Hold Me Closer (Sea Island Brides Book 1) (6 page)

“This
doesn’t have to be the first and last,” he said,
finishing the last of his wine. “I promise that if you agree to
my earlier proposal, I’ll show you a very good time over the
next few months. You could have anything your heart desires.”

The
word desire made the image of her in that white bikini pop into his
mind. The thought of her full breasts and long legs sent a flare of
heat shooting through his body. He couldn't imagine how he'd had the
strength to turn her down that day.

“Thank
you for the dress, by the way.” She touched a beaded strap and
blushed.

Hudson
was overcome by the sudden urge to get her back to her apartment
where he could push her beaded straps down and let the black dress
fall to the floor. The preview she'd already given him of her
luscious curves and the well-toned body underneath that dress was
driving him crazy.

“You
are very welcome. You look beautiful.” He reached across the
table to take her hand in his. He told himself it had everything to
do with the image he was trying to create, and nothing to do with how
much he admired her.

Her
hand was soft and smooth and he couldn't resist rubbing his thumb
across the soft nook between her thumb and forefinger. There was no
denying the physical attraction between them. It had been there right
from the moment he stepped into the sunlight to find her lying beside
his pool. But after spending an entire evening with her, he realized
there was a lot more to Annabelle than her outer beauty.

“I
wish you would reconsider,” he said softly.

Her
eyes glistened and he wondered what she was thinking behind those
deep brown eyes of hers. Their night was quickly coming to an end,
but he didn’t want to say goodbye.

Besides,
one date might convince some of the press that they had a real
relationship, but Mr. Takahashi back in Japan would be much harder to
convince. The Montgomery family business was counting on this
acquisition to push their name into the Asian
market, and the board of directors was looking for any way to get rid
of the Montgomery children. Without a huge new deal bringing billions
to the table, Jack was afraid they wouldn’t have much
bargaining power when it came down to a board vote.

They
all needed Annabelle to make this work.

“I
can’t,” she said, looking away from him. She pulled her
hand back and set it in her lap, looking uncomfortable again, and out
of place.

“Why
not?” he asked.

He
wished he could read her mind to know what was going on behind those
beautiful brown eyes of hers. She looked sad and confused.

“When
it comes to family, I don’t take things lightly,” she
said finally. “Getting close to yours and pretending I’m
going to become a part of it? I don’t know. It’s risky.”

Throughout
the evening, anytime he'd tried to ask questions about her family or
her past, she'd quickly asked him a question about his own life.
Until now, she’d been careful to guard any discussion about her
own family.

He’d
had one of his security guys run a full background check on her, so
he knew that she had lost her family at a young age. He didn’t
want to pry, but he needed to find a way past her worries and
convince her to agree to his proposal.

“It
doesn’t have to be risky,” he said. “Everyone
inside the family will know the situation. They’ll be kind to
you, I promise. You have nothing to worry about.”

She
shook her head. “I’m not afraid they’ll be unkind,”
she said. “I’m worried about getting too attached. I lost
my own parents when I was thirteen. I don’t have any brothers
or sisters, so pretending to be a part of your family for months
might be more difficult than I can handle.”

“Thirteen?
I can't imagine that. What happened to them?” He already knew
some of the details, but he felt that asking was the right thing to
do.

“They
died in a car crash,” she said, taking a sip of her water. “My
mother and her sister won a trip for four to Hawaii in one of those
mail-in sweepstakes. It was like a dream come true for them. Neither
of them had been outside Georgia their whole lives. Part of their
prize included a rental car while they were on the island. They were
hit by a drunk driver the last day of their trip and all four of them
died instantly. My mom and dad, and my aunt and uncle.”

Her
eyes glistened with tears and he couldn't help but wonder what losing
both her parents so young must have been like for her. It had been
hard to lose his own father earlier this year to a heart attack, but
he knew it wasn’t the same.

“Who
took care of you?”

“My
older cousin was eighteen at the time. She lost her parents too, so
we stuck together. Took care of each other.”

She
looked so vulnerable and soft compared to the tiger she'd been
earlier in her apartment. More than anything, he wanted to pull her
into his arms to comfort her, but before he could make a move, she
was wiping away her tears.

“Enough
of that,” she said, taking a deep breath. Soon, she was smiling
again and asking him about the plantation.

In
the short time he'd known her, he was already more intrigued by her
than any other woman he'd known. There were hidden depths to her,
while most of the women he'd gotten close
to were shallow and easy to predict.

He
liked spending time with her and hated that their night was almost
over.

“It’s
getting late,” she said. “I really should be getting
home. I have to get up early to start job hunting.”

When
they got back to her apartment, he paused inside her door and took
her hand.

“Don’t
look for another job in the morning,” he said. “Come to
Sea Island. I had a great time with you tonight, Annabelle. I think
we could really make this work.”

She
shook her head, but didn’t pull her hand away. He took that as
a good sign.

“I
don’t know,” she said.

“I
know it’s crazy, but I’d love to get to know you better,”
he said. “I honestly haven’t been able to get you out of
my mind since the other day by the pool. Say yes. I promise, if
things start to feel weird or you get uncomfortable around my family,
we can call the whole thing off.”

“And
if we go through with this, what then?” she asked. “I
pretend to be your girlfriend or your fiancee until when?”

He
shrugged. “Until that deal in Japan goes through,” he
said. “Or until you don’t want to be a part of it any
more. You call the shots.”

She
sucked in a breath and he could see that she was considering it.

He
smiled, suddenly excited about having her close to him on the island.

“So
it will be a business deal?” she asked. “Strictly
business?”

“We
can even draw up a confidential contract if you want.”

“And
what do I get when all this is over?” she asked.

