Hold Me Closer (Sea Island Brides Book 1) by Georgia Kelly Read Free Book Online Page B

butterflies to perform acrobatics in her
stomach. How had she gone from almost blackmailing him to dating him?
She worried about it the whole way there, and by the time the driver
pulled through the Sea Island Gate, she was ready to tell him to turn
around and take her home.
    Hudson
saw her as a victim in all this, despite the fact that she
practically threw herself at him. If he ever found out that she’d
planned the entire thing, there's no telling what he would do. How
was she ever going to pull this off without him figuring it out?
    Annabelle's
muscles tensed as she thought of a completely new problem. What if he
expected her to sleep with him now that they were getting engaged? It
may be a fake engagement, but if he decided he wanted to be with her,
how could she turn him down and make it believable after the way
she’d acted that first day?
    Maybe
if she pretended that his initial rebuff hurt her feelings, she could
get away with it. Watching the palm trees and mansion estates pass by
outside her window, she decided to take it one day at a time.
    As
the car turned down the private road to Cottonwood Plantation—the
Montgomery’s estate—Annabelle once again stared in awe at
the beauty of the property.
    When
she was pretending to research the article for Southern Style
Magazine, she’d learned a lot about the plantation. There were
actually three large houses on the property, two of which were moved
from other areas of the state of Georgia many years ago. The “Big
House,” as they called it,
was the original plantation house, and it was also where Hudson lived
now.
    His
mother spent most of her time at her house in Savannah, but when she
came to visit the island, she stayed in the smallest of the three
houses. They passed it as Annabelle watched from inside the
limousine. From what the housekeeper told her, this house was
actually the same house where Sue Ellen Montgomery grew up. She’d
had it moved down here after her own father died back in the nineteen
seventies.
    Farther
down the long, palm-lined driveway, another antebellum home peeked
out through the oak trees hung with Spanish moss. Annabelle was
unsure of the origin of this second home, but it was magnificent with
its three stories and beautiful wrap-around porch. She knew that
Hudson’s oldest brother, Jack Jr., called this large house his
own when he was in town.
    Annabelle
couldn't help but wonder where Harlan lived.
    He
was an up-and-coming actor, fresh from a very successful TV series on
HBO, so she doubted he spent much time here on the island anymore. He
probably lived in Los Angeles most of the time, but something must
have brought him home to the area four months ago when he showed up
at Julia’s bar.
    Annabelle
hoped she’d have the chance to meet him and talk to him about
Julia. She was going to do everything she could to find him before
this whole thing blew up in her face.
    Julia
still didn't know that Annabelle was here trying to find him. She
would probably be angry at Annabelle for meddling in her business,
but once the baby came, she would be thanking her. Or at least that’s
what Annabelle kept telling herself.
    Even
with all of her questions and doubts about the situation, Annabelle
always kept one goal in mind: to find Harlan and convince him to take
a paternity test. Once the family knew the baby was a Montgomery,
and that Julia wasn’t just some tramp looking for make a few
dollars, surely they would want her to be a part of their lives.
    The
limousine drove down another gravel road parallel to the Big House,
and when it came to a stop Annabelle stared out at a beautiful little
cottage. The outside was plastered with a mix of shell and concrete,
and she knew from her time spent on St. Simon's Island as a child
that houses covered with this mixture were often called tabby houses.
    Raymond
opened the door for her, and she climbed out of the car.
    “Here we are, Ms. Day. This is the
cottage where you'll be