‘Hello, husband.’
Merida was shaking a little, although not from nerves—she could play to an audience, after all. It was his touch that made her shiver. And the fact that they were together and locked into a contract that, for this moment, didn’t feel like a lie.
He blocked the sun and yet he lighted her world. And when their lips met again she forgot the ruse, forgot the savage terms of their contract, and knew why she had agreed to marry him. It wasn’t for the shareholders, or for a father who was ill, and nor was it to give their child a stable home.
She had married him with hope in her heart.
Hope that what they’d so briefly found on the night they had met might somehow return.
A foolish hope, perhaps, but it was all she had.
‘What happens now?’ Merida asked as they descended the steps towards the car.
Their quiet, intimate wedding was fast becoming anything but. There were barriers up in the street, and the NYPD were between them and the crowd.
‘Do we go back to the hotel now?’
‘We’re going there.’
Always he surprised her. Instead of agreeing that they were heading back to the hotel for more photos, Ethan was nodding towards the beautiful Brooklyn Bridge.
‘For more photos?’ Merida asked.
‘No, just dinner with a few family and friends,’ Ethan said as they got into the car. ‘Merida, I did try and organise for your parents to be here.’
She felt her throat tighten.
‘It’s the school holidays, though, and—’
‘I know.’ She halted him. ‘They already had plans.’ Merida was very used to their new families coming first.
‘Merida...’
‘It’s fine.’ She gave him a tight smile. ‘You know, there are advantages to a whirlwind wedding. I always dreaded having them in the same room.’
It was, Merida thought, the loneliest wedding in the world. Aside from the fact that the groom didn’t love her, her parents were too busy with their lives to be here.
‘Why don’t you call them now?’ he suggested, but she shook her head.
‘They might hear that I’m upset, and I have no desire to let them know how hurt I am that they didn’t try to get here.’ She looked over. ‘It’s just as well this marriage isn’t—’
‘Eduard!’ He stopped her from saying the words out loud. ‘How about you take a photo of us here?’
It was no doubt completely illegal, but Eduard asked the driver to pull over and they got out.
‘I’m sorry about that,’ Merida said, appalled that less than an hour in she had already messed up.
‘Just know that every time you break our cover I will silence you with a kiss...’
Another kiss, another tease...another moment she would have to erase when she attempted to put her heart back together.
She would get through today, Merida decided as they got back in the car. And then she would get through tonight...
‘When do you go back to work?’ Merida asked.
‘The day after tomorrow,’ Ethan answered. ‘Why?’
Because then she would be able to breathe...then she would be able to think. It was impossible to do that with him near.
‘We’re here,’ he told her.
‘Here’ was an extremely elegant riverboat, and as they entered they were greeted with smiles and led straight through.
Nothing could have prepared her for the view. The whole of Manhattan glittered before them, and the bridge they had just been on stretched over and ahead like a golden rainbow.
Their table was by the window, cordoned off, but as they walked through the boar there were smiles from all the other patrons, delighted to find themselves inadvertently at such an exclusive event.
Their table was dressed with candles and gardenias, and the invited guests stood with glasses raised as the very new couple approached.
‘Merida,’ Ethan said, ‘this is my father, Jobe...’
‘Meredith,’ he said.
‘Merida,’ Ethan corrected, with a slight roll of his eyes, but Merida just smiled. She was used to people getting her name wrong.
‘You’re a brave woman,’ Jobe said, ‘taking us lot on.’
‘Apparently so,’ Merida replied.
‘This is my brother, Abe...’ Ethan almost needlessly introduced them, because the brothers were both as dark and good-looking as each other, and neither readily smiled.
‘Merida,’ said Abe, and gave her a kiss on the cheek. ‘This is my partner, Candice.’
Candice was tiny and shockingly beautiful, with caramel blonde hair and diamonds at her ears and throat, but the smile on her lips did not meet her china-blue eyes.
‘Merida!’ Another air-kiss, and then the sting of words only Merida could hear. ‘We’ve heard so little about you.’
Candice made Abe seem welcoming! But Merida didn’t have time to find out what Candice’s problem was because there were more people to meet.
‘This is the Sheikh Prince of Al-Zahan,’ Ethan said. ‘Or Khalid.’
Merida swallowed. Though he was in a suit, still he had the presence of a royal sheikh prince—and Merida knew that name...
‘It is a pleasure to meet you, Merida,’ said Khalid. ‘I believe I can take the credit for introducing the two of you?’
‘It’s your mother’s amulets on display at the gallery!’
‘Yes, I like to keep an eye on things and I asked Ethan to drop in. I trust his judgement. He said they were being looked after beautifully.’
Merida forced a smile. It stung that their meeting had been a set-up—that Ethan had been testing her on the night they had met.
When they had taken their seats, and everyone was chatting amongst themselves, she turned to Ethan. ‘You were testing me.’
‘When?’
‘On the night we met. Khalid said you came to check up on the amulets.’
