Page 8 of The Maid's Pregnancy Bombshell

‘But then they’ll expect a proper wedding and I assume you’re not planning on that.’

‘I’m planning a quick civil ceremony—’

‘So how do I explain that when I’m a fairy-tale-bride kind of girl?’

‘You tell them that Ares doesn’t do parties or celebrations.’

‘But that makes you sound really dull, serious and selfish—’

‘I am,’ Ares slotted in without hesitation.

Alana tilted her head back and looked up at him awkwardly. ‘You don’t look or act dull.’

Ares shrugged a broad shoulder, unconcerned by her opinion. Certainly, he wasn’t a fun guy, a prankster or a party animal or even a womaniser. He was a workaholic. His only other interest was working out in the gym and that was only sensible to maintain good health.

‘You’ll need to be ready to leave in the morning,’ he informed her. ‘So, pack tonight.’

‘Tonight?’She gasped. ‘Where am I going?’

‘London to facilitate the rest of the arrangements. I have accommodation ready there for your arrival.’

Alana winced. ‘I didn’t realise everything would be happening so soon. Saying we fell in love at first sight is not likely to work when I only met you first at the wedding—’

‘You say you met me several times here while you were working.’

‘Guests don’tmeetchambermaids.’

‘Youdid. Let your sister think what she wants of that. It scarcely matters in the scheme of things. We won’t be married for very long,’ he pointed out carelessly.

Alana compressed her lips and said nothing. She had to adapt to the truth that, for the next few months at least, her life would no longer be her own to direct. ‘Can’t I tell Enzo and Skye the truth?’

‘I thought you read that contract. You tell a single living soul and you’re in breach of contract,’ Ares reminded her.

CHAPTER THREE

‘YOUCAN’TJUMPinto marriage with some guy you hardly know!’ Skye fired at her younger sister in incredulous disbelief later that same evening.

‘I’ve clarified everything as best I can but I’m an adult,’ Alana forced herself to proclaim even while she had every sympathy for her sister’s feelings on having to listen to such unlikely fabrications as Alana had been forced to tell. ‘Nobody can stop me marrying Ares and I’m leaving with him in the morning. I won’t risk losing him.’

Her sister’s husband, Enzo, studied her anxious face with penetrating force. ‘He made you sign something to keep you quiet. That’s why you can’t explain, isn’t it?’

Stunned by that accurate reading of the situation, Alana paled and then, overwhelmed by relief by his grasp of the situation, she nodded confirmation in haste.

‘What on earth are you talking about?’ Skye demanded.

‘We’re getting fairy stories because shecan’ttalk,’ Enzo guessed. ‘Ares Sarris is notorious for having legal eagles who fire off more non-disclosure agreements than a celebrity’s lawyers do. He’s a very private individual. I would surmise that Alana is entering a marriage with him because he requires a wife for some business purpose?’

Wearily, Alana nodded again and then just dropped her head, not knowing whether to be pleased or aghast at the impressive level of Enzo’s shrewdness. But at that mention of the lawyers’ use of NDAs on Ares’s behalf, she was suddenly worried that she might have leapt from the frying pan into the fire. Had she been too impulsive? After all, in much the same fashion she had signed that loan agreement in haste and nothing good had come of that decision.

‘Does this have anything to do with his sudden desire to buy the hotel from me?’ Enzo queried.

‘It could do. I’m not really sure,’ Alana admitted.

Skye heaved in an audible breath and perceptibly relaxed. ‘But what I don’t understand iswhyAlana would agree to such a thing when she could come to you for any financial help she might need. Do you know what you’re doing right now?’

‘Yes, as far as I can establish stuff,’ Alana reasoned carefully.

‘Is he a trustworthy guy?’ she asked her sister, with a nudge of her shoulder to make her younger sibling look directly at her again.

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