But she had continued to be married to Sam for a further six years, hadn’t she? And it had only been during the last six months of their marriage that the physical side of things had ended completely.
Yes, but that was different, she told herself firmly now. Sam had been her husband—
Only, if she accepted Xander Fraser’s marriage proposal he would be her husband, too!
No, she couldn’t go through with this! No matter what the financial inducement to make Josh’s life more comfortable and her own life free of the continual financial stress…
‘I only said it was an option, Casey.’ Xander spoke evenly as he saw the sudden panic in her easily readable expression.
Her open emotions were certainly a refreshing change after years of Chloe’s deceit and machinations!
Chloe had been the most beautiful woman he had ever set eyes on when he met her seven and a half years ago—a beautiful ebony-haired blue-eyed butterfly who had dazzled and beguiled every man she came into contact with. Including him. And Xander had pursued her relentlessly until he caught her.
But after only a few brief months of marriage he had realised that she truly was a butterfly—that her emotions, once given, lasted only fleetingly, before she moved on to the next conquest. And the next. And the next.
Only the fact that Chloe had found herself pregnant at the end of their six-week-long honeymoon—at least Xander had been sure that Lauren was his!—had kept the marriage from ending in divorce once he’d discovered Chloe had taken her first lover.
And that was all their marriage had been—a sham, a front for the dozens of men Chloe had enthralled into her bed. Men she would enjoy, but who couldn’t demand too much from her when she had the protection of a powerful husband like Xander Fraser.
He should have divorced her years ago, of course, but the possibility of Chloe taking Lauren with her when she left—the daughter he adored—had prevented him from taking such action.
The fact that he was now being threatened in the same way by Chloe’s father was totally unacceptable!
‘I would be quite happy with a marriage of convenience, Casey; I’m really not that desperate for a physical relationship with an unwilling wife!’ he told her, suddenly harsh after recalling such unwelcome memories.
Where had that anger come from so suddenly? Casey wondered.
And who was to say she would be unwilling…?
Her reaction to his touch just now had told her that she wasn’t indifferent to him. And she had already acknowledged to herself earlier that she found this man physically attractive—that he exuded a powerful vitality that would make it impossible ever to ignore him—so how much more disturbing was he going to be if he was her husband? If she was living with him on a permanent basis?
She couldn’t be seriously thinking of accepting his proposal, could she?
But for Josh’s sake, she couldn’t not seriously think about it!
She had been aware for some weeks that she was fighting a losing battle when it came to paying her bills as well as the mortgage Sam had taken out on this house in order to raise extra capital. She knew she might soon have to give up even trying to hold on to her family home, and find somewhere to rent instead. There would be a few thousand pounds to bank once the house was sold, but nowhere near enough to give Josh all the advantages Xander Fraser was offering if he became her son’s stepfather.
So how could she not accept Xander’s marriage proposal?
She moistened lips that had gone dry. ‘If I were to accept—I said if, Mr Fraser,’ she emphasised, when she saw the look of triumph flare in those dark blue eyes.
‘I think you had better call me Xander, don’t you?’ he invited.
She gave him a scathing glance and deliberately didn’t respond to his invitation. A childish gesture, perhaps, but she had a feeling that any advantage she might ever have over Xander Fraser was going to be a small one! ‘If I accept, exactly when were you thinking of this marriage taking place?’
Xander damped down his feeling of elation that she was even considering his offer—which was pretty strange for a man who, after Chloe’s infidelities, had sworn he would never marry again!
But this was a marriage to be made out of necessity rather than choice, he excused himself. It was for his daughter’s sake, not his own—exactly the reason he had settled on Casey Bridges—along with her son Josh, who Lauren adored—in the first place!
He shrugged. ‘As soon as we can get a licence, I would have thought. The sooner the better, in fact. Why wait, Casey?’ he added persuasively as he once again saw that look of panic in her face. ‘The sooner it’s done, the matter settled, the sooner we can all get on with our lives.’
