“No,” Hudson said with a smile. “Why don’t you ladies take the company helicopter? Bruce could fly you up to Atlanta for the day and you could find a dress, maybe go to a salon or something. Have a girl’s day out. Mom, you should go too.”
“Me?” Sue Ellen laughed. “I’ve already got my dress. Besides, there’s so much to be done, with the party less than a week away, you know. But you girls go on ahead and have a great time. I can call the spa and get you a VIP appointment for this afternoon. I’ll telephone Scarlett and see if she’s available. I know she’s dying to meet you, Annabelle. She’s just been so busy, she hasn’t had a chance to make it home since you arrived.”
As the dining room erupted in chatter, Annabelle observed the family dynamic. Hudson pulled out his cell phone and made a call to his pilot while the women talked about dress ideas and hairstyles. It was suddenly so overwhelming, Annabelle wasn’t sure if she wanted to cry or laugh.
All her life she had longed to be a part of a family like this. It wasn’t the money that mattered. It was the simple act of being together. The Montgomerys were so close and open with each other. Watching Jilly and her mother chat away made Annabelle mourn the years of growing up without a mother of her own. For a moment, she wondered what it would be like to be joining this family for real. No fake engagement where they all felt like they had to include her. This morning, for the first time, it all felt so real that it took her breath away.
But it isn’t real.
After they found out who she really was and what she had done to get here, they would hate her, and this temporary fairy tale would disappear like the illusion that it was. She pushed her plate away and excused herself, deciding to head back to her cottage to change clothes for their outing to the city.
Pieces of the door and frame were strewn across the stone entryway of the cottage from where Hudson burst through it the night before. Annabelle passed over it carefully and headed back to her bedroom. The sound of footsteps behind her brought fresh terror to her heart, but when she turned, she was pleasantly surprised to find Hudson standing in the doorway with a smile on his face.
“Whew, you scared me,” she said, letting out a deep sigh of relief. “Didn’t your mother ever teach you not to sneak up on a girl like that?”
“I’m sorry,” he said, concern darkening his features. “You’ll have to forgive me for wanting to spend a few minutes alone with you before you leave.”
With that, he crossed the room and swept her into his arms, his mouth covering hers in a heated kiss. “Seeing you in my clothes was a surprisingly stirring sight this morning. Makes me just want to rip them off you and do a repeat performance of last night’s activities.”
Annabelle giggled and buried her head in his shoulder. God he smelled good. She inhaled and closed her eyes. “So, your response is to get rid of me by sending me to Atlanta for the day, instead?”
“I just thought it would be nice for you and my sister to get to know each other better. I only wish Harlan and Jack were going to be here for the party too, but hopefully, you’ll get to meet them when we go to Japan to sign the final papers for the merger.”
The mention of Harlan’s name reminded Annabelle of her reason for being there in the first place. “I can’t wait to meet them,” she said honestly. She wondered for the hundredth time if Harlan even knew about Julia’s pregnancy or if Hudson had ever bothered to mention it. She bit her tongue to keep from asking the question she couldn’t ask.
“When you get back tonight, I have a special dinner planned. Just the two of us, okay?” Hudson kissed her again, this time softer and Annabelle melted all over again.
“Sounds perfect.”
By four o’clock, Annabelle was certain she’d been transported to some alternate universe. Riding in a plush helicopter was exhilarating, and the entire trip only took an hour. She was so busy watching the countryside below that she could hardly believe how soon they were landing on top of a skyscraper in the middle of downtown.
The salon Hudson’s mother sent them to gave them the royal treatment—facials, manicures, pedicures, and a hot stone massage. Scarlett hadn’t been able to meet them, but promised to come to the dress shop if she had a spare moment.
Annabelle had never been pampered so thoroughly in her life, and now, sitting in the foyer of a designer’s private dress shop, she knew the spa was only the beginning.
Jilly had greeted the Italian designer with a kiss on both cheeks, then introduced him to Annabelle before being dragged behind the curtain for a private fitting, the designer promising the whole time that he wouldn’t dress her in anything too “girly”. Left to herself in the foyer for a moment, Annabelle was glad for the time to let the events of the day sink in.
A girl could get used to this.
But getting used to being treated like a princess was dangerous when it was a temporary situation. Extremely temporary. The startling progression of her relationship with Hudson was making her mind fuzzy, and she suddenly felt like Alice going down the rabbit hole. Somewhere along the way this whole thing had stopped being solely about Julia and the baby, and Annabelle had allowed her own heart to get invested.
She took a deep breath and repeated her cousin’s favorite saying to herself.
You can’t change the past, Annabelle, but you can start right now to make a future you can be proud of.
Usually, Annabelle snorted at her cousin’s words, feeling like a child who was slapped on the wrist for bad behavior. But Julia was right. No one knew better than Annabelle that the past couldn’t be changed. How many times, as a child, had she wished she could go back in time to the day their parents were killed? If she had a time machine and could change one pivotal moment in her life, that would be the day she would choose. But no one can change the past, and her parents had been gone for a long time now.
