The Suspicious Proposal (5 page)

She turned away from the window and went straight for her phone.

"Hi, honey." Lena's voice came through to Brittany, who was scowling.

Brittany was irritated with her best friend just then. "I can't believe you."

Lena spoke innocently as if nothing at all in the world had happened.

"You talked to Darren and told him that I was getting married and then he came over here?"

Lena was surprised. "He's already been over there? I just talked to him a few hours ago. My goodness. He must have hot-footed it straight over to you!”

She sounded happy that he had.

"So, how was your visit with him?" Lena asked, with considerable interest.

"Short and awkward, Lena," Brittany told her, slightly exasperated. "He was trying to talk me into going back out with him, and I'm not about to do that! There's just no way. I'm engaged to a man I love more than anything, and that's who I am going to marry and stay with for the rest of my life!"  Brittany felt as if there should be no question of it on anyone's mind.

Lena made a doubtful noise and said, "Well, I'd love to believe you, but I just have to tell you that I agree with Darren. I think you ought to give him another chance, and I don't think that you and Logan should be engaged and getting married. It's too soon and you don't know anything about him!"

Brittany was shocked. "What do you mean I should give Darren another chance? You were there with me when I found out he was going after other women. You went through my breakup with me, you held me while I cried! You told him off! How could you, of all people, ever suggest that I start seeing him again?"

Lena sighed. "I talked to him. The man knows how bad he screwed up. He knows what a good thing he had with you. He is regretful and humbled. He still loves you. He wants another chance with you to show you how good the two of you can have it. I just feel like you and Logan are going way too fast on this, and maybe you ought to consider giving Darren another chance. That's all.

“I like Logan; he's fun and good looking as hell, and he's got a lot of money, and I know how much you want him. But be realistic about this; you met him a month ago, and I know it's been fun, but do you really want to spend the rest of your life with him?"

Brittany heard music coming from outside of her house and she walked to the window and looked out to see a horse drawn carriage with a violin player sitting beside the driver playing
Clair de Lune.
Standing in the carriage was Logan in a tuxedo, looking like he just stepped from a James Bond movie, and he was holding a bouquet of roses in his hand.

"Yes, I do want to spend the rest of my life with him. I have to go. He's outside. I'll call you back later, okay? In the meantime, will you please just try to support me in this? I think he's going to be a great husband. I know it's a quick engagement, but when the love is real, who needs time to wait?"

She blew a kiss in the phone to Lena and hung up, walking out of her front door with her hand over her mouth and a stunned expression on her face.

"What on earth are you doing?"

He shrugged and stepped down out of the carriage, walking toward her as the driver looked on and the violin player continued to play.

"I just thought you would like to go with me for a drive and perhaps get an ice cream or something nice like that. You are my fiancé, and we don't have much time for me to romance you before our wedding, so I'm making the most of it. I want you always to remember our engagement as a time when I swept you off your feet and you couldn't resist me." His blue eyes twinkled and he winked at her.

Brittany laughed and shook her head. "You have got to be kidding me."

He turned his head slowly and looked over at the violin player and the driver, and then looked back toward her and shook his head very slowly at her. "No, I think we're all pretty serious here. So, are you busy? Can you come? We don't want to keep them waiting if we can help it."

She nodded and went back in to grab her purse and lock the door. A few minutes later, they were driving down the street, Logan's arm was wrapped around her, and they were chatting and laughing and listening to their own live music as the horse pulled the carriage along.

"This seems a little extravagant,” she told him with a sidelong glance as they passed into a park and rode beneath the trees.

He looked at her with one brow raised and a thoughtful expression. "Does it? I thought it was romantic. Does romance really even have levels of extravagance? Does it ever get to a point where the lovers think... okay, this is just too much, because..." he took a bite of his ice cream and his gaze met hers, “this just seems like so much fun to me. We can do it, so why wouldn't we do it? It's better than anything you were already doing this morning, I'm betting. Am I right?" A half grin began to form on his face.

