Engaged To Jarrod Stone
Carole Mortimer
Carole Mortimer is one of Mills & Boon’s best loved Modern Romance authors. With nearly 200 books published and a career spanning 35 years, Mills & Boon are thrilled to present her complete works available to download for the very first time! Rediscover old favourites - and find new ones! - in this fabulous collection…Proposal in the press…Brooke Faulkner is tired of hearing about all the women her boss, notorious playboy billionaire, Jarrod Stone, has affairs with… Deciding to teach Jarrod a lesson, Brooke announces to the press that Mr Stone is finally getting married. And the bride-to-be? Brooke herself!But her little joke backfires when Brooke learns that Jarrod is not a man to toy with… And before too long she’s fervently wishing for their mock engagement to be a real one…!
Engaged to Jarrod Stone
Carole Mortimer
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Table of Contents
Cover (#u85d68681-0df2-540d-9e04-8e75d00dd30d)
Title Page (#u589e0048-23bd-504d-ac90-009a491fe5b9)
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE (#ufbe86ad0-f690-5694-b87b-df8ab99b5ccd)
BROOKE sat down at the reception desk, turning to face the girl who sat behind her. ‘Has he arrived yet?’
Jean gave her an innocent look. ‘Has who arrived?’
Brooke gave her an impatient glance. ‘You know very well who. Don’t tease this morning, Jean.’
Her friend quirked one eyebrow. ‘Had one of those nights, did you?’
‘Morning, actually. Has he arrived?’
‘I gather you mean Mr Stone? Then yes, he arrived about ten minutes ago.’
‘Oh damn!’ Brooke frowned her displeasure.
‘Why? Did you want to see him?’
‘Not really.’ She pursed her lips. ‘I’m—– He—– What did he look like?’ She watched the other girl closely.
Jean gave her a strange look, dealing hurriedly with a call that came through on her switchboard. They weren’t due to open until nine o’clock, and yet invariably there were calls coming through before then. ‘How do you think he looked?’ she said finally. ‘How does he always look—gorgeous. Just as tall, dark, and handsome as usual.’
‘He didn’t look—well, different?’
Jean gave a firm shake of her head. ‘He always looks the same, he always acts the same. He walks in here, gives me an arrogant nod of his head, and then walks straight into his private lift. He does the same thing in the evenings, only in reverse. The man’s as impersonal to his employees as the machines he produces. Three years I’ve worked here now, and he still wouldn’t recognise me if he saw me out in the street.’
Their conversation was broken off as the office workers started to crowd into the building in preparation for starting work at nine. As the receptionist Brooke found the next half an hour very busy, directing people up to the various offices and dealing with the tannoy system.
The morning rush over, she relaxed in her chair for a few minutes. Jean was kept busy with her switchboard, which gave Brooke time to think. She was a fool, a prize idiot. She was likely to lose her job for what she had done, and it was a good job, paying very high wages.
She must have been temporarily insane, must have had a brainstorm. When she had seen the announcement in the newspapers this morning she had felt sick, physically sick. And yet no one else had seen it—at least, no one had commented on it. Someone had to see it soon, it was so noticeable. It had seemed larger than life to her.
It had been there in the newspaper for all to see, an intended marriage between Brooke Faulkner and Jarrod Stone. Her own engagement to the owner of this prosperous computer firm! And to make matters worse, he knew nothing about it!
She picked up the internal telephone on her desk as it began to ring. ‘Brooke Faulkner speaking,’ she said automatically.
‘Get up here!’ snapped a deep male voice.
She almost dropped the telephone in her panic. Jarrod Stone, it had to be! She cleared her throat. ‘I—I beg your pardon?’
‘You’ll do more than that when I’ve finished with you,’ he growled. ‘I’ll expect you in my office in precisely five minutes.’ The receiver was slammed down at the other end.
She didn’t need to be told that he knew about the announcement in the newspapers, the anger in his voice had been enough. Besides, he had hardly ever spoken to her before, and there could be only one reason he wanted to see her.
‘Everything all right?’ asked Jean, noting her pale face.
Brooke realised with a start that she was still holding the receiver in her hand. She put it hurriedly back on its cradle. ‘I—I have to go up to one of the offices. Would you—would you look after the desk for me for a while?’
‘Sure,’ Jean agreed readily.
Brooke didn’t quite know how she got into the private lift for the tenth floor, but somehow she seemed to have managed it. She had only ever used this lift once before in the six months she had worked for Stone Computers, and that had been two weeks ago when she had been induced to seek this terrible revenge on him.
It had all started when the model had arrived to take the advertising photographs. No one else had been available to take her up to Jarrod Stone’s office and so she had offered to take her up herself. It had been a good excuse to see him. As Jean had so rightly said, he walked in in the mornings and out again at night, taking no notice of them in reception at all.
As it had turned out Jarrod Stone’s secretary had gone to lunch that day and her assistant was off sick. Brooke had hardly been able to believe her luck when she had stepped out into the outer office. The place had been deserted, which meant she would actually get to speak to Jarrod Stone herself. Since the day she had begun work here, and he had walked into the building to begin his day’s work, she had fallen for him, hard.
He was so fantastic-looking, like a film star or something. He was tall, well over six feet, with a lithe athletic body that suggested he did not spend all of his time in an office, his skin tanned from much time spent in the sun. His dark over-long hair was styled away from his face, his deep grey eyes narrowed and enigmatic.
But if she had been instantly attracted to him he hadn’t reacted at all; those grey eyes looked right through her. She knew she wasn’t beautiful or anything, but she wasn’t that plain either. Dark brown hair with deep red tints swung easily about her shoulders in gleaming waves, her deep blue eyes surrounded by long thick lashes, her small uptilted nose, curving mouth that was never far from a smile, and slight slender figure all added up to an attractive young girl. And yet to Jarrod Stone she might not even have been feminine.
But she knew he wasn’t always that reticent about noticing a woman’s charms; he was reputed to have had many beautiful women in his life at one time or another. And his completely self-assured arrogance pointed to them not all being platonic relationships. No, here was a man who had shared his bed with many women—and he had known how to satisfy every one of them.
In a way it had been his confirmation of these conquests that had sparked off her desire to hit out at him. Leaving the model in the outer office, she had passed through to the reception room. In here she could hear the faint murmur of masculine voices, and had realised Jarrod Stone wasn’t alone.
She soon knew the reason she could hear their voices too; the office door was slightly ajar. She was just about to knock on the door when she was arrested in the action by the words being murmured in her boss’s deep throaty voice, his amusement obvious.
‘I’m afraid I only find women good for one thing,’ he scoffed lightly. ‘And I don’t mean housework,’ he added with a laugh.
Brooke had stepped back with a gasp. What a cheek! What a nerve! The meaning behind his words had been obvious and she had waited open-mouthed for his companion’s answer. She knew she should really knock on the door, make them aware of her presence before they said anything else, but she was held mesmerised by the arrogance of the words she had just overheard.
‘Come on now, Jarrod,’ the other man replied, this voice sounding younger. He had called the first speaker Jarrod, confirming her belief that Jarrod Stone had made that insulting remark about the female sex. ‘You like women as much as I do,’ he continued.
‘I enjoy them,’ Jarrod Stone had corrected. ‘I don’t know that I’ve ever actually liked them. But I’ve desired them, yes. But I find them preferable as bed-companions than as anything else.’
‘If one of them could hear the way you’re talking …’
But one can, Brooke wanted to shout. She had never felt so disgusted and degraded. How a man as successful and good-looking as Jarrod Stone could judge all women by the type he had obviously been associating with for years was beyond her. To her he appeared the handsomest man she had ever seen, and to think he had that low opinion of women just didn’t seem fair. His looks and charm had obviously done him no good whatsoever, making him cynical about women.
‘Why should they care?’ he replied carelessly. ‘They’re usually well compensated for their—charms, for want of a better word,’ he added with a sneer, ‘with jewellery and clothing. No woman will ever trap me into marriage while there are women like that about, but they can never accuse me of being mean.’
‘I’m sure,’ laughed the other man.
