Hold Me Closer (Sea Island Brides Book 1) (9 page)

When
she didn’t speak, he continued.

“How
did you sleep last night? I hope the cottage was comfortable for
you?”

For
the first time that morning, Annabelle’s face broke out in a
smile that lit up her entire face. “Yes, oh my gosh, the
cottage was amazing. I adore tabby houses.”

Her
happiness lifted the tension from the previous night’s
argument, and his shoulders relaxed slightly. “Do you have any
questions before we discuss the rules?”

“Why
don’t you tell me what your rules are, then I can tell you
whether I want to change them or not.” The challenging look she
flashed at him as she crossed her tanned legs made him shift in his
seat. He looked at her full lips and thought of the way it had felt
to kiss them.

Tearing
his gaze away, he tried to focus on the purpose of their meeting. “I
wrote down a few guidelines that should help us discuss the
boundaries of our agreement. If you have any questions or suggestions
as I read through them, please, just let me
know.”

On
the outside, he sounded like his normal self, conducting a standard
business meeting. But on the inside, he was picturing her half-naked
body pressed against his. The image of her stretched out on the
beach, his body hovering over hers in the sand, flashed through his
mind, intensifying his need for her.

“Number
one,” he managed to say, doing his best to push those thoughts
beneath the surface. “It’s important that no one outside
of the Montgomery family knows that our relationship or pending
engagement is an act. You cannot tell your friends, your old boss,
your family, no one. The only people who are aware of our arrangement
are my immediate family and my secretary. All of our household staff,
from our chef to the limousine driver, have
to believe that we are in love and getting married. The slightest
leak to the press and we’re finished.”

“Okay.”

He
looked up from his paper and stared into her eyes. She seemed so
unaffected by him, and here he was, tortured by thoughts of what it
was like to feel those warm, lush lips against his own. “That
also goes for after the acquisition has gone through,” he
continued. “Even if it’s ten years from now and someone
asks you about our relationship. Whatever we decide on as our public
story has to be the story we tell everyone from now on.”

She
offered no protest to his first rule, and he had to wonder if there
was anyone she was close to in her life. He’d checked into her
background before proposing this deal, and knew she’d been
through some hard times. Losing her parents at such a young age must
have been very hard on her. He wished he could talk to her about her
past. Get to know her inside and out.

“Is
there anyone you’d like to invite to the engagement party? You
have a cousin you’re close to, right? Would you like to invite
her?” At the mention of her cousin, Annabelle’s smile
faded and she leaned back in her seat.

“No,”
she said sharply. “I’d rather not bring my family into
this, if that’s okay with you.”

The
sadness and fear that fell over her features made him want to reach
for her. He was struck by the force of her emotions. When she smiled,
he felt the whole room light up, but when she was sad or angry, it
tore him up inside. What the hell was wrong with him? A woman had
never affected him like this before, and it left him feeling out of
control and frustrated.

“If
you’re scared of them finding out about our engagement, you
have to realize that this is going to be front page news. They will
find out eventually. Trying to hide it would be pointless.”

“I’m
not trying to hide it,” she said, shifting in her chair. “But
I don’t see any point in inviting anyone to my engagement party
when it isn’t even real.”

“That’s
the point, though. To convince everyone that it is real.”

“There’s
no one,” she said. “I’ll follow your rules, but you
need to respect my privacy and my decisions about the people in my
life.”

Her
tone reminded him of the way he spoke when he was solid on a point
and was not willing to back down. He knew better than to push the
issue, so he moved on, but in the back of his mind, he wondered why
she was so protective of her personal life.

“Moving
on,” he said, picking up the paper on his desk again. “Number
two. Everything you say to the press should show the Montgomery
family in a favorable light. Basically, to the press, we need to
appear happy and in love.”

To
his relief, the tension in her body relaxed and she was back to her
normal self again.

“Does
that go for after we break up, too? Or can I pretend to be your
bitter ex-fiancée? You know, tell everyone how you broke up
with me through email and didn’t buy me enough diamonds?”

“Can
a woman ever have enough diamonds?” he joked, and she laughed.
The sound filled the room, warming his body from head to toe.

“And
what if the press asks me how we met? Or where we went on our first
date? Or even whether you were a Boy Scout when you were little?”

“Those
are good questions. We’ll need to come up with a story and
stick to it. As for the Boy Scout question, the answer is yes.”

“Why
am I not surprised?”

She
giggled, and Hudson leaned back in his chair to study her. So far,
Annabelle was full of surprises. He had no doubt there were many more
surprises lurking beneath the surface.

He
intended to dig deeply until he’d
uncovered every one of them.

Last
night, his ego was wounded when she said she was only coming on
to him to get a good story. Reporters had been treating him
like that for as long as he could remember. In fact, most women
treated him like that, thinking they could use their bodies to get
anything they wanted from him.

He’d
had to learn about that the hard way. Thoughts of Haley rose to the
surface, still painful after almost seven years. Never again would he
let a woman into his heart like that. It gave them too much power and
control.

Annabelle
might have wanted to get a good story, but she was lying when she’d
said she wasn’t attracted to him. He could see it in her eyes
every time she looked at him. He could feel it in the air between
them, snapping with all the tension of two people who were meant to
be lovers. Before she left Cottonwood Plantation, Annabelle was going
to be his. It was the only way he could get her out of his system.

“There’s
just one more thing I wanted to discuss with you, Annabelle.”
He stood and circled around the desk until he stood directly in front
of her, his eyes drawn to the curve of her breasts, straining against
her tight black shirt. “If we’re going to make this
believable, we’re going to have to get comfortable being close
to each other. Touching each other. Even kissing. Are you going to be
okay with that?”

