Marriage Bargain With His Innocent

‘Do you know what time it is?’

‘Not bedtime on a Saturday evening for most people under the age of forty-five. And time for me to tell you that there’s been a slight change of plan.’

Matias raked his fingers through his hair and shot her a look of brooding unease.

‘Whatever you have to say will have to wait until morning.’ Her heart beating like a sledgehammer, and feeling acutely aware of her lack of clothing, Georgina made to shut the door. In response Matias neatly wedged his foot in the open gap before he could be locked out.

‘I realise this is not the most convenient place in the world for a conversation, but what I have to say can’t wait. My mother called.’

Georgina hesitated. With a sigh, she reluctantly opened the door, then told him to sit at the dressing table so that she could at least get dressed.

She knew the sort he went for. Tall, leggy blondes who weighed next to nothing. She knew that what she had on was no more revealing than what most girls would wear to the park on a hot day. But she still had to swallow down a sickening feeling of self-consciousness as she scuttled into the bathroom clutching jeans and a tee shirt.

She’d disappeared in under ten seconds. But that was all it had taken for Matias to realise that the body she had always been at pains to keep hidden away was voluptuous, with curves in all the right places, and a derriere as round and as perfect as a peach. She wasn’t overweight. She was sexy.

His libido, which had been sadly tepid during the last few weeks of his tempestuous relationship with Ava, roared into shocking life, forcing him to conceal a prominent bulge by sitting on a stool by the window.

‘You were saying...?’ Georgina asked bluntly, when she reappeared in a more acceptable jeans and tee shirt outfit.

She made sure the overhead light was on its brightest setting, so that the room was now as brightly lit as the changing room in a department store. She perched on the edge of the bed, because there were no other available chairs, and rested her hands on her lap.

‘You should have dumped your pride and stayed at my place. It’s ridiculous what some people call a B&B in London. There’s not enough room here to swing a cat.’ It was proving impossible for him to get into a comfortable position.

‘The owner is lovely. It’s cheap. It’s clean. And I’m not being ripped off. What did your mother have to say?’

‘First of all, I was caught off-guard. It was late, and my mother seldom calls me.’

‘That’s because she doesn’t like to think that she might be disturbing you.’

‘More conversations about me, Georgie? Before I could break the disappointing news that we’d decided to call it a day, she launched into a long, excitable congratulatory speech and told me that it was the best thing that had happened to her in a long time. She said that she was under strict instructions not to call me, to wait until we both came down to Cornwall, but she knew that you’d headed to London and couldn’t contain herself. Said she felt she finally had something worth living for...’

‘Didn’t you believe me when I told you that?’

‘Hearing it from the horse’s mouth made a difference.’

He stood up, strolled to the window, peered out at an uninspiring view of the back of the building, where tall plastic bins were arranged like soldiers against the wall.

He slowly spun round to look at her, half sat on the broad window ledge. ‘You were right. She’s the happiest I’ve heard her in a long time. I couldn’t get a word in edgewise.’

‘So,’ Georgina said slowly, ‘what you’re saying is that you didn’t tell her that it’s off...?’

‘How could I?’

‘That’s a bit of a problem, then, isn’t it? Considering you told me in no uncertain terms that you weren’t going to pretend anything for the sake of your mother.’

Matias flushed darkly. ‘Don’t think that I approve of the way you auditioned me for a role I hadn’t applied for,’ he reminded her abruptly. ‘But here we are. I didn’t have the heart to break the bad news down the phone so we’ll play this game—but the way I see it this will be a temporary situation. It beggars belief that my mother has fallen for your outrageously improbable scenario, but if it’s aiding her recovery then it’s something I will have to accept.’

Georgina didn’t say anything. She had thought so far and no further when it came to this charade. Now a shiver of unease rippled through her and she looked at Matias from under lowered lashes.

He was the king of urban, sophisticated cool and he was supposed to be going out with her. She, too, marvelled that his mother hadn’t fainted with disbelief at the improbable scenario.

They were supposed to be an item. Boyfriend and girlfriend. Lovers...

Her stomach lurched, because her imagination threatened to veer off in all sorts of uncharted directions.

‘So...’ Matias picked up the thread of the conversation. His voice was clipped and businesslike, ‘I’m here to briefly discuss the mechanics of this situation. What have you told my mother about us? How much winging it have you done?’

‘Can’t we discuss this another time?’ she replied vaguely.

‘Another time?’

‘Next week? On the phone, perhaps?’

‘Are you living in the real world, Georgie? My mother thinks we’re going out with one another in some happy-against-all-odds scenario and you want to discuss the details of our so-called relationship on the phone next week? Maybe?’

‘What are you saying?’

‘I’m saying,’ Matias imparted coolly, ‘that we’ll both be leaving for Cornwall in the morning. My mother is expecting us. When we get there, having our stories match up might be an idea.’

‘You say that you see this as a temporary situation...do you have a timeline in sight?’

Georgina regretted every second of whatever crazy impulse had plunged her into this mess. It had been a lot easier dealing with a fictional situation. Even when she had boarded that train to London she had not really thought about facing Matias in the flesh. He’d been much easier to deal with in her head. Less intimidating, less forbidding, pretty much less...everything.

‘I have—and it’s not a long one. We go down...we indulge in this charade for a few days... Sooner rather than later things can begin to go downhill. I’m happy to carry the can for the inevitable. There are too many differences between us... It’s only become apparent now that we’re spending a lot of undiluted time with one another... Put it this way: I can spare a couple of weeks and then I have meetings in the Far East. It would be preferable if all this is sorted before I go.’

‘A couple of weeks...’ She felt as though she’d hopped on a rollercoaster only to find that it was spinning a lot faster than she’d anticipated.

‘I don’t see a problem with that.’

‘But your mother might be down in the dumps again at the rapid demise of our relationship.’

‘Which is something you should have considered before you had your light bulb moment. We could hash all this out on the drive down tomorrow, but I think it better if we cover the basics now. I’m going to have to work for the majority of the trip, bearing in mind I’ll be leaving the office without warning.’

‘You’re going to work while you drive?’

‘Of course not, Georgie! My driver will take us and I’ll work in the back. You can bring a book, or some knitting, or whatever you need to occupy your time. We can fine-tune our stories just before we reach my mother’s house.’

He fixed his amazing eyes on her and Georgina had the curious sensation of free falling. Her stomach lurched and swooped as her eyes drifted down to his mouth and then immediately skittered away. She licked her lips and croaked some nonsense about having some work to do for her next job.

‘Right,’ he said, as her voice tapered off, ‘how is it that we’ve gone from war zone to bedroom in such a short space of time?’

‘I haven’t thought through the details,’ she admitted. ‘I suppose we can say it was just one of those things. Opposites attracting. It happens. I mean, you have a long history of being attracted to women who are nothing like you.’

‘Nor are they like you,’ he inserted smoothly. ‘Aside from which, I’ve never had a serious relationship with any of them—not like the one we’re supposed to be having...’

‘I acted on impulse,’ Georgina said in a muted voice. ‘I would never normally think of deceiving anyone, but before I could think things through—work out how it’s even credible that the two of us could ever have anything going—I’d come right out and spun a story. I’m sorry about that. You’ve been cornered into doing something you don’t want to do, and I don’t blame you if you’re seething.’

‘Forget it.’ Matias looked at her.