To Become A Bride

‘I realise that,’ Rome groaned in a pained voice. ‘It’s just that— This isn’t the sort of thing you can just blurt out over breakfast one morning!’ he rasped impatiently.

Audrey sighed. ‘I know, but if I’ve been able to guess…’

‘Yes, yes,’ Rome muttered heavily. ‘I will tell them. But in my own time,’ he said grimly. ‘I have to get used to the idea myself first!’

‘I know, Rome,’ Audrey returned huskily. ‘I do know. I just— Oh, Rome!’ she choked emotionally. ‘It will only be a matter of weeks before they all realise—’

‘It’s all right, Audrey,’ Rome soothed, appearing to be the comforter now. ‘It will be all right, you’ll see.’

Danie couldn’t stand and listen to any more, hurrying from the house, closing the door softly behind her, loath to let her father or Audrey know she had heard any of their conversation.

Weeks…! My God, did that mean—? Was her father—?

She didn’t care whether Jonas Noble wanted to see her again or not—he was damn well going to. Because she was determined to get some answers from somewhere—and at the moment Jonas Noble seemed to be the man who had them all!

It was warm and comfortable in the back of the Rolls Royce, and Jonas could feel the effect of that warm comfort as his eyes once again began to close sleepily. Thank goodness it was the weekend and he could sleep in late tomorrow.

You’re getting too old for this, Noble, he told himself. One sleepless night had reduced him to being almost a walking zombie. Almost, he smiled to himself sleepily. He had been awake enough to visit his patient today.

And he had certainly been awake enough to appreciate the beautiful, if caustic, Danie Summer!

He shook his head as it rested back against the leather seat, smiling slightly, his eyes closed. Not a woman to be trifled with, he decided, knowing that she believed he had done exactly that. And had resented him intensely for it. He—

‘I’m going to pull over, Mr Noble,’ Charles announced from the front of the car, glancing in his driving mirror as Jonas opened his eyes to look across at him. ‘Miss Danie seems to want a word,’ Charles added helpfully.

Miss Danie—!

Jonas sat up straighter in his seat, turning to look out the back window of the car. But as far as he could see, ‘Miss Danie’ was nowhere to be seen. There was only a motorbike behind them, a huge monster of a black machine, with its rider bent low over the handlebars—

Jonas narrowed his eyes to look more intently at the driver of the powerful black bike, instantly recognising the deep green eyes that could be seen clearly beneath the black crash-helmet.

When she wasn’t flying planes, it seemed Danie Summer rode a motorbike that looked powerful enough to crush her if it fell on her! Not that it ever would, Jonas decided; it wouldn’t dare!

A woman who liked to live life dangerously, he decided.

He turned to sit patiently in the back of the car while Charles got out to talk to Danie. The back passenger door opened seconds later and Danie Summer herself climbed into the back of the vehicle to sit beside him.

Jonas raised dark brows as he looked at her. She had taken off the black helmet, releasing that cascade of flamered hair. The black leathers she wore seemed moulded to the curves of her body—and very sexy it looked too, Jonas realised as he felt a faint stirring of his own body in response to such feminine perfection.

‘To what do I owe the honour?’ he prompted sarcastically, annoyed with himself for his own reaction to this woman. Beauty, he knew, was only skin deep; Danie Summer was the most outspokenly rude woman he had ever had the misfortune to meet.

Her mouth twisted derisively. ‘You forgot to say goodbye,’ she murmured huskily.

Jonas looked at her through narrowed lids. He didn’t believe for one moment that was the reason she had followed him. Although it was becoming patently obvious that was exactly what she had done…

‘Goodbye, Danie,’ he said.

She smiled. ‘Very politely delivered, Jonas.’

He gave an acknowledging inclination of his head. ‘My mother made a point of instilling good manners into all of her children,’ he returned.

Danie nodded. ‘But does it have to be goodbye?’ She quirked dark brows, eyes gleaming brightly.

With what, Jonas wasn’t sure. A cross between challenge and flirtation, he thought; although the latter seemed unlikely in the circumstances!

He eyed her warily now. ‘What did you have in mind?’ he asked slowly.

Danie shrugged, colour heightening her cheekbones even as she spoke. ‘I was wondering if you would have dinner with me this evening?’

Jonas drew in his breath quickly. He wasn’t fooled for a moment into believing this young woman really wanted to have dinner with him—her motives for the invitation, in view of her earlier curiosity concerning the reason for his visit to her family home today, were all too obvious!—but at the same time, he was intrigued in spite of himself…

‘In a word—no,’ he told her bluntly, his gaze becoming amused as he saw the way angry colour suffused her cheeks now; obviously not a young lady who was used to hearing that particular word!

