The Hot-Headed Virgin

‘I don’t know how you stand this,’ she said at the end of the second week of their engagement. They were in a harbourside restaurant and had only been seated for three minutes when a rush of fans had come up for autographs and impromptu phone-camera photos.

‘It’ll soon pass,’ he reassured her. ‘Once we’re married they’ll leave us alone.’

‘I certainly hope so…’ She toyed with the stem of her glass agitatedly as the maître d’ ushered the last of the lingering diners back to their tables.

Bryn gave her a quizzical look. ‘I thought your goal in life was to be famous. Isn’t that what every actor wants?’

She let out a tiny sigh. ‘There’s fame and there’s fame. I guess I didn’t really think about it too much…you know…how it would be if I ever made it into the big time.’

‘How long have you wanted to be an actor?’ he asked.

He watched as her mouth tilted engagingly, his chest feeling that little fish hook tug again. ‘I think I was about four or five years old,’ she said. ‘I’m a middle child and apparently I was always trying to be the centre of attention. It was the Christmas pageant when I was in kindergarten that finally decided it for me. I was cast as the front end of a donkey in the nativity play and that was it. I decided I wanted to be on stage. I went to ballet and tap classes and gymnastics and joined the school swimming team and then a junior drama club when I could finally persuade my parents to pay for it. My poor mum was run off her feet ferrying me back and forth to everything.’

‘Tell me about your family.’

‘Well…’ She smiled fondly as she met his eyes. ‘My mum and dad have been happily married for nearly thirty years. They are wonderful, just as parents should be. I have a sister, Ashleigh, a year older than me, who’s married to Jake and they have a son and a little daughter. I adore them. I have a younger sister, Ellie, who’s adopted. She’s fantastic.’

‘So you’re a close family?’

Mia gave him a very direct look. ‘There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for my family. I would give my life up for any one of them at a moment’s notice.’

He returned her look for a lengthy period before asking, ‘Have you told them about us?’

She chewed her lip for a moment and lowered her gaze. ‘My younger sister is…somewhere in the wilds of the Amazon. My parents are overseas at the moment with Jake and Ashleigh and the kids, so I haven’t got around to it. I’m not sure I want them to rush home for a wedding that’s not really real. Apart from a quick visit to London a few years ago, this is the first European trip my parents have had since they were married, so I didn’t want to ruin it for them.’

‘I hardly think attending their daughter’s wedding is going to ruin their holiday,’ Bryn said.

Mia looked up at him with a slight frown. ‘But it’s not as if it’s a proper wedding. What would be the point? Besides, as soon as your great-aunt…’ she faltered over the words ‘…passes away the marriage will be annulled.’

He gave her another lengthy look, his eyes very dark as they held hers. ‘What if my great-aunt doesn’t die in the next few weeks?’

Her hands gripped the edges of the seat. ‘Wh-what do you mean?’

‘I was speaking to her oncologist earlier today,’ he said. ‘Her condition has improved remarkably since she heard the news of our engagement. Her spirits have lifted and she’s making a real effort to eat again; the last bout of chemotherapy hit her hard but she’s put on a bit of weight and has more energy.’

‘But that’s a good thing, surely?’ Then at his wry look she stumbled on, ‘I mean…for your great-aunt, that is…maybe it’s not so good for me…us…well, you know what I mean…’

‘Of course it’s a good thing for Agnes, but it may mean we will have to continue our charade for a bit longer than I initially expected.’

Mia lowered her gaze to her wine glass as she considered the possibility of being married to him for months on end. The very last thing she wanted was to hurry up his great-aunt’s death, but living with a man as his wife for several months was just asking for trouble, especially with a man like Bryn. She was already fighting an attraction to him that was threatening to get out of hand.

‘How…how long do you think we’ll have to stay married?’ she asked after a little silence.

He picked up his wine glass and took a sip before answering. ‘It’s hard to put a time on it. Three or four months.’

She swallowed thickly. ‘That’s a long time…’

His mouth twisted. ‘It’s not such a long time when you’re the one who is terminally ill.’

‘No…no, I guess not…’

He reached into his top pocket and handed her a card with the name of one of Sydney’s top bridal designers on it. ‘I’ve organised an open account for you to purchase what you need. I’ve also deposited funds in your bank account which you will no doubt need to draw on in preparation for our wedding.’

