Behind The Proposal novel Chapter 17

"I'm serious, Soph," his dark, charming eyes gazed at her, hypnotising her, convincing her to go along with whatever he asked.

She stood up and walked over to the glass pool fence so she could lean against it and look out at the beach. She couldn't allow his magnetism to sway her on this. Marriage was too important to be impulsive about. Not that she'd say yes. She couldn't.

Could she?

What would it be like to have someone to rely on all the time? As opposed to everybody else just relying on her. The only reason her family cared about her going on holiday was because it had disrupted their lives. Who was going to cook them Sunday lunch? Or provide them with freshly baked goods to take to their church group? Or any of the other dozen things she did for them? If she married him, she could come home to him every night. Could wake up to him every morning. Could have someone actually take care of her for a change. She couldn't deny that it would be wonderful to have all of those things. And if she said yes to him, she would have all of those things.

She turned to him. "You're really serious? You really want this?"

He nodded, his eyes never leaving hers. "I want you to be my wife."

"How is this going to work, Tom? I live on the other side of the world. My family is there. My job. My life. I can't just up and leave. I don't even know if I want to," she shook her head. Some days it was tempting to throw everything in and relocate, somewhere far away from her demanding family. But they were still her family - the only family she had - how they treated her was irrelevant.

"I'm not asking you to," he assured her, moving over to where she was standing.

"I don't understand," she murmured, looking in his eyes.

"All I know is I want this," he sighed and ran a hand through his hair again, making it stick up in all directions. "I'm coming to Australia anyway," he shrugged.

"To Cairns. That's thousands of kilometres from Melbourne," she shook her head, totally confused.

"Tomorrow?" Tom couldn't afford for her to back out. What if she returned home and decided she no longer felt this way about him? What would his father and grandfather do? Would they renege on the deal? He couldn't afford for that to happen. Not now that his dream was so close.

"Tomorrow?" she spluttered.

"Why not?" he shrugged. This wasn't something he was taking lightly. He hadn't planned on getting married yet, but he needed to. He hoped his affection for her would be enough because he didn't do love. Love wasn't practical. Love could hurt. He'd learnt that from experience. But He'd certainly be faithful to Sophie, he'd be caring and he'd look after her and Jasmine, for as long as she'd have him. Because he knew she was different to any other woman he'd ever met. She wasn't after his money, or name or any of that. She saw the real him.

"You're crazy."

"About you, yes. I can't live without you." Because marrying you is the only way I can get what I want, and I can't afford for you to get away. Not that he'd ever admit that to her. Ever.