Bought: One Bride(20)

Unfortunately, her flower shop probably wouldn't sell for ages. Property  in Sydney was proving hard to shift at the moment. Maybe he could help  things along.

Richard was planning a rather ruthless move on his part when the phone rang.

He wondered who it could be, calling him this early on a Sunday morning.  A glance at his watch showed it was only twenty past nine.

Richard leant over and swept the phone off its cradle.

"Richard Crawford," he answered crisply.

"Richard, it's Reece."

"Reece! Now what are you doing up at this hour? I thought you and Alanna would sleep in till noon at least. You-"

"Is Holly there with you?" Reece cut in brusquely.

"Er … she's in the shower."

"I think you might have a problem."

Richard's stomach tightened. "What kind of problem?"

"You know how you told me at the party last night that Holly wasn't from Wives Wanted."

"Yes … "

"It's a pity you didn't tell me that earlier."

"What do you mean?"

"When you rang Alanna earlier this week to say that you were bringing a  date to our party, she assumed she would be one of Natalie's girls."

Richard sucked in sharply. "You told Alanna I signed up with Wives Wanted?"

"Sorry, mate. There didn't seem any reason not to tell her, considering she was one of Natalie's girls."

"I guess not. So what are you saying? That Alanna said something to  Holly? She told her that I'd been looking for a wife through an  introduction agency?"

"Afraid so. When they were in the powder room together. Alanna said  Holly seemed okay about it, other than being somewhat surprised. Anyway,  the girls promised each other not to say anything to either of us last  night. They were worried we might be angry. But this morning, Alanna  decided you should know that Holly knows. She also said you should know  that Holly said she would never marry without love, especially a man who  was still in love with his dead wife."                       
       
           



       

Richard clenched his teeth. He wasn't still in love with Joanna. He  hated her. But he supposed his hate was just as much of an impediment to  falling in love again. Once bitten that badly, a million times shy.

"I see," he said, his brain ticking away with the implications of what  Reece had just told him. At least this news explained why Holly had  become stroppy with him at the party for a while.

But she'd still come home with him, hadn't she? And still gone to bed with him.

That said a lot in his favour.

"You could lie to her, of course, Richard. Tell her you love her. Tell  her you're totally over Joanna. Lots of women will believe whatever they  want to believe."

"I won't do that, Reece. Did you tell Alanna you loved her?"

"No, but then Alanna's a very unusual woman. She doesn't want to be  loved. She's even more pragmatic than I am. But blind Freddy can see  that your Holly is nothing like us. She's quite young, for starters. And  idealistic. A bit like you used to be. I wasn't keen on your going to  Wives Wanted to find a wife. Most of those women on that database are  out for what they can get. But I still think you might have pulled the  wrong straw with Holly."

"I don't think so. She's what I want. And I mean to have her, one way or the other."

"You've already had her, mate, by the sounds of things. That doesn't mean you have to marry her."

"I know that, Reece. But I'm going to, if she'll have me."

"What will you do about the Wives Wanted business?"

"The only thing I can do. Tell Holly everything, of course."

Up to a point. He wasn't about to spill his guts over what Joanna had  done to him. He would concentrate on his need to move on with his life,  the same way Holly was moving on with hers. Why not move on together? he  would argue. They liked each other and desired each other. He would  also tell her he thought she'd make a wonderful wife and mother. It  wasn't flattery. It was the truth.

"Thanks for telling me, Reece," Richard said. "I appreciate it. And tell Alanna not to worry. Everything will be fine."

"I hope so."

"I'd better go. The water went off in the shower some time ago. She'll be coming out of the bathroom any time now."

He hung up just in time. Holly emerged, her hair down and damp, her face  scrubbed of make-up, her beautiful body totally covered by one of his  blue business shirts.

For all that, she looked incredibly sexy.

When she saw that he was awake, she halted with a small gasp, a delightful pink zooming into her cheeks.

Richard smiled, thinking how nice it was that she was susceptible to  some "morning after" embarrassment, that she wasn't the kind of girl who  was totally blasé about getting up to what they'd got up to last night.

"And good morning to you, too," he said softly. "You're wearing one of my shirts, I see."

He loved the way her blush was quickly replaced by a saucy toss of her head. She had spirit, this girl he'd chosen to marry.

"You didn't honestly think I was going to go around with no clothes on today, did you? Or wear that silly belt."

His dark brows lifted. He'd actually forgotten about saying that. "A man can always hope."

"Sorry," she said with a haughty sniff. "If you want a sex slave, you'll have to go elsewhere."

He had to laugh. "You are unique, Holly, I'll give you that. And  intriguingly unpredictable. After last night a man could be forgiven for  thinking you might have enjoyed acting out the sex-slave fantasy."

"Well, you'd be wrong."

"I often am," he said. "Especially about you. So what's on the agenda for today? I am yours to command."

She rolled her eyes. "Very funny. You might be a man of leisure today but I have to go home. I always do the books on a Sunday."

"You will not be doing the books today, madam," Richard said sternly.  "Or any other Sunday, for that matter. Let your stepmother do them. Or  let her pay for an accountant."

"You're right. I'm mad. No more books. In that case, I suppose you could  take me out to brunch somewhere. I'm hungry as a horse. But you'll have  to drive me home first. I will need to change."

"Oh, I don't know. You look very fetching, dressed like that.  Alternatively, we could eat in. I could go get us some videos and a  pizza."

Already, Richard was changing his mind about bringing up the subject of Wives Wanted today. Why spoil the moment?

"Not on your life!" she retorted. "I spent twelve months having pizzas  and videos every weekend. And paying for them myself. I wouldn't let you  buy me a dress, but I don't mind you paying to take me somewhere nice  to eat. That's perfectly acceptable."                       
       
           



       

Richard could see she wasn't going to let him drag her back to bed for  the rest of the day, damn it. If he was going to get up and take her out  somewhere, he might as well clear the air on the subject of the Wives  Wanted agency right here and now.

"Somewhere nice it will be, then. But before I get dressed and run you  home," he said, "could you come over here and sit down on the bed next  to me?" He patted the side of the bed with one hand as he dragged a  sheet over his lower half with the other. "I have something I want to  discuss with you."

"What?" she asked a bit nervously as she did as he asked. But as she sat  down and crossed her legs his shirt parted across her thighs and he had  a tantalising glimpse of the dark triangle of curly hair that arrowed  down between her legs.

"I've just had a call from Reece," he said before he succumbed to temptation and pulled her into the bed with him.

"Oh?" Her hand lifted to finger-comb her hair back from her forehead.

"Alanna told him what she'd said to you in the powder room last night."

"Oh!"

Was that alarm in her eyes?

Damn it all, but she could be hard to read at times.

"Why didn't you mention it last night?" he asked, watching her face closely.

Definite guilt in her eyes this time. Though Lord knew what she had to feel guilty about.

"I … I didn't want to spoil anything," she said.

Aaah, now he got it. She'd wanted him to bring her home and make love to her. That had been her priority at the time.

"But you were still angry with me," he pointed out.

"Not really. More like … bewildered. I … I couldn't understand why you would  want to go to that kind of agency, or why you would think you had to  buy yourself a wife, the way Reece did."

"Reece didn't buy Alanna."

"Oh, come now, Richard. Do you think she'd have married him if he'd been poor?"

"No. But Reece's wealth was not the whole picture. They connected straight away. And the chemistry was right. The way we did."