Marriage in Name Only

CHAPTER ONE


AT LEAST SHE was going to die in spectacular fashion.

Chloe Montgomery clenched her fingers around the tacky tar-smelling rope and tried to imagine that she wasn’t suspended who knew how high? above the pitch-black auditorium in one of Melbourne’s finest entertainment venues.

A rough knot below her feet scratched her bare soles. The way-too-small-barely-there costume dug into her ribs, making breathing almost impossible—especially when every shallow gasp could be her last.

‘You’ll be fine, Chloe,’ the guy behind her whispered as he made a final adjustment to the slim safety harness at the back of her waist. ‘Trust me, you’ll be the highlight of the evening’s entertainment.’

‘Trust you …’ Her voice came out reed-thin, a touch hysterical and barely audible above the rushing sound in her ears. How was she going to get one note of Happy Birthday out when her throat was closing over? She was no singer at the best of times.

‘Ready?’ the guy murmured.

‘Mmm-hmm,’ she managed between tightly pressed lips. What insane reasoning had convinced Chloe that she was up for this—in any way?

Because she wanted—needed—to prove to her new boss that she was an asset to her event-planning business. No task too hard, no unforeseen circumstance she couldn’t handle.

So when the artist booked for the event was involved in a car accident on the way here, Chloe had stepped up to the plate—or, in this case, the rope. And if everything went as planned, she’d be lowered onto the birthday boy’s lap, kiss him on the cheek, someone would be there to unfasten her harness and she could escape to the venue’s kitchens, challenge met and dignity intact. Dana would be only too grateful and impressed and desperately keen to take on such a valuable, flexible employee full-time.

A single spotlight exploded into life, blinding her with its brilliance and holding her captive in its hot white light. The audience’s hushed murmur of anticipation rose into the stratosphere and she could feel every pair of eyes focused on her. Chloe, who’d spent her life trying and mostly failing to be someone people noticed, was finally the centre of attention.

A pity she was going to be remembered for all the wrong reasons.

Thought fled as the rope shuddered and began its descent. You’re supposed to sing, she reminded herself. Find the target, focus on him. She squinted through the glare to the table directly beneath her. The cake, flickering with candles amongst champagne flutes, red foil stars and silver-ware, marked her destination.

A man was staring up at her with a faint smile—or was it a smirk?—on his lips. Hard to tell in the spotlight’s dazzle but there was enough candle-glow to make out that they were, indeed, very nice lips. Forget the lips—imagine him naked—wasn’t that what people afraid of public speaking were supposed to do? It couldn’t hurt here either.

Except that his wife had organised this surprise. Which reminded her she had a job to do …

Clearing the constriction from her throat, she launched into a wobbly, out-of tune rendition of Happy Birthday, keeping her eyes pinned to his as she descended. Not imagining him naked. Much.

Brilliant timing; she sang the last note as she reached table height and safety. She had to manoeuvre herself and the rope a little to ensure she landed on his lap. Her body prickled hot and cold all over when her barely covered bottom came into contact with a pair of rock-hard thighs, and she had to shift slightly to keep from falling off. Which would be easy to do because her whole body was trembling.

Warm palms slid firmly to her waist to steady her and she stifled a gasp at the electrifying contact. How embarrassing. How wrong. She lifted her chin and met his gaze. Up close his eyes were blue. A piercing, blinding blue that, to her shame, melted her insides to mush. ‘Happy Birthday …’ she finished in her best Marilyn Monroe voice, then came to a breathless pause. What the heck was his name again? Oh, my, he was …

Not available, Chloe.

She leaned in to brush the expected kiss over his cheek, caught the whiff of his enticing masculine skin before his head turned and his lips were somehow on hers. Warm, firm. Friendly. Too friendly. Appalled, she peeled her lips away to stare at him. He stared back, those fascinating blue orbs sending all the wrong signals for a married man.

