by Tricia Jones
Chloe took a deep breath. “While I’m not comfortable with your company paying me that money—” she held up a hand as he made to protest, “—it’s really not something I want to argue about right now. There are other things I need to say, and I don’t want to lose my nerve. Please, just let me speak.”
He shot her a disgruntled look and sat back.
Chloe tried to relax but her palms felt clammy, her legs boneless and she could feel the thump of her heartbeat right in her ears.
“Before you left for Cannes, you accused me of not wanting to deal with you…with us. You were right.” She stopped, needing desperately to take a breath. Her ribcage felt so tight, her breathing so restricted. She swallowed. “I thought…I didn’t know what you expected of me, not really. I knew what I expected of you, and it scared me. When I lost my parents and then my grandparents, it seemed that I always lost everyone I cared for. I didn’t want to feel that pain again, so I tried not to get involved with anyone. I’m not explaining this very well.”
“You’re doing fine.” He sat forward, rested his forearms on his thighs. “Go on.”
“Then you arrived, and before I knew it I was feeling things again.” She stiffened as he rose from the sofa. “Can you please sit down?”
He hesitated, then sat. Chloe took a moment to compose herself. “Like I said, I didn’t know what you expected from me, and I tried to keep my feelings from spinning out of control. I knew you didn’t want anything permanent and meaningful, and neither did I, but I couldn’t stop myself from falling for you. Then all of a sudden, you were leaving and I was losing someone I…cared for, all over again. I tried to stuff down all my feelings, to put my life back to where it was before you were in it, but I couldn’t.”
His expression was unreadable, but he leaned forward, clasping his linked hands between his knees. “When did I say I didn’t want anything permanent and meaningful?”
“You were only here to deal with the problems Ryan left, and you said we could just enjoy each other for a while.”
“At the time I seem to recall I was trying to break through that bloody barrier of yours. I had to get my hands on you somehow, and it seemed the safest bet to let you think it would be nothing serious. I didn’t want to frighten you off with talk of commitment and permanence. I still don’t.”
“Right.” Her courage dropped to her knees. She wasn’t quite sure what he meant. Was he quietly warning her that he didn’t feel the same about her, that she should stop talking before he had to tell her outright that he didn’t want her permanently in his life? Well, too bad. She was going to say what she needed to say. He’d just have to sit there and listen. Or try and stop her.
Chloe took a fortifying breath. “Anyway. What I wanted to say was that I care about you. It doesn’t matter that you don’t feel the same, it’s my own stupid fault for letting you into my life—but I do care about you, and I wanted you to know that. I didn’t like the way we left things between us, and I thought perhaps we could at least be amiable.”
When he just sat there, she felt everything inside her go cold.
Then he laughed, but there was no humour in it. “You care about me?” he said, glaring at her. “Care about me? Damn it, Chloe, you care about friends, dogs…budgerigars, for God’s sake.” He hunkered down in front of her and gripped her hands. “I want a damn sight more than that, and so do you. Why don’t you say it? Say how you really feel about me.”
“I…I…” Her body shook so badly she feared that at any moment she might just collapse in a pitiful heap.
“Yes,” he prompted. “You…what exactly?”
“You’re making me nervous.” She tried to pull her hands back. “It’s better if I say all this while you just sit over there.”
“No chance.” His fingers tightened around hers. “Come on, Chloe. Just spit it out. Tell me how you feel.”
“I…what I’m trying to say is that I…I suppose I love you.”
She swallowed hard as her heart shot into her throat. She waited for him to say something. Anything. Then his thumbs brushed across her knuckles.
“I would have preferred it without the ‘suppose’, but we can work on that.” He smiled, that gloriously sexy smile that melted every bone in her body and made everything bad go away. “We’ll work on it until it matches the way I feel about you.”
“How…” Her voice trembled as joy flooded through her system. “How do you feel about me?”
He tugged her forward until she teetered on the edge of the sofa. “I love you. And there’s no ‘suppose’ about it.”
The way her heart danced as he coaxed her to her feet was the loveliest feeling she’d ever known. “Nathan…I love you so much.”
Then she was lost in his kiss, a kiss that held all her hopes and dreams, every wish she’d ever had. His mouth claimed hers with a passion and a hunger that set all her nerve endings humming. Her lips parted willingly, accepting the brush of his tongue, the warmth of his breath. When his arms encircled her, she slid her own around his neck, drawing him closer and deepening their kiss. Her body molded to his as if they were two halves of an erotic sculpture coming together. Coming home.
When he released her, she was floating.
“I thought I’d lost you,” he whispered against her mouth. “Thought I’d blown my chance with you. I didn’t give a damn about anything but you—not the marina, not the apartments… All I care about is making you happy.”
He leant down for another long, slow kiss, then pulled back a little. “I will make you happy, Chloe. I promise you.”
“You already make me happy.” She pushed her fingers into his hair, easing him back down to her. She wanted his mouth on hers, wanted his body pressed close. She never wanted to let go.
Except she had one more thing to tell him.
“I’m not scared anymore,” she said, and for the first time she realized it was true. “I want it all, Nathan. Everything. I’m strong enough to handle anything that comes.”
