by Nicola Marsh
All for the sake of the stoic woman by his side.
Ruby didn’t leave him for a second, holding his hand through every introduction. She didn’t allow a lull in the conversation. She charmed her way around intrusive questions, distracting people with her natural vivacity. She deflected potentially disastrous comments with a sunny smile and quick wit that made people laugh rather than bristle.
Simply, she slayed the crowd.
And him.
The sex they’d had before coming down had been designed to distract and might have taken the edge off his perpetual hunger for her, but watching her smile and squeeze his hand or slide an arm around his waist as if it were the most natural thing in the world made him believe in the fairy tale too.
As they waltzed to ‘The Way You Look Tonight’, her tantalising body pressed close, he almost forgot why they’d married in the first place.
‘You’re awfully tense still,’ she murmured, resting her hand against his chest, directly over his impermeable heart.
‘Wouldn’t you be, surrounded by piranhas waiting for you to falter?’
‘Not really.’ She patted his chest and he could’ve sworn his heart squirmed beneath her touch. ‘I don’t buy into all this phoney nonsense. Never have.’
‘That’s because you’ve grown up surrounded by it and they accept you for who you are.’
She didn’t break step as he waltzed her around the floor, easing back to look him in the eye.
‘Maybe if you lightened up, people wouldn’t be so intimidated by you?’
What did she mean by that? Melbourne’s elite avoided him for one reason and one reason only: his shoddy pedigree. What did they expect—he’d pinch their millions as Denver had?
‘I’ve schmoozed tonight.’
She rolled her eyes. ‘Yeah, with a glint of menace and the hint of a glower.’ Her fingertip traced a line across his forehead. ‘Right here.’
‘Tough. What they see is what they get.’
He turned his head slightly to the left, bringing the base of her wrist in tantalising contact with his lips. Her breath hitched as he kissed the tender skin there, his tongue tracing slow circles against her pulse point. It had been her undoing that morning they’d woken in the same bed at the B&B, and had the same effect on her now. Her skin tingled. Her muscles slackened. Her legs wanted to fall open.
‘Hey, you two, get a room.’
Otto Smit, a long-term Seaborn family friend and Sapphire’s occasional date for social engagements, according to Ruby, sidled up to them. Jax had met him earlier and, while the guy seemed nice enough, he knew he had been sizing him up all evening.
Ruby waved him away. ‘Buzz off, squirt.’
Otto feigned outrage. ‘Squirt? I’m taller than you, pipsqueak.’
‘Maybe I’m not talking about height—’
Jax stifled a chuckle as Otto puffed up in fake outrage before turning to him.
‘Hope you don’t mind, I’m cutting in for a dance with your beautiful bride.’
Jax’s hold on Ruby tightened. For no sane reason he could muster, he didn’t want to let her go even for a second.
However, he had no choice without appearing churlish.
He released her.
‘Don’t worry, I’ve trodden on Otto’s toes too many times to count, in the past. He won’t last longer than two minutes dancing with me.’ She smiled at him and his chest constricted.
‘Take your time,’ he said, his jealousy-tinged-with-
possessiveness aggravating him more than the sight of Otto’s hand resting in the small of Ruby’s back.
Maybe he was overtired, keeping up this pretence? Maybe faking interest in these phoneys was getting to him? Maybe he was foolish enough to buy into his own PR: that this marriage was real and Ruby meant more to him than a means to an end?
Whatever the reason, he felt strangely disoriented, as if his world were spinning slowly but surely out of control.
He edged through the dancing crowd and headed for the main doors. He needed to get out of here before he did something stupid.
Like telling his wife this marriage was fast becoming more than one written on paper.
* * *
Ruby watched Jax leave the ballroom, head down, long legs striding, as if he couldn’t wait to escape.
She knew the feeling.
Every second of this evening had been excruciatingly painful.
Sapphie was the company spokesperson for a reason. She could work a room like a pro.
