Convenient Brides

by Catherine Spencer

  Married to Damien. The very words made her spine tingle, but she didn’t know precisely which emotion precipitated it. She wasn’t exactly frightened of him—not really. He made her feel agitated, angry too, but she wasn’t in fear for her safety. She’d noticed on occasions how gentle he could be. Even today at the wedding he’d scooped up his friend’s little girl of fifteen months and cuddled her while she undid his bow-tie with chubby fingers. He’d laughed that deep melodious laugh and Emily’s stomach had shifted, wondering if…

  She slammed the pillow with one fist, knocking a lamp sideways with a splintering crash. She reached blindly to retrieve it but a shard of glass pierced her hand and in the darkness she felt the stickiness of her blood dripping on to the floor.

  The door flew open and a blinding light flashed on.

  ‘What the hell happened?’ Damien stood in the frame of the door, his body bare but for a pair of silky boxer shorts.

  Emily’s eyes squinted at the sudden light and she clutched at her bleeding hand. ‘I cut myself,’ she said, stemming the flow with the edge of her short nightie, which left her long legs uncovered and her bright yellow bikini briefs on show.

  ‘How?’

  ‘I tried to commit suicide but failed,’ she said through clenched teeth.

  ‘That’s not funny,’ he rasped as he stepped over the broken lamp. ‘Let me look at your hand.’

  She unwrapped it from the hem of her nightie and his gentle touch as he inspected the wound made her want to cry. She bit down on her lip and fought against the tears.

  ‘It doesn’t need stitching, but it needs dressing. Come to the bathroom and I’ll clean it for you.’

  He hesitated when she didn’t move.

  ‘Emily?’ He peered at her as she huddled over her bent knees. ‘Come on, it’s not that serious. One bandage and you’ll be as good as new.’

  A tiny sob escaped and he saw the slight tremor of her slim shoulders.

  ‘Emily?’ He touched her gently on the shoulder. ‘Are you OK?’

  She was crying in earnest now, and he bent down to her level, one determined finger locating her wobbling chin and lifting it upwards. Her blue eyes were swimming with tears and his chest felt tight at the raw emotion reflected there.

  ‘Perhaps we should take you to hospital,’ he said. ‘It might be a severed tendon or something.’

  Emily pushed him away with her good hand and stum-bled towards the bathroom. ‘It doesn’t need stitching! I’m not crying about my hand!’

  ‘Then why are you crying?’ He followed her into the en suite bathroom, sidestepping the droplets of blood she left in her wake.

  ‘I’m not crying,’ she howled, reaching for the tap.

  ‘Don’t worry about the lamp.’ He turned the tap on for her and handed her a face cloth. ‘It wasn’t anything special.’

  ‘I’m not crying about the bloody lamp!’ She sobbed into the wet facecloth, her hand stuffed into a towel like an oversized boxing glove.

  Damien shook his head and gathered her into his arms, patting her slender back as she burrowed into his body.

  ‘Is your hand hurting?’ he asked.

  She shook her head against his chest.

  ‘Can I have a look at it again to make sure it’s not serious?’

  She nodded and unfolded herself from his arms.

  He unpeeled the towel she’d wrapped around it and inspected the wound once more. The blood was slowing and he opened the cupboard above them to retrieve a bandage, which he deftly wrapped around her hand, securing the end with a tiny clip.

  ‘There—that should keep the bleeding under control,’ he said with an encouraging smile.

  Emily sniffed and he reached out behind her and passed her a tissue.

  ‘All better now?’

  She nodded and mopped at her eyes.

  ‘Sorry. Weddings always do this to me.’

  His mouth twisted into an amused smile. ‘Emily Sherwood—you are absolutely priceless, do you know that?’

  She blinked up at him, her eyes still shiny with tears. ‘Isn’t my name Margate now?’ And with that she burst into tears all over again.

  He changed the sheets on her bed and politely left the room when she removed her blood-stained nightie to put on a fresh one. She was sitting propped up against the pillows when he returned with a glass of hot milk on a small tray.

  ‘You look about ten years old,’ he said as he set it down beside her.

  ‘I feel about a hundred,’ she replied.

