His Island Bride

by Shadonna Richards

  Praise for Shadonna Richards’s

  AN UNEXPECTED BRIDE

  (BOOK ONE IN THE BRIDE SERIES)

  "Her debut novel, An Unexpected Bride, has burst onto the scene, zooming up the bestseller lists and racking up fans faster than other writers racking

  up words....a smash hit!"

  - KINDLE FIRE DEPARTMENT

  "Author Shadonna Richards has an "unexpected" bestseller on her hands with this unheralded romantic comedy....An Unexpected Bride has sold 10,000 copies in its first three months..."

  -KINDLE NATION DAILY

  "Shadonna Richards is a wonderful author!...It's a sweet and romantic story that will

  sweep you off your feet."

  - REVIEWS BY MOLLY

  ***

  THE BRIDE SERIES

  An Unexpected Bride

  The Jilted Bride

  The Matchmaker Bride

  His Island Bride

  HIS ISLAND BRIDE

  (BOOK FOUR IN THE BRIDE SERIES)

  Shadonna Richards

  Copyright © 2011 Shadonna Richards

  All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Thank you, God for all my blessings. To my cherished son and husband for your unconditional love. With gratitude to my family and friends for your endless support. To Solomon, Jermaine, Merdella, Nesitta, Godwin, Monica, and Percell. To my editor M.M. for always being brilliant.

  To Sean, Charms, Judy, Yvonne, and Fenn.

  His Island Bride

  She wasn’t looking for love, but love found her…while vacationing on the sunny island of Jamaica.

  With mixed emotions, Jessica Mills can’t wait to escape to the Caribbean—away from an arranged marriage agreement to honor her new found heritage. She is to meet her potential groom-to-be in two weeks. She finally books her long-awaited vacation to a resort in Jamaica only to be double booked in the same suite as a gorgeous, irresistible stranger—who happens to get under her skin.

  Sexy, undercover billionaire, James Carrington has more on his mind than relationships. On the verge of making an important business decision that can affect his entire future and everything he’s worked for, he goes to Jamaica to think and indulge in recreational activities. He did not count on having a beautiful brunette in his suite—a pleasant but ill-timed distraction. There’s no mistaking the sparks that fly between Jessica and James at one of the island’s hottest resorts. But Jessica is betrothed to someone else…which direction will her heart follow?

  1

  “Happiness is where we find it, but rarely

  where we seek it…”

  – Jean Antoine Petit-Senn (1792–1870)

  French-Swiss Poet

  “You have to meet this young man, Jess. I’ve heard so many great things about him.”

  “Sorry, Mom! Not this time. I’m really not interested in being hooked up.” Jessica Mills sat in the kitchen sipping her coffee as she eyed her mother.

  “And why not, Jess?”

  “Because the last time you played matchmaker it turned out to be a total disaster! Remember?”

  “Oh, Jess. Nobody’s perfect, darling. I mean, how was I supposed to know that Mrs. Pawl’s nephew was a kleptomaniac for God’s sake. A kleptomaniac!” Her mother replied, scrubbing the frying pan with such force one would think she was displacing her anger on the pan.

  “Yeah, he was supposed to steal my heart, not my jewellery, my cellphone and my best friend,” Jessica tightened her lips, trying to conceal her fury. She placed her cup down on the table and gazed out the window as the morning sunlight beamed into the kitchen.

  “Okay, that one was a screw up, dear. But trust me, Jess. This one’s different. You remember that reunion I went to a while back? Well, one of my former classmates married into an aristocratic family and well, they have a darling son who has trouble settling down. And in order to take over the estate one day, he should marry suitable.”

  “You mean marry a rich girl, of which I am clearly not.”

  “No, we’re not…yet, dear. But we have some aristocrat in our blood line. It’s sort of like Lady Diana Spencer before she became a princess. You know?”

  “Yes, I know. The difference is, nobody knows about our supposed link to some dead forgotten duke. And besides, we’re a struggling working class family all the way. No glamour there.”

  “Well anyway, his name is Earl and he’ll be…get this…an earl! His uncle was actually the title holder but recently died and left no heirs.”

  Jessica chuckled. “His name is Earl and he’s an earl?” She sighed. “Okay and his uncle didn’t have any sons so it bumped to the nearest male member of the household. Am I right?”

  “Right. So all of a sudden this young man inherits the title as earl of a huge estate in England. I heard he’ll inherit 14,000 acres of beautiful countryside property. The estate holds charitable events and all sorts of wonderful things. Could you imagine? Well anyway, he has to marry or at least they prefer him to marry someone of an aristocratic bloodline.”

