"What?" Amaya’s eyes widened. "Are you kidding me?""Do I look like I know how to joke around?" Chase smirked. With their lips so close, so tantalisingly close, and the ever-present heat shimmering between them like an invisible thread binding them despite their time apart, it took a few seconds for his words to penetrate.What the hell is wrong with him? How could she play her like this?When they did, she jerked back, shock rendering her speechless.Her mouth opened and closed as her mind spun with confusion. She could’ve sworn he’d just proposed."Miss Patterson, you heard me."He straightened, and while half of her wanted to clobber him for the ludicrous statement he’d just made, the other half irrationally missed his proximity.He perched on the desk, towering over her."Marry me. That’s my condition.""Are you out of your mind?"She leaped to her feet and stood toe-to-toe with him. "What sort of stupid condition is that? Like I’d ever marry you, like I’d agree to—"The idea didn

Chase couldn’t stand it—he just couldn’t stand it!For weeks, Donna had been ringing every day, then every hour, and now even here on the farm, she’s been bugging him.He picked the mobile up and threw it across the room, but still it rang.He picked up his landline phone and tossed that too.Ah, but soon the emails will come...So with one swoop, he cleared his entire desk of its contents: the computer, papers, his lamp, his coffee, everything, crashing in one swoop, a smash of glass, and chaos, with no relief or reprieve because Amaya walked in."Out now!" he roared at her, but Amaya just stood there, frozen. "Get out!" "NOW!"Except she didn't; she just stood there, eyes wide in shock and then, worse, with tears in them, refusing to leave, refusing to go. So he stormed out of his office.Inside the office, Chase began to pace. Shocked. He would explain.He must explain the sudden outburst.He hadn’t wanted her to see him like that. Chase turned and walked back, calmer now, together

From the moment Amaya left Chase's office, she called the forbidden number of her father after receiving a message from her best friend Mary. Mary insisted on saying hello, but the moment it rang, Amaya knew she’d be recalling old memories. She’d been bracing for this confrontation.However, no matter that she told herself it was ridiculous, no amount of deep breathing, steeling her nerves, or trying to remember how far in the past it all was could calm her in any way as she called her father for the first time in years. She could feel her hands shaking.She paused at the entrance to her own room.Not that her father would ever admit to his seventy years. He’d had work done on his face several times, had hair plugs to arrest a threatening bald patch, and continued to wear designer clothes better suited to a man half his age.But pots of money, cosmetic work, or fancy clothes couldn’t buy health, and that was one thing he didn’t have these days.Five years ago, he tried to guilt her in

"Come on, Amaya, stop thinking too much and stop over-analysing this. Give me your answer and we’ll go from there," Chase asked.With her heart pounding and the heat from his proximity prickling her skin, she wrenched her gaze from his chest within tantalising touching distance and slowly raised it until wavering blue locked with questioning brown. "I told you I'd marry you, but I need to see the contract.""Of course, it's not like I'm signing you into a death sentence.""Exactly my points, Chase. Exactly that.""Wow, I wonder what made you so distrusting that you thought I could trick you into something drastically evil in the contract."Her voice barely above a whisper, she nodded. "Things...Chase, bad things can make someone so distrustful. Bad decisions and regrets...that too.""Hmmm."Chase snuck into the side entrance of his office ten minutes later, not wanting to intrude but driven by curiosity.Since Amaya had agreed to his proposal, she’d morphed into a businesswoman dervis

Lunch had been a quiet affair, and her genuine appreciation for his culinary skills made him feel like a god, yet the underlying tension with every glance and every smile stretched taut between them.While she looked amazing tonight, her fancy top and figure-hugging skirt outlining her body to perfection, a body that beckoned him to trace its contours and feel every gorgeous line, it was more than that.They’d slipped back into the comfortable camaraderie they used to share, and he was thrilled. While he had no illusions about this marriage being anything other than what it was—a convenient business arrangement—it would be so much easier to be friends.Or more than friends, if he was lucky. He wanted her just as badly now as he ever had; the driving hunger was startling and ferocious and capable of sending him bonkers."Are you going to help me or just sit there with that goofy look on your face?" She waved the pen under his nose, and he managed a rueful grin. He’d settle for goofy wh