The Tycoon’s Convenient Bride (European Tycoon Book 3) Read online

  Her beautiful features seemed to steel over; not to freeze him out, he thought, but to lock inside whatever emotions she was feeling. “I’m pregnant,” she said.

  Two words, and they were all that was needed. Trust Diana to find the most direct path to getting her point across.

  “You’re sure that it’s mine?” He knew in the core of his being that it was, in a way he couldn’t apply logic to, but he heard himself rattling off the expected question anyway.

  Diana nodded. “I wouldn’t have sought you out if I wasn’t sure.”

  Of course. “They’ll want us to do a paternity test anyway.”

  Her elegant eyebrows drew together in confusion. “Who will?”

  “My family. The company.” His thoughts were processing a mile a minute. I’ll call off the engagement, he thought. I have to. Now that I already have an heir in the picture...

  Diana shook her head. “I’m sorry, Tony, I... just laid that on you. No one else knows, except my doctor.” She took his hands in hers. “And no one else needs to know, either. I wanted to tell you as a courtesy. I don’t have your UK number, so I thought... I just thought I’d try to come by and deliver the news to you in person.”

  “Marry me.” The offer was out of his mouth before he could stop it. Diana gasped and tried to pull her hands back, but he held on. “Marry me, Diana. This could be the solution to all our problems.”

  “This is a problem!” she erupted. She looked stricken by her own words, and Tony realized she had likely given voice for the first time to a concern she had been holding back all along. “This baby is... but I can handle it, Tony! I am planning on keeping it, and I’ll worry about the logistics myself as they come. I just didn’t want you to have a son or daughter in the world you didn’t know about!”

  “Hear me out,” he said, gently squeezing her fingers. The more the idea blossomed in his mind, the more it took hold of him. “We get married. We make it a marriage of convenience.” Diana scoffed, but she didn’t try to pull away again, which he took as his sign to charge forward. “There’s so much to be gained for us both, don’t you see? You’ll have access to money and carers—hell, you’ll have an entire castle. All at your disposal.”

  “I don’t want a castle at my disposal!” she stressed. “I want to continue with my work. I want to—“

  “How else will you continue to travel, if you do intend to keep our baby?” he interrupted. “I’m offering you access to unlimited funds.” He dropped his voice, assuming his most persuasive tone—the one that got the company’s investors salivating for whatever scheme he was pitching, every time. “You need a support system, Diana. The kind a husband can provide you. You are aware that I’m wealthy?”

  Diana rolled her eyes, but he had only been half-joking when he’d asked her that. The way she had carried on the entire time he’d known her, it was clear that she was less than concerned about his money... which was maybe something she seriously needed to factor into her own arithmetic at this stage of the game.

  “And what do you get out of this?” She studied him intently with those green eyes. “Won’t being a father hold you back?”

  “The opposite,” he replied. “If you’ll accept my proposal and allow me to publicly announce and prove the existence of an heir, I can end my current engagement and carry on with business.”

  She tucked her chin and pulled her head back in patent surprise. “Won’t your fiancée be heartbroken?”

  “Heart’s got nothing to do with it,” Tony reassured her. “And it will continue to have nothing to do with it, if you’ll agree to it.” He swallowed hard and pressed with what he thought would be a winning argument, considering his knowledge of her. “We don’t have to fall in love, Diana. I won’t tie you down.”

  He could see her still warring with herself over his words and wondered if that was her biggest concern. He knew she valued her personal freedom above all else—except, perhaps, their child. “I don’t want to be a society wife, Tony,” she said at last. “I want to be me. And you’re right: I don’t want to fall in love. As long as you aren’t expecting any of that...”

  “So go through the motions with me. That’s all I ask.” He gripped her hands, feeling himself on the brink of winning her over. “I promise I’ll make it fun.”

  “I do like fun.” She smiled tentatively.

  “So do you accept?” he asked. “You’ll be my wife—in name, at least, if in no other way?”

  “How soon can we get married?”

