To Woo A Wife

by Carole Mortimer

  She'd barely known the man her father worked for, had only met him a couple of times before when she'd accompanied her father to a couple of staff occasions after the death of her mother. But Daniel had been a collector of beautiful things, and he'd wanted Abbie to complete his collection...!

  'You didn't have to marry him, Abbie,' Jarrett rasped harshly. 'Your father was an adult, responsible for Ms own actions. You shouldn't have been the one who paid for them.'

  'My father was ill, Jarrett,' she told him flatly.

  'In fact, he was dying. And I couldn't let him die in a prison cell.'

  Daniel had been absolutely clear about her options; marry him, and he would allow his father-in-law to retire gracefully, without a slur to his name, or alternatively he could bring a prosecution and her father would spend his last years in prison.

  Abbie didn't even have to concentrate to call into fo­cus that fateful meeting with Daniel in his office seven years ago, or the smug expression on his face as he as­sured her he intended it to be a proper marriage, that he had been a widower for many years, certainly hadn't been celibate during those years, and had no intention of becoming so with such a beautiful second wife.

  He had actually been a very attractive man, tall and slender, with thick iron-grey hair, hard-chiselled fea­tures, and an all-year suntan. Yet he'd made Abbie's flesh creep.

  That hadn't changed after she married him. In fact, it had got worse, so that each night in his bed his lips and hands on her body had become a nightmare!

  'My father died of cancer four years after I married Daniel,' she continued evenly. 'My only consolation is that a year later Daniel died in the same way,' she added hardly, her eyes glittering deeply violet.

  'No doubt with you loyally at his side,' Jarrett bit out abruptly.

  She shook her head. Playing the role of the grieving widow had been as impossible to her as playing the lov­ing wife! 'Charlie wasn't well at the time, she had German measles, and I—I stayed at home to be with her.'

  Cathy had been the one who'd come back to the house, screaming hysterically that her father was dead, and that no doubt Abbie was happy now!

  It had been so long since Abbie was happy, she had forgotten what it felt like. But, for all Daniel's death had released her from her loveless marriage, she still couldn't rejoice in that freedom at the price of another person's death.

  Jarrett nodded, eyes narrowed to tawny slits. 'Charlie of course, the reason you didn't leave Sutherland after your father's death.'

  Abbie gave him a startled look. 'How do you know all this?' she said incredulously. If she left, Daniel had told her, Charlie would remain with him. Again, it had seemed, her options were severely limited.

  Jarrett's mouth tightened. 'My mother used the same emotional blackmail on my father for years. Fine, he could divorce her for her infidelities, but if he did she would fight tooth and nail for us! Ironic, really,' he added harshly, 'because when she did finally leave, when my father was in financial ruin, she left us all behind!' He shook his head. 'A man like Daniel Sutherland would never have let you take his daughter away from him.'

  'No,' she conceded shakily, vividly remembering that scene with Daniel after her father died. He could no longer hold Abbie through her father, but Charlie was his daughter too, and he would never let Abbie take her away from him.

  Abbie had been taught only too well how loving someone gave other people power over you, first with her father, and then with Charlie. She had vowed never to love anyone other than Charlie. Ever!

  That's all over now, Abbie—'

  'Is it all over for you, Jarrett?' she challenged him. 'I don't see you in love, happily married, with children of your own!'

  He glowered darkly. 'We weren't talking about me—'

  'Of course we were,' Abbie insisted. 'We're both damaged people.'

  "Then maybe we can help each other—'

  'I don't think so.' She stood up, too agitated by what they had just been talking about to sit down any longer.

  'Abbie, you're twenty-seven—'

  'And you're thirty-seven,' she replied. 'Come and talk to me again in ten years!'

  'You're being ridiculous now—'

  'I'm being ridiculous? Oh, Jarrett.' She shook her head pityingly. 'This is my world—'

  'It doesn't have to be.' He stood up too. 'Abbie, the life you have now is how you chose to create it. You could just as easily undo it and start again.'

  'Do you have any idea how long it's taken me to feel even this secure? Oh, no, Jarrett, my life is staying ex­actly as it is.'

  'Then let me into it.' He lightly grasped her arms. 'Let me in, Abbie,' he persuaded tenderly.

  'So that when you choose to leave it's all left in a shambles once again?' She shook her head. 'I don't mink so, thank you, Jarrett.'

  'What if I don't leave?'

  'What if there really are men on the moon?' she re­turned sarcastically.

  He gave an exasperated sigh. 'We don't know for cer­tain that there aren't! Just as you'll never know about me if you don't give us a try.'

  She had already told this man too much about herself, let him in too much. 'No, Jarrett,' she told him firmly.

  He released her abruptly. 'I think you're wrong, Abbie,' he said flatly. 'Very wrong. I can also see that at the moment you aren't going to budge on this. But if you should change your mind...' He took a card out of the breast pocket of his jacket, writing on the back of it. This is my business card, but I've also written my home telephone number on the back of it. Please use it some time.' He continued to look at her for several moments, and when he received no reply, quietly left.

