Marriage At a Price

by Miranda Lee

  This last thought made up Courtney's mind for her. No way was she going to let that arrogant, smirking woman get her hooks back into Jack again. No way!

  With a saucy toss of her head, Courtney whirled on the heels of her black riding boots and deliberately went out to court big trouble.

  WHEN Courtney emerged into the late-afternoon sunshine once more, Katrina had already drawn Jack over to one side and was whispering frantically to him.

  Jack's face was unreadable, but Katrina's was very animated. Almost anguished, at one point.

  Courtney couldn't decide if this was a good sign or a bad one. Jack certainly wasn't contributing to this onesided tete-a-tete. But he wasn't walking away either. Or telling her to get lost. He was listening intently.

  As for Katrina's hapless husband, he was at that moment engaged in conversation with one of the club's committee men, blissfully unaware of his darling wife's attempts to seduce Jack practically under his nose.

  On sighting Courtney coming across the lawn towards them, Katrina terminated whatever it was she was saying and hurried back to hubby.

  'What did she want?' Courtney demanded to know.

  Jack looked taken aback. 'Excuse me?' he said. 'You don't ask people about their personal conversations.'

  'Why not?'

  'Because it's rude.'

  'Well, she's rude. She was very rude to me in the ladies' room just now. Called me a cypher and a second-rate substitute. Claimed you were still in love with her and she could get you back just like that.' And she snapped her fingers as Katrina had done.

  'I see,' he said coldly.

  'Can she, Jack?'

  He laughed. 'Never in a million years.'

  "That's what I told her. I said she was history. I said all you felt for her was contempt.'

  His smile was one of dark satisfaction. 'Good.'

  Courtney smiled her own satisfaction. 'As I said before...you're better off without her.'

  He didn't answer, his rock-hard gaze following the rapidly departing Mr and Mrs Axelrod.

  Consumed with a sudden longing to make this man forget that creature once and for all, Courtney slid her hand into his. 'Jack,' she said softly.

  His eyes jerked back to hers. For a few seconds, they looked flat and dead and she thought, Oh, God, he really does still love her. But then slowly the life came back into them. His fingers interlinked with hers, then curled over, squeezing tightly.

  Her stomach did likewise.

  'What are you doing tomorrow?' he asked with seductive softness.

  'What are you doing tonight?' she countered.

  'Sorry. I have other plans for tonight.'

  Her racing heart skittered to a panicky halt.

  'Doing what?' she asked almost accusingly.

  His smile was sardonic. 'Not what you're thinking. I have some business matters to attend to.'

  'On a Saturday night?'

  'Yes.'

  'You're not going to tell me any more, are you?'

  'No.'

  'That's cruel. I'm dying of curiosity.'

  He smiled. 'And you're going to badger me to death till I tell you.'

  'Yes.'

  "The fact is, Ms Cross,' he said, lifting her hand to his lips and kissing the back of it lightly, 'I think I know just the man who'd be an excellent partner for you. But I have to check out a few things first'

  Courtney blinked. 'Are you serious?'

  'Would I lie to you?'

  Courtney extracted her hand from his. As much as Jack was a distractingly attractive man, and she couldn't wait to discover if his performance in bed matched his reputation, finding the right partner for Crosswinds had to be her first priority. 'Who is he?' she asked. 'Remember, I don't want anyone who's going to interfere in the running of Crosswinds.'

  'This fellow will have no interest in interfering.'

  'Then who is he? What's his name?'

  Tm not at liberty to say right now.'

  'Why not? What's the big secret?'

  'No big secret. Just client confidentiality. For now. Meanwhile, don't let Lois go chasing up anyone else. Give my client first crack at it, okay?'

  'Suits me. As I said, I don't want any of her horse-mad contacts, no matter how rich they are. I want a big city slicker with absolutely no yen for breeding horses and more money than sense.'

  Jack smiled. "That's exactly what you'll be getting.'

