A Contract for His Runaway Bride

CHAPTER THREE

ELODIETOOKOVERan hour to decide what to wear for her wedding day. Her wedding day. What a mockery those words were in the context in which she was becoming Lincoln Lancaster’s wife.

Her wedding day seven years ago had involved a team of hair and make-up experts, a designer gown and a hand-embroidered veil that had had a train two metres long. Her bridesmaids, including her twin, Elspeth, had attended her, along with a cute flower girl and a cheeky little boy who had been ring bearer. The church, complete with an angelic-sounding choir, had been packed with guests and flowers.

A fairy tale setting without the happy ending.

She didn’t like to think too deeply about her regrets over how she’d ended her relationship with Lincoln. She knew she had hurt her mother and her twin—especially Elspeth, who’d had received a lot of undeserved criticism when everyone had assumed she must have known something.

But even Elodie hadn’t truly known what she was going to do until she’d done it. It had been an impulsive decision that, at the time, had felt like her only option. She suspected the only hurt she had inflicted on Lincoln was to his pride. He hadn’t been in love with her, so it wasn’t as if his heart had been shattered by her jilting him. But even so, she did feel a twinge of guilt that she had bolted without talking to him face to face.

And now she was facing another wedding day with Lincoln. But what had changed in seven years? He still didn’t love her, and he was only marrying her to give his birth mother her dying wish to see him settled. Elodie couldn’t help feeling compromised about lying to someone who had so little time left. What if his mother saw through their act? What if his mother was like his housekeeper and disliked her on sight?

The streak of rebelliousness in Elodie’s nature had her reaching for a black dress for their wedding. But then she thought of Lincoln’s mother and changed her mind, and chose a cream one instead. There would be photos of the event, and no doubt they would go online. She couldn’t afford for anything to look amiss—especially when she hoped to use her marriage to Lincoln as a platform to build her own success.

She made sure her hair and make-up were perfect, and she put on pearl earrings and a pearl necklace that teamed nicely with the classic cut of her calf-length dress.

The doorbell sounded and Elodie took a deep calming breath and addressed herself in the mirror. ‘You can do this.’

***

The door opened and Lincoln’s breath stalled in his throat. Elodie didn’t have to try too hard to look stunning at the best of times, but right now she could have stopped traffic. Air traffic. Her cream dress had a swirly skirt with a chiffon overlay that fell to her shapely calves, and the upper part of the outfit clung to her curves in all the right places. Places he had touched, kissed and caressed in the past and wanted desperately to do so again.

His continued desire for her was a problem, given the terms of their marriage. He wanted no complications, and sleeping with Elodie Campbell would be one hell of a complication. Not because it wouldn’t be exciting, thrilling and deeply satisfying—because it would be all that and more. But sleeping with her in the past had made him fall in love with her, and he couldn’t allow his feelings to be triggered again. Besides, he was only allowing six months for their marriage. His mother’s doctors hadn’t been precise on her expected lifespan, but they had all agreed it would be a matter of three or four months, tops.

‘You look stunning,’ he managed to say once he could get his voice to work.

‘I dragged this old thing out of the back of the wardrobe,’ Elodie said. ‘I figured you wouldn’t want me to wear my old wedding dress.’

Lincoln frowned. ‘Do you still have it?’

A fleeting sheepish look came over her face. ‘It was custom-made and cost a fortune.’

‘You could have sold it.’

‘Nah, too much trouble.’ She turned to collect her purse and keys and her phone off the small hall table. ‘I keep it as a reminder not to do stupid things.’

‘Do you still have your engagement ring?’

She turned to look at him with a frown pulling at her brow. ‘I took it back to your house. Didn’t you find it?’

‘When did you bring it?’

‘I dropped it off after I left the church when I...left. No one was home, so I used my key and left that as well, with a note.’

Lincoln wasn’t sure he should believe her. The ring had been ridiculously expensive, and would have fetched a decent sum if she had sold it. He hadn’t specifically asked for it back. He hadn’t been interested in any contact with her after that humiliating day. But it had niggled at him all these years that she hadn’t done the decent thing and at least offered to return it. And if she had returned it, why hadn’t his housekeeper mentioned it? Surely Morag would have found it in her spring-cleaning efforts the following day? Trusting Elodie was not something he was prepared to do.

He slipped his hand inside his jacket pocket and took out a ring box and handed it to her. ‘Just as well I have a backup.’

Elodie took the ring box from him, her forehead still cast in a small frown. She prised open the lid and stared at the classic halo diamond ring he had chosen. It was far simpler than the one he had purchased for her seven years ago, but no less expensive. Money wasn’t an issue for him when he had a goal to achieve. And making Elodie his wife for six months was his primary goal.

‘Aren’t you going to try it on?’

‘Sure.’ Elodie took the ring out and handed him back the box. She slipped the ring over her finger and held her hand up to the light to inspect the quality of the diamond. ‘It’s lovely. But I’ll definitely give it back to you in person once we end our marriage.’

Lincoln held her gaze for a beat. ‘No. You can keep it as a souvenir—like the wedding dress.’

She gave him a defiant look. ‘I’m not the sentimental type.’

He gave a crooked smile and leaned down to pick up the two large suitcases near the door. She had never been one to travel light. ‘Come on. We have some paperwork to sign before we get married.’

‘You mean a pre-nuptial agreement? That sort of thing?’ Elodie said on her way with him to his car.

‘We both have assets to protect. As I said before—it will make an annulment a lot less complicated.’

‘You didn’t get me to sign one seven years ago.’ There was an accusatory note in her voice.

‘I didn’t have as many assets back then, and nor did we actually get married, so it’s a moot point.’

‘But what if we had got married and subsequently divorced? Weren’t you taking a risk by not insisting on a pre-nup?’

Lincoln shrugged one shoulder and opened the passenger door for her. ‘Maybe I trusted you back then.’

‘But you don’t now?’