She swallowed hard—doing her best to swallow down a blistering response at the same time!—eyes flashing with resentment. ‘Why not?’ she demanded.

Jonas smiled at the return to her previous bluntness. She certainly hadn’t been able to maintain that air of flirtatiousness for long! But, he realised, he thought he preferred her rudeness; it was certainly more honest, and at least he knew where he stood!

And there was no denying that Danie was amazingly beautiful…

‘I wasn’t saying no to dinner, Danie, just not tonight,’ he heard himself say. ‘It probably hasn’t escaped your notice, but I’m having trouble keeping my eyes open!’

Her anger at his refusal rapidly faded, to be quickly replaced by scorn. ‘Of course.’ She nodded. ‘You mentioned earlier that you had very little sleep last night.’

And, of course, she had already drawn her own conclusions concerning that sleeplessness.

Jonas gave an inward smile at the knowledge. Not that he hadn’t had relationships in the past, and they had certainly quite often involved getting a minimum of sleep, but this particular period of time there wasn’t a woman in his life. Nor had there been for some while. Mainly because he had found he was tired of relationships that seemed, ultimately, to be leading nowhere.

In fact, he had found himself doing quite a lot of soul-searching in recent months. He enjoyed his work, and good relations with his mother, and his sisters and their respective families, but just lately he had wondered if there wasn’t something missing from his own life, had found himself possessed of a restlessness that neither his work nor his family could assuage.

But maybe it was the fact that there wasn’t a woman in his life at the moment that had caused that restlessness in the first place!

While he didn’t think having dinner with Danie Summer would help that situation, he had no doubts it would prove entertaining.

‘Tomorrow evening, however, would be no problem—if that would suit you?’ he suggested.

And then wondered if he weren’t making a big mistake. While she might be breathtakingly beautiful, he hadn’t particularly liked Danie Summer so far in their acquaintance, and he was halfway sure she shared the feeling. Halfway? Damn it, she had given every indication she heartily disliked him!

Tomorrow evening should be fun, Jonas thought. If Danie accepted… Which, right now, she seemed to be having difficulty doing, Jonas noted shrewdly. From what Rome had told him about his daughters, Danie wasn’t married, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have someone in her life. Which might make seeing him tomorrow evening something of a problem…

Well, that was her problem, Jonas dismissed. If she could offer to see him this evening, then she could make it tomorrow evening instead.

Unless she just didn’t like the delay of twenty-four hours…?

Which was probably more than likely the case, Jonas decided. Danie Summer had come over to him as an ‘instant’ person. If something needed doing, then deal with it now, not later. Which probably accounted for the way she had followed him on her motorbike!

‘Well?’ he prompted impatiently; his own time, as he had told her earlier, was no less valuable than was her own, or her father’s, and quite frankly he had used up enough of it on this family for one day. Besides, falling into bed—alone—beckoned.

Those green eyes flashed her anger once more before it was quickly brought under control. Danie even went so far as to force a smile to those poutingly inviting lips. ‘Tomorrow evening will be fine,’ she answered in measured tones. ‘In fact, it will probably be better,’ she continued as she warmed to this change of plan—her plan! ‘I’m sure I’ll have no problem booking us a table at my favourite Italian restaurant on a Sunday evening.’

And Jonas was sure, if Danie decided to eat at her favourite Italian restaurant on New Year’s Eve without a booking—one of the busiest evenings of the year—that a table would be found for her somehow! There was about her an assured arrogance that would ensure not too many people said that word no to her…

So it came as no surprise to him either that Danie would be the one to book the restaurant. ‘What time do you intend picking me up?’ he enquired tauntingly, laughing softly as she looked momentarily nonplussed at the suggestion. ‘I usually call and collect the people I’ve invited out to dinner,’ he informed her.

Danie looked irritated at the reminder that she had been the one to do the inviting. ‘Would seven-thirty suit you?’ she said tautly.

‘That depends on what time you book the table for.’

Her mouth tightened at his deliberate awkwardness. ‘How about eight o’clock?’

‘Then seven-thirty will be fine,’ Jonas returned, enjoying her momentary discomfort. Momentary—because he was sure she wouldn’t remain disconcerted for long! ‘In fact,’ he went on softly, ‘I’ll look forward to it!’

It was obvious from her expression that Danie didn’t share the sentiment.

Jonas laughed to himself. He did not think Danie was the answer to the restlessness that had been plaguing him recently, but she had certainly brightened up what might otherwise have been a very arduous day. In fact, he was even starting to look forward to continuing another verbal fencing-match tomorrow evening!

He glanced down at the plain gold watch on his wrist. ‘If you’ll excuse me, Danie,’ he told her briskly. ‘I have another patient to see before I call it a day.’

