Hold Me Closer (Sea Island Brides Book 1) (10 page)

“He’s
definitely got that air about him, but there’s more too. I feel
guilty even talking to you about this, because I know how much he
hurt you. Every time I look at him, I feel like I’m betraying
you by even talking to him, much less getting butterflies in my
stomach over him.”

“Well,
if there’s anyone whose advice you should listen to about the
dangers of being attracted to a Montgomery brother, it’s me.
I’ve been down that road, and look where it’s gotten me.
Four months away from having a baby girl to raise on my own, that’s
where.”

“You’re
going to be such a wonderful mother,” Annabelle said, smiling
at the thought of Julia’s baby coming in only four short
months.

“Don’t
get me wrong. I love my baby already, but being a single mother
wasn’t exactly my dream, you know.”

“I
know. That’s part of why I’m here. At the very least,
Harlan should acknowledge that this baby is his.”

“So
you haven’t spoken to him or seen him yet?” Julia’s
voice was softer, as if she were suddenly nervous to ask about him.

“No,
I can’t believe I didn’t tell you right away.”
Annabelle sat up on her knees. “He’s in Japan shooting
some movie. Hudson told me his brother was in Califormia before this,
shooting the last few episodes of the TV show, and he only had a few
days here in Sea Island before he flew to Japan. He wasn’t
avoiding you at all. In fact, I seriously doubt Hudson even told him
about you.”

At
this, Julia gasped. “Do you think that’s really
possible?”

“Hudson
told you that he didn’t believe there was any way your child
could be Harlan’s, right? So why would he call Harlan and tell
him about it? If he truly didn’t see any possible truth in your
story, he probably wouldn’t have bothered to even tell his
brother about it. And I found out from Hudson that the two of them
had agreed not to go out to bars or to do
anything that might prove itself to be a scandal for the company.
That’s why he didn’t take you seriously.”

“Oh,
my god, Annabelle, what if you’re right?” Nerves and
excitement apparent in her cousin’s voice. “I need to
talk to Harlan. If he doesn’t even know I’m pregnant...”

Her
voice trailed off.

“I
don’t know anything for sure yet. I’m just sort of
putting things together on my own here. But the good news is that now
I’m in a position to ask questions and to get closer to the
family so I can find out more about what Harlan knows. I just have to
be careful not to alert anyone to the fact that I’m trying to
dig up information.”

“So,
you’re really getting engaged to Hudson Montgomery?”

“Well,
fake engaged, I guess. Can you believe it? I’ve really gotten
myself into a mess this time, haven’t I?” Annabelle
laughed lightly and closed her eyes. “Thanks for not being mad
at me, Jules. You’re the only person in the world who matters
to me.”

“I
could never be mad at you, ’Belle. But you’d
better be back here by the time I have this baby. And keep me updated
on how things are going down there. Don’t let that Montgomery
boy seduce you, either.”

“Yes,
ma’am,” Annabelle said jokingly. “I love you,
Jules.”

“I
love you too, ’Belle.”

As
she hung up the phone, Annabelle made a silent promise to stick with
this crazy scheme long enough to find the answers her cousin needed
and to make sure that Harlan Montgomery knew he was going to be a
father.

All
she needed to do was to find a way to control her growing attraction
to his brother.

Hudson
was just placing a bottle of Merlot in the picnic basket when
Annabelle walked through the door the following morning.

“Good
morning,” he said, eager to get the day started on the right
foot. Everything was planned out meticulously, and he wanted to make
sure nothing went wrong.

“What’s
all this?” she asked, eying the basket on the table.

“Today,
I’m taking you on a grand adventure. First, we’re going
to take a tour of Cottonwood Plantation and have a picnic on the
beach, then I’m taking you to Savannah in the helicopter for a
tour of the new hotel. And tonight, dinner here at home.”

Her
big brown eyes grew wide. “So, we’re
spending the entire day together?”

