The Millionaire's Rebellious Mistress - By Catherine George Page 0,70
you get on with them.’
She laughed in disbelief. ‘You devious devil! Why didn’t you tell me this before?’
He laid a hand on his heart. ‘Harmony has not been a continuous feature of our relationship, Miss Carver, so I waited until it was on firmer ground before I confessed.’
‘Good thinking.’ Sarah blew him a kiss. ‘Now, show me over this hotel and then take me home. I’m hungry.’
They were in bed together later that night, wrapped in each other’s arms in the afterglow of making love, before she dropped her bombshell.
‘I had a visitor last night,’ she said, as Alex stroked her hair.
‘If it was Dan Mason I’ll black his other eye!’
‘It was Maxine.’
Alex shot upright, his eyes incredulous as he stared down into Sarah’s flushed face. ‘What the hell did she want?’
‘To make trouble for you, Alex.’
‘What else is new?’ he said grimly. ‘What particular brand of trouble did she dish out this time?’
‘She said you gave her the money for her abortion.’
Alex took in a deep breath, then caught her in his arms, his eyes looking deep into hers. ‘I didn’t give her any money, Sarah. I haven’t seen her since last Saturday.’
‘I know, darling,’ she said gently.
He let out the breath, and rubbed his cheek against hers. ‘I realise that, now my brain’s started functioning again, otherwise you wouldn’t be here with me like this—wouldn’t have let me through your door tonight.’
‘I believed the worst of you without evidence once, Alex,’ she said firmly. ‘I wasn’t going to do it a second time. I did think for a fleeting moment you might have given her the money to spare your father. But her big mistake was saying you’d made her pregnant—’
‘What?’
‘Precisely. After what happened with your mother I knew you wouldn’t touch Maxine again with a bargepole.’
‘How right you are.’ Alex crushed her close again in gratitude. ‘You trusted me.’
‘Yes, I did.’ She smiled up at him. ‘I do.’
His own smile was crooked as he returned the smile. ‘I like the sound of that.’
‘That I trust you?’
‘No. The “I do” bit.’
Sarah swallowed, trying to control her somersaulting heart. ‘Where do you think she got the money?’ she said hastily, in case she was taking too much for granted.
‘Don’t know, don’t care. Maybe her mother came up trumps for once.’ Alex paused. ‘But Maxine must have got it somewhere if she came round to you to gloat and spit out lies. Though I didn’t think even she would be that vindictive.’
‘You told her to get lost. She couldn’t take that.’
‘It’s probably never happened to her before.’
‘It has twice now.’ Sarah smiled victoriously. ‘I told her to get lost, too.’
Alex gave a crow of laughter, then grew quiet. ‘Thank you, Sarah,’ he said at last.
‘For telling Maxine to get lost?’
‘No, though I wish I’d been there to witness it. My thanks are for trusting me, Merrick though I am.’ He held her close in silence for a while, then turned her face up to his. ‘Talking of which, I’ve thought of a foolproof way of getting you used to my name.’
‘Oh?’
‘If you moved in here with me, and got gradually used to the idea, we could get married—preferably some time soon—and then your name would be Merrick, too. I know,’ he added hastily, as her jaw dropped, ‘that certain of my relatives leave something to be desired. But you’ve met my lovely Aunt Bel, and I think you’d even like old Edgar—and to crown it all you’d have the best mother-in-law in the business.’
‘Are you serious?’ she said, even as a glow of pure happiness spread through her.
‘About my mother? Of course I am—’
‘I mean about getting married.’
‘Sarah,’ said Alex patiently, ‘you’ve worked among men all your life. You should know how they tick better than most women. Can you imagine any man saying something like that for a joke?’
‘No, thank God!’ She threw her arms round his neck in rapture at the thought of marrying Alex Merrick, whatever his name was.
‘I wanted you the moment I set eyes on you—even when I thought you were Oliver Moore’s trophy girlfriend,’ he told her, and curled a lock of hair round his finger. ‘Of course I didn’t know then what trouble you’d cause me—’
‘Trouble?’ she said indignantly.
‘False accusations for one,’ he reminded her. ‘You hurt me, my darling.’
‘I know,’ she said with remorse. ‘I’m sorry, Alex.’
‘But now you’ve trusted me rather than Maxine I feel I’m on a winning streak here. So how do you feel about marrying me, Sarah Carver?’
‘Ecstatic,’ she said, her smile incandescent. ‘If I do, will you expect me to give up my work?’
‘Hell, no,’ he said fervently. ‘Maybe you’ll get so good at it I can retire early. I’ve always had a fancy to be a kept man.’
‘Have you, now?’
‘Well, no,’ Alex admitted, kissing her. ‘If there’s any keeping involved I’d rather do it, because you’d have to have the babies.’ He drew back to look her in the eye. ‘Do you want children, Sarah?’
She nodded earnestly. ‘Of course I do. As long as they’re yours, Alex.’
He relaxed and held her closer. ‘Then tell me I can keep you, Sarah.’
‘Oh, yes,’ she said with a blissful sigh. ‘For ever, please. Besides, rather than shock Oliver, I’d prefer to marry you before we have these babies of ours.’
He rubbed his cheek against hers. ‘I’ll take all that as a yes, then.’
‘A very enthusiastic one! I think your mother will be pleased.’
Alex laughed, and kissed her nose. ‘You’re only taking me on so you get my mother as well!’
‘Of course. Though I love you madly, too.’ She smiled suddenly, her eyes dancing. ‘Oliver will be delighted, naturally, but I don’t fancy telling Harry Sollers.’
‘I’ll break it to him myself. In the pub, so that all your pals hear the news at the same time.’ Alex gave her his familiar crooked smile. ‘And then, light of my life, I’ll ask Eddy Mason to pass on the good news to Dan.’
ISBN: 978-1-4268-4621-2
THE MILLIONAIRE’S REBELLIOUS MISTRESS
First North American Publication 2010.
Copyright © 2008 by Catherine George.
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