‘I’m not the birthday boy,’ he told her, before she could blink. He leaned closer so that his breath tickled her ear and murmured, ‘But then you already knew that, didn’t you?’

Huh?

He jerked a thumb at the man on his left and leaned back, his hands dropping away from her waist. ‘Sadiq’s the one you should be kissing.’ The tone of bored cynicism belied the heat in his eyes.

She felt the safety harness being unclipped and realised she was still sitting on his lap. And … she went completely still … was she turning him on?

Not waiting to find out, she slid off immediately, her legs barely supporting her. ‘Hey, you kissed me,’ she whispered into his ear, keeping her smile in place, but furious with his dismissive attitude and furious with herself for making the mistake in the first place.

She turned her attention to the handsome black-haired, dark-eyed man who’d have looked right at home in one of those desert romance books. Way less unsettling. He was watching the two of them with an amused look, apparently unconcerned she’d stuffed up so sensationally.

‘Sadiq,’ she said with forced brightness and leaned down to kiss him to a roomful of enthusiastic applause. She wished him an enjoyable evening or some such but her mind was stuck on the previous thirty seconds.

You already knew. The weird—and incorrect—accusation burned like a hot wire in her blood. How dared he—whoever the hell he was—insinuate she’d contrived this act to somehow seduce him?

Sexual harassment. The taste of bile rose up her throat. An employee’s word over some fancy schmuck with the wealthy connections? Like that was ever going to happen. One word of complaint from him and Dana was so going to fire her.

Jordan Blackstone watched the blonde’s pretty cheeks flush, her well-endowed cleavage on full view as she made a fuss of his friend, privately enjoying her discomfort … and more than a little disconcerted at his own. Thankfully, she’d stood up before things had got too awkward. Another moment of her cute rhinestone-encrusted butt squirming on his lap, he’d have been in real trouble.

Women were always contriving new ways to meet him and he had to admit this one was unique. As was his body’s response to hers. He hadn’t expected to find his dormant libido awakening so fast and so hard.

He watched her drop a quick kiss on Sadiq’s cheek. His own lips tingled at the memory of how they’d felt beneath his. Soft and sweet. What the hell had possessed him? Sheer momentary madness obviously, because in that pulse-pounding moment he sure as hell hadn’t been himself.

She didn’t hang around. He’d barely blinked and she was gone in a flash of sparkles and skin. The sort of shimmering flash that lingered on your retina long after the moment had passed.

He shook his head to clear the image. Soft and sweet was just a facade. No matter that she’d played the innocent mistake game, she was the type of out-there, attention-grabbing, rich-man-hungry woman he avoided. And that costume—what there was of it—was obviously intended to over-enhance her curves. Even if said curves were every man’s fantasy, it was hardly appropriate for this occasion.

And she couldn’t sing to save herself.

He picked up his glass, drained the bubbly mineral water to moisten his throat, which he realised had gone dust-dry, and watched Sadiq blow out his candles. A hovering waitress whisked the cake away to cut and distribute to the roomful of elite guests.

The band struck up a party number and dancers hit the polished floor amongst the bobbing helium balloons. Jordan gazed at the ceiling as the rope snaked upwards and disappeared over a balcony. ‘Well. That was … interesting.’

Sadiq chuckled. ‘Not as interesting as the look on your face when the lady landed on your lap, my friend. And that kiss … Want to tell me what you were thinking?’

Jordan scowled. ‘I wasn’t thinking.’ And that was the problem. He had to be grateful for Sadiq’s request to ban the media from inside the venue or he’d be front and centre in tomorrow’s gossip rags.

His friend leaned closer and spoke over the noise. ‘A discreet word here or there and you could get lucky tonight.’

‘I make my own luck.’ A sultry image involving him peeling that costume from her lithe and voluptuous body danced on his eyelids. He blinked it away. ‘And she’s hardly my type.’

Another chuckle. ‘You have a type?’

