‘You didn’t mean it,’ he dismissed hastily. ‘You’d never have called the wedding off, Jen.’
Vesuvius erupted violently inside her as he passed judgement on what she had or hadn’t meant. Glaring at him with eyes that surely scalded with lava-hot intensity, she stamped her foot. ‘I meant every word.’
‘Jen—’
‘I called our wedding off.’ She got up from the chair, unable to match his height, but determined to stare him down. ‘I made my feelings known yet you arrogantly disregarded them. How dare you tell me I didn’t mean it?’
His shoulders raised and lowered as he expelled an audible breath. ‘I dare because I know we love each other.’ His voice was even as he told her, ‘We belong together, Jen. You knew it then and you know it now.’
Every word aimed to soothe her. Every word was selected like a skilled harpist plucking at the strings that would most resonate within her.
‘Damn you, Max!’ Doubts repeatedly swooped in on her like enraged eagles, and clasped her in their sharp talons. ‘You kept the truth from me. You’re just like James, using my amnesia to manipulate me into the position you want me in.’
His jaw clamped and his features became harsh. ‘No.’ The denial was made through clenched teeth. ‘I’m nothing like Mendles. If you’d made it to London that night, I know we would’ve resolved the problem.’
‘The problem. What an interesting way to term the fact that you not only bought the brewery and distillery but you bought my home and were in a position to kick me off the property the same way Charles Mendles forced you and your parents off years ago.’
‘Jenna!’
Ignoring the way he paled, she delivered a biting rebuke. ‘I’ll never forgive you for insisting James use his power of attorney to sell Herlstone Park out from under me.’
‘That’s bullshit!’ In his first loss of cool, his fist pounded against the surface of the desk. ‘I did no such bloody thing! James blew his inheritance and mortgaged Herlstone Park to the bank to finance more of his extravagant lifestyle. I knew the businesses were in trouble but I only found out what he’d done and that the bank had foreclosed on the mortgage hours after Herlstone Park had already been sold.’
Her stomach dropped, plummeting rapidly to earth like a skydiver without a parachute. ‘Sold to you! You own the Park. My solicitor told me that night before I left for London.’
‘Your solicitor was contacted by the bank and asked to advise you to vacate the premises so the new owner could move in. I pulled all sorts of strings to find out who’d bought the place, then offered the guy far more than he’d paid if he’d sell the Park to me.’
‘But—’
‘As soon as the deal had gone through, my solicitor called yours and told him to forget the instructions for you to move out. Your solicitor was expressly asked not to mention anything about the sale.’
Her head snapped back a little in indignation. ‘I’m his client, not you. It was wrong of your solicitor to instruct him to act on your behalf and he was right to ignore you.’
‘I asked because I’d bought the place back for you.’ His hands shot out in an entreating gesture. The truth of his words was in his eyes which flamed blue as he willed her to believe him. ‘I know how much you love it here—how much it means to you—and I couldn’t stand to think you’d be torn away. It had nothing to do with any misplaced sense of revenge and everything to do with making you happy—making sure you continued to live here and that this is where our children would grow up.’
‘Yet, the sale for both the businesses and my home went through and you said nothing. All this time you kept referring to this as my home, but it isn’t my home. It’s your home.’
‘Damn it all, Jen! I was going to give you the deeds as a wedding present.’ He took out an envelope from the inside of his suit coat and slapped it down on the desk. ‘Open it and see. The deeds to Herlstone Park are right there. In—your—name. While you’re at it, take a look at the date on the paperwork.’
The truth of his words hit home. He’d bought Herlstone Park for her after James had sold it right out from underneath her.
‘I phoned your solicitor while you were in a coma to find out what the bloody hell he’d said to you that night. He didn’t have a clue what was going on. He hadn’t even been aware Mendles had mortgaged the property. He phoned your step-brother. Mendles proceeded to do everything he could to make out it was all my doing, feeding him a lot of bullshit about how I’d caused the brewery and distillery to go bankrupt and that I’d been nursing a vendetta against your family for years. That’s what your solicitor then fed to you.’