Mia found it a little unsettling for him to be discussing their marriage in such terms. She couldn’t help wondering what it would have been like planning a proper wedding, with both parties excited at celebrating the most important day of their lives. Her sister Ashleigh’s wedding to Jake after four long years of separation had been one of the most moving experiences she’d ever had. There hadn’t been a dry eye in the house and even now, more than a year later, the photos of that special day still brought tears to Mia’s eyes.

How different would her wedding day be? She’d be marrying a man who was using her as a career hoist, not to mention colluding with him in fooling his dying great-aunt that her greatest wish for him had come true.

But then, she reminded herself, she had her own reasons for going through with it. Her sister, for one thing, but then there were those feelings that kept her awake at night. Feelings she really had no business feeling…

‘After the wedding we will be going on a short honeymoon,’ he announced into the silence.

‘A honeymoon?’ She stared at him, her heart thudding in alarm. ‘Whatever for?’

‘All newly married couples go on a honeymoon.’

‘I know, but surely in our case it’s not necessary. I mean, what would be the point?’

‘It will be a good opportunity for us to get to know one another a little better out of the way of the Press,’ he said, and then added with a teasing grin, ‘You never know, you might even start to like me a bit.’

She gave him a castigating look without answering.

‘There is something else we need to discuss about our living arrangements,’ he said after another tiny but telling pause.

Her gaze flicked nervously back to his dark and unwavering one. ‘I get to have my own room, right?’ she asked.

‘If you want one.’

She blinked at him. ‘What do you mean, if I want one? Of course I want one!’

‘There is the perplexing little matter of my housekeeper,’ he said. ‘She comes in three times a week.’

‘So…what are you saying?’

‘If Marita sees two beds being used instead of one she’ll immediately suspect something is up and it will be all over the papers the next morning.’

‘Can’t you pay her to keep quiet or something?’ she asked hopefully.

He shook his head. ‘There are very few people I would trust even under payment.’

‘I don’t suppose you could dismiss your housekeeper…I mean, I can cook and clean if you want me to.’

‘I have no intention of dismissing my housekeeper. She has a young family to support.’

‘So what are you suggesting? That we play musical beds or something on the days your housekeeper is there?’

‘I don’t know. I haven’t thought it through.’ He gave her a sexy grin and added, ‘Who knows, you might have decided to sleep with me by the time we are married.’

She looked at him incredulously. ‘You surely don’t think I’d take things that far?’

‘I will leave that decision entirely up to you. The agreement we made is that this will be a paper marriage but if you at any time wish to change your mind about consummating it, I will be perfectly happy to do so.’

‘Just because we will be sharing a house temporarily doesn’t mean we will be sharing anything else, housekeeper or no housekeeper,’ she said with force.

He gave a casual shrug and reached for his wine. ‘There are plenty of women in your position who would jump at the chance to share my bed and my body.’

‘And I’m quite sure legions of them have, but you can forget about putting my name in your little black book. I’m not interested.’

‘I promise to keep my hands to myself as long as you promise the same.’

She sent him a frosty look. ‘You seem very confident I’ll be tempted by you.’

He smiled wickedly. ‘You have been so far. Every time we’ve kissed you’ve got all hot and bothered.’

‘I was acting!’

His smile tilted even further. ‘Maybe, but when you kissed Clete Schussler on stage that night it didn’t look half as convincing as when you’ve kissed me.’

Mia wasn’t sure how to defend herself. Clete Schussler was undoubtedly a damn good kisser but, acting or not, he was not quite in the same league as Bryn Dwyer. Was any man?

‘It was first-night nerves,’ she said. ‘I’d only ever been the understudy. We had six weeks of rehearsal but I hadn’t kissed him before.’

‘I’d only met you a few hours before I kissed you for the first time, and as far as I’m concerned we did a much better job.’

Mia was inclined to agree with him but didn’t want to give his already oversized ego another boost. She gave him a stony look instead and remained silent.

Bryn smiled at her brooding expression. ‘Come now, Mia. Admit it. You might not like me all that much but you are very definitely attracted to me.’

