Marriage in Name Only? Read Online Free PDF

cushion when she jumped up and scrambled to the door. ‘I forgot my princess crown in my bedroom. Wait, okay?’
    ‘Okay.’
    Chloe watched the child skip off across the manicured lawns in her designer dress and shiny shoes with what had to be a fortune in Dubai gold glittering on her arm and blew out a sigh.
    Obviously this child was loved, indulged, no struggle to be accepted by her doting parents. Was just wanting to be loved and accepted for who she was too much for Chloe to ask? She stared around at the cubby, luxurious enough to live in.
    Okay, money had never been a priority, but right now she could do with a fraction of that wealth. Who knew where her parents might end up without the home they’d lived in for forty years?
    And why should she care? Why should Chloe Montgomery,an accidental offspring who’d never fitted in, never lived up to their expectations and had escaped overseas the moment she was old enough, feel any sort of familial obligation?
    She rubbed a dull ache that had taken up residence in her heart since Donna’s email last night. Because they were family, bonded through blood—however fragile that connection was.
    As fragile as life itself, Chloe thought, remembering how devastatingly final Ellen’s loss had been. Ellen had argued with her family and left without a goodbye and life had been sweet and exciting. But a couple of months ago her parents’ car had been swept away crossing a flooded river in rural Victoria. Chloe would never forget the despair in Ellen’s eyes as they’d said goodbye to each other at Vancouver airport.
    A couple of months later, Chloe had decided maybe it was time to come home, too, and re-establish some sort of connection, but she’d needed just a little more cash …
    Tamara scrambled up the little steps and burst through the doorway with a sparkling crown on her head and a skateboard under one arm. ‘Can you read me a story?’
    Chloe loved telling stories—making up her own adventures where the heroine always won in the end. She’d been doing it since she was Tamara’s age. ‘I can do better than that,’ she told her. ‘I’ll tell you one.’
    ‘How did last night’s conference call go?’ Sadiq asked Jordan as they wandered away from the group.
    ‘I was right—I need to be there in person.’ He tightened his jaw, stared out over the garden. ‘If I can talk to Qasim face to face, I know I can convince him. I’ve made an appointment to meet with him next week.’ He turned to his friend. ‘You understand the way things are done there. What’s it going to take?’
    ‘Stability. Focus. Commitment.’
    ‘You know me—I’m all three.’
    ‘Where business is concerned, I agree one hundred per cent, but in other aspects of your life …?’ Sadiq shook his head. ‘It doesn’t help when you’re frequently in the media spotlight with a different woman superglued to your arm every night of the week.’
    ‘Women have never interfered with my business priorities. They—’
    ‘And Qasim’s not going to like the possible repercussions for his own business,’ Sadiq continued over the top of Jordan. ‘He’s old school, set in his ways, and has always been of the opinion that married men are more likely to put in the effort. He builds his business deals around that.’
    ‘And you agree with that reasoning?’
    Sadiq shrugged, as if it were nothing. ‘I was brought up that way. Marriages have been arranged around business for centuries. My own marriage was arranged when we were ten years old.’ His gaze searched out his wife amongst the women. She looked their way at that moment and they exchanged an intimate smile.
    And Jordan felt something that might have been envy. If he were the type to play happy families. He’d learned he wasn’t the hard way. He shoved his hands in his trouser pockets. ‘I’m living proof that he’s wrong. What’s more, I’m going to prove it to him.’
    ‘If anyone can, it’s you.’ Sadiq nodded