Page 67 of Bride Under Contract

Carter cut in. ‘I want you to listen to Grace.’

‘Of course,’ Jonathon said. ‘But we shan’t budge—’

‘No.’ Carter interrupted again. ‘She has no one representing her.’

‘Excellent.’

‘There’s a small possibility she’s pregnant—’

Now Jonathon stopped leafing through the preliminary draft. Perhaps he saw Carter’s grim expression, because it was Jonathon who interrupted now. ‘Should the situation arise, it will be dealt with.’

‘Go easy,’ Carter warned.

‘I don’t play softball.’

‘Just...’ Carter made a gesture with his hand. ‘I want the marriage to go ahead. There’s a lot at stake.’

‘Oh, I’m well aware,’ Jonathon warned—and Carter knew he wasn’t referring to the land, more his client’s vast fortune. ‘You need this to be watertight.’

‘And I’m telling you to tread gently.’

Those were his instructions.

It was for the sake of his grandfather’s legacy that he was reining Jonathon in, Carter told himself as he walked back to where Grace sat.

‘Ready?’

She nodded and stood, and he watched as she blew out a breath.

Perhaps, he considered as they walked towards the meeting room, Grace was right. He should have chosen someone more suited to a world of convenient marriages.

They took their seats across from Jonathon and, as always, Carter started to leaf through the documents at his place. Grace sat ramrod-straight.

‘It’s fairly straightforward...’ Jonathon kicked things off. ‘Anything you don’t understand, feel free to interject. First things first, though: we can’t proceed without an NDA.’ He glanced to Carter. ‘Has this already been raised?’

‘It has.’

For something ‘straightforward’, Grace soon found out the devastating price she would pay if she broke her silence. And after reading through the first of the contracts she broke her silence now.

‘All proceeds? A percentage of my future earnings? You know I’m struggling...’ She shook her head and stared aghast at Carter. ‘I’ve already told you I don’t want anyone to know.’

Carter stared ahead. He knew he was an utter bastard in negotiations but he was trying to hold back, so he left Jonathon to do the talking.

‘If you don’t divulge, then there’s no issue.’

On and on Jonathon went, explaining that things could go no further until the document was signed. That it was to protect them both. That Carter’s previous partner had taken out a two-page spread in a magazine...

‘So?’ Grace asked. ‘I’m not carrying the can for something one of his many exes might have done.’

Carter glanced at Jonathon, who’d clearly expected the NDA to be a trifling matter. In truth, so too had Carter—he’d thought this was the easy part!

‘Indefinitely?’ she checked, the reality of that single word dawning. ‘I can never tell anyone?’

‘It’s quite standard,’ Jonathon said.

Not to Grace.

Oh, it wasn’t the wedding, nor even the year they would spend together.

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