CHAPTER THREE
‘EVIDENTLYINEED to explain my point of view,’ Jude breathed tautly as he recognised her incredulity while marvelling at how little control she had over her facial expressions. He wasn’t accustomed to a woman who wore her thoughts on her face like a banner. It was educational and oddly satisfying.
‘I have good reason for my aversion to marriage,’ Jude contended with studious cool. ‘Historically the men in my family have either made extremely poor husbands or they have married troubled women. I have no wish to follow in their footsteps and make several marriages or go through the disputes and the messy divorces that follow.’ He shifted a fluid brown hand in repudiation of that depressing prospect. ‘I’ve already lived through that pattern when I was a kid with my father and it’s not for me, nor is it an ideal background against which to raise a child.’
Tansy nodded understanding of that outlook because she had checked out the Alexandris family online. Stormy separations, flagrant infidelities, divorces, custody battles and bitter feuds documented his family’s shockingly volatile history in the relationship field. With those statistics behind him, it was hardly surprising that he would be especially wary of matrimony.
‘But in a marriage like this, where there is no shared history or baggage, having a child could be a practical option and I am, at heart, a very practical individual. Although I have no desire to make a real marriage, I still very much need a legal heir,’ Jude admitted calmly. ‘It would be easiest to have one with you. I can also assure you that any child we had would be loved and cared for and that you would be richly rewarded for providing me with one.’
Tansy stared woodenly down into her coffee cup, her natural colour evaporating at his assumption that she was mercenary enough to conceive a child for a profit. It hurt to remain silent, to compress her lips on the angry defensive words ready to leap off her tongue. Calvin had forced her into a tight corner where she had to play a certain role. Naturally, Jude Alexandris had assumed that she was marrying him for his money, and she could not afford to tell him anything different until after the ceremony when Posy’s future would be secure. Calvin would get his money and then he would be out of their lives, she reminded herself bracingly, thinking that at least her stepfather would never get the opportunity to use Posy the way he was using her to enrich himself.
‘We would also share custody of any child. I would be amenable to most reasonable arrangements. I can give you those reassurances but naturally there is no guarantee that we could even conceive a child together,’ Jude pronounced with an ironic curl to his sensual mouth. ‘I don’t think the male line in my family is particularly fertile, because I am an only child and so was my father.’
‘Do you want my opinion on this potential plan of yours?’ Tansy asked very stiffly.
‘Not at this moment, no,’ Jude admitted bluntly. ‘For now, I only want you to mull the idea over and see if it could be a fit for you but, obviously, it’s not a required condition for this marriage to happen.’
Some of the tension in her slight shoulders eased at that assertion and she looked back down at her coffee, forcing herself to sip it again in an effort to behave normally.
‘Possibly you feel that you’re too young to be tied down with the responsibility of a child,’ Jude continued. ‘But with my wealth, you could have nannies round the clock and becoming a mother would not deprive you of your freedom.’
Tansy almost choked on her coffee and her face burned with guilty heat because she already knew what it was like to be a young mother and there had been neither nannies nor babysitters to take the weight of responsibility off her shoulders. But, of course, she wasn’t able to share that truth with him yet.
‘You’re keen on this idea,’ Tansy said stiffly instead. ‘Why? I mean, you don’t even know me—’
‘I don’t need to,’ Jude intoned confidently. ‘In fact, I think it would be an advantage that we are strangers. Having a child would be a project rather than a burning mission. Emotions wouldn’t be involved, and we have no past history or romantic expectations to complicate our relationship. Both of us already know that the marriage will end in divorce. I see innumerable benefits to such a detached arrangement and such arrangements are not uncommon in today’s world. Friends sometimes have children together.’
