by Lynne Graham
Not very gracious, Tansy mused, her face burning as she kicked off the shoes and tore off the dress. The deal was done now, so it didn’t matter what she wore, did it? She pulled on a stretchy, comfy skirt and teamed it with flat ankle boots and a floral top before putting on her coat and heading downstairs to see her stepfather again.
‘I’ve agreed to marry him… OK?’ she proclaimed as she stood in the living room doorway. ‘So you’ll need to make legal arrangements for Posy coming to live with me… I should tell Jude Alexandris about her now.’
Calvin vaulted upright, taken aback by her change of heart but visibly energised by the news. ‘No! You can’t risk it. Why would he want a baby in the picture and all the noise and inconvenience that go with her?’ he demanded. ‘Use your brain, Tansy. Don’t be a fool! The kid could make him back out. You can’t afford to tell him about Posy until that wedding ring is safely on your finger.’
Tansy swallowed hard at that advice because honesty came more naturally to her than lying by omission, but if that was what it would take to safely and legally remove her sister from her father’s mediocre care, she would do it. That penthouse apartment was huge and could probably absorb a couple of hidden babies without causing anyone any annoyance, she thought ruefully. There was no reason why Posy’s existence should impact that much on Jude, she told herself firmly, squashing that memory of him saying that they would scarcely be apart the first few months of their marriage and reminding herself that she was marrying him for Posy’s sake, which meant that Posy’s interests had to come first and ahead of everything else. Even ahead of honesty and fair-mindedness? a little voice nagged in the back of her brain, but she silenced it because she couldn’t afford to make a mistake when it came to Posy’s future well-being.
Alexandris Industries occupied a landmark skyscraper in the City of London. By the time Tansy made it to the top floor, she was wishing she owned more formal clothes because her casual, youthful outfit seemed out of place. Her wardrobe, however, was depressingly slender because she hadn’t had the money to add anything to it since her mother’s demise and had never had cause to own dressier outfits.
The receptionist signalled Tansy with a discreet lift of her hand while she sat in the waiting area. Tansy stood up. ‘Mr Alexandris will see you now…he has squeezed you in. Are you one of his godchildren?’ the young woman asked, curiosity brimming in her keen gaze.
‘No,’ Tansy replied, reckoning that absolutely nobody would pick her unimpressive, rather ordinary self out as his future wife.
She was shown into a very large and empty office and ushered over to a sofa in the corner where coffee already awaited her. After a couple of minutes alone, she helped herself and tried to relax. When Jude blew through another door like a tornado ten minutes later, she almost dropped her cup as he strode towards her, unnervingly different and formal this time in a dark designer suit that fitted his lean, muscular physique to perfection. Yet that restive, powerful energy of his still fizzed in the air like a storm warning.
‘Tansy…your name is rather unusual,’ he remarked, disconcerting her with that opening greeting.
‘For a couple of generations all the children on my mother’s side of the family were named after plants or trees,’ Tansy told him with a reluctant smile. ‘All the obvious names for girls like Violet and Rosie and Daisy had already been used by the time I arrived.’
‘A charming tradition,’ Jude commented, his attention lingering on her, taking in the delicate curves beneath the close-fitting top, the long slender legs crossed, the feet in shabby boots. ‘You look like a teenager in that outfit. I’ll be accused of cradle robbing by the press—’
‘Hardly. I’m almost twenty-three,’ Tansy cut in defensively.
‘I’m twenty-nine. It’s still a big gap,’ Jude told her stubbornly.
‘If you say so.’ Yes-woman, yes-woman, Tansy chanted soothingly inside her head. He didn’t want an argumentative woman with opinions of her own and if she worked at it she could keep a still tongue for her sister’s sake, of course she could. Posy was worth the sacrifice of a little pride.