She rolled her eyes disdainfully. ‘You’d have to try a whole lot harder to get me to agree to a physical relationship with you. No one’s managed it so far and…’ She stopped when she realised what she’d inadvertently revealed.

He frowned at her in puzzlement. ‘No one’s managed what so far?’

‘Um…’ Her cheeks flared with heat and she had to look away from his probing gaze.

Bryn leaned forward a fraction, his expression becoming incredulous as realisation dawned. ‘You mean you’ve never actually had sex?’

She didn’t answer.

‘You’re what…twenty-four years old and you’ve never—?’

‘Will you keep your voice down?’ she hissed back at him. ‘Someone will hear you.’

He sat back in his chair and shook his head in amazement. ‘I can’t believe it.’ He gave a quick self-deprecating laugh. ‘I employ a virgin to act as my wife. Hell, I must be out of my mind.’

She gave him a resentful scowl. ‘I don’t know why you’re making such a big deal about it. Anyway, most men still maintain the double standard by having sex indiscriminately until they decide they want to choose a wife and future mother of their children, then they want someone who hasn’t been around the block too many times.’

‘No wonder you couldn’t act that role,’ he said. ‘I was right after all. You didn’t have a clue how to play a seductress.’

‘I do know what goes on, you know,’ she said. ‘I’m not totally clueless.’

His midnight-blue gaze twinkled. ‘So you’ve gone south solo a few times to see how things work?’

Hot colour flooded her face but she forced herself to hold his taunting look. ‘That’s none of your business.’

He gave a soft laugh at her discomfiture. ‘Don’t be embarrassed. I think it’s delightful. It shows you’re not a total prude.’

‘There’s nothing prudish about being selective with whom you share your body, especially these days. You don’t know what you might catch.’

‘No, indeed there isn’t, but you surely can’t have had a lack of opportunity. You’re a beautiful-looking young woman with a great body. You must have been fighting men off for years.’

Mia berated herself for reacting to his compliments but she just couldn’t help feeling a glow of warmth as his words washed over her. She disguised her reaction by saying airily, ‘I’ve had a few boyfriends.’

‘But no one has ever tempted you to sleep with them?’

She met his eyes once more. ‘No one so far.’

He gave her an unreadable little smile as he signalled to the waiter for the bill. ‘Then I guess the road is wide open to me.’

She hitched her chin up a fraction as he drew her to her feet. ‘Better men than you have tried and failed,’ she informed him coldly.

His eyes were alight with challenge. ‘No, what you mean is, better men than me have tried and given up. I don’t believe in giving up. If I want something, I make damned sure I get it.’

‘Not this time,’ she said with overblown confidence. ‘If you don’t keep to your side of the deal I won’t be obliged to keep to mine.’ She drew in a breath and tacked on recklessly, ‘I will go to the Press with the truth about our relationship. Then what will your great-aunt think of you? She’ll know you lied to her when she was most vulnerable, and no matter what your motive was, I don’t think she will forgive you.’

His eyes started to smoulder as they held hers. ‘If you do that I will be forced to play dirty with you, Mia. Don’t make me show you how ruthless I can be.’

She didn’t get a chance to respond, for he grasped her hand and practically dragged her out of the restaurant and over to his car.

‘Get in,’ he bit out as he opened the passenger door.

She got in but only because people were starting to look at them, and she didn’t want to create a scene. She sat stiffly in her seat and watched as he strode around to the driver’s side, his expression dark with simmering anger.

He waited until they were on their way before he spoke, his voice chillingly hard and determined. ‘I swear to God, Mia, if my great-aunt’s last weeks or months of life are ruined by you leaking something to the Press you will seriously regret it. I’ll make sure of it. I’ll throw everything at you. You will never work again—in any industry. Don’t think I wouldn’t or couldn’t do it, for I can, and I will.’

Mia felt deeply ashamed of her impulsive threat but there was no way her pride would allow her to show it. ‘I’m not scared of you,’ she tossed back. ‘You can threaten me all you like but I’m not scared.’

‘Then perhaps you should be,’ he said. ‘Didn’t you read the fine print on those documents I sent for you to sign?’