  He perched on the edge of her bed and handed her the glass of milk.

  ‘Twenty-six is young to be an established author,’ he observed as she sipped her drink.

  ‘I’m not established. One bad book and it’s all over.’

  ‘Perhaps you should choose your subjects a little more carefully,’ he advised.

  ‘I intend to.’

  ‘What will you do next? Another biography?’

  She hesitated over her reply.

  ‘I thought I might try my hand at a soap opera script. I’ve heard there’s good money in it, and less chance of being sued.’

  ‘Is that why you agreed to marry me?’ he asked. ‘Just to avoid being sued?’

  She found his question unsettling. It still wasn’t clear in her mind why she’d agreed to marry him.

  ‘Getting a divorce is the same as being sued,’ she said. ‘Lots of money changes hands and everyone ends up bitter.’

  He took the empty glass from her and set it back on the tray.

  ‘You sound very cynical. Did your parents go through an acrimonious divorce?’

  ‘Is there any other type of divorce?’

  He shrugged. ‘Perhaps you’re right.’ He got to his feet. ‘Let’s hope if we end this marriage we do so with respect and dignity.’

  ‘What’s with the “if”?’ she asked. ‘Don’t you mean “when”?’

  He gave her a long look before he picked up the tray from beside her. ‘This marriage will end if and when I decide.’

  ‘Don’t I have any say in it at all?’

  ‘That depends.’

  ‘On what?’

  ‘I’ll let you know.’

  ‘What sort of answer is that?’ She sat upright in the bed, wincing as her injured hand caught the edge of the lamp table.

  ‘It’s all the answer you’re going to get for now, so be a good girl and go to sleep.’

  ‘Stop treating me like a little kid!’ she stormed. ‘I’m not your daughter, for God’s sake, I’m your wife.’

  He put the tray back down and approached the bed, a glint lurking in the melted chocolate depths of his eyes. Emily’s own eyes widened in alarm as his tall figure loomed over her prostrate form. His hands came down either side of her, effectively trapping her.

  ‘Is that an element of pique I hear in your voice, my love?’ he asked silkily.

  ‘I’m…I’m not your love,’ she said hoarsely.

  ‘No,’ he agreed, and her heart squeezed painfully in her chest. ‘But you are my wife, as you so cleverly reminded me.’

  ‘I’m…I’m not really your wife,’ she croaked. ‘I’m just a paper wife—remember?’

  His eyes ran over her face, dipped to the shadowed cleft of her nightgown where her breasts lay secretly aching for his touch.

  ‘You’re a very beautiful and very tempting paper wife,’ he said against the corner of her trembling mouth.

  ‘Please…’ She shrank back against the pillows, suddenly terrified she’d betray herself if his mouth so much as touched hers.

  ‘Aren’t paper wives allowed to kiss their husbands goodnight?’ he asked, running an idle fingertip along the fullness of her bottom lip.

  ‘I…’ She ached to take his finger into her mouth. Her lips swelled with the need to feel his tongue graze hers and thrust into the moist cavern of her mouth. Her legs sagged against the mattress with the weight of need as he leaned inexorably closer.

  ‘Goodnight, Emily,’ he said, planting a s
oft breath-like kiss on her mouth. Then he lifted himself away from her and, picking up the tray, closed the bedroom door behind him on his way out.

  Chapter Six

  IT WAS a long night. Emily tossed and turned, trying to find a comfortable spot for her hand and a restful space for her tortured mind, but both eluded her. She watched as the sun rose defiantly in the east as if to spite her, its searing heat an added insult to her sleep-deprived state of mind.

  Damien was in the kitchen when she came downstairs, looking disgustingly refreshed and handsome in a dark business suit and light blue shirt with perfectly toned tie.

  ‘Good morning. Did you sleep well?’

  ‘No, I did not,’ she snapped irritably.

  His gaze slid to her bandaged hand. ‘Hand giving you trouble?’

  ‘A bit.’

  ‘Are you a breakfast girl?’ he asked, reaching across to pour some skimmed milk into a jug.

  ‘A what?’

