but joy, especially if you were my partner.’

‘You’re not being fair, Brad. You shouldn’t bring Elizabeth into this. You know how much I thought of her.’

His lips slanted in a half-smile. ‘Listen, I’m so desperate I’d bring a priest in at this moment if I thought it would make a difference to the way you think about me.’

She half laughed at the humorous tone, the sparkle in his eyes. ‘This is crazy,’ she murmured. ‘A marriage of convenience...’ She shook her head.

‘I think it makes perfect sense.’

‘You would.’ She bit down on her lip.

‘People have been making marriages of convenience since the beginning of time. A lot have been tremendously successful.’

to take your word for it. I can’t think of any myself.’

‘It’s a year out of your life.’ He shrugged. ‘Then you get your vineyard back... No need to run away—’

‘I’m not running away.’

‘Whatever.’ He waved a hand dismissively, then sat back. ‘So, what do you say?’

She didn’t answer immediately and he reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and brought out a small box. He opened it and a large solitaire diamond ring sparkled invitingly inside.

‘You’ve already bought the ring?’ Her eyes flew from the box to his face.

‘I feel very confident that this is the right thing to do.’

‘I’m sorry, Brad, but I can’t say I share that confidence.’

He picked up the ring from the box, holding it between finger and thumb so that it caught the candlelight on the table and reflected a myriad of rainbow colours. ‘Tell you what: if it fits the third finger of your left hand perfectly, we’ll call it an omen and go ahead... And if it doesn’t we’ll forget the whole thing.’

Paige frowned. ‘That’s a bit flip for such an important decision, don’t you think?’

He smiled. ‘I’m a great believer in fate.’ He picked up her hand and slipped the ring in place.

It fitted perfectly. ‘Just like Cinderella and the glass slipper,’ he said with a twinkle in his eyes as she looked up at him.

‘Brad, this is—’

Whatever she had been going to say was cut off by the way he leaned across and kissed her on the lips.

It was just a brief kiss, but it was warm and inviting and it made her forget exactly just what she had been going to say.

She stared at him wordlessly as he sat back in his chair. ‘Shall I order some champagne?’

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