  Courtney could hardly believe her luck. Both her problems solved at once. Her debts. Plus her rather disturbing desire for this man.

  She'd been wondering how she could confine any fling with Jack to one time only if she stayed down here in Sydney for a whole week. Jack wasn't the sort of man who would let her run the show as she usually did. If he was as passionate and powerful a lover as he was a kisser, then he'd be the one directing the action, and deciding when enough was enough.

  Which was partly the point, of course.

  Courtney wanted to feel what it would be like, being made love to by a dominating and possibly demanding man. She didn't, however, want to become addicted to the experience. She had no doubt Jack intended to seduce her tomorrow, but hopefully, by Monday, she could escape back to the normality of home, never to see him again. After all, business contracts were handled by electronic mail these days, as were cash transfers."There would be no need for any further personal contact. Bill could handle the details, and any follow-up business.

  She beamed up at him. 'Wait till I tell Lois. She's going to be so pleased.'

  'Tell me what?'

  Courtney swung round to find a happy Lois standing there, clasping her trophy. Jack's was still on the table.

  'Jack thinks he knows just the right sucker to save Crosswinds.'

  'Partner,' Jack corrected drily. 'Not sucker.'

  'Silent partner,' Courtney countered. 'He won't open his mouth, just his wallet. Isn't that right, Jack?'

  'Not quite. He's no fool, Courtney. He'll want to know exactly what he's getting himself into. After a recent, rather unfortunate experience he had, he'll want me to go up to Crosswinds and check everything out firsthand. There are tax concessions for investments in thoroughbred breeding, but I'm going to have to assure my client that Crosswinds is a going concern with potential for a steady future income and return on his investment.'

  'Oh... How long would you have to stay?' 'I'll need a few days to be totally satisfied,' he confirmed. 'You did say it was a large concern. I'll also need to speak to your accountant and see the books. If you haven't any other business to do here in Sydney, we could drive up there together tomorrow.'

  'Well, I...er...' Courtney wasn't usually tongue-tied, but Jack's suggestion had totally routed her own nice safe plan which would prevent any chance of any sexual addiction or, heaven forbid, an emotional involvement.

  Courtney had no intention of ever succumbing to it then. But she had wanted to let her hair down, so to speak, just this once.

  Now, any such experience was out of the question. No way would Courtney invite Jack into her bedroom at Crosswinds and risk any of her staff finding out. It was hard enough to maintain their respect as their boss with her being female and attractive and only twenty-five. Impossible if they thought she was an easy lay!

  Courtney had never had sex with any of the men working at Crosswinds. Well...not since her first time, five years before. But Larry had been leaving the next day, so the risk hadn't been great And she hadn't been the boss back then. 'Fine,' she said, irritated by this turn of events.

  'I thought you were out of the investment brokerage business, Jack,' Lois remarked. '

  Lois wasn't sure what was going on between these two, but something was up. She wasn't blind. She'd seen that kiss in the stands. It hadn't been an impromptu peck on the cheek, either. It had been a full-blooded, open-mouthed, French kiss. Then, at the presentation, they'd been all over each other like a rash.

  Jack obviously had more on his mind than just finding Courtney a business partner. His intention of staying
at Crosswinds until he was totally satisfied could be construed two ways.

  'This chap is by way of being a personal friend of mine,' Jack attempted to explain, and Lois's excellent antenna for male deception twanged. She hoped there really was a potential partner, and this wasn't some plan for a rebound or revenge affair. Lois had seen Jack with Katrina on many occasions and she knew just how wrapped in her he'd been. It seemed far too coincidental that this sudden passion for Courtney had come about on the very day Jack's ex had been around.

  'Why doesn't he want his identity known?' she challenged, scepticism in her voice.

  'He likes.to play a close hand. He'll be up front with Courtney, if and when he goes ahead with the partnership. You have my word.'

  "That's good,' Lois said.