Tansy’s head nodded with obedient marionette stiffness. He was insane, she reflected ruefully, and as emotionally aware as a big dumb rock. He honestly believed it was possible for them to marry, have a sexual relationship and conceive a child together without anyone’s emotions getting involved! What planet had he grown up on? What sort of women was he accustomed to dealing with? Had no woman ever told him that there were good reasons why human beings weren’t supposed to carelessly mate like animals to reproduce? She drew in a slow, deep, self-soothing breath and remained studiously silent.
Seemingly released from tension after having broached the topic of having a child, Jude poured himself a black coffee and strode away from the table again, a tall, lithe silhouette suddenly revealed and gilded as he stepped into a shard of sunshine. ‘Now, we’ll get down to the basic stuff we have to organise.’
‘I’m sure I will not be organising anything,’ Tansy volunteered deadpan. ‘I believe that’s your department.’
Suspicious dark eyes struck hers at unnerving speed and Tansy flushed and went back to surveying her coffee again, censuring herself for having let that sarcastic comment escape, particularly when she had been doing so well at keeping quiet. Jude sank down casually on the arm of the sofa opposite her, innately graceful in his every movement. He was too close now for her to relax because her attention continually wandered back to his stunningly handsome face, tracing the sharp high cheekbones, the strong black brows framing his deep-set eyes and the lush, sensual lips that softened those arrogantly masculine features and somehow made her own tingle. When he looked directly at her, her breath caught in her throat, her heart hammered and her mouth ran dry. She shifted uneasily in her seat, alarmed by the sheer strength of his sexual attraction.
‘You’re quite correct. I do have everything in hand,’ Jude confessed. ‘Althea has even given us our cover story but I’m afraid it has put a price on your head with the paparazzi.’
‘Cover story?’ Tansy repeated blankly, still struggling to pull free of the dreamy sensual spell he could plunge her into with a mere lingering glance.
‘Althea and I were supposed to be getting married next week. Now I’ll be marrying you instead,’ Jude extended a dry explanation. ‘The press and the general public will assume that I ditched her for you, which will make us look more realistic to my family since that is exactly what my father did in order to marry my mother thirty odd years ago. He was engaged to a very respectable Greek girl when he ran off with my mother.’
‘Charming…so I’ll be posing as the sort of woman who has no objection to carrying on with another woman’s man,’ Tansy commented curtly.
Jude shrugged a wide shoulder in an infuriatingly careless motion. ‘Does it matter? Once Althea backed out, it was never likely to be plain sailing for us as a couple because Althea was the perfect bride as far as my relatives were concerned. Any other bride would be a controversial choice, so don’t take that angle personally. I don’t give a damn what anybody thinks, nor do you need to. All you have to do is get through the wedding reception and then we’re pretty much done with family ties and socialising.’
Tansy nodded with a sinking heart, resisting the urge to say that that sounded very cold to her. But family wasn’t always perfect. Didn’t she know that herself? With a mother with whom, sadly, she had barely had a thought in common and a stepfather she had actively disliked? She had no excuse to feel superior, but she wasn’t looking forward either to being a target of dislike and disapproval with his relations when she hadn’t actually committed the sin for which she would be judged.
‘The wedding will take place next week in Greece.’
‘Greece?’Tansy gasped in shock, prompted into jerking forward in her seat and setting down her coffee to gape at him. ‘We have to get married abroad?’
‘I was born there. It’s not “abroad” to me,’ Jude fielded very drily.
In a frantic state of mind, Tansy wondered how on earth she would get Posy a passport in time and, indeed, whether her stepfather would be willing to travel out to Greece with his daughter. Complications she hadn’t expected were suddenly piling up around her, throwing her naive plans and expectations into crisis.
‘Couldn’t we just get married here?’ she prompted hopefully. ‘In a register office or something?’
‘But that would mean that you could miss out on all the bridal pomp and ceremony—a choice which would make you a very unusual woman,’ Jude remarked, subjecting her to a considering appraisal as if her suggestion were distinctly unusual and unfeminine. ‘It would also greatly disappoint my grandfather who is, I’m certain, looking forward immensely to his leading role as host and master of ceremonies…’