Jordan didn’t bother to reply, just reached for the water carafe and filled his glass. Not his type? Hell, certain parts of his anatomy obviously begged to differ. She was hot, no question. And wasn’t that all he was looking for in a woman these days? Hot and single and temporary?

The sounds of merriment swirled around him as the music quickened, its throb beating low and heavy in his sensitised groin. He drained his glass, then tugged at his collar. Ever since she’d plonked that sexy butt on his lap and he’d felt her womanly assets graze his chest, his clothing had felt two sizes too tight. He could still smell her fragrance—warm and spicy and sensuous, making him think wicked thoughts; like lying naked with her in front of a roaring fire, her skin flushed with heat from their love-making.

Then there were the eyes. The colour of aged Scotch. He hadn’t missed that initial flare of attraction, that quick clash of heat on heat, gone before he could think hot night in paradise. No, he hadn’t misinterpreted that, but recognition …? He frowned. Had he got it wrong?

Because after the kiss and the accusation, those eyes had burned with a very different kind of heat—indignation. If there hadn’t been an audience, he had a suspicion he’d have felt the hot sting of that anger in one way or another.

And now that he thought about it, quite possibly he’d have deserved it. Maybe she was already in a relationship? But she hadn’t worn rings—and why he’d noticed was beyond him.

He relegated the confounding incident to the back of his mind, glanced at his watch and pushed up. Unfortunate timing, but his mate’s thirtieth birthday bash clashed with important business. He clasped Sadiq’s shoulder on his way. ‘Gotta go. Teleconference with Dubai in an hour.’

His friend nodded. ‘Good luck. You’re still on for lunch tomorrow?’

‘I’ll be there.’ He dropped a light kiss on Sadiq’s wife’s cheek. ‘‘Night, Zahira. Great party. By the way, I loved your surprise.’

Zahira’s dark exotic eyes smiled. ‘Wasn’t she delightful? And so brave to step in at literally a moment’s notice.’

Jordan, who’d already turned to leave, swung back. ‘Is that so?’

‘The original artist had an accident earlier tonight,’ she explained. ‘A member of Dana’s staff volunteered to take her place.’

Jordan felt a prick of guilt. Not a professional entertainer then, but a girl with maybe no experience who’d stepped in to save the day. That accounted for the debacle of a performance. It excused her actions; it didn’t excuse his. ‘Good for her,’ he mumbled. Then because he admired people prepared to give it a go and he’d treated her less well than he might have, he said, ‘She deserves a bonus at the end of the evening.’

Zahira flicked him one of those unreadable female looks. ‘I’ll tell her you said so when I hand it to her, shall I, Mr Blackstone?’

An odd sensation prickled the back of his neck. ‘That’s not necessary—I’ll tell Dana tomorrow at lunch.’ He pulled his car key from his pocket. ‘Enjoy the rest of the evening.’

Except for her boss, Chloe was the last to leave the building when she exited through the staff entrance at two a.m. She pulled on the worn leather jacket she’d bought at a charity shop and swung her backpack onto her shoulders, glancing at the sky’s heavy underbelly and hoping she could make it home before it rained. The birthday boy’s wife, Zahira, had stopped by with praise aplenty and a nice fat wad of notes. And Dana had asked her if she wanted to take on regular work. Chloe did a little happy dance right there on the footpath.

What an evening! One minute she’d been swirling raspberry liqueur sauce over the desserts and wondering how she was going to make ends meet, and the next she’d been dangling over a balcony in a borrowed costume and singing in public.

Of course, it hadn’t all gone according to plan. She’d got the wrong guy, after all. And Mr Wrong had smirked at her—she was sure of it. She’d be the first to admit she couldn’t sing, and she was dead scared of heights, but she’d tried, hadn’t she? Jerk.

Then he’d kissed her. Tingles shivered through her body at the memory. The drugging taste of those lips, the way he’d held her safe on his lap so she wouldn’t fall, his musky masculine smell. Until he’d all but pushed her off with some ridiculous accusation that she knew him.

Double jerk.

