Free The Matchmaker Bride (The Bride Series) by Shadonna Richards

forever. Damn him! He knew everything about her including her financial situation of course. How could she lie to him?
     
    She turned and looked out the tall glass window overlooking the street with a view of the lake in the near distance. The water seemed to sparkle, the sky was cloudless blue. This should have been an ordinary Monday, not a disastrous start to the week.
     
    “How much do you need? Never mind,” he said as he reached into his pocket and grabbed a pen and his cheque book. He scrawled her name on the cheque with the date and left the figures and amount blank. “You can cash this at my bank down the street. You’ll need your ID.”
     
    “Carlos, no! I…I can’t. I won’t take money I haven’t earned.”
     
    “Nonsense, it’s a friendly gesture,” he said. “Not many women would walk away from a blank cheque, my dear.”
     
    “Well, I’m not many women,” she gave a nervous laugh, she really needed a way out but it felt wrong this way. She would feel as if she was being bought. She didn’t come to him for money. She didn’t know what brought her back to him.
     
    My heart.
     
    “Sophie, I want to help you. Besides, I contributed to this fiasco didn’t I?”
     
    “It wasn’t your fault, Carlos. I knew the rules up front. I should have refused your…advances.”
     
    “Then why didn’t you?” he challenged her in a voice so deep, low and silky it slid into her veins and caused a reaction in her body.
     
    “Because…” There she was fumbling with her words again.
     
    “Because you couldn’t resist me any more than I can resist you.”
     
    “What?”
     
    “Are you denying you have feelings for me?”
     
    “No, I’m…I mean…yes…no…”
     
    “Well, which is it? Can’t be both.” His seductive grin was enough to stir her crazy. She had to keep her composure.
     
    “Damn! Let me answer this call. I’m expecting a call from my lawyer.” He answered the phone and Sophie breathed a sigh of relief. She could not help but over hear the anger in his voice and frustration. When he was finished it was her turn to ask him what was wrong.
     
    He leaned back in his chair and swiveled around to the window to gaze outside, clearly perturbed. He was hot one moment and cold as ice the next. She got the gist of the phone call but was a little confused.
     
    “ Carlos is…is everything okay?”
     
    He turned to her and leaned forward in his chair. “Actually, beautiful, that depends.”
     
    “Depends on what?”
     
    “On you.” His voice and tone was serious and his expression distant.
     
    Carlos explained everything that was going on with the battle over his half sister , Bria .
     
    Sophie listened attentively and in shock as he opened up to her about Bria’s biological mother and her sudden interest in the child after learning about the inheritance. For some strange reason, Sophie’s defences went up over Bria . She was her client and she was very protective and had a vested interest in the well-being of her clients. Especially Bria , they had a connection that was magical. She didn’t want to see anything happen to that child, especially being in an unwelcome environment. She knew all too well with most children with autism spectrum disorder, any trauma can undo and reverse progress. The last thing she wanted was for Bria to close up communication again.
     
      “I see. So that’s why you were so desperate to have a wife to prove you can be an effective guardian. To dispel the rumours of you being unsuitable as a guardian.” Sophie bit down on her lip. She hated that society placed pressure on guardians to be the perfect family to prove their worth. The perfect family being mom, dad and child. It didn’t always work that way in the real world. There were wonderful two-parent families out there and she’d also known some fabulous one-parent families whether by their choice or due to circumstances, loss of a spouse to death or divorce.
     
    “So, your