Impatience once again flared in those revealing green eyes at his obvious dismissal, only to be dampened down again as she made an effort not to lose the fiery temper he had already glimpsed more than once today.

‘You’re certainly kept busy,’ she finally replied.

‘Unfortunately, I don’t very often get flown around in luxurious planes!’

‘Where exactly do you work?’ Danie asked casually.

She would never make it in the diplomatic corps, Jonas concluded; she was as transparent as glass. ‘Here and there,’ he answered enigmatically, having to stop himself from laughing out loud this time at the angry frustration she wasn’t quick enough to hide.

‘Then I had better not keep you any longer,’ she said, bending to pick up her helmet and leather gloves from the carpeted floor where she had placed them earlier.

‘Haven’t you forgotten something?’ Jonas reminded her as she threw the car door open with her usual impatience.

She turned back to him, looking puzzled. ‘I don’t think so…?’ She shook her head, red hair framing the loveliness of her face.

So much perfect beauty, Jonas mused. What a pity her only reason for wanting to see him again was the hope of trying to get him to be less than discreet about his visit to the Summer estate today…! A wasted hope, he was afraid, but it would be interesting to see how she went about it…

‘You have no idea where I live,’ he told her, taking a pen and small notebook from the breast pocket of his jacket, quickly writing down his address before ripping the sheet from the pad and handing it to her. ‘I’ll be ready and waiting at seven-thirty tomorrow evening.’

Danie shoved the piece of paper in the pocket of her leather jacket, obviously annoyed with herself at the oversight. ‘I’ll try to be on time,’ she snapped before getting out of the car and slamming the door shut behind her.

Charles had barely had time to get back in behind the wheel of the Rolls Royce before the black motorbike, Danie bent grimly down over the engine, shot past them with a roar, then rapidly disappeared into the distance.

Jonas relaxed back onto his seat, a smile playing about his lips. Danie Summer’s tongue was as sharp as a knife, and she had an arrogance that bordered on contempt. But she was also incredibly beautiful, and the most intriguing woman Jonas had met for a very long time. If ever!

What a pity her only reason for wanting to see him again was the selfish one of wanting to know why he had been to see her father today.

And what a pity—for Danie!—that she was going to be unsuccessful!

CHAPTER THREE

‘DRESSED to kill’, she believed it was called. Danie studied her reflection in the mirror. The short green sequinned dress clung so lovingly to her body that she could wear only the minimum of clothing beneath it; she had dispensed with a bra altogether, and her panties were of the sheerest silk. Her hair was loose about her shoulders, like a rippling flame—red, with the merest hint of gold as it shimmered down her spine.

She had applied a little more make-up than usual, too—in fact, she didn’t usually bother with it at all!—her lashes long and silky, her eyes outlined with black kohl, giving them a look of wide innocence, her cheekbones aglow with blusher, the deep red gloss on her lips a match for the colour of her hair.

If Jonas Noble didn’t find her appearance attractive, then he simply wasn’t a normal flesh-and-blood man!

She had been so irritated when he’d refused her invitation to dinner yesterday, even more so when he’d then suggested they meet over twenty-four hours later. She had wanted to know what was going on then, not the next day!

But, in retrospect, the delay had been fortuitous. She’d had time to calm down, to collect her thoughts, to think rationally about how she was going to go about finding out the reason for Jonas’s visit to her father yesterday. And the only problem with the plan she had come up with, that she could see, was if she would be able to hold on to her temper long enough to try and seduce the information out of him!

She knew Jonas found her attractive, had seen his admiration for her looks in his face. There was no doubting the fact that he was handsome enough himself for her not to find flirting with him too arduous a task. It was the fact that he also annoyed her intensely that could pose a problem!

Besides, finding her physically attractive and actually being attracted to her as a person were two entirely different things—and Jonas had given every indication that he found her as irritating as she found him!

Not exactly a recipe for success, she acknowledged ruefully. Oh, well, she would just have to set about changing his opinion of her…

If she could have done this any other way, then she would have. She had gone back to the estate earlier today intending to talk with her father, only to find that he and Audrey had driven up to Scotland in preparation for a deal he was to complete there early tomorrow. Andie had also gone—back to her apartment in town, Danie assumed. Which was no help at all; Danie still had no intention of worrying either of her sisters with this until she was more sure of her facts.

Jonas Noble alone, it seemed, was the only person available to give her them…

Time to go, she decided firmly, picking up her small evening bag before throwing a light black cashmere wrap about her shoulders; she didn’t want to add tardiness to the list of faults Jonas had no doubt already found in her!

