Marriage Bargain With His Innocent

‘I don’t know. I’ll think of something.’

‘This was your idea,’ Matias mused, ‘but I’ll shoulder the blame for the break-up of a relationship that never was. It’ll be far more believable that I’m the baddie in this scenario anyway. I won’t be letting my mother down too much.’

He saw the flash of curiosity in her eyes and sidestepped it adroitly.

‘Fair’s fair, after all. Now... Safe trip back, Georgie.’ He hesitated. What else was there to say?

Georgina didn’t hang around. His chauffeur-driven Mercedes was waiting by the pavement, engine idling, and she didn’t look back as she ducked into the back seat.

Mission Impossible had turned into Mission She Must Have Been Crazy. She consoled herself all way to the bed and breakfast by telling herself that she had done her best and there was nothing more she could have done.

The bed and breakfast was not in the most salubrious of locations, but it was reasonably priced and it was clean. Her room was so small that everything seemed to be squeezed in, with only just enough free space to allow passage from bed to bathroom without minor injuries occurring en route.

She had a shower and stuck on the little tee shirt and skimpy shorts she always wore to sleep. At night, in the darkness of the bedroom...that was the time she felt most self-confident about her body.

She could have been married by now. She could have had a child! It was bizarre to think it, but it was true. Lying there in the dark, something about seeing Matias’s dark, beautiful face brought to mind thoughts of Robbie and the marriage that had never been.

They were memories that she kept locked away in her head, but now, like imps released from captivity, they stretched and decided to have a little fun at her expense. Memories of being engaged, planning her big day, only to be told a handful of weeks before they were due to tie the knot that he just couldn’t go through with it.

‘It’s not you!’ he had declared magnanimously, in what had to be the most over-used craven expression in any break-up. ‘It’s me. I just don’t feel the same way about you that I used to... I don’t understand it...’

They had parted ways and she had had to endure months of sensing the whispered pity behind her back every time she entered a room.

Robbie had stopped being attracted to her. Had he ever been attracted to her? Maybe not. Maybe he had been carried along on a tide of wanting to please her parents, because he had been her mother’s star pupil.

In her darkest, deepest thoughts she had sometimes wondered whether a part of her hadn’t simply been drawn to a guy who was diametrically different from Matias—a guy on whom she could pin all her hopes, finally snuffing out that silly, girlish flame that had continued to burn long after she should have grown out of it.

She cringed when she’d remembered the way Robbie had tried to encourage her to lose a bit of weight. Afterwards, when the dust had settled, she had discovered that he had met and married someone else in record time. Someone long and thin. Ever since then Georgina had made even more of an effort to conceal the body that had let her down.

Yes, it was silly—and, yes, it was nonsensical. But since when did feelings make sense?

She drifted into a restless sleep and had no idea how long she had been asleep when she heard a knocking on her door.

She surfaced, feeling drugged and disorientated. It didn’t occur to her to be careful when she tentatively pulled the door open because the bed and breakfast was securely locked against intruders. Which meant that the owner, a lovely woman in her fifties, could be the only person knocking.

And it wasn’t that late. Only a little after eleven. But she had been so shattered after her pointless visit to Matias that she had climbed into bed and fallen asleep almost immediately.

Her eyes started at the bottom. Loafers—expensive ones. Black jeans—low-slung. Black close-fitting jumper. Muscular body.

Georgina knew that it was Matias before her eyes collided with his silver dark gaze.

‘Let me in, Georgie.’

‘What are you doing here?’

‘We need to talk.’

‘How did you get in? Who let you in?’ She peered angrily past him in search of the culprit. ‘Whoever let you in had no right to do so!’

‘She sensed I wasn’t going to steal the family heirlooms. Let me in.’

‘Do you know what time it is?’

‘Not bedtime on a Saturday evening for most people under the age of forty-five. And time for me to tell you that there’s been a slight change of plan.’

Matias raked his fingers through his hair and shot her a look of brooding unease.

‘Whatever you have to say will have to wait until morning.’ Her heart beating like a sledgehammer, and feeling acutely aware of her lack of clothing, Georgina made to shut the door. In response Matias neatly wedged his foot in the open gap before he could be locked out.

‘I realise this is not the most convenient place in the world for a conversation, but what I have to say can’t wait. My mother called.’

Georgina hesitated. With a sigh, she reluctantly opened the door, then told him to sit at the dressing table so that she could at least get dressed.

She knew the sort he went for. Tall, leggy blondes who weighed next to nothing. She knew that what she had on was no more revealing than what most girls would wear to the park on a hot day. But she still had to swallow down a sickening feeling of self-consciousness as she scuttled into the bathroom clutching jeans and a tee shirt.

She’d disappeared in under ten seconds. But that was all it had taken for Matias to realise that the body she had always been at pains to keep hidden away was voluptuous, with curves in all the right places, and a derriere as round and as perfect as a peach. She wasn’t overweight. She was sexy.