Chloe dismissed him with a snarl, then jammed on her helmet and headed for her scooter parked a few metres away and looking all the more ancient in front of a shiny new maroon SUV. Forget him. The important thing was she’d come out on top. So it hadn’t been the world’s best performance; she’d made twice as much money in one night than she had since she’d stepped back on Australian soil a fortnight ago, and a regular job with reasonable pay would give her a realistic chance to resave the money she’d lost.

She slowed her steps, rubbed her arms against the chilly winter air. And then it just might be time to consider reconnecting with her family. A friend she’d made while overseas had lost her chance to reconcile with hers when an accident had taken both parents. Chloe didn’t want to have the same regrets.

A sharp meep spiked the air and she glanced at the parked car as its lights blinked, then behind her at the sound of brisk footsteps. A man was approaching, a black overcoat over one shoulder. He was tall and broad with a lanky stride.

As he drew nearer the amber street light turned his shirt a white-gold and washed over his face so she could make out his features. Dark brows, firm jaw. Generous full lips even at this distance.

She stifled a gasp inside her helmet. She knew those lips. She knew how they felt, how they tasted. Her pulse took off on its own wild journey as she watched him cross the footpath, open the door. He glanced at her over the roof as he climbed into his car but didn’t recognise her with her helmet on.

Was she just going to stand there and let him go without giving him a piece of her mind? No, she was not. She was beside his big bad wheels in seconds, stepping off the kerb in front of him, rounding the bonnet as the lights beamed on. ‘Hey!’ She rapped on the driver’s window. ‘Hey.’

The window lowered halfway. Now she could see the blue intensity of his eyes, the thick brows above them raised in concern. ‘Are you okay?’ he asked her. ‘Do you need assistance?’

She lifted her visor and stared at him. Watched the blue in his eyes grow deep and focused as recognition sharpened his features. ‘I’m fine,’ she said, without giving him time to draw breath. ‘No, actually I’m annoyed. You’re arrogant and rude and I don’t know why you’d think I’d know you or why on earth you’d think I’d want to come on to you. Who are you anyway? No—’ She slashed a hand through the air. ‘Don’t tell me—I don’t want to know.’ And flipped her visor down.

She hadn’t given him so much as a microsecond to open his mouth. Jordan leaned back in his seat and watched her walk—rather, stalk—to the decrepit-looking scooter in front of him. She was even smaller than he’d thought and dressed entirely in black leather now with a lumpy backpack on her shoulders. So … He’d got under her skin, had he? Was she itching all over with the memory of that kiss?

He damn well hoped so.

Because he hadn’t been able to rid himself of the feel of her compact body against his. Because she’d distracted him during an important conference call. Because she’d made him forget his coat, which was why he was back here at two o’clock in the morning.

And she was going to give him an exceedingly restless night.

Her scooter sputtered into life and took off down the street in a cloud of fumes. He gave her—and himself—a minute, then pulled away from the kerb and headed for home.

A short time later, he caught sight of her again when he drew up behind her at a red traffic light. The lights changed and she zoomed off ahead, her hair streaming behind her from beneath the helmet. Dammit—he wanted a chance to apologise, preferably while running his hands through that silky gold.

And that was the thing; he didn’t go for blondes—especially small mouthy blondes. He preferred his women tall and dark, poised and sophisticated. But he’d felt the tiny quivers running through her limbs, the surprising fit of her small body against his. The fury in her eyes, all the more eloquent for its silence.

An almost-grin tugged at his lips. Any other night he might have enjoyed the challenge—a night to slake his lust with a nameless woman. A woman who didn’t know him. A feisty woman who’d give as good as she got. He had a feeling the little surprise package riding ahead of him ticked all three boxes.

But his conference call to Dubai hadn’t gone as well as he’d hoped and his fist tightened on the steering wheel. Yes, he could have done with a bloody good distraction.