  Lois didn't really think Jack was the type to rip Courtney off in any money sense. As far as their personal relationship was concerned...well, she supposed Courtney could look after herself in that regard. Hilary might have been a man-hater, but her daughter was rumoured to be a real man-eater. The horseworld grapevine was second to none, and men invariably talked. There'd been this horse-breaker a few years back. And a rep who sold horse vitamins. And a chap who drove for a horse transport company. And they were only the ones Lois had heard about

  Maybe the person she should be worrying about was Jack...

  SUNDAY dawned crisp and clear, 'with the promise of another warm winter's day. Courtney, as befitted her habit of years, was up at first light. Lois had still preceded her by a couple of hours, overseeing her charges on the training track well before the sun's first rays peeped over the horizon. Her horses were back in their mucked-out stables long before most Sydneysiders opened their Sunday morning papers.

  Lois still insisted on cooking Courtney breakfast, treating them both to bacon and eggs and lashings of toast and brewed coffee, serving all of it up on the round wooden table which dominated the homey kitchen in her red-roofed, three bedroomed, fifties-style brick-veneer house. She'd inherited it—plus the stables—from her horse trainer father, who'd died of a stroke after one of his charges had come back with a positive swab and his licence had been taken away from him. Her mother had passed away a few years before or she, too, would have died of shame, Lois believed.

  Lois, thirtyish at the time and in the throes of divorce, had taken up the challenge of making a success of the career she'd always wanted but which her mother had talked her out of in favour of marriage to a Macquarie Street specialist with two huge cars and a house on the harbour. All he'd needed to complete his perfect lifestyle was a beautiful wife and two beautiful children.

  Lois hadn't been able to have any children, however, which was one of the reasons her marriage had failed.

  That, along with the loneliness and boredom of being a doctor's wife. Her horses were now her children, which perhaps explained why they could never do any wrong in her eyes. No matter what fault they had—even being top slow—she was always sure she could fix it The tunny thing was, often enough she could.

  'Sleep well?' Lois remarked over their second cup.

  The girl looked tired, she thought. Though still beautiful. How was it that when you were only twenty-five dark circles under your eyes looked sexy, but once you passed forty you just looked wrecked?

  'Fine,' Courtney lied. She'd tossed and turned for most of the night, unable to get out of her mind that Jack might have lied to her, that he was, at that very moment, making mad, passionate love to the awful but stunningly gorgeous Katrina.

  Her emotions had kept alternating between anger and jealousy, though who exactly she was most angry with she wasn't sure. She still wasn't. Probably Jack, for even falling in love with such a creature in the first place. My God, didn't he have any taste? The woman was a witch, a manipulative, gold-digging, heartless witch.

  Who was probably brilliant in bed.

  More than brilliant.

  Bad Men liked women to be bad in bed. They liked it a lot. Courtney knew that for a fact.

  'It's Jack, isn't it?' Lois said abruptly.

  Courtney's darkly bruised eyes whipped up from where she'd been staring blankly down at her plate. 'What?'

  'Jack Falconer. You fancy him.'

  Courtney shrugged. 'Who wouldn't?'

  'I don't. He's not my type at all.'

  Surprise that Lois even had a type must have shown in her face, for Lois laughed, i

  'You think I don't have a sex life?'

  'I...I guess I never really thought about it at all.'

  Typical. The young think sex is only for the young.'

  'No, I don't,' Courtney denied.1 'I just thought you were totally wrapped up in your horses and didn't want or need a man in your life. Mum said you were divorced, and I guess I jumped to conclusions. The wrong conclusions, I see,' she added, feeling both curious and intrigued by this woman who had been on the fringes of her life for many years but whom she'd never bothered to really get to know. Yet she liked her. She liked her a lot. 'So what is your type, Lois? Tell me.' 'Hard to describe, exactly. But I know it when I see it. He's usually of average height. I don't' like men to tower over me. Nicely built without being muscle-bound. Elegant in his movements. A good rider,' 'she said, her smile wicked. 'And with dark eyes. I adore dark eyes.'

  'How old?'

