Hold Me Closer (Sea Island Brides Book 1) (4 page)

“No,
of course not. I've never even seen this picture in my life.”

“That’s
a relief, at least,” Barry said. “I never pegged you for
the type to be involved in a scandal like this, which is exactly what
I told Mr. Montgomery when he called this morning.”

“Hudson
called here?”

“Of
course,” he said. “He tells me you and that kid Mark
showed up at his family estate this weekend claiming to be doing some
piece on his family. Is that true?”

She
nodded, hardly able to find her voice. She was going to kill Mark
when she found him.

“I
told Mr. Montgomery that if you were doing a piece on his family, you
were doing it in your own spare time, maybe trying to get ahead here,
because honestly, that’s the only
reason I could think of for why you would have gone down there in the
first place,” Barry said. His face was a bright shade of red,
angry and puffy. “This picture is spreading like wildfire all
over the Internet and the various tabloids. It seems these vultures
have been dying to get something on the Montgomery brothers for the
past year since their father died.”

“All
over the Internet?” Annabelle's heart raced in her chest. Not
only was she going to lose her job, she was also half-naked all over
the Internet. How had everything managed to go so horribly wrong in
just a few days? She felt sick.

“The
good news right now is that no one seems to know who you are, much
less that you work for Southern Style.” Barry sat up in his
chair and pulled an envelope from the top drawer of his desk. “I'm
sorry to have to do this Annabelle, but I have to let you go. Here's
your final paycheck. I'll expect you to have your desk cleared out
before lunchtime. For what it's worth, I really enjoyed having you on
staff here, but this is something I can't overlook.”

The
envelope sat on the desk, and Annabelle reached out to take it. At
least he was nice enough to give her the money today instead of
making her wait a week to get it through the mail. She needed all the
money she could get her hands on now that she was unemployed. With
tears rolling down her cheeks, Annabelle left Barry’s office
and cleared out her desk.

She
kept her head down the whole time, trying her best to ignore all the
giggles and whispers around her.

How
could Mark have betrayed her like this?

And
to top it all off, now she had nothing to use as blackmail.

Those
pictures were never supposed to be seen by the press. She’d
thought her plan was foolproof. She was going to approach Hudson with
the photos, hoping that as soon as he saw the scandal she could
create, he would have to listen to her about her cousin's pregnancy.
All she wanted was to find out where his brother Harlan had run off
to and make him submit to a paternity test.

Once
they saw that the baby was Harlan’s, her cousin Julia would
never have to worry about things like medical care and insurance
again. More importantly, her baby would grow up with a chance to know
her father. Something both Julia and Annabelle had missed out on in
their childhood.

But
now it had all gone to hell. Without those photos, she’d have
no leverage against Hudson. If she tried to talk to him about her
cousin’s situation now, he’d probably do exactly what he
had done to Julia a few weeks ago—try to cut her a check so
she’d keep her mouth shut and never come back.

Tiny
sprinkles of rain fell as Annabelle walked the ten blocks to her
apartment.

How
come every time she tried to do something good for her family it
ended up getting her into trouble? Julia would probably never forgive
her once she found out about the stunt she'd tried to pull.

Luckily,
Julia was out of town, staying with a
friend of hers for the next few days. That at least gave Annabelle
some time to sort through the mess she'd made and try to figure out a
new plan of action. Unless, of course, Julia saw one of those
tabloids. Ugh. There were probably already a dozen messages on her
cell phone. She dreaded turning it on to see.

By
the time she got home, the rain was falling in sheets.

All
she wanted to do was make a pot of coffee and sink into a warm bath
for the rest of the day.

But
getting up to her apartment proved to be a much bigger ordeal than
she’d anticipated.

A
huge crowd of reporters was camped out in front of her apartment
building, and the second one of them spotted her, the entire group
shifted to cluster around her. Rain-drenched and tear-stained,
Annabelle was horrified. She ducked her head and lifted her box of
belongings from the office higher to cover her face as cameras
flashed and voice recorders were shoved in her face.

