A Husband Of Convenience

Josie felt the colour rise in her cheeks, and for a second she remembered the last time she’d seen Conan. But now was not the time to give way to embarrassment, and deliberately she turned her attention to the Major. Then she listened in mounting horror as he confirmed Charles’s death.

Two days ago, while travelling in a Jeep, Charles had driven over an unmarked landmine. He’d died instantly. The family had been informed at lunchtime, but as Josie had not been at work all afternoon they hadn’t been able to contact her.

A lump lodged in her throat, threatening to choke her. Her lovely eyes glistened with unshed tears as the Major’s voice droned on.

‘It was the way he would have wanted to go. On active service with his regiment. He was a hero.’

She heard the words, but all Josie could think of was poor Charles. All her doubts about him were put aside as the desperate horror of his death hit her. Charles—blond, blue-eyed, handsome Charles—was dead. It was unbelievable. So swamped was she by the enormity of what had happened and all its ramifications, she saw nothing odd in the Major’s next words and answered him without thinking.

‘Tell me, Josie, is it true? Are you carrying Charles’s child? Is it confirmed?’

‘Yes, I was at the clinic this afternoon; that’s why you couldn’t find me,’ she explained, her tears overflowing and slowly running down her soft cheeks.

‘My God! Father, can’t you see the girl is in shock?’ Conan prompted scathingly. ‘Are you really so desperate that you have to question the poor girl at a time like this?’

Poor girl indeed! Conan’s comment was just what she needed to stop herself wallowing in self-pity. She might have just lost her boyfriend, and be pregnant, but no one was going to call her a ‘poor girl’, and certainly not an arrogant devil like Conan.

‘I’m taking her home.’ Conan’s voice penetrated her chaotic thoughts. Raising her head, she saw the derisory glance he flicked at her father before he added, ‘She is your daughter, Mr Jamieson. Instead of sitting there as if the weight of the world rested on your shoulders, you could try looking after her. She sure as hell needs someone to.’

‘No. No.’ Josie finally found her voice and, jumping to her feet, she brushed the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand.

She was a small girl, just five feet tall, but perfectly proportioned. Her blue-black hair hung in a profusion of curls down past her shoulders. Her violet eyes were large and outlined with thick sooty lashes, her nose was small and straight, her mouth full-lipped and gently curving. Dressed in a simple blue cashmere sweater, a colour-coordinated short straight skirt that ended some four inches above her knees, and her feet encased in classic navy blue high-heeled pumps, she had no idea how lovely she looked, or how courageous, to the three men whose startled eyes were fixed upon her.

‘You’re in shock, Josie.’ Conan unfolded his impressive length from the sofa, and in one lithe stride was beside her. ‘Let me take you home; your father is in no state to drive.’

Her father might not be, but no way was she letting Conan take her home. She remembered the last time he had driven her to the farmhouse all too clearly. He had made it very obvious he didn’t approve of her relationship with Charles, and she didn’t need his false sympathy.

‘No thank you. I am perfectly capable of driving.’ Turning to look at her father, she added, ‘Come on, Daddy. I’ll drive us home.’

A large hand curved around her upper arm. ‘Don’t be stupid, Josie; you’re in shock. Let me...’

‘Let go of me!’ she cried, and violently she pulled her arm free from Conan’s grasp, staggering slightly as she did so. ‘I don’t need your help.’ Again turning to where her father still sat, she added, ‘Please, Dad. I want to leave.’ The trauma of the last few weeks, the doctor’s confirmation of her pregnancy this afternoon, and the ultimate irony—the death of Charles—were threatening to make her break down completely. She had to get away from Beeches Manor, and more importantly she had to get away from Conan.

Luckily her father, finally sensing her real need to leave, agreed.

How she drove the old Ford car home she would never know. Tears blurred her eyes, but whether they were for herself or Charles she wasn’t completely sure.

Later that night, Josie lay in her small bed, unable to sleep. The events of the past few weeks flickered through the windmills of her mind in a series of brief pictures, ending with the tragic death of Charles Zarcourt. Their engagement was supposed to have been made official this weekend. But Josie knew, if she was honest with herself, that she’d had every intention of cancelling the arrangement. Within days of Charles’s departure, she had realised she didn’t love him. Like thousands of girls before her, she’d been blinded by a romantic ideal and had made a stupid mistake. It was only when she’d begun to suspect she might be pregnant that the full enormity of her mistake had been brought home to her. Even so she’d decided there was no way she was marrying Charles. Her plan had been to explain to Charles in person when he arrived tomorrow—Friday—and hope he would understand. But not any more. He was dead... But from deep in her subconscious a devilish little feeling of relief surfaced. She’d been spared the arguments that refusing to marry Charles would have fuelled. And there would have been arguments, simply because her father and the Major had been friends for years.

Charles and his father lived at the Beeches Manor House not far from the village of Beeches, in the heart of the Cotswolds. After the death of Josie’s mother, her father had moved from London and rented Low Beeches farmhouse from the Major. The old men played chess every Tuesday, and Josie had known Charles for ten years and had harboured a schoolgirl crush on him for almost as long. He was not at home very much, but he’d been back for a month in the summer before being posted overseas. He’d asked Josie out three times in all, and she supposed one could say they’d been courting, but only just. Until the fatal night of his going-away party at the Manor House...

Josie stirred restlessly on the bed and groaned out loud as the memory came back to haunt her. It had been the most humiliating experience of her life.

