His Island Bride (3 page)

“Well, we’ll see about that. I’d rather be locked away and take a break from people, thanks.”

***

Jessica finished packing her bags. Her flight would leave in three hours.

“I think you’re a little overweight.”

“What?”

“Your luggage,
hun
,” her best friend Gina clarified.

“Oh, right. I should get a scale.”

“What happened to your old one?”

“Threw it out when it started going up in numbers every time I stood on it.”

“Honey, you’re not really overweight. You’re just a little…”

       “What? Heavy?” she said, raising a brow. “Anyway, I’ve booked into this really nice quiet resort where I can just sit in the sun all day and read on my Kindle.”

       “Oh, and you’ve got your
Columbo
DVD’s right?”
       “Well, of course. And my Kindle,” she said, blushing.

“Well,
gonna
miss you for the next two weeks. Just be careful out there and don’t forget to change the chip in your phone. If you use your cell from up here…girl, you will rack up hundreds or thousands of
dollars worth
of roaming charges and it is not funny, honey!”

“I hear
ya
!”

Later Gina dropped Jessica off at Terminal 3 at Toronto’s Pearson Airport and got checked in. She’d called her mother before switching off her cell and turned on her Kindle oblivious to everyone around her.

Finally, time alone. As much as she tried, she still couldn’t get the thought out of her mind. She may be getting married to a stranger this year.

Crazy.

But this was a decision she had to think carefully about. If only she could meet and fall in
  love
with someone on her own—a good person, for once. If only. If she had, her parents wouldn’t be so desperate to marry her off. She sighed and leaned back in the lounge area chair waiting to board her flight.

***

Montego Bay, Jamaica

The flight was uneventful and only four hours long. Jessica was grateful she’d taken a direct flight from Toronto to Montego Bay. She switched on her Blackberry just to let her mom and Gina know that she’d arrived safely and would call from the hotel. Then she’d switched off her cell and plopped it deep into her bag to never use again until she changed the chip or got back to Toronto.

The warmth of the sun kissed her skin as she rode on the shuttle bus from the airport in Montego Bay to the
Grandim
Resort, enjoying the greenery of the tall trees breezing by on the ride. She inhaled the sweet island scents of coconut trees and palm trees and the freshness of the ocean. She gently held her sunhat as the cool island breeze swirled around her.

When Jessica arrived at the hotel she checked in at the lobby and was given her swipe key card. The porter brought her baggage up and she gave him a generous tip for which he was grateful.

“Jamaica, Jamaica. Here I am!” she whispered to herself with an appreciative grin as she entered her suite. She couldn’t believe she’d finally made it. Jessica had saved up for ages to afford the trip. She’d won a raffle prize for airfare to Jamaica but had to save up for the actual hotel stay since she didn’t know anyone on the island that she could stay with.

The room had a fresh sea scent to it. The sun beamed brightly as it welcomed her in but she noticed that the balcony door was already open. The mild island breeze blew in gently as the blinds cackled against each other.  She thought it was odd that the door was open but didn’t think anything more of it.

She had been soaked from earlier when she
perspired  while
sitting on the mini bus which did not have the air conditioner running. Jessica was all too glad to unzip her red suitcase and pull out the summer dress she would wear later. She undressed, turned on the gold-plated faucet in the tub and got into the shower. Jessica couldn’t help herself and started singing, or more like yodeling, not caring what she sounded like since nobody in the world would hear her voice. She admitted she sounded more like a wannabe singer trying out for American Idol.

When she got out of the shower and dried her skin, she opened the door of the bathroom and entered her suite and almost jumped out of her skin!

A man stood by the window, arms folded across his chest, shaking his head.

Her heart raced in a mad panic. There she was, dripping with moisture and half naked to see a deliciously gorgeous tall stranger in her room. He looked like a male model but with a great workout physique. Oh, he was breathtaking but…

 “Who are you?”
she  shrieked
, hoping he was a surprise masseur who had come to give her a nice massage compliments of the hotel. Well, he’d better be, or else.

She carefully wrapped the white towel tighter around her midsection to cover up her womanly valuables.

