Page 5 of Improper Proposal
Chapter Two
Will
Why the hell does Harper look so familiar?
Yeah, the United States is a massive country with a growing population of over three-hundred and twenty-five million, and while she might be from New York, what are the chances that I had a run-in with her somewhere? Slim to none. Maybe we were on the same flight, and that’s why I feel like I’ve seen her before.
I admire the beautiful woman before me and can’t help but feel a twinge of envy that George found her first. Dammit, what am I thinking? Okay, during this trip it’s clear I need to stay away from her. But before I do, I gift myself with one last look. I take in her features and drive my hands into my pockets as I admire her long, wavy brown hair, which I could so easily envision splayed across my bed sheets, dark, chocolate brown eyes any guy could get lost in, and a curvy body made for sin.
And those heels.
Holy fuck, those heels. They were almost the death of her, and if she doesn’t take them off, they’ll soon be the death of me.
I was half hard the second I climbed from the car and saw her standing there in her tight jeans and sexy shoes. But of course, that was before I knew who she was. Oh hell, who the fuck am I’m kidding. I’m still half hard, even after learning she’s my cousin’s girl.
All the more reason for me to keep my distance and stay out of her business.
Wait, did her eyes just travel the length of me?
Nah, I must be mistaken. If she’s with George, no way would she be checking me out, right? Yeah, it must have just been wishful thinking on my part, because the second I saw her lick those lush, pouty lips, all I wanted to do was slide my tongue over her mouth for a taste. Shit, she’s not mine to touch, and I shouldn’t be fantasizing about her.
Her appearance does, however, have me wondering why a gorgeous girl like her would register at an online dating site to find a guy. I have no doubt the men from her social circle are following her around like fucking hounds, their tongues wagging and dicks begging.
When George said he had a surprise for us all today, I cleared my hectic schedule and flew here right away, not only because I was curious, but also because it’s been too long since my last visit. Here I thought he’d be announcing a change in career—he secretly admitted to me a few months ago that he wanted to go to law school. Little did I expect that he’d be coming home with a new lover. Well, not that he’d actually accompanied her here, compliments of his military career. But still, this is all quite a shock.
I mull the situation over, toss it around inside my brain. Truthfully, none of this sits right in my gut. Why would he keep Harper a secret and suddenly spring her on us? I’m a realist, not a dreamer like my cousin, and now that I’ve encountered his surprise, met his American girl face-to-face, I can’t help but wonder if she’s after something from my cousin or my relatives. We all work hard, have successful careers, but we all come from old money, and both George and I have met many gold diggers and social climbers in our lives. No way will I stand back and let anyone hurt the people I care about, especially George, who’s been duped in the past by a conniving woman wanting him for his wealth. I was the one who found and alerted my far too trusting cousin. I’d been worried sick, wanting to break the news to him gently, but in the end, however, he didn’t seem too disappointed by the breakup.
With George’s head in the clouds, I’ve always taken on the role of his protector, which means that staying out of Harper’s business is no longer an option, not when she’s infiltrating my family and already has them falling for her. Not that I can blame them—she has a real girl-next-door sweetness about her, but it could very well be an act. All the more reason for me to keep a close eye on her, see what she’s up to. Sure, I could call her out right now, ask what she really wants from all this, but where is the fun in that? Geo
rge won’t be back for a week, and so far, she’s given no indication that she’s a social climber. Then again, she’s only just arrived. But if I find out she’s after George’s wealth, I plan to make her squirm a bit.
Squirm a bit…
Shit, wrong choice of words, because the image of her squirming beneath me rockets through me and fires my blood from simmer to inferno. Okay, enough of that; time to get to the bottom of matters before George finds himself walking down an aisle with a girl who’s all kinds of wrong—but just happens to look all kinds of right, at least to me, anyway.
Harper turns her back to me as Claire leads her into the house, and my gaze drops to her ass. Fuck. Firm, heart-shaped, pert in her snug jeans. Speaking about getting to the bottom of matters…
Shit, what am I saying?
Clearly I need to get laid if I’m looking at my cousin’s girl, one who could very well have ulterior motives, and thinking about taking a nibble of her bottom. But the truth is, life has become mundane, the women all the same. Harper here, however, no matter what she might be up to, is fucking gorgeous—and the last person I should be thinking about sexually.
Despite that, my fingers itch and my cock thickens in my unforgiving dress pants. I normally would have changed for the long transatlantic flight, but I’d left straight from work and barely made it to the airport in time. But for the next two weeks, my schedule is clear. As a consultant in one of New York’s busiest firms, it wasn’t easy to take a last-minute vacation and travel overseas. But I managed to pull it off, and the only thing on my agenda now is to get to know this woman better. I just hope for George’s sake she wants him for who he is and not for what he can give her.
I grab my bag from the back seat of my rental, follow every member of my family into the house, and shut the door behind us. Chatter fills the massive hallways as Claire and the others lead Harper into the kitchen for a bite to eat. My stomach takes that moment to grumble, a reminder that I had nothing but a cookie on the plane.
“Aunt Claire, same room as last time?” I call out.
“Yes,” she yells back, and I take the long stretch of stairs two at a time, anxious to get out of my work clothes and into something casual. I hurry to my room, drop my bag onto the bed, and tug off my tie. I glance out the window and take in the horse barn at the edge of the property. I might live in the States—my parents moved there before I was born—but George and I are close and often visit each other. I’m his best friend, and he tells me everything. So why didn’t he tell me about Harper? He’s been away, sure, but still, I normally hear from him. He never even responded to my text yesterday, or the one last week. I grab my phone and shoot another message to him to let him know I arrived and met Harper.
I wait for a second, and when he doesn’t reply, I tug on a pair of jeans. Since the castle is warm, a fire burning in all the hearths, I grab a short-sleeve T-shirt and pull it on. I make my way back downstairs, and my stomach rumbles again when I smell Claire’s chowder. She seriously makes the best chowder and rolls, and I can’t wait to dive in.
I rub my stomach as I walk into the kitchen, and instantly go still when my gaze locks with Harper’s. Shit, she looks like a deer caught in the headlights. Any second now I expect her to bolt. The fussing and touching is probably a bit too much for a New Yorker. Something inside me softens, and oddly enough, I can’t help but want to come to her rescue.
“Hey,” I say, drawing everyone’s attention to me, and my heart squeezes when Harper briefly closes her eyes, takes a shuddery breath, then gives me a smile of thanks, aware of what I’m doing. Goddammit, the ease with which I just shifted from protecting George to protecting Harper is a bit disconcerting, to say the least. I’ll have to be very careful with this one.
She relaxes slightly, looking at me, a glimmer of relief dancing in her dark eyes, as I hold my arms out. “What about me, the favorite American cousin. Where’s the love?”
“You’re our only American cousin,” Bobby says, and laughter erupts around the long oak table.