In some ways, that was the toughest part about the week she had spent with Hudson and his family. They treated her as though she belonged there, and the feeling was addictive. Making love to Hudson had been taking it a step too far, though, and she knew it. She crossed a line that couldn’t be uncrossed.
With a sigh, Annabelle let her head fall back against the plush leather sofa in the waiting room. Her feelings for Hudson were more complicated than ever. How was it possible to love someone and despise them at the same time? But she didn’t despise him anymore. Not really. She just despised his actions, and deep inside her heart, she hoped he would change his mind about Julia once the truth was in the open.
The beeping of her phone startled her. She sat up and rummaged through her bag until she came up with the small silver phone. The screen told her she had a text message waiting, and when she opened it to read the message, her heart began skipping wildly. How did Mark know where she was?
She flipped her head quickly toward the window at the front of the shop. There, with a scowl on his face, was Mark. He had a fresh red scratch running down the length of his arm and she swallowed as she remembered the horror of the previous night on Sea Island when he attacked her in the dark. Mark beckoned for her to join him outside, and Annabelle spared a glance toward the dressing room.
Leaving her bag on the couch, Annabelle forced a smile at the receptionist and excused herself.
“If Ms. Montgomery asks for me, please tell her I had to take a phone call and I will be back in a few minutes.” The receptionist nodded and went back to her work as Annabelle slipped outside.
“What are you doing here? How did you find me?” Her voice sounded more scared than she intended, and she reached deep within to find the strength to calm herself before she spoke again. “What do you want, Mark?”
“I lost my job over those pictures, Annabelle. The pictures you asked me to take, remember? And your boyfriend has had his goons looking for me ever since. I haven’t been able to go back to my own apartment. I need money.”
Annabelle looked nervously toward the door of the shop and shuffled Mark farther down the street, away from
the view of the window. “Those pictures were never supposed to go public, Mark. That’s all on you and you know it. Besides, I don’t have any money to give you. Blackmailing me now would be stupid.”
“You might not have any money, but from the chatter on the island last night, you and your rich boyfriend are expected to announce your engagement any day now. Soon you’ll be a Montgomery, and you’ll have plenty of money. Or is that another lie?”
His smile disturbed her. When she first approached him with the idea of taking pictures for her, she thought he was just a sweet geeky guy. If she had known he was capable of being such a greedy creep, she would have never gotten him involved in her plan.
“I don’t know where you got your information, but I’m not giving you a dime. Even if I did have the Montgomery billions at my fingertips.” She turned to walk away, but Mark grabbed her wrist and pulled her back toward him. His grip was so tight, it sent a sharp pain up her arm and she pressed her lips together to keep from crying out.
“I’ve known girls like you all my life. You think you can strut around in your skimpy little outfits and geeks like me will do anything you ask. Well, you picked the wrong geek this time, sweetheart. Do you think I agreed to take those pictures because I liked you?” Mark snorted, anger gleaming in his eyes.
“You are going to get me twenty thousand dollars by next week or I will make sure that your new boyfriend knows the truth about those photographs.”
“Fine,” she yelled, wrenching her arm away from his grasp. “Tell him. No, actually, I’ll tell him myself. You have no power over me, Mark. Unlike you, I’m not in this for the money.”
With shaking hands, she rubbed the spot on her wrist that still stung. Her heartbeat pulsed in her ears, as loud as a bass drum in a marching band. She held her head high despite her fear and turned again toward the dress shop, but Mark’s next words stopped her dead in her tracks.
“I’ll give the tabloids the story of the century, then. I’ll tell them all about Julia and the Montgomery’s bastard child.”
Fury rose up inside of Annabelle, so violent and strong that she wanted to lunge at him, but instead she was stone still, her fear stronger than her anger. She spun toward him, her face flushed.
“How did you find out about that?”
“I have my ways.” He smiled in triumph, and Annabelle cursed at herself for allowing him to see he had hit a nerve.
“You have no right to bring Julia into this. She has nothing to do with it.”
“It seems to me that she has a lot to do with it, considering she’s the one who’s pregnant. The way I see it, she has a lot more at stake here than you do. But if you don’t care about her, then don’t worry about it.”
“You asshole.” Annabelle gritted her teeth and stared at him in anger. “What do you want from me?”
“Twenty thousand dollars,” he said. “Or I go public with this story.”
The sound of footsteps behind her made Annabelle swing around in terror. The last thing she needed was for Hudson’s sister to overhear this conversation.
It wasn’t Jilly who stood behind her, though. It was Scarlett, Hudson’s older sister. With her long brown hair and sparkling blue eyes, Annabelle recognized her from her pictures.
“Annabelle?” she asked, half-smiling, but with a tentative look toward Mark. “Is everything alright?”
“Scarlett, right?” she said, forcing a smile and praying Mark kept his mouth shut for once. “It’s great to finally meet you.”
She threw her arms around Scarlett, hoping no one could hear the furious pounding of her heart.
“Everything’s fine,” she said. “I just happened to see an old friend of mine. He was just leaving, weren’t you Mark?”
Mark nodded toward Scarlett. “Nice to meet you, Ms. Montgomery,” he said. “Annabelle, don’t forget what we talked about.”
