Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Free book
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10
Part 11
Part 12
Part 13
Part 14
Part 15
Part 16
Part 17
Part 18
Part 19
Part 20
Part 21
Part 22
Part 23
Part 24
Part 25
Part 26
Part 27
Part 28
Part 29
Part 30
Part 31
Part 32
Part 33
Part 34
Part 35
Part 36
Part 37
Part 38
Part 39
Part 40
Part 41
Part 42
Part 43
Part 44
Part 45
Part 46
Part 47
Part 48
Part 49
Part 50
Part 51
Reviews
Author's Note
Updates
About the Author
The Rock Star's
Email Order Bride
Demelza Carlton
Book 2 in the Romance Island Resort series
For the real Magic Marcel
Copyright © 2015 Demelza Carlton
Lost Plot Press
All rights reserved.
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ONE
Jason didn't wait for the rotors to stop before he leaped out of the helicopter door and sprinted for the hotel entrance.
"Welcome to Romance Island Resort, sir. Enjoy your stay!" came the pilot's voice behind him, but Jason wasn't listening.
He burst through the door and skidded to a stop in front of the Reception desk. "Where's Audra?" Jason demanded. She was the only girl who could make him forget Angel. The only girl who could make this right. He needed her. Now.
The blonde girl at Reception stared at him. "We don't have anyone named Audra here, sir."
"Of course you do. Best maid I ever met. Tell her I'm here, and to meet me at my accommodation. I had Villa Maxima last time. The one with the huge spa tub in the bathroom. And make sure we have plenty of mango beer. Mangoes are her favourite."
A second girl sidled behind the desk, beside to the blonde. She looked Japanese, but her accent had Aussie overtones as she asked, "Did you say Audra? She was mad about mangoes. I bet Audra's missing those now she's in Antarctica."
Jason laughed. "Antarctica? Don't be ridiculous." He turned his eyes back to the blonde. "Can you let her know I'm here?"
She looked lost until her eyes fixed on someone behind Jason. "Oh, Mr Meier, this man's looking for Audra. He doesn't believe that she's gone."
An older man with a professional smile held out his hand. "Good morning, Mr ah – "
"Felix. Jason Felix." Jason's firm handshake almost crushed the other man's fingers in his eagerness. "Where's Audra?"
"Like Hana said, she's in Antarctica, Mr Felix. Audra no longer works here."
Jason's heart plummeted. No Angel, no Audra...what was a rock star supposed to do when the girl he wanted didn't want him?
"Is there anything else we can help you with, Mr Felix?" the blonde asked sweetly.
Find another girl.
He eyed the blonde, who wore a pink and white frangipani behind her ear that matched her pink lips. "Make one of the villas ready for me."
She looked askance at Meier.
Meier coughed and dropped his voice to a carrying whisper, "Mr Felix owns the hotel, Heloise. Give him anything he wants."
Heloise beamed. "Sure thing, Mr Felix. What else would you like?"
"I'm the activities manager, Mr Felix," Hana interjected. "My job is to make sure every guest enjoys his holiday to the fullest. Tell me what you want, and I'll make it happen."
His loins stirred at the thought. Who first – the blonde or the brunette?
"Stand up," Jason ordered. "Both of you."
Heloise rose and Jason eyed her breasts. More than a handful – much too big for his tastes. Maybe some other time. He turned to scrutinise the brunette instead. Jason took stock of her athletic figure, perky breasts and rosebud mouth. She'd definitely do for a night.
"Join me for a drink. I'd like to tell you what activities I have in mind." He crooked his finger and headed for the bar, grinning when he heard Hana's following footsteps. Yes, he was still a rock star. No woman could resist him.
TWO
"I'm sending you to Australia," Phuong's father had told her. "There you can study accounting until you're qualified. A proper CPA. Then you will come home to sort out my company. You'll check all my accounts and find out who's stealing from me. I suspect my accountant, Felipe, but he's family – your brother's wife's brother – and your brother swears he's honest, so we need proof before we can fire Felipe and give you his job. So study hard, because this family's fortunes rest on you."
"Why me? Why not Thuan?" Phuong asked.
He sighed. "Because you're ten times as clever as your brother, who's also blinded by love for the stupid woman he calls his wife. She'll spend all his money and leave him when he's bankrupt to marry some other stupid man. You'll never be seduced by a pair of batting eyelashes over a dissatisfied pout. Love won't make a fool of you."
He was right, Phuong reflected. If she was ever foolish enough to fall in love, her mother's acid comments would soon dissuade her of any such sentimental feeling.
Sadly, her father's plans hadn't come to fruition in his lifetime. A stroke felled him in his sleep, leaving her brother in charge of both the business and the family finances.
Her brother's phone call had been abrupt. "I'm not wasting any more money on you. Felipe tells me Dad's business is nearly bankrupt, so we have to cut all unnecessary expenses – including educating you. I don't know what Dad was thinking," Thuan said, without even greeting her.
"But I only have a year to go. Then I'll be able to work for Dad's firm and turn the company around, just like he wanted," Phuong protested. "Just one more year."
