by Nina Croft
He scanned the information quickly; it was a list of current projects, and he clicked the links on a couple and read the details—an agricultural training center in Zambia, a cooperative fishing venture in Malawi… He glanced up and found her watching him eagerly. It was clear she was passionate about what she did.
“Just how much money do you have, Lexi?”
Her smile widened. “I’m not sure exactly, but lots. Millions. My dad was in right at the beginning of the internet companies. And he was super clever. When he died, the companies were sold—Jamie had no interest in running them—and the money put into the trust.”
“Are you likely to run out any time soon?”
“No. I haven’t actually touched the capital, only the interest. Jamie got me a really smart financial advisor.”
“Good,” he said a little weakly. The sums of money involved must be huge. And the woman who owned it all was sitting across from him eating pizza, wearing tattered jeans, and sharing a house with a chicken. His head spun.
“So you see,” she said, gazing at him earnestly, “an annulment really isn’t an option. Or a divorce just yet. If grandmother found out our marriage wasn’t real, she could make things very difficult.”
“She couldn’t actually get her hands on the money?”
“My lawyer doesn’t think so. But it could tie up the money while it was sorted and that would delay all the works-in-progress. There are a lot of people relying on me.”
“Not to mention a lot of chickens.” He’d noticed the battery hen rehabilitation project half way down the list.
“Exactly.”
Bollocks.
Lexi was one of those rare things—a genuinely good person.
Unfortunately, his life right now would be a lot simpler if she were a money-grubbing little rich bitch.
He sighed. She was right. He couldn’t do it.
Life wasn’t fair.
When he remained silent, she reached across and took his hand. “I won’t hold you any longer than I have to. As soon as I turn twenty-four, we can start the divorce. It might look a little suspicious, but I think it will be okay.”
He knew he was going to say yes. He wasn’t a complete bastard, but Christ, he wanted sex again. Did that make him shallow? Did he care?
He looked down at where their hands were joined, hers much smaller, fine-boned with short nails. For a second, he contemplated sex with Lexi. She was his wife, after all. But only for a second. She was a disaster waiting to happen. Chaos incarnate. Look at her house. And while she’d said she’d never marry, she’d also said she wanted a family. She was everything he was not looking for in a woman.
He had to keep reminding himself of that.
Think of all those exotic dancers Logan had promised to introduce him to at his club. Women who wanted a good time. Not ones who wanted to save the world.
Her lower lip was caught between sharp, white teeth while she waited for him to answer. He obviously took too long. “And really”—she broke the uncomfortable silence—“if you do want to…you know…with other women, then it’s okay.”
See, that proved how unsuitable she was. She couldn’t even say the word. Christ, until last night she’d been a goddamned virgin.
“I know you have needs…”
He doubted she realized exactly how big his need was. He held up a hand to stop her—she’d be setting him up with her best friend next. Why didn’t he like the idea that she’d given him carte blanche to sleep with other women? He hoped it wasn’t because she was his wife. That would be a bad way of thinking.
“Okay,” he said.
“Okay?”
“You’ve got your six months.”
“Really?” She gave him a huge smile, and deep inside him, something melted.
“Really. And forget the sex. It’s no big deal.”
Ha. And I’ll probably go to Hell for lying.
Chapter Eight
Lexi gave him a quick sideways glance as they turned into her road. She could read nothing from his expression.
He’d said yes.
She should be feeling euphoric, but instead she felt a little letdown and anticlimactic. Presumably, he would now disappear back to his own life and turn up again in six months when it was time to get a divorce. And that was fine. Except…
Except what, Lexi?
Was she going to turn into some sex-starved woman now that she’d had a little taste? That would be very inconvenient, not to mention pathetic. She needed to get a grip. He didn’t want her. Last night he’d been desperate. Any woman would have done. Except he hadn’t had a woman in five years. Just her.
Shut up!
As he pulled up outside the gates, she frowned. They were open. They never left the gates open because the dogs could get onto the main road.
“Everything okay?” Josh asked.
She peered down the drive and could see the bumper of a black car. She had a bad feeling about this. “Shit,” she muttered.
“What is it?” he asked.
She sighed. “At a guess, my new lodger.”
She so did not need this right now. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Harry. The truth was she hardly knew him. Once she had gotten an inkling of her grandmother’s long-term plans for the two of them, she’d shut him out. But he was a painful reminder of the family she’d rather forget. Oh well, she could put him as far away from her as possible and keep busy over the next month, or however long he planned to stay.
“Harry?” Josh asked.
“Yes. I’d better go deal with him.”
She reached for the door, but Josh stopped her with a hand on her arm. “You don’t have to let him stay,” he said. “Just tell him to piss off.”
“Maybe I should.” But she probably wouldn’t. “Look, thank you for agreeing. You know, to the staying married thing. It means a lot.”
She opened the door and climbed out, surprised when Josh switched off the engine and got out as well. “I’ll come with you. Check everything is okay.”
She frowned. Why wouldn’t everything be okay? But she didn’t argue as he stepped up beside her. The truth was, she didn’t want him to go. And that was stupid. Now that she had what she wanted from him, she should leave well alone, not rock the boat. But a shiver of excitement ran through her as they walked down the drive.