Sucking up to a bunch of air-kissing schmucks didn’t sit well with Ruby but she’d done it.
For Jax.
Sadly, the more time she spent with her errant husband, the more she came to realise she’d probably do this and more for him.
His rigid, immovable act was getting to her.
She wanted to delve beneath his tough-guy exterior, wanted to discover why he was closed off to anything but the superficial.
She couldn’t figure out how they connected so well physically yet he remained distant emotionally. If she asked him, he’d say it was just sex, but he’d be lying.
You couldn’t have the kind of connection they had without feeling something.
What she didn’t understand was how he could hold this much power over her when they’d barely seen each other?
They’d had sex a grand total of two times. Well, technically it had been five times on their wedding morning and four in the suite here since they’d checked in early this afternoon.
That old cliché about the quality not the quantity being important? She could totally relate.
They might not be spending as much time together as newlyweds would but the time they were together? Wow. Combustion.
So how could she let one stubborn, annoying, recalcitrant guy worm his way into her heart?
It wasn’t love. She’d fallen in love before, that heady, breathless, tummy-tumbling madness that possessed her on occasion. Nothing heavy, nothing intense, a brief euphoric feeling that faded fast; falling in love as opposed to being in love.
With Jax, she had none of those symptoms. Uh-uh, with Jax, it went deeper, to a part of her that craved him on some innate level she hadn’t known existed before him.
He tapped into a wildness within her, a yearning to be whoever she wanted to be without the constraints of living up to Sapphie’s promise to their mother, the expectations of her company and the responsibilities thrust upon her by her sister.
She’d bet he’d been a bad boy in his younger days. He had that look, of barely restrained power on a tight leash.
‘Something tells me that dreamy look in your eyes isn’t for my dancing prowess.’
She missed a step and trod on Otto’s toes. ‘Sorry.’
‘Don’t be.’ He swung her around to miss a nearby couple. ‘Would be nice to have a hot chick look that way about me.’
‘Sapphie’s a hot chick.’
An uncharacteristic frown creased Otto’s brow. She’d never seen the guy anything but upbeat. ‘We both know Sapphie sees me as a friend, a convenience. Someone she can trot out when she needs to.’
Ouch.
She patted his shoulder. ‘We’ve practically grown up together. You can’t blame her for relying on you.’
‘I don’t. I just wish...’
Uh-oh. Ruby had no intention of playing go-between for Otto and Sapphie. She’d asked her sister once if there was more than friendship between them, and Sapphie had laughed. Something she could never tell Otto.
‘How’s Sapphie, by the way?’
Glad he’d moved away from the touchy subject of his unrequited love for her sister, Ruby perked up. ‘Great. Getting better every day.’
Rather than Otto’s frown clearing as expected, it deepened. ‘People have been talking.’
Ruby trod on his toes again. ‘Sorry. About what?’
‘Sapphie being sick. You taking over Seaborn’s. The company’s financial troubles.’
‘People should mind t
heir own business.’
He twirled her towards the outskirts of the dance floor, giving them space, and her foreboding increased. ‘They’re also saying that’s the only reason you’d marry a thug like Jax Maroney, for a cash injection to save Seaborn’s.’
She stopped dead and shoved Otto away, not caring what the couples nearby thought. Until she realised alienating an old family friend at her wedding reception wouldn’t stop the rumours, it’d only fuel them.
Snagging his hand, she tugged him towards an empty nook behind a towering marble pillar.
‘What else are they saying? Tell me everything.’
Otto hesitated, before his sigh alerted her to incoming news she wouldn’t like.
‘They’re saying your husband has been trying to set up meetings with a few mining powerbrokers but they’re going to stonewall him at every turn.’ He touched her arm. ‘Just because you’ve married the guy, Ruby, don’t expect people to start liking him.’
