âKeir, please donât say no! I need thisâwe both do!â
Just what was going on inside that handsome head of his? For perhaps thirty of the longest seconds of her life Sienna watched and waited. At long last he drew in a deep uneven breath.
âTwo conditionsâ¦â he said slowly.
âAnything! Anything at all, if youâll just say yes!â
âCondition oneâ¦â Keir marked it off on one long finger of his left hand. âWe have a proper wedding. All the trimmings. A church ceremony, flowers, candles, the lot.â
âWhatever you say. Andâand condition two?â
âAfter the proper wedding we have a real marriage. I wonât stand for anything else. For one thing, thereâs no way weâll convince anyone that this is the love match youâre supposed to have by the conditions of your fatherâs will if we donât look really together. Itâs all or nothing.â
All or nothing.
When Sienna desperately offers Keir Alexander a temporary marriage of convenience, he has a surprise proposition of his ownâtheir marriage must be a real one! Talented Harlequin Presents>® author Kate Walker takes you on a breathtaking ride of passion and sensuality, as Keir proves to Sienna he will not be content with just being her âhired husbandâ!
Legally wed,
Great together in bed, But heâs never said⦠âI love you.â Theyâreâ¦
Wedlocked!
The series where marriages are made in hasteâ¦and love comes laterâ¦.
Marriage on Command
by Lindsay Armstrong
âYOU want what?â
His expression said it all, Sienna reflected unhappily. He didnât have to speak a single word. Shock, disbelief and sheer antipathy to her suggestion were stamped clearly onto Keir Alexanderâs hard features, leaving her in no doubt as to how he felt.
âYou want what?â he repeated now, the edge in his voice sharpening on every word as his deep brown eyes glared into her anxious blue-green ones.
âIâI want you to marry me.â
It sounded so much worse the second time around. Starker, more incredible, more impossible. She couldnât believe sheâd ever had the nerve to ask him once, let alone manage to reiterate her request in the face of his reaction.
If she could have taken it back she would have done so at once, but she had no alternative. Sheâd tried every other approach, considered every possible answer, but none of them would work. It was Keir or no one. He was her last chance; and if he didnât agree to help her then she was lost. Finished.
âNo way, lady!â It was hard, inflexible, adamant. âNo way at all.â
âButââ
âI said no!â
âBut, Keirâ¦â
But she was talking to the back of his head, and a moment later to empty air as the door slammed to behind him. Keir had walked out on her, rejecting her and her proposal outright, not even sparing her a backward glance. Closing her eyes in despair, her sigh a deep, helpless sound of defeat, Sienna sank down into the nearest chair.
So what did she do now? she asked herself, shaking her dark head despondently. There was nothing she could do. No answer presented itself. No fairy godmother appeared to wave her magic wand and put everything right. When she opened her eyes everything was the same as before, the future stretching ahead dark, bleak and with no light at the end of the tunnel.
It had been the worst year of her life so far, and it was still only July. First Dean, and then the loss of her job as an aromatherapist when the beauty salon in which she had worked had closed down. That had been followed by the discovery that her mother, who had clearly been unwell for some time, was in fact suffering from multiple sclerosis. And then, to cap it all, the landlord who owned the small flat she and her mother rented had informed them that he was selling the building. The new owners planned to turn it into a set of offices and they would have to move outâsoon.
Oh, it wasnât fair! Sienna slammed one fist into the palm of the other hand in a gesture of frustration and distress. Her mother had to have a home. Somewhere she could live in the comfort and security she needed. The perfect place was availableâwas hers for the asking. But only if she could meet the conditions laid down. And with Keirâs rejection of her proposal her last chance of doing that had been destroyed. She doubted if she would ever see him again.
She didnât know how long she sat there, lost in her misery. She had no idea how much time had passed before the sound of the doorbell pealing through her flat jolted her out of her unhappy reverie. At first she was tempted to ignore it, but when it became obvious that whoever was outside had put their finger firmly on the button and intended keeping it there until they got a response, she forced herself to her feet, dashing down the stairs and wrenching open the door.