Merger By Matrimony

By the end of day two her father assured her that Callum was fit enough to travel back to the compound. The rains had almost completely stopped, he could now walk unaided—even though he still made a great production of it and insisted on clutching her arm whenever she was around—and her father needed to return to his base.

The trip was accomplished in half the time and without the sweltering discomfort of the drive to the outpost, and by the time they arrived back at the compound Destiny was determined to pin him to a wall until he told her why he’d made the trip in the first place.

If he had come for a signature on something, then she would give it to him and send him on his way, because being so close to him with her feelings so nakedly exposed was tearing her apart. The constant feel of his body against hers as he used her as a propping post sent ragged emotions flying through her, and the whole business was driving her crazy.

She had fled to Panama to escape him, and now found herself in the worst possible spot she could have imagined. He’d discovered how she felt about him and he was determined to wrench every ounce of advantage that he could from the situation.

No opportunity to remind her of her regrettable confession was left unturned. When he wasn’t insisting on her personal attention she felt him watching her, but stoically refused to meet his eyes and see the smug knowledge resting there.

If this was his way of getting his own back on her for having run out on him and his cold-hearted marriage proposal, then he had hit jackpot.

As soon as she’d ensconced him in the room he would be having until he was ready to leave, she closed the door behind them and stood there, hands on hips, watching as he indolently took the chair by the window.

‘You can stop pretending now,’ she informed him without preamble, ignoring the innocently raised eyebrows forming a question. ‘And you can stop playing the innocent. You know exactly what I’m talking about.’

‘Should you really be taking this tone with someone who’s still recovering from a near-death experience?’

‘If you don’t cut it out, Callum Ross, you’ll be facing another near-death experience and it won’t be caused by a mosquito! Don’t think that I’m too stupid to see through your little games.’

‘What little games?’ More innocent enquiry in his voice until she wanted to scream. Instead, she swallowed hard and took a couple of deep, reviving breaths.

‘So I ran out on you. Maybe I should have stayed in England and told you to your face that I wasn’t about to enter into marriage with someone who saw me as a useful commodity with the added bonus of sex toy until the novelty wore off. I was a coward, but…’

‘And now I understand why,’ he murmured, in such a soft voice that she had to reluctantly install herself closer to where he was just to hear him properly.

‘Yes,’ Destiny said bitterly, ‘now you know why. And you’re basking in the knowledge, aren’t you? Your ego must have taken a bashing when you got back from New York to find that I’d disappeared, but you’ve had your little gloat now. If you came here for me to sign something, then give it to me, let me sign it, and then you can go and leave me alone to get on with my life.’ A red mist of self-pity and lurking humiliation formed over her eyes like a cloud.

‘And what if I came here to propose to you again?’ he asked softly.

‘Then you can go back to England and remember what I wrote in that note. The answer is still no.’

‘You love me…’

The words were like a dagger jutting into her soft flesh. ‘It’ll pass,’ she told him acidly. ‘Like an illness. But there’s no way that you’ll use what you know to your advantage. Anyway, what would be the point of marrying me now? You got what you wanted all along. I kept the properties and you got the company.’

‘Maybe I want the country house as well,’ he murmured, looking at her unflinchingly.

‘To develop? Something else to add to your portfolio?’

‘Maybe I want to live there… It would be a rather spectacular place for a family…lots of space for lots of kids…’

The words swam seductively around her.

‘Then you’d better start looking for a woman you love,’ she said in a dull monotone, alarmed by the flight of fancy that had taken her back to the country estate, but this time with this man by her side and children romping around by their feet. A charming little tableau, she thought, were it not for one or two glaring technicalities.

‘Why would I do that?’ he asked, tilting his head to one side quizzically. ‘When I’ve already found her?’