A bell jingled and Jilly poked her head out of the dress shop. “Annabelle?”
Annabelle forced cheer into her voice. “Are they ready for me?”
“Yes. Antonio needs you in the dressing room. Is everything okay out here?” Jilly frowned at Mark as he turned to leave.
Annabelle rushed over to the door, hoping to diffuse the situation. “Sure, everything’s fine,” she said. “And Scarlett made it just in time.”
She plastered a warm smile on her face and followed Jilly back into the dress shop.
The rest of the afternoon passed by in a haze. Her own picture in the tabloids was one thing, but Julia’s? It wasn’t fair. She had no idea how she was going to dig herself out of this mess. She didn’t have anywhere close to twenty thousand dollars.
Not even the gorgeous black ball gown could raise her spirits after her encounter with Mark. Suddenly, she dreaded her upcoming dinner with Hudson.
Just when she’d decided to see this thing through to the end, it had all started to fall down around her.
She had no choice now. She was going to have to tell Hudson the truth.
Chapter Nine
Annabelle,
I have been called away to New York on sudden business, and I’m afraid it might be a few days before I can make it home again. Nothing could keep me away from the engagement party, so I will see you then, if not sooner. I took the liberty of having your things moved into my suite, but feel free to wear my boxers and t-shirts. That was quite the pleasant sight this morning.
Hudson
Annabelle wanted to cry. She had never before felt such a mix of desperation and fear. After Mark’s threat to flaunt Julia’s pregnancy in the media, Annabelle knew that her web of lies had come to an end. She was in over her head now, and she needed help. If Mark broke that story to the press, there would be no way to salvage Julia’s reputation and any relationship with the Montgomery family would be ruined.
Annabelle didn’t even want to think about what would happen with Hudson. She wouldn’t allow her heart to hope for anything more than the days they had already shared. Mark’s threat was going to rob them both of the fun they could have shared over the next few months until the deal was signed.
She spent her evening alone by the pool, looking out over the ocean and trying to think of any way to get Mark to back off of his threat. She would never forgive herself if her actions hurt Julia. The tabloids would tear her cousin apart, especially if the Montgomerys were forced to publicly deny her claim.
As far as Mark’s money request was concerned, the twenty thousand dollars might as well have been twenty million. The insurance money she’d gotten after her parents died was substantial, but the money was all but gone now. She’d been living off of it since she was thirteen. There was only a few thousand dollars left, and it would take time to withdraw it.
Time she didn’t have.
Hours of exploring every option she could come up with led her back to her only real option. She needed Hudson’s help. He was obviously more experienced at dealing with blackmail and the media than she was, and he would have as much interest in keeping this story quiet as Annabelle did. She knew he would be angry once he found out the truth, but she was willing to sacrifice her own happiness to make sure that Julia’s name wasn’t dragged through the mud.
Exhausted from worry, Annabelle made her way up the grand staircase to Hudson’s empty suite. She buried her head in the pillow and inhaled his scent, wishing that they could have had one more night together before her secrets were exposed.
Over the next two days, the Montgomery plantation was a flurry of activity. Lawn crews worked day and night to plant beautiful new beds of fresh flowers and to keep the lawn green and beautiful. A small stage was set up in the ballroom, and all of the furniture was removed from the main rooms of the Big House to make space for the two hundred guests on the list.
Mostly, Annabelle just tried to stay out of the way. She spent some time exploring the plantation and the rest of Sea Island, always in awe of the beautiful homes and friendly residents. She took a tour of the Cloister, the hotel on Sea Island
famous for its visits from past Presidents and dignitaries. Most afternoons, though, she ended up back at their picnic spot near the old slave’s quarters.
To occupy her mind, she sketched out her ideas for a public garden and explored the old homes, making notes about possible renovations. Planning the museum exhibits and the layout of the gardens they could build for the community was the only task that kept her from losing her mind in Hudson’s absence.
She’d found peace in those sketches. Until now, she had moved from job to job without a clue about the type of career that would make her happy. Working on these renovation plans was the first time she’d felt truly passionate about her work. It wasn’t a real job, of course, but maybe when she got back to Atlanta, she would look for a job renovating old spaces.
She only wished she could stay here at Cottonwood to oversee the renovation of this historical site.
Meanwhile, there was still no sign of Hudson, and she felt a certain uneasiness take root in her stomach. She didn’t want to talk to him about this over the phone, but if she wasn’t able to tell him the truth before the night of the party, it would be too late to call off the engagement. Once their intention to marry was officially announced, everything would get more complicated. She just needed a few minutes alone with him before the party.
Friday afternoon, Hudson called briefly to say that he would not be flying in until just before the party on Saturday night, and Annabelle’s heart sank.
“Are you sure you can’t make it back?” she pleaded. “I really want to see you before the announcement. There’s something important I need to talk to you about.”
“I wish I could, believe me. I’ll make it up to you after the party.” The tone of his voice made his intentions clear. The thought of being with him again made Annabelle’s body light up like a bonfire. She longed for his touch. His kisses. His body next to hers in the moonlight. Would she ever get a chance to feel his arms around her again?
Hold Me Closer (Sea Island Brides Book 1) Page 11
