A Deal Before the Altar

Again he raked his hands through his hair. He couldn’t think straight. The air was becoming heavier and more oppressive by the minute and he could feel Georgina’s gaze fully on him, expectantly waiting for an answer.

‘Tell her to arrange their wedding.’ His words were sharp, and it was an effort to keep his frustration at the situation he now found himself in from showing. Damn it, he still couldn’t tell her why she had to stay.

Her gaze locked with his, the soft brown eyes that had almost melted his soul as he’d made her his now burnished like copper, angry and glittering. He clenched his hands and met her challenging gaze.

‘This is what you wanted all along, isn’t it?’ What was she waiting for now? His blessing for the marriage?

‘You know it is...’

A but seemed to linger in the air with as much threat as the storm he could feel waiting to erupt.

He raised a brow at her, finally slipping back into his professional mode. ‘Anything else?’

She shook her head, a look of disappointment crossing her face and he bit down hard on the sudden urge to go to her, to hold her and make everything right. Because he couldn’t. He would never be able to make this right—for Georgina or himself.

She stood tall and resolute for a few more seconds, her gaze fixed to his, then she left, taking with her some of the pressure that dominated the room.

He needed to contact his legal team. There just had to be a way out of that final clause. Satisfied he’d sorted the situation for now, he turned on his laptop. He had far too many emails to answer, but the first one snared his attention with such ferocity he dropped down into his chair.

It was offering him congratulations on his marriage. Just what they had planned. But it was the last line that almost made his heart stop. He and Georgina weren’t the only couple to have got married.

Blood pounded in his ears, the sound so loud it almost masked the first rumble of thunder as the storm finally broke.

It couldn’t be true.

Quickly he scanned the headlines and within minutes found confirmation that, yes, it was true. He’d been tricked, manipulated, and totally played for a fool. He wanted to rage and shout, but one thing life had taught him was that rushing in without first knowing all the facts could leave him in a weak position.

No, this had to be approached with caution. He had to know what part Georgina had played in this. Instinct told him it was a very big part. He was angry he’d lowered his defences enough for her to see the man he really was. For the first time ever he’d felt the stirrings of something he’d shut out of his life long ago and had almost been fooled into opening that door.

* * *

Georgina slipped outside to the pool. The clouds were dark and heavy. It looked as if a storm was brewing, and she hated storms—she’d never shaken off her childhood fear of them. Despite the dark clouds that hung low in the sky she settled on a lounger by the pool, her need to speak with Emma greater than her desire to hide from the storm. She could hardly wait to hear her sister’s squeal of delight when she told her they could set a date.

‘Georgie.’ Emma sounded different somehow as she answered the phone. ‘Where are you?’

‘I’m still in Spain, and you can get set a date for your wedding.’ She took a breath, putting on an air of jubilation—one she was far from feeling. ‘Santos and I—we’re married.’

Emma hesitated, and a shiver of apprehension slipped down Georgina’s spine as the silence lengthened down the phone connection.

Finally Emma spoke, sounding oddly far away. ‘I know. It’s all over town.’

At least her plan had worked, Georgina consoled herself. All she could hope for now was that Emma would believe that she and Santos had married because of the attraction they had for one another, after the whirlwind romance that had started at the party.

‘Georgie...’

Emma’s voice sounded nervous, and as the silence lengthened still further Georgina heard the first rumble of thunder. ‘Georgie, Carlo and I...we got married a few days ago.’

Georgina almost dropped the phone with shock. Her quiet, biddable sister had gone against everyone and married in secret, without even telling her. Hurt lanced through her as she thought of the day she’d always imagined for Emma—a day when she would be there to see her married, not on a yacht off the coast of Spain.

A flash of lightning made Georgina’s heart-rate accelerate wildly, but she tried to keep it under control. She didn’t want Emma to worry—didn’t want her to know of the ramifications her actions.

‘Georgie, are you still there?’

She could hear the unease in her sister’s voice and tried to focus her mind. How could Emma have betrayed her?