‘I have something important I want to discuss with you before we get down to the nitty-gritty of wedding arrangements,’ Jude revealed. ‘But I need you to agree to listen to me first without interrupting. I don’t require an answer from you right now. I simply prefer to be upfront. Our relationship will be easier if we are honest with each other…’
Tansy went pink and dropped her head, that reference to honesty cutting into her. After all, she was not being truthful with him about the reality that she would come with the extra responsibility of a young child in tow. ‘I can listen,’ she muttered tightly.
‘My original plan when I believed that I was marrying Althea was to use this marriage to father a child. Althea had agreed to that option,’ Jude told her. ‘And I would be delighted if you were willing to consider that possibility as well.’
Tansy was so astonished by that statement that her head swept up, stunned green eyes locking to his lean, darkly handsome features. He need not have worried about her interrupting him. She was so taken aback by that utterly unexpected confession that she could only stare in wide-eyed shock at him. A baby? He was actually asking her to have a baby with him? Was he out of his mind?
CHAPTER THREE
‘EVIDENTLY I NEED to explain my point of view,’ Jude breathed tautly as he recognised her incredulity while marvelling at how little control she had over her facial expressions. He wasn’t accustomed to a woman who wore her thoughts on her face like a banner. It was educational and oddly satisfying.
‘I have good reason for my aversion to marriage,’ Jude contended with studious cool. ‘Historically the men in my family have either made extremely poor husbands or they have married troubled women. I have no wish to follow in their footsteps and make several marriages or go through the disputes and the messy divorces that follow.’ He shifted a fluid brown hand in repudiation of that depressing prospect. ‘I’ve already lived through that pattern when I was a kid with my father and it’s not for me, nor is it an ideal background against which to raise a child.’
Tansy nodded understanding of that outlook because she had checked out the Alexandris family online. Stormy separations, flagrant infidelities, divorces, custody battles and bitter feuds documented his family’s shockingly volatile history in the relationship field. With those statistics behind him, it was hardly surprising that he would be especially wary of matrimony.
‘But in a marriage like this, where there is no shared history or baggage, having a child could be a practical option and I am, at heart, a very practical individual. Although I have no desire to make a real marriage, I still very much need a legal heir,’ Jude admitted calmly. ‘It would be easiest to have one with you. I can also assure you that any child we had would be loved and cared for and that you would be richly rewarded for providing me with one.’
Tansy stared woodenly down into her coffee cup, her natural colour evaporating at his assumption that she was mercenary enough to conceive a child for a profit. It hurt to remain silent, to compress her lips on the angry defensive words ready to leap off her tongue. Calvin had forced her into a tight corner where she had to play a certain role. Naturally, Jude Alexandris had assumed that she was marrying him for his money, and she could not afford to tell him anything different until after the ceremony when Posy’s future would be secure. Calvin would get his money and then he would be out of their lives, she reminded herself bracingly, thinking that at least her stepfather would never get the opportunity to use Posy the way he was using her to enrich himself.
‘We would also share custody of any child. I would be amenable to most reasonable arrangements. I can give you those reassurances but naturally there is no guarantee that we could even conceive a child together,’ Jude pronounced with an ironic curl to his sensual mouth. ‘I don’t think the male line in my family is pa
rticularly fertile, because I am an only child and so was my father.’
‘Do you want my opinion on this potential plan of yours?’ Tansy asked very stiffly.
‘Not at this moment, no,’ Jude admitted bluntly. ‘For now, I only want you to mull the idea over and see if it could be a fit for you but, obviously, it’s not a required condition for this marriage to happen.’
Some of the tension in her slight shoulders eased at that assertion and she looked back down at her coffee, forcing herself to sip it again in an effort to behave normally.
‘Possibly you feel that you’re too young to be tied down with the responsibility of a child,’ Jude continued. ‘But with my wealth, you could have nannies round the clock and becoming a mother would not deprive you of your freedom.’
Tansy almost choked on her coffee and her face burned with guilty heat because she already knew what it was like to be a young mother and there had been neither nannies nor babysitters to take the weight of responsibility off her shoulders. But, of course, she wasn’t able to share that truth with him yet.