He gestured towards the ballroom. ‘People haven’t forgotten his dad was responsible for ruining the lives of several prominent families here. They have long memories—’
‘Jax isn’t his dad,’ she hissed through gritted teeth, her anger rising exponentially with her indignation.
Didn’t these people believe in second chances? In giving anyone the benefit of the doubt? Jax had done nothing wrong, apart from being born Denver Maroney’s son, and he was being persecuted for it.
What if marrying her changed nothing for him? And what if he walked away from their deal, taking her chance at saving Seaborn’s with him?
‘I know, but you can’t expect them to have faith in a guy who rocks into town after being away a decade and expects to do high-end money business, not after what happened with old man Maroney.’
Rage blinded her for a moment and she blinked several times before replying. ‘Maybe not, but I expected them to have faith in me. In my judgement. I married Jax whether they like it or not and if they trust the Seaborn name, they’d better start trusting him too.’
Leaving Otto gaping, she whirled around and almost sprinted for the door. Where she caught sight of Jax hovering, an outsider at his own wedding.
Damn these people for their narrow-minded bigotry.
‘What’s wrong?’ He snagged her arm as she attempted to brush past, needing some air before she marched back into the ballroom and kicked some snobby butt.
She glanced into his face, expecting anger or concern. What she saw affected her far more. Stoicism.
He knew what she’d be facing, the judgements they’d both have to conquer, but rather than upsetting him, he accepted it.
She’d be damned if she would.
She slid her hand into his and tugged him back towards the ballroom. ‘I’ll tell you later. For now, we do what newlyweds do at their reception. We party.’
* * *
They cut the cake, made brief speeches, danced some more, before skipping the goodbye circle and making a fast exit.
Five hours after they’d first strolled into the Palladium ballroom, they left, hand in hand.
And Jax still hadn’t lost the glower.
She tugged on his hand, pulling him towards the lifts. ‘We pulled it off. So tell me why you look like we failed?’
‘It’s nothing—’
‘Like hell.’
She stepped into his personal space, toe to toe. ‘Let me put it this way. If you don’t tell me right this very second, there won’t be much happening beyond sleeping in that decadent penthouse.’
The corners of his mouth twitched. ‘You certainly drive a hard bargain.’
‘Cut the small talk and spill.’
He sighed, his reluctance obvious in the rigid neck muscles, the clenched jaw, the shadowed glance.
‘I won’t judge you, I’m just here for you,’ she said, cupping his cheek, stroking the worry lines bracketing his mouth.
Then a wonderful thing happened. He visibly sagged, the tension draining as he opened and closed his mouth several times before clearing his throat.
‘We didn’t fool anyone.’
So the guy was perceptive as well as smart, gorgeous and the rest.
‘They only just learned we’re married. Give it time—’
‘This’ll never work.’
Her blood chilled at the finality in his tone, as if he’d given up before they’d even begun.
‘Never would’ve picked you for a quitter,’ she said, daring him to fight back, fervently wishing he wouldn’t walk away from all this.
‘We’re wasting our time.’ The worry lines bracketing his mouth deepened as his lips compressed. ‘They’ll never accept me. They can’t see past my dad.’
His sigh held so much audible pain she slipped her hands around his neck and clung to him, afraid he’d bolt before she broke through his emotional barriers.
‘And I don’t blame them.’
He spoke so softly she barely caught the words as his head fell forward, his forehead resting on hers.
‘You’re nothing like him—’
‘How do you know? You haven’t seen him using people to get ahead. You haven’t seen him desperate to stay one step ahead of the game. You haven’t seem him repress his emotions and close off completely from people.’
He reared back, reaching up to unclasp her hands from around his neck. ‘What if I’ve got those tendencies?’ He thumped his chest. ‘In here?’
‘You haven’t—’
‘Really?’ He spat the word, his self derision chilling. ‘Because from where I’m standing, everything I just said could apply to me. Our marriage? I’m using you, desperate to get ahead, repressing my real emotions...’
