Page 41 of Bride Under Contract

‘Yet he went ahead?’

‘I guess he considered I was a risk too. He was perhaps worried I’d sell it...turn it into a resort.’

‘Would you?’

‘No—and I told him that. I said he should set up a trust. The locals know what needs doing. At most I expected to keep an eye from a distance...’

Once again she had him drifting from the point, he thought.

‘There was a caveat in his will, though—if I marry here in Borneo, and remain married for a year, then I’ll have the opportunity to buy my cousin out.’

‘Do you have to live here for a year?’

‘No, just marry here.’

‘Was your grandfather controlling?’

‘No.’ He smiled at her odd response. ‘He was an old romantic. I told him, clearly, that I would never marry for the sake of this place.’

‘Did he put in the same clause for Benedict?’

‘God, no. He’d be about to celebrate his one-year anniversary if that were the case.’

For Grace, there was something rather dreamy about sharing a delectably sweet breakfast with Carter and watching the jungle come to life. The birds were singing long before the sun spread its fingers of light. And as the violet sky merged into a vivid magenta laced with rose-gold, she saw that for once it wasn’t heavy with rain. Even the few wisps of cloud were already burning off, and the morning was revealing itself to be clear and blue. The chatter from the jungle was loud, and she could almost see the trees stirring, teeming with life.

‘Where’s the resort from here, again?’

‘That way.’ He pointed.

‘I can’t even see the river.’

‘You have to be higher up and closer to properly see it, though you can catch a glimpse of it.’

As she looked out there was a loud caw, a flock of birds rising, and then a rare silence fell—one only the jungle could provide.

Grace had noticed it—the sudden hush, as if everything had been placed on mute.

‘There’s a predator,’ Carter said. ‘The birds are giving a warning.’

‘What sort of predator?

‘Take your pick. A leopard, a snake...’

And if he was going to ask her to consider being his wife for a year, then he had to at least attempt to tell her why this inhospitable place mattered...even if he’d rather it did not.

‘I was found close to there.’

She glanced up.

‘Where you just saw those birds go up.’

‘Found?’

‘I was missing for a week after my family were killed. It was assumed I’d also died.’

‘A week?’

Grace stood, the gorgeous breakfast forgotten, and went and gazed out from the balcony to look at the glimpse of river near the resort. He watched as she tried to follow the route they had taken last night, back to here. Then she looked to where he’d been found.

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