"Not one more cent," he snapped. "There's no point educating girls. Look at my wife, Pearl. You might work for a few years, but then you'll get married and have children – what do you need an education for, when all you'll do is cooking, cleaning and childcare? And I won't support you any more, either. Pearl says we can barely afford to support Mother and we have nothing left to waste on you. You're too old. Find a job or a husband. You won't be welcome here." Before Phuong could respond, he'd hung up. That would be the last time she'd speak to her brother.
Find a job or a husband. Her Australian visa didn't allow her to work more than ten hours a week, which was hardly enough to pay for her final year of university fees. It would barely cover her food for the week, let alone her rent. She knew what she had to do – find a husband, and fast. An Australian man who could give her Australian citizenship. Then she could finish her degree and save her father's firm. If Felipe and her brother hadn't bankrupted it already.
A husband. She needed a husband. Where did a girl go to get a husband quickly? The internet, of course. She knew other girls back home who'd been mail-order brides and they'd raved about the experience. The men had romanced t
heir brides-to-be, whisked them away to their home countries, married them and given them a future. She also knew girls back home who'd done worse – sold their bodies to many men, not just one, in order to help the family finances. Compared to prostitution, marriage to a stranger couldn't be that bad – perhaps there'd be some handsome, charming, rich one who'd sweep her off her feet and into the lap of luxury. Then her brother would be begging her for favours.
Smiling to herself, Phuong opened her laptop. She had a husband to find.
THREE
"Hello? I need a fuck."
Xan blinked and forced her smile to stay in place. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"
"I need a fuck." The frustrated-looking backpacker glared at her. "And a plate."
Xan repeated the man's accented English several times in her head before she decided not to kick him in the groin for one of the coarsest come-on lines she'd ever been hit with. Instead, she replied, "Ah, you want a fork? It's a ten-dollar deposit to get a crockery and cutlery pack – one of everything you need, including a plate and a fork. Here, let me show you." Xan rose and retrieved one of the drawstring bags from the office. She tipped it on the counter, sending a cascade of cutlery across the desk.
"Ten...ten dollars for a fuck?"
She had to keep a straight face. She HAD to. Xan took a deep, calming breath.
"Yes. It's a deposit. When you return this at the end of your stay, I'll give your ten dollars back." Xan watched the backpacker thinking it over. She could almost read his mind. Yes, ten dollars was cheap for what you got, but he didn't know if he could find the items cheaper in a discount store in town. If he did, he could return these and get his money back. But if he bought things, he'd never see that money back, even if he did get his ten dollars from her. He didn't have much space in his already overstuffed backpack because of all the souvenirs he wanted to take home. Maybe he'd just hand over the money and... Xan tried to hide her smile as he produced the cash. "Here you go." She bagged the cutlery and passed the pack across the counter.
Fresh off the plane, she was sure of it. If he'd stayed at any other hostels in Australia before coming to Broome, he'd know the drill by now. She watched him disappear through the swinging kitchen door, before he reappeared in a group of equally lost-looking girls by the communal refrigerator. He'd evidently been their spokesman, because the girls trooped out of the kitchen and laid siege to the reception desk.
Xan did a quick head count and retrieved enough packs for everyone. She needn't have hurried, though – the girls weren't familiar enough with Australian currency to produce a single ten-dollar-bill between them. She saw euros, ringgit and what looked like Thai baht surface, before they'd produced enough dollars to seal the deal.
By the time the crowd cleared, the airport shuttle arrived, bringing with it a group of even more lost-looking souls, panting like dogs in the unfamiliar heat as they hefted their suitcases up the steps. Everyone wanted to visit a tropical paradise, but no one wanted to stay outside in the heat for long. Especially not in wet season humidity.
"Excuse me, but where are the cups? I want to make a cup of tea, but I can't seem to find them." The wilting woman had arrived on yesterday's shuttle, but Xan had been serving in the kiosk at the time, so one of the other girls had handled check-in.
Xan explained about the packs and endured a ten-minute argument as to why the woman couldn't just pay for the cup. It was the whole pack or nothing. It took another five minutes for the woman to produce the money she grumpily acknowledged was necessary, though she tried to tell Xan she was two dollars short while hiding the stack of twenties nestled in her wallet.
A queue coughed and shuffled at the kiosk, but the two girls who took turns in the kitchen and manning the counter were nowhere to be seen. Sighing, Xan stepped up to the counter and proceeded to sell soft drinks, laundry detergent and anything that could be deep-fried to the impatient guests. When the queue cleared, she took the food orders into the kitchen, where she found her missing staff peering at one girl's phone.
"It sounds like a dream come true," the phone's owner breathed. What was the girl's name? Heather, that was it.
"I'd say it's more of a nightmare," Xan interjected as she slapped the orders on the counter. "All these people were waiting to be served, so hurry up and get the orders ready."
