The Groom's Revenge (18 page)
“I thought about you most of the night,” she said. “About how he died. About how much you lost. You must be so angry at him, to have kept it locked up inside like that.”
“I didn’t realize how angry until last night. He abandoned me. Took the coward’s way out. Then he left me to deal with the mess he left behind. I thought he loved me. That doesn’t equate to love.”
“Of course he loved you. But he didn’t have your strength. He didn’t know that life is too precious to throw it away because he’d made some mistakes. People can start over. They just need time and help.”
“I forgave him, Mollie. Last night, in the darkest hour of my life, I found a way to forgive him.”
Still she didn’t look at him. “That’s a big step for you.”
“It seems so small now, in comparison.”
“To what?”
“Losing you.”
They reached the gazebo and stepped inside but didn’t sit, standing instead, side by side, looking out at the lake.
“What’s in the envelope?” she asked.
“The prenuptial agreement”
“You’re going to hold me to it?” Her voice shook. “You want me to stay because of some piece of paper?”
“Look inside, Mollie. It’s torn in half. I invalidated it. You’ll stay only if you want to. I hope you want to.”
“I need a tissue,” she said suddenly, dropping the envelope to a bench, fumbling in his jacket pockets.
“I’m sorry. I don’t have—”
She held up the Popsicle stick. Finally she looked at him The sheen in her eyes made his throat convulse.
“Why did you keep this?” she asked.
“It was an impulse. Then it became a connection when I wasn’t with you.” He took it from her, touched it to his lips, then hers. “First kiss.”
“I found it in your nightstand,” she admitted. “It gave me hope.”
“Speaking of hope...” He dug into his shirt pocket and pulled out one of her birthday candles. “I reread them last night. I’m sorry if I intruded, but I thought you’d shared them all. I didn’t realize you hadn’t. This one caught me off guard.”
Mollie read the words from her twentieth birthday: “I wish a true and honest man would fall in love with me.”
“No red star,” he said, touching the paper, then running his finger across hers.
She shook her head, but she didn’t pull away.
“I want to grant you that wish. I can give you half already. I know I have to earn the other half.” Gray took a chance and held her hand. Her fingers clamped around his. Her face contorted, fighting new tears. “I love you, Mollie. I love you with all my heart. I’ll be that true and honest man, if you’ll give me a chance. I’ll undo everything I’ve done to Stuart’s company. I’ll fix anything, do anything, be anything, if you’ll just love me again and stay with me. I want to be a family with you.”
Tears spilled down her face. He brushed them away. “I don’t deserve you, but I’m begging you. Please don’t leave me. You told me once that you thought fate brought us together. I knew I’d maneuvered the meeting—and yet you had those pictures that you claimed had brought you out of mourning, even before we met.”
“Not a claim. The truth!”
“You handed me such an awesome responsibility, never to disappoint you. I didn’t live up to it Do you think you can evec forgive me? Will you let me try again? I’ll do anything for you.”
“Just love me,” she said, putting his hand on her abdomen. “Us.”
Joy spilled from him, trouncing his fears, banishing his pain. “My beautiful, beautiful Mollie. That’s the easy part,” he said, kissing her, claiming her forever. He’d caught the leprechaun, after all, and the treasure was priceless. Her scent drifted around him, but he didn’t have to wonder anymore what to call it. It had a name—heaven.
Fortune Family Tree
Want to find out what happens to Chloe and Mason?
Look for their love story in
THE UNDERCOVER GROOM
by Merline Lovelace, coming only to Silhouette Desire in June 1999.
And now, for a sneak preview of this exciting conclusion to
FORTUNE’S CHILDREN: THE BRIDES,
please turn the page.
1
T
his time, Chloe Fortune vowed she wouldn’t wimp out.
his time, Chloe Fortune vowed she wouldn’t wimp out.
This time, she’d either sweep everything off Mason’s burledmahogany desk and make wild, uninhibited love to him on its polished surface or... She gulped. Or she’d hand him back the four-carat emerald-cut solitare he’d slipped on her ring finger last January.
Last January! She paused with her hand on the brass door latch, thinking of her unconventional engagement. She couldn’t quite believe that she and Mase had been engaged for almost nine months. Or that they’d shared only a few casual kisses in all that time.
Okay, so maybe their self-imposed restraint had been part of the ground rules she’d laid down when she proposed to Mase. After all, she was the one who’d come up with the phony engagement in the first place. At the time it had seemed like the perfect answer to her dilemma.
