His Hired Girlfriend (38 page)

“You lucky girl,” Ruby said,
laughing.

“Oh. Thank you, Beth,” Alex
managed to say, her heart constricted with gratitude.

Beth smiled and proceeded to
put the necklace around Alex’s neck. Then she kissed Alex on the
cheek.

“Would you look at that,” Kelly
remarked, shaking her head as she watched the large LCD tele across
the room. Everyone turned to look at the television. On the screen
was a mug shoot of Kyle Shore and Michael Marcelo. Then it was cut
to pretty a journalist with a microphone. She was in front of the
court house. “It is confirmed that Mr. Marcelo, one of the most
powerful and respected business man in New York, is sentenced to a
ten years imprisonment for fraud and an attempt murder and that
Kyle Shore to five years imprisonment as an accomplice. Mr. Marcelo
stole over five billion dollar from the government over the past
ten years...”

“Couldn’t believe he could do
that,” Beth murmured. “I thought I knew him.” She shook her head
sadly.

Alex touched Beth’s arm.

“Is everyone ready?” Jacob
popped his head in the door.

Alex felt
butterflies in the pit of her stomach. Here she goes, she thought.
She was going to marry her knight in shining armour
Jayden Matthew McCartney, the man who had hired
her to be his girlfriend, the man who had convinced her that he was
gay. She wanted to giggle.

She took a deep breath and
said, “Yes. I’m ready.”

Jacob came to stand beside her
and put his arm out. Alex took it and they walked out the door. As
they got off the lift and walked across the corridor, they passed
Britney and Sarah, dressed in maid’s uniform. They were struggling
with their tasks at carrying glasses and cutleries toward the
kitchen. Behind them was the cleaning manager, barking orders.

“Hurry up, you two. Can’t you
go any faster? The chief can’t wait any long. They need to get
those appetisers to the main reception hall in half an hour after
the wedding ceremony. It’s our Master McCartney’s wedding, for
God’s sake. Everything has to be perfect.”

“Hey, don’t you dare shout at
me like that!” Britney snapped back, waving her hand in the air. As
she did so, her hand brushed against some empty glasses, sending
them to the hard marble floor. The glasses smashed to thousands of
pieces.

“Holy Mother of Go!” The
cleaning manager prayed. “Now look what you’ve done?” she shook her
head. “You two clean that up right now. Those will come off you pay
this week. I won’t stand this nonsense. Now go and get it clean
up.”

“I won’t!” Britney snapped.
“I’m Britney Marcelo,” she shouted. “I shouldn’t be here,” she
wailed.

“Stop it!” Sarah snapped and
slapped Britney on the cheek. “Look at you. Don’t you think I like
being here, too?”

“Well you don’t have to be
here. Your dad is still rich.”

“No you fool! He’s bankrupt.
Kyle cleaned me and my dad out. I have to work now. That blast Kyle
is in jail for five long years, and I can’t get my hands on his
neck so I could kill him myself.”

“What’s the hold up?” The
manager snapped. “You,” she pointed to Sarah. “Take those glasses
and set them right in the reception Hall. And you,” she pointed to
Britney, “get your fat ass moving and clean those broken
glasses.”

Britney was about to cry again
when Sarah told her to quit it and get a move on.

***

IN THE GREAT hall of the
McCartney’s Hotel, the place was decorated with pink and white
roses on every seats, a hug grand chandelier above, thousand or so
guests sitting quietly and expectedly, and journalists from high
fashion magazines and paparazzi were in every corner. It was one of
the biggest and hottest weddings of the century in New York City.
Anyone worth knowing was invited. In the centre of it all stood the
handsome groom, Jayden McCartney, beside him was Peter and
Timothy.

Jayden was nervous. Damn it,
but he had never been this nervous before. He hadn’t seen Alex all
day and it was killing him.

Then he saw
Beth, Gracie, and Maly rushing into the room and took their seats
in the front pew. A moment later, the orchestra seated behind the
stage struck the
‘Here Comes the
Bride
’.

