Page 31 of Reckless Kiss

“Then I’ll marry you,” she said as if she offered to buy a pint of milk.

“You can’t say shit like that.”

“Why not? I could play the role of doting wife. Don’t you think I’m up to the challenge?”

“You have a life, presumably a lucrative one if you can afford to rent all five cottages. So why would you want to marry me?”

“I’ve been married before. Divorced now, so the giddiness and the romance of getting married have gone sour. I thought I was marrying for life. It turns out he didn’t think the same. He proved that marriage is not for forever, so if you need a wife, I can do that.”

“What would you get out of it?”

“Seeing you and your siblings get what you deserve. This island and hell, these houses are big enough that if we start to hate each other, we would never have to see each other. If the Royal Family can do it, then so can we.”

Archer gave her a questioning look. “You’re crazy,” Archer said.

“Maybe so, but you kiss like a dream, so I shall remember your lips forever if nothing else works out.”

Chapter 17

Erica

“What the hell did I agree to?” she whispered when she woke up the following morning.

She pulled the duvet up to her chin so only her face was visible. If Erica was hoping for a reply, none came. The sun was streaming through the crack in the curtain, telling her she was late for her swimming session.

But what if she bumped into Archer?

Did she really agree to be his wife?

Staying as much under the covers as she could, Erica stretched her arm out to snatch her phone from the nightstand. She’d call Yanny and thrash it out with him.

“What’s happened?” Yanny said as soon as he picked up the phone.

“Why do you think something has happened?”

“You never call me. I always have to call you.”

“That’s not true,” Erica replied, thinking of half a dozen times she’d called him in the last month.

“Okay, but it’s unusual to get a call from you when you’re hiding out.”

“I think I’ve agreed to get married.”

Silence drifted down the line.

“Are you still there?” Erica asked, bringing the phone away from her ear to check they were still connected.

“The thing is,” Yanny said, hiding his hysterical laughter poorly. “You’ve recently got divorced, and you said, many, many times, you would never get married again. I saw you two weeks ago. How the holy hell can you be engaged already?”

“Well, the maintenance guy isn’t the maintenance guy. He’s the heir apparent for the entire island. The problem is, for him and his siblings to run the hotel and wedding business, he needs to find a wife, or his old-fashioned aunt won’t sign over the business.”

“Does he know who you are?”

“I don’t think so. Archer says he hates movies and has seen the first ten minutes of one film in his life.”

“Is he hot?”

“Smoking hot.”

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