‘Yes, in front of witnesses, preferably in a church and legally binding.’
‘You surely don’t expect me to…’ She found it impossible to finish the sentence in case by saying it out loud it would somehow make it inescapably true.
‘I’m asking you to marry me, Mia,’ he said, confirming her worst fears.
She stared at him open-mouthed. Surely she’d misheard him. He couldn’t possibly have…
‘Of course, I don’t expect you to do it for nothing,’ he went on evenly. ‘I will pay you a lump sum up front and a generous allowance for as long as the marriage continues.’
‘You want me to marry you? For real?’ She gawped at him incredulously. ‘You mean you’re actually serious about this?’
He frowned at her stupefied expression. ‘I’m not asking you to jump off the harbour bridge, Mia, just to wear my ring until such time as it is no longer necessary.’
Mia’s stomach felt as if she’d just jumped off Centrepoint Tower, which was a whole lot taller than the harbour bridge. How could she possibly consent to marrying a man she hated? And even worse—for money?
‘But marriage?’ she asked again, shaking her head in disbelief.
‘Yes, as in vows and rings and stuff.’
‘Marriage is a whole lot more than vows and rings and stuff,’ she said. ‘It’s a legally binding agreement between two people who are supposed to love one another and promise to do so until death parts them.’
‘So we’re not exactly up to scratch on all the particulars but we can still pull this off,’ he said.
‘You sound as if you’re discussing some sort of business proposal.’
‘That’s exactly what I’m discussing. A business proposal.’
Mia frowned as she tried to take it all in. ‘You mean this won’t really be a real marriage?’
‘It will be real in the sense that it will be official and legal. I can’t risk someone uncovering it as a sham but as for us being a normal couple…’ he hesitated for a fraction of a second before adding, ‘well, of course it won’t be real.’
She moistened her bone-dry lips. ‘So we won’t be…you know…’
His dark eyes met hers. ‘Having sex?’
‘Yes…’
‘Not unless you want to.’
Mia felt her cheeks burning but forced herself to hold his gaze. ‘Of course I don’t want to!’
His expression was contemplative as he held her gaze for several moments before he responded. ‘Fine; however, I must insist that for the duration of our marriage you refrain from sleeping with anyone else. I wouldn’t want anyone to suspect things are not normal between us if you are seen with someone other than me.’
She gave him a pointed look. ‘Do I get to insist on the same rule for you?’
‘I will do my best to be discreet if the need should arise.’
‘Then I insist on the same for myself. I, too, can be discreet.’
‘As you wish, but let me tell you if you put one step wrong I will be extremely angry. I don’t want my great-aunt to be upset by any rumours of impropriety.’
‘She won’t be upset by me,’ Mia said confidently. ‘At least I don’t have any empty-headed bimbos in my background.’
He gave her a droll look. ‘As of today I have finished with empty-headed bimbos. You are now, for all intents and purposes, the love of my life, and I expect you to maintain that illusion for as long as is necessary.’
‘And I thought my four years at stage school were challenging,’ Mia muttered resentfully.
‘The challenging part for you will be controlling your propensity for insulting me at every opportunity.’
She gave a cynical snort. ‘That’s rich coming from the High Priest of Insults. If you weren’t such a pompous jerk I wouldn’t find it so challenging.’
‘If you weren’t such an uptight little cat you would see I’m nothing like the public image I project,’ he clipped back.
She folded her arms across her chest, her expression full of scorn. ‘I suppose you’re going to tell me you’re really nothing like the Bryn Dwyer the public has come to love and hate. Oh, please. Spare me the violins. Anyone can see you’re a self-serving egotist who would stop at nothing to achieve his ends. This crazy scheme of yours to hoodwink your great-aunt is a case in point. What kind of man would openly lie to a little old lady by marrying a woman he has absolutely no feelings for?’
‘I happen to love my great-aunt very dearly and I would do anything to make her last days happy, even if it means temporarily tying myself to a shrill little shrew to prove it.’
‘Shrill little shrew, am I, now?’ She glared at him. ‘Well, let me tell you I don’t think too much of you either. You’re hardly what I’d call the ultimate choice in husband material.’
‘You don’t have to think much of me,’ he said. ‘All I want you to do is marry me. We’ll sort the feelings end of it out later.’
‘I don’t have any feelings where you’re concerned other than unmitigated dislike.’
‘Good. You’d be best to keep it that way. I wouldn’t want to complicate things any further with you forming an emotional attachment to me.’
‘Where exactly did you go for your ego-enhancement surgery?’ she quipped in return. ‘Was it horrendously expensive?’
Bryn struggled to hold back his amusement but in the end gave up. His face cracked on a smile. ‘I think you are definitely wasted as a serious actor. You have a real future in comedy.’
‘Yes, well, this little farce is definitely running along those lines. You’re asking me to act a role that is totally immoral. Acting in front of an audience is one thing but acting in front of a dying old lady is another. And marriage! It just doesn’t seem right.’
‘It will make her happy. That’s all I want.’
‘I don’t want to do this, Bryn; you can’t force me.’
He held her gaze for an uncomfortable pause. Mia felt as if she was being slowly but steadily backed into a tight corner. She even wondered if it had been wise to mention the word force. She could see the steely determination in his darker than night eyes and her stomach felt as if something with tiny clawed feet had just scuttled across it.
The sudden silence was like a third presence in the room, brooding and somehow menacing, making the fine hairs on the back of her neck lift one by one.
‘I’m hoping it won’t have to come to me actually forcing you,’ he said. ‘At this
