Chapter Four
So Isabel was alone with Liam again. Instead of feeling excited and giddy like the young blushing bride-to-be that she was, she felt uncomfortable and slightly scared in his presence.
Liam Mayer looked big and burly in his own house as he took off the hat he had been wearing and flung it onto the kitchen counter. He then walked over, poured himself a glass of iced tea, and walked back towards the couch. Isabel stood nearby. There was a silent calm in the room, and Isabel suddenly missed all the traffic sounds of New York that had annoyed her every day. And, yet, she wasn’t really homesick. That life was behind her now, and she didn’t want to go back to it.
“Your wife… your ex-wife or your late wife…?” Isabel was fumbling with her words; she didn’t quite know how to frame the question.
“Late wife. She passed away when Sophie was two,” Liam said, taking a long sip from his glass as he sat down on the couch. The couch too looked too small for him, and Isabel nearly smiled at the sight of him sitting on it with his big long body. This was her husband-to-be. This rugged cowboy.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
He suddenly looked at her with his eyes narrowed. “Are you prepared for this life, Isabel?” he asked, almost like he hoped that her answer would be, no.
“Yes, I am,” she said, raising her chin up.
“Have you ever been out here to this part of the country before?” he asked. This time he was studying her body. His eyes rolled over her big chest that stretched the thin material of her dress, her wide hips, and then finally her face that was glowing with nervousness. She felt naked under his gaze and also conscious. She felt like he was judging her. Was he scrutinizing her weight?
“I haven’t been here before, no,” she admitted, still standing before him with the glass of her iced tea in her hands.
“And yet you’re prepared to spend a lifetime here, in these parts, as my wife? As Sophie’s stepmother?” Liam asked, draining the last bits of the drink into his mouth. Again, he sounded like he wanted her to change her mind.
But she was going to hold her ground. It was a deal. She had come all the way up here to escape and she wasn’t going to allow him to simply backtrack.
“I am. Are you prepared for it?” she asked, and he suddenly burst into laughter that surprised her. She hadn’t even so much as seen him smile before, and here he was laughing… at her.
His smile was wide and his whole face seemed to change when he laughed. His shoulders shook too. “Am I prepared?” he asked and laughed some more. As attractive as he looked when he laughed, Isabel couldn’t ignore the fact that he was laughing at her.
“Sure, why not? I could use an extra pair of hands around the house, braid Sophie’s hair, nag her to finish her homework and whatnot. It’s hard work for a man like me to care for a little girl. She needs a woman’s touch,” Liam said and slapped his knee.
Isabel felt her neck burning. She knew this was what the deal was. This was why he had placed the ad. It was obvious. He needed a wife who would care for his daughter. A glorified nanny. But for some strange reason, it instantly made Isabel angry, even a little jealous. She was hoping that he would also say that he needed the loving touch of a wife. That he found Isabel attractive. That he was lonely and he wanted her to fill the void.
But Liam Mayer said no such thing, and instead stood up from his chair and clapped his hands. Like it was all settled.
“Why don’t you start off with the dinner, I have to get back to my horses.” He said and walked past her to place the glass back on the counter.
Isabel glared at him, still hoping that he would miraculously display a softer side.
“What about the wedding?” she blurted out before she could stop herself. She needed concrete evidence that he wasn’t suddenly going to change his mind. A wedding, what she had come here for, would bind him to contract.
Liam looked at her with his usual steely narrowed gaze. His eyes dropped to her breasts and then he looked up at her face again.
“Not so fast, dear girl,” he said and Isabel suddenly felt like a small child. She licked her lips and he smiled again. “You have to prove yourself,” he added.
“Prove myself as what?” she asked, but she knew what he was about to say. Liam Mayer didn’t strike her as a man who was a gambler, as someone who was willing to take his chances.
“Prove yourself to be the wife that I need,” he said, and she raised her chin again. If there was anything that Isabel liked, it was a good challenge.
“If you insist,” Isabel said and shrugged her shoulders. Two can play that game, she thought. If Liam was going to be difficult, she would play hard to get too. He needed her. That was evident. He needed a woman to take care of the house and care for Sophie. And Isabel was determined to prove to him that she was the perfect woman for the job.
She had expected a wedding this evening, to be in the arms of a husband by this time. What she was getting instead was a test. And Isabel was up to the task.