by Nicola Marsh
‘You’re in no position to make or break this deal,’ he pointed out, ramming home his advantage.
She needed him to agree and, while he could see the logic of such an arrangement, he never capitulated easily.
‘Fine, I’ll take it,’ she said through gritted teeth, her expression mutinous.
He ignored her muttered addendum, ‘without sex.’ Let her think he’d acquiesced to that stipulation. He’d delight in taking up the challenge to prove her wrong. ‘Good.’ He folded his arms and leaned against the wall, his smugness registering if her deepening frown was any indication. ‘Though let’s make one thing clear. There’s no place in this marriage for emotion. Women are notorious for falling in love and complicating matters.’
She laughed, a harsh sound devoid of amusement. ‘Me, fall in love with you?’
She made it sound as likely as him orchestrating a jailbreak.
She patted his chest and he stilled. He hated being patronised. ‘Don’t worry, there’s no chance of that happening.’
She placed a hand over her eyes than yanked it away. ‘See? No wool over these peepers. I’m under no illusions what this marriage is: convenient and mutually beneficial businesswise. That’s it.’
For some strange, inexplicable reason, her adamant stance that she had absolutely no chance of falling for him rankled strongly.
Not that he wanted her to fall in love with him, but why did she have to make it sound so ludicrous? Was it possible deep down that Ruby Seaborn harboured the same prejudices about him that the rest of her class did? Once a Maroney always a Maroney?
‘Well?’ With arms crossed she drummed her fingers against her hip, shifting her weight from side to side.
‘You’re serious about this?’
She rolled her eyes. ‘Do you really think I’d humiliate myself like this if I wasn’t?’
‘Good point.’
A refusal hovered on his lips. While the possibility of sex with the firebrand in front of him strongly appealed, he could think of less complicated ways to get it.
As for being accepted in this town... He glanced up and saw the CEO of an international mining giant in deep conversation with a rival.
He stiffened and jammed his hands into his pockets. As long as he was on the outskirts, a pariah, he’d never gain access to the corporate world here.
And he needed that access desperately to take Maroney Mine global.
While this ludicrous proposal irked, he’d do whatever it took to get this job done.
‘What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing.’ He deliberately relaxed and rolled his shoulders. ‘Would this arrangement have a time limit?’
A slight dent slashed her brows. ‘How long are you in town for?’
‘My original plan was three to six months.’
Her obvious relief annoyed him more than he cared to admit. ‘That gives us plenty of time for our objectives to be met, then you can head back to your precious mine and pretend we have a long-distance relationship.’
‘I said my original plan. My new plan involves sticking around longer than that.’
That floored her. She gaped and he placed a fingertip under her chin to close her mouth.
He chuckled. ‘You don’t honestly think I’d go through all this trouble to gain entry into moneyed circles only to bolt in a few months’ time?’ He shook his head. ‘Uh-uh. I’m here to stay.’
When she remained silent, continuing to stare at him as if he’d sprouted horns, he ducked down to whisper in her ear.
‘Still want to be my wife? Indefinitely?’
He expected her to retract, to bluster, to bolt.
He should’ve known she’d one-up him.
Sliding a hand around his neck to anchor him, she stood on tiptoes.
‘I do,’ she murmured against the side of his mouth, a moment before she kissed him.
CHAPTER FIVE
‘WHO’S the hot blonde you were lip-locking?’
Jax depended on Murray, his manager in Melbourne, but that didn’t mean he had to like him. The guy had waltzed into this shindig, shaken hands with half the crowd before eventually sidling up to his boss.
If Jax didn’t value his expertise, he’d fire his schmoozy ass.
He followed Murray’s line of vision, where Ruby held court in a group of preened, pampered women. They fawned over her, admiring her jewellery, touching the diamonds dangling from her ears. She smiled and nodded and chatted, at ease in this environment while he struggled to comprehend the enormity of what they’d agreed to.
‘She’s my...fiancée.’
Damn, saying it out loud didn’t make it easier to understand.
Murray whistled low. ‘Your what?’
‘You heard me.’
Murray smacked his palm against his ear. ‘Could’ve sworn you just said that hottie is your fiancée. Wow, she’s—’
Jax’s withering glare silenced his manager whose curious gaze swung between him and Ruby.
‘Why didn’t you say something?’
‘I just did. Now fill me in on what I missed at the office this morning.’
He only just heard Murray’s muttered, ‘Man, you’re buttoned up tighter than a nun’s habit,’ before his manager reverted to business mode and accessed the email on his smartphone. Business, Jax could handle, a lot better than this floundering feeling he’d just jumped in the deep end without a life buoy.
‘Nothing that can’t wait ’til this afternoon.’ Murray scrolled through his email, before highlighting one and holding out his phone for Jax to take a look. ‘Did you get the media messages?’
As if Ruby’s outlandish proposal hadn’t confounded him enough, now this. ‘Yeah.’
Murray hesitated, obviously not wanting to incur the guaranteed wrath for mentioning anything remotely related to his father’s appeal. His manager had made that mistake before and Jax’s subsequent rant had ensured the guy didn’t bring it up again.
