THE RELUCTANT BRIDE Read Online Free

ignoring her plea. “A
not inconsiderable sum, according to Brewster.”
    “ What
money?”
    “ Ben's.
Apart from £15,000 to his housekeeper and the other small
bequests, it all comes to us. If we marry. Three quarters of a
million, give or take a few thousand.”
    Stunned,
Gabriella stared at him. The figure took her breath away. With her
share she could pay for her mother's operation. A dozen operations.
Pay for a nurse, pay for everything she needed.
    “ Then
there's the house,” said Rod. “Lovely old place. White
Gables. Ever been there?”
    Gabriella
moistened dry lips. “Yes. I've been there.” Her mind
raced. Never for a moment had she dreamed that she and Rod might
inherit everything. White Gables. A great longing filled her., To go
back. To live again in that beautiful old house where she had grown
up.
    But
the price was too high.
    If
Rod were more like Bernard, someone with whom she could jog along
happily without either making any great demands on the other, it
might be easier to pay that price. Bernard would make a good husband.
Although after two years their physical contact was still limited to
holding hands, a friendly arm around her shoulders, a light kiss when
they said goodnight that more often than not missed the corner of her
mouth, she knew he was the sort of man who, once committed, would
stick to one woman for life. Not for Bernard the furtive affairs, the
lies, the broken promises, the betrayals that eroded and eventually
destroyed so many marriages. That had destroyed her parents'
marriage.
    But
Bernard couldn't give her White Gables and the money to help her
mother. Only marriage to Rod could do that.
    “ You've
finished your drink,” he said. “Can I get you another?”
    “ What?”
She stared at him blankly. “Oh, yes. Thank you.”
    If
she did marry Rod she would have to give up Bernard. They could
scarcely remain friends. He would never understand her sudden
defection unless she told him the truth and she could hardly do that.
    But
what was she thinking? She couldn't seriously be considering marriage
to Rod. Could she? He was everything she hated in a man. A conceited
fickle womaniser who had no doubt already left a string of broken
hearts in his wake.
    She
watched him at the bar, conscious again of his effect on the women
around him, and contempt narrowed her gaze. If he thought she would
become one of his conquests he was sadly mistaken. If she did marry
him it would be purely on the basis of a business contract, with the
terms laid down as strictly as any other contract.
    Five
years. Could she cope with this man for five years? Living in the
same house, keeping up the pretence of a normal marriage? No, don't
think of it as a marriage. Think of it as a formal merger. Of course,
she warned herself with a flash of grim humour, she would have to
guard against Rod turning it into a takeover.
    She
picked up a drinks mat from the polished table and spun it idly.
Heads – the advertisement for Lowenbrau lager – she
married Rod. Tails – She marvelled at how rapidly her thought
processes had brought her towards accepting the possibility of such a
marriage.
    If
she could just talk it over with her mother. But in spite of
everything her mother still believed that true love was the only
basis for marriage. She would be horrified if she knew that Gabriella
was considering marrying just to get her hands on a fortune and a
house. Even more horrified to learn that she was doing it partly for
her sake. And there was no one else. No, the decision would have to
be Gabriella's own. And while her initial reaction had been an
absolute No!
s he
could now feel herself weakening by the minute.
    She
watched Rod come back from the bar, a glass in each hand, registering
despite herself the tough dark face, the powerful muscular body, the
sheer maleness of him. A chill of disquiet coursed through her. A
small buried part of her was drawn by his magnetism. She fought it as
she had done since their first