The Contract by Marsh, Nicola (read aloud books .txt) 📕

drained the last of his coffee and almost slammed the empty glass on the counter. No one played him for a fool, particularly not his wife. While she hadn’t trapped him with her innocent routine, she was probably more like his mother than he thought; out for money and everything it could buy. He knew he’d virtually bought Amber by coercing her into marriage with the promise of money to save the carnival, though a small part of him had hoped she might feel more.

Yeah, right. All they had was a marriage of convenience and the sooner he realised it, the better. As if he needed any further evidence, with the sight of his wife schmoozing up to some cretin in a poorly tailored suit. Yeah, she was just like his mother, using every weapon in her arsenal to get what she wanted. Thankfully, he’d hardened his heart against her; he’d had more than his fair share of letdowns in the past by a woman who was supposed to love him, why should Amber be any different?

Casting one last malevolent glare in the direction of his wife, he turned away and stormed out.

* * *

Amber couldn’t hide her joy. The meeting with the property developer had gone better than expected; once she’d told him about her limited time frame, he’d suggested they meet for coffee and check out the plans rather than meet at the actual site. He’d impressed her with his professionalism and she couldn’t wait to run her plans by Steve. Thankfully, her husband could handle all the scary legalities while she concentrated on the real business of turning her dream into a reality.

As the front door opened, she jumped up from the sofa, a welcoming smile on her face and the familiar thrill of seeing her sexy husband shooting through her. Despite their differences, she couldn’t control her fickle hormones or the way they reacted whenever Steve so much as glanced her way.

“Am I glad to see you.” She needed to share her excitement with him before she burst.

Steve dropped his briefcase with a loud thud, his icy stare stopping her in her tracks. “That’d be a first.”

Her smile faltered but she continued; he sometimes returned home from work grouchy, so why should today be any different? “I’m always glad to see you. We’ve got loads to talk about.”

“I bet we have.”

To her amazement, he walked over to the sideboard and poured himself a whiskey. The only time she saw him drink was the occasional nightcap and now, he swallowed the drink in three short gulps before midday.

“Is everything okay?”

He stared into the empty tumbler before looking up at her, the bleakness in his eyes scaring her more than his drinking. “You tell me.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, the swift change from bleakness to barely-constrained fury chilling her to the bone.

“Yes you do.” He clenched the glass so tightly, she wouldn’t have been surprised if it shattered. “How about you tell me about your plans?”

She sighed in relief though it was short-lived. If he knew about the proposed shop, his anger could only be directed towards her for not telling him about it. “I was just about to tell you. How did you find out?”

“It wasn’t that difficult, with you flaunting it for the world to see. What happened to the power suit and the make-up, by the way? Don’t you need to dress to impress your husband?”

He spat out the last word and she took a step back, realising what his tirade was about. He’d seen her at the cafe and had jumped to conclusions.

He didn’t trust her. Heck, he obviously didn’t think much of her at all, apart from being a willing and able participant for his bedroom games.

She tilted her head up and glared at him. “For your information, I needed to present a professional image to the property developer who is helping me set up a business. That’s why I power dressed. As for what you’re thinking, thanks for the vote of confidence.”

He paled, squared his shoulders and carefully set his glass on the table. “What business?”

“My own aromatherapy shop. I’ve done a lot of research into viability and prepared a business plan for you to check out.” She refrained from adding, ‘you moron’. His lack of trust hurt, more than it should.

“You want to run a profitable business based on smelly oils?” He couldn’t have looked more skeptical if he tried, sending her blood pressure soaring higher.

“You would say that,” she snapped, turning away and blinking back tears. Not only did he think she’d cheated on him, he’d scoffed at her dream, reducing it to ridicule in less than two seconds. Screw him.

She heard his footsteps on the polished floorboards as he walked towards her.

“Let’s talk about this.” He placed a hand on her shoulder and tried to turn her around.

“Leave me alone.” She shrugged off his hand and ran towards the stairs, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

Thankfully, he didn’t come after her, though a small part of her wished he would apologise, sweep her into his arms and kiss and make up.

Instead, he issued a command in his usual inimitable style. “Don’t forget, we leave in fifteen minutes for the airport.”

She resisted the urge to flip him a rude sign and continued up the stairs to the safety of their room, tears trickling down her face.

* * *

Steve watched her go, feeling like the biggest bastard in the world. So much for class; he’d handled that with the finesse of a squatter at a landlord’s convention, all loud demands and not much listening.

Hell, he’d hurt her. He’d seen the glimmer of tears in her eyes as