The Right Bride: Book Three: The Hunted Series

by Jennifer Ryan

  The last he said for Emma’s benefit, but George gave him a knowing look when his excitement at seeing Marti must have shown on his face. Cameron didn’t say a word. Acknowledging his growing feelings for Marti would only lead to more trouble. He was in enough of that already.

  MARTI SPENT THE entire day putting out one fire or another. Her uncle tried to coerce her into surrendering some of her grandmother’s paintings still in her grandparents’, now her uncle’s, house. She had to lay down the law and demand, in no uncertain terms, the paintings be delivered to the warehouse.

  Her publisher asked her to deliver the last two books in her series a week earlier than previously agreed. She still had several sketches and watercolors to finish. She faced some very long nights.

  She had to buy a car and start looking for a place to live after George passed away. She hated to think about his death, but she had to be practical. Once he was gone, she’d need her own house. She sighed and put her troubles out of her mind. The cab continued to wind up the long drive to George’s beautiful mansion.

  She loved the home. The outside was stone, the façade reminiscent of a castle. Just right for a Knight. She smiled at George’s sense of whimsy. The climbing roses and lush green ivy scaled the walls. She loved all the flowers and found herself a special corner in the back of the house, a small private garden with a lovely carved bench. She sat there yesterday sketching for her latest book.

  Tired, she’d love nothing better than to crawl into bed. Not going to happen. A limo sat out front, Cameron and Emma arrived for dinner with George. She’d promised the evening to Emma and hated keeping her waiting.

  She paid the cab driver and walked across the driveway in front of the limo. The driver waited inside, listening to the radio. He waved. Her heel caught in a crack and she took a nosedive to the ground, scraping her knee and hurting her palms as they slammed into the pavement to catch her fall. Before she stood, a strong arm wrapped around her middle and hoisted her up.

  “Are you okay, ma’am?”

  She dusted her hands down her dress and answered, “Just a scrape. Thank you for helping me. I’m Marti.” She held out her hand to shake.

  He took her hand and immediately liked her for not dismissing him as simply the hired help.

  “Emma was right about you. You are nice. I’m Jimmy. I drive for Cameron and Emma. I’m also her companion after school.”

  “Companion. I like that. A much more appropriate term for someone who takes care of another. It’s nice to meet you, Jimmy. I don’t mean to rush off, but I promised Emma I’d be here and I’m late. I’m sure I’ve disappointed her already. I hate to make her wait any longer. Can I bring you a cup of coffee or something to eat?”

  Stunned, he opened his mouth and closed it again. He found his tongue and answered, “No, ma’am, nothing. I’m just fine. Thank you for asking.”

  “Please call me Marti. Let me know if you need anything. Excuse me. I have to go see Emma.”

  “You have a nice evening. I hope I have the pleasure of seeing you again.”

  “Thank you, Jimmy. It’s been a long day. It’s nice to meet someone so nice.”

  “Indeed it is,” he said and thought of how nice it was to meet her. Cameron had really screwed up. He should marry Marti, not that bitch Shelly.

  Marti ran into the house and went straight to the living room and came up short in front of the small group. Cameron and George were talking and Emma sat next to her father with a very sad look on her face.

  “Sugar Bug, why the long face?”

  “Marti. You came home.” Emma jumped up and ran to her and threw her arms around her hips.

  “Of course, Sugar Bug. I told you’d I be here. Let me tell you, I moved heaven and earth to get here.” She scooped up Emma and hugged her. She smelled of sunshine and green beans.

  “Hello, George.” She leaned down with Emma in her arms and kissed George on the cheek. “How is everything?”

  “Just fine. How did your meetings go?”

  “My uncle thinks I’ll go back on my word to my grandmother and the others think I can move mountains with my little finger. It was an exhausting day.” She hugged Emma closer. “I’m much better now though.

  “Hi, Cameron. I see you moved mountains today as well.” He looked tired and worn out. She wanted to run her fingers through his dark hair and kiss his forehead and make things all better for him. Instead she shook his hand and tried to ignore the charge of electricity shooting from their joined hands and up her arm. Their eyes met and something passed between them. She let go and the connection grew faint, but she still felt the pull.

