The Blackmailed Bride (10 page)

Kate couldn't take her eyes from the cheque and pen he placed on the table. She touched her tongue to the beads of sweat across her upper lip.

‘This money doesn't mean anything to you, does it? The children it could help, they mean nothing to you either? No more than I do?' He responded to her whispered accusation with a shrug—what did you expect? Him to dramatically reveal it's really you he wants, not control of the Montero empire?

Her trembling lips compressed into a mutinous line. ‘What if I say I will, then I bank the money and back out at the last minute?' she asked, licking her dry lips.

His smiled thinly. ‘I trust you, you are a woman of principle…' He made it sound like a vice. ‘One who will put the welfare of others ahead of her own personal desires…'

Kate lifted her eyes an expression of loathing on her face. ‘I'm not a martyr.'

‘No,' he conceded. ‘A martyr would marry me to save her family embarrassment. You will marry me to help thousands of children have better care in the future, because you care passionately about them.'

‘Are you so sure of me?' she wondered, trying to hide her growing sense of despair.

‘Yes, I am. We can argue for a while if you like—but your decision is inevitable and we both know it.'

Kate swallowed convulsively. ‘I have a career.'

‘I'm not asking you to give it up; a short sabbatical should suffice for our purposes.'

‘I'll want everything in writing and you'll give the money to the unit up front?' I'm mad, quite mad…

‘Naturally.'

‘Including a clause that guarantees you don't lay a finger on me?'

‘You can't legislate against passion between two people.' His glance moved over her body in a way that made her aware of it all over again in a very disturbing way. ‘Will my word not suffice?'

Kate threw back her head and laughed to hide the fact she was still seriously spooked by his reference to passion. ‘That's the funniest thing I've ever heard. I wouldn't take your word for it if you told me the sun is going to rise tomorrow.'

There was real loathing in her eyes as she glared up at him; Javier regretted her animosity but felt it was a small price to pay for letting his grandfather die a happy man—it was a pity, though. In other circumstances he suspected they could have been friends… Well, maybe not friends, not with the lust factor.

‘And they say trust is the most important thing in a marriage,' he sighed.

J
AVIER
was sitting tapping his index finger impatiently against the steering wheel when the fair-headed figure finally appeared around the corner. As he watched she gave a quick furtive glance over one shoulder, then the other.

He half expected her to daub her face with camouflage paint and slither across the courtyard on her belly, commando-style, but as he watched she lifted her rounded little chin and took a deep breath; then, shoulders back walked purposefully towards the car as fast as the pair of ridiculously high-heeled strappy sandals she wore would allow. Clearly she was too proud to allow him to see her apprehension, Javier concluded with grudging admiration.

As Kate approached the long shiny car, the tinted window on the driver's side lowered. A supremely confident Javier, his lean body clad in a dark formal suit, was revealed at the wheel. Sometimes the drivers of classy cars were a bit of a let-down, but not in this case!

Kate stopped dead in her tracks as he slowly lowered the stylish dark shades he wore and looked at her over the top. She felt every muscle in her body grow tense and rigid as she endured his laser like scrutiny.

Elbow resting on the open window, his long fingers drummed against the shiny paintwork as he waited expectantly. ‘Don't just stand there, get in!'

Kate flushed at the peremptory tone. ‘I was just trying to decide whether what I'm doing could be termed elopement,' she replied, in an attempt to divert attention from the embarrassing fact she'd been staring at him with all the subtlety of a star-struck adolescent!

‘Or if it's only elopement when star-crossed lovers are involved?' she finished, panting slightly as she took her place beside him in the passenger seat.

The mild exertion Javier noted had brought a very attractive flush to the smooth contours of her cheeks; he couldn't place the perfume but she also smelt rather good.

‘You are late!' he rapped.

Kate, who had been about to apologise for her tardiness, closed her mouth with a snap. The sudden eye movement as she dealt him a cold look made her conscious of the irritating presence of the contact lenses she rarely wore—damned things.

‘I had a visit from Susie; I had to wait until she'd gone, or would you prefer I'd brought her along…?'

She pushed a hank of fair hair from her face with her forearm and wondered if perhaps it might not have been better to put it up after all. Until Susie's comment about the length of her neck—there was too much of it, apparently—she had thought the loose chignon was not only cool but quite attractive.

Kate had been rather touched by Susie's unexpected visit to her sick bed until she realised that her sister had come to make sure that she had managed to retrieve the negatives before she'd been taken ill. Susie had been extremely relieved when Kate had handed over the envelope.

Once her own problems were solved, an elated Susie had moved on to the next thing on her agenda—Javier Montero and how did well Kate know him anyhow?

