The Marriage Merger

by Sandy Curtis

  “I was wondering, Jenna,” Mark said after a few minutes of general conversation, “if you’d like to have dinner with me tomorrow evening?” He glanced quickly at Braden. “That’s if you can get the night off. I don’t suppose you’ve had much of a chance to see the night-life up here yet?”

  Jenna shook her head and looked at Braden. He had been smiling during their conversation, but Jenna noted the smile had not reached his eyes, and now his lips appeared to stiffen, but he spoke pleasantly.

  “If Jenna wants to go I can’t see any problem. I’m not working in Brisbane tomorrow. I have to go in to our local office but I should be home in plenty of time.”

  Jenna smiled at Mark but her thoughts were far from happy. Why couldn’t Braden have shown just the slightest bit of jealousy? If he’s trying to make sure that nothing ever happens between us then he’s succeeding admirably. Then she remembered that he was behaving in the strictly professional manner she had demanded and kicked herself for her contrariness.

  “Thank you, Mark, I’d love to.” She sweetened her smile. “What time shall I be ready?”

  “I’ll come for you at seven.”

  At seven-thirty Jenna sighed.

  “I’m sorry, Mark. Braden must have been delayed. Would you like to cancel the restaurant booking? I could make us an omelette here.”

  They were sitting on the lounge, Caitlin strategically placing herself between them when they sat. She had not responded to Mark’s friendly overtures and had clung to Jenna.

  “We won’t give up yet,” Mark replied. “I’ll phone the restaurant and get them to hold our booking a bit longer.”

  He’d just taken out his mobile phone when the front door opened. Braden strode into the room, dropped his briefcase on the lounge, walked to the bar and poured a strong scotch and dry.

  He downed half the contents in one gulp. “Damn traffic,” he muttered. He appeared to notice Mark for the first time. “You’d better get a move on or you’ll be eating at midnight.”

  Then his gaze switched to Jenna as she walked over to him.

  His eyes glittered, blue flecks magnifying, boring fiercely into hers.

  “Are you going or not?” he bit out.

  Jenna stepped back. Was he deliberately trying to upset her? Or had something happened? She was tempted to ask him if anything was wrong with Alicia but knew she couldn’t do it in front of Caitlin. She longed to soothe the frown lines from his forehead, kiss the scowl from his brows, taste the heady euphoria she’d found in his lips, his tongue, but the ill temper blazing in his eyes stopped the delicious trembling her thoughts were creating.

  She stood silent, her gaze locked with his, her need for him creating an almost palpable aura around her. Tiny beads of sweat formed on his forehead, his jaw tightened. Like a man losing a battle with his inner demons he wrenched his gaze away.

  “Yes. We’re going,” she said softly.

  “Mark, this place is wonderful.”

  Jenna’s worry over Braden was swept aside by the view before her. The restaurant perched on a rocky cliff overlooking the ocean, the entire sea-front wall comprised of windows and sliding glass doors opening out onto a wide balcony.

  The night was warm, with only a gentle breeze, and the retractable roof had been left off the balcony so they were literally dining beneath the stars. Moonlight reflected on the waves crashing on the rocks below them. The cliff fell away to a small bay with a white sand beach and houses and apartment buildings scattered along the tree-strewn shoreline.

  Jenna sipped her lemon squash and savoured the magic of the evening, and tried to stop wishing it was Braden sitting opposite her. Mark was quite attractive, but her mind kept seeing hair as dark as midnight and grey eyes that had shot blue fire at her tonight.

  “What do you do for a living, Mark?”

  “I write and install computer programs for small businesses. I usually stay for a few days instructing the employees on how to use them. That’s why I’m away so much. Though I try to plan it that I do as much in the one area as possible to cut down on travelling time.”

  “Do you travel far?”

  “Usually a four hundred kilometre radius is the limit but sometimes I’ll go further than that.”

  The waitress quietly served their entree, fresh prawns with sweet lychees and a small avocado salad. After they’d eaten and the dishes were cleared, Mark gave Jenna an assessing look.

