Page 40 of Bride Under Contract

Then he paused, because if some foods belonged to Borneo, then this breakfast belonged to them, and he would not be partaking with another.

Not that he’d be telling her that.

Instead he moved the conversation to the reason he’d asked her out here—and it was not about sharing a romantic breakfast!

‘Those guys staying at the resort—the loud ones... You were right. Their intention is to turn the place into a film set.’

She pulled a resigned face as she put down the jug. ‘I thought it was just rumours,’ she said. ‘Or I hoped it was.’

She looked at him and he could see the disappointment clouding her eyes.

‘What sort of work do you do—films or...?’

‘I’m an architect.’

‘Oh.’ She gave a small downturned smile. ‘I don’t know what to say.’ She looked at the lovely old banyan tree. ‘Will you keep that?’

‘Grace, it’s my cousin Benedict who’s the one in discussion with them. Arif asked me to come here to try and come up with a plan to stop him.’

‘Phew!’ She gave him a smile. ‘So I don’t have to tie myself to the tree to dissuade you?’

‘You don’t.’

‘Is his surname Bennett too?’

Carter nodded.

‘Well, his parents didn’t put much thought into that.’

He found that he was smiling. ‘True...’ He even gave a small laugh. ‘I’ve never thought of it before. I tend to use another B-word when referring to him. He’s a bastard—always has been. His father was too.’

‘Can you say no?’

‘Of course,’ he nodded. ‘And I have repeatedly. It doesn’t stop their drones going up, though, or their boats going on the water, or Benedict inviting location scouts to wade through the grounds. They want to make some wildlife adventure show—and that’s just for starters. I don’t want to spend the next decade in some protracted legal battle.’

‘Over the house?’

‘It’s the land that’s the real issue. The division goes right up to the resort. When I first heard, I wasn’t that worried. I didn’t think they’d get insurance to film here.’

‘Oh, people pay a lot for danger these days.’

‘It would seem so.’

She smiled then, although not at him, and he turned and saw a tree full of little silverback monkeys.

‘They look like Christmas decorations.’

‘Greedy ones,’ he said, and made a noise to warn off one who was already reaching to jump onto the balcony.

‘So,’ she said, and he saw her trying to tear her eyes from the pretty babies running along the branches, ‘what are you going to do?’

‘Something extreme,’ Carter admitted.

For Carter, marriage was beyond extreme—and yet somehow, this morning, the impossible felt plausible.

Almost logical.

‘My grandfather left the property to us both. I warned him that Benedict was a risk...’

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