“No
comment,” she said. It sounded stupid coming from her, but she
couldn’t think of anything else to say. She definitely couldn’t
tell them the truth.

She
just kept her head down and pushed her way through the crowd, feeling
more alone than she’d ever felt in her life. And entirely
foolish. She’d gotten in way over her head here, and she had no
idea how she was going to get out of it.

How
would she get another job with all this media following her around?

The
four flights of stairs to her apartment felt like twenty. When the
door to her apartment finally closed behind her, she dropped her
soggy cardboard box to the floor and sighed. She slipped out of her
boots, throwing them to the side of the door. Her pants legs were
soaked all the way up to the knee, and she unbuttoned them, letting
them slide to the floor in a heap. She gathered them up and threw
them into the laundry room, the whole time trying not to cry.

Yesterday's
paper was on the kitchen table and she snatched it up. The employment
section was smaller than the last time she'd been job hunting.
Finding something fast was going to mean settling for a lot less
money than what she really needed right now, but she could make it
work.

She
had to make it work.

After
getting the coffee started in the kitchen, Annabelle grabbed the pink
blanket from the back of the couch and wrapped it around her body.
She'd gotten through worse times before, and she would get through
this as well.

Or
at least that’s what she kept repeating to herself over and
over.

Just
when she was starting to feel better, there was a knock on the door.
Annabelle groaned. More reporters. If she didn't make a sound, maybe
they would go away. She sat as still as she could and waited.

Whoever
was at the door knocked again, and Annabelle closed her eyes. She
wasn't ready to face all these media sharks wanting to know about her
alleged affair with a billionaire. What was she going to say to them?

What
if she couldn’t leave her apartment for days? Weeks?

Her
stomach began to knot up again.

“Annabelle?
It's Hudson Montgomery.”

Her
heart stopped. No. It couldn't be.

Pulling
the pink blanket tighter around her body, Annabelle shuffled her way
to the door's tiny peep hole.

She
recognized the man in the hallway instantly, with his dark blonde
hair and stunning blue-green eyes. When he caught her by the pool,
she had almost gotten lost in those eyes, and the memory of being
pressed against his muscular chest sent a shiver of desire through
her from head to toe.

What
is he doing here?

She
pressed her back against the wall and felt a little bit light headed.
How did he find her so quickly? The tabloid only hit the stands a few
hours ago, and Sea Island was a good five hour drive from the city.

Was
he here to yell at her? Hit her with some terrible lawsuit?

He
knocked again. “Annabelle, I know you're home. I saw you come
into the building. We need to talk, and I’m not going away, so
you might as well open the door.”

She
left the chain on and opened the door just a crack.

“I'm
sorry, Mr. Montgomery, but if you're here
to reprimand me about that photo, all I can tell you is that I had
nothing to do with it,” she lied. “Besides, I've already
lost my own job over it, so there's no
reason to rake me over the coals.”

Part
of her was hoping he would just walk away, but there was another part
that wanted to let him in and see if she could find a way back into
those strong arms of his.

She
quickly pushed those thoughts from her head. He may be the most
gorgeous man she'd ever seen, but he was still a domineering,
self-centered rat.

Just
like Harrison Peavy. All billionaires were the same. They used you
until they didn’t need you anymore, and then you were nothing
to them.

Her
heart squeezed in her chest as she thought of how the magazine's
wealthy married client cornered her a few weeks ago when she went to
his apartment to deliver some flowers for a photo shoot. The
photographer sent her into the kitchen to place the flowers into an
antique vase, but just when she turned around to fill the vase with
water, she felt his hands slip around her waist and his groin press
against her backside suggestively. There was no telling how far he
would have tried to take things if she hadn't shattered his expensive
vase into a million pieces.