  Abbie remained perfectly controlled until Jarrett had left the sitting-room, but then the tears began to fall. For Jarrett. For herself. For the fact that, with Jarrett's de­parture, she knew he had not only entered her life, but her heart.

  She was in love with Jarrett Hunter. But he had just walked out of her life.

  Hell. This had to be what it was like. She had thought hell was being married to Daniel, and not loving him; now she knew it was being in love with Jarrett, and not being with him.

  It had been a week since he had left so suddenly. A week when she had picked up the card he had left with her a dozen times, and never once called the telephone number he had written on the back of it. Now she didn't even need to pick up the card; she knew the telephone number off by heart. And still she couldn't call it...

  She was terrified! Of loving. Of losing. Daniel's death had been in the form of a release for her, but to be briefly in Jarrett's life, and then be expected simply to walk away when he had taken his fill of her, would be un­bearable.

  More unbearable than the way she was living now?

  She didn't honestly believe it could be. Nothing could be quite as bad as resisting being with the man she loved, aid who obviously wanted her in return!

  And this afternoon she was to see him again. On busi­ness, of course. This afternoon they would sign the con­tract that would legally pass Sutherland Hotels over to Hunter's.

  Abbie had never felt this nervous about a business meeting. Not only did she have to meet Cathy and Danny again—the first time she would have seen both of them together since shortly after Daniel's death—but she also had to face Jarrett. With the full knowledge open between them now of her terrible marriage, and the reason for it. No one else had ever known as much about her as Jarrett did!

  Her emotions were in turmoil; she felt elation at the prospect of seeing him again, but anxiety too, because she had never really been in his company knowing that she loved him. She had never been near any man that she loved!

  She had dressed with great care this morning; her suit was very businesslike, with its short fitted jacket and just-above-knee-length skirt, but its bright red colour took away any severity of style, and the cream silk blouse she wore beneath the jacket was of fine silk, moulding to the curves of her body. Her hair was plaited loosely down her spine, her make-up light, althoug
h her lip-gloss was the same bright red of her suit. Vibrantly alive was how she had looked in the mirror before she'd left for the office this morning, a sparkle of anticipation in the violet-blue of her eyes.

  The lawyers were shown into the boardroom first— her own, Cathy and Danny's, and finally the one repre­senting Hunter's. With their arrival Abbie's tension grew. Any minute now she would see Jarrett again...!

  Cathy and Danny arrived next, Cathy beautiful in black and white, Danny fashionably dressed in a designer-label suit. A younger version of his father to look at, he hadn't inherited any of the older man's steel. That particular hardness had been inherited by Cathy, appar­ent now in the calculation of her expression as she and Abbie silently eyed each other across the width of the wide table.

  'How's Charlie?' Danny asked pleasantly.

  Abbie knew, despite the heartache that had been caused to her after Daniel's death, that Danny's interest in his young half-sister was genuine, that he really was quite fond of Charlie. He was weak, and easily swayed, and it had been his much stronger older sister who had been behind the move to take Charlie from Abbie.

  Nevertheless, Abbie felt no lasting warmth towards Danny, aware that he would have sided with Cathy if the move to take Charlie from her had been successful. Abbie didn't think there could be very many mothers who would ever forgive such a terrible deed—she cer­tainly wasn't one of them!

  'Well, thank you.' She curtly answered Danny's ques­tion, turning away, discouraging any further conversa­tion between the two of them.

  The minutes ticked by as they waited for Jarrett's ar­rival, and Abbie visibly jumped in her seat when the door opened and her secretary announced his arrival, her nerves tensed to the point of breaking as she gazed wide-eyed at the open doorway.

  Jonathan Hunter strolled into the room, wearing his own beautifully cut suit with the same elegance as Danny, and yet at the same time exuding a power the younger man could never hope to attain.

  Jonathan!

  Abbie couldn't help her instinctive glance behind him, searching for Jarrett. But, as the secretary closed the door behind Jonathan, it became glaringly obvious that he was alone. Where was Jarrett? She had built herself up for this meeting, for seeing him today, had been counting on at least being able to look at him. He—

  I'm afraid I have to apologise for my older brother.' Jonathan spoke smoothly as he sat in the chair next to Abbie's before placing his briefcase on top of the long table. 'I'm afraid he's indisposed. However,' he added briskly, 'I do have full power to complete this deal, so that shouldn't pose any problem for us.'

  Abbie sat unmoving. What did he mean, Jarrett was 'indisposed'? Was he ill? If so, what was wrong with him?

  But the opportunity to question Jonathan on that cer­tainly didn't arise in the next forty-five minutes, at the end of which Sutherland Hotels had changed hands for a vast amount of Hunter money.

  It was strange, really; after clinging onto the hotels for the last year, desperately trying to find ways to make them viable, determined not to lose them, Abbie couldn't wait to get the business out of the way so that she might be alone with Jonathan and question him about Jarrett.