  “It’s nice to see you, Marti. You’ve saved me again tonight by moving your own mountains and coming to see Emma. She’s talked of nothing but you for three days.”

  “Goodness. You must have been tired of me before I even got here.”

  Cameron couldn’t help but smile. She had a great sense of humor and even laughed at herself. Just like Caroline. Marti didn’t look like Caroline in any way. He had to admit Marti was more beautiful. Even better, she had the same easy charm.

  “On the contrary. I find you to be the bright spot in my dismal day. Seeing you hug my daughter has given me the first smile of the day.”

  “Daddy is going to marry Shelly. They’re having a baby and I don’t want her to be my mother.” Emma burst into tears and buried her face in Marti’s neck.

  Emma’s anguish brought tears to her own eyes and she found herself crying with the child. “You did have a big day,” she said to Cameron.

  She gained control of herself, choking back the tears and blinking them away. She held Emma close and rubbed her back to soothe her.

  “Sugar Bug, don’t cry. It’ll be all right.” She sat on the couch next to Cameron and smiled when he ran a hand over Emma’s head and back and leaned in and kissed her on the head.

  “Baby girl, Daddy will always take care of you. I promise.”

  “I don’t want Shelly to be my mother. I want a mother like the other kid’s moms.”

  Cameron knew what she wanted. She was right where she wanted to be. He didn’t know what to say, or how to make things better. Sitting beside Marti was where he wanted to be too.

  “What do you mean a mother like the other kid’s moms?” Marti didn’t understand. Shelly would be her mom when she married Cameron. She tried not to think too hard about why it bothered her so much. She chalked it up to Shelly not wanting to be a mother and using Cameron. What bothered her most was the whole thing upset Emma.

  “I want a mother who is nice and makes me laugh and hugs me like she means it.” She looked up at Marti and said, “I want you to be my mom.” She buried her face in Marti’s neck and cried harder.

  “Oh, Sugar Bug. That is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.” She hugged Emma tighter and stroked her hair. She turned to Cameron, whose silvery blue eyes held such deep sadness. He looked to be at a total loss for what to do.

  “Sugar Bug, listen to me. Your dad asked Shelly to marry him, not me.” Marti should have known the smart little girl would pick out the words she wanted to hear.

  Emma turned to her father. “Ask her.”

  The sadness turned to hope in Cameron’s eyes. He opened his mouth and nothing came out. She tried to ignore the feelings bubbling inside of her that he actually might have wanted to ask her. Ridiculous. They just met.

  Marti let out a nervous laugh. She couldn’t help herself. Ah, to have a five-year-old’s logic. To fix her problem, Emma had decided to trade the mom she didn’t want for one she did.

  “Sugar Bug, I’m not laughing at you. It strikes me funny you summed up the solution to your problem by swapping women for your dad. Unfortunately, it isn’t going to happen. Your dad chose Shelly, and she’s having his baby.”

  Cameron wondered if Marti realized the way she explained things to Emma it sounded like she wanted to be considered in the running to be his wife. She made it sound like he’d chosen Shelly over
her. In this scenario, there was no choice. Marti was the winner, hands down. He frowned over his own analysis of the situation. What did it say he’d rather marry a woman he’d only just met over the woman he’d been seeing for only a month and was pregnant with his baby?

  “Let me tell you about when I was a little girl. When I was three, my mom and dad both died in a car accident. I grew up without them. I wished all the time for my mom and dad to come back. Of course, they couldn’t.”

  “My mom died when she had me.”

  “That’s terrible, Sugar Bug. I bet you miss her.”

  “I don’t remember her, or know her.”

  “I don’t remember my parents either. My grandparents raised me. That’s how I met George years ago. He and my grandfather were businessmen. They fought many corporate battles.”

  “Knight tells me stories about fighting dragons.”

  “I bet one of those dragons was my grandfather,” she said and winked at George.