The
air in the room seemed to change as he moved closer to her. A feeling
of grand anticipation swelled within him as she rose, her body so
close he could hardly resist the urge to crush her to him.

“I
understand what you’re saying, and I completely agree with
you,” she said, stepping around him. “But let’s
leave the show for when there’s an audience.”

She
turned the brass handle and opened the door, disappearing into the
hallway.

Frustrated
and aroused, Hudson leaned back against the edge of his desk. He was
sure that she wanted him, but something was holding her back. Every
time he got close to her, she threw up another wall. Good thing he
wasn’t the type to shy away from a challenge.

Before
this acquisition went through, he was determined to watch all her
walls come tumbling down.

Annabelle
couldn’t get out of Hudson’s office fast enough.

As
soon as she was alone in her tabby cottage, she flopped onto the
couch and let out a deep sigh. She was supposed to despise him, but
every time she got close to Hudson Montgomery, she wanted to pull him
down on top of her, to feel the weight of his body moving over hers.

At
the same time, she wanted to punch him in the face. It was like being
on an emotional roller-coaster ride that never ended.

Anger.
Desire. Passion. Outrage. All of the above.

Before
she could work through her feelings, the cell phone on her bedside
table began to chirp. Annabelle reached for it, her shoulders tensing
as she read the caller ID. Julia. Perfect timing. Now she could add
guilt and worry to her list of emotions this morning.

How
was she going to explain this to Julia? In her original plan, Julia
wasn’t supposed to find out about any of this until after
Annabelle’s blackmail plan had worked. She figured the joy of
her success would keep her cousin from spending too much time getting
mad at her for doing something so stupid and reckless.

Of
course, the original plan was toast. And Hudson was right. Everyone
she’d ever known would learn of her engagement once the papers
got hold of the news.

With
a deep sigh, she accepted the call and said hello.

“Annabelle?
Where are you, sweetie? I just got back to Atlanta, and I stopped by
your apartment to see you, but I couldn’t get in. Someone
famous must be moving into your building or something. The press was
everywhere. You won’t believe how huge I’ve gotten!”
Without even waiting to hear Annabelle’s response, Julia
chattered away happily. “I had an awesome time with the girls
up in the mountains. It rained half the time, but we didn’t
mind. So, how are you? Do you want to come over this afternoon?”

By
the time Julia took a breath, Annabelle’s heart was beating so
fast she was scared to open her mouth. How many times had she broken
upsetting news to Julia about some stupid mistake or a
plan-gone-wrong? More than she cared to think about. And none so
potentially upsetting as this.

“Annabelle?
Are you there, hon?”

“I’m
here, Jules.” Her voice came out all wobbly, and she paused to
take another breath.

“Are
you okay? What’s happened?” Annabelle recognized her
cousin’s worried tone all too well.

“I’m
fine. I’m not hurt or in any real trouble, but there’s
something important I need to tell you. I did something completely
crazy.”

Julia
giggled, the relief in her voice obvious. “Really? There’s
something I’ve never heard before.”

“Okay,
before I tell you, please promise me you won’t do something
major like go into early labor.”

“Gosh,
Annabelle. What in the world did you do? Where are you? Why don’t
you just come over so we can talk about this in person?”

“I
can’t come over, Jules. I’m not in Atlanta. I’m on
Sea Island.”

There
was total silence on the line, and Annabelle bit her lip. When Julia
finally asked her to continue, the floodgates opened and Annabelle
confessed everything, down to the very last detail, Hudson’s
number one rule be damned.

“I
know I shouldn’t have gotten involved, but I couldn’t
bear to sit back and watch this snobby family treat you like a liar
and a nobody.”

“Oh,
Annabelle,” Julia said. “You know I don’t need them
to tell me I’m not a liar.”

“I
know,” she said. “But that doesn’t make it right.
So you aren’t mad at me?”

“I
probably should be, but I know that you were acting out of love,”
Julia said, sighing. “You already know how I feel about the
Montgomery’s though. We’ll be fine without them.”

“You
shouldn’t have to raise this baby alone,” Annabelle
protested.

“I
won’t be alone,” Julia said. “I have you. I already
moved my whole life to Atlanta to be close to you.”

Annabelle
exhaled and sank into the mound of pillows at the head of her bed,
tears stinging the corners of her eyes. Julia was a saint. No matter
how badly Annabelle screwed up, Julia was always supportive and never
judgmental. She had every reason in the world to be angry right now,
but instead she was sweet and supportive. If Harlan Montgomery
couldn’t see how amazing she was, then he didn’t deserve
her.

“You’ll
always have me, Jules.”

“So,
tell me about the Montgomerys. It sounds like you’ve gotten in
way over your head. How are you holding up?”

“I’m
doing okay, but if I tell you something, will you try not to laugh at
me?”

“Shoot.”

“Well,
let me put it this way. If Harlan is anything like his twin brother,
then I completely understand why you fell for him in that bar.”

Julia’s
laughter rang through the phone, and Annabelle had to pull it away
from her ear.

“You
said you wouldn’t laugh.”

“I
said no such thing,” Julia cried, still giggling. “Besides,
I think it serves you right to be honest. The Montgomerys are not to
be underestimated. Personally, though, I don’t know what you
could possibly see in Harlan’s brother. Sure, he has Harlan’s
same good looks, but from what I saw, Hudson is nothing but thorns
and ice.”