Bride in Name Only by Penny Jordan

Author:Penny Jordan [Jordan, Penny]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781488031878
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 1986-08-31T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

‘RIGHT EVERYTHING’S arranged. We get married on Thursday in Bath. I’ve booked us into a hotel for a couple of days—that should give us enough time to get the girls and you re-equipped and to do a little bit of sightseeing.’ He put down the briefcase he had brought from the car and opened it, the fabric of his suit jacket stretching taut across his back. Perhaps it was because the only other man she had ever lived with had been her father that she was so constantly aware of, and caught off guard by, the essential maleness of him. Perhaps she had lived too long in the softer world of women, and it was that which made her so conscious of the hardness of his muscled body.

‘Here you are; I brought these back for you to browse through,’ He handed her a pile of glossy leaflets. ‘We don’t have a design department as such, but if you feel you want to engage an interior designer…’

Claire shook her head decisively. Whitegates was going to be her home, and besides, she was looking forward to the challenge of re-planning it herself.

‘Well, just as long as you don’t start worrying about keeping costs down,’ Jay warned her. He grimaced faintly and looked round the kitchen. ‘While you’re at it, how about doing something in here…something…’

‘Warner?’ Claire supplied dryly.

‘Mmm. And Claire, don’t forget you’re going to need to adapt some of the bedrooms into guest suites, complete with en suite baths.’

Claire laughed. ‘It sounds more like I’m going to be running a hotel than a home!’

‘Mmm, talking of which… This is the hotel I’ve booked us into in Bath. I’ve organised a suite with three bedrooms—the girls can share. It’s just on the outskirts of the town and has its own leisure complex, complete with swimming pool. ‘Can Lucy swim?’

‘Yes. Can Heather?’

‘Yes.’

* * *

NEWS OF THEIR IMPENDING marriage had spread through the village grapevine faster than an epidemic in a slum, and Claire had got used to being stopped in the street and discreetly pumped for more information. Overall, she gained the impression that the village thoroughly approved.

‘It is such a nice arrangement,’ Mrs Vickers innocently told her. The village apparently did not approve of such modern things as ‘living together’, and she gathered that Jay’s ex-wife had not been particularly popular. Indeed, no one seemed to know much about her at all, other than the fact that she had run off with another man, leaving her small daughter behind.

Naturally, both little girls were wildly excited, anticipating the dual treat of the wedding plus the visit to Bath. Jay proposed that they leave after breakfast on the Wednesday morning, which would give Claire plenty of time to get all her shopping done before the Thursday afternoon ceremony.

A backlog of work at the factory kept him late there most evenings, although he always tried to get back in time to read the girls a story. Heather was slowly starting to relax with him,

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