  “Marti’s grandfather was the biggest, meanest dragon who ever lived. He was also the most worthy adversary.” George smiled at Emma and Marti. He liked seeing them together sitting next to Cameron. They looked like a family.

  “When I was little and first lived with my grandparents, my grandfather was very hard to get along with. He didn’t know how to be a dad to a little girl. After a while, he learned by spending time with me. He used to read the financial and business news to me. It was so boring, I’d fall right to sleep. After some time, I liked having him read to me and I would ask questions. He would sit on my bed and tell me all about corporate takeovers and how to buy and sell stock. Pretty soon he let me sit on his lap in his office while he went over his work papers. I would help him make decisions and we would spend hours together.”

  “He liked spending time with you because you liked doing what he liked.”

  “You are so smart, Emma. Exactly. We found something we could do together and the other things became easier. He didn’t mind taking me shopping for school clothes or out for ice cream because we always had something to talk about, business and finance. From there, we found other things we had in common.”

  “What does this have to do with Shelly being my mother?”

  “Well, Miss Smarty Pants, you’re just too smart for me. You know I’m leading up to something, don’t you?”

  “Daddy sometimes takes forever to get to the point, too.”

  Marti glanced at Cameron with a smirk. “You’ve raised a remarkable woman. She can’t be five.”

  “She’s eighty in a five-year-old body.”

  “If only it were true for us all. Wisdom is gained too late for some.” She hoped Cameron would wise up to Shelly before it was too late.

  “My point, Sugar Bug, is that my grandfather didn’t know how to be a father to me. He learned by finding something we had in common and building on it. Give Shelly a chance to find something in common with you and you can build on that. She might turn out to be the kind of mom the other kid’s moms are.”

  The last sentence was wrong on more than one level. The structure was wrong, but so was the part about Shelly being the kind of mom Emma wanted. Probably would never happen. Her grandfather wanted to connect with her. Shelly had no desire to connect with Emma. Perhaps Emma giving Shelly a chance would help. That’s all anyone can do.

  “See, sweetheart, it’s like I told you. Just give Shelly a chance. We’ll spend some time together and the two of you can find things you have in common.” Cameron hoped.

  “I don’t like business. You bore me enough with business stuff when you talk on the phone all the time,” she said and rolled her eyes.

  “Maybe Shelly will like fishing and sailing as much as you do.” Cameron hoped to find something the two of them had in common.

  “You like to sail, Sugar Bug?”

  “Yes. We’re going tomorrow on Daddy’s boat.”

  Marti turned to Cameron. “What kind of boat?”

  “A sailboat. Nothing fancy, just a thirty-two-foot Catalina.”

  “Just,” she said with admiration. “I love sailing.”

  “Tell Emma about your grandmother’s request and what she gave you.” George thought it would be a good lesson to Emma about keeping a promise and it would show Cameron the kind of woman Marti was.

  “Well, as you know I was raised by my grandparents. My grandfather was in business, like George, and my grandmother was a painter. My grandfather died when I was sixteen and my grandmother became ill and was sick and weak for several years. I took care of her. I wasn’t able to go anywhere in her final years, and so I attended college from home. Sometimes I went to the University of San Francisco and Stanford when she was feeling well. That wasn’t very often. Anyway, my grandmother wanted me to see the world, but I couldn’t even leave the house for more than a few hours for fear she would take a fall or become ill. When she died, she had a final request. She made me promise to go and see all the places I ever dreamed of seeing. Then she gave me something so I could.”

  “What did she give you?” Emma sat up on Marti’s lap, intent on listening to her tell the story.

  “She gave me The World.”

  “Huh? The planet?”

  Marti laughed. “No, Sugar Bug. She gave me a sailboat. It’s named The World.

  “For the last year, I played pirate and fulfilled her last request. I spent exactly one year sailing around the world. I gave her my promise, and three days ago I arrived home on day three hundred and sixty-six of my trip. When I met you in the restaurant, I’d just come from signing the final papers for my grandmother’s estate.”

  “So cool. I have some books where the girl, Tina, goes around the world. They’re my favorite.”