Until now. In a place guaranteed to make him keep his cool. He may loathe the incessant hounding by the media for the inside scoop now Denver’s appeal wasn’t too far away, but there was no point taking it out on the messenger.
‘For the sake of Maroney Mine I’ve been civilised with these bloodhounds. But if they continue to harass me, just stick with the standard “no comment”.’
‘Got it.’ Murray fired off a few emails before slipping the phone into his top pocket.
Annoyed how the mere thought of his father’s impending appeal soured his mood, Jax jerked his head towards the guy Murray had been back-slapping a moment ago. ‘Who’s that?’
Murray shrugged. ‘New guy in town. Making moves within mining circles. Pays to be nice.’
Didn’t he know it? Once he married Ruby, he’d have to play the role of devoted husband in order to achieve his objective: to gain access to an influential crowd that he needed.
He didn’t care what they thought of him personally but he’d refuse to put up with their icy indifference in the business sector where he needed them to play nice.
He hated being guilty by association when anyone with half a brain in the corporate world knew how different he was from Denver. Like comparing diamonds with fossilised dinosaur remains.
Murray’s curious gaze drifted back to Ruby. ‘When’s the wedding?’
Damn. They hadn’t discussed the exact date beyond a nebulous ‘next week’, or the wedding or the living arrangements. They hadn’t discussed much of anything after she’d kissed him.
That kiss...
Soft, warm lips tinged with peppermint, bold in their demands like everything about her.
He was used to being in control. With Ruby, it seemed he’d met his match.
‘Soon.’
‘So who is she?’
Considering Sapphire was the company spokesperson, with Ruby the creative genius behind the scenes at Seaborn’s, it didn’t surprise him Murray wouldn’t know her.
‘Ruby Seaborn.’
Murray whis
tled low. ‘Seaborn’s of Armidale? That’s serious old money.’
Spoken like a true manager who made his living dealing with mega bucks.
Murray stared at him with admiration. ‘Good for you.’
Jax forced a tight smile. He hated telling lies—Denver had seen to that. But living a lie with Ruby was a necessity at the moment. He needed business doors in this city to open, not slam in his face.
Murray glanced at his watch. ‘I’ll see you back at the office?’
‘Yeah.’
Once he’d ironed out the details for his impending nuptials.
Him, married?
Jeez.
Though it wasn’t all bad. While he cemented business deals essential to taking his mining corporation global, he fully intended making the most of his marriage: in every way.
Ruby’s stipulation of no sex? The one point in their soon-to-be-signed marriage contract he had no intention of sticking to.
Considering the unexpected kiss she’d planted on him, he had high hopes that with a little convincing she’d come around.
Yeah, this ‘getting hitched’ business was looking better by the minute.
As if sensing his train of thought, Ruby glanced up and sent him a jaunty wave, her sunny smile slamming into him with the force of a tropical cyclone.
He might have a problem with the concept of marriage but consummating it?
Not a problem at all.
* * *
Ruby had lost her mind.
She’d had some crazy ideas over the years—spiral perm at fifteen, Goth at sixteen, hooking up with Sapphie’s discards at eighteen—but none quite as outrageous as proposing marriage to Jax Maroney.
It had seemed like a good solution at the time but now, three hours later, pacing his penthouse, reality hit.
She couldn’t possibly contemplate marrying into the Maroney family.
Her mum would turn in her grave and Sapphie would put her in one once she discovered the truth.
Which meant she’d be doing everything in her power to keep it from her sister until the deed was done.
The last thing Saph needed was stress and she would seriously freak when she learned of the nuptials.
‘Here’s your latte.’
A tiny shiver crept across the back of Ruby’s neck and it had nothing to do with the prospect of marriage and everything to do with the man she’d be marrying.
He handed her a glass and saucer, their fingers brushing, the shiver intensifying.
She might be marrying him to save her family’s legacy but since he’d mentioned making this marriage real in the bedroom, she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him in that way.
It annoyed the heck out of her.
She shouldn’t want him.
The guy was arrogant, insufferable and grouchy.
He’s also gorgeous, commanding and irresistible.
She ignored her voice of reason. She’d wisely refused his offer of adding benefits to their marriage. Last thing she needed was to lust after Jax Maroney.
If it wasn’t already too late.
‘What’s with the depraved smile?’ His potent stare lingered on her lips, making them tingle with remembrance.
She might have lost control for a nanosecond and kissed him at the racetrack but he hadn’t needed much prompting to join in.
And he’d been amazing. A master, using his lips to coax and charm and titillate simultaneously.
Maddeningly, she hadn’t wanted it to end.
That was what got to her the most. Despite her protests, if they did go the whole way, it would be spectacular. She knew it.
His restrained power had been a major turn-on, as if he’d been keeping a leash on his uncontrollable urges.
She wished.
‘I’m thinking.’
‘About?’ His eyes narrowed. ‘Last time you did that, you ended up proposing to me.’
‘You’re never going to let me forget that, are you?’
‘Never’s a long time, sweetheart.’
That wiped the smile off her face.
