Carole Mortimer - Bride By Blackmail

“Of the emotional kind, if nothing else,” she added decisively as he would have interrupted. “Isn’t it?” she prompted as his mouth thinned angrily.

His jaw tightened, his hands clenched into fists at his sides. “I’m talking about an exchange of—”

“Blackmail, Jed,” Georgie insisted softly.

His eyes flashed silvery-gray. “All right, then—blackmail,” he accepted tautly. “What’s your answer going to be?”

Legally wed,

But he’s never said…

“I love you.”

They’re

The series where marriages are made in haste…and love comes later….

Look out for the next book in the WEDLOCKED! miniseries on sale in December

The Christmas Baby’s Gift

by Kate Walker

Harlequin Presents #2365

Before you start reading, why not sign up?

Thank you for downloading this Mills & Boon book. If you want to hear about exclusive discounts, special offers and competitions, sign up to our email newsletter today!

SIGN ME UP!

Or simply visit

signup.millsandboon.co.uk

Mills & Boon emails are completely free to receive and you can unsubscribe at any time via the link in any email we send you.

June,

a very good friend as well as mother-in-law.

We all miss you.

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

‘YOU didn’t mention that your parents had other guests staying this weekend,’ Georgie remarked interestedly as they drove down the driveway. She could see that not only had Sukie, Andrew’s older sister—by the presence of her sporty little red car—decided to pay one of her rare visits, but that there was also another car parked on the driveway next to Gerald Lawson’s serviceable Range Rover. A gunmetal-grey Jaguar sports car. Very nice!

Although it was only big enough for two people, Georgie decided, which perhaps meant there wouldn’t be too many other guests this weekend. Georgie had only recently become acquainted with her future in-laws—Andrew’s parents and only sister—and they were quite enough to cope with for the moment: Sir Gerald and Lady Annabelle Lawson—Sir Gerald had been knighted two years ago, on his active retirement, at fifty, from politics—and Suzanna Lawson, Sukie to family and friends alike, a model.

‘I wasn’t aware of it myself,’ Andrew answered apologetically in reply to her query. ‘Could just be a—a friend of Sukie’s, I suppose,’ he added disparagingly. There was no love lost between brother and sister. Sukie’s career as a model didn’t sit too well with Andrew’s more serious role as a successful lawyer. Sukie’s bohemian friends didn’t go down too well with him, either!

But, after the battles that had gone on in her own family over the years, Georgie considered the Lawsons quite normal by comparison!

‘A successful one, by the look of the car,’ Andrew continued with appreciation as he parked his black BMW next to the Jaguar. ‘That will make a nice change,’ he added dryly.

Georgie chuckled as she got out of the car, the gravel crunching beneath her shoes—flattish brown court, to complement the brown knee-length dress she was wearing because their time of arrival coincided with dinner.

Tall and slender, Georgie wore her red hair in a short boyishly gamine style, with wispy tendrils on her forehead and at her temples softening the severity of the style. She had clear green eyes slanted beneath auburn brows, and her nose was small and snub, with a dusting of the freckles that often accompanied such fair colouring. A peach lip-gloss softened the fullness of her mouth, and her pointed chin hinted at the determined nature beneath her smile. Stubborn contrariness, her grandfather had once called it…

Her smile faded slightly to be replaced by a perplexed frown, some of the warmth disappearing from the summer evening because of the unwelcome intrusion of thoughts about her grandfather. Though otherwise hers was a contented life.

How could she not feel contented? She had Andrew, dear, sweet, kind, predictable Andrew. Her first children’s book was in print and doing very nicely, thank you. Her apartment was decorated and furnished to her own taste. In fact, almost everything in her life was perfectly sunny at the moment.

Which was usually the time, Georgie knew from experience, when someone decided it was time to send in a rain cloud!

‘Okay, darling?’ Andrew had collected their weekend bags from the boot of the car and was waiting at the bottom of the stone steps that led up to the huge front door for Georgie to join him.

‘Perfect,’ Georgie instantly assured him, very firmly shaking off the momentary cloud that thoughts of her grandfather had evoked. She smiled warmly at Andrew before tucking her hand into the crook of his arm.

At twenty-seven—four years older than Georgie— Andrew was six feet tall, with blond hair that occasionally fell endearingly over his brow and eyes of warm blue in a youthfully pleasant face. A couple of games of badminton a week at the gym that he frequented after work was over for the day maintained his fitness. He owed his successful career as a junior partner in a London law firm completely to the fact that he was good at his job, and not to the fact that he was Sir Gerald Lawson’s son.

Andrew was everything that Georgie wanted in her future husband: pleasant-mannered, considerate, caring, and most of all even-tempered. Completely unlike—

Stop!

Unwelcome thoughts of her grandfather had been quite enough for one evening, without thinking about him too! ‘Your parents and Miss Sukie are in the drawing room, Mr Andrew,’ the butler answered in reply to Andrew’s query, at the same time relieving Andrew of their luggage.

‘The drawing room, no less. Not the family sitting room,’ Andrew murmured ruefully as he and Georgie walked arm in arm through the wide hallway towards the formal drawing room. ‘Definitely not one of Sukie’s less-than-respectable friends, then,’ he teased.

‘Andrew!’ Lady Annabelle greeted him warmly as they entered the room, standing up to rush over and hug her son. She was tiny and blonde, and still very beautiful despite being in her early fifties. Her plain black dress was a perfect foil for her delicate build and fair colouring.

Sir Gerald Lawson had risen at their entrance too, moving forward to kiss Georgie lightly on the cheek before shaking his son warmly by the hand.

An older version of Andrew, Georgie had found Gerald easy to get on with from the first. Annabelle, she was a little less sure of, she acknowledged, even as she stepped forward to accept the other woman’s cool kiss on her cheek.

Although Annabelle was outwardly friendly, Georgie nevertheless sensed there was a certain reserve in her manner towards her. But, to be fair, Andrew was her only son, as well as the ‘baby’ of the family, and Annabelle obviously wanted the best for him. It was up to Georgie to convince the other woman that was what she was!