She wrung her hands together as she tried to make sense of it all. ‘But you admitted to me you’d wanted revenge!’
An angry pulse beat at the base of Max’s neck. ‘You know I’m better than this.’
Jenna saw his knuckles were white where he gripped the edge of the desk.
‘My burning desire was to be wealthier than Mendles and prove I could provide you with anything your heart desired. James told your solicitor I’d sworn as a teenager that I’d own every asset ever held by the Mendles and Sinclair families one day and I’d drive you all to ruin.’
‘Didn’t you?’
‘Although I had said something along those lines my last night here, it was a declaration from a teenager who was being kicked out with his parents completely unfairly.’
‘James told me you’d bribed the suppliers of yeast and hops to put up their prices and delay their delivery.’
He jerked as though she’d slapped him and his features froze into an impenetrable mask. ‘You believe I’d do that?’
There was a wealth of hurt in the quietly spoken words that caused Jenna to lower her head. ‘No, I didn’t believe you’d sabotaged the businesses, but I don’t understand why you didn’t tell me you were going to buy them.’
‘A couple of weeks after you and I had been reunited, Nick called Luca and I together. He’d heard that the Mendles’ distillery and the Sinclair brewery were going into the hands of a liquidator.
His grey-blue eyes met hers squarely. ‘We’re always looking at new business opportunities. If we see potential in companies that are going bust, we’ve made it a practice to buy them.’
Her fingernails scored into her palms as she curled her hands into fists. ‘You bought my family company and didn’t think it was necessary to tell me, even though we were about to be married?’
‘It was business. All three of us looked at both the brewery and distillery and decided they were viable companies that’d only begun to have problems when James took over the management.’ He moved his hands as he spoke. ‘He’d been living the high life and was milking the businesses dry.’
It required conscious effort to unclench her teeth to speak. Trying to understand his reason for secrecy she suggested, ‘You didn’t tell me you’d bought it because you thought I’d be upset?’
‘I didn’t think you’d be upset. I thought you’d be happy a part of it was at least staying in the family.’
‘Then, why not tell me?’
He looked away from her. ‘I see now I should have. If I look back on it I didn’t want to draw your attention to the deal in case James said something from the past that made you have doubts.’
She didn’t blame him for seizing the business when it was going to be liquidated anyway, but she was angry he hadn’t told her. ‘And the three of you are profiting from what used to belong to me.’
‘The company you owned would have failed to exist if we hadn’t stepped in. Yes, given time, we’ll profit from both of them. We wouldn’t have bought out the companies and their debt if we weren’t absolutely positive we could turn them around and make them profitable.’ He tapped his long fingers against the edge of the desk. ‘You’ve seen the home you live in, Jenna. All that wealth your family accumulated was from the brewery. It alone will be a massively profitable company again, but with the distillery as well, there’s no doubt
we’ll come out of this deal on top.’
‘I can forgive the purchase of the brewery, but Herlstone Park? It broke my heart to hear what you’d done.’
‘Because you didn’t know the background.’
She threw her hands up in the air in exasperation. ‘There you have it! I should have known the background. I shouldn’t have had to hear any of it from a solicitor. I thought we were close, for God’s sake. Why didn’t you tell me what was happening?’
‘Because I didn’t know whether or not I could convince the buyer of Herlstone Park to resell to me.’ He curled his hands into fists at his side. ‘I wanted to spare you the angst of knowing you could lose your family home and business because I was hoping I could prevent it. Then, when the deal was done, you’d already agreed to be my wife and I decided I was going to explain what had happened and gift the property deeds to you before we went to Paris.’
Staring at him, her heart pumping at a million beats per hour, Jenna felt the first prick of tears. ‘You were going to give me these deeds. That’s why you asked me to come up to the house before?’