  “They are?” Marti held back a prideful smile. She knew the books. In fact, she’d written them. It pleased her Emma knew the stories and liked them. She’d never actually met a little girl who liked her stories.

  “She makes me read one every night at bedtime,” Cameron confirmed.

  “Where did you go? Maybe you’ve been to some of the places we read about in the Tina’s Travels books.”

  “I’ve been to all kinds of places: Italy, Greece, Egypt, France, England, Ireland, and just about everywhere around South America and more. I’ve spent days and weeks at sea and I’ve spent days and weeks in ports around the world. My grandmother wanted to give me the world, and she did in more ways than one.”

  “What an amazing story, Marti.” Cameron was jealous of Marti’s trip. He’d love to sail around the world with Emma.

  “My grandmother was an amazing woman.”

  “What kind of sailboat is it?”

  “If you want to see it, and you don’t mind my intruding, we’ll take it out tomorrow. I’ve missed the ocean these last few days and would love to spend a few hours out on the ship.”

  “Ship implies a lot more than a sailboat for recreational use.”

  “It’s a hundred and seventy-eight-foot custom-built ship. My grandmother bought it at auction because it reminded her of pirates on the high seas. She was very whimsical at times.”

  Like her granddaughter. Cameron wanted to see the ship. He loved being on the ocean.

  He already had plans to spend time with Shelly to go fishing. What did it matter if they did it on his boat or Marti’s ship?

  “Wanna go for a ride?” she teased him. She didn’t know why she wanted to put a smile on his face, but she liked seeing him happy. “You know you do. I can see it written all over your face. How about you, George? Want to go sailing?”

  “Not me. I’ll let you young ones go and have fun. My son and daughter are coming tomorrow for a visit and to make some arrangements.” George nodded at Marti for her understanding.

  Cameron couldn’t resist. “I’m in. I’ve got to see this. Sam and Jack will be so jealous.”

  “Bring them along. As many as you like. There’s plenty of room for whomever you want to bring.”

  “You can’t be serious.”


  “Sugar Bug, do I look serious?”

  “No. You look determined.”

  “Close enough. Want to be a pirate tomorrow with me?”

  “Yes.” The brilliant smile died on her face and turned into a sad frown. “I can’t be a princess anymore, so I guess I’ll be a pirate.”

  “Why can’t you be a princess? You’re my princess.” George leaned forward to pat her on the knee.

  “Shelly said if the baby is a girl, I won’t be Daddy’s princess anymore. She said the new baby would be the princess.”

  “Sweetheart, I don’t think that’s what she meant. You will always be my princess.” Cameron didn’t like seeing his daughter’s feelings hurt, or knowing Shelly had been careless with her words.

  Upset by this new development, Marti drew a deep breath. “Sugar Bug, you are making me work really hard tonight for a smile. George, I assume you still need to speak with Cameron.”

  “Yes, I’d like some time alone with him.”

  “Okay. Give me five minutes, and then I’ll take Sugar Bug here for dessert.”

  “You didn’t even have dinner,” Cameron pointed out. She’d missed the meal and spent the last ten minutes trying to make his daughter feel better.

  His gaze fell to her gorgeous legs and he sucked in a quick breath, surprised to see blood on her knee. “You’re bleeding. What happened?”

  “I fell on the driveway. Your nice friend Jimmy helped me up. It’s nothing.” She stood with Emma and set her in her father’s lap. “Be back in a minute, Sugar Bug. I have a surprise you’ll never forget. I hope.

  “George, the things you showed me yesterday downstairs. May I use some of them? I promise to put them back tonight.”

  “Be my guest. Whatever you need.”

  “Thank you. Would it be all right to ask Gregory to make something for Emma and me? I hate to impose if he’s finished for the night. Oh, never mind, I can do it myself.”

  “No. Ask Gregory for whatever you need. I have to say, I’m intrigued.”

  “Just wait and see.” She held her wicked grin, letting her plans form in her mind, and winked at Emma and headed for the kitchen. She had a terrific idea to make Emma smile again.