The Wedding Night by Unknown Read Free Book Online Page A

privacy in the next few weeks. The family home is on an island in the middle of the lake. No one can get to it without a boat and no one comes ashore without an invitation. Believe me, we won’t be inviting anyone."
    "You’ve got a hell of a lot of nerve to talk like that. If you think for one minute that I’m going to let you lock me up until you’ve launched the new company stock, you’re out of your mind!"
    "Angle…"
    "You’re right about one thing, however–you’re no Prince Charming."
    He moved so quickly Angie never even saw it coming. Owen clamped a hand around her wrist, hurled the pillows out of the way and dragged Angie across his chest. His eyes glinted.
    "You owe me this much, Angie. I’m putting up with a hell of a lot from you. I think I’m beginning to figure out how the original feud might have gotten started. Apparently you Townsends have a nasty habit of trying to wriggle out of a bargain once you’ve made it. So far I’ve been deprived of a wife, a wedding night and a honeymoon."
    "Now, Owen…"
    "I’ll be damned if you’re going to screw up this stock offering on top of everything else. And if you’ve got doubts about behaving yourself for my sake, think about your own family. The Townsends have just as much at stake in this as I do. You’re going to Jade Lake Island and you’re going to stay there for the next three weeks. Understood?"
    "My, God, you’re cold-blooded, aren’t you?"
    "I’m trying to deal with a potentially disastrous situation here. This is called damage control. You’re a walking time bomb for both the Sutherlands and the Townsends. And since you’re legally a Sutherland, now, that makes you my problem."
    "Thanks a lot." Hot, furious tears burned her eyes. "If I have to be kept out of sight, why don’t you take me home to my own family, instead? I’m sure I’ll be a lot happier there, and they’ll be just as anxious to make certain I don’t talk to the wrong people."
    He slanted her a derisive glance. "Where’s your sense of pride, Angie? Doesn’t the idea of having your groom hand you over to your family the morning after the wedding night seem just a trifle
    embarrassing to you?"
    He had a point. Angie had a sudden vision of trying to explain everything to the hotheaded, emotional members of her family. There was no telling how they would react, but one thing was for certain: the reaction would be loud and explosive.
    Owen was right–she was not prepared to deal with Townsend dramatics yet. It would be humiliating to be returned to her family by a disgusted, cold-eyed husband the morning after the disastrous wedding night. She doubted that her father and brother would find her excuses satisfactory, and her mother would be in tears. They simply would not understand that this time, their so-called protection of her had backfired. Angie realized she needed time to figure out how to deal with her own clan as well as her problems with Owen.
    She summoned up all her courage and tossed her hair over her shoulder in a defiant gesture. "I’ll think about your suggestion to spend the next three weeks at your Jade Lake place."
    "Yeah, you do that. Think about it real hard. On the way to Jade Lake." Owen sat up. "Start packing.
    We’re leaving in an hour."

    MUCH LATER THAT EVENING Angie decided she ought to have considered a third option to the
    problem of how to spend the next three weeks. She should have run away. Perhaps she could have
    hidden herself in one of the laundry carts at the hotel. Or taken a long walk on the beach and not returned.
    The difficulty would have been managing to stay hidden. She knew Owen well enough to realize he
    would have tracked her down and dragged her back. Anything to avoid embarrassing him and
    jeopardizing the merger, she thought irritably.
    The Sutherland family house crouched like a dark, predatory beast above a small cove on the eastern tip of a small, thickly forested island. Jade Lake was a large, deep body of water set in