The Tycoon's Forced Bride

She laughed, half-embarrassed, half-amused. But as the band struck up their song, and he took her right hand in his and placed his hand low on her hip, she felt a tremor of trepidation. Ava drew a slow, shuddering breath to calm herself. “I’m not much of a dancer anymore.”

“I’ve never been much of a dancer, so that makes us even.”

“You used to love to dance. Way back when.”

“Only because I loved dancing with you.” His fingers curled around hers and he drew her right hand to his chest. She felt the steady beat of his heart beneath her palm. “I haven’t danced in years. Not since you were hurt.”

The music was playing but they were hardly moving, oblivious to the guests.

“We didn’t dance at our last wedding?”

“No. It was a courthouse ceremony. Nothing like. No party or reception.”

She glanced to her right, watching guests fill the dance floor. “Who are these people? Where did you find them?”

He laughed. “The Caribbean is full of New Yorkers trying to escape the cold this time of year. It wasn’t hard to round up a few friends.”

“You went to so much trouble.”

“I wanted to celebrate our marriage. I wanted to celebrate you.”

Her chest squeezed tight, constricting air. “It’s…crazy. But wonderful. I am just worried I won’t remember all of this.”

“Then I’ll do it again and again. In fact, maybe every year on our anniversary we’ll have a big wedding and party—”

“That’s a terrible waste of money.”

“Not if it gives you pleasure, and lets me show you how much I love you.”

She couldn’t speak. Her head felt light. “I still can’t believe you really do love me.”

His eyes, more green than blue tonight, shone down at her and he stroked her flushed cheek. “Ava, why else would I have married you? I love you more than any man has ever loved a woman.”

The slow song had ended but she didn’t move. It was impossible to move, much less think when her heart was beating so hard it threatened to burst free from her rib cage.

He loved her. He loved her for her and they both loved Jack and she’d always loved Colm…it was too much. She couldn’t quite take it all in. Was the happy ending really hers? Was her most secret wish finally coming true?

“Malcolm.” A woman joined them on the dance floor. She was slender and wore an elegant black sheath and matching coat.

Colm stiffened. Ava felt him tense. “Eden.”

The woman’s dark blonde hair was twisted in a sleek, French chignon and tiny lines creased at her eyes but they did nothing to diminish her beauty. “You’re back then?”

His brows pulled. “I never left.”

“You went to New York for a couple of years.”

“I have a place in Manhattan but I never let the house go. I just closed it for a couple years.”

Eden’s jaw tightened. “I see.”

As if suddenly remembering Ava, Colm drew her closer to his side. “Eden, this is Ava. Ava, Eden—”

“The ex-wife,” Eden finished coolly.

Chapter Thirteen

‡

Ex-wife? Ava stiffened, her insides freezing. Colm had been married before? Was that something he’d told her and she’d forgotten…or had he never told her…?

She tried to pull away but Colm kept his arm firmly around her waist.

“What are you doing here?” Colm asked Eden, his voice pitched low.

Eden’s lips compressed, the fine lines at her eyes deepening. “I had to come. I had to see for myself.”

“You weren’t invited.”

“Half the island was invited. I don’t see what the problem was.” Eden turned to look at Ava, her expression dismissive before turning her attention back to Malcolm. “Is it true you have a son?”

Ava shivered. Colm hugged her more firmly to his side. “Yes,” he answered shortly. “Jack.”

Eden let out a laugh but it sounded too high, too strained. “We never started a family. I didn’t think Colm wanted a family.” She paused, and smiled at Colm, her eyes glittering with pain and rage. “Obviously, it was just not with me.”

“Eden, you need to leave.”

Eden glanced at Ava. “He’ll get rid of you, too. He will. It’s just a matter of time.”

“That’s enough, Eden.” Colm gestured and one of his wait staff appeared. “Please see Ms. Vail out,” he instructed his staff.

“It’s Mrs. McKenzie,” Eden corrected. “McKenzie. Your wife.”

Colm didn’t respond. He turned away, and walked Ava off the dance floor.