  “You mean someone in the highest social class in society, next to being royalty?”

  “Exactly!”

  “Which we are not, Mother!” Jessica playfully rolled her eyes, trying hard not to burst her mother’s enthusiastic bubble.

  It was too late. Her mother looked deflated as she finished up the dishes and dried her hands on a sheet of paper towel.

  “Up until recently we were just common people,” Jessica tried to rationalize her stand on the situation. “And we just found out we have an ancestor who was some duke or something hundreds of years back in England—so how could that make me eligible?”

  “We have blood ties to the Honourable Elbert Mills IV, the Duke of Arrington. That makes you eligible, dear.”

  “Yeah and I was only too happy to Google my great-great uncle’s history. I looked up Arrington, his supposed estate which, by the way, became an impoverished, debt-ridden estate that no longer exists today. Not even the Mills House exists. I read it was destroyed during the First World War.”

  “Darling Jessica, why are you being so negative…so resistant? Don’t you see that what your father and I are trying to do for you is for the best?” Her mother’s voice grew impatient.

  “Yes, well some matches don’t end up being what they’re supposed to be, Mom. I’ve made huge mistakes before and I really don’t know if I want to be matched with someone simply because of a drop of blood from a bloodline which I know little of.”

  “Jessica!”

  “Mom, what if he turns out to be some freaky, cross-dressing, alcoholic behind closed doors? No thank you. We all know that not all fairy tale marriages end up… happily ever after.”

  Her mother narrowed her eyes and pinched her lips.

  “Jessica, you know I don’t have much time.”

  “Mom….I….I’m sorry, it’s just that…well…”

  “Jess, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.” Her mother sat down beside her at the kitchen table and fidgeted with the flowers on the table.

  “No, Mom, you’re right. I know you want to see me happy and married well after…well…”

  “After I go to be with the Lord.”

  Jessica bit down on her lip. Her mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago and beat the dreadful disease. Well at least it was in remission until recently when she went for
her usual six month check up with the oncologist.

  Then, Jessica had her own scare. A few months ago while performing her monthly breast self-examination in the shower she felt a lump in her right breast which thankfully turned out to be a false alarm. This had terrified her and her mother. The oncologist told Jessica that her risk of breast cancer would be higher because her mother had breast cancer. The risk was even higher if a family member had breast cancer before age fifty. Her mother was forty-nine when first diagnosed years ago. Jessica knew how precious time was. How golden each and every day was. And how important it was to be happy with the choices one made because life was really short but it can also be sweet if a person was happy.

  She wanted to see her mother happy, she really did. But she didn’t want to be guilt-led into an arranged marriage of all things. She didn’t want to end up miserable in a mismatched relationship. Again.

  “It’s just that I feel as though you think I’m not capable of finding my own…spouse. I mean you and dad have tried to hook me up before, remember?”

  It was Jessica’s turn to feel deflated now. The last thing she needed was to feel inadequate. Okay, so her ex-fiancé broke off with her and married her best friend instead. And the other guy she dated lived a double life. But she was okay with playing solo for a while. The world was not going to end if she didn’t marry by her thirtieth birthday.

  “It’s just that since we found out about our ancestry...”

  “I know, I know. Thanks to the wonderful Ancestry.com. I just think that arranged marriages are a little barbaric!”

  “No they’re not, dear! The mistake people make is they think arranged marriages are forced marriages and that they are only exclusive to some cultures. Not so, my love. The British have been doing it for centuries. It certainly takes the stress off finding your husband.”

  “But not the stress off living with a total stranger who may be the worse thing that happened to you if the match isn’t what you think it is. Besides, we’re in Canada, not England. And I’m only part British.”

  “Jess! There’s nothing wrong with families who hold a position in society through wealth or inherited title who wish to marry into another family like them. Nothing at all. Statistics show that the divorce rate for arranged marriages are much lower than marriages of personal choice.”

  Jessica sighed and listened.

  “Some arranged marriages are about couples getting married based on compatibility or similar backgrounds who may not have otherwise met. It’s more of an introduction to a potential spouse. It doesn’t have to be, ‘you walk down the aisle or else.’”

  “I know, Mom… I’ve also heard that parents on both sides ask the boy and girl respectively whether it is acceptable to them. They ask if they have any objection. That is what most arranged marriages are. There must be a clear acceptance and on my end and I’m afraid there isn’t.”