Suddenly, without warning, she veered to the side of the street. By the time Jordan had pulled over and climbed out with the honourable intention of asking if she was okay, she was standing on the footpath, helmet in hand, windswept hair tangled around her face, expression stony. Her free hand was curled into a fist and tapping against her thigh. Music floated from an all-night jazz bar nearby. A light rain misted the air.

‘So I can add stalker to my list.’ She shuffled her feet on the concrete, drawing his attention to clumpy knee-high boots.

He raised his hands to shoulder height. ‘I’m on my way home. Forgot my coat earlier.’

She rolled her eyes. ‘R-i-ght.’

‘Look, I—’

‘No, you look, whoev—’

‘Stop!’ He jabbed the air with a finger. ‘Give me a chance to open my mouth, will you?’

A beat of silence filled the air between them. ‘Fine.’ She huffed out a breath, her spine stiff, mouth tight. ‘Say what you have to say and leave.’

‘This is my usual route home. I am not following you. And I will not follow you.’ He paused, hopeful. ‘Unless you ask me to.’

She didn’t reply but he imagined he saw the tiniest glimmer of that earlier heat in her eyes, instantly doused.

‘Though I do have to ask,’ he continued carefully, ‘are you sure it’s safe for a woman to be riding that thing alone late at night?’

‘I don’t need a bodyguard.’ She glanced skywards. ‘And I’d like to make it home before I drown.’

‘Think that’s possible?’ He glanced at the scooter. ‘That’s not the most reliable-looking transport I ever saw.’

‘The Rolls is in for a service.’ She flicked at her dampening hair as the rain thickened but there was a touch of humour around her mouth and her voice had lost some of its sting.

‘My name’s Jordan. Jordan Blackstone.’

She studied his face a moment. ‘Should I have heard of you?’

‘Dana knows me,’ he said, then, ‘I’ve had one hell of a night, and I know you have.’ He gestured to the nearby bar. ‘I’ll buy you a nightcap. I think we could both use one.’

‘I don’t drink and drive on an empty stomach, ‘specially when I’m tired.’

‘Coffee, then.’

‘Thanks, but no, thanks.’ She turned towards her bike.

Something inside him snapped—he didn’t want to be alone tonight. He didn’t want to go home and think about his messy situation. And he wasn’t used to women turning him down cold.

‘Wait.’ He reached out, his hand encircling her wrist, keeping his touch light, giving her a choice. Her eyes widened at the contact but she didn’t pull away. The tip of her head barely reached his shoulders, arousing his protective instincts. ‘Is anyone expecting you?’

She hesitated. ‘No. But my housemates will know if I’m … late.’

‘What’s your name?’

‘Chloe.’

‘Chloe.’ He smoothed his thumb over the delicate skin at her wrist, felt her rapid pulse thrumming in time with his own. ‘I want a chance to explain about earlier.’

She shook her head but left her hand in his, confusing him further. ‘Why?’ Dark eyes skewered into his. ‘It wasn’t as if it was memorable or anything.’

That brought a smile to his lips. ‘You enjoyed it as much as I did.’ He couldn’t resist; he shifted closer, smelled leather and spice and warm woman.

She didn’t back away and he heard the tiny hitch in her breath, saw the flare of heat in her eyes even as she said, ‘You really are an arrogant piece of w—’

‘Ring Dana. If anything happens …’

‘Nothing’s going to happen.’ She withdrew her hand and pointed up the street. ‘See that neon sign? I’m going to sit down in there in the nice bright public light where there are people and eat a burger.’ Then she pulled on her helmet.

He watched her shapely black-clad legs, the curve of her backside as she climbed onto her scooter, and his groin hardened at the mental image of her astride him, thighs clenched around his hips, her head thrown back in passion as she tangled her fingers in her own hair and shouted his name. His blood simmered and smoked in his veins. I could give you the ride of your life.

She didn’t so much as glance his way before she zoomed off. Which was probably a good thing.

But it was a clear invitation and he jumped into his car and followed. The evening might not end so badly after all.