At Odds With the Heiress (16 page)
“That sounds nice,” he said, regarding her intently. “Where do
you want me to put the bags?”
The question hung in the air between them.
“It would be easy to tell you the master bedroom,” she
responded. “So many things are wrong between us, but sexual chemistry isn’t one
of them.”
Scarlett threw open the sliding glass doors that opened onto
the oceanside terrace and let in the breeze.
“Yesterday you said you needed someone who had faith in you,”
Logan said, coming up behind her.
Even though he didn’t touch her, Scarlett felt his presence
like a caress, and it was hard not to lean back against him. “And I gave you
ample opportunity to say you did.”
Logan put his hand on her upper arm and spun her to face him.
“I’ve given you no reason to grant me another chance, but I wish you would.”
Scarlett couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “I don’t know
why you’re asking. No matter how hard I try not to irritate you, I’m eventually
going to do something and you’re going to get mad.”
“Would you believe me if I told you that I like being upset by
you?”
“No.” But her eyes sparkled with amusement.
“How about if I told you that you’ve made me happier than I’ve
ever been?”
She grew somber. “Then I consider my work here finished.”
“You can’t mean that.”
“I don’t, but the way things are between us, I can’t see our
future being anything but one long argument.”
“If this is about your accusation that I don’t believe in you,
that’s not true.”
Logan’s scowl made hope flare in Scarlett’s heart, but could
she trust his declaration?
“I’m only speaking from what you’ve said and how you’ve
behaved.”
“Including the night I showed up at your place demanding you
stay in Las Vegas?”
“Yes.” She would forever cherish the memory of that night. “And
how, less than twenty-four hours later, you were furious at me. And that the day
before you couldn’t wait to find out when your life was going to get back to
normal.”
Logan looked chastened by her words, but he continued to argue.
“That’s when I thought you were leaving. I didn’t want you to go, but couldn’t
bring myself to ask you to stay.”
“So you pushed me away?”
“It’s how I react when I’m feeling vulnerable. I did the same
thing to Elle all those years ago. I wanted her to choose me, but I was too
proud to ask her to. I was bullheaded and wrong, and I almost made the same
mistake with you.”
“But you were in love with Elle.”
“I’m in love with you.”
For a second Scarlett gaped at him. “No wa—”
Logan silenced the flow of her words with a kiss. Startled by
the abruptness of his lips against her, she nevertheless surrendered to the
flood of heat and emotion his touch inspired. Any thoughts of dinner or a walk
on the beach fled. She was flushed and dizzy by the time he lifted his lips from
hers.
“Marry me.”
Fearing wishful thinking had made her mishear him, Scarlett
didn’t answer. Her heart was pounding so hard she thought her chest would
explode.
“I’m sorry,” she said at last. “I don’t think I heard you
correctly.”
“I asked you to marry me.”
“Now I’m certain I’m not hearing you correctly.”
He scowled at her. “Stop turning this romantic moment into a
comedy.”
“Well, excuse me if I’m caught a little off guard.” Despite her
tone, she couldn’t stop grinning. “Of course, I’ll marry you.”
“That’s great,” he told her, an edge of impatience to his
voice. “Because I love you and I don’t think I can live without you.”
“You don’t think?” she prompted, nuzzling his neck and nipping
at his earlobe. “Or you know you can’t?”
“I’m pretty damned sure that I am going to be very happy
spending the rest of my life being aggravated by you in the best and worst
possible way.”
“That’s my guy,” she murmured, kissing him with all the love in
her heart and glorying in the love she got back. “I’m pretty smitten with you
myself.”
“Smitten enough to test for the project Bobby came down to talk
to you about?”
She pulled back far enough to scrutinize his expression. “I
thought you understood that I’d decided to pass.”
“I understand that you love to act. And I understand that the
part is perfect for you. What I don’t understand is why you decided to pass when
Bobby was willing to bend over backwards to accommodate your schedule.”
How could she make him see what she couldn’t quite grasp
herself? “I’m afraid.”
“Of what?”
Where did she start? “Not being good enough. That if I don’t
give my full attention to the hotel, something bad will happen.” And in a
smaller voice, “Losing you.”
“You’ll be wonderful. You have the best-run hotel on the
Strip.” He kissed her slow and deep. “As for losing me, that will never happen.
You’re the most amazing thing that’s ever happened to me.”
Her throat tightened almost painfully. His faith bolstered her
courage. Snug in his arms, Scarlett dared to consider whether she could have the
two things in the world she loved most.
“I suppose I could call Bobby in the morning and see if we
could meet with him to talk about schedules.” She framed Logan’s face with her
hands and peered deep into his eyes. “As long as you understand that you’ll
always be my first priority. I can live without acting. I can’t live without
you.”
“That’s the one thing you don’t have to worry about,” he
promised, espresso eyes soft and warm as they toured her face. “I’m never going
to let you go.”
