Marriage of Convenience (The Raven Brothers 1)

I smiled, holding back the words I wanted to say to him.

“Get your rest. You’re going to need it.” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

“So will you.” I stretched out in what I hoped was a seductive pose.

He groaned. “You may need to go easy on me.” He winked and left the little room.

I snuggled into the bedding. Even on the airplane, the sheets felt softer than I’d ever had in my own bed growing up. With Chase I felt like Cinderella who finally found her prince, but fairy tales weren’t real, I reminded myself.

As easily as Chase had opened up to me more, he could just as easily close up. The run-in with my professor proved that. God, I wished there was a way to leave my past behind. That was the whole reason I left home and came to New York City. I wanted to start a new life and reinvent myself.

But as it turned out, leaving the past behind was impossible. It was like baggage that always stayed with me. I had to hope that both Glen and my professor would recognize that taking on the Raven family was a mistake and stay away.

Another part of me worried they’d think they could sell lies about me or extort money from Chase. They were just smart enough to recognize the financial potential of my connection to the Raven family, and dumb enough to think they could force Chase’s hand.

The plane tilted slightly reminding me where I was and where I was going. Now wasn’t the time to worry about Glen or my professor. Chase was whisking me away to a private getaway. I needed to focus on that. Because I was extremely tired, I did as Chase suggested, and closed my eyes to rest. I wanted to be completely present during my honeymoon with my husband.

25

Chase

My father and Sara were right. I was jaded. Part of it likely came from growing up with money. Flying in a private plane to a private island was par for the course. But it also came from living in a ruthless business world. My father raised all of us to be wary and skeptical of others because they were always trying to take advantage of us. In the business world, that was nearly always true.

Even in my private life, it had been true. I’m not sure I’d ever been with a woman who didn’t have dollar signs in her eyes when I fucked her. Not that I didn’t enjoy or respect the women I’d been with, but I knew that most of them wanted a ring and the Raven name. Some so much they tried to trap me. I supposed that was why it was so easy to doubt Sara, which was unfair because I was the one who offered her money.

There was a part of me that thought she would have already walked away from our deal if there wasn’t the possibility she was pregnant. I’d offended her several times. I couldn’t blame her if she wanted out of our deal. If she wasn’t pregnant by her next cycle, I might have to work harder to convince her to stick with me.

It had been several weeks now since we started having unprotected sex. I wondered when we’d know for sure if she was pregnant. A strange swell of emotion moved through me. A baby. What the hell was I thinking? And why was the thought of a child not quite as unpleasant as it had been just a few weeks before? The only thing I could think of was the male ego. Men got women pregnant and had babies all the time, so it was crazy to feel like an alpha male for impregnating someone.

When we landed, the car I’d arranged was waiting to drive us to the main house. Since she rested, I decided on a driving tour of the island to help her get her bearings. We were in a convertible, and wisps of her hair, now pulled up in a messy bun that my fingers itched to undo, blew around her face. Her eyes sparkled as she took in the pristine beaches, blue water, and lush foliage.

I’d always known this island, but never really noticed how blue the water was or how lovely the flowers smelled until Sara pointed them out. We passed the dock that held a fishing boat and a larger cruising vessel used for longer trips out to sea. Finally, we turned up the drive to the main house. The property also had several bungalows, some of which each of us sons would use when the family was together, or where friends would stay when we were entertaining. There was a second, smaller home on the other side of the island, and housing for the staff that maintained the island and the facilities on it.