The Marriage Solution

'Well, that's a start.' He raised her chin with one finger so that her eyes met his. 'Isn't it?' he asked softly.

'Yes.' She was amazed and horrified at what the light contact of his skin against hers was doing to her and even more so at the dizzy confusion his words had produced. She knew he was marrying her simply because he had decided, in a cold, logical, emotionless way, that it was time for him to have children, and she fitted the requirements he had laid down for his future wife. He wanted her physically, and he had bought her when the opportunity had arisen. She wanted to close her eyes against the knowledge but it was there, hot and vibrant, in her soul.

So it was imperative that she keep her own space, that she didn't let any little part of the real her become vulnerable or exposed. He didn't love her; he had never pretended that there was any chance of that now or in the future; he had been totally honest.

But she wasn't a man. And now she did shut her eyes for a fleeting moment She didn't have his cool, logical, predatory approach to life and love, and already she wasn't sure how she was beginning to feel about him. It wasn't just his looks, impressive though they were—it was him. There was a magnetism, a fascinating aura about the man that was dangerously compelling and although she knew it would be sheer emotional suicide to fall for him—

'Katie?' He interrupted her racing thoughts by reaching into his pocket and extracting a small, and obviously old, dark velvet box. 'I'd like you to wear this.'

'What is it?' She lifted the tiny lid carefully and then stared astounded at the exquisite antique ring that the box held 'Carlton…' Her eyes shot to his face. 'It's the most beautiful ring I've ever seen.'

'It was my mother's, and her mother's before her.' He took the ring out of its snug setting and reached for her left hand. 'May I?' There was a thickness in his voice, a husky warmth that turned her insides to melted jelly, and as she obediently held out her hand he slipped the ring on to her third finger and held her eyes with his own before leaning forward and drawing her into his arms.

His mouth was caressing, arousing, bringing an immediate hot, aching response from her that frightened her half to death. What was this power he seemed to have over her? she asked herself, panic-stricken, but as his hands moved over the small of her back, warm and knowledgeable, she ceased to think and just let herself feel.

The kiss was hot and sweet and full of a subtle awareness of her own needs that made it devastatingly irresistible. Not that she wanted to resist. She had never felt like this before, never known it was possible to feel like this.

As his lips moved to the pure line of her throat she felt herself shudder, but she was helpless under his caress, no more able to hide her response to his lovemaking than fly.

There was passionate heat in his mouth now as he bit sensuously at her lower lip before plundering the sweetness of her inner mouth. His hands moved from her back to cup her breasts through the soft wool of her sweater, his thumbs stroking their tips, which hardened and swelled at his touch, and when she heard the soft moan that hung trembling in the air for an instant she didn't realise for a full ten seconds that it was her voice.

And then he moved away, settling back in his own seat almost lazily as she struggled to come to terms with how he could make her feel with seemingly very little effort.

'I thought we'd drop in at the hospital on our way to lunch.'

'What?' She gazed at him for a moment as though he were talking in a foreign language and then forced herself to respond normally as she pulled her coat around her, the engagement ring heavy and alien on her hand. 'Oh, yes, fine,' she agreed dully.

'It can only hasten David's recovery to know everything's under control,' Carlton said evenly, his voice cool and contained, and for a moment she could have hit him for his impassive countenance. How dared he sit there so cool and relaxed when she was a shivering wreck? she asked herself angrily. And everything was far from being under control. Light-years away in fact. 'Do you feel up to it?'

'Up to it?' She felt a flood of pride and burning humiliation at his quiet words. He thought his lovemaking was so wonderful that she would collapse at his feet, did he? That it would render her incapable of talking to her father? 'Of course I feel up to it,' she said with an icy coolness that made his eyes narrow. 'I'd rather get it over and done with as soon as possible. I've never lied to my father about anything before.'

'And now you've got to convince him that you're madly in love with a guy you don't even like,' Carlton drawled mockingly, his eyes tight on her profile as she smoothed her hair into place with the help of the small make-up mirror in her bag. If she had been looking at him she would have seen a tenseness to his mouth that belied the easy voice, but she wasn't, and his tone fired her temper still more.

'Exactly.' She turned her head to look out of her side-window, allowing the silky fall of her honey-blonde hair to shield her face from his gaze. 'But needs must.' He might have women falling at his feet from every direction but she was blowed if she was going to add to their number, she thought silently.

'Quite.' He started the engine without another word and as they drove in absolute silence along the icy roads, heaped on either side with banks of snow that the snow-ploughs had cleared, she stared blindly out of the window at the white world outside until her gaze was drawn to the ring again.

It was beautiful, she thought miserably. Exquisitely so. The centre was a large diamond that flashed with breathtaking majesty over a circle of tiny rubies and pearls that surrounded it and in between each stone the gold was worked in lacy folds that enhanced the clearness of

the jewels. And it had been his mother's, and his grandmother's… Perhaps she shouldn't have accepted it in the circumstances, she thought suddenly. An ordinary ring, just a token, would have done.

'Carlton…' She didn't know quite how to put it but she had better say something. 'This ring.'

'Yes?' His tone wasn't exactly forthcoming but she glanced at the hard profile and took a deep breath.

'If you would prefer to keep it I wouldn't mind. I'd be quite happy with something less expensive, even a dress-ring if you'd rather—'

As the car slammed off the road and on to the verge for the second time in ten minutes her stomach turned at the look on his face. He was angry, furiously angry, but what had she said?

'Let's get one thing absolutely clear here and now, Katie,' he said tightly, each word punched into the air with such force that she shrank from them. 'This is going to be a real marriage and as my wife you will be expected to wear the Reef ring. There will also be much more expected of you, not least from me, I might add.' He glared at her angrily. 'When I make a deal I stick to it and I expect those I'm dealing with to do the same.'

'I know that.' After the first moment of shocked surprise she had straightened proudly, her eyes flashing.

'Good.' He glared at her a moment longer and then ran a hand through his hair in a gesture of utter exasperation. 'Oh, hell, I don't want to frighten you—'

'You don't,' she lied promptly, two spots of colour burning in an otherwise pale face. 'I just wondered if you'd felt that you had to offer me your mother's ring, that's all—if you felt obliged—'

'Katie…' Her name was a sigh, but in the next instant his voice held that mocking, caustic note that she had heard before. 'No, I don't feel I 'have' to do anything,' he said slowly as he flicked the ignition again. 'When you get to know me better you'll understand I never do anything I don't want to.'