‘You’re keen on this idea,’ Tansy said stiffly instead. ‘Why? I mean, you don’t even know me—’
‘I don’t need to,’ Jude intoned confidently. ‘In fact, I think it would be an advantage that we are strangers. Having a child would be a project rather than a burning mission. Emotions wouldn’t be involved, and we have no past history or romantic expectations to complicate our relationship. Both of us already know that the marriage will end in divorce. I see innumerable benefits to such a detached arrangement and such arrangements are not uncommon in today’s world. Friends sometimes have children together.’
Tansy’s head nodded with obedient marionette stiffness. He was insane, she reflected ruefully, and as emotionally aware as a big dumb rock. He honestly believed it was possible for them to marry, have a sexual relationship and conceive a child together without anyone’s emotions getting involved! What planet had he grown up on? What sort of women was he accustomed to dealing with? Had no woman ever told him that there were good reasons why human beings weren’t supposed to carelessly mate like animals to reproduce? She drew in a slow, deep, self-soothing breath and remained studiously silent.
Seemingly released from tension after having broached the topic of having a child, Jude poured himself a black coffee and strode away from the table again, a tall, lithe silhouette suddenly revealed and gilded as he stepped into a shard of sunshine. ‘Now, we’ll get down to the basic stuff we have to organise.’
‘I’m sure I will not be organising anything,’ Tansy volunteered deadpan. ‘I believe that’s your department.’
Suspicious dark eyes struck hers at unnerving speed and Tansy flushed and went back to surveying her coffee again, censuring herself for having let that sarcastic comment escape, particularly when she had been doing so well at keeping quiet. Jude sank down casually on the arm of the sofa opposite her, innately graceful in his every movement. He was too close now for her to relax because her attention continually wandered back to his stunningly handsome face, tracing the sharp high cheekbones, the strong black brows framing his deep-set eyes and the lush, sensual lips that softened those arrogantly masculine features and somehow made her own tingle. When he looked directly at her, her breath caught in her throat, her heart hammered and her mouth ran dry. She shifted uneasily in her seat, alarmed by the sheer strength of his sexual attraction.
‘You’re quite correct. I do have everything in hand,’ Jude confessed. ‘Althea has even given us our cover story but I’m afraid it has put a price on your head with the paparazzi.’
‘Cover story?’ Tansy repeated blankly, still struggling to pull free of the dreamy sensual spell he could plunge her into with a mere lingering glance.
‘Althea and I were supposed to be getting married next week. Now I’ll be marrying you instead,’ Jude extended a dry explanation. ‘The press and the general public will assume that I ditched her for you, which will make us look more realistic to my family since that is exactly what my father did in order to marry my mother thirty odd years ago. He was engaged to a very respectable Greek girl when he ran off with my mother.’
‘Charming…so I’ll be posing as the sort of woman who has no objection to carrying on with another woman’s man,’ Tansy commented curtly.
Jude shrugged a wide shoulder in an infuriatingly careless motion. ‘Does it matter? Once Althea backed out, it was never likely to be plain sailing for us as a couple because Althea was the perfect bride as far as my relatives were concerned. Any other bride would be a controversial choice, so don’t take that angle personally. I don’t give a damn what anybody thinks, nor do you need to. All you have to do is get through the wedding reception and then we’re pretty much done with family ties and socialising.’
Tansy nodded with a sinking heart, resisting the urge to say that that sounded very cold to her. But family wasn’t always perfect. Didn’t she know that herself? With a mother with whom, sadly, she had barely had a thought in common and a stepfather she had actively disliked? She had no excuse to feel superior, but she wasn’t looking forward either to being a target of dislike and disapproval with his relations when she hadn’t actually committed the sin for which she would be judged.
‘The wedding will take place next week in Greece.’
‘Greece?’ Tansy gasped in shock, prompted into jerking forward in her seat and setting down her coffee to gape at him. ‘We have to get married abroad?’
‘I was born there. It’s not “abroad” to me,’ Jude fielded very drily.
