His Hired Girlfriend (31 page)

It was mid-day when Jayden woke
up. He found that his arm was numbed and sore from pins and
needles. He gently removed his arm from under Alex’s head and got
up. He had a shower, got dressed, then went down stairs after
making sure Alex was comfortable.

He came into the dining room,
tired and hungry. Maggie took one look at him and asked, “What
would you like to eat, Master Jayden?”

“Just some toasted sandwich
will do, Maggie.”

“Yes of course. I will tell
Chef Leon to prepare it for you.”

“Would you please also tell him
to make soup for Alex? She isn’t well, and I don’t think solid food
is good for her stomach at the moment.”

“Yes, Master Jayden,” Maggie
replied, a smile on her face.

Jay poured himself a cup of
black coffee and collapsed on the chair at the head of the table.
He took a sip and sighed, his mind a bit more alert.

“Hey there, Jay,” Sam’s voice
came in from the door.

Jay glanced up and nodded.
“Morning.”

“You look like hell. Been up
late last night saving damsel in distress, eh?” His future
brother-in-law chuckled, coming toward the table.

Jay raised a brow. He wasn’t
surprised Sam had found out about last night. Kelly would have told
him. “Yeah.”

“Can’t believe that bastard
would such a thing,” Sam muttered in disgust.

“I got what you asked for,”
Jayden said, taking another sip of his coffee. “Join me for lunch
and then I’ll give them to you.”

Sam wasn’t surprised by the
complete turn of subject. “Sure.” He slid into a chair next to
Jayden. “An extra toasted sandwich if you please, Maggie?”

Maggie did not miss the
conversation that the two men had just had. “Sure thing, Master
Sam,” she replied.

Once the two men had finished
their lunch, Jayden took Sam to his study room and gave the man the
wedding bands.

“This is better than I
expected,” Sam commented, turning the bands over in this
fingers.

“Yeah.”

Sam replaced the bands into
blue Tiffany & Co. box and said, “Did you know that it was
Britney’s idea?”

“What?”

“Sorry if I intrude in you
affair, man, but thought I should tell you. Kelly said she saw Kyle
and Britney last night. She heard them talking, and it was all
Britney’s idea.”

Jayden didn’t
know how to respond to that piece of information. He just shook his
head in frustration and went out the door.
Hell! Why did everyone wanted to ruin him and
Alex?

In the kitchen Chef Leon was
just finishing a lovely chicken soup and Maggie placing the bowl on
a silver tray to take to Alex when Kelly poked her head in through
the door.

“Maggie!” she called out.
“Where’s Mom and Grandma?”

“Out in the rose garden, Miss
Kelly,” Maggie replied as she headed to the door.

“Thanks!” Kelly rushed out.

“Take care with that soup,
Maggie. Don’t drop it!” Leon muttered as he watched the housekeeper
go.

“I won’t. So many things going
on in this house,” Maggie muttered under her breath as she headed
for the stairs. Up on the first floor, as she opened the door to
Jayden’s room with one hand, she wondered what that horrible
groaning noise was. Inside the bed was a mess, but Alex was nowhere
in sight. That sickening groan was getting worse. It was like
someone was throwing up.

“Miss Alex?” Maggie called.

More grunting and groaning.

“Oh dear,” Maggie muttered as
she put the tray on the bedside table and rushed over to the
bathroom. She saw Alex bent over the toilet bowl. “Dear me,” she
gasped, rushing to help the girl. “What’s wrong, Miss Alex?”

Alex turned to glance at
Maggie, her face ghost white and her hair a tangle of mess. “I’m
sick,” she whispered, her voice trembling.

“Yes! Yes! I can see that,”
Maggie said, rubbing Alex’s back.

Alex turned her face back to
the toilet bowl and began coughing out more sputum.

“Oh. You poor thing,” Maggie
whispered.

Once Alex felt better and her
stomach was completely empty, she turned to Maggie and said, “Can
you please help me back to bed?”

“Yes of course.” Maggie was
about to help Alex up when the door burst open.

