Birthday Bride

Birthday Bride
Jessica Hart

The BIG EventThirty–the age for marriageSexy, glamorous…Claudia tried to think of three good things about being thirty as she sat on the plan on her way to celebrate her birthday. Well, her fellow passenger, David Cool-as-a-Cucumber Stirling, certainly wasn't one of them!But they were stuck with each other whether they liked it or not. Worse, for the next few weeks they had to pretend to be husband and wife! The situation wasn't ideal, but they did have something in common–he was about to turn forty to her thirty–and he wasn't bad-looking, either. And so, perhaps, sexy, glamorous and wed was right for her time of life?One special occasion–that changes your life, forever!

“What a way to wake up!” David managed at last, drawing a ragged breath (#ube32e45e-8153-5186-8109-db7b6ef61215)Letter to Reader (#u18930b6d-06b8-5e29-8bdd-3a45eb212afd)Title Page (#ubc68b6a6-e8ff-5fe6-83dc-f8ace5d7ad42)CHAPTER ONE (#uffc40c0d-89fd-556a-a419-6c3a10749ac2)CHAPTER TWO (#u51648a69-6aa5-5261-a132-301b4252dcf2)CHAPTER THREE (#u3452c1e0-cf18-5ba5-9f8c-ddac65579db3)CHAPTER FOUR (#litres_trial_promo)CHAPTER FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

“What a way to wake up!” David managed at last, drawing a ragged breath

“Wh-what happened?” If anything Claudia was more disoriented than he was.

“I must have been half asleep,” said David, as if to himself. “I woke up and there was someone there and suddenly... I’m sorry, I didn’t realize it was you.”

Claudia’s legs trembled so violently when she tried to stand up that she had to hang on to the bed. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she peered at herself in the mirror and grimaced at her reflection as she remembered it was her thirtieth birthday. She was supposed to wake up this morning a changed woman, mature, confident, in control—not moaning with pleasure in the arms of a man who didn’t even realize who she was!

Dear Reader,

Welcome to

Everyone has special occasions in their life—times of celebration and excitement. Maybe it’s a romantic event, an engagement or a wedding—or perhaps a wonderful family occasion, such as the birth of a baby. Or even a personal milestone—a thirtieth or fortieth birthday!

These are all important times in our lives and in The Big Event! you can see how different couples react to these events. Whatever the occasion, romance and drama are guaranteed!

We’ll be featuring one book each month from May to August in 1998, bringing you terrific stories from some of your favorite authors. And, to make this miniseries extraspecial, The Big Event! will also appear in the Harlequin Presents

series.

This month we’re delighted to bring you Jessica Hart’s bubbly romance, Birthday Bride and look out next month for The Diamond Dad by Lucy Gordon.

Happy reading!

P.S. Follow the series into our Presents line in September with Kathryn Ross’s Bride for a Year.

Birthday Bride

Jessica Hart

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

CHAPTER ONE

IT WAS that girl again.

David’s mouth turned disapprovingly down at the corners. He watched her hesitate, checking the seat number on her boarding card. She was tall and slender, with a swing of ash-blonde hair and an air of assurance that made her oblivious to the fact that she was blocking the aisle with that ridiculous bag of hers. He had thought her silly and superficial before, but now something about the way she stood there, holding up a patient queue, grated on David’s nerves. There was an arrogance about her that reminded him all too bitterly of Alix.

She was pretty enough, David allowed grudgingly, if you liked that smart, superior look. Personally, he preferred girls with sweeter expressions and a more feminine wardrobe. This one was dressed with undeniable elegance in neutral colours—cool trousers, a silk top and a loose, unstructured jacket with the sleeves pushed casually up her arms. She would have looked much softer in a pretty dress, David thought, although, if she was anything like Alix, soft was the last word anyone should use to describe her.

Her eyes were moving slowly along the overhead lockers, studying the illuminated numbers, and David glanced at the empty seat beside him with a sudden sense of foreboding. He looked up just as her gaze dropped, and their eyes met with a jarring sense of recognition. With grim amusement, he saw that she was no more pleased to discover who she was to be sitting next to than he was.

Claudia was more than not pleased. She was dismayed. A frantic morning finishing off at work, a chaotic trip to the airport, a seven-hour flight from London and now she not only had to entrust her life to a plane that looked as if it was held together with sticky tape and bits of string, but she had to find herself sitting next to that supercilious, sarcastic man who had made her feel such a fool at Heathrow!

For one wild moment, Claudia considered asking the stewardess if she could change seats, but the rows behind looked pretty full, and there was an uncomfortably acute look in those cold grey eyes. She had a nasty feeling that he knew exactly what number was printed on her boarding card. If she made a fuss and insisted on moving, he would think that she was embarrassed to sit next to him, and Claudia had no intention of giving him the satisfaction of knowing that he had put her out of countenance.

Anyway, why should she let herself be intimidated by him? He was just some businessman, and a pretty charmless, humourless one at that. She would simply ignore him, she decided.

Hoisting her bag more firmly over her shoulder, Claudia stalked down the gangway. Sure enough, 12B was the empty seat beside him, but just as she prepared to settle down in haughty silence the man pulled out a report and ostentatiously buried his head in it. He could hardly have made it clearer that he didn’t want to talk and was intent on ignoring her!