She gave him a sly look. "Well, you're not wrong." She laughed and slipped her hand into his, twining their fingers together as the carriage passed over a bridge built on a small lake in the park, and she enjoyed her own ice cream.

"So, how are we doing on wedding planning? Is there anything else I need to know or help you with? I think we made it through all the big things. We got cake and flowers," he nodded at the violinist who was then playing Vivaldi. "We got musicians. I got a tux. Not this one, this is for afternoon rides, of course, but I'm set to be well dressed for the event. Is there anything else we were going to look at and haven't?"

Brittany was truly impressed that he had helped out with as much of it as he had. He had taken the entire thing seriously and worked with her on most of the details, rather than just leaving it all for her to handle.

"We haven't chosen a caterer,” she reminded him with a guilty grimace.

He nodded. "That's right! Well, we can't lose any more time." He leaned forward and called up to the man in the box. "Driver! Would you take us to Pierre's please?"

The driver nodded and Logan leaned back in his seat looking quite pleased with himself.

"There. Now we can go to Pierre's and if we like them, we have them cater the wedding." He looked over at her with a triumphant little smile on his face.

Her eyes grew wide. "I love Pierre's!"

He lowered his eyelashes just a bit and his grin turned mischievous. "I know,” he said with conspiratorial voice.

She tilted her head at him and her mouth fell open slightly. "You planned this!" she gasped in delight.

He rolled his eyes subtly and smiled wide, shaking his head. "I'm going to have to work harder at surprising you." He looked at her and gave her another wink.

As the carriage rode on, he leaned his head to her and kissed her softly. "I want to make this one of the most wonderful and memorable times of our lives."

Brittany laughed again. "Oh, you have. You definitely have. I love it." 

They arrived at Pierre's, and after bidding their driver and violinist a good evening, went into the fine French restaurant to enjoy dinner together. They talked with the manager and sampled several dishes off the menu, chose the ones they wanted to share with their guests, and enjoyed the rest of the evening in a private courtyard of the restaurant, talking, dining, kissing, and laughing.

Logan might well have invented the concept of romance for all Brittany knew, and she was absolutely sure that he was who she wanted to be with for the rest of her life. Her best friend might doubt, and her ex might be trying to turn her head and win her back, but no one and nothing was going to make her change her mind about Logan Grayson.

Chapter Four

Almost two weeks had passed since Logan had driven her in the carriage to the French restaurant to try out dishes for their wedding feast. In those two weeks, he managed to surprise her over and again with sweet, thoughtful, little things: romantic scenarios; long hot nights in bed; short stolen heated moments in secret places during the day. She loved it. She had no doubt at all in her mind about him.

That was why, when there was a knock on her door one Tuesday afternoon, she was not pleased to see Darren standing there with a smile on his face and a box of chocolates in his hand.

Brittany opened the door and let him in, and he stepped over the threshold and leaned over to kiss her cheek softly. He lingered there for a moment and she sighed and pulled away from him, moving to close the door behind him.

"I brought you some chocolates. I know how you like these,” he said, smiling and handing her the box.

She sighed deeply and crossed her arms over her chest. "What are you doing, Darren?" she asked with slight impatience.

He shrugged. "What? I'm just trying to show you how much I appreciate you. Just doin’ nice things for you, that's all."

Brittany rolled her eyes and took the chocolates from him, walking in to the living room and setting them on the table. "Thank you for the candy. Now, what are you doing here?" she asked him, turning to look at him seriously.

He walked a few steps toward her and pushed his hands down in his pockets. "Nothing at all. I just came by to visit and see how you're doing. I miss you. I know you have things coming up soon on the horizon and I just wanted to know how everything is going."

Darren took a seat on the sofa and opened the box of chocolates, handing them to her.

She sighed and took one of them, popping it in her mouth. As she chewed it, it seemed to taste funny to her.

"How is your wedding planning going? You getting that all figured out? Still marrying that guy? You didn't change your mind yet?" he asked with a careful look at her, offering her another chocolate.