* * * * *
If you liked this story, try these other novels from Cat
Schield:
MEDDLING WITH A MILLIONAIRE
A
WIN-WIN PROPOSITION
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
A TRICKY
PROPOSITION
THE NANNY TRAP
All available now from Harlequin Desire!
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reading for an excerpt from PROJECT: RUNAWAY BRIDE by Heidi Betts.
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One
J
uliet Zaccaro stared down at the little plastic wand she was clutching between shaky, white-knuckled fingers.
It was one of those kits that promised 100 percent accuracy. No doubts. No second-guessing. And that was definitely a giant blue plus sign, glaring back at her like a flashing Broadway marquee.
She was pregnant.
Her stomach tightened; her lungs following suit. Knees growing weak, she took a single stumbling step sideways and sank onto the closed toilet lid in a cloud of gauzy white crepe and tulle.
A laugh verging on hysterical tickled its way up her throat, but she tamped it down. Pressed her lips together to keep it from spilling out, because she knew if she didn’t, she might never stop.
It was her wedding day. Here she was in the cramped bathroom off the small-but-serviceable room at the rear of the church where she’d been getting ready, and she was very unexpectedly, very this-is-not-good-news pregnant.
She should have taken the test days ago rather than waiting until her hair and makeup were done and she was trussed up in her one-of-a-kind fairy-princess gown designed and hand sewn by her sister Lily. Hadn’t she suspected for more than a week now that the dizziness, the headaches, the upset stomachs were more than simply prewedding jitters? But she’d been so afraid she was right, so afraid she might actually be pregnant that she couldn’t bear to find out for sure.
And then she’d looked at herself in the mirror, seen herself as a bride about to walk down the aisle and realized she wasn’t blushing, she was flushed. She wasn’t glowing with happiness; she was radiating dread. And that was just at the prospect of saying “I do.”
When she stopped to consider the fact that she might indeed be pregnant, all of her doubts, all of her fears, all of her second thoughts just grew louder and louder until they were a nearly deafening cacophony inside her head. That was when she knew she couldn’t wait any longer to take the test and find out for sure.
Now she knew...but she had no idea what to do about it. She couldn’t very well walk down the aisle and start a new life with a man who most likely wasn’t—most likely? Who was she kidding?—
definitely
wasn’t the father of her child.
Dear God, her
child.
A baby. She was really and truly pregnant. Which meant it wasn’t just about her anymore. She wasn’t going to be the only one affected by whatever decisions she made from this moment forward. She had to start thinking like a mother, putting her child’s safety and happiness ahead of her own.
A tap on the bathroom door startled her out of her deeply spiraling dark thoughts. She lifted her head as her sister’s muffled voice came from the other side.
“Juliet. We’re ready for you, sweetie,” Lily said. “It’s time to become Mrs. Paul Harris.”
Her words were happy, encouraging, meant to uplift. Instead, they made Juliet’s stomach drop.
She didn’t know if she
could
become Mrs. Paul Harris. Or even if she should.
Taking a deep, shuddering breath, she called out, “I’ll be right there. Just one more minute.”
“All right. We’ll be waiting in the vestibule.”
Juliet waited until her sister’s faint footsteps trailed off and the outer door closed. Then she pushed herself to her feet with the help of the porcelain vanity and glanced at her reflection in the mirror above the sink.
Not bad, as long as everyone waiting in the pews out front was expecting a Corpse Bride. Every ounce of color had leeched out of her skin, making the eye shadow, rouge and lipstick her sister Zoe had so carefully applied look like that of a practiced geisha.
Brushing a finger beneath each of her eyes, she wiped away any lingering trace of unshed tears and made sure her eyeliner and mascara were still intact. Then she fluffed out the diaphanous folds of her gown and dropped the plastic test stick into the small wicker wastebasket beside the sink. A second later, she leaned down and shook the basket so the wand fell to the very bottom. She certainly didn’t want someone accidentally finding a positive pregnancy test in the bridal staging area and taking the time to put two and two together.
As ready as she was ever going to be, she left the bathroom and crossed the main room, slowly turning the knob and opening the outer door only a crack. The hallway was empty, thank goodness. Another moment’s reprieve.
Opening the door the rest of the way, she stepped out. The muted whispers of her sisters and father reached her from where they were waiting only a few yards away.
Turn left and she would be at the start of the aisle, stepping her way into a new life to the strains of “The Wedding March.”
Turn right toward one of the church’s side doors and she could escape. It would be a new life of sorts, too, but one about which she was much less certain.
Her chest rose and fell with her increasingly shallow breaths. Her heart began to race like a greyhound after a rabbit.
Left or right? Go through with the wedding and her promise to Paul, or throw it all away and dive headfirst into the great unknown?
Time seemed to slow as her ears filled with the hollow, echoing sound of ocean waves. And then she did the only thing she could do. She turned right...
...and ran.
Copyright © 2014 by Heidi Betts
ISBN-13: 9781460324066
AT ODDS WITH THE HEIRESS
Copyright © 2014 by Catherine Schield
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