  'Age is immaterial. I've had lovers in their twenties and in their fifties.'

  'And where do you find these men?' Courtney knew how hard it was to have a relationship with a man when you worked with horses. It was a seven-day-a-week job.

  'I hire them.'

  Courtney tried not to look shocked, and almost managed. 'You...hire...them,' she said slowly, her mind whirling. 'As in...how? From an escort agency?'

  Lois chuckled. 'Lord, no. I mean I hire them to work for me. You must know how often grooms come and go in this business. When I'm interviewing new staff, if I see a fellow who appeals to me physically, I hire him.'

  'Good grief. And does he...um...they...um...always come across?'

  'Most of the time. I'm the boss, after all.'

  'Wow!'

  'You're not too shocked?'

  'No! Heavens, no. But don't these men...um...talk?'

  Lois shrugged. 'Not often. They know what side their bed is buttered on. To be honest, I'd prefer a permanent relationship, but not many men can handle a woman as strong as myself on a day-to-day basis.'

  'I know what you mean.'

  'What about you, Courtney? Will you be looking to get married one day?'

  'Never.' She'd never met one single married man who didn't want to be the boss of his wife. Not one. And she knew she could never handle that.

  'What about children? Don't you want children?'

  Courtney had always pushed the issue of children to the back of her mind. 'I'llprobably have a child one day. I'd like someone to leave Crosswinds to. But I don't have to be married for that. And I don't see any rush. I'm only twenty-five.'

  'True. But the years have a habit of slipping away from you. You wouldn't want to wake up one day and find out it's too late.'

  The telephone began ringing.

  'Excuse me a moment,' Lois said. 'It's probably an owner. Sunday is visiting day.'

  She swivelled round in her chair and reached for the mobile phone which was resting on the kitchen counter. She pressed the button and swept it up to her ear. 'Lois Wymouth speaking,' she said sweetly. 'Well, if it isn't Jack Falconer!'.

  Courtney stiffened in her chair.

  'You're up bright and early. Did our mystery investor come to the party...? Wonderful...! He doesn't.:.? God, talk about super-secretive... She's upstairs... I'll go and get her for you...'

  She cupped her hand firmly over the phone. 'Looks like you have your sucker. But he still wants to keep his ID a secret till he signs on the dotted line. Anyway, lover-boy wants to talk to you personally. Would you like to take the call somewhere more private?' she whispered.

  'Just give me the phone, Lois. Nothing of that kind will be going
on between me and Jack now that I'm doing business with him. Unlike some people, I don't mix business and pleasure.'

  'Oooh. That's power talking for you. But will you be able to sustain your good intentions when you have Jack all to yourself up in that big old house for a few days and nights? I don't see him playing gentleman for that long. Not when he fancies you as much as you fancy him. And he does. I do have eyes, girl.'

  Courtney had been worrying about exactly the same thing herself. 'I'll have Biggs sleep on my bed.'

  'That old mongrel? Your stable cat is a better guard dog than him.'

  'Maybe. But Biggs looks fiercer.'

  'Well, take my advice and get in a good supply of condoms. Don't want any unexpected little filly or colt arriving next year, do we?'

  'As if I'd ever let myself accidentally get pregnant to any man. Don't you think I learnt anything from my mother? Now give me the darned phone!'

  Lois sighed, and handed it over. Courtney rose and walked into the lounge-room, away from prying ears. 'Jack! Lois said you have some good news for me.'

  'I surely do. It's all systems go. My client is happy to invest the four million in Crosswinds you need, provided everything is shipshape.'

  Courtney frowned. 'Er...what does he mean by shipshape? I did explain to you the place is looking a bit rundown. That's why I wanted the four million instead of the three I already owe the bank.'

  'I'm not talking about surface appearances. I'm talking about the land itself and the quality of your stock. The brood mares and the stallions you have standing at stud. Especially the latter.'

  'We have three stallions at stud, two older well-formed stallions'and one exciting new prospect.'

  'Goldplated,' he said before she could.