Ava was shaking. Her thoughts rushed in a dozen different directions, the intense emotion making it difficult to think clearly. It was shocking, so shocking.

Ava shivered as they walked, chilled to the bone.

“She doesn’t know what she’s saying.” Colm said, breaking the tense silence.

Ava swallowed around the bitterness in her mouth. “You never told me you were married before…or maybe you did, and I just don’t remember.”

“I didn’t tell you.”

“Why?”

His broad shoulders shrugged. “It’s a period of my life I don’t focus on.”

“Yes, but it’d would have been good to know. I would have liked to know that there had been a first Mrs. Malcolm McKenzie.”

“That’s ridiculous. It changes nothing.”

“It does for me!”

He’d lead her from the party, through the garden to the master suite. The candles had ben lit. Champagne chilled in a silver bucket of ice. The bouquets of fresh flowers glowed in the soft light.

“Why does it matter?” he asked her, closing the bedroom door behind them.

“It just does…it’s something I would want to know. It’s something I ought to know.”

“Why? It doesn’t have any bearing on you and me. It’s not part of the story of us—”

“But it’s the story of you. And I realize I don’t know anything about you.”

“Not true,” he said, loosening his bow tie. “You know I love you, and have fought for you and have fought for our future—”

“Why did you divorce her?” She interrupted, heart aching, eyes gritty with tears she didn’t want to cry.

“It’s complicated.”

“You don’t think I could handle it?”

“No.” Colm shed his tuxedo jacket. “It’s complicated because I don’t even understand. We married a number of years before I met you. The marriage lasted less than a year. She was terribly unhappy and she left me. She ran off with a friend of mine. And that ended badly, too.”

“But she said—”

“She’s not well,” he interrupted wearily. “She’s never been well. I just didn’t know it then.”

“But you must have loved her because you married her.”

“She was pregnant,” he said bluntly. “Or so she said. And I married her because it was the right thing to do.”

Ava sat down on the foot of the bed. “I’m sorry. I’m not following this very well.”

“She told me she was pregnant. I believed her. I married her. But it turned out she wasn’t pregnant. I wasn’t happy but we were married and I thought we’d try to make it work. A commitment is a commitment. But then she ran away, and I filed for divorce. And I vowed never to marry again.” He made a low, mocking sound. “By the way, this is a terrible conversation to be having on our wedding night.”

Ava didn’t hear that last bit, too focused on what he’d said before.

The part about Eden saying she was pregnant and Colm marrying her out of duty.

Eden had forced his hand with a pregnancy.

Eden had trapped him.

Ava exhaled slowly, understanding. “That’s why you reacted to my news the way you did.” Her gaze met his. “That’s why we had that terrible fight the night of the accident. You couldn’t believe it was happening again.”

“You and

I are different—”

“You can be honest with me, Malcolm! You can tell me how you felt. It would help me fill in the pieces because that night wasn’t you, and me, was it? That night, and our fight, wasn’t about us, but about Eden and you.”

“I was angry, yes.”

“Because I was just like Eden.”

“You’re nothing like Eden. But that night, it felt like I was being cornered all over again.”

“I was trapping you.”

He nodded, sighed. “I think I need a drink. Want one?” he asked her.

Ava slid off her delicate high heels and drew her legs up. “Yes, please.”

“Champagne?”

“Do you have anything else?”

“Brandy.”

“I’ll have that.”

“Good. Me, too.”

For a moment, the only sound was Colm drawing out two brandy glasses and a crystal decanter from the bar adjacent to the bedroom.

She watched as he poured them both a generous splash of brandy. “I hate secrets,” she said. “My father had a thousand and none were good. Mistresses, ex-wives, babies out of wedlock—”

“My life is far less interesting,” Colm interrupted, walking towards her. “I only have one child and that is Jack. Our son. I would never take a mistress, or have an affair. I was with no one in the thirteen months we were apart, and would still be with no one if we weren’t together now. I have a lot of faults, but I am faithful.”