Second Chance Bride (Montana Born Brides) by Trish Morey Read Free Book Online

who’d explained that as soon as Mitch had left Perth and gone back to the mines, Kristelle had turned up on his doorstep in tears needing comfort. And finding it, apparently, though Mitch had stopped Robbo short before he could tell him all the gory details. And it was Kristelle who’d apparently begged him not to tell Mitch they were together so as not to upset him. Like hell. More likely so she’d have Robbo wrapped around her little finger before Mitch could warn him to run like hell.
    No. He didn’t trust her one little bit. “Not entirely.”
    “But what can she do? She’s marrying someone else.”
    “That’s just it. I don’t know if she’d try anything, but I sure wouldn’t put it past her. The simple fact is she’ll have less opportunity than if I turn up alone.” He looked at her. “Think of your role as insurance.”
    She screwed up her nose. “I’m not sure I can do insurance. It sounds awfully dull.”
    “Then think of it as being a guard dog.”
    She smiled. “Now that I can do.”
    He looked at her with new admiration. “I always wanted a red headed Rottweiler. So —will you do it then?”
    “What’s in it for me?” she asked, but she was smiling and he had a good feeling about this.
    “You’re doing me the favor. You name your price.”
    Was he for real? “Okay.” She stuck up her chin. If he wanted a pretend girlfriend for a few days, it was going to cost him. “If I’m going to even think about this —just think about it, mind—I’m going to want fifteen hundred dollars on the table. Cash. Paid in full the day after the wedding.”
    He didn’t even blink. “Done. Plus expenses of course. So you’ll do it?”
    “Um.” Had he really said ‘done’? Could she really have the funds to go home in just a few days’ time and all she had to do was pretend to be someone’s girlfriend? It was that simple? Hope, that fragile bubble of hope, that had been dashed and bruised and battered by today’s disappointments, peeled itself off the floor and sucked in air.
    “Oh, and you’ll need something to wear for the wedding of course. Unless you’ve got something suitable in your backpack.”
    Suitable for a wedding? Now, that was funny.
    “Nope. Nothing suitable for a wedding,” she said, with a straight face. “Absolutely nothing.”
    “Okay.” He looked at his watch. “We’ll go shopping tomorrow. So, what else do you need to know? Will you do it?”
    It was all happening so fast. She liked fast. She thrived on fast. But it was her downfall too, she’d learned. Things looked so good on the surface, she didn’t bother with the details. She had to learn to bother with the details. And there was one detail that was unsaid, and sizzlingly unsettling, and it couldn’t stay that way.
    “What about sex?” she asked. ‘Will that be expected as part of the pretend girlfriend deal too?”
    “We’ll have to look like a couple. You’ll have to share the villa they’ve booked for me.”
    “So that’s a yes?” Damn, did she sound too hopeful?
    “Sex is actually outside this arrangement.”
    “So, that’s a no?”
    He smiled and that killer combination of blue eyes and smiling mouth almost did her head in. “That’s not what I said.”
    Oh hell. What was that supposed to mean?
    “So what’s it to be Scarlett?”
    “Hang on a minute, I have to think about this.” She squeezed her mouth and her eyes tight shut, the cogs in her mind spinning around, putting the brakes on the Hell yes! response that she was renowned for. If she was going to be more responsible she was going to have to stop doing that. She was going to have to seriously think about this. Think about the pros and cons and what could possibly go wrong, because sure as God made little green apples—if she didn’t, something would.
    Pro , she thought: it was quick easy money, quicker than even Bella’s had promised to be. And it was all expenses paid. Bonus .
    Pro: she wouldn’t even have to confess to