The Unconventional Bride

‘That’s because I…’ she paused and twined her fingers together ‘…well, in the confusion I hit a policeman who was mistakenly trying to arrest me.’

‘I believe you didn’t have permission from your father to hold that party, Mel, because he was away at the time and unable to protect you from hoons and gatecrashers.’

She looked briefly uncomfortable. ‘I’m nineteen. Quite old enough to hold a party off my own bat, I would have thought. OK! I was wrong, but it could have happened to anyone.’

‘They say trouble attracts trouble,’ he observed.

‘And it could be said,’ she responded sweetly, ‘that marriage to you sounds like a term at a reform school. No, thank you, Etienne. I appreciate your concern for Raspberry Hill and the boys but we’ll manage somehow.’

‘What about my concern for you?’

Mel opened her mouth then shut it rather sharply as that cool, alert gaze of his drifted over her. And once again she found herself trapped in his sights, his sole focus, and experiencing the twin sensations of being hunted and quivering inwardly with the memory of his mouth on hers, his hard body against her…

She came out of her reverie with a jolt as he said her name questioningly.

‘Uh—what kind of concern is that?’

He smiled. ‘I think you have the makings of good wife material.’

She raised her eyebrows imperiously. ‘Is that so? Forgive me, but I think you’re quite wrong. Mainly because I have no aspirations to be anyone’s wife but least of all yours.’

He shrugged. ‘Well, that aside, the alternative is to sell off Raspberry Hill and see Justin, Ewan and Tosh go into foster care.’

‘No!’ She said it quite definitely.

‘Just no?’

‘Even if I have to sell Raspberry Hill, I’ll be able to make a home for them somewhere!’

‘Mel, you’re still only nineteen; I don’t think a court would even consider placing them in your care. And Raspberry Hill is mortgaged to the hilt. There won’t be any money to spare.’

‘Thanks to your sister,’ she shot back.

‘Not entirely,’ he returned coolly. ‘And she may have been my sister but perhaps you should examine your real reason for disliking her as much as you did.’

Mel flinched then opted for honesty with a queer little sigh. ‘OK, I was as jealous as hell. We’d had Dad on his own for so long after our mother died then, well, he was besotted with Margot, but the fact remains that—’ she looked around with sudden tears in her eyes ‘—it did all start to go downhill after he married her.’

‘You wouldn’t have that problem with me.’

Mel wiped her eyes on the back of her hand and stared stonily out to sea as she examined the unpalatable truth of this.

‘It’s still…’ she shook her head in frustration ‘…it just doesn’t make sense. We don’t even know each other that well. Look, I’m sorry if I sound ungrateful—most girls would probably jump at the chance but…I guess I’m not most girls,’ she finished rather lamely, and stood up.

‘And I probably wouldn’t be doing this if you were,’ he murmured and straightened. ‘But I don’t believe there’s any other way for you to go.’ He contemplated her silently.

Mel took an unexpected breath beneath that suddenly authoritative dark glance—it was like running into a brick wall. In a moment, it brought home to her that Etienne Hurst had made up his mind to marry her and would ruthlessly follow it through. Not only that, despite reeling inwardly, she also discovered herself to be in very strange territory on another front.

It was the most amazing sensation. One part of her was outraged to think he believed he could offer her marriage out of the blue and that she would keel over immediately and accept. While the other half was undoubtedly impressed not only by his authority and power but also by him as a man.

What qualities about him, she wondered, were capable of causing her to fantasise about him at the same time as she hated his arrogance?

She wasn’t left to wonder for long. He strolled over to her and put his hands on her shoulders. ‘Think about it, Miss Ethridge, but in the meantime perhaps this will help you to see the light.’

He kissed her again, not deeply this time, but lingeringly and quite sufficiently for one of those qualities in him she’d pondered so recently to leap out at her—raw sex appeal.

In fact, everything about him appealed to her in those moments and the feel of his lean, hard body drew a primitive response from her own body. A yearning to be captured by him and brought gloriously alive in the most intimate way, so much so—and so much did it take her by surprise—she gasped beneath his mouth and shuddered beneath his hands.

He lifted his head and looked into her wide, stunned eyes with the faintest smile twisting his lips.

‘I’ll be back,’ he said, and she wasn’t sure whether it was a threat or a promise.

Whatever it was, it kept her rooted to the spot while he strode down the steps towards his car. How long she would have been paralysed like that she was not to know if it hadn’t been for Mrs Bedwell.

With her trademark stalk, reminiscent of a tall, thin bird, Mrs Bedwell came round the corner of the house to waylay Etienne just before he got to his car.

Having had Mrs Bedwell meddle in her life for as long as she could remember, Mel came out of her reverie and slipped discreetly inside. She sprinted down the hall towards the study, from where she would be closest to the drive.

So that, lurking beneath the study window, she heard Mrs Bedwell say to Etienne, ‘Mr Hurst, I think that’s a very good idea of yours.’

‘You do?’ came Etienne’s reply. ‘What idea is that?’

‘The idea of marrying Mel. I’ve been going crazy trying to work out what’s to become of them since their father died. And your sister,’ she added conscientiously.

There was silence and Mel peeped over the study window sill to see Etienne stopped in his tracks by Mrs Bedwell’s eavesdropping habits.

Which Mrs Bedwell took full advantage of to continue volubly, ‘You see, I always did reckon Mel was born one gene short. For that matter, Justin is turning out the same, and as for Tosh…’ Mrs Bedwell threw up her hands and shook her head.

‘I don’t think I quite understand,’ Etienne murmured, as Mel’s mouth dropped open in disbelief.

‘They never stop to think, that gene,’ Mrs Bedwell elucidated. ‘Got it from their mother, they did. With all the best intentions in the world she was never out of trouble! I told Mel people wouldn’t take kindly to her taking her horse to the council, I told her not to hold that party—believe me, there’s a million things I’ve told her not to do, but once she gets a bee in her bonnet there’s no stopping her. Where will she end, I keep wondering, without someone strong like you?’

‘I…see,’ Etienne replied cautiously.

‘Then,’ Mrs Bedwell placed her hand on Etienne’s arm and stared confidingly into his eyes, ‘there’s the way she’s grown up. Who would have thought such a skinny tomboy with those awful braces on her teeth and forever scratched and grazed would grow into such a looker?’

Mel ducked her head, grimaced, and awaited Etienne’s reply with bated breath. But he didn’t reply and Mrs Bedwell went on.

‘Not that she knows it. You can accuse her of a lot of things but vanity isn’t one of them. Problem is—there are a lot of unscrupulous men out there and once they find out that all they need is some kind of crazy cause to worm their way into her heart, who knows what could happen?’

‘Mrs Bedwell, I could strangle you,’ Mel said through her teeth. Unfortunately, this caused her to miss what Mrs Bedwell said next and consequently she had no idea what it was that prompted Etienne to reply that he had become increasingly aware of it and would certainly take it into consideration.

‘What?’ Mel muttered, severely frustrated.

But Mrs Bedwell only said then, ‘Good, well, I can leave it up to you?’

‘You may, Mrs Bedwell,’ he answered as he shook her hand then got into his car and drove off.

It was not in Mel’s nature to bottle things up so she accosted Mrs Bedwell immediately and asked her what she thought she was doing by encouraging a man they barely knew to marry her.