His Hired Girlfriend (37 page)

The moment he sees her, his heart leaps in his chest. He
takes in a deep breath to steady his nerves. His heart is thumping
faster now.
Calm down, hot
shot! Calm down,
he tells
himself
.

He’s proud of his bride
that she’s able to stand all this—walking in front of thousands of
guests gawking at her. Then she’s beside him. Jacob nods at him and
takes his seat beside his wife. Jay takes Alex’s hands in his,
grinning. Alex smiles back behind her veil.

The celebrant clears his
throat and begins, “We are here today to celebrate the love these
two young people have for each other ...”

This is it
, Alex
thinks.
I am finally with the
man I love forever
.

“
Will you,” the celebrant
turns to Jayden, “Jayden Matthew McCartney, have Alexandra Stewart
to be your wife? Will you love her, comfort and keep her, and
forsaking all others, remain true to her as long as you both shall
live?”

Jay grins as he nods his
head. “I will.”

The celebrant turns to Alex, whose throat suddenly feels
tight. Oh, gosh, she wonders if she is able to speak. Her heart is
pumping faster and louder, and there’re butterflies in the pit of
her stomach.

“
Will you, Alexandra Stewart, have Jayden McCartney to be
your husband? Will you love him, comfort and keep him, and
forsaking all others remain true to him as long as you both shall
live?”

Alex bites her bottom lip
as she watches Jay staring intensely at her. He looks as though
he’s holding his breath, waiting for her answer. She grins and
says, “I will.”

The celebrant turns his
attention to Jay. “Will you please repeat after me ...”

Once they have both
repeated after the celebrant, Jayden puts the ring on Alex’s
finger, and Alex does the same to him. Jay says loudly so that
everyone in the hall can hear, “With this ring I thee wed, and all
my worldly goods I thee endow. In sickness and in health, in
poverty or in wealth, ’til death do us part.”

Gracie and Mali sniff at
the same time. Beth dabs a tissue just beneath her eyes.

The celebrant says, “You
are now husband and wife. You may now kiss your bride.”

Jayden pulls the thin net of the veil from her face. As he
gazes at her, he simply can’t believe how radiant and beautiful she
looks. His eyes say it all, the love and the adoration he has for
her.

Then he moves his head
toward her, his hands cupping her face.

Alex says, “Your eyes are dilated, Jay. Do you like what
you see?”

Jay laughs, loud and clear, so that everyone in the hall
wonders what Alex said to him.

“
Heck
, yes!” he
replies and touches his lips against hers, and his fingers dig deep
into her hair.

Her lips are soft and warm against his. She parts her
mouth, and he plunges in his tongue, kissing her deeply and
passionately. Alex wraps her arms around his neck, pulling him
closer. A loud applause erupts then along with rapid snaps of
cameras’ light. Peter whistles loudly while Timothy
hoots.

“
Yeah!” Emma yells at the
top of her lungs.

Jay finally pulls back,
grinning. “Come on, Mrs. McCartney, time to go greet our guests and
get our photo taken.”

“
Will it appear in high
fashion magazines?” Alex asks.

“
Yes. Are you going to run and hide?”

“
Nope,” she replies,
grinning. “Not at all.”

* * *

E
pilogue

DUNEDIN, NEW
ZEALAND

Mary groans and touches her temple. Her head is pounding away like
a bitch, and her mouth tastes like mud. It’s a struggle just to
open her eyes, and once she
manages that, the first thing she sees is a man in bed
beside her.

Who the heck is he?

When her brain refuses to
do real thinking, she groans again and gets up. She stares about
her surroundings in a haze of fog.

“
Hey.” The male beside her
turns to face her. He’s naked underneath the blanket. Then he
starts kissing her.

She pushes him away. “Not
in the mood. Who the heck are you?”

The male frowns at her.
“It’s Hale, Mary. You drank an awful lot last night.”

Mary touches her head and then everything flashes back to
her
;
her meeting with the deans because stupid Peter told
them her work has never been hers, which of course followed with
her resentment and anger and then her drinking, and, yes, then her
wild sex with Hale.

“
Look,” Hale says, getting
off the bed. “I don’t think I can handle you anymore. So I guess
this is goodbye.”

“
Just go!” she snaps,
glaring at him. “You’re stalling me anyway.”

Hale grabs his trousers, puts them on, and strides to the
door. Alone, Mary goes to turn on her laptop and then logs into
Facebook.

She needs Jayden. She
wants Jayden. She needs to write him a private message that she’s
coming to New York to see him. She needs to tell him that they
could go further.

Her Facebook page appears, and she searches for Jayden. As
the screen is loading Jayden’s profile page, she thinks she
seriously needs a cup of coffee, but then glimpses something. Her
heart stops beating for almost a second
, and then it starts pumping again,
very fast
. There as his profile picture is a photo of handsome
Jayden in a tuxedo looking all too happy for her liking. Beside
him, with his arm wrapped around her shoulders, is Alexandra in an
exceptionally beautiful wedding gown
—
complete with veil
and all.