“Yes,”
he said, placing the rest of the food his housekeeper had prepared in
the basket. “We still have a lot of information to go over.
Plus, we need to get to know each other better for when the press
descends on us full force.”

“And
when will that be?” she asked, taking a grape from an open
container and popping it into her mouth. His gaze was drawn to her
soft, supple lips, the memory of them pressed against his own rushing
back in an instant.

Did
she have any idea how crazy she made him?

Hudson
had barely slept since Annabelle moved to Sea Island. The thought of
her sleeping in the cottage next door kept him tossing and turning,
images of her lush curves dancing in his mind. He knew he would never
survive this engagement plan if he didn’t get her into his own
bed. Soon.

Struggling
to bring his mind back to the subject at hand, he pulled his gaze
away from Annabelle and concentrated on filling the basket.

“Any
day now, is my guess. News of your move has
already hit the stands,” he said. “Soon, we’ll
probably start seeing a few cameras at the front gates or boats out
on the water, but that’s nothing compared to what it may be
like once our engagement is officially announced. And there will
definitely be some reporters at the bonfire in a few days.”

“What
bonfire?”

“It’s
the annual Sea Island end-of-summer bonfire on the beach.” He
lifted the finished basket off the table and walked toward the door.
“Usually, it’s just residents of the island, a mix of
those who only come down for the summers and those who are returning
after vacationing somewhere else. But this time, I’ve invited
ten different magazines and newspapers to attend. It will be a good
opportunity to introduce you to the press as my girlfriend, and also
to the rest of the island.”

Outside,
a golf cart waited near the bottom of the front steps. Hudson set the
basket on and climbed into the cart, unable to take his eyes off
Annabelle’s long legs as she took her place beside him. Her
khaki shorts were form-fitting and when she sat down, they rose up,
revealing most of her thigh.

That
was another thing he liked about her. Unlike a lot of the
conservative women his mother was always pushing his way, Annabelle
wasn’t afraid to show some skin. She seemed to understand her
body well enough to know just what would look sexy without going too
far.

It
took every inch of his self-control not to rest his hand on her bare
leg as he drove the cart down the long driveway. To distract himself,
he took on the role of plantation tour guide, pointing out the
various types of trees and flowers and explaining the history of the
plantation and the three larger houses there.

When
they got to Harlan’s house, Hudson pulled into the front yard
and stopped the cart. “When he’s in town, this is my
brother Harlan’s house. It was originally over in Brunswick,
across the bridge, but our mother always admired it. Several years
ago, it went on the market and we had it moved here.”

“I
can’t even imagine moving an entire house.” She gazed up
at the house, and Hudson let his eyes scan the length of her lean
body and supple curves. They were only ten minutes into their day
together, and already he was thinking of ways to get her back to his
house and into his bed.

Hudson
gave himself a mental shake. This would be a very long day if he
couldn’t get his thoughts under control.

“Believe
me, it was quite the undertaking. The entire house had to be rewired,
and the foundation needed some repair, but the end product is
breathtaking.”

“All
this house for just one man?” she asked, walking up the steps,
giving him a luscious view of her backside.

“For
now,” he said. “But who knows what the future will
bring.”

Annabelle
turned and gave him a look that took his breath away. Her eyes were
soft and full of hope. He was certain the meaning of her look was
lost on him, but he didn’t care. Whatever was going through her
head as she looked around the old house made her achingly beautiful
and somehow tender.

“What
do you think?” he asked her, hoping to gain some insight on her
thoughts.

“I’ve
always loved these old southern houses with bead-board ceilings and
heart-pine floors. These floors are in exquisite shape. What year was
this house built?”

“Around
eighteen-forty.”

“It
looks like the perfect place to raise a family,” she said, and
he could swear he saw a hint of moisture on her eyelashes. Was she
crying?

“Everything
okay?”

“Yep,”
she said, abruptly turning around and heading back outside to the
golf cart. “What’s next on the agenda?”