"No, look at it, Xan," Adele replied, pulling Heather's phone from her fingers and handing it to Xan. "Seriously, it's got to be the best job in Broome. Tours and activities coordinator for the luxury resort island the celebrities go to. They want you to be a dive master, fluent in at least two languages, and all sorts of things, though. And a degree! But you get paid to snorkel and dive and go on helicopter tours all day...and you get to live on that island all the time."
A luxury resort sure sounded better than watching backpackers count their pennies all day. Xan hadn't thought she was ready for children, but now it seemed like she had hundreds of them. All adult-sized and asking the same questions, over and over and over again. Her visa would expire at the end of the dry season, though, which meant she needed to return to the UK, her family and her fiancé. She missed Jerome like an ache in the...well, touring the world was one thing, but travelling celibate, knowing that he was counting on her coming home when he finished his studies so they could get married, get a house and do all the things newlyweds did? Sometimes it was enough to make her want to return early. Firmly stamp on what Jerome called her travel bug and settle down with him.
For a moment, she considered it.
A shrill scream broke through her reverie. Assuming the worst, Xan took the stairs two at a time to the source of the sound: the female communal bathrooms. Damn. Why couldn't it be the male ones?
"What's the problem?" she called as she strode in.
Cries of, "Kikker!" and "Katak!" echoed through the steam, followed by, "What's a fucking frog doing in here? Aaargh!"
Xan assumed her calm-the-mob tone. "Nothing to worry about. Just a frog. It can't hurt you. I'll get someone to catch it when we close the bathroom for cleaning in an hour. Welcome to Western Australia, where the wildlife's so friendly, it joins you in the shower!"
One of the frog's friends snorted, but no one said anything else, so Xan headed back downstairs to the reception desk.
"Frog?" Adele asked as she handed a customer his change across the kiosk counter.
"Frog."
No, she couldn't go home yet. She was having too much fun. She hoped the frog appeared in the men's bathrooms next, or one of the big bush spiders. It was shift change for the oil and gas platform workers tomorrow. Some of those guys were ripped.
Maybe she should apply for that island resort job. How many dive masters with tourism degrees would there be around here? This was the trip of a lifetime: one big blast before she settled down for good with Jerome. It should include a piece of paradise. Go big or go home, she decided. And she wasn't ready to go home yet. Even if her life was all forks with no fucks.
"Hi, I'm new here and I can't find any spoons in the kitchen." The nervous-looking girl stared pitifully at Xan. "Please, can you tell me where to find them?"
"There's a ten-dollar deposit," Xan began wearily.
FOUR
Audra had never been so exhausted in her life, so naturally, she wanted to dance on the ceiling. She wasn't sure how many people had actually seen the South Pole, but now she was one of them. It felt...exhilarating. Hence the need to dance as soon as she could shut the door of her tiny room, where no one would see. The buzzing in her blood was better than sex. Everyone had sex.
Except...her room wasn't hers. Well, it was, but it was someone else's too. The vacant bunk she'd considered her reading lounge was now occupied by a girl with a round, smiling face. "Hi, hi! Finally we meet. I'm Shelley! You must be Audra. The guys told me it's your first trip and you've already seen the pole. Three winters I've spent here and my first expedition out there, I failed the medical and you got to go instead."
"I'm sure there'll
be others. Some of the equipment wasn't up to spec, so when the right stuff arrives next summer, a team will need to return." Audra couldn't keep the longing out of her tone. Of course she wanted to be part of it. Who wouldn't? But she was only covering Shelley's maternity leave, after all, and it looked like her time was up. "How's your little girl, anyway?"
Now it was Shelley's turn to look wistful. "She said her first word the day before I left: Mum. It killed me to leave her, but Ross and I agreed that he'd get to be a stay-at-home dad with her while I went off to work. God, I hope he can handle it." She waved at their cramped room. "This'll seem like a holiday in comparison, though."
They both laughed.
"Sorry, you probably want a minute to yourself after all that time in the field. Video calls home and such. I'll go take a shower before the boys use all the water." Shelley grabbed her towel and slung it over her shoulder.
"Watch out for the shower monitor. He's a big Russian bloke named Boris. If you try to take a shower even a second longer than three minutes, he'll bust in and carry you off for torture and whatever else Russians do to traitors. Apparently."
Shelley's face fell. "You mean Bruce left? He's the best plumber on the continent!"
Audra couldn't hide her smile. "No, but he did spend a whole day booming at me in a thick Russian accent until one of the other guys ratted him out. I've never forgotten to time my showers since."
Shelley laughed and headed for the showers.
Alone, Audra decided dancing was probably a bad idea, so she dusted off her laptop and woke it up. Calling home could wait until tomorrow, but she could catch up on news and email in the meantime. Hundreds of unread emails awaited her, so she sighed and sat down to sort the spam from the...sixty-three emails from Jay? More?
Huh. She hadn't heard a peep from him since she left Romance Island, and she never expected to, either. Well...okay, for the first week she'd kind of hoped, and maybe for the second one, too, especially after she'd sent him the photo of them together, and the third week...but by the time she'd boarded the Aurora Australis, she'd barely checked her email at all. And not because of the restricted internet access, either.
Rock Star's Email Order Bride Page 1