She’d known Mase Chandler off and on for most of her life, first as her older brother Mac’s best friend and then as her occasional escort. Their phony engagement had worked perfectly... at first She just wasn’t quite sure when or how the engagement had taken on a life of its own. And she couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment she’d realized she wanted her
fake
engagement to be a
real
wedding.
fake
engagement to be a
real
wedding.
She only knew she missed Mase when he was gone on one of his long, extended business trips. That the hand he planted in the small of her back to guide her to a table burned right through whatever she was wearing. That she ached to peel off his handtailored suit, unknot his tie, unbutton his shirt and plant hot, greedy kisses all over his naked chest.
All of which she fully intended to do today.
If she didn’t lose her nerve!
They couldn’t continue the deception any longer. Chloe either had to call the engagement off...or convince Mase to toss out the original ground rules and make wild, reckless love to her.
He wanted to. For all his deliberate restraint, Chloe sensed the desire he so carefully kept in check. She’d tried to hint that she was ready...more than ready!...for him to unleash it. This time, she vowed, she’d do more than just hint.
Dragging in a deep, steadying breath, Chloe pushed down the brass latch. The heavy oak door slid open noiselessly. She’d taken only a single step when the sound of a husky contralto floated across the luxurious office suite.
“Come on, Mase. You love what we do together. Surely you’re not going to give it up just because you’re engaged?”
Mase was leaning against the front edge of his desk. Beneath his neat black hair, his tanned face bore a smile that ripped at Chloe’s heart. His hands rested on the brunette’s waist, while hers played with his tie. The same silk tie that Chloe had envisioned slowly unknotting just seconds ago!
“No, I’m not giving it up because I’m engaged. I told you my reasons.”
“None of which will matter when the fireworks start,” his companion purred, tickling the underside of his jaw with the tie ends. “You’re hooked, just like I am. You crave the thrill, the excitement of our little game.”
His smile tipped into a wry grin. “I don’t think you can call what we do a game, Pam. We’ve taken it too close to the edge too many times.”
“And that’s what makes it so wonderful. What makes us so damned good together. No one plays it harder or faster or rougher than you do.”
Chloe choked. She didn’t want to hear any more. Now she understood why Mase hadn’t taken her up on her subtle hints about morphing their pretend relationship into a real one. Misery and fury she had no right to feel coursed through her. She must have made some movement, some sudden jerk, because the brunette flicked a quick look over Mase’s shoulder.
Another man might have stammered or flushed in embarrassment at being caught in such intimacy by his supposed fiancée. Not Mase. Not calm, controlled, always-in-command Mase.
“I’m sorry, Chloe. I didn’t know you were here.”
“Obviously not.”
“Please, come in. I’d like you to meet Pam Hawkins. She’s a business associate of mine.”
He didn’t blush. Didn’t even blink. Chloe had to fight the hurt and fury tearing through her. She had no right to feel this awful jealousy, she reminded herself fiercely. Mase hadn’t made her any promises. He was a friend. Only a friend.
The realization made her even more miserable.
“I’m sorry I disturbed you.”
“You didn’t. We’ve finished our business.”
“You’re finished? Strange. From where I’m standing, it looked as though you were just getting started. I’ll talk to you another time. When you’re not quite so busy.”
“I’m sorry you walked in on that. It’s not what it seems... I can’t believe I just said that.”
“You don’t have to explain anything. Not anymore. As of this moment you’re a free man, Mase Officially, finally and irrevocably,” Chloe said, walking outside to the elevator.
“I’m not letting you walk away until we talk this through,” Mase said, catching up to her as the elevator opened and she got in.
“I can’t talk about it now. I don’t
want
to talk about it now.”
want
to talk about it now.”
Finally the door whirred shut. Chloe slumped against the paneled wall, her eyes shut, but Mase’s image blazed on her eyelids. Tall. Dark-haired Broad-shouldered. Square-jawed. Smiling down at Pamela Hawkins, who liked it hard and fast and rough.
A shiver of revulsion ripped through Chloe, followed immediately by one of pure, undiluted envy. Mase Chandler hadn’t tried anything hard and fast and rough with her. Face it He hadn’t tried anything at all. It shattered her even more to realize that she still wanted him. Desperately.
ISBN : 978-1-4592-5814-3
THE GROOM’S REVENGE
Copyright © 1999 by Harlequin Books S A.
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office, Silhouette Books, 300 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017 U.S.A.
All characters m this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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