Page 39 of The Marriage Auction 2: Part 1

“I, Memphis Taylor, understand the terms and agree as set forth in my contract. I am committed to marrying the womanwho bids highest for my hand in marriage. I am not being coerced or forced in any way.” He finished with a bright smile.

“This is ridiculous,” I hissed under my breath as Alana approached me with an old-as-dirt handheld recorder.

“Darling, you’ve watched every last person here give me verbal confirmation. I expect no less from you. If you want to leave…”

“Yes, I know. The door is over there.” I let out a long sigh. “Fine. My name is Julianne Myers. I willingly agree to marry the highest bidder in tonight’s auction. I was neither coerced nor forced to enter The Marriage Auction. Happy?” I asked.

“Oui.” She clicked a button, turned around, and faced the entire group. “Let’s breathe together,” she instructed, taking the group through a yoga-style breathing method for a few minutes.

It actually did help calm my irritation. Usually when I was nervous on the inside, it manifested as frustration on the outside. Alana would know that and was being kind not to call my ass out on my bitchy behavior.

Jade entered the room, a frown marring her pretty features. “Madam, I must speak with you.” She shifted from foot to foot.

“What is it, Jade?” Alana asked as she approached her mentee.

“Um, I made a grievous error. I accidentally made the start time the same for both auctions. Now all of the bidders are already here for Julianne’s private event and the others are also here for the primary one.”

“They’re all here now? At the same time?” she clarified.

My heart started beating wildly behind my chest. Very soon I was going to be leaving here with a stranger. A man I was supposed to marry and share my body with, regardless of whether or not there was an attraction or even a remote connection. I clamped my jaw shut, forcing myself to stay quiet and not interrupt. This was Alana’s world, and I would do well toremember that. She was helping me, not the other way around. And she wasn’t even taking a commission on my auction—even though I tried to fight her on that choice. She planned to give me her cut on top of whatever I brought in. Somehow I’d find a way to give that money back. I mentally planned to talk to my godfather about it in the future.

“I’ll handle it,” Alana stated flatly.

“I’m really sorry. The hotel is preparing the primary auction room now. Many of the bidders are already in the meet-and-greet space having hors d'oeuvres and cocktails. What do I do?” Jade’s voice shook.

Alana reached an arm out and put it over Jade’s hands where she was fidgeting. “Go into the meeting space. Tell them we have some very exciting candidates, but we are experiencing an unfortunate delay. Encourage them to drink freely at the open bar and assure them the wait will be worth it when they see the lineup we have tonight.”

Jade’s shoulders dropped. “Thank you, Madam. I apologize. It will never happen again.”

Alana smiled gently. “We learn through making mistakes,chéri. Now go. I’ll take Julianne.”

Jade nodded and bolted out of the room so fast you’d have thought fire was licking at her sky-high stilettos.

Alana spun around to face the group, a smile plastered across her face. She put her hands together in front of her chest in a prayer position. “As you likely heard, we are experiencing a scheduling snafu. Julianne, you will be auctioned first. As for the rest of you, I will have champagne brought in. Relax, freshen up, use the restroom, and mentally prepare yourself for your entire life to change tonight.”

The rest of the candidates looked at me sideways, but I didn’t care. I was very used to being the center of attention, good or bad. When you were the vice president of one of the mostsuccessful real estate firms around the globe, and also happened to be a woman under thirty, dirty or suspicious looks were par for the course.

“Come,ma petite fleur. Let’s get you a husband,” she cooed and offered me her hand.

I placed mine within her much smaller one and let her lead me out of the room and down a long hallway.

“So you’re not going to give me any information or even the slightest hint as to what I’m going to be up against?” I asked, my tone expressing my concern.

She shook her head. “That is not how this works, Julianne. I’ve already done something outside of the box by hand choosing the five prospective bidders. Christophe was shocked.”

I snort-laughed imagining my godfather being told that I wanted to enter the auction. “He’s not disappointed in me, is he?”

Alana came to an abrupt halt. I teetered for a moment, the fabric of my long, slinky white dress fluttering around my ankles and sexy-as-sin strappy Manolo Blahniks. The dress was stunning and fit me beautifully. It had spaghetti straps and was made of light, silky material that clung to my curves but didn’t dig in. The dress shimmered like diamonds but there was no beading or sequins anywhere to be seen. The way the material caught the light tricked the eye. It honestly could have been a sexy wedding dress, which felt rather appropriate seeing what I was about to do.

“Christo could never be disappointed in you,chéri. He is concerned about you, Brenden, and Giovanni. His heart is broken for all of you. However, he did try to encourage me to convince you to accept the money you need from us personally.”

I shook my head avidly. “Hell, no! There is no way I’d accept millions of dollars as a gift from my godparents.”

“A loan then?” Alana tried for the fifth time.

This very issue had been a point of contention between us leading up to this moment. One I very much wanted to nip in the bud. “No. I said no. I understand that you and Christophe mean well.”

“We love you very much, Julianne. We are your family. When your mother and father bestowed upon Christo and I the gift of being your godparents, we took that responsibility seriously.” Her dark gaze focused so intently on me that I swear she was touching my very soul with her affection.

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