The Wedding Charade by Melanie Milburne

leave. He gave her one last up and down stripping look and added, ‘I paid for you with my freedom and I expect to collect on it as soon as we are officially married.’
    Jade winced as the door closed on his exit. Surely he didn’t mean it? He wouldn’t insist on sleeping with herif she didn’t want to. She bit her lip. The trouble was, she did want to.
    She wanted to very much.
    When Jade came downstairs the next morning Nic was swimming in the lap pool. She watched him from the windows of the breakfast room, his bronzed body carving the water like an Olympic athlete. He made her floundering efforts to stay afloat seem rather pathetic in comparison. It was another one of her failings. She had never learned to swim with any proficiency.
    She turned away with a sigh and went to the kitchen. Her supper things were still on the bench where she had left them, so too was a glass Nic had obviously used to have some orange juice before his morning swim. She gave a little shrug of indifference and turned away.
    Nic came in through from the doors that led to the terrace. He was naked from the waist up, a towel hanging from his lean hips. ‘Is breakfast ready yet?’ he asked, pushing back his wet hair with one of his hands.
    Jade frowned. ‘Pardon me? ‘
    He nodded towards the breakfast room. ‘Coffee and fruit to start with and then some fresh rolls,’ he said. ‘I’ll expect you to have it ready by the time I come back from my shower.’
    She opened her eyes wide. ‘Are you expecting
me
to wait on you?’
    ‘Well, it was you who caused the housekeeper to leave in a huff,’ he reminded her. ‘It’s only fair you take over her role until I can find someone to replace her.’
    Jade bristled in outrage. ‘I will do no such thing. Get your own stupid breakfast.’
    He eyeballed her until she felt the base of her spinestart to tingle. ‘Breakfast, Jade, and step on it. I have an important meeting at my office this morning.’
    She pressed her lips together, glaring at him, daring him to make her do his bidding. The air crackled with electricity as their strong wills collided. She felt the power of it, the tension escalating along with her heart rate. She was not going to be a slave to him. He was not going to order her about like some servant in his employ.
    She smiled to herself as she planned her next move. She would show him just how little he could control her.
    Nic came over to where she was standing. He stopped right in front of her, holding her defiant gaze with the steely determination of his. ‘Do I have to repeat myself?’ he asked.
    Jade put on a meekly obedient face. ‘It’ll be ready in five minutes,’ she said.
    ‘Good girl,’ he said and flicked her cheek with a gentle finger before he left the room.
    Jade brewed some coffee and then sliced up some fruit and set it on a plate. She found the fresh rolls in a paper bag on the bench. She assumed someone from the bakery had delivered them earlier that morning. She carried a tray with everything on it into the breakfast room and set it out on the table that overlooked the sunny terrace.
    Nic came in a few minutes later, straightening his tie. ‘Nice job,’ he said. ‘I knew you could do it if you put your mind to it.’
    ‘How do you have your coffee?’ Jade asked, working hard at keeping her expression suitably subservient.
    ‘White with two sugars,’ he said as he sat down.Jade put a cup down next to him and poured the coffee into it. Then she carefully spooned two teaspoons of sugar into it. She picked up the milk jug and said, ‘Say when,’ and then she poured the entire contents into his lap.
    He leapt up from the table, his expression thunderous as he wiped at the dripping milk with a hastily grabbed napkin. ‘You little bitch,’ he growled at her.
    Jade gave him a guileless look. ‘You didn’t say when.’
    He tossed the sodden napkin aside and reached for her. Jade hadn’t expected him to move quite so fast. Suddenly she was being