She shook her head. "No, I haven't changed my mind at all. I'm in love with him and I'm marrying him."

"You stopped worrying about the prenuptial agreement that you signed and everything is all rainbows and sparkles now, huh?" he asked with an air of dismay.

She chewed the second chocolate and it tasted worse than the first one to her. "I'm not worried about it because we're never going to need it. I told you when we talked about this before, it is just a precaution for his business, and that's all."

In truth, she had worried about it a little more, but his constant affections and attentions to her had eased her concern about how he felt and what it might be like when they were married.

Her stomach began to tighten.

"Well, I'm not here to cause any problems or anything, I'm just checking on you and making sure that you're making the right decisions. I just want to know that you're alright, that's all."

She nodded and frowned at him. "I don't think that's the only reason you're here, but I will tell you again, I am happy... in fact, I have never been happier, and I am glad we are engaged, and I can't wait to be his-" She stopped as her stomach tightened further and she suddenly felt ill. Her hand raised to her mouth and she wondered if she should head to the bathroom, but then the feeling eased and she took a breath.

"I can't wait to be his wife," she finished quietly.

Darren looked at her in suspicion. "Are you alright? You don't look very good. You look like you might be sick-"

As he said it, her hand flew back up to her mouth and she knew she was not going to be able to hold anything down. She ran to the bathroom and just made it before the chocolates she had eaten were vigorously ejected from her body. She felt weak and her body sank to the floor in the bathroom, leaning over the toilet and using tissue paper to wipe her mouth.

Darren appeared at the bathroom door.

"Are you okay? You took off so fast that I was worried. You're sick?" he asked in surprise.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, willing her body to calm itself.

"The chocolates weren't good. That first one tasted funny to me, and I don't know why I ate the second one, but I'm not eating any more of them," she told him.

He frowned. "I thought they tasted okay. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you sick!" he said sympathetically.

She climbed to her feet and moved to the sink to wash her hands and face. "I know you didn't. Listen, I'm not feeling too hot right now, maybe this isn't such a good time for a visit."

He looked crestfallen, but he walked to the front door and took his chocolates with him along the way. She gave him a hug before he left and after she closed the door, she went to bed to rest for a little while. It was so rare that she got food poisoning, and she had never gotten it from eating chocolate before, but something about the ones that he brought just didn't agree with her.

She slept for a while and woke up later when her phone rang.

"Hello?" she asked in a sleepy voice.

“Hey, it's Darren. I just wanted to check on you and see if you're feeling any better. I'm really sorry about that."

She sat up in her bed and took a deep breath. "I'm good,” she said, rubbing her hand over her forehead. "I feel fine now."

"Oh, that's good! That's good to hear. Listen, I just wanted to talk to you while I was there and see if you had given any more thought to what I told you about your marriage. I just don't think it's a good idea for you, and I want you to know that if you want to talk about it, I'm here for you." He sounded a little dejected, as if he knew he was banging his head against a brick wall, but he wasn't going to give up on it.

She closed her eyes, unsure why it was that she when she had wanted him more than any other man, he had been hell bent on chasing after other women, but now that she was engaged, he was desperate to be with her and prove to her that she should be with him. The irony was just unbelievable to her.

"Yes, Darren, I have thought about it and what I can tell you is that I want to be with him, I am looking forward to being with him, and want to spend the rest of my life with him. Thank you for your concern and for trying to look out for me, but you've really got to let it go, okay? It's happening and it isn't going to change. Just... just let it go, okay?"

She sighed again and climbed out of her bed, straightening her clothes and running a comb through her hair.

"I just want to be sure you really know what you're doing. When marriages are a mistake, it can be expensive and costly to get out of them. Just looking out for you," he said quietly.

"I'm all set, Darren. Thanks." She kept it short as she touched up her lipstick and looked at herself appraisingly in the mirror. She had told Logan that she would go over that afternoon and she wanted to look her best for him.

"Alright. Well, remember, I'm only a phone call away and so is Lena."