Jax was right. This marriage was nothing more than a convenient solution to an apparently insolvable problem.
Those figures her accountant had presented had been damning and who knew what would happen to Sapphie if Seaborn’s went under?
She had a feeling the business was the only thing keeping her sister afloat since their mum died and if she lost that too...
No, marrying Jax Maroney was the right thing to do, as crazy and unpalatable as it seemed.
She made the mistake of glancing at his smug face—the high cheekbones, the strong jaw, the sensual lips, the mesmerising eyes—well aware unpalatable was harsh.
‘We need to talk about getting all the details straight before the ceremony next week.’
Not surprisingly, his perpetual frown returned at the mention of their impending marriage. ‘You’re the one with all the ideas. How do you propose we pull this off?’
‘By getting our stories straight.’ She shrugged. ‘People will want to know how we met, how long we’ve been dating, that kind of thing.’
He winced. ‘I’ve got enough to do without constructing an elaborate lie and then living it.’
She knuckled fake tears, relieved when he chuckled. He had to be committed one hundred per cent for this to succeed.
‘It’s not that difficult.’ She ticked points off on her fingers. ‘We met through our mutual mines, carried on a long-distance relationship. Then you realised you couldn’t live without me and returned to Melbourne.’
‘You make me sound like a love-sick schmuck,’ he complained.
‘Aren’t you?’
She leaned across the table, in his face, and batted her eyelashes. Teasing him, she could handle. Going through the motions of marrying him and living a lie daily? Now that would be tough.
He nudged her away. ‘Let’s concentrate on getting our stories straight, and leave the goofing off for later.’
As if Mr. Uptight ever goofed off in his life.
‘When’s the last time you dated?’
He tipped two sugars into his espresso and stirred, thoughtful. ‘Define dating.’
She rolled her eyes, well aware of the dating definition differences between the sexes. Some women took a first kiss as a pledge of undying devotion. Most men needed six months and a key to a flat to accept the fact they were in a steady relationship.
‘Long term? Longer than three months?’ She tapped her bottom lip, aware she hadn’t thought this through. ‘Because if you’ve been stepping out on me, people will crucify you.’
His mouth kicked up at the corners. ‘Stepping out? Quaint.’
She snapped her fingers in front of him. ‘Focus and answer the question.’
His smile faded, replaced by the usual reticence. ‘I go out on the occasional date when I’m in Perth, and the last time was about five months ago.’
‘Nobody serious?’
‘I just said that, didn’t I?’ he snapped, staring moodily into his coffee when she raised a brow at his snark.
‘With that kind of attitude, I’m not surprised,’ she said, calmly snapping a brownie in two and popping a piece in her mouth.
He sighed. ‘I live in a small outback mining town—relationships aren’t my thing.’
‘I live in a bustling cosmopolitan city and relationships aren’t my thing either,’ she said, licking cocoa crumbs off her fingertips.
His gaze riveted to her tongue, the instant flare of heat garnering an answering reaction deep down inside her.
‘That’s surprising.’
‘Why, because I’m a woman and we crave soul mates?’ She made an inverted comma sign with her fingertips and a mock gagging sound. ‘Don’t get me wrong, I date. It’s fun. But there’s been no one serious.’
‘Ever?’
She picked up a fork and pushed the rest of the brownie around the plate. ‘You’re one to talk, Mr. Outback.’
His lips twitched.
‘Guess that makes it easier for people to buy our story.’
She nodded. ‘Yeah, we’ve been smitten for months, have kept it private because we didn’t want publicity, especially—’
She bit back the rest, but it was too late, by the shadows darkening his brow.
‘Especially since my dad’s appeal is coming up and the media are all over it.’
She nodded. ‘You don’t have to talk about it, but I probably need to know some stuff in case I get ambushed by the press.’
He snorted. ‘I can see the headlines now. Society Princess Weds Underworld Offspring. What was she thinking?’
For the first time since they’d met she glimpsed a fleeting vulnerability scudding across his eyes before he blinked.
She placed her hand over his on the table between them, hers small and pale, his large and tanned.
‘Maybe she was thinking he’s a good catch? Maybe she was thinking he’s powerful and successful? Maybe she was thinking of indulging her latent bad-boy fantasy while saving her business in the process?’
The spark was back, potent and smouldering as his burning gaze challenged her.
‘Elaborate.’
‘On saving the business? Well, it’s quite simple really—’
He raised her hand to his lips, brushing across her knuckles and sending a sliver of longing through her. ‘Tell me about the bad-boy fantasy.’
God, it’d be so easy to tell him in exquisite detail what she’d like him to do to her.
But they had a business deal to finalise—namely their marriage—and being distracted by sex could potentially lead to mistakes later.
She didn’t want people to doubt the validity of this marriage. She needed them to buy the romantic tale in order to achieve her goal: save Seaborn’s from extinction.
So much easier for him, sitting there all gorgeous and brooding and mysterious. What would he lose if the marriage failed? Face in a community? The odd business deal?
The guy owned one of the biggest mines in Western Australia. As if a few botched deals would affect him.
Her, on the other hand...