Brooke had decided she had just about heard enough of this distasteful conversation, knocking firmly on the door and entering when bade to do so.
‘Yes?’ Jarrod Stone raised one dark eyebrow, his eyes broodingly grey in his deeply tanned face.
Brooke stopped in her tracks, the anger that had been the momentum behind her being able to walk into the room slowly fading. Her breath caught in her throat at the lazy smile he directed at her, leaving her momentarily speechless. When she finally did manage to speak it was in a voice that sounded strange, even to her own ears. ‘I—er—I—I’ve brought up the model for the advertising photographs. She’s waiting outside.’
‘Thank you.’ He smiled at her again, his eyes crinkling at the corners. ‘Would you like to show her in? My secretary’s at lunch, I’m afraid.’
‘Certainly,’ she answered breathlessly.
He looked every inch the arrogant businessman sitting behind his imposing desk, and Brooke turned in confusion to leave the room. She hesitated outside the door as she heard him give a throaty chuckle.
‘You see what I mean,’ he said with amusement.
‘What?’ The other man was obviously puzzled, a younger man that Brooke had recognised as being Philip Baylis, a business associate of the owner of Stone Computers.
‘A smile and a few softly spoken words and any woman will do exactly what you ask them to, even that little mouse. She knows very well it isn’t her job to bring people up to the offices, and yet she did it anyway.’
‘So?’
‘So that’s a perfect example of what we were just discussing. No, Philip, while there are still girls like her about no woman will ever catch me in the matrimonial trap. I don’t see that it’s necessary when what you really want can be obtained without feeling as if you’re in a cage.’
Little mouse indeed! She still felt angered at his condescension. His looks might be fantastic, but his nature wasn’t so impressive, at least, not the part she had seen. But even if his words had angered her she shouldn’t have played this stupid trick on him. It had been the confident way he had escorted the model out to lunch that had fired her anger anew, and given her the crazy idea of announcing her own engagement to him.
And now she had to face him. She hoped she looked more self-confident than she felt. He was likely to rip her to shreds with his tongue when he had her in his office, and it was no more than she deserved.
Today the outer office wasn’t deserted. Catherine Farraday, Jarrod Stone’s personal secretary, and her young assistant both busily working as Brooke entered the room.
Catherine gave her a cool look. ‘Yes?’
‘Mr Stone is expecting me. My name is Brooke Faulkner.’
Catherine gave her a disbelieving look but buzzed through to the inner office anyway. ‘A Miss Faulkner to see you, Mr Stone.’
‘Send her straight in,’ he snapped, letting Brooke know that his temper hadn’t cooled at all since his telephone call down to her.
The cool beautiful girl stood up with a slight raising of her delicately shaped eyebrows, as if she were mentally trying to work out the reason for her boss to be seeing a mere receptionist.
‘I know the way,’ Brooke told her hurriedly, unwilling to let this girl witness her humiliation if Jarrod Stone should be unable to contain his anger and lash out at her with his icy tongue as soon as she entered his office.
‘Very well.’ Catherine subsided back into her chair, resuming her work with a coolly detached air.
Brooke moved through into the small reception room, hesitant about actually confronting Jarrod Stone. But if she didn’t go in there soon he would come out here looking for her, and she had no intention of letting him find her cowering nervously outside his office.
He bade her curtly to enter as she knocked on the door, which she reluctantly did. This time there was no charming smile for her, only a furious look on his face and an angry glitter to his eyes.
He stood up, coming round his desk to walk slowly around her as she stood in front of his desk. He came back to rest on the front of his desk, his arms folded in front of his powerful chest.
Even in her embarrassment Brooke could appreciate how attractive he looked, the navy blue pin-striped suit he wore fitting him as if it were tailored on him, his linen immaculate.
‘So you’re Brooke Faulkner,’ he said softly.
‘Yes.’ Did he have to be so taunting? She was perfectly well aware that her navy pinafore dress and light blue fitted blouse in no way matched up to the expensive clothing some of the women he escorted out of the building wore. But did he have to look at her quite like that?
‘The girl I’m engaged to,’ he continued even more softly.
She moved with a start. ‘I—I can explain that.’
He gave a smile, but it owed nothing to humour. ‘Can you now?’ he mused. ‘You can explain how I come to be engaged to be married to a complete stranger, can you?’ His light eyes snapped angrily. ‘It had better be a damned good explanation!’
Brooke moved uncomfortably. ‘I wouldn’t say that, but it is an explanation. The only trouble is I don’t think you’re going to like it.’
He made an impatient movement to sit behind his desk. ‘I don’t like being engaged to a girl I’ve never met before either!’
Brooke gasped. ‘Oh, that isn’t true. I work here, I’ve seen you hundreds of times.’
‘Seeing isn’t the same as meeting. I’ve seen hundreds of people many times over, but that doesn’t mean I know them.’
‘But we have actually met,’ she corrected him. ‘I brought a model up to your office a couple of weeks ago.’
Jarrod Stone studied her for a moment. ‘So you did.’
‘And that’s why I told the newspapers what I did.’
‘Because you brought a model up to my office?’ he sounded astounded.
‘Don’t be ridiculous!’ She had had enough of his taunts. She realised he was angry about what she had done, of course he was, but he didn’t have to take this attitude with her. ‘I did it because I overheard your conversation that day, overheard what you had to say about women.’
‘Did you indeed?’ His grey eyes narrowed. ‘And that prompted you to announce your own engagement to me? After hearing what I had to say about your own fair sex?’
‘Yes, it did!’ Her blue eyes deepened almost to violet. ‘I wanted to make you eat your words, to show you you could be caught in the trap of matrimony as easily as any other man. But I—it didn’t work out the way I intended it to. As soon as I saw it in print I knew it was wrong. But at the time I wanted only to hit out at you, to get back at you for what you think of women.’
‘Oh, you got back at me all right. This morning, not half an hour ago in fact, I had a telephone call from Philip Baylis congratulating me. I didn’t know what the hell he was talking about,’ he said forcefully. ‘I felt a damned fool. But I managed to bluff my way out of it. Can you imagine what it felt like to be told by a third party that I’m supposed to be getting married? I didn’t even know who Brooke Faulkner was, but I did know the name sounded familiar. Then I realised I saw it every morning when I entered the building.’
‘You called me a mouse that day I came up here,’ she reminded him resentfully.
‘And for that you landed us in this mess?’
Brooke flicked back her hair. ‘It will be all right. We can just announce in the next issue that it was a mistake.’
He stood up again, his height making her feel very tiny, and he was so big and masculine with it, so very male. ‘You think it’s as easy as that, do you? What a ridiculous child you are! Don’t you realise that by accepting Philip’s congratulations this morning I as much as admitted the engagement was a real one? He’s also invited the two of us to a party this evening.’
‘You—you didn’t accept?’ She frowned her nervousness.
‘Of course I did. What else could I do?—they all want to get a look at you. And I didn’t have time to think of a good excuse not to take you along.’
‘You could have—could have told him we wanted to be alone this evening—to celebrate,’ she said desperately.
‘We don’t all have your devious mind.’
‘But you—you can’t mean this engagement to stand?’ Her voice was becoming shrill now.
‘Oh, but I do. I’m in business, I can’t be seen to become engaged one day and renounce it the next. That wouldn’t do much for my reputation as a reliable businessman. Oh no, Brooke, you started this and you can damn well see it through to the bitter end.’
‘The bitter end?’ she echoed hollowly.
Jarrod Stone shrugged. ‘Just a figure of speech.’
Brooke wasn’t so sure; there was an inflexibility about him that pointed to him not liking to be thwarted. A pity she hadn’t noticed that sooner, like two weeks ago.
‘But I don’t want to be engaged to you,’ she told him crossly.
‘A pity you didn’t think of that before. I’m sure you realise that I feel exactly the same way.’
‘Yes,’ she admitted guiltily, knowing that this was all her own fault.
‘Mm,’ he said thoughtfully. ‘Well, now that it seems to be public knowledge you can start acting the part. We’ll meet for lunch at twelve-thirty.’
