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“You could look less like a woman about to go the gallows about this.” He smiled as he said that, but the fingers on her chin trembled and tension radiated off his large frame in almost palpable waves. “Thank you for agreeing by the way.”
Hannah wrenched her chin out of his grasp and glared up at him. Or tried to at least. It wasn’t arrogant Logan she saw, however, but a man who looked tired beyond belief. For that one brief moment, she saw beyond the mask he wore to the bone-weary, desperate man underneath.
“You didn’t exactly leave me much choice, did you?”
Logan shrugged and sat back down on the desk.
“Perhaps not, but I also knew that little spitfire Hannah would have no compunction at tearing me down a strip, if she didn’t want to do this. You do want to do this, right?”
The slight wobble in his voice made up her mind.
“No, I don’t want to marry you. Why would I? I do want to help Rhia, however, so I will.”
His jaw clenched in response, the only outward sign of his emotions.
“Right, let me guess, you want a generous divorce settlement to—”
“How fucking dare you.” Hannah shot to her feet, interrupting him, and his eyes narrowed in silent scrutiny of her.
“Let’s get one thing straight. I’m not doing this to get at your money. I’m doing this for Rhia, because that little girl needs stability, and being shipped off to live with grandparents she’s never met isn’t going to give her that. And because I know how the system works, and I know your solicitor is right, damn it. It shouldn’t matter that you’re single, but you’ll be in a much better position to be looked on favorably if you’re married or at the very least in a stable relationship. So, yeah, I get that, and I’ll be your trophy wife, but don’t think for one goddamn minute there is any other reason for me to agree to this. I want a prenup, stating exactly what we can expect of each other, and I don’t want a penny of your money once this farce of a marriage will be over, do you hear me?”
She got closer to him in her outrage, and gasped when he buried his hands in her hair, and kissed her. Had he been forceful she probably would have been able to resist him … maybe … but this wasn’t a rough or demanding kiss. No, this was a slow, tender onslaught on her senses, as he ran his tongue along the seam of her mouth requesting entry, varied the pressure and angle of his full, soft lips across hers, until she couldn’t help but kiss him back. He grunted his approval when she opened for him, and then everything else ceased to matter but the feel of their tongues sliding together, as Logan took the kiss deeper. Her hands fisted in his shirt, and his roamed to her ass, lifting her higher to make this whole process easier, as heat seared between them. Desire, need, lust exploded in her belly, consumed her, erasing the last remnants of doubt. No matter what happened between them in this so-called marriage she’d agreed to, they would have this, this overwhelming passion, which made Hannah act so completely out of character, yet she couldn’t bring herself to care about that. She wanted him, he wanted her, and the rest could go hang.
By the time Logan eventually broke their kiss with a soft bite to her bottom lip, they were both breathing heavily. Hannah blinked as reality set back in, surprised that the windows of the office hadn’t steamed up with the heat they’d created between them.
“Fuck, I want you.” Logan’s guttural response made her insides clench in need, even as he gently pushed her back into the chair, and then rounded the desk with the bow-legged walk of a cowboy. Amusement bubbled up inside of her, mixed in with pride that she was responsible for his current state. The long, hard imprint of his arousal tested the buttons of his jeans, and Logan winced as he sat down and adjusted himself. He looked across at her with a wry grin.
“Some things are best left to our wedding night, though, wouldn’t you agree?”
He smirked at her sharp intake of breath, and Hannah wiggled on her chair.
“We don’t have to wait? I mean…”
The heat in his gaze seared her like a physical caress.
“No, we don’t, but I find anticipation makes the eventual consummation so much sweeter. Besides, you’ll be my wife. That makes things different, and I think your time would be better spent getting to know Rhia, don’t you?”
Hannah’s heart gave a lurch at those words. It almost sounded like the real thing, but he didn’t mean that. He just wanted to present a united front to make this whole thing look real, as confirmed by his next words. “You’ll also need to meet my mother, and Claudia. I know she doesn’t respond, but she needs to know you’ll be helping me to take care of her little girl.” His voice thickened with emotion, and Hannah nodded.
“Of course, your mother?”
Logan sighed. “Is alive and well, if rather fragile, and confined to her nursing home. She forgets things easily these days, which is a blessing in disguise in lots of respects.” His jaw clenched, and Hannah fancied she could hear his teeth grind together. “She doesn’t know the whole story. All she does know is that Claudia had an accident, which means I’m looking after Rhia.”
“I see.” Hannah took a deep breath and fought the instinct to reach out to him. “Doesn’t she ask after … you know … your brother?”
Logan’s short humorless laugh sent chills down her spine.
“There are advantages to his being my identical twin. I simply let her believe I’m him, when she confuses us, which happens more and more these days.” He smiled grimly at Hannah’s sharp intake of breath.
“That must be…”
“Fucked up?” Logan asked. “Sure, but it beats having to explain to her that one of her sons is in prison for beating his wife.” He stared into the distance and then smiled. “She’ll love you by the way. Mum is always on at me to settle down and to find myself a nice girl.” He mimicked quotation marks around those two words. “Too bad nice girls never held much interest for me—until now.”
“Because this nice girl is a means to an end, right?” Hannah said, hating the slight wobble in her voice. What the hell was that about? She knew what she was agreeing to. This was a business deal for him with added sexual benefits. He made that perfectly clear, and that’s all she wanted, wasn’t it?
“Yes.”
Hannah couldn’t help her jerk in response, and Logan sighed.