  “Tell me how you ended up as Braden Fleetwood’s housekeeper, Jenna.”

  She gave a precis of what had occurred since she had first met him and explained why she agreed to stay and look after Caitlin. He was easy to talk to, asking interested questions on her qualifications and career choices. She had just finished telling him about the mishap with the two young sailors when their main meal arrived. For the next few minutes there was little conversation as they savoured the delicate piquancy of quail with a tangy mango sauce and lightly steamed organic vegetables.

  Jenna had just finished her last mouthful when Mark asked

  “Does Braden know you’re in love with him?”

  “What?” Had it been so obvious? Flustered, she stared at him in confusion. If someone who was virtually a stranger had been able to read her feelings, what about Braden? Had he guessed?

  “Please don’t be upset, Jenna,” Mark’s pleasant face was contrite. "I'm sure Braden has no idea how you feel about him. I wanted to come up to see you after that first day we met, but I thought you would have been spending all your time with Jeff. Then when you turned up on my doorstep, all wet,” he smiled, “I entertained the hope that I could get to know you better - I find you extremely attractive.”

  Jenna found the colour rising in her cheeks again. Mark smiled and patted her hand as it clenched around her glass.

  “Don’t worry. I realise you don’t see me in the same light. Braden is rather formidable opposition, I’ll admit.”

  “Why...why do you think I’m in love with him?”

  “I saw the look on your face when you realised what he was obviously thinking when he found us together the other day. And when I asked you out - you wanted him to forbid you from saying yes, didn’t you.”

  Jenna shrugged her shoulders. “Why would I want that?”

  “Because it would have shown that he cared, that he minded you going out with another man. And tonight, the vibes between you two were so strong you almost created static electricity.”

  “I’ll admit there’s some attraction there.” Jenna conceded, anxious not to show how deeply her emotions were involved.

  Mark leaned back in his chair. Clouds scudded across the moon and cast rippling shadows over the balcony.

  “I’m not meaning to pry, Jenna. I’m sorry if I upset you. I just thought it might help to talk about it. You’ve been distracted and on edge since we left tonight.”

  At the concern in his kind brown eyes Jenna was instantly regretful. She realised that in expressing his attraction to her, and his acknowledgment that she did not reciprocate that attraction, he had relegated his role to that of friend, if she was willing to accept it.

  “I haven’t wanted to fall in love with him, Mark. I’ve tried to keep our relationship on a strictly professional basis, but I can’t seem to prevent the way I feel.”

  “Yes, sometimes it’s pretty hopeless, isn’t it.”

  “It is in this situation,” Jenna said, then as Mark waited patiently, she explained about Braden’s attitude to love and marriage.

  When she finished Mark smiled gently. “Braden’s the kind of man who’ll go down fighting. He’ll resist every good feeling he has about you because it’s the only way to keep his guard up and not allow himself to be vulnerable.”

  Jenna agreed with his opinion, despairingly sure that Braden’s stubborn determination would never allow him to back down from his stance on marriage. She declined dessert, opting instead to share a fruit platter with Mark. They lingered over the selection, delighting in some of the more exotic fruits as w
ell as the mangoes and paw-paw for which Queensland was famous. And because he was so easy to talk to she found herself telling him about her lover who had mistaken his gratitude to her for love. He made no comment because it became obvious that in the telling the last of the pain and uncertainty was erased.

  “From one friend to another,” Mark smiled gently as the elevator rose smoothly up to the penthouse, “don’t be afraid to take another risk just because you’ve been hurt once before. It seems to me that Braden could do with someone as warm and loving as you. It sounds as though his life has been fairly barren of love so far.”

  Jenna looked into Mark’s face. “Perhaps that’s the way he wants it, Mark.”

  “No, Jenna. No-one really wants to live without love. But fear of loss, of rejection, can make a person put up barriers and block out the very thing their heart longs for.”

  Jenna knew that what he was saying was right, but she knew no way to change Braden’s attitude to love and marriage. And she couldn’t compromise herself and settle for a relationship based on sexual attraction alone.