  ‘Do you eat breakfast? Or are you one of those people who insist on skimping on the most important meal of the day?’

  Emily eyed the bowl of home-made muesli he had in front of him.

  ‘I’ll have what you’re having,’ she said, dragging out a stool.

  He handed her a bowl and the container of muesli. She went to open it but it proved too awkward for her injured hand. He got up from where he was reading the morning paper and took the container from her.

  ‘Here, let me.’ He dished out a hearty portion, then reached for the milk and began pouring. ‘Tell me when.’

  ‘When,’ she said, and thanked him as he pushed the bowl and a spoon towards her.

  ‘We made the social pages.’ He pointed to the newspaper in front of him.

  Emily wasn’t sure she really wanted to see what the press had made of their unexpected union, but she came round and leaned over his shoulder all the same.

  ‘I look fat.’

  He chuckled in amusement. ‘You look beautiful.’

  She sat back down opposite and toyed with her cereal, her brow furrowing as she relentlessly chased a sultana around her bowl.

  ‘What’s the matter?’ he asked. ‘Not regretting it already, are you?’

  ‘What?’ She looked across at him. ‘Oh, no. I was just thinking.’

  ‘About what?’

  She crushed the hapless sultana with the edge of her spoon before looking back at him. ‘Why didn’t your aunt Rose come to your wedding?’

  His eyes hardened as he surveyed her face. ‘I was won-dering how long it would take you.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ Her stomach tightened at the caus-tic tone of his voice.

  ‘Here was I, thinking you’d at least wait a few days, maybe even a week or two before you made your move.’

  ‘What are you talking about? What move?’ She looked at him blankly.

  He got to his feet, pushing his bowl away with an angry movement of one hand.

  ‘It’s why you agreed to marry me, isn’t it? The real reason, I mean.’

  She swallowed the lump in her throat and stared at him speechlessly.

  ‘An interview with Rose was the icing on the wedding cake, isn’t that right?’

  ‘I—’

  ‘Don’t bother to deny it—it’s written all over your face. Anyway, I heard you talking to your agent about it.’

  ‘But I didn’t mean it! I was joking!’ She found her voice at last.

  ‘I told you before that Rose is off limits. It will be her decision if she wants to be interviewed by anyone, and that includes you. Being married to me doesn’t automatically give you any special privileges.’

  ‘You can say that again,’ she muttered darkly.

  ‘What was that?’ He snagged her uninjured arm and turned her towards him. ‘You’re not happy with our current arrangement? If so, I can always reinstate your mortgage and credit card debt, not to mention starting legal proceedings against anything you might be thinking of writing.’

  A cold despair settled in her chest at the hatred in his eyes.

  ‘I hate you,’ she said bitterly.

  ‘Hate is good. I can handle hate. Hate me all you like—see if I care.’

  Emily pulled at his hold, desperate to escape before her anger turned to grief. ‘Let me go! You’re hurting me.’

  ‘Don’t push your luck with me, Emily,’ he warned. ‘I’m prepared to be reasonable. Don’t make me regret my decision to help you.’

  ‘Help me?’ she flared at him. ‘Have I missed something here?’ Her lip curled in scorn. ‘Oh, I get it now! You married me to help me. I’m so glad I’ve finally figured it out.’

  ‘Sarcasm doesn’t suit you.’

  ‘Neither does marriage,’ she threw at him.

  ‘Well, I can assure you neither will bankruptcy, so let’s give this a try first.’

  ‘I’d rather starve than spend another day with you!’ she retorted.

  ‘You’re acting like a child, Emily,’ he reprimanded her sternly. ‘Do yourself and me a favour and grow up.’

  It was all too much for her. Her lack of sleep, the emotional roller coaster of her disappointing wedding day and her injured hand finally cracked her fragile hold on her emotions. She bent her head and burst into tears.

  ‘Oh, Emily,’ he groaned, and gathered her to him. ‘I’m being a brute to you. I’m sorry. Hey, come on—no more tears. I prefer it when you’re throwing punches at me.’