“I’ve never doubted it.”
“But I have. I’ve locked myself away in case I got hurt. I never thought I could bear it again. Now I know I could, I know I can, because the thought of living without you when I don’t have to is the scariest thing I’ve ever known.”
When he leaned in for a kiss, she drew back. “You should also know that I trust you, that I know you’ll never hurt me. It’s important that you know that.”
“I do.” He pulled her back against him. “Tell me you love me. Tell me again.”
“I love you.” She dragged his mouth down to hers, sank into him before she pulled away again. “There’s something else. I want to go out on your boat again. I want to go out on the Minerva.”
“Done.” He started to kiss her, then grinned. “Anything else?”
She grinned back. “No. That’s about it.”
“Then kiss me.”
When she raised her mouth to his, he was the one to draw back.
“There’s just one thing you should know.” He ran his hands up and down her arms. “I still want to buy the cottage.”
Chloe narrowed her eyes at the glint in his. “It’s not for sale.”
“Then we have a problem. You see, I intend to pull down the dividing walls of the cottages on either side, which I now own, if you remember.” Her puzzled look seemed to please him and he smiled. “You wouldn’t want to stay there surrounded by all that debris.”
“Why are you pulling down walls?”
His hands slid down to cover her hips. “We can’t possibly raise a large family in a small cottage. We’ll need at least double the accommodation, so I thought we’d knock them all into one.”
“A family?” Chloe’s breath hitched, her head swimming as she tried to focus. “You want a family?”
“A big one, yes. And marriage, of course. That goes without saying.”
“Marriage?” She was back to sounding like the proverbial parrot. “You want to get married?”
“
Absolutely. It seems I’m a traditionalist after all.” He studied her face. “I love you, Chloe. I want you to marry me.” When she just stared at him, he prompted, “Say ‘Yes, Nathan. I’ll marry you’.”
She swallowed. Everything she’d never allowed herself to dream was coming true and her heart felt like it couldn’t possibly hold all that happiness.
“Chloe?”
“How big?”
“What?”
“Our family. How big do you want it?”
He pursed his lips. “I was thinking four. Two of each.”
She narrowed her eyes. “I was thinking more like two. One of each.”
“That could work.” His smile was wicked as his arms tightened around her. “But I have to warn you that there’s a history of twins in my family.”
“That would work even better. Two for the price of one.”
He waggled his eyebrows. “Or four for the price of two.”
They stayed there locked together, grinning contentedly as they negotiated their future offspring, and the rain battered comfortingly against the huge sea-view windows.
“Well, go on then,” Nathan prompted as thunder rolled in the distance. “Say it.”
She took a moment to draw in a breath, to treasure the promise of their future together; of the good, the bad and the wonderful. Then, “Yes, Nathan,” she said, with mock obedience. “I’ll marry you.”
“See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”
When he grinned, she lowered her chin and looked up at him from beneath her lashes. “I still won’t sell you the cottage.”
Nathan tightened his grip. He wondered if he’d ever be able to let go again. She was everything he ever wanted. This challenging, complex, excruciatingly beautiful woman who had opened her heart to him and agreed to share his life. “Then I’ll just have to find a way to wear you down, won’t I? Which won’t be much of a problem. Remember my middle name?”
She laughed and locked her arms around his neck. “In the interests of compromise, I’ll give you a fighting chance.” She contemplated the ceiling, then looked back at him. “Let me open proceedings with an extremely generous offer. I’m prepared to let you buy half.”
“Half, eh?” He circled them toward the door. “It’s a start. Come up to my office and we’ll continue the negotiations.”
A couple of hours later, wrapped in Nathan’s arms, Chloe snuggled down. She felt exhausted, happy, content and…secure. She wasn’t quite sure who owned the cottage at this point, and she didn’t really care.
But there was one thing she was sure about…she really loved the way Nathan Fitzgerald liked to negotiate!
About the Author
The romantic in me likes to think I was born with my head in a book, then someone stuck a pen in my hand and I haven’t stopped writing since.
I live in England, where I’m happily married to my own real life hero. There’s bits of him in all my fictional heroes—at least that’s what I tell him. I love to travel, especially to France and Italy, where there’s nothing better than finding a little pavement café and checking out all those gorgeous local men. All in the cause of research, of course.
To learn more about Tricia Jones, please visit www.tricia-jones.com or stop by her blog at www.tricia-jones.blogspot.com. Send an email to Tricia at [email protected]
Look for these titles by Tricia Jones
Coming Soon:
Satin Lies by Tricia Jones
Mr. Right Now meets Ms. Forever. Some matches take a lot of work.
Marrying Max
© 2007 Nell Dixon
Max Richardson doesn’t do commitment. But he will do anything to persuade his sister to let him provide a stable home for his niece, Emily, while her parents try to work through their marriage problems. Including renting a country cottage, hiring a nanny and—um—acquiring a fake fiancée.