“
Holy crap!” she mutters
under her breath. She swallows and browses through his wall page.
There’re like a million well-wishers for the happy couple and the
mentioning of how splendid the wedding was.

“
This can’t be true. This
can’t be true,” she chants to herself, her eyes brewing with tears,
her head pounding even more.

She quickly goes to check his relationship status, her
hands shaking. There it says clearly
: Jayden McCartney is married to Alexandra
Stewart.

Mary shoots up and screams insanely. “No! No! No! Ah ...”
Her hands are tearing at her long hair as
she shakes her head in disbelief.

* * *

QUEENSTOWN, NEW ZEALAND

The moment Jayden opens his eyes, he smiles with content. He never
thought he could be this happy. He knew he’d be back in Queenstown.
After all, it is the perfect holiday spot. And yes, it is also the
perfect honeymoon spot. Only he hasn’t been enjoying much of the
scenery or the sports he planned to do yet. He’s too busy enjoying
his beautiful bride.

He turns to watch her,
lying there beside him, still asleep and looking so young and
beautiful. Involuntarily, he strokes her smooth cheek with the back
of his fingers. She groans.

“
Wake up, sleepy
head.”

She responds by rolling
over and giving her bare back to him. He moves over and kisses her
bare shoulder. She giggles. He knows she’s awake. He snuggles his
nose against the nape of her slender neck as he moves his hand to
touch her bare breast.

“
Jayden!” she grumbles and
turns to glare at him.

“
Good morning,
sweetheart.” He grins, his eyes twinkling.

“
Good morning,
Mr.
Hot-Choc
,” Alex
greets.

“
Ah, craving for your hot
chocolate so early again, eh?”

“
Yes,” she replies, moving
his hand away from her breast.

“
So what do you want to do
today?” he asks, pulling her to him.

“
Dunno.” She pouts her lips. “We could go explore Arrow
Town. There’s also Coronet Peak. We could go there to do some
skiing. Well, you’d be doing the skiing. I’d be
watching.”

“
How about some
exercise?”

“
Okay
. Why not? We
could go for a long walk along the lake,” she suggests. “The fresh
air would do us good, or we could go to the vineyard.”

Jayden isn’t thinking about the long walk along the lake
across their thirty-odd hectares or so of land or their newly
acquired vineyard in Central Otago; he’s thinking of an exercise
that doesn’t require them to leave their large, luxurious bedroom
in their three-story house.

“
I was thinking of an
exercise right here in bed,” he says cheekily.

“
Huh?” she raises her eyes
to look at him. Then she catches the drift of his meaning and
laughs. “You cheeky bugger!”

“
Yes. Say yes?” he begs,
giving her the puppy dog look.

“
All right,” she
chuckles.

Before she has the chance to change her mind, he pulls her
to him and kisses her passionately. Alex wraps her arms around his
shoulders and she surrenders to his kisses and lovemaking once
again.

THE END

*
* * * *

COMING May 30,
2014

FALLING FOR SAKURA

One young
woman.

Seven brothers.

When she falls in love with two,

which brother will she choose?

In Japan
,
Sakura is the beautiful cherry blossom that
blooms vibrantly in spring and symbolizes the insightful Buddhist
phrase
mono no aware,
which means
the pathos of things
, a metaphor for the ephemeral nature of life. FALLING FOR
SAKURA is the story of Caucasian-Japanese Sakura, her journey to
finding herself, and her torn love for two very different brothers,
Sebastian and Darcy Princeton.

Orphan Sakura, with no last name, is accustomed to being rejected,
hated, bullied, and unloved. When she is adopted by the wealthy
Princeton family, her seven brothers refuse to accept her, and her
two sisters constantly bully her. Instead of admitting defeat, she
gladly takes on her new life with a brave face, working hard to
earn her new siblings’ trust and love. Her endeavor, however,
ultimately leads to a series of unfortunate incidents.

Now years later, the twenty-three-year-old beauty dreads the moment
she once again has to meet the drop-dead gorgeous brothers, due to
arrive for their cousin’s wedding. Dodging their very presence is
next to impossible since the brothers, who have forgotten who she
is entirely, are attracted to her like moths to a flame and thwart
her escapes at every turn. This, of course, leads to ungodly,
tempting situations, awakens forbidden feelings, and ignites old
flames that have been suppressed and laid dormant for many years.
When she finds them competing for her—
NOT for her sisterly affection, which she still deeply
craves, but for her love as a woman
—she is torn between Sebastian Princeton, the brother who
loves her and watches over her from a distance, and Darcy
Princeton, the brother who was once her best friend and now
secretly yearns for her forgiveness and her love once
again.

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