Claudia’s lips thinned. There was something about this man that got under her skin. She had been the one who wanted to do the ignoring, but there was no point if he was just going to be grateful for her silence! No, it would be much more satisfying to see how far she could irritate him, and Claudia had only to look at the implacable set of his jaw to know that the best way to do that would be to make it impossible for him to ignore her as he was so intent on doing. After two and a half hours of conversation as inane and frivolous as she could make it, he would be regretting that he had ever opened his mouth at Heathrow!

The prospect was enough to curve Claudia’s mouth into a satisfied smile. Perhaps she would enjoy this flight after all!

‘Hello again!’ she said brightly, and plumped herself down beside him.

Intensely suspicious of her smile, David gave a brusque nod and grunted some sort of greeting before pointedly turning his attention back to his report. Surely even she could take a hint like that?

Apparently not. ‘It’s quite a coincidence bumping into each other like this, isn’t it?’ she went on in the same chirpy voice, and David sighed inwardly. ‘I didn’t realise you were going to Telama’an as well.’

She bent forward to push her bag under the seat in front of her, and David was conscious of a subtle breath of fragrance as the blonde hair swung and shimmered distractingly at the edge of his vision.

‘Why should you?’ he said, trying to keep his eyes on the report and hoping that his repressive tone would be enough to make her realise that he was in no mood for conversation, but Claudia, delighted to see that his jaw was already tightening with irritation, refused to take the hint.

‘I just assumed you would get off the plane in Dubai,’ she said chattily. ‘You know how it is when you speculate about your fellow travellers.’

‘No,’ said David, but she pretended that she hadn’t heard.

‘I just couldn’t imagine you in a place like Shofrar,’ she told him, settling herself back in her seat and slanting him a provocative look from under her lashes.

‘Why ever not?’ he said, goaded into a response just as he had decided to ignore her completely.

‘Well, Shofrar sounds such an exciting place,’ said Claudia, who was congratulating herself on her strategy. This was much more fun than sitting in frosty silence!

David scowled at her. ‘Why don’t you come right out and say that you think I look too boring to be going there?’

‘Oh, but I don’t mean that at all.’ She pretended to flutter. She opened her eyes wide, and David, making the mistake of looking into them, was annoyed to notice that they were huge and extraordinarily beautiful, a smoky, smudgy colour somewhere between blue and grey.

‘It’s just that Shofrar sounds so wild and undeveloped and wonderfully romantic,’ she was wittering on, and with something of an effort David dragged his gaze away. ‘When I saw you at Heathrow, I thought you looked too conventional for the country.’ Claudia put a hand to her mouth in mock dismay. ‘Oh, dear, that sounds rude, doesn’t it? I didn’t mean it to be,’ she lied. ‘Steady and reliable are probably better words than conventional. You looked, you know, like the kind of man who would never give his wife any cause to worry and would always ring her if he was going to be late.’

David was unreasonably nettled by this tribute. Steadiness and reliability were qualities he had always valued, but this girl made them sound stolid and dull. She made him sound stolid and dull.

‘I don’t have a wife,’ he said with something of a snap. ‘And it may interest you to know that I have travelled extensively in Shofrar, and certainly more than you have if you think it is wonderfully romantic. It’s a hard country,’ he pointed out. ‘It’s hot and it’s barren, with poor communications and no facilities for tourists. You’re the one who’s going to find herself out of place in Telama’an, not me. I may look conventional but I know the desert and I’m used to the conditions. You’re too spoilt—oh, dear, that sounds rude, doesn’t it?’ He mimicked her tone with uncomfortable accuracy. ‘I meant spoilt by luxurious living, that’s all. I think you’re going to find Telama‘an something of a shock.’

‘Really?’ It was Claudia’s turn to eye him frostily. ‘And what makes you think that I haven’t been to Telama’an before?’

‘I’ve seen what you carry around in that bag of yours,’ said David, nodding his head down at the shoulder bag that was squeezed under the seat in front of her. ‘Nobody who had been anywhere near a desert would dream of packing a fraction of all that junk!’

Claudia bit her lip. She was beginning to wish that she hadn’t tried to provoke him. Why couldn’t he have been a decent, tactful, chivalrous type of man who wouldn’t dream of mentioning that embarrassing incident at Heathrow?

She had been sitting opposite him in the departure lounge as they waited by the gate. There had been some delay in boarding, and the other passengers were milling around in frustration. Babies had cried, children had squabbled, ground staff had muttered into their walkie-talkies, but the man opposite her had just sat reading through papers with a stillness and concentration that completely ignored the hubbub around him.

He had rather ordinary brown hair and one of those austere faces that didn’t give anything away, but Claudia, fascinated by his air of cool self-containment, had noticed a decidedly stubborn set to his jaw and an inflexible look about his mouth. She was secretly ashamed of the fact that the take-off always made her rather nervous, thinking that she ought by the age of twenty-nine to be blasé about jumping on and off planes, and although she was doing her best to seem cool and unconcerned she had found it oddly reassuring to watch the man working so quietly and competently in the midst of such chaos.