"I know." Brittany told him. "I have to go, I have some things to do. Thanks for the visit and the call,” she told him and then she hung up.

Lena had laid off the worry, and she seemed to know that she wasn't going to get any further with arguing with Brittany, so the two of them talked about the wedding and everything except Logan.

Brittany picked up her keys and her purse and headed out of the door to go to Logan's house. When she arrived, Richard let her in and she thanked him as she had every time she had seen him. He seemed to be getting used to it, and he smiled and nodded at her.

“Thank you, Madam. They are in the library," he said, indicating the room down the hall.

She nodded and walked toward the library with a slight frown on her face. Richard had said “they.” She was positive that she was meeting Logan alone. She walked up to the door of the library and saw that it was open. Just as she reached for the handle to push the door, she heard her name spoken and she paused.

"You may have talked her into marrying you, but that isn't going to be enough, and you know it," came the voice of an old man.

She heard Logan's voice in response to the old man. "I know it isn't and I'm working on it as best I can. It's going to be taken care of. Aren't there any loopholes or anything? Isn't there some legal way around this that I don't know about yet?"

Brittany frowned slightly and leaned closer to the door to listen. She knew she shouldn't be eavesdropping, but she knew they were talking about her and she wanted to know what they were saying.

The old man spoke. "Logan, your father's will is airtight. I wrote it myself. There's no way out of it. It is just as he decreed. You will both be married and have a child by your next birthday, or you will not inherit anything at all. It's that simple.

“Being married without the child is a breach of the will; it doesn't meet the requirements he set forth for you, and it means you lose it all. Every bit of it. Your only hope in keeping your home, and the money, and even the businesses, is to get married, as he demanded, and to have a child by then.

“You know he was adamant about carrying on a legacy and the family name and bloodline. It's just that simple. No baby, no inheritance."

There was a silence in the room; a deafening silence that wrapped its icy fingers around her heart and gripped her tightly and then she began to realize that everything she had heard from both of them just then was about her, and about much more than just she and Logan being in love and getting married.

She felt sick as the truth washed over her and froze her to the spot.

"Is your fiancé pregnant yet?" the old man asked.

There was another moment's silence and then Logan sighed. "I don't think so. I've certainly been trying to get her pregnant, but nothing has come up yet."

There was the sound of a chair moving against a wooden floor and the old man spoke. "Well, you're running out of time. Your birthday is eight months after your wedding date. If you don't have her pregnant now, you may very well lose it all. There has to be a live baby by your birthday. There's just no way around it,” the old man told him, and then she heard a briefcase close and snap shut.

"At least you got her to sign the prenuptial agreement. Getting her with child is really the last big hurdle. You've got to get it done, Logan, or you will lose everything you have."

She felt like she was going to throw up again. All the time she was with Logan, she had believed that he really loved her. She believed that he wanted her to be his wife because he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.

Lena and Darren had been right. Their suspicions about his reasoning in marrying her were completely justified. She felt as if a ton of weights had been dropped on her and she was being crushed mercilessly beneath them.

Tears stung at her eyes and a deep anger rose up in her. She pushed the door open and walked into the room, looking at Logan first, and then at the older man who was standing behind the desk with a briefcase in his hand.

The old man looked at her. He was tall and thin, and he was dressed in a dark blue suit with a white button up shirt and a red tie. He blinked when he saw her.

"You must be Brittany Taylor. I'm Sherman Prescott. I'm Logan's family attorney. You have impeccable timing, miss. I believe that Logan and you have some wedding business to attend to." He nodded at her and then gave Logan a meaningful look.

"Make sure that you take care of that last part immediately. There is no way around it," he said adamantly.

Logan nodded and got up from the sofa, reaching his hand out to shake Sherman Prescott's hand. "I'll do my best, of course," he said solemnly.

Brittany watched them in horror, looking from one to the other. "You will do your best? Is that right? You're going to do your best to get me pregnant so you can inherit your father's money? Is that it? I was standing at the door just now, Logan, and I heard everything that the two of you were just talking about."