Thea Sinclair had to give up her dreams of marriage and children when she came home to nurse her father through his last illness. She’s prepared to be Max’s landlady, housekeeper and Emily’s nanny. She’s not prepared for him to persuade her into a pretend engagement—or to find pretence becoming reality as she starts to fall in love with a man who’s sworn off marriage forever.
This book has been previously published in print form, and is the winner of the Romantic Novelists’ Association category length Romance Prize 2007.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Marrying Max:
The white Adams-style fireplace had a collection of shells, feathers and tiny fairy dolls on the mantelpiece. The bookshelves were crammed with photographs and trinkets as well as books. Most of the photographs were of Thea as a little girl—smiling at the seaside, skipping in the garden, eating an ice cream at a fair. Others showed her with her parents, grinning confidently at the camera. The later pictures had Thea alone or with her father. Max wondered what had happened to her mother.
The conversation with Julia a few minutes earlier had not gone well. She had seemed preoccupied with joining Paul in Singapore and hadn’t appeared at all convinced the arrangements Max had made for Emily would work. In desperation, he had fudged the truth a little in an attempt to convince her.
“Thea’s house is perfect for Emily, Julia. She’s a nursery teacher and really good with kids.”
“I’m sure she is, but it’s you I’m more concerned about. How do I know the minute I’m on that plane you won’t be rushing back off to the city and Gabby or one of the other women you might be seeing?”
Max bit his tongue at the implication in his sister’s tone that he was some kind of irresponsible womanizer. “Thea is a very special person and I love Emily. I’d never make an arrangement involving her that wouldn’t work.”
His sister latched onto the first six words in his sentence: Thea is a very special person. “Wait, does this mean you’ve finally met a woman you might settle down with at last?” The tone of her voice changed and in a weak moment Max blurred the truth. Suddenly after a few more questions, she seemed much more willing to bring Emily to Stony Gables.
The snag was, she now thought there was a relationship between himself and Thea. Why was nothing in life simple? What difference did it make to the arrangements for Emily anyway? He would never for the life of him be able to understand women. Thinking furiously, Max pulled the laptop back toward himself. Once he’d got his work sorted out he would go and find Thea and inform her of the extra request he now had for his stay at Stony Gables.
Thea was a little surprised to see Max coming down the path toward her vegetable garden carrying two mugs of tea. Immersed in her weeding while the ground was still soft, she had forgotten she had a guest. Straightening up, she wiped her muddy hands on the back of her jeans and took the drink from him gratefully.
“I thought you might like a cup of tea. That looks like thirsty work.” He nodded at the half-filled barrow of weeds.
“Mmm, the warm weather and rain showers have made everything shoot up.” She took a sip of her tea. “Did you get your computer all set up?”
“Yes, no problems at all. Thank you.”
Thea looked down at her grimy hands and nails. “I’d better finish off soon and try and clean up if I’m to look respectable for tonight.”
Max followed her gaze. “I don’t suppose there’s a manicurist around here?”
“DIY only,” she said and swallowed the last of her tea. Max took the empty mug from her and she expected him to go back up to the house, but he appeared to be rooted to the end of her row of runner beans.
“Did you want something?” She picked up the handles of the wheelbarrow, ready to move her load to the compost heap. He raised his free hand and scratched the back of his head, a faintly embarrassed expression appearing on his face.
“I, er, spoke to my sister earlier.”
Warily, Thea set down the handles of the barrow. Please don’t let her have changed her mind. “Was everything all right?”
Max definitely looked sheepish now and appeared reluct
ant to meet her gaze. “Fine. That is, she’s still coming and she seems happier about leaving Emily with me now, but…” He broke off with a forceful sigh, and looked straight at Thea. “It’s just she—and I swear it wasn’t really anything I said—but she thinks we’re a couple.”
Thea knew she was staring but her brain struggled to take in what he had just said. “What do you mean, she thinks we’re a couple? How can it not be something you said?”
“I said you were a very nice person and she took it the wrong way.”
“Then why didn’t you put her right?”
Max squirmed like a fish on a hook. He reminded her of Tom when he had been caught out doing something he shouldn’t.
“I should have, I know, and I’m sorry. But she just was so much happier about Emily staying here when she thought you and I were engaged.”
“Engaged!” The word came out as an incredulous squeak. Thea sank down on the low stone wall which bordered the vegetable garden. “If Ginny hadn’t vouched for you I would swear you were insane! You let your sister believe we’re not only a couple but that we’re engaged?” She searched his face for some sign that the whole thing was some kind of joke, but his serious demeanour told her he wasn’t.
He sat on the wall next to her. “I’m sorry, Thea. But Emily needs some stability so much at the moment and Julia was never entirely happy about her staying with me.” He wriggled uncomfortably on the cold stone. “It’s my own fault in a way. Julia and I had such a miserable childhood. Our parents fought constantly and we were the weapons.” A dull red flush crept above the collar of his shirt and he dug his thumbnail into a clump of moss on the coping stone. “I told you earlier, I don’t believe in marriage. I would never want a child of mine to go through what I went through. That’s why when I see Emily suffering I just want to protect her while Julia and Paul sort themselves out.” He shot her a sidelong glance, appearing uncomfortable at sharing so much with a virtual stranger.
