The Engagement Deal by Kim Lawrence

for the heir to this estate during her guided tour. She didn’t ride, she didn’t shoot anything—not even clay targets—and she wasn’t quite sure what had made her assure her hostess in a borderline belligerent manner that she had no intention of learning any of these skills. When his parents returned from their trip to the States and discovered their son was once more single and eligible, they’d no doubt breathe a collective sigh of relief.
    ‘Try to be philosophical about this,’ Niall advised, turning to look at her. He glanced at the outfit she’d laid out on the bed. ‘That dress again…’ A reminiscent smile played around the corners of his mouth.
    ‘It’s not like I have any choice,’ she snapped. Unlike my sister and your glamorous ex-wife, she could have added, but she didn’t; it might have made her sound petty and even jealous.
    ‘We don’t dress for dinner normally; it’s just they don’t have an opportunity to welcome someone new to the family every day of the week.’
    ‘I’m not going to be one of the family.’
    ‘Do you have to be so pedantic?’ He held up his hand. ‘No, don’t answer that. You obviously can’t help yourself.’
    ‘Actually, your father gave the distinct impression it wasn’t very unusual having… guests .’ She wondered how often Rowena had been here. A nasty thought occurred to her. Had her sister slept in this very bed—and not alone?
    Niall sighed. ‘You noticed that, did you?’
    Holly looked at the four-poster and wondered queasily. ‘I noticed your sister seemed upset.’ A bed is an inanimate object, she told herself; who has slept in it with whom is totally irrelevant. The important thing to remember is I’m not sharing it with anyone!
    ‘Yeah, she was: not that the old man was getting at her.’
    No, just his womanising son. Holly’s expression hardened at this fresh reminder of Niall’s reputation. It didn’t make her feel more kindly disposed towards him.
    ‘The thing is,’ he explained slowly. ‘Daniel isn’t Chris’s son. Jude got involved with a guy who turned out to be married. The hard-faced bastard had been here, smarming his way into everyone’s good books, had the red carpet rolled out for him—even though he was years too old for Jude…’ His expression was stony as he recalled the sequence of events that had had a permanent effect on his sister’s life. ‘Jude didn’t find out until it was too late. Even then he strung her along, saying he’d leave his wife. He was hard to pin down to specific dates, you understand.’
    Holly understood. Her dark eyes filled with compassion. ‘Poor Jude.’
    ‘She wasted three years of her life on the swine, and there was nothing any of us could do to stop her.’ The stern line of his mouth was a bitter slash in his hard face. ‘She had to learn the hard way.’
    ‘But she met Chris.’ She resisted the weird impulse to reach out to him.
    Some of the grimness left his face as he smiled. ‘Yeah, she met Chris,’ he agreed.
    ‘He seems nice,’ she suggested carefully.
    ‘One of the good guys. It wasn’t a criticism.’ He abruptly switched the subject and reached down to touch the silky fabric of her dress. Holly responded with a helpless shiver to the sight of his long shapely fingers caressing the material. She felt her tingling nipples harden brazenly under the thick towelling. ‘Quality, not quantity,’ he mused.
    She saw a curiously self-conscious expression flicker across his face as he abruptly released the fabric and turned towards the window.
    ‘I see Rowena has converted you to her way of thinking,’ Holly observed sourly. ‘A classic designer item is worth starving for? Actually, it was a gift.’ She glanced at the offending article and didn’t add that it wasn’t an original.
    Martin’s mother ran a small firm that specialised in producing copies of designer originals worn by the famous. Martin’s mother was doing very well; a lot of people, it seemed,