‘I couldn’t—I couldn’t go out to lunch with you. What would everyone think?’ Besides, she was hardly dressed to go out with him.
‘They can think what they damn well please,’ he muttered grimly.
‘I think you’ve taken this far enough,’ Brooke snapped, suddenly angry. ‘I admit that what I did was wrong, and I’ll leave your employ straight away if that will please you.’ Although how she would support herself until she found another job she had no idea! ‘But I’m not going to let you make a fool of me—–’
‘I think you’ve managed that quite successfully without any help from me,’ he interrupted dryly.
‘You have no right—–’
‘I have every right! Think of how much more of a fool you would have looked if I’d denied all knowledge of you. Think of the adverse reaction you would have got from the press if I’d done that. They would have hounded you to death.’
She knew he was right. The trouble with her was that she hadn’t thought of the consequences when she had made that stupid move, and now Jarrod Stone was going to make her pay for it. But what else had she expected? He was a well-known personality, he couldn’t afford the publicity of a broken engagement. And neither could she!
She could just imagine the unpleasantness it would cause. But she couldn’t stay engaged to him either. Just to look at him terrified the life out of her. How she had ever thought herself in love with him she would never know. She must have been mad. Yes, that must be it; at twenty years of age she was definitely past the stage of infatuation.
‘Brooke?’ he cut into her thoughts.
‘Don’t call me that!’ she snapped her resentment.
‘What would you have me call you—dearest, darling, my love?’ he taunted.
She looked away. ‘Of course not!’
Jarrod Stone shrugged. ‘Then I’ll call you Brooke. It is your name—and you are my fiancée,’ he added mockingly.
‘I am not!’
‘Oh yes, you are—until I say otherwise.’
Her blue eyes widened. ‘And how long do you think that will be?’
‘Oh, four, maybe five months,’ he told her carelessly.
‘What!’ She walked forward to rest her knuckles on the front of the desk. ‘Now I know you’re joking!’
‘I rarely joke about anything this serious.’
‘You’re—you’re telling me I have to be engaged to you for four months?’
‘At a minimum,’ he nodded.
‘But won’t that cramp your style a bit?’
‘A little, but I can take it if you can. I gather there’s no boy-friend—no, of course there isn’t. He wouldn’t exactly welcome the announcement.’ He straightened some papers on his desk, giving an impatient look as the telephone rang and he picked it up. ‘Yes, Catherine? No—and I don’t want any more calls put through to me until Miss Faulkner has left.’ He put the receiver down, looking up at her. ‘Now, is there anyone I should talk to about our engagement?’
‘Why on earth should you—–’
‘Consent, Brooke. It’s usually considered polite to consult parents when contemplating marrying their daughter.’
Brooke paled even more. It all sounded so—so real when he put it like that. ‘My parents are dead. I was brought up by a maiden aunt.’
‘So do I speak to her?’
‘She died last year,’ Brooke told him. ‘But I hadn’t had a lot to do with her—for the past four years anyway, not since she made it perfectly clear to me that she disapproved of my father marrying her sister.’
‘And four years ago you were—–?’
‘Sixteen,’ she admitted quietly, remembering all too well the terrible things her aunt had said to her about her father.
‘That makes you twenty now. God, I’ll be thought a cradle-snatcher!’ Jarrod Stone muttered in disgust. ‘I’m thirty-seven,’ he added by way of explanation.
‘And you’ve never married?’ It seemed strange in this day and age to think of a man of his age not marrying.
For the first time since she had entered the room he smiled, and she felt some of the tension start to leave her body. He sat back in the chair. ‘I thought about it once, when I was a couple of years older than you are at this moment. She turned me down, thank God.’
‘Oh.’
‘Right—well, I think you’ve taken up enough of my time for one morning,’ he said, rising. ‘I’ll see you downstairs at twelve-thirty. And arrange to have a two-hour lunch break.’
‘I can’t do that,’ she protested. ‘I have a job to do.’
‘And I’m your employer. Get whoever it is that usually covers for you when you’re off sick to take over. And I won’t expect an over-show of emotion in front of other people, but I will expect you to be a little bit more relaxed with me than you are at this moment.’
‘Relaxed? How can I possibly feel relaxed? I’ve never even spoken to you until today!’
‘Too bad,’ he said callously. ‘Now I’ll see you out to the lift.’
Brooke stiffened. ‘That won’t be necessary.’
He opened the door for her. ‘But I insist. I must show a natural consideration for my brand new fiancée,’ he taunted.
Her eyes were beseeching. ‘Please, Mr Stone, don’t—–’
‘Jarrod,’ he corrected curtly. ‘Call me Jarrod.’
She couldn’t do that! ‘Please don’t make me go through with this. I’ve apologised, I don’t see what else I can do to make amends.’
‘An apology isn’t enough,’ he said cruelly. ‘I’ve already explained my reasons. I could make things very unpleasant for you if you prove difficult.’
‘I could leave.’ Brooke hung back defiantly, not willing to leave his office until she had this thing settled. ‘You’re far from being the only well-paying firm in the country.’
‘Oh, I know that. But with no references from here you could find things rather difficult.’
‘You—you can’t do that! I’ve been a good employee.’
‘You call what you’ve just done being a good employee?’ he demanded. ‘Are you aware that you could land up in court for that deliberate lie you chose to tell the newspapers? I could sue you. You’re quoted, so it’s pretty obvious who gave them the story.’
She went first pale and then red. ‘You—you wouldn’t?’
‘No, I wouldn’t. But I do expect a little co-operation from you. This is your fault, after all.’
‘All right, all right. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!’
Jarrod Stone looked unmoved. ‘Like I said, it isn’t enough.’ He opened the door further. ‘I have an important appointment in five minutes.’
‘Okay, I—– But what do I tell everyone?’ she cried.
‘Oh, tell them I’ve fallen madly in love with you and rushed you off your feet.’
‘Don’t tease—please!’ Her head was downbent.
He wrenched her chin up roughly between thumb and forefinger. ‘I don’t know what the hell else you expect me to do. I can assure you that if I did what I really want to do to you you wouldn’t like that either.’
Brooke was mesmerised by his glittering grey eyes, aware of the darkness of his skin and the tangy aftershave he wore. ‘What do you want to do?’ she asked breathlessly.
His hand fell away and he turned her firmly out of the room. ‘Put you over my knee and give your backside a good thrashing. Just what you hoped to achieve I have no idea. But still, it might prove interesting.’
He silenced her as they entered his secretary’s office, pausing at the door to look down at her with dark brooding eyes. Again he raised her chin, uncaring of the two curious pairs of eyes watching them. ‘I’ll see you later, darling,’ he said, huskily soft, but loud enough for the other two girls to hear. ‘We’ll have lunch at the usual place.’
Before Brooke could answer him his dark head swooped low and his lips fleetingly touched hers. She felt herself tremble in his arms, her eyes wide with surprise. She looked self-consciously at the girls in the room, but they were apparently busily working. She doubted they had been so engrossed a couple of seconds earlier!
Her mouth tightened. ‘Did you have to do that?’ she muttered angrily, her almost violet eyes glaring her dislike of him.
Jarrod laughed throatily. ‘You say the nicest things, Brooke.’
He was obviously still playing to his audience, and she decided to play him at his own game, reaching up to wind her arms about his neck, her lips raised invitingly. ‘Just to last me until lunch-time, darling,’ she coaxed, revelling in the anger displayed in his deep grey eyes. ‘Darling?’ she questioned innocently.
His grip on her arms was quite painful and it took great effort not to cry out. ‘Later, Brooke. Later.’ His words sounded romantic enough, but she knew his words promised something completely different from what they were implying.
She pouted up at him. ‘Oh, Jarrod!’
‘If you don’t behave yourself I’m like to give you that good hiding I promised you,’ he warned her quietly.
‘Oh, Jarrod, how sweet of you to say so,’ she smiled up at him, uncaring of the dangerous look in his eyes. ‘Until later, darling.’
By the time she stepped out of the lift into the reception area the two bright wings of colour in her cheeks seemed to be a permanent fixture. How she was going to get through the next few months she had no idea.
