The Wedding Charade Read Online Free PDF

thought? We could make it last as long as we like.’
    Jade sat back in her seat as if he had pushed her backwards with one of his strong hands against her chest. ‘You can’t mean that!’ she gasped.
    He gave her one of his white-toothed smiles. ‘Onlyteasing,’ he said, his hazel eyes twinkling. ‘Once the year is up next May, we can both take the money and run.’
    Jade worked hard at squashing her sense of pique. She knew his motive for marrying her was only to get the money he felt entitled to; after all, she was doing it for the very same reason. She could hardly blame him for going ahead with his grandfather’s stipulations. His two older brothers had had no such conditions placed upon them, but then Giorgio and Luca were both happily married with children. Giorgio and Maya had separated for a time, but had reconciled just before the old man’s death. It had been Salvatore’s desire to see all of his three grandsons settled before he died, but when he became ill so suddenly he had obviously decided to take matters into his own hands and make sure Nic bowed to pressure to settle down instead of playing the field for too much longer. Why Salvatore had chosen her as Nic’s bride was a mystery. He could not have been unaware of the enmity between them. For the last decade they had snarled and sniped at each other when they had to be together at Sabbatini or Sommerville functions.
    Jade knew a lot about the history of the Sabbatinis, having been a part of their circle for so many years. Her Australian-born father had befriended Salvatore when he was just starting out as an accountant and, with his Italian friend’s help, his small accounting firm had become one of the most prestigious in Europe.
    Like Nic and his brothers, Jade had grown up brushing shoulders with the rich and famous. Celebrities were not idols from afar; they were friends and acquaintances who regularly attended the same parties and social gatherings.
    Jade’s mother, Harriet, had been a London socialite herself until her untimely death from an overdose when Jade was five. Whether it had been suicide, a cry for help or an accident was something Jade and her brother Jonathan had never been told. There had always been speculation regarding Jade’s parents’ marriage. Throughout their childhood, it had been a case of don’t-mention-your-mother-in-your-father’s-presence by all the nannies and au pairs that had come and gone. Whether it would upset their father because of unresolved grief or anger was another mystery that had never been solved.
    Jade looked at the menu and chewed her bottom lip in concentration. She hated eating out; it was something she usually avoided, but not for the reasons everyone assumed. It had been splashed all over the papers enough times—how she had been admitted to a special clinic when she was fifteen and then again at eighteen when she had skirted with death as her weight had dropped to a dangerously low level during the months following Jonathan’s death. She was well and truly over all that now, but eating out still threw up the problem of how to choose when she had no idea what was written on the menu.
    She felt Nic’s gaze on her now, the weight of it like a stone. She looked up and closed the menu. ‘What are you thinking of having?’ she asked.
    ‘The crab fettuccine to start with and maybe the veal Marsala for mains,’ he said. ‘What about you?’
    Jade ran her tongue over her sand-dry lips. ‘Why don’t you choose for me?’ she said, pushing the menu to one side. ‘You seem to know the place pretty well. I’m not fussy.’
    He cocked one of his eyebrows at her. ‘No?’
    ‘I’ve dealt with a lot of stuff over the years, Nic,’ she said, giving him a hard look. ‘I’m not going to embarrass you by dispensing with my meal in the bathroom as soon as your back is turned.’
    A frown appeared between his brows. ‘I wasn’t suggesting any such thing,’ he said. ‘It was a tough time for