  Tony grinned in triumph. “It’s your lucky day, love. I just remembered where I left the engagement ring.”

  4

  They were married twenty-eight days later before an authorized registrar, bringing themselves before the eyes of God as soon as the British government would legally allow. On their way to the castle, having been pronounced “man and wife,” Diana joked about their having put the honeymoon before the wedding. Upon their arrival, as he pulled open the heavy oak door to usher her in, she asked if he was going to give her the grand tour of her new home.

  “I don’t know exactly how grand,” he said. “I mean, the castle’s grand enough on its own, but...” Why was he having trouble finding the words?

  "So this is the first tour of your castle you've given?" Diana asked interestedly as they strolled together. She had spent the last several weeks dividing her time between her mother and his. Tony’s mother Constance had a bit of a Pygmalion thing going on, and he was staying clear with Diana’s blessing. Diana had assured him she was game enough to provide the raw clay for his mother to play with... though Tony couldn’t help wondering how long his new bride’s patience might last. His mother could be more than a handful most days, as he had learned from experience, having known her all his life.

  He dropped a glance at his new bride out of the corner of his eye—he couldn't seem to stop sneaking looks at her... which was ridiculous, all things considered. She was his legal wife, for God's sake, yet a part of him still couldn't wrap his head around it. That witty, beautiful Diana Tinsley should be at his side, accompanying him instead of Cecily, carrying his heir—again, instead of Cecily—was almost too good to believe. He had become resigned to the fact that the mother of his child would be a relative stranger to him. Sad, maybe, but it was the truth.

  Diana tipped her head to him and arched an eyebrow in response to his silence, but then he saw her lips twitch, and soon after, a smile bloomed. She had caught him staring—again—but she never chastised him for it. Indeed, he suspected his open admiration had prompted her wide smile.

  She had always struck him as resembling an exotic bird; once upon a time, he had held her close with the understanding that the fairest thing was to let her fly free.

  Was this a tour of his castle... or of her cage?

  "Tony, you never struck me as the strong, silent type," she gently admonished him, breaking the silence between them. It was probably a good thing; the tension had risen palpably between them as if the room he had drawn them into somehow crackled with unseen electricity.

  "I'm certainly one of those things," he countered. Before he could help himself, he had picked his exotic bird up and slung her in a fireman's carry over his shoulder.

  "Tony!" He heard her surprised laugh at his absurdity, but Tony didn't care. Her intoxicating presence brought him back to the man she had met at the beach. Chuckling, he spun them both around until she relented. "All right, I take it back! You've proven yourself with your feat of strength!"

  "I could carry you over a hundred thresholds. It's easy to be strong when your beloved weighs next to nothing," Tony remarked as he let her slip back to the ground.

  Diana settled a hand on her still-flat belly and sighed. "Not for long. I'll be gargantuan before you know it."

  "I look forward to knowing it." Tony moved in closer, giving her other hand a tug. Diana came hesitantly, almost shyly, peeking up at him with those irresistible green eyes of hers. "I look forward to knowing the mother of my child
better."

  "Tony..." Her timid touch enflamed him. His heart raced, and he could feel his pulse pounding in more southerly regions as well. This child, and this marriage of convenience, should have brought them closer together in a shared mission... so why did it suddenly feel as if he were meeting her, wooing her, for the first time? Why was she looking at him as if his mere existence before her both amazed and frightened her?

  He leaned in, intending to discover the answers to his questions on those lush, inquisitive lips.

  But then memory slammed into him, so powerful, he nearly lurched on his feet. He was vaguely aware of the room they’d recently entered—the castle library—but suddenly, his brain had pulled him into the memory of a very different library: his grandfather's.

  His father was there, head bent, taking the brunt of his grandfather's fury. As a child, Tony had at first understood little outside the fact that he had never before seen his father physically humbled. The man's posture had burned itself into his memory. Clinging to the bookcase by the door, eyes wide but dry, he’d taken in every word flung at his father:

  "You've nearly ruined yourself, Anthony! And you've nearly ruined this family! Do you see that now? Are your eyes finally open? All because of—what—love? Do you have any idea what your selfishness has bought you?"