‘Yes.’
‘Why now?’
‘You’ve been regaining your memory. I wanted this out in the open before you remembered and were bitter about it.’
‘Too late.’
‘It’s not too late, Jen. Hear me out. I didn’t want there to be any secrets between us. I wanted you to know everything before we marry.’
‘You finally realised that might be a good idea?’ Her words were laced with sarcasm. Even though he’d justified his actions, she still couldn’t put a lid on her anger and her disappointment that he hadn’t communicated with her at any point up until now.
He raised one hand and ran agitated fingers through his hair.
There was a knock at the door. ‘Excuse me, Miss Sinclair.’ A young girl Jenna recognised as being a household staff member stood there. She shifted from one foot to the other, possibly having heard some of the exchange but definitely picking up on the tension in the room. ‘Er … There are two ladies here from London to see you.’
Jenna stifled a groan. The wedding dresses and the wedding bands. Drawing her shoulders back she said, ‘Please apologise to them. Tell them I’m sorry they’ve had a wasted trip and that I’ll ensure they’re well compensated for their time.’
‘No!’ The word fired out of Max’s mouth like a shot from a high-powered rifle. ‘Ask them to have a seat in the front reception room, Emily, and tell them Miss Sinclair will be with them as quickly as possible.’
‘Yes, sir.’ The girl scuttled away as fast as a thoroughbred out of the gates at Royal Ascot.
‘Now you’re telling—’
‘Shut up, Jenna.’
Another memory hit her. She’d been about fifteen and busy arguing with Max about something. She couldn’t remember the details of the argument. What she did remember was Max saying exactly those words.
‘Shut up, Jenna.’
His eyes had been more blue than grey. He’d rounded on her and backed her against the door of a horse stall. He’d loomed over her and she was able to breathe in the smell of horses mixed with a hint of his perspiration and the heady scent of teenage testosterone.
He’d been close enough to touch and her heart had started performing all sorts of gymnastic routines in her chest—not through fear, but through sheer excitement.
‘Just shut up and kiss me, Jenna.’
Oh Lord. She hadn’t needed to be asked twice.
Her throat dried now at the recollection of their first hungry, passionate kiss and tears pricked at her eyes like a million needles of hay.
Why are we fighting? she wanted to ask him now. How has it come to this when we’ve been so deeply in love for most of our lives?
Her voice was rusty when she told him, ‘When I stop and think logically, I know you consider my needs and only want the best for me. But, Max, can you imagine how I felt when I found out Herlstone Park was no longer mine?’
‘I’m sorry, sweetheart.’ There was genuine remorse in his expression. ‘I wish I’d handled it differently—maybe let you know right from the start that your home had been mortgaged and sold from under you by the bank. I didn’t want to get your hopes up that I could step in and save it. I wasn’t even counting on it until the contracts were all signed with the guy who’d bought the property.’
Shadows of regret chased across his features. ‘When I got your recorded voice message and heard how furious you were, I was worried about you driving to London in that state of mind. I have to admit though, I wasn’t concerned you’d told me the engagement was off because I knew the depths of our feelings. Plus, I knew my ownership of Herlstone Park would be easily explained.’ He moved restlessly, no doubt feeling as caged as she was in the office space. ‘When you were lying in hospital in a coma, it tortured me to think you’d been upset with me and I hadn’t had a chance to tell you the truth of what’d happened.’
‘But you’ve had opportunities since then. There were so many times you could’ve told me.’
‘Jen—’
‘When we were at the stud and I asked whether I’d been angry with you. Why didn’t you admit I’d been furious?’
‘Because I thought you were close to remembering what’d happened at the stud the night of your attack and I didn’t want your mind to veer off the path to those memories.’
It sounded reasonable.
It sounded more than reasonable, it sounded very Max.