It had been insultingly easy for Kate to convince her sister that her own supposed friendship with the fabled Javier Montero was a big misunderstanding.

‘I knew it was,' Susie had revealed smugly. ‘I mean, no insult intended, Katie, but the likes of Javier Montero is hardly likely to date someone like you.' But not someone like me, her smug expression seemed to imply.

‘True, but that's his loss,' Kate had replied grandly.

‘That's right, Katie.' Susie patted her sister's shoulder in an encouraging manner. ‘I do so admire your positive attitude. Tell me,' she added casually, ‘is he seeing anyone at the moment?'

‘Positive attitude nothing! If I had that man for a couple of weeks I might be able to teach him a bit of humility,' Kate boasted ambitiously. ‘And that,' she declared, ‘would be doing womankind a big favour!'

‘But, Kate, when I saw him he was charming!'

‘If you were wearing that outfit, I'm not surprised!' Kate retorted; the idea of Javier slobbering over her nubile baby sister was particularly unappealing.

Susie laughed and slid her hands complacently over her slim, evenly tanned hips.

‘Stay away from him, Susie!' Kate advised abruptly.

Susie stared at her in astonishment.

‘He'd eat you up and spit you out. He's a devious snake,' Kate had elaborated with so much vehemence that her sister had laughed nervously and remembered a previous engagement.

Just how she was going to explain away her comments when Susie discovered she'd married the snake she didn't know, but when she considered her other problems this one didn't rate priority treatment! No matter what spin you put on it, the bottom line was Javier had bought his bride, and she was it!

Despite her initial reluctance to keep her family in the dark, the encounter with Susie had made her think that Javier had a point when he had said that the fewer people that knew about this beforehand the better. There was certainly no way she was going to convince anyone who knew her that she was anything other than a very reluctant bride!

Javier gave her a veiled look. ‘You would have preferred the support of your family today…?'

Rebellion simmering not far below the surface flared up as she eyed him resentfully.

‘Hardly!'
she responded scornfully. ‘Marrying you is not an event I'd want anyone I know to witness; I've got a reputation as a rational human being to protect. Or did you mean it in a someone to hold while you're having a tooth pulled sort of way? Or maybe…'

The sound of his hissing exhalation brought her diatribe to an abrupt halt. She got the impression that he wanted to say quite a lot to her but he contented himself with, ‘I'm prepared to put up with your sarcasm up to a point.'

Despite his level tone Kate was left with the impression that dismissal was implicit in his cool manner. Kate, who had felt nervous and anxious when she'd got into the car, felt her anger climb. She watched as he loosened a button of his exquisitely cut jacket before adjusting the driving mirror a fraction; it was obvious to her that he was a man to whom such minor details were important. He was also a man who she knew next to nothing about… So far, she'd kept her anxiety levels in check by not thinking too far ahead, but she wouldn't have that luxury soon, she'd be married!

Filled by pure panic, she launched immediately into a vitriolic attack.

‘If you want people to believe this marriage is for real, you'll have to start talking to me as if I'm a human being, not a disobedient puppy being brought to heel…' Yes, mate, she thought as he turned his head, I can actually instigate a conversation without permission.

For a split second she thought he was going to explode, then a dangerous, contemplative expression slid across his grim features. She observed the transformation with deep foreboding.

‘In what sense,
real?
'

Kate's head snapped back at this totally unexpected re
sponse. Heat flooded her face; the speculative gleam in his eyes made it impossible for her to mistake his meaning.

‘Not that one!' she advised him darkly.

Aware his glance had wandered to her legs, neatly crossed at the ankle, she began smoothing down the skirt of her short cream shift dress, angry at herself for allowing him to discompose her so easily.

Her actions drew his gaze and inevitably his criticism—the girl he married for real was in for a rough ride, she decided sourly.

‘You are wearing
that?
' If he were to be her husband in the real sense, the idea of other men lustfully ogling those long, extremely shapely legs would have disturbed him.

Kate drew herself up huffily. She may have to marry him; she wasn't going to let him criticise her dress sense into the bargain! Even if the dress in question had returned from the dry cleaners a good two inches shorter than it went there… This discovery had almost reduced her to tears, but there had been no time to change.

‘I had this boyfriend once,' she explained, as she fixed him with a dangerously narrowed gaze. ‘He thought I ought to wear winter colours, whatever they might be. He also wanted me to grow my hair and shorten my skirts… I have to tell you he lasted about five minutes, but I expect you've already learnt this from your in-depth dossier on my life and loves…' she observed sweetly.

‘Your love life didn't take up much space, which surprises me for you are clearly a very sensual, passionate woman.' This frank observation was accompanied by a slow, sensual smile of the heart-stopping variety.

