Page 69 of Bride Under Contract

He loved the sounds of a city—any city. Usually they drowned out the thoughts in his head. But now all he could see was the sight of her strained features. And, no matter how self-sufficient he chose to be, he knew that Grace was close to her friend and that they relied on each other. He wasn’t used to that. Not just for himself...all the women he generally dated would know the score.

This was a business decision.

He thought of Arif, impatient at eight, wanting to know what had happened to his friend.

Of Bashim telling him to give it time.

And, no, he’d never been ready to talk to his friend...

Yet here he was, taking that right away from Grace.

Damn.

He took the elevator up, walked back into the meeting room where she sat, taking a long drink of water. And the ridiculous thing was that he missed her small smile when he entered. The tiny moments of eye contact they had started to share. The feeling they were both in this together.

It would seem that he had the business meeting he wanted.

‘Are we ready to resume?’ Jonathon checked.

‘Sure,’ Grace responded.

‘It’s a standard agreement,’ Jonathon started. ‘And not just for your own protection. If the press or Benedict attempt to approach your family or friends, this ensures they don’t know anything.’

‘I understand,’ Grace responded, her voice almost a monotone, but she frowned when Carter spoke.

‘Add an exclusion...’ He turned to Grace, and knew he didn’t even need to ask if she trusted her friend—she’d already told him her life’s regret was a brief moment in time when she’d doubted her, simply to save herself from the reality of facing her mother’s diagnosis. ‘What’s Violet’s surname?’

‘Lewis.’

Jonathon was less than willing, pointing out that Violet would need to agree to sign her own NDA, that there was no guarantee otherwise.

‘Violet Lews is to be excluded at Grace’s discretion.’

‘The consequences remain,’ Jonathon warned.

She must really trust her friend, Carter thought as finally, one hour and forty-seven minutes after the meeting had commenced, Grace picked up her pen.

Now came the hard part.

He glanced up as Jonathon took his jacket off.

It would be some considerable time till they were alone...

If Grace lasted that long!

CHAPTER TEN

‘WELL DONE,’ CARTER SAID, steering Grace, who was almost fizzing with silent anger, to the elevator.

It was close to midnight as they left the restaurant, having had a long dinner with Jonathon and his wife.

Somehow she had held her temper and made notes throughout the long meeting. Somehow she had not stood up and walked out as extremely intimate details had been discussed. Then, the audacity of having to sit through dinner!

No room full of candles was going to fix this, she thought, as they stepped into the suite.

‘DNA!’ She was as close to slapping another person as she had ever come as—now they were in private—she raised the points that had hurt the most. ‘I thought the NDA was bad enough, but...’ She looked at him in abject fury. ‘You laughed when he said you’d insist on a DNA test and I had to just sit there.’

‘I did not laugh,’ Carter corrected. ‘I smothered a smile.’ He took her by the arms. ‘Grace, he was just saying that if you are already pregnant...’

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