  "I'll fix it, Father. I'll find a way out of this."

  "It's too late, Anthony. I'm the one who’s had to rescue your arse, and this company... and now you are going to cut off relations with this true love of yours and stop talking nonsense about leaving Constance. Let's just hope your son has more sense when he comes of age..."

  Young Tony retreated. No, rather, Tony came back to himself, realizing he had taken a step back from Diana.

  She fumbled to voice the questions that were staring at him from her eyes. "Tony? Is everything all right? Did you... still want to show me the library?" she faltered. It had been apparent to them both that it was not what he’d intended by bringing her here, and certainly not what either of them was most interested in.

  "I've only just remembered." He managed a smile before he could formulate the excuse. "I've got... you wouldn't believe it, but I'd completely forgotten... I have a call to make. Receive. I'm expecting a phone call."

  "...all right?" Diana moved closer to him, recovering some of the ground he had unexpectedly given away, and adjusted his shirt front. "You know you don't have to schedule with me, right? Or even let me in on your schedule if you don't want to."

  Having her this close made his thoughts even more chaotic. "Right. I know that,” he said. He had no idea if he had known that. He hadn’t the faintest inkling if what Diana had just said to him was real permission, or if he should be reading more into it.

  "Our arrangement shouldn't have an impact on our lives in any way, outside of the unavoidable, obvious ways," she continued. "You know I understand that, right?"

  "Right." He felt like an idiot, repeating the same confirmation over and over again. Oddly enough, he thought he saw something in Diana's face that didn't quite align with her words. He reached between them to caress her cheek, and she leaned into his touch as if by instinct. He drew a ragged breath.

  What the hell was the matter with him? He pulled back with a curt nod and moved past her, managing a brisk tone that belied his churning emotions. "Right. Enjoy the library, and of course, feel free to wander. This is as much your home as it is mine now."

  "Right," Diana echoed him as he exited the room.

  5

  "Now don't fuss with it, dear. I'd hate to have to make two appointments with the hairdresser in a single day." Lunch with Tony's mother again, the older woman pressing ever more advice on Diana as they progressed from soup through the dessert course and on to the cheese plate. "Though to be perfectly honest, two appointments are sometimes necessary. Why, I've endured upwards of three or four on days when I had as many events to attend—let me tell you, my scalp has never been angrier with me, but I looked divine..."

  Diana sat across from the woman, properly straight-backed, and reflected that it wasn't her spine in danger of snapping. It was her sanity.

  At least her hair looked good.

  She realized her mind had wandered when she saw her mother-in-law looking at her expectantly. “I beg your pardon?”

  "So how are you and Tony adjusting to castle life?" Constance Harrington smiled and raised an elegant eyebrow as she stirred her tea. The woman was perfect: poised, professional, and sporting a highly specific shade of blonde that left you guessing. She was everything her rarified society required her to be.

  But it wasn't only the Harringtons’ society anymore, Diana reflected miserably as she took up her silver spoon and stirred her own tea. She had taken to actively emulating everything Constance did. "Well, it is a castle," she pointed out. Her joke was as weak as her tea, but at least she could fix the latter; when Constance turned away to dig for something in her purse, Diana quickly dumped three more sugar cubes into her steaming cup.

  Tony's mother turned back to her with a gleaming smile. "Yes, the castle. I thought that was a nice purchase. Certainly more sensible than a trip to Fiji, anyway."

  "Was it?" Diana's smile felt strained at the seams. "Wouldn’t having an entire castle to oneself seem... excessive?"

  "Nonsense!" Constance trilled a laugh, sounding like an expensive bird kept in an aviary all its life. "All of Anthony's contemporaries were doing it."

