Bought: One Bride

“Sit,” Richard said, and indicated the blue office chair behind the desk.

She sat, wondering what on earth he was about to show her. Richard grabbed the arm of the chair and pulled it down in front of the laptop. He stayed standing next to her and started clicking the mouse. In no time, he’d brought up a photograph of a brunette who would have given Catherine Zeta-Jones a run for her money.

“She was the first woman from Wives Wanted I took out,” he said. “She’s a television producer. Thirty-four and divorced.”

He clicked up another raven-haired beauty.

“Took her out next,” Richard said. “She’s a pathologist. Thirty-five. Never been married.”

Two more stunning brunettes filled the screen with successive clicks, each one accompanied by a succinct report from Richard. Each one had higher education, as well as incredible physical beauty.

At last he switched the computer off, pushed it over a little and perched on the edge of the desk, facing her.

“To answer your first question, you wondered why I would go to such an agency. I’ll tell you why. I’m thirty-eight years old, Holly. I’ve been in love, I’ve been married and I’ve been horribly hurt. For eighteen months I could hardly bear to go out, let alone date. But life does move on and the time came when I wanted a woman in my life, and in my bed again. As well as that, I want a child. And not when I’m in my dotage.”

Holly sat up straighter in the chair. A child! So that was the reason behind his urgency. Now why hadn’t she thought of that?

“I know people have children all the time these days out of wedlock,” he went on, “but that’s not me. I wanted my child to be legitimate. And I wanted a wife for myself, too. I’d been lonely and celibate for long enough. But I couldn’t see myself cruising singles bars every weekend, or signing up for speed-dating night.”

“But don’t you meet a lot of women at work, and in the course of your social life? A man in your position would go to lots of dos.”

“Like I said, I’m thirty-eight. Most of the women around my age that I meet are married, or divorced. The married ones are out of bounds and the divorced ones are carrying too much emotional baggage for me. I have enough of my own. I saw how successful Reece’s marriage was using Wives Wanted and I thought, Why not give it a try?”

Now that she had heard his explanation, Holly could see it was reasonable.

“So what happened?” she probed.

“It didn’t work out.”

“But all those women were incredible. And brilliant!”

“Gold diggers, every one of them.”

“How do you know that?”

“Trust me,” he said drily.

“But isn’t financial security part of the deal?”

“I guess so. But I suspect Reece was very lucky, to find a real diamond amongst the paste jewels on offer.”

“But they were all very beautiful.”

“In a skin-deep fashion.”

“Did…did you sleep with any of them?”

Holly hated herself for asking, but she had to know.

“Not a one. There was no chemistry. Not for me, anyway. Every one of them left me cold. You, however, my sweet darling Holly,” he said, yanking the chair up between his legs, “you heated my blood from the first moment I saw you.”

Holly was already melting from his endearment when he cupped her face and bent down to kiss her.

Not a hard kiss. Or a hungry one. A soft, tender, loving kiss that rocked her soul, and her belief that she had not fallen in love with Richard.

What a fool she was. A silly fool. Didn’t she know she’d been half in love with him before she’d even met him? He was everything she’d ever wanted in a man. The trouble was, as perfect as he was in her eyes, in his heart of hearts he would always belong to someone else.

Tears pricked at her eyes, bringing panic. She didn’t want him to know how she felt about him. And he might add two and two together, if she started crying. He might use the knowledge against her. Make her do things she knew she shouldn’t do, like say yes to marrying him.

So she cupped his face with her hand and deepened the kiss, all to hide her tears. He slid off the desk and pulled her up out of the chair at the same time, yanking her hard against him.

Their mouths burst apart and he glared down at her.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” he growled.

“Why not?”

“Because I’ve been wanting to do this ever since I woke up.”

He wrenched his robe apart before his hands scooped up under his blue shirt, spanning her waist and squeezing tightly, rather like the silver belt had done. She gasped when he lifted her and sat her on the edge of the desk. Moaned when he pushed her legs wide. Cried out when he plunged into her.