Ultra self-assured, he believed in their love and was completely confident things would work out between them. His conscience had been clear about buying her property and he hadn’t suspected for a moment she’d be suspicious that his motivations were anything but what they were—actions in her best interests. Still, she couldn’t let him get away with the lack of communication.
‘It was a huge secret to keep from me.’ When he would’ve commented, she put up her hand to silence him. ‘If we’re going to be married—’
‘We are going to be married, Jen. I don’t care what you make me do to atone for this mistake, we’re going to be husband and wife. We’re going to be mother and father to our baby.’
‘Shut up, Max!’ Her lips twitched as she repeated his earlier command. ‘Just shut up and listen to me!’
His own lips curled into a smile in response and all but melted her heart.
‘You need to promise not to keep secrets from me. You need to be able to trust me to listen to you and react reasonably no matter what the crisis or the perceived magnitude of it.’
‘I’m more than happy to incorporate all those promises into my wedding vows.’
Jenna couldn’t help a small laugh at his earnest suggestion, but then, as she regarded this man she loved, she had to will the tears away.
‘Jen, since I found you in Gloucestershire, I’ve been trying to win back your heart.’ He took a step towards her. ‘Once you get an idea in your head, you can be stubborn. I doubted you’d give me a chance to win your heart again if I’d told you what you’d said about breaking up.’
She couldn’t argue with his reasoning and said a little more gently, ‘I appreciate your strength and support. I know I’ve been very uncertain because of the amnesia, but I’m not some precious princess who needs to be protected and cosseted.’
‘No, you’re not.’ He moved further forward so he could place his hands on her shoulders. ‘You’re right. You’re a very capable, intelligent and confident woman and I love you and respect you for all your strengths. I hope you still love me even though I made a serious error of judgement in this case.’
‘I do. I love you with my whole heart, Max Bennett.’
A second later, they were holding each other. ‘God, I hope your mouth heals quickly!’
‘Me too.’
Max gave her a wink. ‘For all that you’re ordinarily a very strong woman, you’ve got to admit, Jenna Sinclair, there are times when I do know best.’
‘You devil.
’ She laughed and challenged, ‘Name one of them!’
‘Okay.’ He grinned. ‘There are two very important women waiting for you right now. I insisted they stay when you would’ve sent them away!’
‘The gowns and the rings!’ She’d completely forgotten about the appointment.
‘Want to go and choose a wedding dress?’
‘Absolutely.’
Chapter 19
‘I’ve always wanted a daughter,’ Max’s father told her before he walked her down the red-carpeted walkway to his son. ‘Max’s mum and I couldn’t be happier. We know he’s loved you since he was a kid.’
What a sweetheart!
‘Thank you.’ She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. ‘I love him, and I’m thrilled to have such loving parents-in-law. Thank you for accepting me into your lives so readily.’
Mr Bennett senior wiped a tear from his eye. ‘I’m sorry your parents couldn’t be here to see your happiness. I didn’t know your father but your mum would’ve been so proud.’
Jenna needed to swallow down on the lump of emotion rising to block her throat. ‘We’d better go before Max wears a track in the carpet and the celebrant leaves.’
‘I don’t think Max would let her!’
They walked arm in arm from the doors at the hotel in Jersey and along the columned ‘bridal walk’—a pathway flanked with large sandstone columns which held up beams where purple and white wisterias grew.
Her wedding day.
They rounded the corner and she saw Max standing at the end of the carpet between his two closest friends. All tall, all dark-haired and all exceedingly handsome. The three commanding men made a striking trio, but it was only Max who’d etched his name into her heart.
Luca sent her a wink and she smiled before she looked at the other best man. Her breath hitched when she caught a wistful look in Nick’s eyes. Was he remembering back to the day he’d been married? God, but she hoped he could get over his past pain. He might declare to anyone who’d listen that he was determined to be single forever, but that fleeting expression had signalled an inner yearning.
Seduced by the Stranger (Billionaires & Babies, #2) Page 24