  His contemporaries? Did she mean his friends? Diana had only met Max, Gavin, and their wives fleetingly, but she found she enjoyed their company more than time spent with some of the others her new life dictated. She wasn't sure yet if she counted Constance among the people she wished to avoid. While she would hate to put her mother-in-law on the avoid list, right now she felt so... uncomfortable. She wanted her hair down and her loose-fitting clothes back. She consoled herself that she had only traded them away for the time being, and that the old Diana could emerge as soon as she was alone again.

  But would she ever truly be alone again?

  Not if Constance Harrington had anything to say about it.

  “Oh, Angelina!" Constance tapped the side of her teacup obnoxiously. "This isn't the best you can do, is it? Please unearth the tea set my son inherited from his father's side of the family. It must be around here somewhere."

  "It's Evangeline," Diana murmured as the young maid nodded in flushed embarrassment and departed, though she might as well be speaking into the void. If she had noticed one thing about her new life, it was that rich people tended to speak to and about their employees as if the latter were part of the furniture. "And this tea set was a gift from Gavin’s wife. I thought you and I could be the first to use it, since—"

  "Oh, but I much prefer the other one for my tea." Constance waved off Diana’s words. "I'm sure Anthony does, too."

  Tony prefers a tar-black cup of coffee, Diana mused. Two, when he's in Fiji.

  "...I think she's only trying to help, Allison," Diana found herself defending her mother-in-law later over the phone to her best friend. She could practically hear Allison shifting her body into a posture of disbelief and pressed on, some obscure sense of loyalty to Tony fueling her defense. "I can see it in her eyes. It's like she's in there, looking out at me past all that makeup and perfect perfume.”

  "You sound crazy, but go on," Allison replied. "Who's looking out at you, Dee?"

  "The woman Constance Harrington used to be!" Diana exclaimed. She flopped back down on her bed (in a room separate from Tony's) and summoned a windy sigh. "I feel like she's trying to signal to me—or at least, teach me everything she knows. Yes, it can be condescending at times... but I think her heart's in the right place."

  "Maybe she looks at you and sees herself when she was younger," Allison conceded. "But Diana, why are you trying to be the new Mrs. Harrington?"

  "Like it or not, I already am," Diana moaned as she rolled over and buried her face in her pillow. At the last second, she remembered to p
ull her phone back to her ear as Allison continued to dole out advice.

  "Well, that's not so bad then, right?" her best friend was asking her. "Not when you're married to Anthony Charles Harrington the Fifth." She affected a posh accent on the last bit, and Diana rolled her eyes.

  "It is when your husband won't speak to you," she muttered. "He looks for every excuse to not spend time with me."

  "Wasn't that what you wanted?" Allison prompted her. "Or maybe that's what he thinks you wanted."

  In truth, Diana herself didn't know what she wanted. She didn't want to be locked in a gilded cage and forced to attend every social function Tony's mother deemed imperative—which was all of them—but she didn't want to be left entirely alone, either. No. What she wanted, who she wanted, was Tony: someone who shared her sense of humor, her lust for adventure. Someone who had, once upon a tropical time, even shared her bed...

  "Are the two of you back to shagging yet?”

  "No!" Diana exclaimed. She flipped over and cemented her phone to her ear so hard it was sure to leave an imprint on her cheek. "I mean... I don't know! Neither of us is thinking along those lines at the moment."

  "Are you suuure?" Allison drawled.

  "You see where shagging Tony got me the first time," Diana muttered. "I'm not eager to repeat that anytime soon."

  "Lucky for you, there's zero biological chance of repeating your situation 'anytime soon'." Allison laughed uproariously as Diana's cheeks crimsoned. "But really, sweetie, why are you venting all this to me? Go talk to your husband, for Pete's sake! At least let him in on knowing what you're thinking... even if you're planning to keep your filthier thoughts under wraps."

  After a few parting words, Diana hung up the call with a sigh. Allison was right. Maybe she was only avoiding confronting Tony about his distance from her because, well... it hurt. She was coming to realize that leading completely separate lives when they weren't on display wasn't what she wanted. At all.