Bride For A Year. Kathryn Ross
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their last meeting, the way he’d kissed her...his proposal.
She looked hurriedly away from him, but she was still acutely aware of the way he was watching her, the way his eyes had travelled away from her face and down over the slender lines of her figure in the pale blue sundress.
Rosie handed him his coffee. ‘Actually, I was just leaving,’ she said, looking from him towards Paige.
‘You don’t have to dash off on my account,’ Brad said sipping his drink.
‘No, no, I was going anyway.’ Rosie finished her coffee. ‘Perhaps you can talk some sense into Paige. She’s talking about going to live in Seattle, you know.’
‘Seattle?’ Brad looked at Paige with a frown.
Silence hung heavily in the air for a moment before Rosie said with a gleam of mischief in her eyes. ‘She won’t admit it, but I’m sure it’s that guy she met at college trying to talk her into going up there. Probably hoping she’ll agree to live with him.’
‘Rosie!’ Paige’s eyes widened at such a blatant untruth.
‘It isn’t good to make such a radical decision while you are still in mourning for your father, Paige... You’re not thinking clearly,’ Rosie continued totally unabashed by the look of disapproval on her friend’s face. She reached to pick up her handbag. ‘Anyway, I’ll leave you two alone. As I said, perhaps you can talk some sense into her Brad...?’
‘Thank you, but I don’t need anyone to talk sense into me,’ Paige murmured uncomfortably. ‘I am quite capable of managing my own life.’
Rosie shook her head. ‘I’ll phone you later, Paige. Let’s have lunch one day next week?’
Paige nodded and made to walk to the car with her friend, but Rosie waved her hand. ‘I can find my own way.’
The silence in the kitchen was loaded with tension once the back door closed behind her.
‘Seattle?’ Brad said again, and shook his head. ‘You know it does nothing but rain up there, don’t you?’
‘It will make a refreshing change, then, won’t it?’ Paige said briskly. She finished her coffee and put the cup down on the pine kitchen table, her eyes moving to the perfect blue sky outside.
‘Is there some man waiting in the wings for you up there?’ Brad persisted.
‘I’ve told you once, that’s none of your business,’ Paige replied staunchly. She had too much pride to admit that it wasn’t the truth. Let him think there was someone else who wanted her... and not for the cold-blooded business reasons he had propounded.
‘Rosie is right in a way, you know; you shouldn’t make such radical decisions at the moment. You’re still in shock from your father’s death.’
She glanced over at him. ‘Is that your way of telling me that you have changed your mind about us getting married?’
‘No, my...offer still stands.’ His voice was low, velvety and seductive.
Paige couldn’t find her voice to say anything for just a moment. She wouldn’t have been surprised if he had come over here to tell her the whole idea was a mistake; that he hadn’t been serious about his proposal. She shook her head, trying to dismiss the notion that she was relieved he hadn’t changed his mind, trying to clear the madness of this whole thing from her heart. ‘How come you think it would be a folly for me to rush up to Seattle while I’m, as you and Rosie like to put it, “not thinking clearly”, but it would be OK for me to rush into a marriage with you?’ Her voice was dry.
‘I’d rather you made a mistake with me than with somebody else.’ There was a gleam of humour in his dark eyes, a lopsided tug of a grin on the firm line of his lips. Something about it made her heart twist painfully. Brad’s droll sense of humour had always struck a chord inside her; she loved that wry glint, the effortless ease with which he could make her smile back at him. She fought the impulse now; this was too serious a discussion to laugh away lightly.
‘At least you honestly admit it would be a mistake,’ she said with a shake of her head. ‘I can’t believe you aren’t joking. So you honestly think my options are to stay here and have you take advantage of me, or go to Seattle and have someone else exploit me?’
‘I’m not about to take advantage of you, Paige,’ he said slowly. His eyes were perfectly serious now. ‘But I can’t vouch for the other guy—can you? Who is it, anyway? Not that guy you brought back here in the summer holidays last year?’
‘I’m not about to discuss my boyfriends with you.’
‘Spoilsport.’ He leaned back against the counter top. His eyes lingered on the softness of her lips. ‘I suppose what you’ve got to ask yourself is, do you want to keep your family home or is the guy in Seattle worth giving everything up for?’ he drawled lazily.
‘Oh, this is ridiculous.’ She shook her head. ‘I’m not listening to another word. We can’t get married; it’s preposterous.’
‘I think it would be a good deal for the both of us.’
‘A good deal!’ She was outraged. ‘How can you talk about marriage in those terms?’
‘If I talked in other terms...talked about love... would you be interested?’ he asked calmly, a hint of mocking sarcasm in his voice.
‘I’m not interested in any terms.’ Her heart slammed against her chest.
‘So you are going to run away to Seattle.’
‘I’m not running away.’ She denied that firmly. ‘I’m starting over again.’
‘You can start again here,’ he said nonchalantly. ‘I know how much this place means to you. You can have it all back in twelve months.’
Her skin flared with heat.
‘You’ll feel a lot better and clearer in twelve months.’
‘Or a lot worse.’
‘It’s a calculated risk. At least you’ll have your home back. You can’t lose.’
Paige doubted those words very much. ‘On the contrary, I think I could lose a great deal. My freedom...my sanity.’
One dark eyebrow lifted at that. ‘I don’t think living with me will be that bad!’ he said dryly.
‘That’s a matter of opinion.’ She glared at him.
‘Well, if that’s how you feel I’ll just ask someone else.’
The audacity of his words made her heart thump wildly. ‘Yes, you do that. What about Carolyn?’ She flung the words at him, wanting to see his reaction, wanting to know how he felt about Carolyn finishing with him.
‘I told you. Carolyn no longer figures in my life at all.’
His words were firm, the darkness of his eyes showing no hint of indecision or emotion on that point.
She pushed a hand through the length of her hair. ‘Are you by any chance on the rebound, Brad?’
He looked surprised by the question, then he laughed. ‘Certainly not. Carolyn wanted more from me than I was prepared to give.’
Paige thought about that for a moment before she said softly, ‘But she finished with you...didn’t she?’
‘Does it matter who finished with whom?’ he countered. He glanced at his watch. ‘Look, I haven’t come over here to discuss my past affairs. I was wondering if you would have lunch with me? I think it would help if we could sit down and discuss things in a mature manner.’
She shook her head. ‘I can’t honestly believe that you think we have anything to discuss. You know how I feel about you.’
‘You and I have always got on extremely well.’