She felt an icy shiver pass over her skin. She had read the documents but only briefly. The legal terms had been offputting enough, but when Gina had come home unexpectedly and started to peer over her shoulder Mia had hastily signed the highlighted sections and stuffed the documents back in the return express envelope and posted it.

‘Let me refresh your memory,’ he continued when she didn’t respond. ‘There is a clause on page five that states that if you, the undersigned, at any point during the duration of our marriage reveal intimate information about our relationship to the Press or anyone else, you will have to repay all monies already allocated to you as well as the legal fees in the subsequent defamation case I will immediately activate with my legal advisors.’ He sent her a quick, brittle glance and continued in the same chilling tone, ‘In case the legalese is a bit hard for you to understand, let me put it in layperson’s terms: I am going to take you to the cleaners.’

Mia compressed her lips as she thought about how much money might be involved. It was a daunting scenario and one she was going to have to do her very best to avoid. Her parents were comfortably well off but certainly not in Bryn’s league and, while her brother-in-law, Jake, was extremely wealthy, she didn’t want to involve him in a public fight that could turn out to be very nasty. And until Ellie was out of danger she had no choice but to play by the rules.

Bryn’s fierce loyalty to his only living relative was certainly admirable and perhaps a clue to whom he really was as a person, but she didn’t like the thought of being on the receiving end of his wrath if things didn’t go according to plan.

‘Anyone could have heard you in there,’ he said into the tight silence. ‘You know the deal. In public we are like any other normal couple in love, if you want to pick a fight with me then please have the sense to do so while we are in private.’

‘I won’t go to the Press if you stick to your side of the deal. You can pay me to be your wife but there’s no amount of money on this earth that I would accept to become your lover,’ she said stiffly.

‘Fine.’ He shoved the car into top gear. ‘But as I said, if you ever change your mind just let me know.’

She gave a scornful snort. ‘As if.’

His eyes clashed with hers for a brief moment. It was hardly more than a fraction of a second but Mia had to turn away.

She felt herself being thrust back in her seat as he floored the throttle—the atmosphere crackled with tension and her stomach gave a funny little quiver when he drawled, ‘We’ll see.’

CHAPTER EIGHT

Two days before the wedding Mia visited Agnes at the palliative-care unit. She had deliberated over it for days, wondering if it was wise to see the old lady without Bryn present, but the temptation to find out more about his background from the person who knew him best was far too tempting to resist. She didn’t tell Bryn about her intention to visit his great-aunt the night before when they’d had dinner together in yet another of Sydney’s premier restaurants. For days after their terse exchange when she’d threatened to go to the Press he had been distant and formal with her in private, although whenever they were in public he acted the role of attentive fiancé with his usual and somewhat unnerving expertise. For all his charming smiles and spine-tingling touches when others were looking, Mia knew he was still angry with her, and she also knew, if she was truly honest with herself, she really couldn’t blame him. He wanted his great-aunt’s last weeks of life to be as happy as possible, and she had threatened to jeopardise his plans, with what would appear to him a callous disregard on her part for what his great-aunt would feel on hearing such a revelation.

The nurse on duty led the way to Agnes Dwyer’s room and, after announcing to the old lady she had a visitor, she gave Mia a quick smile and closed the door on her exit.

‘Mia, my dear, what a wonderful surprise! How lovely to see you,’ she greeted her with a warm smile. ‘I thought you’d be far too busy organising your wedding to take time out to visit me.’

Mia came towards the bed and held out the bright red, orange and pink gerberas she’d brought with her. ‘These are for you…I thought you might like something colourful for your room.’

‘They’re gorgeous, my dear. What a lovely gesture. Most people give me dull, old-lady-type flowers. I’m fed up with lavender and lily of the valley. These are marvellously cheery. I’ll get the nurse to put them in water. Now, come and tell me how the wedding plans are going.’ She patted the bed beside her. ‘Sit next to me here…go on, I won’t bite.’

Mia perched on the edge of the bed and the old woman reached for her hand. ‘I was hoping you’d come to visit me,’ she said. ‘Bryn comes in twice a day but I wanted to speak to you privately.’

‘Y-you did?’

‘Yes,’ Agnes said. ‘I thought it would be nice for us to have a little woman-to-woman chat.’