Jean was looking rather harassed by this time, having difficulty managing her switchboard and also dealing with people at the desk. Brooke hadn’t realised she would be so long or she wouldn’t have left her alone. She had expected to be only a few minutes, just long enough to be sacked.
‘What gives?’ Jean asked once the rush had died down and they had a couple of minutes to themselves again. ‘First of all you receive a telephone call that makes you look like death and then you calmly step into the boss’s private lift and disappear for an hour.’
‘I’m sorry I was gone so long, Jean. I didn’t mean to leave you in the lurch like that.’ She shuffled the papers about on her desk, not anxious to answer the real question in Jean’s words.
‘So what’s happened? Is someone you know ill or something?’
‘Er—no.’ She didn’t quite know how to explain what had just happened to her. She certainly couldn’t tell Jean the whole truth, it would be too humiliating. ‘I—er—I seem to have got myself engaged.’
Jean’s eyes brightened with excitement. ‘You do? Who to?’ She frowned. ‘You haven’t mentioned seeing anyone special.’
‘No—well, it seems to have happened all of a sudden. I’ve hardly had time to think.’ Which was true; she certainly hadn’t had time to realise exactly what this bogus engagement was going to mean to her. She did know that she had felt a strange floating sensation at the touch of Jarrod Stone’s lips on her own. And also, to her shame, she had responded! Only momentarily, but it had been a definite response. But she blamed that solely on the suddenness of it, nothing else. She didn’t even like the man now, let alone imagine herself in love with him.
Jean still looked puzzled. ‘But what does it have to do with Jarrod Stone?’
‘Everything,’ she said with feeling.
‘Everything?’ Jean’s frown cleared, to be replaced with a look of amazement. ‘But surely you don’t mean—–’
‘Yes. I’m engaged to Jarrod Stone.’
‘Goodness! But you—you can’t be! I didn’t even realise you were seeing him.’ Jean’s face showed her disbelief.
‘It has been rather sudden. I—–’
‘Excuse me,’ interrupted a husky female voice. ‘I’m looking for Mr Stone’s office.’
Brooke turned to look at the woman, her nostrils twitching sensitively with the deep heavy perfume she wore. This woman was beautiful, absolutely beautiful. She was very tall, her blonde hair shoulder-length and waving provocatively about her face, her eyes a glowing green, her tiny nose uptilted, her pouting mouth painted an inviting scarlet. To Brooke she looked exquisite and she wondered who she could be. Obviously one of Jarrod Stone’s women, of that she felt sure. She looked the type he would go for, about thirtyish and very sophisticated.
‘Mr Stone’s office is on the tenth floor,’ she answered politely. ‘If you would like to take the private lift up I’ll telephone them of your arrival.’
The woman nodded coolly. ‘Thank you, Miss—Brooke Faulkner!’ Her green eyes narrowed as they looked at the gold lettering on the nameplate. ‘You’re Brooke Faulkner?’
Brooke frowned. ‘Yes.’
‘Well, well, well.’ The woman seemed to have regained her composure. ‘Clever old Jarrod,’ she murmured to herself.
‘I beg your pardon?’
The woman gave her a dazzling smile. ‘It isn’t important. So nice to have met you, Brooke, you have helped to explain a lot.’
‘But I didn’t do anything.’ She needn’t have bothered to speak; the woman had already walked away from the desk to enter the lift. How rude of her! ‘Who was that?’ she asked Jean.
Her friend’s eyes widened. ‘You mean you don’t know?’
‘I didn’t get the chance to ask her,’ she said ruefully.
‘You shouldn’t have needed to. That was Selina Howard.’
Brooke gasped, looking after the woman. ‘The wife of the multi-millionaire?’
Jean nodded. ‘The same.’
‘Oh.’ What on earth could a woman like her want with Jarrod Stone? There seemed only one explanation, and yet that didn’t seem at all likely. Charles Howard was even better known than Jarrod Stone, and one of the richest men in the world. He was also a very good-looking man, although being in his late fifties he was much older than his thirty-year-old wife.
Brooke looked up sharply as the woman came back down again half an hour later. She must have been Jarrod Stone’s important appointment, a very beautiful appointment, and it certainly wasn’t a business appointment, of that she was sure. Selina Howard gave her a cool smile before leaving the building.
But the time Jarrod Stone came down in the lift at twelve-thirty Brooke had managed to stir herself up into a very nervous state. But perhaps he just intended for them to look as if they were leaving to go to lunch together, perhaps they would part when they got outside. She hoped so.
She grabbed her leather jacket and handbag from the cloakroom before he came over, smiling nervously at the girl who was taking over for her during her lunch break. Jarrod’s eyes narrowed as she reached his side, but he said nothing about her flushed cheeks and too-bright eyes, merely taking hold of her elbow to guide her out of the door opened for them by the doorman.
Once outside the building his hand dropped away and he turned left towards the shopping centre, leaving Brooke to run to keep up with him, his long strides taking him along much faster than her own.
‘Could you slow down a little?’ she asked breathlessly.
Jarrod turned to look at her as if suddenly becoming aware of her, his pace slackening slightly but still much too fast for her.
‘Where are we going?’ She looked up at him.
His mouth turned back in a sneer. ‘I would have thought it was obvious.’
‘But I—I thought we were going to lunch. It’s mainly shops in this part of town.’
He sighed. ‘One shop in particular.’
‘What shop is that?’
‘A jewellers. There’s a very good one not far from here.’
Again Brooke felt panic rising within her. ‘A jewellers? Whatever for?’
‘My dear girl, if we’re going to be engaged you’re going to need a ring. That’s where we’re going now, to buy you an engagement ring.’
CHAPTER TWO (#ufbe86ad0-f690-5694-b87b-df8ab99b5ccd)
BROOKE stopped in her tracks, unconcerned when he turned to scowl his impatience. ‘I don’t want an engagement ring,’ she declared.
Jarrod walked back the short distance between them, grasping her arm roughly and pulling her to one side of the pavement. ‘Don’t shout like that in the street!’ he snapped.
She shook off his hand. ‘What else did you expect me to do? You were miles away from me.’
‘Only because you deliberately hung back, behaving hysterically. What on earth is the matter with you? Surely you realise we can’t be engaged without a ring? People will be looking for that, especially this evening.’
‘I don’t want a ring and I don’t want to go out with you this evening. I don’t mind keeping up this pretence at work, but I will not put on a show for all your high-class friends to laugh at!’
His well-shaped mouth tightened angrily. ‘You say the most ridiculous things, do the most ridiculous things. You act far too impetuously, but I put that down to your youth. And my friends will not laugh at you, but they will think it odd if you aren’t wearing my ring. This isn’t something I care to discuss. I’ve already telephoned the jewellers and requested him to get together a selection of rings for you to look at.’ He looked at his wrist-watch. ‘He’s expecting us about now.’
‘I’m sure he’ll wait for the valued customer that you undoubtedly are. I suppose it’s the place you buy all the jewellery for your women,’ she said bitchily, for the moment not bothered by her outspokenness. She had already far overstepped the line as far as this arrogant man was concerned and nothing she said or did now could make matters any worse for her.
‘And if I do? What does that have to do with you?’
The fight went out of her at his coolness. ‘Nothing, I suppose.’
‘You suppose correct. Now, let’s go.’
‘Please!’ Brooke held on to his arm, liking the feel of the expensive material of his suit beneath her fingers. ‘Don’t make me do this.’
Jarrod’s dark head was held at a haughty angle, his grey eyes unyielding. There was no doubt that he was a hard man when crossed. He must terrify his business opponents into retreat; he certainly terrified her. ‘Must I keep reminding you that you started this?’ he drawled.
‘But do you have to take advantage of it?’ Her eyes pleaded with him.
‘Yes. Now that’s the last time we discuss this. From now on you’ll just do as you’re told. And there will be no repeat of your behaviour this morning,’ he added warningly.
They were walking along side by side now, Jarrod at last seeming to realise she had shorter legs than he did. She looked up at him innocently. ‘Did I do something wrong?’ she asked, knowing very well to what he referred.
