Bought: One Bride(5)

"Not at all. But I would like to meet Melvin personally before you leave."

"Check up on him, you mean."

"You are quite a wealthy widow, Mum," he pointed out. "And I'm your only  son. I have to keep an eye on my future inheritance, you know."

This was a load of garbage and his mother knew it. Richard had made more  money during his relatively short banking career than his father had in  forty years of accounting. Reginald Crawford had always been too  conservative with his own investments. He gave excellent advice to his  clients but couldn't seem to transfer that to his own portfolio.

Still, by the time he'd dropped dead of a heart attack at the age of  seventy, he'd been able to leave his wife their Strathfield home,  mortgage-free, along with a superannuation policy that would keep her in  comfort till her own death. Which hopefully wouldn't be for many years  to come.

"You don't have to worry, Richard," she said airily. "Melvin is wealthy  in his own right. Far wealthier than me. You should see his home. It's  magnificent."

"I'd like to. So how old, exactly, is Melvin, by the way?"

"Sixty-six."

Only one year older than his mother. A good match. Better than with his father, who'd been twelve years older.

"He sounds great. Better not keep him waiting, then. See you in the  morning. Have fun," he called after her as she headed for the front  door.

He wasn't sure if he heard right, but he was pretty sure she'd muttered, "I intend to."

The front door banged shut, leaving Richard to an empty house, but not an empty mind.

Sixty-six, he mused. Was a man past it at sixty-six?

He doubted it.

One thing he knew for sure. A man wasn't past it at thirty-eight.

Ignoring his growing sexual frustration was proving difficult. His male  hormones, now directed where they normally went, had been giving him  hassle. Yet there was no hope for them in sight.

It had been six weeks since Reece had put him in touch with the woman  who ran Wives Wanted, a striking-looking but tough lady named Natalie  Fairlane. Six weeks, and he wasn't any closer to finding a woman he  wanted to continue dating, with a view to matrimony.

He returned to his laptop and brought up the photo of his fifth  selection. Another brunette. She was as beautiful on the screen as the  other four had been. But not one of them had had any effect on him in  the flesh.

There'd been no chemistry, as Reece would have put it.

They'd all been far too eager to please him as well. He'd seen the lack  of sincerity in their eyes. In a couple of them, he'd sensed downright  greed. They'd chosen the most expensive food on the menu, and the most  expensive wine.                       
       
           



       

That had been one of his little tests. Letting them choose the wine, of  which he never drank much. No way did he want any decision he made  influenced by being intoxicated. By the end of dinner, every one of the  four had made it obvious they would be only too happy to accompany him  home to bed.

Richard didn't think he was that irresistible to women.

He was a good-looking enough man. Tall and well built with strong,  masculine features. His steely grey eyes, however, were on the hard  side, he'd been told, and his manner was formidable.

Forbidding was the word one female employee had called him.

He supposed his approachability was not helped by his manner of dress,  which could only be described as ultra conservative. The board at the  bank preferred their CEO to look dignified, rather than sexy. The mainly  pinstriped suits he wore were expensive, but not trendy. His dark brown  hair was kept short. He shaved twice a day when necessary, and his  after-shave was discreet. His only jewellery was a gold Rolex watch.

Women did not throw themselves at him as they did at Reece, or even at  Mike, whose long-haired bad-boy image seemed to attract a certain type  of lady. Probably the ones who liked to live dangerously.

No, Richard didn't think it was his natural sex appeal that had made his  dates salivate by the end of each dinner. More likely the unlimited  limit on his credit card.

So he'd sent each of them home in a taxi afterwards and returned home  alone, where he'd filled in the questionnaire required after each date,  ticking the box that said he didn't want to see the lady again and  emailing it to Natalie Fairlane.

That was another of Wives Wanted's hard and fast rules. If either person  didn't want to see the other again, that was it. Finis. If the female  attempted further contact they were struck off the database. If it was  the male doing the harassing, he was no longer a client of Wives Wanted.

No doubt this system was much better than going through a normal  introduction agency or internet dating service. For one thing, the  weirdos were weeded out. Richard knew he'd been put through an extensive  background check before being accepted as a client. Ms Fairlane had  informed him of this necessary procedure during his personal interview,  at the same time assuring him that every girl on the database had been  through the same security check, and was exactly what she purported to  be.

Physically, at least, that was true. Each girl he'd dated had been as beautiful as they were in their photos.

But more and more Richard was beginning to think Mike was right. Most of  these women were gold-diggers. Maybe Reece had just been damned lucky  with Alanna.

But, having paid his money, he was determined to see the list through  before giving up on the idea. He was planning to contact his fifth  choice on the list when the front doorbell rang.

"Who on earth?" he muttered, standing up and making his way across the study and into the main hallway.

The Crawford family home was not a mansion, but it was spacious and  solid, with the kind of character associated with houses built in  Sydney's better suburbs in the nineteen thirties. Tall ceilings,  decorative cornices, wide verandas, and wonderful stained-glass panels  on either side of the front door.

As Richard strode towards the door the sunshine filtered through those  panels, making coloured patterns on the polished wooden floor, then on  the pale grey trousers he was wearing.

Wrenching the door open, the first thing he saw was a huge bunch of red roses. Followed by a face peeping around them.

A female face.

"Oh," the owner of the face exclaimed, her big brown eyes widening. "I  wasn't expecting …  I didn't realise … " She grimaced, then drew herself up  straight, holding the roses at her waist, a bit like a nervous bride.  "Sorry. I don't usually babble. Is Mrs Crawford home?"

"I'm afraid not," Richard replied, whilst thinking to himself that he  already liked this girl much better than any on that damned database.

Yet she wasn't nearly as beautiful. Or as well groomed.

Her long dark brown hair was somewhat wind-blown. And there wasn't a  scrap of make-up on her oval-shaped face. Her outfit of a wraparound  floral skirt and simple blue T-shirt shouted department-store wear, not  designer label.

But, for all that, he couldn't take his eyes off her.

"My mother's gone out for the day," he heard himself say whilst his hormone-sharpened gaze took in her ringless left hand.

Not that that meant much. She could still be living with someone, or be  dating some commitment-phobic fool who hadn't snapped her up off the  single shelf. That was one thing each of his Saturday night dates had  bewailed over the dinner table. How many men these days didn't want to  become husbands and fathers.                       
       
           



       

"She won't be back till very late tonight," he added. "Can I help you perhaps? I'm her son. Richard."

"Yes, I know that," she said, then looked flustered by her admission.

"In that case, you have the advantage on me," he replied smoothly. "Have  we met before?" He knew damned well they hadn't. He would have  remembered.

"No. Not really. I mean, I saw you at your wife's funeral. I … um … I did the flowers."

She seemed embarrassed at having to mention the occasion. On his part,  Richard was pleased that he could be reminded of that day without too  much pain.

Yes, he was definitely ready to move on.

"I see," he said as he wondered how old she might be. Late twenties perhaps?

"Please forgive me if I say I don't recall noticing the flowers that  day," he said ruefully. "But I'm sure they were lovely. I presume these  are for my mother?" he said, nodding towards the roses she was holding.  Probably from crafty old Melvin.

"Yes. It's a phone order which was never picked up today. I know how  much Mrs Crawford likes flowers-roses particularly-and I thought she  might like them. I realise she's going away next Friday but they won't  last that long."