“What are you doing in my room?” She looked around for something to defend herself—anything. She picked up her boxed set of
Columbo
DVDs ready to smack him—not that it would have much effect judging by his physique.

“Whoa there, lady.
I should be asking
you
the same thing. This is
my
suite.” He carefully unfolded the document in his hand and slowly reached it over to her to show her the hotel bill.

Her heart thudded like thunder in her chest. This could not be possible. She saw a sparkle in his dark, grey eyes. He had the longest lashes she’d ever seen on a man.

“But…but…this is my room. Where are your things?”

He opened up the closet door and showed her his suitcase.

Jessica didn’t even look into the closet. She could not believe it.

“I didn’t want to make a mess because I was about to move rooms. So I went upstairs to check out the other suite but they told me they were completely booked up after all,” he continued, his gaze holding hers.
“Seems like they have some glitches with their new room-booking software, according to the manager.”
Perhaps he could give them assistance in that area, or they should hire a tech.

Booked up?
His
room?
This could not be happening. No way could she be stranded without a room and in a foreign land. Jessica thought she was going to pass out.

3

Grabbing the towel around her tightly she moved over to the phone, her hair dripping wet. She glanced at her bill and hotel receipt too. They both compared notes. “But how could this be?
Suite 704 North Building.”
Jessica shook her head in a daze as the tall, dark and handsome stranger folded his arms across his chest again. He seemed perturbed but out of the corner of her brown eyes, she could see his eyes tracing her silhouette as if he could see what was underneath the towel. His lips curled into a delicious smile. And for some reason, Jessica’s body was reacting to him. But this annoyed her even more. This was no place or time to be reacting positively to a strange man in her room.

“This is absurd! I’m going to call the concierge desk.” She tried to dismiss her body’s heated attraction to this gorgeous god in her room who obviously was booked there first. She picked up the phone on the desk
and  pressed
0 to dial the concierge desk.

After a long conversation with the hotel manager, she felt just as deflated. They informed her that they were doing everything in their power to get her another room but they would be happy to book her into another hotel under the same company on the other end of the island. Jessica promptly refused. No way was she driving half way across the island to a hotel she was not familiar with.
Alone.

***

James could not help grinning at the prissy little thing in front of
  him
. He was used to women falling at his feet and begging for one night stands to get with the likes of him.
The wrong type to bring home to his family for approval.
But there was something different about Jessica, the name he observed on the bill since she was obviously too peeved to introduced herself. Not that he could blame her really. She was different. Not only was she gorgeously proportioned not like the anorexic-looking model types who counted their calories. She was a healthy looking curvaceous woman. As his eyes slid down the silhouette of her body, a heat of expectancy surged inside him. He really wanted this woman. Maybe his partying cousin, Dane, had a point. He was clearly attracted to her and could tell that she felt something when she first saw him and
blushed
ten shades of rouge. Maybe a summer fling would be a great way to ease the tension and relax the both of them.
If she was up to it.

Damn that cousin of his. James was supposed to be the head strong one in the business but it seemed as if this woman was stirring up something inside him. What, he did not know. It couldn’t be love at first sight because he didn’t believe in it.

While she talked again on the phone to another customer service manager he took the liberty to walk over to the table by the bathroom where a block of
Columbo
DVDs lay. Was she really going to swipe him with these? Still it really intrigued him. He was totally obsessed with the
Columbo
TV series. You don’t meet women these days
who
were into old-time detective shows and
Columbo
was one of the best back in the day. This delighted him. They actually had something in common. He brought his collection from home to watch, too. She had seasons four and five and he had the very first season box set.
Hmm.

“Excuse me, those are mine,” Jessica called out after finishing her phone conversation.

“I gathered that, by the way you held them tightly as a weapon to use against me. What were you planning to do? Solve me to death using
Columbo’s
techniques?” He cocked a brow with a grin on his face.

She rolled her eyes.

“By the way, what did the other manager say?” It seemed as if he really didn’t mind if they stayed together in the King suite but it looked as if
she
would.