THE RELUCTANT BRIDE Read Online Free Page B

a proper
marriage.”
    “ You
mean, fully legal?” he queried, deliberately obtuse.
    Gabriella
felt the heat rising in her. “You know what I mean. I won't
have her upset in any way. I just want you to play the part in front
of her.”
    He
laughed. “All right, Gabriella. I'll come courting you, take
you out to dinner, ogle you three times a day, pine at my desk. By
the way, would you like a white wedding? How many bridesmaids?”
    “ All
right, Rod, no need to overdo it. Just as long as you convince my
mother.”
    “ And
the staff at Englands. We mustn't lose our credibility there.”
    “ Englands!
Is that all you can think about?”
    “ Money!
Is that all you're interested in?” he rejoined.
    They
glared at each other in the dark.
    “ Look,”
said Rod at last. “Let's not waste time snarling at each other.
I know I'm not exactly your favourite person and I can't say you're
mine, but if we're to be stuck with each other for five years, we'll
have to call some sort of truce. Agreed?”
    She
nodded reluctantly. “Very well.”
    “ Your
mother's feelings are important to you, but the attitude of everyone
at Englands – and I mean everyone, from the production manager
down to the sweeper-up on the factory floor – is important to
me. To both of us. We have to manage that company, Gabriella, and if
we can't do it with the staff's confidence and respect we might as
well not try.”
    She
had to agree.
    “ So,
whatever it takes I'll do it, and so will you, even if we have to
take drama lessons to make it convincing. The hostilities are over,
Gabriella.”
    “ Darling,
where are you?”
    She
came back to the warm softly lit room and her mother's voice.
    “ I've
been talking to you for minutes and I'm sure you haven't heard a
word! You must be in love, my dear!”
    Plumping
up pillows, fussing with the duvet, Gabriella tried to avoid her
mother's bright gaze.
    “ You
do like this young man, don't you, dear?” her mother persisted.
    Gabriella
sighed and crossed her fingers under a fold of the duvet. “Yes,”
she said at last, reluctantly. “I suppose I do.” It was a
lie and she hated lying to her mother. Better get used to it, she
told herself. From now on she would be living a lie.
    It
was with relief that at last she was able to shut herself into her
bedroom, after parrying a barrage of eager questions. There would be
more to face when she told her colleagues at Englands. How well would
she be able to act the part of a starry eyed bride to be?
    And
then there was Bernard. Coward-like, she wished she could just write
him a letter, but he deserved better than that. She sighed. Poor
Bernard. However much she had tried to fool herself earlier she knew
he was bound to be upset. Naturally. Two years was a long time. Of
course, it was a long time for her too, and pausing in the act of
stripping off her jeans and sweater she wondered why the prospect of
ending the relationship didn't affect her more. Had she become so
unfeeling? But she had never felt more than affection for Bernard.
And despite what she had said to her mother, they had nothing
fundamental in common.
    And
he didn't excite her. There was none of that stirring in the blood,
that sudden trembling heat that had left her breathless and ready to
abandon herself into Rod's embrace when he touched her.
    Rod
excited her. For the first time she admitted to herself the strength
of his appeal. Standing motionless by her bed, a pink cotton
nightdress clutched between her hands, she saw him as vividly as if
he were there in the room. His dark eyes, blue in their depths,
narrowed with amusement. His mouth, firm but sensual. The litheness
of him, tapering from broad powerful shoulders to flat narrow hips.
The long muscular legs.
    That
strange heat rose within her again and she knew that what she planned
was flagged for danger. Whatever conditions she laid down, however
impersonal she tried to make their contract, if she married Rod she
would be playing with fire.