Something
inside Hudson’s stomach tightened. Of course she’d ask
for money. He expected it, but there was a part of him that had been
hoping she would be different. Still, he couldn’’t very
well ask her to pack up her entire life and move to Sea Island for
nothing.

“Whatever
you want,” he said. “Name your price.”

She
smiled and he wasn’t totally sure he understood the look in her
eyes. “What if I wanted to wait and tell you what I want when
this whole thing is over?” she asked.

He
took a deep breath. What did she mean by that? Was she afraid she’d
give him too low a figure right from the start? Maybe she wanted to
size him up and see how much she could get out of him in the end.

The
truth was, he didn’t really care how much she wanted. He was
willing to pay. His family needed her right now, and he would do
whatever it took to get her to agree.

“As
long as it’s reasonable, sure,” he said.

“I’ll
hold you to that,” she said with a smile.

“So
you’ll do it?” he asked.

She
nodded. “I’ll do it,” she said.

He
picked her up and swung her around, loving the sound of her joyful
laughter. He hoped it was a sign that their agreement wouldn’t
end up being all work and no play.

As
he looked down at her smiling face and thought of the way it had felt
to hold her in his arms, he realized he was looking forward to the
future that stretched out ahead of them.

Annabelle
had been up most of the night packing, but she doubted she would have
gotten much sleep anyway.

The
doubts running through her head had her tossing and turning until the
sun came up. Had she completely lost her mind? She was picking up her
entire life and moving to Sea Island for who knew how many months,
and for what? The chance to find a guy her cousin had had a secret
one-night-stand with a few months ago?

She
was taking this too far, but she couldn’t stop herself. There
was something about Hudson Montgomery that turned her brain to mush.

Just
the thought of spending six hours in a limo with him this morning had
her changing clothes and checking her makeup twelve times in the past
half hour.

Yep.
She was definitely losing it.

When
the limo finally pulled up in front of her apartment, there was an
army of reporters waiting to snap her picture as she ran out to meet
it. A sweet older man named Raymond took her bags and helped usher
her into the limo without too much drama. She just kept her head down
and did her best to ignore the questions being shouted out to her.

Much
to her disappointment, though, Hudson wasn’t waiting for her
inside the limo.

“Will
we be meeting Hudson somewhere this morning?” she asked,
telling herself she didn't care if he was there or not.

“No,
ma'am. Mr. Montgomery had an important meeting in Savannah this
morning, so he took the helicopter home last night.”

Helicopter?
So that's how he’d been able to get to Atlanta in such a hurry.
Riding in a helicopter was yet another thing Annabelle had never
done, and she was relieved Hudson had not insisted she accompany him
last night. Ever since her parents' death, she hadn't been able to
think about getting in a plane. She doubted a helicopter would make
her feel any more comfortable.

Without
a companion in the back of the limo to keep her company, Annabelle
watched TV. Raymond told her where to find the Montgomery’s DVD
collection. If anyone had told her three days ago that she'd be
riding in a fancy limousine watching movies on her way to stay in her
own private cottage on the Montgomery’s plantation, she would
never have believed them. She could hardly believe it now.

Soon
she would officially be Hudson Montgomery’s fiancé. The
thought caused a thousand butterflies to perform acrobatics in her
stomach. How had she gone from almost blackmailing him to dating him?
She worried about it the whole way there, and by the time the driver
pulled through the Sea Island Gate, she was ready to tell him to turn
around and take her home.

Hudson
saw her as a victim in all this, despite the fact that she
practically threw herself at him. If he ever found out that she’d
planned the entire thing, there's no telling what he would do. How
was she ever going to pull this off without him figuring it out?

Annabelle's
muscles tensed as she thought of a completely new problem. What if he
expected her to sleep with him now that they were getting engaged? It
may be a fake engagement, but if he decided he wanted to be with her,
how could she turn him down and make it believable after the way
she’d acted that first day?

Maybe
if she pretended that his initial rebuff hurt her feelings, she could
get away with it. Watching the palm trees and mansion estates pass by
outside her window, she decided to take it one day at a time.

As
the car turned down the private road to Cottonwood Plantation—the
Montgomery’s estate—Annabelle once again stared in awe at
the beauty of the property.

When
she was pretending to research the article for Southern Style
Magazine, she’d learned a lot about the plantation. There were
actually three large houses on the property, two of which were moved
from other areas of the state of Georgia many years ago. The “Big
House,” as they called it,
was the original plantation house, and it was also where Hudson lived
now.

His
mother spent most of her time at her house in Savannah, but when she
came to visit the island, she stayed in the smallest of the three
houses. They passed it as Annabelle watched from inside the
limousine. From what the housekeeper told her, this house was
actually the same house where Sue Ellen Montgomery grew up. She’d
had it moved down here after her own father died back in the nineteen
seventies.

Farther
down the long, palm-lined driveway, another antebellum home peeked
out through the oak trees hung with Spanish moss. Annabelle was
unsure of the origin of this second home, but it was magnificent with
its three stories and beautiful wrap-around porch. She knew that
Hudson’s oldest brother, Jack Jr., called this large house his
own when he was in town.

Annabelle
couldn't help but wonder where Harlan lived.

He
was an up-and-coming actor, fresh from a very successful TV series on
HBO, so she doubted he spent much time here on the island anymore. He
probably lived in Los Angeles most of the time, but something must
have brought him home to the area four months ago when he showed up
at Julia’s bar.

Annabelle
hoped she’d have the chance to meet him and talk to him about
Julia. She was going to do everything she could to find him before
this whole thing blew up in her face.

Julia
still didn't know that Annabelle was here trying to find him. She
would probably be angry at Annabelle for meddling in her business,
but once the baby came, she would be thanking her. Or at least that’s
what Annabelle kept telling herself.