The Ramirez Bride - The Ramirez Brides 01 by Emma Darcy

Author:Emma Darcy
Format: epub

‘What’s to consider? We have a duty of care to our son which is best served by the two of us getting married. Given your background and my own, how can there possibly be any argument between us over that?’

Flustered by his ruthless logic, Tess seized on her main uncertainty. ‘What about us?’

‘I thought we settled us last night. Did we or did we not lay down the rules for our marriage to work? And reach a mutual understanding over them.’

In the heat of the night, yes, but…

‘What’s the point of backtracking now, Tess? Just sign the papers and give it a chance.’ His eyes glittered at her in hard, relentless challenge. ‘Remember how it was for you as a kid—lost between Livvy’s and your father’s worlds. I sure as hell remember how it was for me—not wanted by anyone, shuttled aside to fend for myself. We have to make it different for Zack. For his sake, you must see our marriage as the best way.’

Give it a chance…

For Zack’s sake…

Yes. Her mind seized on the cogent argument of their own wretched childhoods. It was the right thing—the only fair thing—to do for their son. To at least try a marriage with Nick.

She was probably putting her heart on the chopping block, but on the positive personal side, she wouldn’t have a cold lonely bed for as long as Nick kept faith with his commitment. She might as well take the pleasure he was offering while she could.

‘Okay!’ she decided, rolling her chair back to the desk and proceeding to sign the forms with a sense of reckless determination. She was probably a fool, taking fool’s gold, but until this marriage was proven worthless, she would give it a chance. For Zack’s sake!

‘But I don’t want a big social wedding,’ she said emphatically, putting the pen down and facing Nick with her decision.

‘Why not?’ His eyes narrowed in fiercely probing assessment. ‘Neither of us is planning to do this again. It’s a one-off, Tess. Why not do the big splash…the whole fairy-tale wedding that all women want?’

‘For one thing, it wouldn’t be a fairy-tale wedding.’ Her own eyes mocked that impossible concept as she pressed the inescapable truth. ‘More like a three-ring circus.’

He frowned.

‘Think about it, Nick,’ she invited derisively, her hands gesturing the grand scale of what would inevitably occur. ‘It wouldn’t be a wonderful personal occasion. It would be the gossipfest of the year—my father and his three wives in attendance—your mother and my mother competing for the limelight—the bride who is Brian Steele’s daughter and the groom who turned out to be not his son…’

The dark frown lifted as his mouth twitched with sardonic humour. ‘Could be quite amusing to have them all dancing to our tune.’

His cynical view of their family situation completely missed the point. ‘Do you imagine anyone would actually be there to wish us well?’ she threw at him in exasperation, thinking of all the bitchy A-list women who’d hate her for roping in the man they’d targeted.

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