In a frantic state of mind, Tansy wondered how on earth she would get Posy a passport in time and, indeed, whether her stepfather would be willing to travel out to Greece with his daughter. Complications she hadn’t expected were suddenly piling up around her, throwing her naive plans and expectations into crisis.
‘Couldn’t we just get married here?’ she prompted hopefully. ‘In a register office or something?’
‘But that would mean that you could miss out on all the bridal pomp and ceremony—a choice which would make you a very unusual woman,’ Jude remarked, subjecting her to a considering appraisal as if her suggestion were distinctly unusual and unfeminine. ‘It would also greatly disappoint my grandfather who is, I’m certain, looking forward immensely to his leading role as host and master of ceremonies…’
‘I’m not much for pomp and ceremony,’ Tansy confided unevenly, still anxiously concerned about how she could possibly fit a ten-month-old baby into such elaborate arrangements.
Jude lifted his chin, a sudden, breathtakingly charismatic smile flashing his shapely, wilful mouth as he sprang upright without warning, that buzzing energy of his pronounced again. His smile turned the beauty of his eyes to pure glittering gold enticement. ‘Yes, I’ll do it!’ he proclaimed, utterly disconcerting her. ‘Disappointing my grandfather, Isidore, would come very naturally to me at the moment and us arriving already married will annoy the hell out of the old man. I’ll arrange a register office wedding here before we fly out, but courtesy demands that we’ll still have to go through the motions in Greece and suffer through a church ceremony and a party.’
Tansy nodded slowly, barely able to credit that she had succeeded in changing his mind about something, but relief was already overpowering her in a wave. At least, if he married her in London, she would be able to immediately gain custody of her little sister and she would not need to ask Calvin to put himself or his girlfriend to any extraordinary inconvenience.
‘Where will we be living?’ she pressed, belatedly forced to consider such facts on the back of the sudden realisation that her whole life was about to undergo a radical change.
Jude’s brow pleated. ‘I move between properties, as and when suits. Nothing’s set in stone, but much of the time we’ll be “abroad”, as you call it.’
Tansy lost colour, knowing she would have to get a passport
for her sister as quickly as possible, realising that out of ignorance she had totally underestimated the practicalities of life with an Alexandris. A guy as rich as Jude owned more than one home and travelled whenever and wherever he wanted, probably in a private jet. The routine restrictions that limited the choices and movements of ordinary people were unknown to him.
‘You’ll need a wedding gown and a new wardrobe. I have a stylist waiting next door to take your measurements,’ Jude volunteered, startling her once again with that announcement. ‘You will be provided with appropriate clothing to wear.’
‘Provided? But—’
‘Don’t quibble about the unimportant details, Tansy,’ Jude urged silkily. ‘It’s all part of the same deal and you’re being paid to take on this role.’
No, Calvin was being paid, Tansy reflected angrily, compressing her lips on an outburst, keeping Posy’s welfare first and foremost in her mind every time Jude said something that set her teeth on edge. Future husband might be an absolute dream of a fantasy man to look at, but actually living with him struck her as likely to provide a much tougher challenge. It didn’t matter where or how she married him or what she wore in that temporary fake life, she reminded herself firmly. In that field Jude was undeniably right: those were insignificant details.
‘I’m also hoping to keep a lid on your identity until after the wedding,’ Jude informed her. ‘I don’t like the paparazzi. Don’t talk to anyone about this marriage…and I mean, anyone. From you I will expect total discretion with regard to every aspect of my private life and family.’
Gripped by the warning onslaught of those piercing dark eyes set hard as granite, Tansy swallowed with difficulty. ‘Yes, of course. You’ve got it.’
Jude wore doubt on his lean, darkly handsome features. ‘I’m well aware that a lot of women like to see themselves in print but, unless it’s a fashion shoot, you won’t be seeing yourself in print and you won’t be giving any interviews, either before or after our marriage. Is that clear?’ Jude intoned.