Bride of Convenience

Chapter 19

She seemed very cross with him, but he knew that look when he saw a man give to a woman and it was not innocent.

“Maybe nothing went on, but I would suggest if he had any say it would be a different situation.” He reached for her hand, he held tightly as she went to pull away. He leant down and whispered in her ear. “Remember Julia, we are meant to be in love. To be lovers, let’s look like we are at least enjoying each others company.”

“Even lovers fight, Harrison.” She said ‘lovers’ like it made her sick, that it was a fate worse than death. Did she feel that way? Did he repulse her? Why wouldn’t she, he set her up on a contract and expected her to sleep with him? How would that make any woman feel? He didn’t want her upset with him. Why was that? When she was near him, he had to keep reminding himself that this was all fake, a hoax. It was strange though, she seemed to get a whole lot of emotions flowing through him, ones he didn’t think he had felt before. He came back to reality as she released her hand and grabbed a glass of champagne off the passing waiter. Harrison’s anger increased. She was so stubborn when she wanted to be. No other woman that he dated pushed his buttons like she did, not even Katrina. He knew Katrina pushed certain buttons with him, but they were mainly revolving around his pants buttons! Julie though was different, he watched her walk towards the dining room.

She couldn’t believe how egotistical he was. He got her so angry sometimes. Brad, as if anything would have ever happened with Brad as if he had ever wanted anything to happen. As they entered the dining room, Harrison leaned toward her and whispered. “We may not be seated together, Sarah always likes to mix up her guests.” Good she thought, I’ll have some friendly company then. She smiled at him to let him know she was ok with that. As fate would have it, Harrison was sat between two model looking types blonde hair, long legs, big boobs and a need to gush all over him. She was pleasantly surprised to see she had Brad on one side of her and James the host on the other. The conversation was light and fun throughout the night. Julia stole quick glances as Harrison and the models he was with laughed. Every time they spoke to him they had to touch him on his arm. Whenever he said something funny, they had to laugh louder than necessary.

“Someone seems a little distracted?” Brad leaned towards her and said.

“Me? No, I’m fine.” She lied through her teeth.

“So those blondes aren’t annoying the hell out of you and making you jealous.”

“Of course not!” She looked at Brad and tried not to grind her teeth.

“So how did you meet Harrison anyway?” Brad asked trying to engage her in a conversation. Doing that was probably a good thing because she didn’t know how much more she could take. These chicks were worst than dogs on heat!

“I work for his firm here. My friend Kate called me when they had an opening, and then we went to a charity auction, and we just seemed not to let each other out of site. Then he proposed.”

“Are you happy?” He asked and touched her hand “really happy?”

“Yes, I am Brad. I am delighted, I’ve never felt like this before. I’m blessed. What about yourself, what have you been up to? Any ladies in your life?” She asked.

“No, not me! By the way, I would suggest he is the lucky one. Let’s see…hmm…my love life, there was only one lady I ever had my eye on, and she broke my heart. I guess I was never meant to have her. You know the type when she entered the room it felt like the whole world came to a stop and my heart beat so hard and fast that I thought I would die.” His brown eyes came over sad, a bit like a puppy dogs eyes when he knows he's not going to get what he wants.

“Wow, that is really special. I’ve had those feelings my self.” Julia was thinking how shocking it was to have those feelings for someone so fast. She wondered who had broken Brad’s heart. “Who was the silly girl that broke your heart, Brad?”

“You, Julia.” She was completely taken aback by his response. Harrison was right. Brad had feelings for her, what did he say ‘when she entered the room it felt like the whole world came to a stop’ my god that’s how he felt about her? “Don’t you remember after your dad died I was always around helping with everything. I asked you out many times, and you kept rejecting me and one day you told me that I was the best friend a girl could have and you were so glad I didn’t try and take advantage of that and you were so happy we were never more than just friends.” She did remember. She was so glad he hadn’t hit on her because she just needed a friend. That’s all Brad ever was. She didn’t see it, but Harrison did. He noticed as soon as he started talking with them. God, why does he have to be right about everything? Julia placed her hand over Brad’s.

“I’m really sorry Brad. I never realised you felt that way. I just never saw you as anything but a great friend.” He gave a weird smile.

“Ah, the story of my life a good friend but nothing more.”

“Brad you were everything to me after dad died and even if I did have other feelings for you I probably wouldn’t have done anything. I mean after dad passed on I just couldn’t think of ever being happy again.” He nodded.

“So that’s changed now?”

“Now I’m delighted with Harrison. I’m sorry Brad.” It was so hard watching his disappointment. The fact that I was lying made it worse. I wasn’t really with Harrison!

“Hey, I understand. Harrison seems like a pretty good guy. I hope you can be happy always.” He lent over and kissed her on the cheek just as the dessert arrived. It was a kiss that a brother would give you and Julia felt only kindness, no sparks were flying or skin on fire. It just wasn’t the same as when Harrison kissed her.

Harrison had not missed a single thing. He had watched as she placed a hand on his hand and was livid when he leant across and kissed her. Harrison was pretty sure no one else had seen. His favourite dessert had been placed in front of him, and he couldn’t bear to put it in his mouth due to the horrible taste that was burning in his mouth right now. After dessert has cleared away, and dancing started Harrison marched up to Julia and held out his hand. Was she going to say anything about her behaviour? Would she apologise to him? They were dancing around the dance floor, and Harrison was very stiff. She leaned towards him and whispered in his ear.

“I’m sorry.” She had said it, but he didn’t feel any better. “You were right, about Brad. He told me he was in love me and I broke his heart. How did you know? I mean we were close for such a long time, and I didn’t see it but you, you picked up on it straight away. How do you do that?” He knew he’d been right.

“I could see the way he looked at you. Everything stopped when he looked at you. To him, it was like only you, and he was in the room.”

“That’s funny,” Harrison didn’t find it at all funny, “he said the same thing about me, that the whole world stopped when I entered a room. I’ve never had someone feel that way about me before.” She looked so innocent. Surely men had said that to her before. He couldn’t stop himself from asking. “So when have you got plans to meet up with him?” Harrison hated asking that question, but he had to know. He just had to know.

“What? I can’t do that besides the contract we have, I don’t have feelings for Brad, and that would just be teasing him.” Harrison felt like a heavy weight had been lifted off him. They danced a while longer, and he felt comfortable with her in his arms. Slowly as the night came to an end, all Harrison wanted was to keep dancing with her. He didn’t want to let her go, to have an excuse to hold her close was beautiful. Sadly the night ended, and he had to let her go.