“Alex!” Jayden said. “Are you
all right?” He rushed in and took her into his arms. “What’s
wrong?”

“She’s sick, Master Jayden,”
Maggie answered because Alex looked as thought she was about to
pass out.

“Come on, let’s get you back to
bed.” He scooped her into his arm, carried her back to bed and made
her comfortable. “You want something to eat, sweetheart?”

“I am
hungry,” Alex commented weakly, wondering why this hunky man was so
nice to her.
Who was he?
He kept calling her sweetheart.
Perhaps he was her boyfriend?
Her husband?
The thought brought
forward a warm feeling within her body. She couldn’t believe this
handsome stranger was her husband. It was simply too good to be
true.

Jayden picked up the bowl of
soup and brought it toward her. “Can you handle this?”

“I’ll try,” she whispered,
gazing at him, blushing.

“Good,” he said and started
feeding her.

Maggie smiled. “Well, I should
go down and prepare afternoon tea then.” When she saw Jayden
nodded, she left, grinning.

***

KELLY WAS IN a dilemma. She
didn’t know whether she should tell her mother and grandmother or
not about what had happened last night. Her wedding was in two
days, and Alex was soon to leave New York in four. There simply
wasn’t much time left to play cupid, even though she was pretty
sure Jayden and Alex had already fallen in love with each other.
They simply needed a nudge to confess their feelings.

As she advanced closer toward
the two elderly women, she was pretty sure that they were having a
quiet argument, about what she wasn’t sure.

“She is not the person you
think she is, Mother,” Gracie said tightly. “Think of Jayden. He’s
your grandson. If you keep doing this you’re going to break his
heart. And Alex’s for that matter. Can’t you just accept that
Jayden loves her and wants her as part of our family?”

“I know,” Beth snapped.
“Everything just changes all of sudden. This girl, Alexandra, just
turned up into our lives and changes everything.”

“Mother, I understand that. But
she’s having your great grandson. Isn’t that want you want all
along? Isn’t that why you keep telling Jayden to get married?”

“Yes, yes,” Beth snapped again,
fluttering her hands in frustration. “I though Britney was a good
person. I thought she’d be a good granddaughter-in-law.”

Kelly thought this would be a
good chance for her to interrupt them. She said, “There’s something
else you both should know.”

Both Gracie and Beth turned to
Kelly in surprised. Obviously they had thought that they were
alone

“Britney asked Kyle to spike
Alex’s drink so he could rape her.”

“What?” Beth growled, which was
unlike her because she never growl.

“This is simply outrageous!”
Gracie put in. She was seething with anger. And Gracie never get
angry.

Beth shook her head. She sighed
as if she was exhausted and couldn’t take any more in. “I need to
go and lie down.”

Both Kelly and Gracie watched
as Beth made her way toward the house, her head low and her
shoulders slump. They knew she had a lot to think about.

In her large, luxurious
bedroom, Beth gazed into space. In her mind’s eye she remembered
her youth, her good time with her husband David McCartney – that
handsome man she had fallen in love at first sight. She remembered
how much he had loved her and how much he had wanted to give the
world to her. In a way he had, and she found that it had never been
the luxury of their wealth or social status. It had always their
love for each other and that they had each other.

Was she really hurting Jayden
and Alexandra?

She stood up. She squared her
shoulders and agreed that she had been wrong. She turned on her
heels and walked out the door.

At Jayden’s door, she
hesitantly knocked three times.

“Come in,” she heard Jayden’s
voice.

She opened the door and stepped
in. She saw Jayden eyeing her in surprised. Then she glanced at
Alex. The young woman looked pale and sick.

“I...I need to speak with
Alexandra alone please, Jayden,” she said.

Jayden nodded. Beth noticed
that Alex was holding onto Jayden’s hand tightly, as thought she
was afraid to loose him.

“It’s ok. I’ll be back,” he
said gently.

Alex reluctantly nodded and let
go. She looked like a frighten child.

At the door Jayden said to his
grandma, “She’s still not herself.”

Beth nodded, knowing what he
meant. The drug hadn’t yet worn off. Once Jayden was gone and the
door was closed, she came to sit down on the side of the bed and
took Alex’s hand into hers.