  Jessica thought for a moment. What was she afraid of? Another rejection? What if it didn’t work out? Then for sure she’d be branded a total failure. In some cultures when in any family a girl approaches the age of about twenty to twenty-four years the father of the girl started making enquiries about suitable bride grooms nearby. In Jessica’s household the father was her mother and the age was thirty not twenty or twenty-four.

  “Will you agree to meet with him? He’ll be here from England in a couple of weeks.”

  “Mother, what does he look like? How come I can’t see a photo beforehand?”

  “The photo would be the last stage. It’s what’s inside that counts and the compatible background, dear.”

  “Oh, God! He’s hideous!”

  Jessica was stumped. She didn’t know which felt worse: having a terrible track record in her love life resulting in her so-called spinsterhood, or being pitied and thus set up because she wasn’t capable of finding love on her own. She’d been single for over two years now without a prospect in sight. Yes, she’d thought by thirty she would have found her soul mate and married and had children of her own but it just hadn’t worked out that way.

  Every man she’d met told her it wasn’t her it was him—which meant, it was her. Her family didn’t know what to think of her luck with men and even suggested “if you could just lose a little weight then maybe…” Yes, maybe, maybe…if she were more attractive meaning skinny in their eyes! Her last relationship with John had been rudely interrupted by a 110 pound, five foot, three inch secret with silky, long hair. His mistress. Aargh! How could she trust another man, right now?

  She’d been hooked up before on disastrous blind dates and the last thing she wanted was an arranged marriage—to someone she’d never met. Okay, she wasn’t perfect. She snorted when she laughed. She dressed as if she were colour blind and she was a little heavy but she was who she was.

  Oh, and she loved watching Columbo DVD’s. She craved the series and wanted to watch it nonstop and figure out little details in how the crime was committed and how Columbo figured out all the little missing parts to the mystery—and oh, she loved his quirky humour. Maybe she could relate to him being dissed by high society and underestimated because of his simple nature when his brilliance and genius attention to detail was what got the criminals every time. Okay, she was no sleuth but she wasn’t exactly accepted in all social circles. She wasn’t perfect, but she was who she was. She just couldn’t take another heartbreak. Maybe she was destined to be alone stuffing her face with seafood, cream puffs and watching Columbo DVDs throughout the night and reading on her Kindle when she wasn’t watching TV.

  “I really want you to do something with your life, dear.”

  “Something with my life? I have a good job and I volunteer at the Kids’ Club.”

  “Yes, dear but you know, people will talk. I mean you’re still single at your age, no children…” Her mother was always about keeping up appearances. God forbid she should become a spinster. What will her girlfriends at the bridge club think?

  “Okay, Mom. I will. I will meet my potential future husband.” Jessica reached over and kissed her mother’s cheeks then she stood up and stretched. “I’d better finish packing. Can you imagine? Two whole weeks in Montego Bay. I hear the Grandim Resort is the best.”

  “Yes. And at least when you come back you’ll be more relaxed…and tanned.” Her mother grinned. “Darling, you have no idea how much this means to me…and your father. We both love you very much. We want the best for you. We couldn’t give you everything growing up when things were rough but now you have a chance. Finally.”

  Her mother’s teary eyes caused a stir of emotion inside her. This was both frightening and intriguing for Jessica. An arranged marriage! She drew in a deep breath as she thought about Earl, her potential future husband. Like Scarlet O’Hara, she would think more about the situation—tomorrow! After all, tomorrow was another day and she’d be in sunny Jamaica. The perfect place to think and relax.

  2

  The next day, James Carrington couldn’t wait to open the door to his suite as he slid the key card through the door lock. He was finally able to get away from the politics of the family and work. His life had too many back stabbers and opportunists in the way. He’d come to Jamaica for R&R and to get away from it all. By the sea. The sunlight beamed into his hotel suite as the drapes opened up to the ocean view.

  “Perfect.”

  He was finally getting time to himself and to think about the most important decision of his life. He was on the verge of success with the software company that he co-founded with his cousin on his mother’s side, Dane Romano. However, a sudden crisis in his father’s side of the family meant he might have to take a long break from interest in the company and hand over the reins, something he was reluctant to do. He wouldn’t be able to spend as much time in his company as he had thought. The decision needed to be made fast. He hated to be under pressure—but for the first time in his workaholic life, he was taking a real break. Thankfully, he’d be alone. Solitude was necessary.