Page 23 of Unexpected Temptation

J aylen heard a car pull up to the house. The dark blue Mercedes looked so out of place that it threw Jaylen for a moment.

He watched as a tall, lanky woman emerged, closed the car door, and stood looking around the area. From what he could see, she wasn’t impressed. He watched with a smirk as she brushed the dust off her hands, and her lips curled from touching the car.

She sauntered in high heels up to the house and stopped abruptly at the bottom of the porch stairs when she caught sight of him standing in the doorway. She frowned when he stood on the other side of the screen door and stared with his arms crossed.

“Can I help you?” he asked.

He could tell she was taken aback by the cool tone of the man in front of her.

Meredith walked up the few stairs to the small front porch and waited for him to greet her. Her brows turned down when he only stared suspiciously at her.

“My name is Meredith Vanderbilt. I’m looking for Jaylen Stone.”

“That’s me.”

Meredith smiled brightly.

Jaylen’s eyes narrowed further. “And?”

A muscle tightened in her jaw in outrage. She’d never been treated like this in her life, especially by a man.

“I’m your soon-to-be wife?” she said with a bright smile.

Jaylen choked back his need to laugh.

He pushed the door open and waited until she walked by. He shuddered in distaste when she deliberately rubbed her breasts against his arm, and then he had to hold his breath when the stench of her strong perfume hit him.

Jaylen watched her as she glanced around before facing him.

“I’m sorry it took so long for me to get here. I was helping a dear friend of mine.” Meredith said and continued her search, missing the disgust on Jaylen’s face.

Jaylen crossed his arms and watched her move around the cabin. She tried to hide the sneer of distaste as she walked.

“Is that so?”

“Yes. I sent my sister here to tell you I would be here, but not when we discussed. That I’d get here as quickly as I could.”

“We didn’t have a discussion about you coming. And what about using the phone?”

“Well, I just assumed from our talks that you expected me, and I didn’t use the phone because I wanted to surprise you.”

It shocked her how large and handsome he was. She’d seen the pictures, but they definitely hadn’t done him justice. He was clearly the most handsome, rugged man she’d ever known. She bit back her smile. And the richest.

Meredith casually looked around for signs of her sister. She’d found out Amelia had stayed when she transferred her inheritance to a bank in town. The lawyer in charge of it told her father, who told Meredith.

A feeling of glee raced through her when she saw several things she knew to be Amelia’s. The fact that Amelia had taken her place bothered her, even though she didn’t really want him for anything but his money. But she didn’t want Amelia to have either.

Meredith had been shocked when she’d had him investigated and found out how wonderfully rich he was. There was no way she was going to let her mousy little sister take what she considered hers.

“That was my fault for not communicating better,” Jaylen said.

Meredith postured in front of him and let him enjoy what would be his very shortly.

“So, what exactly did my sister tell you?”

“She said you had changed your mind.”

Meredith tsk-tsked and shook her head sadly.

“I’m sorry. Amelia has always been jealous of me and has tried to make my life hard at times. She’s not really a mean person. She just lets her emotions control her actions.”

“So now you’re here. What exactly do you want?” he asked.

Meredith pressed her breasts against his arm.

“Darling, I want you. I’m sorry my sister misled you, but I’m here now to take care of you,” she purred.

“And how exactly are you going to do that?”

Meredith’s head snapped back a bit. “Well, I don’t know what you need.”

“Do you cook or clean?”

“I’ll do whatever needs to be done, or we can hire people.”

“You’ll be able to live on the ranch full time?”

****

J aylen was seriously trying to keep from bodily picking this woman up and throwing her out the door before Amelia got back from her walk and found her here.

The thought of her being in distress over this bitch tore through him.

He was having a hard time not showing his aversion toward her.

Everything about her was fake, from her lips to her boobs to her attitude.

Jaylen moved away from her before turning to face her and crossing his arms over his chest.

“Let’s cut to the chase here. Why are you really here?”

Meredith took a step closer to him but froze at the cold anger in his eyes. “You know why. I’m here to become your wife.”

Jaylen tipped his head to the side and stared at her. “But you already won the bet.”

Meredith tried to hide her shock but didn’t succeed very well, making Jaylen grunt in disgust.

“I don’t know what you mean. I was looking forward to being here with you.”

Jaylen laughed. “You belong here as much as a polar bear in the desert.”

Meredith bit back the words and snapped her teeth together in anger. She couldn’t quite grasp why he wasn’t happy she was there.

“I don’t understand.”

“You were never going to come here.” He held up a hand when she opened her mouth. “Be honest.

Meredith turned away for a moment as her mind tried to come up with anything to appease him. She turned back and tried to look sorrowful.

“I was afraid,” she whispered and held her hands out to him. “But after I learned more about you, I felt safe being here.”

“You mean when you found out about the money?” Never once had Amelia asked about money, and he knew she really didn’t care. All she cared about was him.

Her brows knitted together. “That always helps, darling.”

“You can actually see yourself living here?”

Meredith’s eyes narrowed.

Could she tell he was laughing at her?

“I can. I’m sure you won’t mind trips into the city or the vacations I’d like us to take.”

“I don’t take vacations. I very rarely leave my mountain.”

Meredith ground her teeth in frustration. “Fine, you don’t have to go with me.”

Jaylen’s lips twisted in disgust. “You’re a piece of work.”

“What do you mean by that?” she spat out the question.

He could tell she was fighting to hold back her temper.

“When did you find out Amelia was here and that I was planning on keeping her?”

Meredith laughed and rolled her eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous. Why in the world would you want her when you could have me?”

“Oh, where do I begin?” he said sarcastically and chuckled. “I can honestly say nothing about you appeals to me.”

Meredith gasped. “How dare you! What horrible things has my sister been telling you?”

“Actually, not much. We don’t have time to talk about you.” Jaylen watched as she tried and was failing to hold back her temper and the viper’s tongue he knew she had. “You’re nothing more than a blow-up doll as far as I can see.”

“You bastard.”

Jaylen nodded as he chuckled. “I’m guessing that after men have a conversation with you, they don’t stick around. Do they?”

A curtain of red spread across her face in anger. “You can have little fat Amelia. She’ll no longer be invited to come home because I am going to tell my parents how horrible you were to me because of her.”

“Really? Do you really think they’re stupid enough to fall for your bullshit? And frankly, Amelia has no desire ever to go home or see your parents. Although your parents might change their minds when we start having children.”

Meredith gasped in outrage, turned, walked past him, and out the door, almost falling at the uneven gravel driveway.

“I hope both of you will be happy,” she said in a snide, hateful voice.

Jaylen held the screen door open and smiled. He knew she was being sarcastic, but still answered.

“Thank you. I’ll make sure I tell Amelia you wish us well,” he said, and then chuckled when she screeched.

Her scream was muted when she slammed the car door closed.

Jaylen watched as she fought for control and tried to start her vehicle. He watched as she tore out of the driveway in her fancy little car and waited until she disappeared around the bend before going to look for Amelia.