Hudson
lingered in the doorway, wishing he was a mind reader. There was so
much more to Annabelle than he ever could have imagined the first
time they met. With most women, the half-naked, flirty side was all
he ever wanted to know. Once he got to know them better, they were
usually boring or unintelligent or just plain wrong for him. But with
Annabelle, each new facet of her personality intrigued him.

They
rode in silence to the smaller yellow house where his mother lived.
She wasn’t home this morning so they didn’t go inside,
but Hudson walked with her while Annabelle explored the garden behind
the house.

With
the Japan deal teetering between catastrophe and success, Hudson’s
mind should have been one hundred percent occupied with business. But
ever since Annabelle came into his life, she was all he could think
about. He wanted to know what made her tick. What mattered to her
most in the world. All of her secret thoughts and desires.

Especially
her desires.

The
fact that a woman was distracting him from the most important
business deal of his career could mean only one thing. It had been
entirely too long since he’d taken a woman to bed. Every man
had needs, and Hudson’s only mistress over the past year had
been his job. That was the only explanation for why he was craving
Annabelle.

She
came around the corner, and his body flared again at the sight of
her. It was infuriating how easily he became aroused around her. For
someone who was in control of an entire division of an
multi-billion-dollar company, he was having an awfully hard time
controlling his own libido.

Maybe
some food would help. “Are you ready for lunch?”

“Sure,”
she said. She hopped into her seat and propped her feet up on the
front bar of the cart, stretching out her tanned legs, as if taunting
him.

He
fought to keep his eyes straight ahead as he drove to their picnic
site on the other side of the plantation.

“Wow,”
Annabelle exclaimed, her head moving from side to side as she looked
around their new location. Two rows of small, dilapidated homes rose
up from the weeds and tall grass, their white paint cracking and
peeling. “What is this?”

“These
are the old slave quarters,” he explained. “This land
used to be an actual, working cotton plantation, and this is where
the workers lived. My dad thought about bulldozing the area and
building something new over the top, but I always liked these old
buildings for some reason.”

Annabelle
peeked into one of the houses, her energy and excitement obvious by
the spring in her step. “There’s so much history right
here where we’re standing. Can you imagine the stories that
must have been told right here in the evenings? The struggles the
people who lived here must have gone through?”

“Exactly,”
he said, amazed that Annabelle had been able to put into words what
he had always felt about this part of the plantation. “When I
was a boy, I used to sneak over here to be alone. I always thought
I’d like to do something unique and different with this part of
the property, but so far, I haven’t had any time to even think
about it.”

Hudson
spread the blanket out across the grass under a large pecan tree as
Annabelle took the food from the basket and put a portion of each
container on their plates. As they feasted on chicken salad
sandwiches and fresh fruit, they talked about the history of the
island and the importance of preserving that history. He was
surprised to find that she was as interested in Georgia’s
history as he was.

“You
know what you should do with this place?” she asked suddenly,
excitement gleaming in her eyes. “You should restore these
houses and turn them into a museum of sorts. A history of the island.
The area out here around the homes would make a great place for a
small historical garden. Plant flowers and put out a few picnic
tables. Can you imagine? You could donate it to the island’s
historical society.”

The
idea struck a chord deep inside of him. It was exactly the kind of
thing he’d always wanted to do here. Bulldozing the whole thing
was like covering up a part of history, like trying to pretend that
slavery wasn’t a part of the rich history of this island. But
creating a museum or a historical landmark
out of this place seemed so much more fitting.

“That’s
a great idea,” he said, sipping his wine and looking back at
the broken-down shacks, imagining all the possibilities. “It
would be a tribute to the people who worked this land and spent their
lives here raising cotton.”

For
the rest of the afternoon, they discussed the renovations that would
need to take place. Time and again, Hudson was amazed at Annabelle’s
knowledge and interest in the subject. She had so many great ideas,
and there was no doubt she was excited at the thought of the project.
Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were practically sparkling.