“I’m sorry I treated you the
way I did, Alexandra,” she began. “If you could just find it in
your heart to forgive me. I... I just couldn’t handle the thought
of Jayden...” she sighed and sniffed, tears brewing in her eyes. “I
loved Jayden so much you see. He reminds me so much of his
grandfather. I just want what is best for him. And I want great
grandchildren. I know Kelly is getting married but you see she
can’t have kids. She’s sterile. She has this condition which means
she can’t have kids. She has tried everything possible, but there
was only disappointment. Finally she and Sam gave up. I don’t blame
them. And so I want Jayden to get married and give me great
grandchildren. And I’m so glad that he is able to do that.”

Beth moved her hand to gently
touch Alex’s flat stomach. “I’m so glad,” she said. “So can you
find it in your heart to forgive me, Alexandra? I welcome you into
our little family with both arms. And the little one, too.” She
patted Alex’s stomach again.

Alex bit her lips. Tears were
brewing in her eyes, and she had no idea why. She nodded in respond
to Beth’s apology.

“Thank you, Alexandra. Thank
you so much. Now you must rest. I won’t bother you anymore.” Then
she stood up, tugged Alex in and then left.

Alex had no idea the meaning of
Beth’s apology, but she knew she’d find out later, when her mind
was clearer. She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, a smile
on her lips.

*****

CHAPTER 23

ALEXANDRA
SOFTLY GROANED and fluttered her eyes open. She stared for a moment
up at the chandelier above her, lost and confused. The sunlight hit
the many crystals and made beautiful spectra across the room, and
Alex gazed at them in wonder. Slowly everything came back to her.
She realised that she was in Jayden’s room and in his bed. She
frowned, touching her forehead as she remembered the dinner with
the girls at Parcha, dancing in the club and Kyle annoying her. She
remembered running from him through the thick crowd, him caught up
with her in the corridor and then –
blank.

She groaned and sat up, her
head pounding away like a bad car engine that was about to
explode.

“Don’t sit up too fast, you’ll
hurt yourself,” came the male voice that suddenly sent her pulse
racing and her head to ache even more. She glanced up and saw
Jayden coming toward her. He sat beside her on the bed and tested
her temperature by touching the back of his hand on her forehead.
“Cool,” he said. “Good.”

Alex shyly removed his hand
from her and glanced down, a light rose colour creeping up her
cheeks. That was when Jayden knew she was back to her normal self.
The drug had worn off.

“So what can you remember so
far?”

She frowned
at him.
What can she remember?
Of course she remembered everything that had
happened last night.
Had it been really
last night though?
It felt like it had
only been last night.

She thought she had better not
let him know what had happened. More importantly, she better not
let him find out what had happened between her and Kyle. Although
she was still puzzled as to how she had managed to get back
home.

Kelly?
Perhaps Kelly had seen what had happened, shooed
Kyle off and took her home? She’d have to ask the woman when she
saw her.

She groaned depressingly. She
hoped Kyle hadn’t violated her. She was pretty sure he hadn’t
because she didn’t feel like her body had been violated. She felt
fine except for the headache and cloudiness of her vision and
thinking. In fact she felt all warm and cosy like someone had been
looking after her particularly well.

“Well?” he asked.

“I don’t
remember anything,” she lied, glancing up at him. She gasped, her
heart racing in her chest. His face was so close to hers that she
could feel the warmth of his breath on her skin. She stared into
his eyes and then –
bamb!
It was all there right before her. Everything
flashed back to her. She remembered Jayden kissing her forehead,
his words of love as he cuddled her in bed – his hard, warm body
against her. And yes, she remembered Beth’s apology.

Her cheeks burnt and she bit
her lip.

“Well?” he probed.

“Leave me alone,” she muttered
and turned away, intending to avoid him.

Jay grabbed her arm gently and
pulled her back. Then he moved his head toward hers and took her
lips against his, kissing her gently.

Alex was at
first very shocked.
Oh my God!
He was kissing her again.