Substitute Fiancee

  'It wasn't until the ring was on your finger, and it was too late that I realised I'd only been fooling myself. A marriage where neither partner loves the other has a fair chance of success, but one-sided loving seldom works.'

  'I'm forced to agree with you,' she said.

  He sighed deeply. 'If you want an annulment...?'

  'Why should I want an annulment?'

  'You've just agreed that one-sided loving is unlikely to work.'

  'Who said anything about our loving being one-sided? If you'd listen to me for a change, instead of telling me...'

  The grey eyes so dark they looked almost black, he stared at her.

  'I loved you three years ago, that's why I couldn't bear to stay, and I love you still. There's never been anyone else but you.'

  As, his face alight with hope, he opened his mouth to speak, she said severely, 'Will you please not interrupt? For a while I thought I loved Kirk. But that night you carried me up to my room and I kissed you I knew it was you I loved, and I could never marry Kirk. What little feeling there was between us had been all on my side, a kind of infatuation.' Without bitterness, she added, 'An infatuation he made use of for his own ends.'

  Seeing the way Blaze's jaw tightened, she said hastily, 'No, I don't mean in that way. When I told you we were sleeping together, it wasn't the truth. The night we got engaged I'd almost expected him to want to take me to bed. But he drove me home and kissed me goodnight without even coming in... Of course, though I didn't know it then, he had Melinda.'

  Hoarsely, Blaze demanded, 'If you've never been to bed with him, why did you lie about it?'

  'Just at that minute I was angry with you for making fun of him...'

  Suddenly Blaze was on his feet. Gripping her upper arms, he hauled her out of her chair. 'I could cheerfully turn you over my knee and spank you... If you knew how much torment that lie has cost me. I was so damned jealous that every time I thought of him touching you I felt like breaking his neck.'

  Looking up at Blaze through long lashes, she said demurely, 'Well, if we're staying together, I hope you're not going to rum into a wife-beater?'

  'I'll probably be able to come up with some other way of keeping you under control.'

  'Such as?'

  'Well, there's one that springs to mind. I'll no doubt be able to think of more while we're on our honeymoon.' .

  'Are we having a honeymoon?'

  'We certainly are. A honeymoon that starts with a month in Hawaii and, I'm prepared to bet, will last for the rest of our lives.'

  'I won't argue with that,' she said pertly. 'But I have one question. When does this honeymoon start?'

  'When would you like it to start?'

  "There's no time like the present.'

  As he glanced towards the bedroom, she shook her head. 'I'm in no mood to be conventional.' He raised a quizzical brow. 'What mood are you in?''

  'Adventurous...that is, for me...'

  Leaning against him, and punctuating the words with teasing baby kisses, she suggested, 'I'd like you to make love to me in front of the fire, while I'm still wearing the Balantyne rubies.'

  'Brilliant thinking, my heart's darling.'

  He caught her roving lips and kissed her deeply, making her body melt and her toes curl, before adding, 'I'd hoped to keep up the Ballantyne family traditions, but I hadn't expected to be starting a new one.'