He slid his hand into hers. “In case he’s watching,” he murmured.
It’s all an act.
She had to keep telling herself that, but it was hard as his thumb rubbed over her palm and pleasure shot along her nerves at the tiny caress.
“Well, he could certainly stay somewhere else—he’s not short of money. That’s a Porsche,” Josh said as they passed the black sports car.
She cast it a disinterested glance. “It is? I don’t know much about cars.”
“You don’t? What do you drive?”
“I don’t. I never learned. There didn’t seem much point, living in London.” They’d stopped at the front door, and he was staring at her in disbelief. She shrugged. “Really, I use public transport or take a taxi. Parking is murder in the city anyway. I do have a bike, though.”
“I can’t believe you can’t drive. I’ll teach you.”
She glanced at him. So he wasn’t planning on vanishing from her life. That really shouldn’t make her feel all warm and fuzzy. Again. But it did. She didn’t particularly want to learn to drive, and she suspected deep down that she was afraid. Her mother and father had been killed in a car crash. She’d been in the vehicle with them at the time, and while she couldn’t remember anything of the accident, the memory was probably loitering somewhere in her subconscious.
“That would be nice,” she heard herself saying.
“So why do you think he’s here?” Josh asked, nodding at the car.
“I imagine to spy for my grandmother. She suspects something.” She turned and patted his arm. “Don’t worry. I don’t expect you to get embroiled with my family problems. We’ll think of
a really good reason you have to leave town for a while.”
He opened his mouth as if to answer, then slammed it closed again, a frown drawing his brows together. Lexi shrugged. As she pushed the door open, a whole load of dogs started barking. They nudged open the kitchen door and rushed out to greet her. She bent and rubbed a few ears, then headed for the door they had come through, Josh close behind her, or as close as he could get with her surrounded by dogs.
Harry sat at the kitchen table. He wore gray pants and a white shirt. His blond hair was perfectly cut, and she felt the familiar wave of irritation. And for the first time, she recognized where her animosity had come from. Harry was three years older than her, Melissa a year older. Lexi had been seventeen when they’d first met, and the two of them had been…perfect. Perfectly dressed, perfectly groomed. Lexi had been far from perfect and well aware of the fact. They’d made her feel inadequate, and she’d responded by pushing them away.
However friendly they’d been, she wouldn’t have liked them. And they hadn’t been particularly friendly. Then again, maybe they’d had their reasons. It occurred to her that perhaps they hadn’t been over the moon about their father marrying her grandmother. She was a decade older than Daniel and not exactly a motherly figure.
Harry stood up as they entered the room. She came to a halt by the table, and then she jumped as Josh’s arms came around her from behind, pulling her back against him.
Aw, he was pretending to be her loving husband. He was sweet. Those now familiar warm, fuzzy feelings spread through her chest. She didn’t even want to think about what to call those emotions. She just wanted to enjoy this for a moment.
She relaxed in his arms, pressed her bottom back against him, and felt him go still.
Harry watched them one eyebrow raised. “Valerie said the two of you were like newlyweds.” His lips quirked. “I don’t think she meant it as a compliment. Your friend Jean let me in by the way. She said it would be okay to wait for you in here.”
“It’s fine. You want a coffee?”
“Love one.”
She pulled away. Josh’s arms tightened for a moment, then he let her go. After switching the coffee machine on, she turned around, leaning against the counter to study the two men. Despite both being blond, they were totally different. Josh had a rough edge, an air of danger. In fact, he was radiating menace as he faced off against Harry, whose lips were still curled in a slight smile, as though he found the whole thing amusing.
“I’d actually come to tell you that I wouldn’t be staying,” he said as he resumed his seat at the table. “I didn’t want to intrude—you know, the whole newlywed thing. But I’ve so far met three people who also claim to live here. Are you running a hotel?”
“They’re just friends.”
She filled three mugs with coffee and carried them over, placed them on the table with milk and sugar, then took a seat. “Sit,” she ordered Josh. He was making her nervous by looming over them like that.
“Anyway,” Harry continued, “I decided, why not stay for a while? Obviously you two lovers aren’t going to be alone, so one more won’t make a difference.”
“That depends on why you’re here,” Josh said, and he sounded far from friendly.
Harry gave an elegant shrug. “Can’t I want to spend some time with my baby sister?”
She got the distinct impression that he was trying to wind Josh up. Probably not a good idea. “Did you know Josh used to be in the SAS?” she asked.
A look of mock alarm crossed his face. “Oh my God. He’s a lethal weapon. I’d better be careful.”
She glanced at Josh and saw his lips twitch. “So why are you here?”
“My remit is to spy and report back.”
Well, it was hardly a surprise. Though, what was a surprise was Harry actually admitting it. Her heart sank a little. She’d been lucky up to now and maybe gotten a little complaisant. She should have known it couldn’t last.
“Spy on what?” Josh growled.
Harry took a sip of coffee. “Well, the original idea was to get proof that your marriage isn’t real.”