  The elevator came to a smooth halt and the door opened.

  “I won’t come in,” Mark said as Jenna went to speak. “But if you need to talk to a friend at any time just come down. My door will always be open to you.”

  Her lips brushed his cheek. “Thank you for a wonderful evening, Mark.”

  “My pleasure, Jenna.”

  The lounge-room light was still on. Jenna tossed her handbag on the lounge and walked into the kitchen. It was late, but she wasn’t tired. It had been a surprising evening. She had only gone out with Mark to pique Braden but had instead found a friend who she knew would always be there if she needed him.

  She made a cup of hot chocolate and stepped out into the dark courtyard. Still night air wrapped her in its quiet mantle. She walked to the railings and looked down at the river. Soft sounds of its swirls and eddies filtered up to her. Odours of decaying vegetation from the mangroves on the opposite shore mingled with the river’s brine, contrasting sharply with the heady perfume of tropical blossoms from the gardens below.

  Her eyes lifted to the stars gleaming in the ebony sky. A smile curved her lips as she made out the Southern Cross. After two years of northern hemisphere skies it was wonderful to see familiar constellations.

  “Cat got the cream, did she?”

  Jenna whirled around in alarm, then cried out as the hot chocolate spilled on her hand. Braden was sitting in the leafy area outside his study. She heard the clink of glass on concrete then he was striding towards her.

  “What the hell have you done to yourself?” He took the cup from her hand and grabbed her wrist. She could smell the alcohol on his breath and wondered if he had spent the night out there, drinking. His hand on her was unnerving, it recalled memories of how it felt on her skin, her breasts. She shivered at the betraying reaction of her body.

  “You need cold water on that,” he said gruffly. “Come on.” He began to pull her back to the penthouse.

  “I’ll be all right,” she protested, but he took no notice. In the kitchen he poured cold water into a bowl and growled at her to put her hand in it. She realised that he was in no mood to listen to her protestations that her hand would be fine so decided to do as he demanded.

  He leaned back against the bench, crossed one long leg over the other and shoved his hands deep into his pockets. She could feel the tension in him. He’d changed into denim shorts and a black sleeveless shirt that hung unbuttoned, exposing the dark hairs that curled in a narrow vee into his waistband. Her eyes followed their tantalizing journey, her body wakening with desire as her imagination ran riot.

  “Did Caitlin go to sleep all right?” she blurted out, trying to focus her mind on something less disturbing than the thought of Braden’s naked body.

  “No, not easily. I had to keep reassuring her that you were coming back. Kids don’t like to feel abandoned by someone they love.”

  “I did not abandon Caitlin.” Jenna’s voice was even, controlled, but her temper was bubbling close to the surface. If he hadn’t wanted her to go out and leave Caitlin why hadn’t he said so?

  “She didn’t see it that way.”

  “Caitlin didn’t? Or you didn’t?”

  His body stiffened, a scowl narrowing his eyes. Every muscle in her body tensed as Jenna watched him walk slowly towards her. When he was so close she could sense his body heat and the tautness in the long lines of his body he stopped. A muscle twitched under his clenched jaw. His eyes had darkened, steel-grey shuttered by long, dark lashes; his sensuous lips thinned to a grim line.

  Jenna’s heart thudded. He looked so forbidding, if she hadn’t been so angry herself she might have been frightened.

  “What do you mean?” It was a growl more than a question but Jenna was too furious to be intimidated.

  “Perhaps if you could stop seeing every woman in the same light as your mother you might realise that she was the exception, not the rule. Few mothers abandon their children. Most would rather die than do that. You...you just happen to be one of the unlucky few.”

  As she spoke the last few words her fury evaporated in a surge of compassion for this man who used anger to disguise his pain. She reached out and touched his cheek.

  “Let it go, Braden. Don’t let the past destroy your chances for the future. And subconsciously you could pass on your feelings to Caitlin. You don’t want to risk that, do you? She needs all the support she can get if she’s to relate well to Alicia again.”