‘Yes.’ He made no attempt to dress it up. ‘Khalid had heard that the gallery wasn’t doing the display justice. He’d sent in a couple of people to check it out discreetly, but before he pulled the display he wanted to know my thoughts.’
‘So you had no interest—?’
‘Merida,’ he cut in. ‘Do I look like someone who’s interested in Egyptian dolls’ houses?’
It upset her—possibly more than it should. But the fact that their chance meeting had been anything but left a bitter taste in her mouth.
Ethan, though, was unperturbed. ‘It’s no big deal,’ he said, and got back to speaking with the guests.
It was to Merida.
There was small talk and chatter, and delectable food, but although she tried to fit in Merida felt like an outsider. The rings on her finger felt unfamiliar, and she could feel the scrutiny of Candice’s constant gaze.
She made it through the starter, and then the main courses came out.
‘It was sensational,’ Jobe was saying. ‘What a night!’
It took her a moment to realise they were talking about Night Forest and the night she had almost had.
‘Merida...’ Jobe turned to her. ‘Ethan said that you’ve done some acting?’
He was trying to draw her in but had inadvertently frozen her out, because it hit Merida then that these people didn’t know her at all. And there was no real point in them doing so when three hundred and sixty-four days from now she would no longer be a part of this family.
So, when her face felt as if it might freeze from smiling, she decided that an interval was called for.
‘Excuse me...’
She found the restrooms, but on her way back, instead of going to the table, she turned and headed out to the platform, and looked at the gorgeous view.
She could see the Statue of Liberty, all lit up. The wind whipped her hair and she felt l
ike crying. And then she nearly did cry, because for the first time ever she felt her baby move.
The little flutter inside wasn’t a kick, but it felt like a bird stretching its wings. And it was the only reason that she and Ethan were temporarily together.
Oh, where was a tissue when you needed one?
‘Getting some air?’
It was Jobe, and she quickly wiped her face with her hands and then turned and forced a smile as he came over.
‘I just said to Ethan, Where’s your bride? Is it over already?’
She knew in that moment that Jobe was aware it was all a farce. No doubt he had had to approve the contract.
It dawned on her then that everyone at her wedding probably knew. They were the inner circle. The very select few.
Jobe came and stood beside her. ‘I used to bring Abe and Ethan to the pier when they were little. We’d get pizza and watch the world go by.’
‘A family day out?’ Merida kept her smile pasted on her face.
‘Oh, Elizabeth didn’t come. It wasn’t all gentrified around here then. No, just me and the boys. Not often, mind... I was always working. Still am.’
She really looked at him then. He was probably sixty, and with streaks of silver in his black hair he was elegant and handsome. To Merida’s surprise, he was kind, too. For not only had he come to check on her but he now took out a handkerchief and gave it to her.
‘Thank you.’
‘Emotional things, weddings,’ Jobe said.
‘Yes.’
‘I bet your family’s upset to miss it,’ he said, and when she started to cry again he added. ‘Whoops, I’ve set you off.’
‘It’s fine,’ Merida said. ‘I’m a bit of a leaky tap at the moment.’
‘You’re allowed to be. I hear that I’m going to have to stick around for a while longer if I want to know whether I have a granddaughter or a grandson.’
‘You will.’ Merida gave a small laugh as he put her at ease over the painful topic of his health.
‘You’re not going to find out before?’
‘I didn’t plan to.’ And then she wondered if perhaps she should. And then, although it should be Ethan she first told about the baby moving, she chose not to keep this moment from Jobe. ‘I just felt the baby move for the first time.’
‘Seriously?’
Merida nodded.
‘Then the baby must approve of the marriage,’ Jobe said. ‘I know that I do.’ He gave her a smile. ‘Are you ready to come and have a seat inside?’
She nodded.
‘I don’t know about you, but I sure as hell need one.’
Merida had never expected to find one tonight, but she felt as if she had a friend.
An unlikely one.
‘What were you and my father talking about?’ Ethan asked when she joined him again at the pretty round table. ‘I told him not to talk about the shareholders’ meeting tonight...’
‘He was telling me that he used to bring you here,’ Merida said. ‘And I told him that I’d just felt the baby move.’
‘You felt it move?’
Merida nodded and she watched a rare smile stretch his lips. ‘He asked if we were going to find out what we’re having.’
‘And are we?’ Ethan asked, his face moving in close.
‘I don’t know,’ Merida said.
And then she was feeling the graze of his lips on hers, and she simply forgot where they were as they shared in a soft tender kiss.
Glasses clinked as they were hit with knives, and the guests at the table called for more. Merida blinked and pulled back. The taste of him was still on her lips and the flush in her cheeks was real.
She caught Jobe’s eye and saw him smiling, and—stupid her—she started to believe there might really be hope for them. It was a beautiful wedding.
Eventually they headed for another photo opportunity to the decking outside, with the skyline stunning behind them.
Ethan kissed her again there—for the cameras, of course.