‘The way you drooled over me was completely unnecessary. I told you I wanted no over show of emotion.’
‘Ooh, I didn’t drool!’ she exclaimed.
‘You gave a very good impression of it.’ His eyes remained fixed ahead.
‘You kissed me first,’ she accused.
‘I admit that, but it was nothing like the provocative act you were putting on.’ He stopped outside an expensive-looking jewellers. ‘I don’t want anything like that in here, just a little natural affection for a new fiancée.’
‘I hate you, Jarrod Stone!’ she said furiously.
He looked down at her with enigmatic eyes, making her aware of just how attractive he was—so tall and commanding, really majestically male, and very, very, handsome. She felt the old familiar flutterings in her stomach. It seemed she wasn’t over her infatuation after all!
‘Let’s just keep it that way, shall we?’ he said softly. ‘I must admit to feeling slightly curious about your motivation for announcing our engagement this morning. At first I imagined it to be a not very subtle form of blackmail, then after reading your file, your age and so forth, I wondered if it might not be infatuation.’
‘Not for this girl,’ Brooke answered quickly. It had been infatuation, but that infatuation had quickly turned to dislike. His contemptuous words had turned her supposed love into a desire for revenge on his mercenary attitude towards women. He was the sort of man women fell for in their hundreds, and he walked away from them all untouched. Well, she had just made sure he hadn’t got away so easily this time!
‘Why so vehement?’ he asked. ‘It wouldn’t be the first time a young girl has imagined herself in love with an older man. Some of these girls have been known to take the initiative when they don’t think they’re achieving their aim fast enough.’
‘Like I said, not this girl,’ she assured him.
‘No, your move was made from pure revenge, wasn’t it, little mouse?’
Brooke knew he was deliberately baiting her and she obstinately refused to let him ruffle her. ‘Can we get this over with? I have to be back in forty minutes.’
His eyes snapped with anger. ‘I thought I told you to get an extended lunch break.’
Brooke pretended an interest in the jewellery window. ‘You did,’ she confirmed disinterestedly.
‘Then why the hell didn’t you?’
She flung back her head, her hair gleaming auburn-brown in the sunlight. ‘I didn’t because I’m not the owner of the firm. I can’t just take two-hour lunch-breaks when I feel in the mood.’
‘You’re engaged to the owner, that amounts to the same thing.’
‘I would have thought that was all the more reason for me not to take advantage of the situation. By the way, there’s a little man bobbing about inside the jewellers. I think he’s looking at us.’
‘No doubt. Well, if you only have forty minutes left I suppose we’d better get inside.’
The jeweller had obviously seen Jarrod Stone numerous times before and Brooke wondered if she had been right in her assumption about this place. That he was a valued customer there could be no doubt, it was there in the exaggerated respect he was receiving.
‘So nice to see you again,’ the jeweller gushed. ‘And to meet your fiancée.’ He smiled at Brooke. ‘I’m so glad you chose our establishment to buy your ring, Miss Faulkner.’
Jarrod gave what Brooke considered to be his first natural smile of the day, at least, in her company. ‘You know you’re the best in town, Green.’
‘So kind of you to say so, sir. And may I say I agree with your decision not to include sapphires in your choice. Miss Faulkner’s eyes are more violet than blue.’
‘Could we see the rings?’ Jarrod requested tersely. ‘We don’t have a lot of time.’ This last comment was obviously meant for Brooke.
She waited until the jeweller had left them alone before making a comment. ‘I didn’t realise you’d even noticed the colour of my eyes.’
‘I didn’t,’ he replied curtly. ‘It was in your file.’
‘Didn’t your secretary think it odd for you to want to read my file?’
‘I don’t pay her to think about my personal life.’
Brooke frowned. ‘I’m sure it didn’t say anywhere in my file that my eyes were violet.’
‘Maybe not. But they are, so let’s not argue about it.’ He straightened as the tray of rings were presented for their inspection.
They were beautiful rings—diamond clusters, solitaires, emeralds and rubies surrounded by sparkling diamonds. And all of them looking as if they would cost a fortune! She felt sure they all would. This was one of those exclusive expensive jewellers that only the very rich frequented. And Jarrod Stone was very rich.
Her eyes glowed as she picked up first one ring and then another, almost afraid to touch them but tempted by their beauty. As she had very long slender hands some of the smaller stones just didn’t look right on her finger, but she chose these rings to try on because she knew they would be the least expensive. Finally she looked up at Jarrod for help. ‘Which one do you like?’ she asked helplessly.
Without hesitation he chose a large diamond set on a thin gold band, sliding it on to her finger before she had time to protest. ‘That’s the one,’ he nodded his approval.
She could tell by the satisfied smile on the jeweller’s face that Jarrod had chosen the most expensive ring on the tray. She tried to pull it off her finger, but Jarrod’s strong brown hand came out to stop her movements.
‘You may as well leave it on,’ he told her. ‘It fits perfectly.’
‘Oh, but I—–’
Mr Green had already picked up the tray containing the other rings and was in the process of locking them away again.
‘No arguments in here, please, Brooke,’ Jarrod warned her out of earshot of the other man.
‘But this ring is much too expensive,’ she protested.
‘Leave that to me. That’s the ring I want you to wear.’
‘But I’ll be frightened of losing it.’ She looked down at it wide-eyed.
‘It will be insured,’ he said uncaringly.
‘Yes, but—–’
‘Leave it, Brooke,’ he ordered as Mr Green came back.
Brooke felt a natural curiosity to know just how much this rock on her finger was going to cost, but she knew it wasn’t expected of her to stay and listen to the money side of the sale, so she wandered over to look in some of the other cabinets, looking at the glittering necklaces inside.
Once outside Jarrod handed her a large square box, ignoring her questioning look. ‘Open it,’ he ordered.
She did so with trembling fingers, crying out her surprise as she saw the contents. Nestling in blue velvet was a large teardrop diamond set on the most delicately fine gold chain she had ever seen, and lying within its circle were a pair of matching earrings. They were really lovely.
She thrust them back at him. I don’t want these.’ She remembered too well what he had said about giving his women jewellery. ‘The ring I’ll wear until I can be free of you, but I don’t have to accept anything else from you.’
‘They’re for you to wear tonight.’ He ignored the proffered box. ‘I want you to look the part.’
‘And a little receptionist like myself isn’t likely to have this sort of jewellery hidden away,’ she sneered.
‘Exactly,’ he agreed cruelly.
‘You’re an arrogant swine, Jarrod Stone. But I’ll wear your diamonds for you—as long as I can return them to you as soon as we’ve left the party.’
‘Don’t be so childish!’
‘Then I won’t wear them. You can’t force me to,’ she declared obstinately.
‘What an obstructive little girl you are! All right, I’ll keep them locked up for you. Now let’s go on to a shop where we can buy you a dress.’
Brooke stiffened. ‘I have my own clothes, thank you.’
‘I’m sure you have, but I want you to have something new.’
‘I have my own clothes,’ she repeated through gritted teeth. As it happened she had exactly the right dress to wear to go out with this sophisticated man, a gown that had been bought for a special occasion that had never taken place. It was an expensive one, bought to impress a boy-friend that she had finished with before the promised evening out. At the time he simply hadn’t measured up to her rather romantic impression of Jarrod Stone. How ironic that she should now wear the dress to go out with Jarrod Stone himself!
‘Do you have to argue about everything?’ he snapped.
‘If it means I hold on to my identity against you—yes!’ she answered defiantly.
‘God, you’re impossible!’ He hailed a passing taxi, bundling her inside before sitting beside her. ‘Before you start a full-scale argument in the street,’ he explained.
‘You’re too dominant, that’s your trouble!’ she snapped.
He began to smile, and finally the smile turned into a genuine laugh. It changed his whole face, not making him appear quite so grim and also making him look younger. Brooke felt her senses stir at the real humour in his deep grey eyes.
‘I’m dominant?’ he chuckled. ‘You seem to be the one organising my life for me at the moment.’ He got out and opened the door for her as they reached the building he owned. ‘I’ll pick you up at eight-thirty this evening.’
