The Australian's Marriage Demand

by MELANIE MILBURNE

  He gave her an unreadable look.

  ‘When I met you first at Finn and Sam’s engagement party I couldn’t stop myself staring at you. I felt drawn to you even though you kept glaring at me. Vanessa had died a few months earlier, and I guess I wanted to get to know you for her sake, if not for my own. But within a very short time I realised I had rather a task on my hands to win you over. Then we woke up together.’

  ‘So you decided to force me into marrying you?’

  He met her scathing gaze.

  ‘Neither knowing Vanessa nor the matter of my mother’s estate were the only reasons for marrying you.’

  ‘Oh, really?’ Her look was cynical. ‘I can just imagine what the other reason might have been! I must have been quite a novelty to you in that I spent a whole night in your bed without throwing myself into your arms.’

  ‘You were certainly a novelty,’ he admitted wryly.

  ‘How could you do it, Connor?’ Tears sprang to her eyes. ‘How could you string me along with such a lie?’

  ‘How could I tell you what I knew?’ he asked. ‘It wasn’t my truth to tell.’

  She fought against the tears with difficulty.

  ‘You kept asking me about my family, pointing out the differences all the time. Why did you do that if you were never going to enlighten me?’

  He ran a hand through his dark hair.

  ‘I was so close to telling you so many times. It didn’t seem fair that you were torturing yourself all the time, hating yourself for being something you could never be. I guess I was hoping you’d come to it yourself. I’m surprised you didn’t actually.’

  ‘I think I always knew deep down,’ she found herself confessing. ‘I just didn’t want to come right out and say it.’

  ‘Vanessa was so thrilled that you wanted to work at a drug clinic. It meant the world to her to know you were helping others triumph over the obstacles she never quite managed to overcome. She had no money to speak of, having been cast off by the family, but it pleased her to think you’d developed a social conscience all by yourself.’

  ‘What about the old house?’ She frowned at him. ‘Didn’t she own that?’

  He shook his head.

  ‘I bought it a couple of years ago from the person who rented it to her.’

  ‘So then you rented it back to her?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘You let her stay there for nothing?’

  Connor shifted his gaze from the tight scrutiny of hers.

  ‘She needed a break. I gave it to her. She found happiness at Pelican Head and a sort of peace.’

  She didn’t know what to make of this latest development. It was hard to think of Connor being so intimately involved in her life for years without her knowing it.

  ‘Jasmine—’ he made a move towards her ‘—there’s something else you need to know.’

  Her eyes went to his, her breath suddenly tight in her throat.

  ‘The woman I spent those few nights with was old Beryl Hopper,’ he said. ‘I always go there when things get a bit sticky. I was trying to tell you that but I’d only just found out about the unscrupulous dealings of my stepfather over my mother’s estate. I guess I wasn’t thinking straight so I let you think the worst. I’m sorry.’

  Jasmine didn’t trust herself to respond without crying.

  ‘I’m not proud of my past,’ he continued when she didn’t speak. ‘I’ve left a string of broken relationships behind me, flitting from person to person looking for something that up until recently has proved to be elusive.’

  She frowned, wondering if she’d missed something.

  ‘When I saw you again at Sam and Finn’s wedding I was taken aback. I couldn’t stop myself from looking at you all the time; it was as if my whole life I’d been waiting for that moment. It completely rocked me and, I’m ashamed to admit, I hid my reaction behind a cloak of what could only be described as cowardly mockery, when all the time all I felt was the most amazing sense of rightness.’

  She blinked up at him in confusion.

  ‘You see, I fell for you the moment you first looked across the church and glared at me.’

  ‘I…I really glared at you?’

  He smiled. ‘You sure did. I decided then and there I was going to marry you, no matter what. When you turned up in my bed that night I wasn’t sure what to do. I know I probably should’ve woken you and told you of your mistake, but when I saw you curled up in my bed with your beautiful hair spread out over my pillow… Well, it was just too tempting.’

  Jasmine couldn’t believe her ears.

  ‘I didn’t, however, organise the photographer,’ he added. ‘I had no idea the press would make such a fuss, or indeed your father, or even my stepfather, but when they did it seemed a perfect opportunity to take you out of the firing line by marrying you. I thought that in time you’d get to know me and, hopefully, fall in love with me. I know it was a long shot, but I was desperate.’

  ‘Are you saying what I think you’re saying?’ she asked.

  ‘What do you think I’m saying?’

  ‘I think you’re trying to say what I’ve wanted to say for ages.’

  ‘Oh?’ His chocolate-brown eyes were twinkling and her heart gave a sudden lurch. ‘What would that be?’

  ‘I love you.’

  He reached for her and enfolded her in his arms, burying his face in her hair.