Kate felt her composure, already in pretty bad shape from sharing a confined space with him, shatter into a thousand fragments.

‘Leave my love life out of this!'

‘But you introduced the subject.'

‘I wasn't introducing any subject; I was simply laying down a few ground rules,' Kate gritted.

‘
You,
are laying down rules for
me!
' he responded with an air of startled incredulity.

Kate shrugged. ‘You can like it or lump it.'

His eyes narrowed. ‘I thought me
not
liking it was what this was about; you are determined to make the time we spend together as unpleasant as possible. Do you always feel the need to be in charge in a relationship?'

‘We don't have a relationship.'

‘Not of the conventional kind,' he conceded.

‘Not of any kind.'

‘We're going to be seeing quite a lot of one another, and life would be a lot more comfortable if rather than pick fights you tried to get along with me…'

‘That's a big ask.'

‘If you're nourishing some hope that I will find you so intolerable I will call off the wedding—don't. Incidentally, did the hospital receive the funds…?'

‘Yes.' His smooth question threw her off balance.

David Fenner, the clinical director, had been euphoric. ‘I don't know how to thank you,' he kept saying over and over. ‘Please tell the anonymous donor how much this means to us, Kate. It's a marvellous thing he's doing for us.' It was at that moment Kate had realised that she'd burnt her boats big time!

‘They were grateful.'

‘I don't want their gratitude.' She felt him studying her face and lifted her head. ‘I want you.'

Kate knew he didn't mean it that way, but all the same she felt the knot of sexual heat in her belly swell to bursting point. ‘I have that effect on men.'

Her quip didn't make him laugh the way it was meant to. If anything, the tension between them increased.

‘I won't have you dictate what I wear,' she heard herself
babble. ‘I'm sorry I don't meet your high standards…' Her glare moved disparagingly over his tastefully clad figure—nothing to criticise there; everything about him shrieked good taste and money. ‘Though some people might consider your orthodox style a bit on the well…on the
insipid
side,' she mused spitefully. ‘But then I suppose not everyone has an individuality to reflect…' Her spite suddenly ran out of steam as a giant wave of despondency hit her. ‘Oh, God!' she groaned. ‘I wish I'd just worn the pink shorts suit and been done with it.' That childish act of rebellion would have at least shown him how totally unsuitable she was for the role he wanted her to play.

‘And I'm sure you'd have looked charming in it,' he responded grimly.

A sudden giggle welled in Kate's throat; the sound as it escaped made him stare at her in a startled fashion. ‘You wouldn't have said that if you'd seen me in it. My bottom looked like the size of a double-decker bus…' she elaborated.

A gleam of startled amusement appeared in his eyes. ‘You are very frank and rather severe on yourself. I didn't actually say that I didn't like your dress…' he reminded her, his eyes sliding of their own volition to her legs.

Kate viewed this blatant attempt to steer the conversation away from the thorny subject of her bottom with a sour smile. Of course, if he'd been a total hypocrite he could simply have said,
It's a delicious bottom, just the right size,
but Kate recognised this was not the most likely of scenarios!

‘I couldn't care less!' she sniffed childishly.

‘Then why are you making such an issue of it? The fact is, I have no desire to act as some sort of fashion police. I was merely vexed that I hadn't taken into account the likelihood you would not have a suitable outfit with you. I know women care about such things as wedding outfits…'

‘Your concern is touching, but quite unnecessary. You're confusing me with a real blushing bride again. I'm not going to be flicking through the wedding album all dewy-eyed and remembering how fantastic you looked in your wedding suit—at least one of us looks the part,' she inserted bitterly.

‘My appearance seems to bother you.'

‘Everything about you bothers me!' she countered with a frustrated groan. ‘Listen, there's no point acting as if this is a society wedding.' Kate was horrified to hear the wistful note in her voice…which, considering she had never lusted after a big wedding and all the frills in her life, had no right to be there in the first place! It was too much to hope he hadn't detected it too?

‘You are angry because I have cheated you out of your opportunity to float down the aisle in white on your father's arm.'

‘I'm not bitter, and as far as I'm concerned the fewer things I have to remind me of today the better, so you see the fact that I can bin this dress is no bad thing.'

Javier was just about to deliver a biting response to this sneering retort when he saw a single tear slip down her cheek. As he watched she brushed it away with the back of her hand and blinked rapidly to prevent any more escaping.

‘I expect Sarah will have something you can wear over your head. That will have to suffice.'

The mention of the other woman made Kate glance across at him; it was impossible to tell from his expression what he felt when he said her name, or even if he felt anything!