Men
were always trying to take advantage of her like that. They took one
look at her long blond hair and her curvy figure and they assumed
they could treat her like an object instead of a person. Admittedly,
Annabelle had gone to Hudson’s house to use those exact
features to manipulate him, but she felt terrible about it and wished
she’d never gone down there in the first place.

Unlike
Harrison, Hudson Montgomery was single and gorgeous, but they were
made from the same mold. Old money. Power. Fame. Men like that didn't
need excuses to take advantage of the people around them. They
deserved what was coming to them.

“I'm
not here to reprimand you,” Hudson said, flashing a charming
smile at her. Even though her mind protested, her stomach did a
double flip. “Actually, I need to ask a huge favor of you.”

“You
need my help?” What could he possibly want from her that he
couldn't get on his own? He certainly had her interest now.

“Can
we talk about this inside? We could certainly use some privacy after
the events of the day, don't you think?”

Reluctantly,
Annabelle slid the chain from her door.

Hudson
walked past her with long, confident strides. As she closed the door,
she suddenly felt the strength of his presence increase now that it
was just the two of them in the small apartment. His large frame
seemed to take up more room than she expected.

“It
seems that your little poolside fall has become the story of the
moment,” he said calmly, not bothering to sit down.

“That
was an accident.”

“Yes,
I know.” He turned to look at her, but paused when he saw her
attire. She thought she detected a smile forming in the corner of his
lips as he stared at her in nothing but a pink fuzzy blanket. Next to
his tailored suit, she felt completely childish and ridiculous. “I
was there.”

“Is
there something I can do for you, Mr. Montgomery?” She pulled
the blanket tighter around herself and lifted her chin.

“I'm
sorry, but did I interrupt something?” He laughed, and
Annabelle felt the rush of warmth on her cheeks.

“I
walked home in the rain,” she explained, her confidence
beginning to falter. “It’s already been a very long day,
so please tell me why you came.”

“There
is something very important I need you to do for me,” he said,
not taking his eyes off of her for even an instant. “Annabelle,
will you marry me?”

“Marry
you?” Annabelle nearly dropped her blanket. “This has to
be the weirdest day of my life.”

Hudson
slipped his hands into the pockets of his grey trousers and smiled.
“Not exactly the response a man hopes for when he proposes.”

“We
both know this isn't a real marriage proposal.” Annabelle paced
the room and tried to ignore the sparks that flashed inside her when
he moved closer. “There's no way I'm going to marry you, and I
can’t even imagine why you’re asking.”

“You
can’t?” The look on his face told her that he was not
going to give up easily. In fact, it looked as though her refusal
amused him. “The other day by the pool you seemed eager to, uh,
get to know me better, if I remember correctly.”

“And
if I remember correctly, you turned me down.”

Mischief
glimmering in his blue-green eyes, Hudson took a few steps toward her
until she was pressed against the flat wall of her small apartment.
She looked up at him defiantly, refusing to let him bully her with
his charm.

“Things
have changed,” he said, so close now that she could smell the
heady scent of his cologne. “I need you.”

Hearing
those words made her feel dizzy. She bit her lower lip and tried to
steady her breathing. “You need me?”

She
was reminded of how it felt to have his muscular chest pressed
against her that day by the pool. He was making it very difficult for
her to concentrate. What kind of game was he trying to play?

“I
have a business proposition for you, Ms. Day. And after losing your
job, I think you should hear me out. Or has the attraction you
claimed to have for me a few days ago already waned?”

“Judging
from the rate of my heartbeat, I think it's safe to say it's still
intact,” she said with a pitiful attempt at making a joke. “I
just don't understand why you need my help.”

“I'll
make this short,” he said, his face inches from her own. “My
family is in the middle of a very important merger. We can't afford
the sort of one-night-stand scandal the tabloids are trying to make
this into. If we make public appearances together, say we've been
dating in secret for some time and are in love and getting married,
we take all the air out of their tires.”