Jayden turned toward the huge
double door and saw Emma slowly walking toward them. She was
followed by three of Alex’s dear friends all dress in designer’s
gowns of ruby colour. They all looked stunning. Behind them was his
bride herself with Jacob who was giving her away.

The moment he
saw her, his heart leaped in his chest. He took a deep breath to
steady his nerve. His heart was thumping faster now.
Calm down, hot shot! Clam down.

He was very proud of his bride
that she was able to stand all this – walking in front of thousands
of guests gawking at her. Then she was beside him. Jacob nodded at
him and took his seat beside his wife. Jay took Alex’s hands in
his, grinning. Alex smiled back behind her veil.

The celebrant cleared his
throat and began, “We are here today to celebrate the love these
two young people have for each other...”

‘
This was
it’
, Alex thought,
‘she was finally with the man she loved
forever
’.

“Will you.” The celebrant
turned to Jayden. “Jayden Matthew McCartney, have Alexandra Stewart
to be your wife? Will you love her, comfort and keep her, and
forsaking all other remain true to her as long as you both shall
live?”

Jay grinned as he nodded his
head. “I will.”

The celebrant turned to Alex
whose throat suddenly felt very tight. Oh gosh, she wondered if she
was able to speak. Her heart was pumping faster and louder and
there were butterflies in the pit of her stomach.

“Will you, Alexandra Stewart,
have Jayden McCartney to be your husband? Will you love him,
comfort and keep him, and forsaking all other remain true to him as
long as you both shall live?”

Alex bit her bottom lip as she
watched Jay staring intensely at her. He looked as though he was
holding his breath, waiting for her answer. She grinned and said,
“I will.”

The celebrant turned his
attention to Jay. “Will you please repeat after me...”

Once they both had repeated
after the celebrant, Jayden put the ring on Alex’s finger and Alex
did the same to him. Jay said loudly so that everyone in the hall
could hear, “With this ring I thee wed, and all my worldly goods I
thee endow. In sickness and in health, in poverty or in wealth,
‘til death do us part.”

Gracie and Maly sniffed at the
same time, hold back tears. Beth dapped her hanky against her cheek
just beneath her eye.

The celebrant said, “You are
now husband and wife. You may now kiss your bride.”

Jayden pulled the thin net of
veil from her face. As he gazed at her, he simply couldn’t believe
how radiant and beautiful she looked. His eyes said it all – the
love and the adoration he had for her.

Then he moved his head towards
her, his hands cupped her face.

Alex said, “Your eyes are
dilating, Jay. Do you like want you see?”

Jay laughed, loud and clear
that everyone in the hall smiled and wondered what Alex had said to
him.

“Yes I do,” he replied and
touched his lips against hers, his fingers dug deep into her
hair.

Her lips were soft and warm
against his. She parted her mouth and he plunged his tongue,
kissing her deeply and passionately. Alex wrapped her arms around
his neck, pulling him closer. A loud applause erupted then along
with rapid snaps of cameras’ light. Peter whistled loudly while
Timothy hooted.

“Yeah!” Emma yelled at the top
of her lungs.

Jay finally pulled back,
grinning. “Come on, Mrs. McCartney, time to go greet our guests and
get our photo taken.”

“Will it appear in high fashion
magazine?” Alex asked.

“Yes, are you going to run away
and hide?”

“Nope,” she replied, grinning.
“Not at all.”

*****

EPIOLOGUE

DUNEDIN, NEW ZEALAND

MARY GROANED
AND touched her temple. Her head was pounding away like a bitch and
her mouth tasted like mud. It was a struggled just to open her
eyes, and once she had managed that, the first thing she saw was a
man in bed beside her.
Who the heck was
he?
When her brain refused to do real
thinking, she groaned again and got up. She stared about her
surrounding in a haze of fog.

“Hey.” The male beside her
pulled round to face her. He was naked underneath the blanket. Then
he started kissing her.

She pushed him away. “Not in
the mood. Who the heck are you?”

The male frowned at her. “It’s
Hale, Mary. You were drinking an awful lot last night.”