He had always liked and respected Brad Henderson, and he knew it was the other man’s grief at losing Chloe that was making him behave irrationally at the moment; unfortunately, Xander couldn’t afford to give the other man time to come to his senses. He was all too aware of the damage that Brad could wreak in Lauren’s life as well as his own before that happened.
The sooner he got Casey Bridges to agree to his marriage proposal the better. He found it distinctly unflattering that she viewed marriage to him in so poor a light—most women he knew would have jumped at the offer.
But then, the women who had been in his life the last year were as hard and grasping as Chloe had been. He had chosen them deliberately. At least he knew where he stood with women like that. He would certainly never consider—for any reason!—offering marriage to one of them.
Casey wasn’t like them—would never be like them—which meant he had to back off a little and give her some time to make her decision. Hopefully, she would realise there were far too many advantages for Josh to allow her scruples to stand in the way.
‘Why don’t you take overnight to think about it, and I’ll call you in the morning?’ he suggested lightly.
‘Overnight?’ Casey echoed with another surge of inward panic. Could she take just a few hours to make a decision that would affect the rest of her life?
And Josh’s…
Josh. Her weak spot. A weakness Xander Fraser had already exploited to his advantage…
But apparently not her only weakness, Casey acknowledged thoughtfully as she remembered the way she had trembled, the warmth that had coursed through her body, when Xander Fraser had touched her.
Yes, she had to take into account her unmistakable response to all that leashed magnetism, too. She would be foolish not to do so.
She raised her chin and infused her voice with determination. ‘Why don’t I take my time to think about it and call you when I reach a decision?’
His mouth tightened, his gaze narrowing speculatively as she deliberately turned his suggestion back on him. ‘Why don’t you?’ he finally growled, taking his wallet from the back pocket of his denims to remove a business card and place it on the coffee table. ‘But don’t take too long, hmm?’ he added.
Or what? Casey wondered with a frown as she watched him turn on his heel and leave.
The front door closed behind him seconds later.
Would she find the offer had been rescinded if she dithered too long in giving him an answer?
Would he decide she wasn’t worth the trouble and find someone else—someone more receptive—to make his offer of marriage to…?
CHAPTER FIVE
‘MR FRASER—’
‘Xander, Casey,’ he insisted as he easily recognised her voice on the other end of the telephone line.
He should; at almost seven o’clock in the evening, he had been waiting all day for this call!
‘I’ve reached a decision,’ she told him without preamble.
Xander wasn’t in the least reassured by her businesslike tone. He had an uncomfortable feeling that Casey’s scruples might have won out, after all.
‘Of a sort,’ she added, less certainly.
Xander frowned. His patience was already tried to the limit because he’d had to wait all day for her phone call.
It didn’t help that Brad’s lawyers had already been in touch with his and suggested that they and their client have a meeting in order to ‘try and settle custody of Mr Henderson’s granddaughter out of court’!
‘Yes?’ he prompted, perhaps a shade too tersely.
Casey’s mouth felt dry. Her hand was shaking slightly as she held the telephone receiver to her ear, having waited until after she had put Josh to bed before making this call.
She had spent a sleepless night thinking over everything Xander Fraser had said to her, and a distracted day doing exactly the same. And the fact that she knew he wasn’t going to like what she had to say certainly wasn’t helping her nervousness.
‘For God’s sake, just say yes or no, Casey!’ he bit out as his patience finally snapped.
‘I—maybe,’ she answered unhelpfully, moistening dry lips. She could feel the tension in Xander’s silence on the other end of the line. ‘I’ve thought over everything you said. I can see the benefit to Josh and myself in everything you offered. I just—’ She drew in a ragged breath. ‘I would need to meet Brad Henderson, to assure myself that his threat is real, before I could possibly give you an answer!’ The words came out in a rush as she hurried to get this unpleasantness over with.