He trailed off, his expression horror stricken, as if he’d said too much.
She wanted to ask him what he meant by ‘real emotions’. Dared she believe he was starting to feel something for her, something real, something tangible, something they could base a relationship on?
After only a few weeks, it seemed ludicrous. Unfathomable. So how could she explain the fact she was unwilling to walk away from this man for other reasons beyond saving Seaborn’s?
She’d pushed him to open up, now it was time for damage control.
‘I proposed to you, remember? I’m the one using you, using whatever means to get ahead in the jewellery business.’
He shook his head, his eyes wild. ‘What the hell are we doing, Ruby? This isn’t right.’
Her heart stopped. ‘Our marriage, you mean?’
She’d seen him many things—proud, arrogant, commanding. Defeated wasn’t one of them as he slumped against a nearby wall.
‘I’m sick of the lies.’
She only just caught his muttered ‘I’m exactly like my father after all.’
Darn, this was what happened when she delved into personal recesses best left unexplored.
Before he bailed on her, and she lost a husband and Seaborn’s before she’d had a chance to make it work, she did the only thing possible.
She grabbed his hand and tugged him towards the lifts.
‘Enough of the deep and meaningful stuff. Let’s go do what we do best.’
Thankfully, he didn’t have to be asked twice.
CHAPTER TWELVE
‘COME back to bed.’
Ruby turned her back on the dazzling view of Melbourne’s city skyline from the floor to ceiling window and padded back towards Jax.
He was propped on an elbow, his chest bare, the top sheet draped provocatively low over his torso, and she wondered how she’d managed to tear herself away in the first place.
He’d been asleep after their frantic sex to banish the worries of the reception, but in the aftermath of their blissful encounter she couldn’t wipe out the events of the evening.
She couldn’t sleep, not when this pretend marriage was on the verge of falling apart.
She had to do something.
‘Cold?’ He ran a fingertip up her arm, lingering in the hollow of her elbow,
tracing tiny zigzags that zapped her in a major way.
But she couldn’t afford to be distracted. Not when she had to come up with a solution.
Convince her social circle this marriage was real.
Gain acceptance for Jax.
Save Seaborn’s.
Three problems interlinked and she couldn’t solve one without the other.
‘No, I’m fine.’ She perched on the edge of the bed. ‘At least, I will be when I figure out what to do.’
‘About?’
‘Everything.’
Smart guy, she didn’t need to elaborate as he sat up and captured her hand.
‘We could cut our losses before this goes further.’
Her heart sank. She’d known that was what he’d wanted to do earlier yet she’d dragged him up here anyway, trying to obliterate their problems with mind-blowing sex.
Pretty stupid. Ignoring their problems wouldn’t make them vanish any more than wishing for a miracle to save Seaborn’s would.
‘That’s what you really want to do?’
He nodded, his penetrating gaze not leaving her. ‘Makes the most sense.’
Annoyed at his capitulation, she snatched her hand out of his. ‘So I lose Seaborn’s, you lose out on going global with your mine, and we look like a couple of A-grade idiots.’
She shook her head. ‘Wrong solution.’
‘What do you want me to do?’ He braced against the headboard, his expression thunderous. ‘I’d rather auction myself off at an outback bachelor bash for charity than face a roomful of those stuck-up jerks again.’
Despite her dire predicament, she couldn’t help but smile at the image of her gruff, moody husband standing in front of a crowd of rough ’n’ tough women eager to buy him.
‘This isn’t funny,’ he said, crossing his arms, impeding her view of his glorious chest.
‘No, it isn’t. Maybe I’ll have to volunteer for an auction too? Though who’d want a jewellery designer...’ She trailed off, struck by an idea so far out of left field she leapt off the bed.
‘What—?’
‘That’s it!’ She swooped down and planted a swift kiss on his lips, enjoying his wide-eyed shock. ‘You’re a genius.’
