sarkattack
Cadet
What’s love Got to do with it?
Summary: Millionaire Michael Vaughn hired Sydney Bristow to play the perfect wife-to-be at his mother’s birthday party. Sydney was attractive, caring and most important…temporary. But the confirmed bachelor’s growing desire for his borrowed bride soon has him yearning to claim Sydney as his…permanently.
Sydney Bristow was in trouble the moment Michael Vaughn won her at the auction. Pretending to be his fiancée was too much like stepping into a fairy tail she’s been dreaming of since she was six years old. Sydney knew she shouldn’t get too close to the irresistible millionaire, because falling in love was definitely not in the job description.
The highest bidder wins…love!
hope you enjoy this new story. Don't forget to R&R. Thanks. CJ
Chapter 1
“Well, gentlemen, I think I may have found the perfect lady to help me work my miracle.” Michael Vaughn held out a brochure and gestured toward a woman who was heading toward the risers at the Aids Fund Risers from the Pediatric hospital.
“Hmm, very nice in a girl-next-door way, but do you really think will believe that you’re dating her? She’s not your usual style, Mike, is she?” his best friend Eric Weiss asked. “Are you sure you can pull this off?”
“I wasn’t referring to her looks, “Vaughn said, eyeing the dark brown hair and trim figure of the woman in question and admitting that Eric was more than right about her appearance. There was something fresh and untouched about her. And no, she wasn’t his style at all, but then, he wasn’t looking for his style today, was he?
“I know something about this woman’s character, “ he said , holding out a piece of paper.” If this brochure is correct about who she is and where she came from, then I knew her once. A long time ago.”
“Uh-oh. Old girlfriend. Not good to hire them. Especially for something like this, “ his friend Josh warned.
Vaughn chuckled at his friend’s concern. He watched as Sydney Bristow stepped up to the stage, her red dress sliding against her curves as she moved. Very subtle and lovely curves , too, he couldn’t help noticing.
A frown drew his eyebrows together. He wasn’t suppose to notice such things. At least not about these women. He wasn’t here to find a playmate.
“Sydney’s not an old girlfriend, “he said.” Well, I suppose she did once tell me that we were going to get married. I was seven at the time. She was six.”
“Definitely a mistake to hire, then, “Weiss mused. “She might sue you for breach of promise.”
But that wasn’t even a remote possibility, Vaughn thought as Sydney Bristow’s gaze raked the audience, paused on him for a millisecond, and then moved on. She didn’t recognize him. He doubted she would even remember his name.
“Won’t happen, “he assured his friends. “I don’t intend to bring up the past. Her mother used to be my mother’s maid and during the summer, she would bring Sydney along to stay with her at the house. The two of us spent all our time together, but when the summer ended, her father would pick her up and gone back to Chicago. I doubt the lady wants to resume playing house with me. Especially since it says here, “he noted, holding out the brochure, “that she’s engaged to be married.”
“Well, in that case, she can’t very well show up at your mother’s house party and pretend to be your date can she?” Josh asked. “Could credibility confusing and messy. Besides, who would believe the two of you were romantically involved?
As Weiss said, she’s not the type you favor, and everyone will know that.”
Vaughn kept his eyes on the woman on the stage. As his friends had pointed out, he usually dated tall, willowy, chesty blondes with sultry blue eyes and pouty lips. Sydney was tall brunette, incredibly toned, delicate breasts, a direct gaze that hid nothing and she moved with purpose, not an attempt to seduce. She looked strong but fragile at the same time. She certainly didn’t look like the women he took to his bed.
“She would elicit some intriguing questions, “he mused
But then she stared out at the crowd and he forgot all about those questions. She swallowed delicately, her nostrils flared ever so slightly, and he could tell that she was a bit nervous. Well, who could blame her? He and his friends were examining her as if she were the last appetizer on the plate, and if they were ogling her, then so were others. He wondered if her fiancé was here and how he felt about her being the sudden object of every man’s attention.
Vaughn glanced around the audience, but all he saw were admiring stares and a few smiles. No man looking as if he wanted to tear cold, unyielding steel with his teeth.
Sydney stepped forward, throwing her shoulders back as if she was preparing herself for battle. Her breasts might be small , but they looked delicious. Or would, once a man peeled back the cotton that covered her, Vaughn thought, frowning again.
Apparently he wasn’t the only one who thought so. “I think I’m in love, sweetheart.” some drunken man in the back called loudly.
Sydney turned a delicate pink, she took a slight step back, then raised her chin and stepped forward again. She glanced toward the auctioneer. “Mind if I say a few things, Sam?”
The man smiled at her.” Say all the things you like, hon. Take your time, too. No rush.”