Mary touched
her head and then everything flashed back to her
–
her meeting with the
deans because stupid Peter had told them of her work that had never
been hers, which of course followed by her resentment and anger and
then her drinking and yes then her wild sex with Hale.

“Look,” Hale said, getting off
the bed. “I don’t think I can handle you anymore. So I guess this
is goodbye.”

“Just go!” she snapped, glaring
at him. “You’re stalling me anyway.”

Hale grabbed his trouser, put
them on and strode to the door.

Alone, Mary went to turn on her
laptop and then logged into Facebook.

She needed Jayden. She wanted
Jayden. She needed to write him a private message that she’s coming
to New York to see him. She needed to tell him that they could go
further.

Her Facebook
page appeared and she searched for Jayden. As the screen was
loading Jayden’s profile page, she thought she really needed a cup
of coffee, but then something caught her eyes. She stared harder
and then his profile picture appeared. Her heart stopped beating
for almost a second and then it started pumping again –
very fast
. For there as
his profile picture was a photo of handsome Jayden in a tuxedo
looking all too happy for her liking. Beside him, with his arm
wrapped around her shoulders, was Alexandra in a very beautiful
wedding gown
–
completed with vile and all.

“Holy Crap!” she muttered under
her breath. She swallowed and browsed through his wall page. There
were like a million well-wishers for the happy couple and the
mentioning of how great the wedding was.

“
This
can’t be true. This can’t be true,”
she chanted to herself, her eyes brewing with tears, her head
pounding even more.

She quickly
went to check his relationship status, her hands shaking. There it
said clearly
: Jayden McCartney is married
to Alexandra Stewart.

Mary shot up
and screamed insanely.
“No! No! No!
Ahh...”
Her hands were tearing at her long
hair as he shook her head in disbelief.

***

QUEENSTOWN, NEW ZEALAND

THE MOMENT JAYDEN opened his
eyes, he smiled with content. He had never thought he could be this
happy. He had known he’d be back in Queenstown. After all it was
the perfect holiday spot. And yes, it was also the perfect
honeymoon spot. Only he was pretty sure he hadn’t been enjoying
much of the scenery or the sports that he had planned to do. He was
sure the majority of his time he had spent enjoying his beautiful
bride.

He turned to watch her, lying
there beside him, still asleep and looking so young and beautiful.
Involuntary he stroked her smooth cheek with the back of his
fingers. She groaned.

“Wake up, sleepy head.”

She responded by rolling over
and giving her bare back to him. He moved over and kissed her bare
shoulder. She giggled. He knew she was awake. He snuggled his nose
against the nape of her slender neck as he moved his hand to touch
her bare breast.

“Jayden!” she grumbled and
turned to glare at him.

“Good morning, sweetheart.” He
grinned, his eyes twinkling.

“Good morning, Mr. Hot-Choc,”
Alex greeted.

“Ah, craving for your hot
chocolate so early again, eh?”

“Yes,” she replied, moving his
hand away from breast.

“So what do you want to do
today?” he asked, pulling her to him.

“Dunno.” She pouted her lips.
“We could go explore Arrow town. There also Coronet Peak. We could
go there to do some skiing. Well you’d be doing the skiing. I’d be
watching. Hehe.”

“How bout some exercise?”

“Okay. Why not? We could go for
a long walk along the lake,” she suggested. “The fresh air would do
us good. Or we could go to the vineyard.”

Jayden wasn’t thinking about
the long walk along lake Watkitu across their thirty odd hectare or
so land or their newly acquired vineyard in Central Otago, he was
thinking of an exercise that didn’t required them to leave their
large, luxurious bedroom in their three storey house.

“I was think of an exercise
right here in bed,” he said cheekily.

“Huh?” she raised her eyes to
look at him. Then she caught the drift of his meaning and laughed.
“You cheeky bugger!”

“Yes. Say yes?” he begged,
giving her the puppy dog look.

“All right,” she chuckled.

Before she had the chance to
change her mind, he pulled to him and kissed her passionately. Alex
wrapped her arms around his shoulders and surrender to his kiss and
love-making once again.

THE END