  His skin burned beneath her hand as his eyes bored into hers. The seconds ticked by. His expression didn’t change. Anxiety curdled in Jenna’s stomach. Finally, without shifting his gaze from hers, he reached up and placed his hand on hers, then slowly brought it down to his mouth.

  His lips were soft and warm on her palm as they feathered gentle kisses in a slow circle, his eyes never moving from hers. It was disturbingly erotic. She could feel the heat building up in her body, the prickling sensations on her skin as she longed for more of his touch. His eyes were glittering, cheeks flushed with desire.

  She knew she should move, knew she should wrench her hand away, run while she was still capable of escaping the desire she could read in his face, his body. But her body betrayed her. Instead of stepping back as her mind told her to, she leaned towards him, breathing in his musky male scent mingled with the scotch he had been drinking.

  His lips slipped unhurriedly from her palm to her ear, then tantalized their way down her cheek. As they claimed her mouth with surprising gentleness she relaxed into him with a sigh, moulding her body to meet his, ignoring the risk her heart was taking.

  Her eyes closed. The soft gentle nibbling of his lips and teeth on her slightly parted mouth changed, becoming more urgent. She felt him tremble with suppressed desire, his hands gliding softly around her shoulders, holding her protectively against him. She eased her burned hand from the bowl, barely aware of its wetness, its coldness, and joined the other in touching his face.

  It was as though she had struck him. His body went rigid, his lips stilled. She opened her eyes, drugged from the bliss she had found in his arms.

  His eyes were wide, sweat beading on his forehead. He jerked back from her, disgust clearly evident on his features. She cringed. What had she done now? Did he think her compassion for him was just a ruse, a woman’s wiles to get at his precious money? Before she could utter a word his face hardened.

  “Go to bed, Jenna!” he growled.

  She hesitated, anxious to defend herself, hating what he must be thinking.

  “Go on,” he muttered. “Go while you still can.”

  She wrapped her hurt around her like an armour, and walked, erect and head held high, unhurriedly from the room. She wasn’t going to run, to give him the satisfaction of seeing how much pain his rejection had caused her.

  But in the privacy of her room the tears of frustration fell from her eyes even as she bit her lips to hold them back.

&n
bsp; After Jenna had left with Mark, Braden had put Caitlin to bed. He’d reassured her that Jenna would return but the girl seemed blissfully sure of that fact. Which made him start questioning if he was the only one who thought she might desert them.

  He’d had a hell of a day. Everything that could have gone wrong, did. And to his utter chagrin he found that his mind wasn’t on solving business problems. All his mind’s eye kept seeing was Jenna’s lovely smile as she accepted Mark’s invitation. He’d wanted to tell her no, it wasn’t possible for her to have a night off, but knew how unfair he would sound. So he’d tried to be gracious, all the time aware of how resentful he felt that he hadn’t offered to take her to dinner.

  Tonight it had been impossible for him to concentrate. She’d looked so beautiful in that softly swirling dress. He imagined how it would mould around her long legs as she danced, wondered if she would press against Mark as he held her closely on the dance floor.

  Hell, he didn’t even know if she liked dancing or not. He’d spent so much time trying not to think about her that he hadn’t asked her much about her likes and dislikes.

  And he hadn’t been very successful in not thinking about her - she seemed to invade his every waking thought. He’d found himself looking forward to coming back to the penthouse each night, reluctant to leave in the morning, pleased when he could stay and work from his study because it gave him the chance to see more of her. From the outside door of his study he would watch her in the pool with Caitlin, marvelling at her patience, her tenderness, her ability to stimulate Caitlin’s eagerness to improve.

  It irritated him that he found himself responding to her in ways other than physical. He didn’t want to get close to her. By her own admission she wanted what he couldn’t give her - love, marriage. But somehow the thought of making love to her every night and waking up to her every morning was becoming more beguiling, less frightening.

  As the minutes ticked by and turned into hours the idea that Mark might be thinking that same thought had popped into his head with irritating regularity. Even the scotch did nothing to stop it. He couldn’t even get drunk. Nothing worked.