‘But you don’t know where I—– Oh yes, my file.’
‘Mm, it has your address in it. Not much else, but it does have that. I’ll see you later.’ He got back into the taxi.
Too late Brooke realised she still had the necklace and earrings in her hand. She would have to keep them with her now, something she hadn’t wanted to do. Her handbag seemed the best place to stow them away, and putting the case at the bottom of what she jokingly called her ‘shoulder suitcase’ she went back to her desk.
She was so conscious of the huge diamond on her finger that for the first half an hour after her return she kept her left hand hidden. Jean soon noticed it, though, exclaiming enthusiastically over its beauty.
‘You still haven’t told me how you come to be in love and engaged to him. Why, only this morning I was insulting him to you, doubting his ability to be passionate if he tried. Now you must know first hand that I was wrong.’
Brooke didn’t know first hand at all, but Jarrod’s lower full sensuous lip didn’t point to him being the cold impassionate machine Jean had implied this morning. And he hadn’t kissed like an amateur, that brief caress evoking a response within her in spite of herself.
‘You were wrong,’ she confirmed, sure that this was so.
Jean smiled dreamily. ‘It’s all like a fairytale, isn’t it? Engaged to be married to the unattainable Jarrod Stone. Lucky old you!’
Yes, lucky old her. She wasn’t thinking that way later that evening as she nervously got herself ready to go to Philip Baylis’s party. If Selina Howard was an example of Jarrod Stone’s friends then there would be some really sophisticated people at this party tonight.
Her dress was a russet coloured silk, bringing out the red lights in her dark brown hair. It clung in soft folds over her breasts and hips, the high roll-neck adding fragility to her swan-like neck, the long sleeves finishing in a point at the wrist. It was a dress that emphasised her slenderness and suited her like no other she had ever possessed.
She had washed her hair and brushed it dry until it gleamed reddish-brown, crackling with health and cleanliness. She had applied a light eye make-up, brushing a soft peach lip gloss over her lips. The earrings and necklace glittered in glowing beauty against the dark material of her gown and she knew she was looking her best.
Jarrod Stone’s dark grey eyes gleamed his approval of her as she let him in to her tiny flat. He was looking particularly attractive tonight, wearing black trousers, a white silk shirt, and a grey velvet jacket that matched the steely grey of his eyes. He carried a large white box under one arm, and Brooke had to admit to feeling curious about its contents.
He stood back to survey her. ‘Very nice,’ he said finally, placing that intriguing box on the table.
Brooke blushed prettily. ‘Thank you. Tonight, you—you won’t leave me on my own too much? I—I don’t know any of the people who are likely to be at this party.’
‘You’ll know Philip.’
She gave a throaty chuckle. ‘I don’t know Philip Baylis, I’ve only seen him a couple of times when he’s come to see you. I know about him, as I know about you, but I don’t actually know him.’
‘You soon will,’ he said dryly. ‘I have no doubt that Philip will waste little time introducing himself to you. But don’t ever forget that you’re supposed to be engaged to me,’ he added warningly.
‘I can hardly forget it with this huge rock weighing my finger down,’ she retorted hotly, resenting his implication that she was stupid enough to flirt with his friends. ‘You didn’t even bother to ask me if I wanted this ring. I may not have liked it,’ she said petulantly.
Jarrod shrugged. ‘It isn’t important.’
‘Only that it looks expensive enough to be worn by the fiancée of the great Jarrod Stone,’ she scorned. ‘You’re enjoying this, Mr Stone. Enjoying the fact that I stupidly got myself engaged to you.’
‘I’m not enjoying it at all, Brooke,’ he contradicted grimly. ‘But I have little choice about it. So I mean to make the best of it, and you would do well to do the same. After all, isn’t that partly the reason you did it? You denied infatuation, so it must have been partly blackmail.’
‘It was pure revenge,’ she denied hotly.
‘If you like to think so. Nevertheless, the jewellery you now have in your possession will bring you a sizeable sum when you decide to sell it. That should make it all the easier for you to bear being engaged to a man you say you hate. For some reason women seem to find jewellery a great comfort.’
‘This jewellery isn’t mine to sell,’ Brooke told him fiercely. ‘The earrings and necklace I’ll return at the end of the evening, the ring when you decide you’ve punished me enough for my impetuosity. Whether you believe me or not, blackmail didn’t enter into my thoughts at all. I once believed myself—–’
‘Yes?’ he prompted at her hesitation.
She shook her head. Why should she give him the satisfaction of knowing she had once thought herself in love with him? He would probably laugh in her face at such an admission. ‘It isn’t important. Shouldn’t we be leaving now? It’s getting late.’
‘I suppose so.’ Jarrod picked up the box he had carried in, handing it to her. I realise this should be mink or ermine, but I don’t happen to believe in killing animals to provide a woman with something beautiful to wear.’
She gave him a puzzled look, ripping off the lid to the box to stare at its contents. Lying amongst the tissue paper was a snowy white velvet cape. She picked it up, smoothing its softness lovingly. ‘It’s beautiful!’ she said breathlessly.
‘Good.’ He took it out of her hand and draped it casually about her shoulders. ‘We’d better be going now.’
His car was fast and sleek, moving with a speed that was completely effortless. It was a dark green Ferrari, and he drove it with a skill that was purely habitual. It seemed incredible to Brooke that she was actually sitting here at his side on her way out with him for the evening.
Philip Baylis’s house was about ten miles out of the centre of London, a house set back off the road and reached by the long gravel driveway leading right up to the oak front door. Cars adorned the driveway and the whole house was bathed in light. Soft music sounded from inside, and Brooke followed Jarrod Stone up to the front door with some trepidation.
They were admitted by a manservant, and Brooke left her cape in his capable hands. Jarrod turned to look at her. ‘I suppose you want to powder your nose or whatever it is that women do when they disappear for hours on end?’
‘Yes, please.’ Her hair could definitely do with a tidy up.
‘It’s through there,’ he pointed to a door on the left. ‘I’ll be inside having a drink.’
‘Oh, but—–’
‘Don’t be such a baby,’ he said impatiently. ‘I won’t be far away.’
She set her mouth determinedly and entered the powder-room. There were several other women in here and she moved through them awkwardly to the large mirror along one wall, brushing her hair self-consciously.
‘I notice Jarrod hasn’t arrived yet,’ remarked a tall blonde girl to another girl standing a few feet away.
‘He’ll be here. Philip said he invited him,’ the other girl replied.
‘I can hardly wait!’ The blonde applied her lipstick.
Brooke had remained rooted to the spot at the first mention of Jarrod’s name, curious to find out what was going to be said next. Both these girls were beautiful, perhaps they had been some of the girls Jarrod was reputed to have escorted in the last few years.
‘Have you seen his girl?’ the second girl asked.
‘Never. No one seems to have heard of her until today. He really kept quiet about this one.’
‘Selina won’t be very happy about it,’ the other girl laughed bitchily. ‘She really thought she had him where she wanted him.’
The blonde arched one thinly plucked eyebrow. ‘I’m sure she’s had him there, several times.’
‘You think it actually went that far?’
‘Charles is such a simpleton where Selina is concerned. He has no control over her at all. And she wanted Jarrod, we all know that.’
‘But I wouldn’t have thought Jarrod—–’
‘He’s a man, Sonia, and Selina is very beautiful.’ The blonde frowned. ‘This engagement of Jarrod’s is all a bit sudden, a bit too convenient if you ask me.’
The girl called Sonia looked puzzled. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Well, it could all be a ruse, couldn’t it? Jarrod could have persuaded some poor creature into believing herself in love with him and that he feels the same way about her. Charles would never suspect anything between Selina and Jarrod with him a newly engaged man.’
‘I suppose so. There was quite a lot of gossip going about. I’m sure Charles must have heard some of it.’
‘You see what I mean? I bet this girl of Jarrod’s is a real little mouse.’
The use of that name for her was enough to snap Brooke out of her stunned silence, but before she could actually say anything someone else came into the room and the other two girls wandered back outside to the party, still gossiping.