  But finally the meeting was over, the contracts duly signed, not a word spoken between Abbie and her joint shareholders since Danny's initial query about Charlie. Abbie had nothing to say to either of the Sutherlands. In fact, at this moment, she couldn't help wishing she had just sold off all the Sutherland interests, So that she never had to bother herself with any of it ever again!

  How different were her emotions from even a week ago. Sutherland assets, protecting Charlie's interest in them, had been what had kept her going the last two years—and now she just wanted to be rid of them...

  'Jonathan.' She stopped him as he would have left with the others at the end of the meeting. 'Could I have a brief word with you?' she requested awkwardly.

  He waited until the last of the lawyers had filed out of the room before answering her impatiently. ‘What is it, Abbie?'

  There was a coolness to his voice and manner that had never been there before, his usual lazy charm com­pletely absent, causing Abbie to look at him with puz­zled eyes. 'Where is Jarrett?' she asked slowly.

  He made no move to leave, but neither did he close the door that had been left open for him to depart. 'Why do you want to know?' he asked.

  She shrugged. 'I thought it a little—unusual that he wasn't present today.'

  'It's all legal, I can assure you, Abbie,' Jonathan re­plied. 'I'm empowered to—'

  "That isn't what I'm talking about, and you know it!' she cut in. 'Shut the door, Jonathan—please!—and talk to me!'

  He did shut the door, but those golden eyes so like Jarrett's remained flinty. 'What do you want, Abbie?' he bit out. 'Will it give you some sort of thrill to know you've brought my brother to his knees? To know that he isn't here today because he looks so damned awful you couldn't fail to know what you've done to him?' he accused forcefully. 'Because if it would—'

  'I only want to know those things if it's the truth, Jonathan.' She quietly interrupted his tirade.

  'Why?' he challenged.

  She swallowed hard. She could, as Jarrett had already told her, stay safe in her ivory tower, or she could join the real world. Yes, she might know the pain of loving and losing someone, but if what Jonathan was saying was true, men she could also know the joy of being loved, if only for a short time. Jarrett was afraid of love too, but if he really was in the state Jonathan described, then it was too late for both of them: they were in love with each other!

  She took her courage in both hands. 'Have you taken a good look at me today, Jonathan?' she encouraged softly.

  He frowned. 'What?'

  'Look at me,' she encouraged again. 'Do you see the hollows beneath my eyes? The gauntness of my cheeks? The fact that this suit is a little too big for me, when two weeks ago it fitted me perfectly? Look at me closely, Jonathan,' she repeated emotionally. 'And you'll see a woman brought to her knees!' She met his gaze steadily, her eyes deep pools of emotion.

  'My God...!' he breathed. 'You're in love with Jarrett.'

  She paused, about to make the hardest confession she had ever made in her life. 'Yes!' The word came out as a relieved sigh. She had said it. Admitted it. She loved Jarrett!

  "Then why the hell are you doing this to each other?' Jonathan said exasperatedly. 'No—don't tell me; let me guess. My brother offered you less than love. And you— well, you...' He looked at her consideringly. 'You would have run away from any declaration of love on his part, anyway. A fellow cynic,' he explained as her eyes widened questioningly.

  'I have the same mother and father as Jarrett, Abbie,' he reminded her. 'Jarrett bore the brunt of responsibility after my mother left, but I still grew up with my mother's—indiscretions, and my father's dogmatic acceptance of them. We've all avoided love like the plague, but I hope to God that when—or if—love ever comes my way I'll have the courage to accept it, and not destroy myself by trying to deny it like the two of you are doing!'

  Abbie gave the ghost of a smile. 'It isn't easy, Jonathan.'

  'Hell, I know that,' he accepted. 'Try saying it,' he insisted.

  She hesitated. Admitting it to herself was one thing...! 1—I love Jarrett.' She said the words quickly.

  'Again,' Jonathan prompted.

  'I love Jarrett!' she claimed, more firmly this time.

  'Right—now tell him that.' Jonathan took hold of her shoulders and turned her to face the door.

  At which point she found herself face to face with Jarrett!

  How long had he been there?

  Had he heard her shaky confessions of love?

  Had Jonathan known Jarrett was standing behind her when he'd encouraged her to say those words?

  She turned back to him accusingly, receiving a rueful shrug of apology. He had known his brother had quietly entered the room as the two of them talked. Which meant Jarrett had heard her say she loved him...
/>   Jarrett smiled warmly as she turned back to him. 'I love you, too, Abbie,' he told her throatily.

  'My cue to leave, I think,' Jonathan muttered, moving around the two of them to the door. 'Unless you would like me to stay—'

  'Go, Jonathan,' Jarrett instructed dryly, his gaze fixed on Abbie's face.

  'Just one thing...' Jonathan paused again. 'Can I be best man?'

  Jarrett quirked dark brows at her. 'Can he?'

  Best man...? That meant a wedding... Did Jarrett want to marry her, after all he had said? After all—?

  'You and Jordan can fight it out between yourselves.' Jarrett answered for her. 'Whichever one of you loses can give the bride away. Is that okay with you?' he prompted Abbie gently.

  She didn't have anyone else who could do that for her. But marriage...?