“What about love, Mr. McClain? Isn’t that the most important consideration when two people make a commitment to a relationship that will span fifty or sixty years?”
“Look around, Miss Stacey. Lots of folks fall in love, but they just as easily fall out. I’m willing to bet on natural chemistry and deliberate choice. We’ve got the chemistry. All that’s left is the choice.”
Now he reached into his inside jacket pocket with his free hand and Stacey saw the small flash when he brought it out. There, circling the tip of his index finger, was a simple solitaire diamond on a gold engagement band. It was simple, but elegant, and she was experienced enough with fine jewelry to know it cost a fortune.
“I choose you, you choose me.”
A wedding dilemma:
What should a sexy, successful bachelor do if he’s too busy making millions to find a wife? Or if he finds the perfect woman, and just has to strike a bridal bargain…?
The perfect proposal:
The solution? For better, for worse, these grooms are in a hurry and have decided to sign, seal and deliver the ultimate marriage contract…to buy a bride!
Will these paper marriages blossom into wedded bliss?
Look out for our next CONTRACT BRIDES story, coming soon in Harlequin Romance®!
Bride of Convenience
Susan Fox
MILLS & BOON
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For Joanne Anderson
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
THE lady was broke.
She was dressed just as richly and stylishly as before, but this time in a sleek, shimmery teal designer original that showed off her blond coloring and perfect body. She looked like a million bucks, but she was worth little more than a few thousand dollars.
He was here to change that.
Oren McClain had taken on a losing prospect or two in the past. Mostly ranches or abused horses. He had a modest gift for spotting potential in some failure or misfit. The right management or backing or retraining might turn a respectable profit or reclaim something of value. Or bring it out.
The willowy blonde across the room carried a few of those little potentials that always got his attention. He sensed her quiet desperation as she nursed yet another glass of wine.
Everyone else at the crowded penthouse party was too self-absorbed to see the shell-shocked dullness in her pretty blue eyes. None of them would have realized that her talent for regularly getting the waiters to bring the drink tray around for a discrete exchange of empty for full was partly the need to anesthetize herself from the pretentious bores and tiresome elites at this big city soiree. She might be too snookered to let herself realize it, but he knew she would later. He meant to point it out as bluntly as possible, if need be.
There was a weary intelligence in those lovely eyes, along with a dispiritedness that could be expected of a woman bored out of her mind with her shallow, aimless life. A life that had spoiled and sucked almost everything worthwhile out of her. That’s what happened when life held no greater challenge than could be met by beauty and a charming smile. Or a hefty tip.
And yet it was clear she was in mourning for the shallow privileged life that was rapidly coming to an end. Oren McClain was certain he was one of the few at that stuffy penthouse party who knew Stacey Amhearst’s days of bartering beauty and charm, and bestowing hefty, persuasive tips wouldn’t last another week.
But she knew it. Which was part of the reason she looked morose and standoffish. And panicked.
He’d learned a lot about her in the past few months, so this wasn’t idle speculation. The lady truly was broke. Her spacious apartment and all the other costly doodads that went with it suddenly had the shelf life of Beluga caviar. All the beautiful, wealthy snobs around her who didn’t already know, would very soon find out the jarring truth.
And then the invitations would dry up. Most would stop taking her calls, stop reading her phone messages. Their butlers and maids wouldn’t answer the doorbell or, if they did, they’d recite some polite little fib to deny her entry. She’d be the hot topic of gossip as they nattered to each other in hushed, horrified tones, as if leery of attracting the same unthinkable misfortune.
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