The Unwilling Mistress Read online

  March looked up at him, no longer bothering to hide the way she felt about him, the love she felt for him shining in her grey-green eyes. ‘Yes,’ she breathed forcefully. ‘Oh, yes…!’

  Will swept her back into his arms, his kiss so poignantly beautiful that March found herself crying once again.

  ‘Hey,’ he raised his head to chide gently. ‘You aren’t supposed to cry at a time like this,’ he teased.

  She wiped the tears away with the back of her hand. ‘I seem to have done nothing but cry the last three days. I thought you had gone, that I would never see you again, that I—’

  ‘It’s over, March,’ Will assured her firmly. ‘I love you—’

  ‘And I love you,’ she told him fervently.

  ‘Then that’s all that matters,’ he told her before he bent his head and kissed her once again, his hands lightly cradling each side of her face as he looked into her eyes.

  ‘My parents are going to love you,’ he said with certainty.

  His parents…!

  She hadn’t given Will’s family a thought, been consumed by the fact that Will loved her as she loved him.

  She still found that hard to believe, knew that she hadn’t exactly been very welcoming when he’d first arrived, even less so since she had discovered his connection to Jude Marshall.

  Jude Marshall…!

  What on earth was he going to think? First his lawyer had defected and intended marrying one of the Calendar sisters, and now his architect was about to do the same thing. The man was going to think it was some sort of Machiavellian plot against him by the Calendar sisters.

  ‘I doubt your current employer is going to be too pleased.’ March grimaced, very much aware that Jude Marshall was Will’s friend as much as anything else.

  Will shrugged. ‘We’ll talk about Jude in a few minutes. I haven’t kissed you nearly enough yet to be able to talk about such inanities.’ He pulled her down into a chair with him, settling March comfortably on his knees before kissing her once again.

  Heaven.

  Sheer heaven.

  And she was going to be with Will for the rest of her life. Nothing, and no one, meant more to her than he did.

  They never would.

  It was a long time later, Will having ordered dinner to be served to them in his hotel suite, that he returned to those ‘inanities’.

  ‘Eat, March,’ he encouraged, touching her hand lightly as she looked at him rather than eating any of the melon and strawberries on the plate in front of her. ‘If just now was anything to go by, we’re both going to need to build up our strength for our honeymoon!’ he added teasingly, rewarded by the becoming blush that highlighted her cheeks. ‘You are adorable, do you know that?’ He chuckled delightedly.

  She shook her head. ‘I still can’t believe all of this is true. I was so miserable earlier when I thought you had completely gone from our lives.’ She gave a shudder of remembered pain.

  Will’s hand tightened on hers. ‘With your agreement, I would like our engagement to be a short one?’

  ‘As short as you like,’ she said instantly. ‘Although I would obviously like my sisters to be present. But as Max and January will be back at the weekend…’

  He couldn’t wait to see the look on Max’s face when he was told of Will’s engagement to March!

  ‘And May?’ he prompted frowningly.

  March frowned slightly. ‘She says she isn’t going to accept the part in the film. I have no idea why,’ she added as Will was about to ask. ‘She just came back from her weekend away and stated quite categorically that she wasn’t going to do it. Which brings us back to the same problem concerning whether or not to sell the farm,’ she realized frowningly.

  ‘Hmm.’ Will got up from the table, moving to pick up the two envelopes that sat on the desk in front of the window. ‘I’ve drawn up two plans here.’ He held up the envelopes. ‘One includes your farm. The other one doesn’t. Which do you think I should submit to Jude?’

  March grimaced as she looked at the two envelopes. ‘Perhaps we should let May choose?’ she said finally.

  ‘Perhaps we should,’ he agreed slowly, putting the envelopes down, knowing there was something else they needed to discuss. ‘March, I live in London most of the time—’

  ‘I know that,’ she cut in reassuringly. ‘May was the one who found out you were still here, and told me about it,’ she said softly. ‘I’m sure she is well aware that if—if the two of us ever got together that I would move to London to live with you.’

  ‘But if January and Max are moving to London too… May can’t run the farm on her own.’ Will frowned. He liked May, liked her a lot, was looking forward to having her as his ‘sister’.

  ‘Who knows, my exhibition may be a wonderful success,’ March told him brightly, ‘and then I can still help May out financially if in no other way. Will, I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out,’ she said determinedly. ‘After all,’ she added mischievously, ‘if you and I have found a happy ending, I’m sure there must be one for May too. After all, having brought the two of us up, she deserves it so much more than January or I do!’

  ‘I’m very fond of May, and I’m sure she deserves to be happy.’ Will reached down and pulled March to her feet. ‘But no more than you do. And I intend to make sure that in future you are very happy, March Calendar, soon-to-be-Davenport,’ he promised huskily.

  ‘I’m already happier than I ever dreamed possible,’ she assured him with a glowing smile, standing on tiptoe and kissing him with all the love she had previously kept hidden behind her prickly exterior.

  Heaven.

  Sheer heaven.

  And he was going to spend the rest of his life with March. Nothing, and no one, meant more to him than she did.

  They never would.

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-7290-7

  THE UNWILLING MISTRESS

  First North American Publication 2004.

  Copyright © 2004 by Carole Mortimer.

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

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