So that was Jarrod’s little game! Furious colour flooded her cheeks. Jarrod Stone was using her to cover up his own affair with a married woman. How dared he! Of all the despicable things to do! All the time he had been making out he was the wronged person in all this, when really it suited him to be an engaged man right now.
No wonder Selina Howard had rushed over to see him this morning! But she had soon been reassured when she had seen Brooke, knowing she had absolutely no competition in her. And Jarrod must have reassured her even more when she was up in his office with him.
How dared he! How dared he use her in this way! He was disgusting, covering up his own behaviour by taking advantage of this situation. He was having an affair with Selina Howard and using her to shield it from the woman’s husband.
But what could she do about it? There was no way she could get herself out of this engagement, not without causing embarrassment to both of them. Besides, Jarrod had made it perfectly clear he had no intention of releasing her. His obstinacy now became transparently clear.
But she wouldn’t let him think he had got away with fooling her. Oh no, she would make sure she let him know his sordid little affair was known to her. And she wouldn’t feel guilty any more. Why should she?
It didn’t take her long to find Jarrod among the crowd, his height and distinguished appearance making him conspicuous. She moved swiftly through the people to be at his side.
Jarrod turned to look down at her flushed face and gleaming eyes, raising one eyebrow questioningly. ‘I thought you’d got lost.’
She took the glass of bubbly liquid he held out to her, flicking back her head haughtily and ignoring the curious stares of the other people. ‘You don’t seem to be particularly bothered even if I had,’ she replied coolly, sipping the chilled champagne.
He frowned. ‘What’s the matter with you?’
Brooke looked up at him challengingly. ‘Why should there be anything wrong with me? I’ve merely been tidying my hair.’
‘For fifteen minutes?’
She shrugged. ‘I have a lot of hair.’
‘Now look, Brooke—–’
His angry words were cut off by the appearance of their host at his side. ‘She’s turned up, then, Jarrod,’ Philip Baylis grinned good naturedly, putting his hand out to Brooke politely. ‘I’m very pleased to meet you.’
She smiled shyly, meeting his gesture. ‘Thank you.’
He looked at the grim face of his friend. ‘She’s lovely, Jarrod. You’ll have to keep your eye on her amongst this pack of wolves.’ He smiled at Brooke again. ‘You should be safe with Jarrod by your side.’
‘That’s providing he remains there.’ She gave her ‘fiancée’ a sly look.
Jarrod’s fingers dug painfully into her soft flesh as he put his arm about her shoulders. ‘Where else would I go?’ he teased, but his eyes told a different story, warning her to behave.
‘I have no idea,’ she returned softly.
‘This isn’t a line,’ laughed Philip, seemingly unaware of the tension between them. ‘But haven’t I seen you somewhere before?’
‘Possibly. I work for Jarrod.’ That grip on her shoulders tightened even more and she winced with the pain of it.
Philip looked astounded. ‘You do?’
‘Mm,’ she nodded, taking no notice of the looks she was receiving from Jarrod. ‘I’m the receptionist.’
‘So you are!’ His amazement was obvious. ‘You sly devil, Jarrod!’ he slapped the other man on the shoulder. ‘Keeping her hidden away like that!’
‘Jarrod likes to keep secrets,’ Brooke put in softly.
He gave her a sharp look. ‘Not from you, darling,’ he drawled.
She gave him a cold angry look. ‘Even from me.’
Philip laughed. ‘I’m sure not. He’s a reformed person, engaged to be married and all that. It was the shock of my life this morning when I saw your engagement in the newspaper.’
‘No more of a shock than it was to Jarrod,’ she smiled tightly.
‘Mm, he seemed rather bowled over when I spoke to him this morning.’
‘No doubt he was,’ she agreed.
‘Only because it wasn’t supposed to be announced just yet,’ Jarrod put in calmly. ‘But you know how the press get hold of these things.’
Philip grimaced. ‘Oh, I know the press all right.’ His attention was caught and held by a woman on the other side of the room and he excused himself before going over to her.
Brooke sipped her champagne, pointedly ignoring the man at her side as she looked about her disinterestedly.
‘What the hell is the matter with you?’ Jarrod demanded tautly.
She gave him a chilling look. ‘I’m perfectly all right, thank you.’
‘I wasn’t asking you if you were all right, I asked you what was the matter with you! You’re—you’re different, more—–’
‘More self-confident, you mean. But then why shouldn’t I be? You’re not such a great person after all, are you? I think you’re disgusting!’ she spat the words at him, glaring her dislike. ‘And I actually felt guilty about playing this trick on you. You deserve all that you get—and more!’
Jarrod’s mouth tightened and he retained his temper with effort. ‘What the hell are you talking about?’
‘You know very well what I’m talking about, so don’t try to act the innocent with me. I never would have believed you could stoop so low. To—–’
‘Jarrod!’
Brooke didn’t need to turn to know who that voice belonged to. Selina Howard! And she was smiling in an intimate way at Jarrod, her arm through his. But of course, they didn’t need to worry about gossip now, not now that Jarrod was engaged to her! Oh, it was so humiliating to be used in this way.
She watched the two of them, watched the way Selina Howard made Jarrod bend his head so that she could whisper in his ear, the way he laughed throatily at whatever it was she had said to him.
It was several minutes before either of them seemed to become aware of her still standing there. Finally it was Selina Howard who turned to include her in the conversation.
‘We meet again, Brooke,’ she said softly, her green eyes assessing as they took in Brooke’s figure-hugging dress. ‘I’m sure you didn’t expect it to be so soon.’
‘I didn’t expect it at all, Mrs Howard,’ Brooke replied shortly.
The small beautiful woman gave a tinkling laugh, but the humour didn’t reach her hard pebble-green eyes. ‘Please call me Selina,’ she invited graciously. ‘Being Jarrod’s fiancée you’re sure to see a lot of me in future.’
Brooke raised one eyebrow. ‘Really?’
‘Oh yes. Jarrod and I are great friends,’ Selina Howard informed her triumphantly.
‘And your husband.’ She smiled sweetly at them. ‘We mustn’t forget your husband. Where is he, by the way?’
‘Charles is in Europe at the moment.’
‘How convenient for you!’
‘I beg your pardon?’ Those green eyes narrowed dangerously.
‘I said how miserable for you,’ Brooke replied.
‘Yes, isn’t it?’ Selina glowed up at Jarrod. ‘But friends always help to ease the loneliness. Jarrod has been so good to me during Charles’ absence.’
‘I’m sure he has. But he could be rather preoccupied in future, arranging the wedding, things like that.’ Brooke smiled glowingly at Jarrod, uncaring of the scowl on his face. ‘There’s always such a lot to organise. You must realise that, being married yourself.’
A faint flush coloured the other woman’s pale cheeks. ‘When is the wedding to be?’
‘We—–’
‘Oh, quite soon,’ Brooke interrupted Jarrod. ‘We have no reason to wait. Jarrod’s very anxious that the wedding should take place soon, aren’t you, darling?’
He looked thunderous, and she knew that once they were alone he would let her feel the full force of his anger. But she didn’t care about that now. He wasn’t going to get away with making a fool out of her!
Selina Howard looked less sure of herself now, looking uncertainly from Jarrod to Brooke. ‘I didn’t realise you’d already set a date. You’ve only just become engaged.’
Brooke looked deliberately shy. ‘The engagement is only a formality as far as Jarrod and I are concerned. The marriage will take place next month.’
Jarrod looked visibly startled, his expression becoming grimmer as she calmly met his furious gaze. ‘I thought we’d agreed not to disclose that,’ he said tautly.
She smiled at him. ‘As Mrs Howard is such a friend of yours it can’t possibly matter if we tell her. Besides, we’ll be sending out the invitations quite soon, and we wouldn’t want Mrs Howard to be too shocked when she receives hers, now would we?’
Selina Howard’s head flicked back haughtily. ‘I’ll call you tomorrow, Jarrod. Goodbye, Brooke.’
‘Oh, surely not goodbye,’ she returned sweetly. ‘As you said, we’ll be seeing a lot of each other.’