His libido, which had been sadly tepid during the last few weeks of his tempestuous relationship with Ava, roared into shocking life, forcing him to conceal a prominent bulge by sitting on a stool by the window.

‘You were saying...?’ Georgina asked bluntly, when she reappeared in a more acceptable jeans and tee shirt outfit.

She made sure the overhead light was on its brightest setting, so that the room was now as brightly lit as the changing room in a department store. She perched on the edge of the bed, because there were no other available chairs, and rested her hands on her lap.

‘You should have dumped your pride and stayed at my place. It’s ridiculous what some people call a B&B in London. There’s not enough room here to swing a cat.’ It was proving impossible for him to get into a comfortable position.

‘The owner is lovely. It’s cheap. It’s clean. And I’m not being ripped off. What did your mother have to say?’

‘First of all, I was caught off-guard. It was late, and my mother seldom calls me.’

‘That’s because she doesn’t like to think that she might be disturbing you.’

‘More conversations about me, Georgie? Before I could break the disappointing news that we’d decided to call it a day, she launched into a long, excitable congratulatory speech and told me that it was the best thing that had happened to her in a long time. She said that she was under strict instructions not to call me, to wait until we both came down to Cornwall, but she knew that you’d headed to London and couldn’t contain herself. Said she felt she finally had something worth living for...’

‘Didn’t you believe me when I told you that?’

‘Hearing it from the horse’s mouth made a difference.’

He stood up, strolled to the window, peered out at an uninspiring view of the back of the building, where tall plastic bins were arranged like soldiers against the wall.

He slowly spun round to look at her, half sat on the broad window ledge. ‘You were right. She’s the happiest I’ve heard her in a long time. I couldn’t get a word in edgewise.’

‘So,’ Georgina said slowly, ‘what you’re saying is that you didn’t tell her that it’s off...?’

‘How could I?’

‘That’s a bit of a problem, then, isn’t it? Considering you told me in no uncertain terms that you weren’t going to pretend anything for the sake of your mother.’

Matias flushed darkly. ‘Don’t think that I approve of the way you auditioned me for a role I hadn’t applied for,’ he reminded her abruptly. ‘But here we are. I didn’t have the heart to break the bad news down the phone so we’ll play this game—but the way I see it this will be a temporary situation. It beggars belief that my mother has fallen for your outrageously improbable scenario, but if it’s aiding her recovery then it’s something I will have to accept.’

Georgina didn’t say anything. She had thought so far and no further when it came to this charade. Now a shiver of unease rippled through her and she looked at Matias from under lowered lashes.

He was the king of urban, sophisticated cool and he was supposed to be going out with her. She, too, marvelled that his mother hadn’t fainted with disbelief at the improbable scenario.

They were supposed to be an item. Boyfriend and girlfriend. Lovers...

Her stomach lurched, because her imagination threatened to veer off in all sorts of uncharted directions.

‘So...’ Matias picked up the thread of the conversation. His voice was clipped and businesslike, ‘I’m here to briefly discuss the mechanics of this situation. What have you told my mother about us? How much winging it have you done?’

‘Can’t we discuss this another time?’ she replied vaguely.

‘Another time?’

‘Next week? On the phone, perhaps?’

‘Are you living in the real world, Georgie? My mother thinks we’re going out with one another in some happy-against-all-odds scenario and you want to discuss the details of our so-called relationship on the phone next week? Maybe?’

‘What are you saying?’

‘I’m saying,’ Matias imparted coolly, ‘that we’ll both be leaving for Cornwall in the morning. My mother is expecting us. When we get there, having our stories match up might be an idea.’

‘You say that you see this as a temporary situation...do you have a timeline in sight?’

Georgina regretted every second of whatever crazy impulse had plunged her into this mess. It had been a lot easier dealing with a fictional situation. Even when she had boarded that train to London she had not really thought about facing Matias in the flesh. He’d been much easier to deal with in her head. Less intimidating, less forbidding, pretty much less...everything.

‘I have—and it’s not a long one. We go down...we indulge in this charade for a few days... Sooner rather than later things can begin to go downhill. I’m happy to carry the can for the inevitable. There are too many differences between us... It’s only become apparent now that we’re spending a lot of undiluted time with one another... Put it this way: I can spare a couple of weeks and then I have meetings in the Far East. It would be preferable if all this is sorted before I go.’

‘A couple of weeks...’ She felt as though she’d hopped on a rollercoaster only to find that it was spinning a lot faster than she’d anticipated.

‘I don’t see a problem with that.’

‘But your mother might be down in the dumps again at the rapid demise of our relationship.’

‘Which is something you should have considered before you had your light bulb moment. We could hash all this out on the drive down tomorrow, but I think it better if we cover the basics now. I’m going to have to work for the majority of the trip, bearing in mind I’ll be leaving the office without warning.’

‘You’re going to work while you drive?’