  She cried all the harder and he pulled her even closer. He bent his head to the fragrant cloud of her hair and let her cry. Her soft little body was nestled against his as if it had been fashioned just for that purpose. Her breasts were jammed up against his chest and he could feel the buds of her nipples pressing through the silk of his shirt. His trousers tightened over his groin and his breathing quickened as he fought against the rising desire pumping through his veins.

  ‘I’m sorry.’ Emily came up for air, her nose bright pink and her eyes still trickling tears. ‘I’m not good without sleep.’

  ‘I’m the one who should apologise. Let’s call a truce. Down all arms and see if we can get through the rest of today without a cross word.’

  Emily nodded, scrubbing at her eyes with her sleeve.

  ‘Here.’ He handed her his handkerchief and she dabbed at her eyes.

  ‘I feel foolish.’ She gave the handkerchief back. ‘I hardly ever cry.’

  ‘Sorry to have that effect on you.’ His tone was wry.

  She looked up into his eyes and suddenly realised his arms were still around her. She could feel the muscles in his thighs pressing against hers, and the unmistakable pressure of his maleness issuing its own insistent message.

  ‘Emily.’ His body shifted slightly against hers, his eyes darkening with desire. ‘This is not such a good idea.’

  ‘What isn’t?’ Was that her voice? That tiny breathless whisper?

  His body collided intimately again with hers and she gasped.

  ‘Oh, that,’ she croaked.

  ‘Yes, that.’

  There was an infinitesimal pause. She gazed up at him, her breath stalling in her throat as his eyes burned into hers. Then, as if in slow motion, his head came down towards hers. His lips moved over hers with a deepening pressure until his tongue probed and swiftly entered her mouth. Emily sagged against him, her legs weakening as his tongue danced with hers, drawing from her a response she hadn’t known she was capable of.

  His lips moved to the silky texture of her neck, the underside of her ear and back again to her mouth. Emily strained to get closer to him, her feminine softness moulding itself to every hard plane of his body until he groaned against her mouth, ‘This is crazy.’

  She didn’t respond in words. Instead, she unbuttoned his shirt and released his tie with fingers not quite steady. His chest was smooth and muscled, a fine sheen of sweat already beading at the fervent touch of her searching fingers.

  His hands began a search path of their own, slipping underneath her T-shirt and deftly unhooking
her bra. His warm hands captured the weight of her breasts and she gasped at the sensation of his exploring fingers discovering her contours, and then his mouth, when he bent his head to their hardened peaks.

  He swept back to her mouth as her hands went to his belt. He jolted at her touch, but she continued her mission with a wantonness that surprised herself even more than it did him.

  She felt him press her back against the table, the urgency in his hands and tongue preparing her for the inevitable. There was no turning back. Her track pants were at her ankles, his suit trousers at his knees, his fingers searching for her slick moistness.

  ‘Yes, oh, yes!’ She rocked against his hand and he pulled her down the table until his fingers were replaced with his own heat and length. She cried out at the force of his first thrust, her legs wrapping around him tightly to prolong the sensation. He steadied himself, slowing just a fraction, his breathing ragged.

  Emily gloried in the loss of control she’d evoked in him. She’d brought him to the brink of unbearable desire and even now he was struggling to keep himself in check in order to bring about her pleasure before giving in to his own.

  She could see it in the passion-contorted features of his face as he drove into her. She could feel the rigid control wavering as he hunted for her mouth once more. She felt the desperation in his fingers as they located the tiny swollen nub of her desire and coaxed her towards ecstasy at the same time as his throbbing length filled her again and again as he retreated and returned, each time firmer, deeper.

  She almost screamed with the pleasure of her release. She bit down on his shoulder to dampen the sound, her nails raking his back as he continued his assault on her senses. His own climax soon followed, his agonised groan of pleasure like music to her ears. She held him to her, wanting to prolong the sensation of being filled by his liq-uid warmth, but he was already moving from her.

  ‘That should never have happened.’ He pulled up his trousers, his eyes not quite meeting hers.

  ‘Wasn’t it good for you?’ she asked pertly, adopting a pose of streetwise promiscuity when nothing could have been further from the truth. She hitched up her track pants and combed her fingers through her ravished hair as if she’d just returned from a jog around the block.