And, had he loved her, then it really would have been the perfect wedding. Because just as Merida started flagging, as the faces she had only just started to put names to started blurring, Ethan put an arm around her.
‘Let’s get you home.’
They left their own celebration early, though word had got out as to where they were, so there were the inevitable cameras waiting for them—but so too was the car.
Back over the bridge they went, and Merida felt spun into a world where she didn’t belong, but wanted to.
The lights and the shadows from the bridge had a strobe effect on her face, and Ethan was shocked into realising that he cared for her more than he should.
But he didn’t know her.
The only thing he actually knew was that she would leave.
He didn’t know where that had come from, but he felt as if it was carved on the steel wall surrounding his heart—one day she would simply be gone.
And he was prepared for that. He had all the ‘i’s dotted and the ‘t’s crossed in their contract, because to Ethan it was as inevitable as that.
* * *
Her first glimpse of his home brought actual tears to her eyes.
It wasn’t the sight of the gorgeous building that blew her away, but the trees outside, which had been decorated with fairy lights, and the fact that there were gardenias around the doorway.
‘Ethan...’ She could not think of anything more welcoming.
They were away from the celebrations now. The toasts had been made, the photographers and cameramen had packed up and gone, and now, close to midnight, it was just them.
And he’d done this.
Well, Merida doubted he’d been wrestling with lights and fuses and flowers, but the fact that he’d arranged it touched her.
Merida climbed out of the car and stood on the street, looking up at the apartment building and just drinking the decorations in.
‘It’s beautiful,’ Merida said. ‘Seriously...’
Merida didn’t get to finish. Ethan scooped her up into his arms.
‘And so are you.’
‘Stop it!’ She was laughing, kicking. She had never imagined him like this—or maybe she had, and now she felt that, even for a very hasty wedding, they’d somehow got it right.
The doorman held open the door as Ethan carried her over the threshold and kissed her so hard that her arms went to his neck.
Oh, would he ever not turn her on? Merida wondered.
She had ached for them to be alone—to talk, to make sense of the million details and plans—but now she simply drowned in his kiss. And he kissed her all the way to the elevator, so she was burning in his arms as he carried her inside.
The doors slid closed and the elevator jolted. So too did her heart.
‘Okay...’ he stopped kissing her and carefully put her down.
Merida was disorientated, slightly giddy, and in unfamiliar surroundings with a now unfamiliar man—for gone was the passion of before.
‘You can stop acting now,’ he said.
CHAPTER TWELVE
ETHAN’S WORDS PLAYED on repeat as they stepped out at the penthouse floor.
‘You can stop acting now.’
For a while she had forgotten that this was a contracted wedding—an marriage of utter convenience and a staged event. Certainly as he’d kissed her all the way through the door the fact that there might be cameras trained on them had been the furthest thing from her mind.
Ethan seemed oblivious to the brutal slap his words had delivered—although perhaps not quite, because he frowned when he saw her pale lips.
‘Bed,’ he said. ‘You look wiped.’
The apartment was on two levels, but Merida barely took it in. She simply felt numb as she followed him up the staircase. The m
aster suite seemed to take up the entire top floor. The curtains were drawn and the furnishings were rich and heavy. There was a very masculine feel to the room.
‘You have a beautiful home,’ Merida said, but she was making small talk and not quite ready for that huge bed.
‘I have a beautiful wife,’ Ethan responded, and dropped his jacket onto a chair.
‘I thought we’d stopped acting?’ Merida snapped out a tart response, but better that than reveal how raw his words had left her.
‘We have. I’m just stating a truth.’
He removed his tie, and Merida watched as he easily dealt with his shoes and socks. Next came his shirt. And his eyes never left her face.
‘I think it all went well,’ Ethan said.
‘Was I convincing enough for you?’ She flashed angry eyes but he wasn’t perturbed.
In fact he came over to her. ‘Very. Here, let me help.’
He easily located the small concealed zip on her dress, and as he pulled it down Merida closed her eyes, because despite herself she craved his touch. She wanted to turn and be in his arms and she was fighting with herself.
Beneath the dress she wore a thin pale gold slip with spaghetti straps, and he helped her out of that and dropped it to the floor.
He saw, for the first time, all the changes in her.
His hand dusted over her stomach for a moment, but then moved lower and slid her knickers down.
Merida stepped out of them on legs that were shaky, grateful for the steadiness of his arm. And when he unhooked her bra she looked down and saw the pink of her areolae and her nipples like two studs, jutting out.
The air crackled between them as he stroked one.
She watched, wondering how, as if with a switch, he simply turned her on.
‘Come to bed,’ he told her in a low, throaty voice.
And she could blame it on the contract, on the fact that a marriage had to be consummated, but as she climbed in Merida went because she needed to.
He discarded his trousers and she looked at that gorgeous body naked. Pale and long-limbed, he was also toned and lithe—and already hard. He climbed into bed and there was no chatter, no speaking, just the heat of his naked body as he pulled her into him.
And she went to him like an addict, searching for the knock-out effect of his tongue.
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