When she finally smiled and nodded, her dark brown hair brushed against her jaw. A pair of dimples came out of hiding. Vaughn nearly groaned. He’d forgotten. Sydney’s dimples were the only frivolous things about her. At six, they’d been cute. At twenty-nine, they were, he conceded, deadly.”
“I just wanted to let everyone know that I’m an English teacher and I’ve gotten a chance to meet and work with the kids at Safe House, the charity this auction benefit. They’re good kids, but they’re endangered, living in some of the rougher areas of the city where drugs and gangs are prevalent. We’ve helped some of them over the years, but there are always more to help. They’re children, you know. A truly worthwhile cause. They need us. We have to do something. That’s why I’m here. That’s the only reason I’m here.”
When she made the last statement, her hands were firmly planted on her hips. Vaughn smiled. Even though he hadn’t know Sydney well, even though they’d only been children, and twenty-three years had gone by since he’d last seen her, that was the one pose he wouldn’t forget. Sydney was very firm on what she wanted and didn’t want and what she would and wouldn’t do.
That might be a problem if he decided to hire her.
“Mike, “ Josh said near his shoulder. “Think, man. Carefully. You and Eric and I have been best friends since college, We know you well, and your family knows you even better. Has it occurred to you that they are going to be suspicious if you bring someone so very different from the ladies they’re used to seeing you with?
“I never bring ladies to my family gatherings.”
“No, but your picture is in the paper with alarming regularity.”
True, and the blonde standing just to the left of the stage was very much like the women who usually appeared in those pictures with him, a beauty with an extraordinary body.
“Yes, the leggy blonde, “ Eric remarked, seeing where Vaughn was looking. “Now, she looks like your classic type.
“I agree, she’s a bit more believable. She’d the type I’m drawn to as a rule, but that’s the problem, isn’t it? There’s a reason I don’t invite the woman I consort with my family gatherings, and it’s because what’s between us is strictly short-term. Bringing one of my…dates to a family would be misleading, even cruel, if any woman should take that as a signal that I was interested in something serious. Besides, staying true to type isn’t going to relieve my mother’s anxiety. She’s a very smart lady.” And her anxiety was getting worse the older he and she got. He was worried about her more than he wanted to admit. She was making herself frantic over his continued single and emotionally uninvolved state, fussing herself into illness and doing desperate things. He meant to relieve her mind, even if he had to hide the truth from her.
“Sydney looks like a woman a man might choose for a wife, “he said simply” The fact that she already belongs to someone else makes he perfect, because I’m not willing to risk any romantic complications.”
“Sydney may be safe, but she looks like true marriage material, “he insisted. “She’ll pass the test.”
Eric studied her. “Perhaps. There certainly seem to be plenty of men here who look like they’d willingly turn over a new leaf and go down on one knee for her , and her fiancé no doubt feels that way.”
The thought of the fiancé, the man who eventually was going to have Sydney, the man who had a true claim to her heart, gave Vaughn pause for a second, but he quickly cleared his mind.
He warmed to his topic.” Her very difference from my usual “type” will make her more convincing. Definitely a woman a man chooses for his home. “Although he could imagine her in a bed as well, with her hair tangled and those incredible dimples telling a man he was welcome to sample her body.
“A definite air of domesticity, “ Josh conceded cutting into Vaughn’s most improper thoughts.
“She’s perfect for the task.” Vaughn concluded. “My mother will take one look at her and relax. She’ll be able to enjoy her birthday for once. And maybe she’ll be less stressed and nervous and that will keep her healthier. At least with Sydney already taken, there won’t be any possible complications.”
He turned to Weiss and Josh who were gazing at him with slow smiles as if he’s just said something incredible amusing.
“Of course. No problems, “Weiss agreed. “ If you say so.”
Vaughn frowned. “What could go wrong?”
“I don’t know. I think it’s those hands on her hips and those eyes. Green, aren’t they?” Weiss asked
“Brown, “Vaughn answered automatically. “And don’t worry about the hands on the hips. It means Sydney isn’t going to take any nonsense, from me or anyone else. If she decides to do this, she’ll go full steam ahead.
“There the catch, “Weiss and Josh said, almost as if they shared the same brain.
“If she agrees, “Weiss clarified.
“A practical woman wouldn’t get involved in such a harebrained scheme, would she?” Weiss asked
Good question, Vaughn agreed, but it didn’t matter. He looked down at the brochure and saw the words engaged flashing before his eyes. That alone made Sydney prefect.
“I’ll just have to be convincing, “ he said with a smile and a shrug. Let me worry about my lady and my problem. I’ll handle the complications.”
TBC