The address he had given her was in Mayfair. But she had expected to find Jonas owned an apartment, and the tall imposing three-storey house came as something of a surprise to Danie. Obviously, whichever field of medicine Jonas Noble had chosen to go into, it was very lucrative!

Jonas looked absolutely stunning in a black dinner suit and snowy white shirt, Danie discovered a few minutes later, when he opened the door to her ring on the doorbell!

The suit was obviously tailored to his broad shoulders, narrow waist, and long legs, the white of the shirt showing that he had a healthy tan. But it was his face, no longer looking fatigued, that took Danie’s breath away, the hard planes once again softened by the warmth of his deep brown eyes.

Perhaps seducing this man wasn’t going to be so easy after all—for her own peace of mind; she might actually find herself genuinely attracted to him!

‘Danie Summer, I presume?’ he drawled, obviously mocking the change in her appearance from her workman-like garb of yesterday.

Steady, Danie, she warned herself as she instantly felt a flash of anger at his derision. ‘Jonas Noble, I presume?’ she returned with dry sarcasm at the change in his own appearance.

He smiled, eyes crinkling at the corners with genuine amusement. ‘You’re exactly as I remembered you, Danie!’

She wished she could say the same! But now that he was no longer exhausted by lack of sleep, showered and decked out in his own finery, relaxed with the prospect of the evening ahead of them, Jonas Noble was dangerously attractive!

She gave a nod of her head. ‘I’ll take that as a compliment,’ she returned—knowing it had been no such thing; Jonas’s remark was obviously referring to the sharpness of her tongue. Then she had better not disappoint him! ‘Are we going to stand here on the doorstep all evening, or are you ready to leave?’

His grin deepened. ‘I wonder if you would like to come inside for a drink before going to the restaurant?’

She was disconcerted enough by the change in his appearance and demeanour without finding herself alone in this beautiful house with him. She definitely would feel more comfortable going straight to the restaurant. Although she couldn’t help feeling an inner curiosity about his bachelor home…

‘Perhaps we could come back for coffee after our meal?’ she suggested as a compromise—if she hadn’t managed to wheedle the information she wanted from him during the meal, perhaps she would stand more chance in the intimacy of his home…

‘Perhaps we could,’ Jonas agreed, those brown eyes seeming full of laughter now.

At her expense, Danie guessed. Could she help it if this particular man brought out every defence she possessed? Besides, he was intelligent enough to realise that her about-face yesterday had to have a motive of its own!

Which didn’t bother her in the least, Danie mused on the drive to the restaurant. She would think him conceited in the extreme if he hadn’t put two and two together and come up with the right answer. But he was still here, accompanying her to dinner, and that was all that mattered.

‘Danie!’ Marco, the Italian-born, but brought-up-in-England, owner of the restaurant greeted warmly as she entered at Jonas’s side. ‘It’s so good to see you again. And you too, Mr Noble.’ He turned to Jonas. ‘I didn’t realise the two of you knew each other,’ he added speculatively.

‘We don’t,’ Jonas said, shaking the other man’s hand. ‘Yet,’ he amended with an enigmatic glance at Danie.

Danie forced the smile to remain on her lips, determined Jonas shouldn’t see that his remark had caused her any alarm. Even if it had!

She had no intention of getting to know Jonas Noble, tonight or any other night, and his own professionalism should have told him that to do so would be very indiscreet. She totally dismissed the idea that she was behaving less than fairly herself. She wasn’t the doctor in attendance to a member of her family, Jonas was, and if he didn’t feel it was unprofessional to become intimately involved with her, then perhaps he damn well ought to!

‘You are looking as beautiful as ever, Danie—’

‘Cut the flattery, Marco,’ she told the restaurateur shortly. ‘I’ve had very little to eat today, and I’m starving!’ she continued indelicately.

‘You heard the lady, Marco,’ Jonas drawled, taking a light hold of her elbow. ‘I have a feeling Danie is a woman who may turn violent if she isn’t fed! What do you think?’ he bent to murmur softly in Danie’s ear, as they followed a smiling Marco through the noisily crowded restaurant to their table.

She arched dark brows as she turned to look at him from beneath her lashes. ‘I’ve been wondering for years why I seem to have this impatience with the rest of humanity—and you’ve solved the riddle for me only a short time into our acquaintance!’ she said with a sweetly insincere smile.

Jonas laughed huskily. ‘You only “seem” to have impatience, Danie…?’ he returned pointedly.

She shrugged, moving to sit down as he held back her chair for her. ‘Sometimes I’m merely baffled by their lack of imagination,’ she dismissed airily.

Jonas looked admiringly at her across the width of their window table once Marco had left them to peruse the menu. ‘And have you always had an answer for everything?’ he finally said.

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