Another cool look was directed at her before Selina Howard swept away from them, leaving behind a cloud of perfume. That perfume seemed to belong exclusively to her, and Brooke wouldn’t be at all surprised if that wasn’t the case. Charles Howard was rich enough to buy a hundred perfumes exclusively for the use of his wife if he wanted to.
Brooke looked innocently up at Jarrod, sipping her champagne with cool deliberation. ‘She’s very beautiful.’
Jarrod grasped her arm, his fingers pressing painfully into her flesh. ‘Selina Howard’s looks don’t seem important right at this moment,’ he muttered between gritted teeth.
‘Really? They seemed very important to you this morning.’
He frowned darkly. ‘This morning?’
‘Your important appointment.’
‘Oh—oh, yes. Forget that for a moment,’ he dismissed. ‘Why did you tell her we were getting married next month? What game are you playing now.’
‘No game, Mr Stone. I just don’t like being used.’
He shook his head dazedly. ‘You’re being used? I thought that was my fate.’
‘So did I. I even felt sorry for you—but not any more. You disgust me.’
‘That’s the second time you’ve said that,’ he said curiously. ‘You were like this when you came back from the powder-room. What happened in there?’
‘How clever of you to guess,’ she smiled at him brightly. ‘Just a couple of your so-called friends having a cosy little chat about you. Quite enlightening really.’
‘Let’s leave,’ Jarrod said abruptly. ‘We can talk about this better alone. Wait here while I make our excuses.’
‘I would prefer to wait outside.’
‘I said wait here.’
‘I’ll be outside,’ she declared stubbornly, moving away before he could stop her. She could imagine what construction his friends would put on their early departure. Let them think what they liked! She didn’t care as long as she knew in her own mind that it wasn’t true.
At least she had got him back for using her, stirring things up a little between him and his mistress. Not that she thought he would have much difficulty explaining his way out of that, but no doubt Selina Howard would give him a difficult time for a while. Good, she thought spitefully.
‘Why are you always so damned stubborn?’ Jarrod demanded on the way home.
‘I’m not stubborn. I just don’t like to be bullied.’
‘What did these so-called friends of mine have to say? I take it that’s the reason for your attitude?’
‘Oh, they just told me of your sordid little affair with Mrs Howard. Well, I wouldn’t exactly say they told me. They were discussing it between them, I just happened to be there at the time.’ She made a determined effort not to look at him.
‘My affair with Selina?’ he repeated softly.
‘Yes.’
‘And that’s why you told her we were getting married next month?’
‘Yes. She looked quite worried when I told her that,’ she said with satisfaction.
‘So did I,’ he admitted grimly. ‘I’ve never met anyone as impetuous as you are. I’m only surprised you haven’t got yourself into more trouble than you have. Do you realise that by the end of this evening the fact that our wedding is to be next month will be all over London?’
Now she did look at him, her mouth dropping open. ‘Surely Mrs Howard wouldn’t—–’
‘No, she wouldn’t. But you said it loud enough for several other people to hear. Believe me, by tomorrow everyone will be expecting their invitation to our wedding!’
CHAPTER THREE (#ufbe86ad0-f690-5694-b87b-df8ab99b5ccd)
BROOKE’S hand flew up to her pale cheek. ‘Oh no!’
‘Oh yes,’ he nodded curtly.
‘Surely they wouldn’t—–’
‘I tell you they will.’
‘Oh God!’ Now what had she done! Things seemed to go from bad to worse as far as she and Jarrod Stone were concerned. And it was all her own doing!
Jarrod sighed. ‘I thought an engagement was bad enough, but this is something else completely, Marriages aren’t so easy to get out of.’
‘I’m not marrying you!’
‘You may damn well have to,’ he told her shortly.
Brooke wrenched the ring from her finger and threw it on to the dashboard of the car. I won’t do anything I don’t want to! You were using me to cover up your affair with Selina Howard, but I won’t be a party to that any more. No doubt she’ll soon get over her anger with you at my saying we were getting married and you can carry on as you have been doing.’
‘So you’ve already decided that what you heard was the truth?’
‘Oh yes. She was your important appointment, remember? I suppose you told her then about our phoney engagement. It really gave her a shock when I said we were getting married. So you can keep your ring and explain to your mistress that it was all a mistake, that I was just being bitchy.’
Jarrod sat forward and picked up the ring, watching as it glittered and shone. He thrust it at her. ‘Put it back on. The engagement still stands. Nothing has changed since this morning.’
‘It has as far as I’m concerned,’ she said shrilly. ‘I’ve found out about your mistress and I won’t help you to fool Charles Howard!’
‘You will do as you’re told. My threat about your future employment still stands. Put the ring on,’ he ordered.
‘I don’t want to. You still haven’t asked me if I like it,’ she added resentfully, pushing it back on her finger when he seemed adamant that she should.
‘Do you?’
‘Well, yes, but I—– That isn’t the point! You didn’t bother to ask me earlier.’
‘I’ve asked you now. Be satisfied with that.’
‘Mr Stone, I—–’
‘For God’s sake call me Jarrod!’
‘Do you have to be so angry all the time?’ Brooke quavered. ‘It isn’t easy to suddenly be thrust into this intimacy with you when for the last six months I’ve thought of you as nothing but my boss. It doesn’t seem right for me to be calling you Jarrod.’
‘Do you know, Brooke, until this morning I believed myself to be quite a patient man. Since meeting you all that’s changed. Everything about you angers me, your stubbornness, your impetuosity, just about everything. But until a few minutes ago I thought I was handling this situation with moderate calm.’ He ignored her snort of disbelief. ‘That was until your tongue ran away with you just once too often, as it did just now. I hope you have more forbearance over the weekend.’
Brooke’s eyes widened. ‘Over the weekend?’
‘Mm, something else I’m sure you hadn’t thought of.’ He gave a wry smile. ‘My mother and father have invited us down to their country place for the weekend.’
Her heart sank. ‘I didn’t know you had any family.’
‘Oh yes, besides my mother and father I have a brother of twenty-two and a sister of eighteen. I need hardly say that they’re all anxious to meet you.’
His taunting voice angered her. ‘Did you have to tell them? Surely we didn’t have to involve your family in all this?’
Jarrod stopped the car outside the building that contained her flat, turning to face her in the confines of the car. ‘I didn’t tell them—you did.’
‘I didn’t—–’
‘They found out the same way I did, Brooke. The only difference being that they were pleased about it.’
She suddenly felt breathless by his closeness. He might be arrogant and cynical, but he was still the handsomest man she had ever seen. Tonight at the party he had easily stood out as the most attractive man there, a certain aloofness about him making him a challenge to any woman.
Brooke felt her old stirrings of attraction towards him, the longings she had had to be in his arms and be loved by him. But he had never even noticed her until this morning when he could do little else, and she hadn’t been brought to his attention in a way that would endear her to him.
But then he was never likely to be attracted to her anyway, not with someone as beautiful as Selina Howard in his life. No, she knew her own limitations; she might be moderately attractive, but she could never be called beautiful. She would have to leave Jarrod Stone to women like the lovely Selina Howard, women who understood the sophisticated games he engaged in.
But that didn’t stop her feeling attracted to him now, didn’t stop her being completely aware of him. She should have remained adamant when she had handed him back his ring and not been browbeaten into putting it back on. But she wouldn’t marry him, no matter how she had committed herself in the hearing of all those people. She wouldn’t be strong enough to hold out against him, and she had no intention of being his wife while he had the other woman as his mistress.
She looked away from the warmth in his grey eyes. ‘Your family want you to get married?’
‘My brother and sister consider me quite ancient not to have settled down, as they put it, with a family of my own. I’m sure you think the same way, you’re about their age,’ he said almost thoughtfully.
‘You could hardly marry when the woman in your life is already married,’ she put in bitchily, still reeling under his potent attraction—and resenting every moment of it.
‘That’s true,’ he agreed mildly. ‘I think my family are going to like you. You have my mother’s way of thinking, black is black and white is white and grey is just a lighter shade of black.’
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