Bought For The Marriage Bed. Melanie Milburne

mercenary tone. ‘What do you mean?’

      Nadia gave a soft little chuckle that sent a river of unease up her spine. ‘You are about to marry a billionaire. You will have access to cash, lots and lots of cash. I’ve been doing some checking up on Bryce and he’s not quite in the same league as your Marc. But we can make up for that with some clever accounting on your part once you are married.’

      Nina cleared the blockage in her tight throat. ‘Nadia, I can’t marry Marc Marcello! It wouldn’t be legal!’

      ‘Who’s going to know?’ Nadia asked airily. ‘As far as I recall, I didn’t tell Andre I had a twin, so his brother is unlikely to ever find out unless you tell him or he sees us together, which is hardly likely as I’m going to be on the other side of the globe. No, the more I think about this the better it sounds. We both stand to benefit. You get to keep Georgia and I get compensated by a regular income provided by your very rich husband.’

      Nina felt her stomach drop in panic. ‘Nadia, please don’t do this to me. I can’t marry a man who hates the very air I breathe!’

      ‘He doesn’t hate you, he hates me,’ Nadia pointed out. ‘Anyway, once he gets to know you he might even fancy you, or at least he might if you’d whack on a bit of make-up and something other than a shapeless tracksuit from time to time.’

      ‘I can’t afford the sort of scraps of fabric you usually pipe yourself into,’ Nina said sourly.

      ‘Come on, Nina. Think about it. This is a chance in a lifetime. You’ve always wanted to get married and have kids. What are you complaining about?’

      ‘I would have liked to choose the groom for myself, that’s what I’m complaining about!’ Nina shot back. ‘And I wanted a church wedding, not some hole and corner affair at the local registry office.’

      ‘You’re such a hopeless romantic. Do you think a marriage has any more hope of survival if it’s performed in a church? Come on—get in the real world, Nina. Marrying a billionaire should more than make up for the absence of a dress and veil and the blessing of a priest.’

      ‘Yeah, well, somehow it just doesn’t,’ she answered. ‘I wanted more out of life than a rich husband.’

      ‘You could spend your whole life looking for love like our mother did and, just like her, never find it,’ Nadia said. ‘If I were you I’d grasp at this with both hands and make the most of it.’

      ‘But I’m not you, am I?’ Nina reminded her coolly.

      ‘No.’ A hint of amusement entered Nadia’s voice again. ‘But Marc Marcello doesn’t know that, does he?’

      CHAPTER FOUR

      NINA called in sick at the library the next day in order to sort out childcare arrangements but her efforts were not encouraging. As she didn’t have a car, she was limited to using a private centre whose fees were extortionate. She had no choice but to make the booking, hoping that her niece would cope with the change without too much fuss.

      The next two days passed without any further contact from Marc. At times Nina wondered if she’d imagined the whole thing, so unreal it seemed, but on the third day a letter arrived, the first page of the thick document informing her that the marriage ceremony would be on July the fifteenth.

      She felt her spine buckle in trepidation. It seemed there was no way out. She would have to marry Marc in order to keep Georgia. She would have to continue to deceive him, even though in doing so she was going to be fuelling his hatred even more.

      The thought of pretending to be her sister for months, maybe even years on end, terrified her but she couldn’t see any alternative. It was incredible to think that a few simple words stood between her and her freedom. If she told him: ‘I am not Georgia’s mother’, the marriage would be called off.

      Five words and she would be free.

      Five simple words that would grant her instant freedom, but take away her niece—permanently.

      As she had more or less expected, there had been no further contact from Nadia. Nina had tried her mobile repeatedly, but each time the message service informed her the phone was out of service, and the numerous text messages she’d sent went unanswered. As her sister hadn’t given her a forwarding address it made it even more impossible for Nina to escape the tight net that was surrounding her minute by minute.

      She tossed the letter from Marc aside to respond to Georgia’s cries for attention, doing her best to keep her mind away from the thought of being married to a man who hated her so much.

      As she came back out to the small sitting room with Georgia tucked close to her, the phone rang and she reached to answer it.

      ‘Nina.’ Marc’s deep voice sounded in her ear. ‘It’s Marc.’

      ‘Marc who?’ She was back in Nadia’s personality as if by simply hearing his smooth as melted chocolate voice an internal switch had flicked back on inside her.

      She heard his indrawn breath and mentally congratulated herself for winning this small battle even though she knew he was more than likely to win the war in the end.

      ‘I am quite sure with the reputation you have worked on so assiduously you have doubled up on some names by now,’ he drawled insolently.

      ‘Wouldn’t you like to know,’ she threw back.

      ‘Did you get my letter?’

      ‘Let me see…’ She rustled the small collection of bills that had gathered on the table beside her just to irritate him. ‘Ah, yes, here it is. It’s a pre-nup, isn’t it?’

      ‘You surely did not think I would marry you without protecting myself?’

      ‘That depends on what sort of protection you’re talking about.’