She’d been sad at the thought of Charles leaving, but hardly broken-hearted. But all that had changed when he’d danced with her, plied her with drinks, and sworn he loved her, wanted to many her, later leading her to his bedroom and finally into his bed.

Afterwards he’d patted her bottom, leapt off the bed, saying,

I need a drink,’ and had left the room, muttering, ‘Stay here; I’ll be back in a minute.’

It had been the first time for Josie, and if she hadn’t drunk so much it would never have happened. Making love was nothing like she had expected; in fact she had been horribly disappointed. But worse had been to follow.

Suddenly the bedroom door had opened, the light from the hall illuminating a path across the room. She’d hastily sat up and wrapped the sheet firmly around her, wishing she had dressed and left. She’d glanced towards the door and gasped, her mouth falling open in astonishment.

‘Very nice—a joke of Charles’s no doubt, but I’m not in the mood tonight. Go peddle your wares downstairs, sweetie,’ a cynically mocking voice drawled lazily.

It wasn’t Charles but a total stranger, although the voice had sounded vaguely familiar. But Josie was not about to hang around to find out who it was. She swung her feet to the floor, desperate to hide anywhere away from the dark man standing in the doorway. Then the bedroom light clicked on.

‘You!’ he’d exclaimed. ‘What the hell are you doing here?’ he demanded furiously. His dark eyes took in the rumpled bedclothes and Josie’s obvious naked state beneath the sheet she had wrapped clumsily around her.

She looked at him and groaned. It was the man from the church fête. That was all she needed—a sophisticated stranger witnessing her downfall. She did not stop to answer him but, frantically scrambling around on the floor for her clothes, picked them up and made to dash for the bathroom.

Her wrist was caught and held, and he pulled her to a stop. ‘Not so fast. I think you owe me an explanation. After all, it isn’t every night a man walks into his room and finds a young girl obviously, well...’ His dark eyes narrowed, his firm mouth twisting in a knowing sneer. ‘I’m sure I don’t have to spell it out for you.’ His contemptuous gaze skimmed her from head to foot, lingering on the soft curves of her breasts and then back to her bright red face.

‘Your room?’ she cried ‘Don’t be ridiculous; this is Charles Zarcourt’s bedroom! Who on earth do you think you are?’ she demanded, her fear giving way to anger. She felt as if she was in a nightmare, and any minute she would wake up. And this very large, very hunky guy was doing nothing for her peace of mind.

‘Charles didn’t tell you. That doesn’t surprise me.’ And, bowing his head slightly, he added, ‘Allow me to introduce myself. Conan Zarcourt, half-brother to Charles, at your service.’ By the cynical gleam in his eye she knew he was relishing her discomfort. ‘And you are?’ One dark brow arched enquiringly, and he waited...

‘Josie—Josie Jamieson.’ Why was she even talking to him? she asked herself a second later. Talk about being caught flagrante delicto, she thought with a grim smile. She had never been so humiliated or felt so small in her life. But she was not about to show it.

‘Well, Josie Jamieson, I am waiting for your explanation—or perhaps I should ask Charles...?’

‘Charles and I are engaged to be married actually; not that it is any concern of yours,’ she said, forcing herself to meet his eyes. ‘It is perfectly normal for engaged couples...’ She trailed off, stunned by the thunderous expression on his darkly handsome face.

‘But why here? Why now? Why in my bed? I want some answers and you are going to give me them,’ he demanded arrogantly.

Was it really his room? She was confused; Charles had said it was his—but she was not going to tell this man that So instead she said, ‘So what if we did use your room! You weren’t using it.’

‘But I am now, little lady, and I know my half-brother never misses a trick where I am concerned,’ he said dryly. ‘But what about this engagement? You can’t seriously be intending to marry Charles. How old are you? Eighteen, nineteen?’

‘Twenty,’ Josie said indignantly. Her height and youthful looks were the bane of her life.

‘My God! Have you any idea how old he is? Almost forty. He could be your father,’ he said scathingly.

‘Charles loves me and we are going to be married. Age doesn’t matter when you’re in love.’ Josie mouthed the clichéd words, not really believing them herself. But, dragging her wrist free from Conan’s grip, she made a dash for the bathroom. Something caught the sheet that was covering her, and she froze for a second stark naked, her eyes fixed on the elegantly dressed man in the three-piece suit. The contrast couldn’t have been more startling. Gulping hard, she ran...

‘Very nice.’ Conan’s deep voice followed her as she continued her headlong flight across the room, and slammed the bathroom door behind her.

Calling herself every kind of fool, she pulled her clothes back on, tidied herself up, all the time wondering why Charles had not introduced her to his half-brother at the church fête. It had never entered her head that they might be related—one so fair and the other so dark. She had thought the dark man looked good but had dismissed him from her mind as a stranger passing through the village.

‘Conan Zarcourt.’ She said the name softly. It suited him. She hoped it also suited him to have done a vanishing act. She could not hide in the bathroom much longer.

Eventually she walked back into the bedroom, praying Conan would have left. But no such luck.

He had changed from the suit he had arrived in, into a white tee shirt that revealed his strong, tanned arms, dusted with soft black hair, and well-worn blue jeans that hung low on his hips. The zip was fastened but the top snap was undone and gaping.

Josie swallowed hard, and bit down the disloyal thought that he looked a whole lot better than Charles.

‘Are you okay?’ he demanded, roughly pushing the shirt into his jeans and snapping the fastener. ‘I’ve seen the bed. Your first time...if that bas—’