Did her grandmother know? She couldn’t or she wouldn’t have sent Harry.
“Then according to your dear, sweet grandmamma, the two of you couldn’t keep your hands of each other, and now she’s not so sure. But Valerie is nothing if not tenacious, so here I am.”
“Don’t you have anything better to do?”
“Like a job you mean? Not at the moment. And my father very kindly bought me a car—a sort of bribe.”
“With Lexi’s money.”
“I hadn’t actually thought of it like that. But probably. Slightly ironic isn’t it?”
It was doing her head in. “Why tell me? Why not just do your spying thing and keep quiet?”
He pursed his lips, thought for a moment, and she saw the first flash of real emotion in his eyes. “Because I don’t like them.”
“Oh.” Whatever she’d been expecting it wasn’t that.
“He’s my father, but we don’t get to pick our families, and he’s a bastard.”
“But you still accepted the car?” Josh pointed out.
He shrugged. “Well, I am my father’s son. Whether I like it or not. He married Valerie for her money and then found she didn’t have all that much of her own. It was all yours. They thought you could be manipulated. It must have pissed them off something rotten when you proved them wrong.”
“Did you know they had plans to marry us off?”
“I wouldn’t have minded. You were cute.”
Josh growled again, and Harry chuckled. “He’s a little protective isn’t he?”
She cast a glance at Josh. He was eyeing Harry like he’d be happy to rip his head from his shoulders. It was official: he was a great actor. What would it feel like to have someone want to protect you for real? Most of her life she’d felt alone. And from the age of eighteen, she’d been alone, looking after herself and anyone else who came her way.
She felt a little wistful at the thought. But only a little. She’d fought hard for her independence.
Josh caught her staring and their gazes locked. Something warm uncoiled inside her. His lips curled in a slight smile, and then he swiped his tongue over his lower lip, and her breath hitched. She swayed toward him, as the memory of his tongue on her body did weird things to her insides, stoking the warmth until it ignited inside her.
Harry cleared his throat. “Did the temperature just go up in here?”
Lexi sat back. She did feel a little warm.
“So am I staying or going?” Harry asked.
He’d all but admitted he was going to report back on them. But if she told him no, then that might raise their suspicions. She’d have to come up with that out of town job for Josh a little quicker.
“You can stay. We’ve got nothing to hide.”
Harry nodded then turned to Josh. “You okay with that?”
“No, but this is Lexi’s place. If she says it’s okay, you can stay.”
“Good. All settled then. I’ll go pick up my stuff from the hotel and be right back. Hey”—he grinned—“this is going to be fun.”
…
“Why do I somehow doubt that?” Josh murmured. He got to his feet, crossed to the window, and watched as Harry climbed into his car and disappeared down the drive. He turned back to where Lexi still sat at the table.
He’d caught her wistful expression when Harry had made the asinine protective comment.
Just like he’d thought—Lexi wanted someone to look after her. She might not know it or acknowledge it, but she did. And it wasn’t going to be him. All the same, he didn’t like this. And he hated the thought of Harry staying in the house with her.
“You should have told him to piss off.”
“Maybe.”
“So why didn’t you?”
“It would have made them suspicious. Besides…”
“Besides what?”
She shrugged and looked a litt
le self-conscious. “I think he’s hurting. It can’t have been easy growing up with creepy Daniel for a father.”
“Jesus. You want to help him.” He sat back down and ran a hand through his hair, irritation coursing through him. “You can’t fucking help everyone.”
She turned her chair so she was facing him. “Why not?”
Her question stopped him short, and he searched for an answer. “Not everyone deserves helping. Besides, he’s a slimy bastard, and I don’t like him.”
She grinned. “Maybe. Anyway, you won’t have to spend time with him. I think I see a phone call coming up. A really important job you can’t get out of.” She reached across and patted his arm. “Don’t worry. I can handle Harry alone.”
“No.”
The word was out before he thought better of it, and he wasn’t sure where it came from. Except he didn’t want her handling Harry. Not alone or any other way.
“No?”
“They’ll definitely think it’s suspicious if I leave now. No way will they believe such a convenient job.” He was making this up as he went along, his mouth running away with him. And that wasn’t right. He was a planner; he didn’t do spur of the moment.
“They’ll think it even more suspicious if you don’t have an excuse and you’re not here.”
“Then I’ll have to be here.” There he was again, running off at the mouth.
“You can’t stay here.” She sounded shocked.
“Ha. I don’t see why not. Everyone else does.”
She studied him for a moment, lips pursed, eyes calculating. “We’d have to share a room. Nobody’s going to believe we’re married otherwise.”
“Not a problem. I think I can keep my hands to myself.” It occurred to him that he might be overly sure of himself there. But he’d been celibate for five years. He could manage a few more months. For a good cause. A lot of good causes actually.
Something flashed across her face. Annoyance? “That’s nice to know. And I’ll do my best to restrain myself.”
“That’s settled then.”
“Thank you. I know you don’t have to do this, and don’t want to do it. But it means a lot. I appreciate it.” She leaned across and kissed him chastely on the cheek. “We’ll be like brother and sister.”