‘Of course not, Georgie! My driver will take us and I’ll work in the back. You can bring a book, or some knitting, or whatever you need to occupy your time. We can fine-tune our stories just before we reach my mother’s house.’

He fixed his amazing eyes on her and Georgina had the curious sensation of free falling. Her stomach lurched and swooped as her eyes drifted down to his mouth and then immediately skittered away. She licked her lips and croaked some nonsense about having some work to do for her next job.

‘Right,’ he said, as her voice tapered off, ‘how is it that we’ve gone from war zone to bedroom in such a short space of time?’

‘I haven’t thought through the details,’ she admitted. ‘I suppose we can say it was just one of those things. Opposites attracting. It happens. I mean, you have a long history of being attracted to women who are nothing like you.’

‘Nor are they like you,’ he inserted smoothly. ‘Aside from which, I’ve never had a serious relationship with any of them—not like the one we’re supposed to be having...’

‘I acted on impulse,’ Georgina said in a muted voice. ‘I would never normally think of deceiving anyone, but before I could think things through—work out how it’s even credible that the two of us could ever have anything going—I’d come right out and spun a story. I’m sorry about that. You’ve been cornered into doing something you don’t want to do, and I don’t blame you if you’re seething.’

‘Forget it.’ Matias looked at her.

‘I never even stopped to think that you might actually be going out with someone...one of your ditzy blondes...’

‘You were so wrapped up in cheering up my mother that rational thought took a back seat?’

‘Something like that.’

‘So, it’s a very good thing that I’m going to be in charge of making sure that that doesn’t happen again. We will do what is necessary and make sure that the boundary lines are firmly in place.’

‘Meaning...?’ Georgina automatically bristled.

Matias didn’t say anything for a few taut seconds. Out of the blue he was thinking back to that luscious body—a body he would never have guessed lay beneath the layers of unattractive flowing sacks she was so fond of wearing. His libido kicked into gear again and he scowled.

‘Meaning we don’t forget that this is a convenient charade...’

There was no way Matias was going to give in to that sudden, inexplicable surge in his libido. When it came to relationships Georgina White was after the real thing. Once upon a time she’d been engaged, and she’d been stood up at the last minute. That didn’t mean she’d shut the door on her dreams. That wasn’t her nature. But she’d been hurt once. There was no way he would ever be responsible for hurting her again by taking what his libido had wanted when he’d seen her in those next-to-nothing pyjamas.

‘I won’t forget,’ Georgina returned stiffly. ‘And once again I apologise for landing you in this mess. Your life is so well ordered—this must be a nightmare for you to take in.’

‘Now, why do I sense an implied insult behind that butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-your-mouth remark?’ Matias drawled, glancing at her full lips and absently noting how perfectly defined they were. Like rosebuds the colour of crushed raspberries. Funny he’d never noticed that before...

He lifted his dark eyes to hers. ‘I really wouldn’t waste time regretting what you’ve done. What’s the point? The fact is that we’re here now...in this together for better or for worse, so to speak.’

‘I didn’t stop to think things through.’ Georgina chewed her lip and shot him a worried glance. ‘I never considered the ramifications of how your mother would feel when it all...you know...collapsed...’

‘That’s a bridge to be crossed when we get to it. You’re projecting ahead. She’ll be fine.’ He looked at her, his dark eyes brooding. ‘At least once it’s over she’ll be able to think that I’m capable of holding down a relationship with a woman who isn’t obsessed with her physical appearance.’

‘Until you return to your catwalk model blondes,’ Georgina pointed out absently.

He shot her a crooked grin that did all sorts of annoying things to her heart-rate. Had she spent her entire life oblivious to just how spectacular Matias was? she wondered. No, that wasn’t it. She’d always known just how spectacular he was. It was just that now the situation between them was leading her to think thoughts that were taboo—wicked thoughts about what that lean, muscular body might look like underneath his clothes.

A Pandora’s box was opening and she knew that she had to make sure it stayed shut. She wasn’t an impressionable teenager any more! And, as he had coolly pointed out, this was a charade—a piece of fiction with no basis in reality.

‘Maybe I’ll go for a different type next time round,’ he drawled, standing up. He stretched, flexed his muscles and strolled towards the door.

‘What about all these details you want to put into place before tomorrow?’ Georgina remained where she was. ‘I thought you rushed over here to iron everything out because you’re going to work in the car on the way down?’

His hand was on the doorknob as he turned to look at her thoughtfully. ‘Question: did you ask for the house tour because you needed some background information to consolidate the myth that we’ve been meeting secretly, and it would have seemed odd if my mother had asked you about my house and drawn a blank?’

Georgina reddened, and then nodded sheepishly, at which Matias burst out laughing.

‘You’re one of a kind, Georgie,’ he mused, rocking on his heels and looking at her in silence for long enough for her to start feeling hot and bothered. ‘And one of a kind is certainly going to be a novelty for me.’

He opened the door. ‘I’ll text you before I leave tomorrow to come and fetch you. And then our little adventure will begin...’

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