  ‘I can’t believe you just said that.’

  Jasmine smiled into the warmth of his chest.

  ‘I can’t believe I said it either.’

  He put her from him and looked down at her, his eyes dark with desire.

  ‘Do you mean it?’

  She crossed her heart with one finger.

  ‘Swear to God and hope to die.’

  ‘I thought you didn’t believe in God?’ He gave her a mock frown.

  She smiled back, her eyes alight with happiness.

  ‘I think I’ll give it some further thought,’ she said, lifting her mouth for him to kiss.

  He grinned as he planted a firm kiss on her up-tilted mouth.

  ‘Thanks be to God,’ he said, as once more he gathered her into his arms. ‘I love you, Jasmine.’

  EPILOGUE

  CONNOR put down his paintbrush for the last time and turned to watch Jasmine come up the front steps of the old house.

  ‘Finished?’ she asked with a smile.

  ‘Yes, and just in time for me to carry you over the threshold.’ He dusted off his hands and reached for her.

  ‘I’m too heavy!’ she squealed as he scooped her up.

  ‘And whose fault it that?’ He grinned down at her wolfishly.

  ‘Yours,’ she said, laying a protective hand over the swell of her belly. ‘All yours.’

  He kissed her lingeringly before carefully setting her down.

  ‘How are you feeling?’

  ‘I’m fine.’ She rested her hands against his chest and smiled up at him. ‘I’m just nervous about tomorrow evening.’

  ‘Don’t worry, honey,’ he reassured her. ‘Roy assured me his wife took it all very well. She’s just having a little trouble seeing him as a grandfather, that’s all.’

  Connor had arranged a quiet Christmas celebration at Pelican Head with Elias, Frances, Roy Holden and his wife, Leanne. Jasmine felt touched that he’d gone to so much trouble on her behalf to restore peace and goodwill after months of strained relationships.

  ‘I just hope this baby doesn’t make an untimely entrance.’ She winced as her belly tightened as it had been doing for the last half hour or so.

  ‘It’s not due until New Year,’ he reminded her.

  ‘I know but babies often have a mind of their own.’

  ‘Just like their mothers.’

  ‘And their fathers.’ She poked at him playfully.

  ‘Yes, but you love me for it, don’t you?’ he asked with a sexy grin.

  ‘I adore you for it,’ she said, pressing a kiss to his neck. ‘Even if you still leave your
wet towels on the floor all the time.’

  ‘I wouldn’t do that if you didn’t saunter into the bathroom with absolutely nothing on. I find it distracting, to say the least.’

  ‘But you love me for it, don’t you?’

  ‘I adore you for it.’ He gathered her closer. ‘And you know it.’

  Jasmine pressed herself against him for a long moment, breathing in the scent of him, marvelling at how he had turned her life around, filling it with unbelievable love and contentment.

  An unmistakable contraction hit her with a sharp jolt.

  ‘Connor?’

  ‘Mmm?’ He breathed in the fragrance of her hair.

  ‘Do you think everyone will be upset if they arrive and we’re not here?’

  Connor lifted her off his chest to look down at her.

  ‘What do you mean we won’t be here?’ he asked. ‘Where else will we be?’

  She took his hand and let him feel the contortion of her belly and his eyes widened.

  ‘You mean this is it?’

  ‘I think so.’

  ‘Right now?’

  She nodded.

  ‘But what about Christmas? I’ve bought a turkey!’ he exclaimed in panic.

  Jasmine laughed.

  ‘I think your baby has decided it wants to celebrate Christmas with us in person.’

  ‘Well, then,’ he said, picking up his car keys and taking her arm. ‘Let’s go see if there’s room at the Inn.’

  ‘The Inn?’

  ‘Or, failing that, a stable.’ He smiled and gently tapped the end of her nose with one finger. ‘And we need to find three wise men and a very bright star.’

  She couldn’t help giggling at him.

  ‘Connor, you’re so irreverent at times.’

  ‘I know.’ He winked at her devilishly. ‘But I love to see you smile.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because it’s heaven on earth, that’s why,’ he said and kissed her smiling mouth.

  Elias and Frances arrived at the old house just as Roy Holden and his wife pulled up. They all went to the front door and peered at the note hastily scrawled there.

  Jennifer Vanessa Harrowsmith was born on Christmas Day at five-thirty p.m., six pounds four ounces. Mother and baby doing well, father beside himself. Please help yourself to champagne and nibbles, Oh, and apologise to the turkey—I forgot to tell him he won’t be needed this year!

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-6349-3

  THE AUSTRALIAN’S MARRIAGE DEMAND

  First North American Publication 2005.

  Copyright © 2004 by Melanie Milburne.

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