‘Oh…’

A small silence fell into the room. Mia could hear the rattle of a tea trolley further down the corridor, and further away the sound of a relaxation CD playing in another patient’s room.

Agnes finally spoke. ‘Bryn won’t be an easy man to live with, Mia. I feel I should warn you, since it’s really my fault you’re rushing into marriage so quickly. You haven’t had time to get to know him properly. I know you love him, that’s more than obvious, and he very clearly is devoted to you, but you might find things tough going once the first rush of love passes.’

Mia remained silent, her heart doing a funny hit-and-miss beat in her chest.

‘I always knew it would take a very special woman to melt the ice around Bryn’s heart,’ the old woman said. ‘He’s been so guarded for so long. He has never let his emotions rule his heart before. I’m so very glad he found you.’

‘Thank you…’ Mia said softly, her eyes falling away from the unwavering gaze of Bryn’s only relative.

‘You see, Mia, Bryn has never really come to terms with his parents’ death…’

‘It was an accident, wasn’t it?’ Mia inserted into the silence.

‘Yes, but it wasn’t really anyone’s fault,’ the old woman said. ‘The young driver of the car that hit my nephew and his wife head on lost control on a bend. He’d only had his licence a short time. He wasn’t speeding and the inquest found that no alcohol or drugs were involved. It was just one of those accidents that wouldn’t have even happened if Bryn’s parents had driven past just a few seconds later.’ She shook her head sadly. ‘It’s hard to imagine how different things would have been just for the sake of a few seconds…’

Mia swallowed the lump of emotion clogging her throat. ‘You’ve given up so much for Bryn…’

‘Yes, that’s true, but he needed me and I was happy to step into his parents’ role. He was such an unhappy little boy. What Bryn needed was his parents, but due to circumstances beyond our control he could never have them. He has harboured such ill feeling towards that poor man for most of his life. Forgiveness is something he finds very hard. I guess you could call him stubborn.’ She gave Mia a little smile. ‘No doubt you’ll come up against his strong will from time to time.’

‘I’m sure I’ll be able to handle it,’ Mia said. ‘I’m pretty strong-willed myself.’

‘You will need to be, my dear. Bryn can be a wonderful friend but a powerful and deadly enemy. But I am sure with your gentle love you will be able to help him let go of the past and find it in himself to forgive.’

‘I’ll do my best,’ Mia promised.

Agnes gave her hand a little squeeze. ‘Are you excited about the wedding?’

‘Um…nervous really…’

‘That’s understandable. It’s been such a rush.’ She gave a little sigh. ‘I wish I had more time allotted me, then you would have had more time to prepare for your life together. It doesn’t seem fair for you to be fast-tracked into marriage without the time to plan things properly.’

‘It’s fine…really,’ Mia reassured her. ‘It’s what Bryn and I both want.’

‘You know, Mia, I was in love once,’ Agnes said softly. ‘It happened late in life; I was so excited. We were going to be married but when Bryn’s parents were tragically killed my fiancé wasn’t keen on having an instant family. He gave me a choice. It was either him or Bryn.’

‘And you chose Bryn…’

‘Yes. But then I had to act as if I was no longer in love with my fiancé. It took some doing, I can assure you, especially when after a few months he married someone else and had a child with her. I was heartbroken but I had to carry on.’

Mia felt the sting of tears at the backs of her eyes for what both Bryn and his great-aunt had been through. How had she coped with losing the man she loved? And how had Bryn as a child so small and defenceless coped with such a terrible loss without it leaving permanent scars?

‘Bryn shut down emotionally after his parents died,’ Agnes went on sadly. ‘I tried to ease him out of it but I’m afraid he resisted all my attempts to get him to talk about it. It was as if his parents had been permanently erased from his mind. He never mentioned them. He still doesn’t. Even the photos I kept about the place would disappear without explanation. I gave up in the end.’

‘He speaks so fondly of you…’

‘Yes, he’s a darling, but as I said you’ll have your work cut out for you. I never thought he’d ever settle down. No one did. It’s a miracle it happened while I was still alive to see it.’

Mia moistened her lips self-consciously. ‘Yes…it is…’

‘I can’t tell you how much it means to me to see him so happy at last,’ the old woman went on. ‘I am so excited about the wedding. I am living for the day.’