Auctioned By The Ceo
Chapter 26

Hannah didn't trust her voice work, so she simply nodded.

"You know, I was dubious about this wedding, but this..." Sarah opened her arms and twirled around the room. "You're getting married in a castle for flip's sake. Just like we always dreamed we would, when we were little, you know, when our knights came to rescue us." Sarah frowned, no doubt remembering why she wanted a knight to rescue her, and Hannah pulled her back into a hug.

"That was a long time ago. And you know, I have to say it, Logan is no knight." She let her sister go and smirked at her reflection in the full mirror. "And I sure as hell am no damsel in distress." "Maybe not, but you've got to admit the venue is awesome. Did you tell him it had always been your dream to get married in a castle?" Sarah asked.

Startled at the question, Hannah turned back round to look at her sister.

"No, I assumed he'd asked you. After all, you always had your heads together whispering about wedding plans, or so it seemed."

Sarah sniggered and tapped her nose. "Never you mind what we were whispering about, but no, I didn't tell him. This was all Logan's ide

a. All I did know is that he wanted it to be somewhere different and special." Sarah pursed her lips, and Hannah could almost see the wheels turning in her sister's head. Ever since she'd told Sarah about this wedding and the reasons behind it, Sarah had insisted that there must be more to it than that, but then her sister was a hopeless romantic. Hannah, however, was a realist, and while her heart might have leapt in joy when she realized where they were getting married, it was all for show. To make them look real in the eyes of the authorities, that was all this was. Nothing more and nothing less.

"What?" she asked.

"Oh nothing." Sarah grinned. "I know you keep saying this is all for show yadda, yadda, yadda, but I've seen the way he watches you. That man is just about ready to eat you alive with his eyes most of the time, and you..." Again, with the pursed lips, which were starting to irritate the ever-loving heck out her.

"I what? Spit it out, already, I know you're dying to. And if Logan gives that impression it's only because he's horny. We haven't had sex since we got engaged so ... oh what now?" She frowned at Sarah's knowing smirk.

"I bet that wasn't your idea, was it? And it sure explains why you're so ready to bite my head off. How can you even keep your hands off that hunk?”

"Sarah!" Hannah didn't quite pull off her outraged hiss, if Sarah's growing amusement was anything to go by, and she knew her own cheeks were flaming. Damn her propensity to blush at the drop of a hat. "What?" Sarah shrugged one lace covered shoulder and grinned. "Just because I'm engaged doesn't mean I can't look and appreciate another man's fine physique, and your future husband is packing in all the right places. I bet he knows how to use it all, too, right?"

Hannah simply shook her head at her incorrigible sister, and Sarah giggled.

"Seriously, though, think about it. And this whole non-sex thing until you're married? Really, does he strike you as a man who would willingly forego that for any lengths of time? He wanted this wedding to be special, and there's only one reason for that, if you ask me."

Hannah's heart skipped a beat at the certainty behind her sister's words, even as the rational side of her brain instantly dismissed that crazy notion.

"No, you're wrong. Logan doesn't do love, he made that perfectly clear, which is fine by me. I'm only using him for sex, anyway, or at least I will be once we're married."

Sarah burst out laughing, and Hannah followed suit, 'cause, really that sounded ridiculous when you thought about it.

Once they got their merriment under control, Sarah shook her head.

"Yes, well, believe that, if it makes you feel any better, but I know you. You've got a soft heart, and lord knows if ever there was a man who needs the love of a woman it's Logan. Just be careful. I can see you getting hurt, and we both know that emotional scars run far deeper than physical ones, and some might never heal."

Hannah opened her mouth to refute that silly notion, but the words of denial stuck in her throat. She took the glass of fizz Sarah handed her, and frowned at the bubbles.

"There'll be no danger of that, I can assure you, sis."

The lie lay like a brick in the bottom of her stomach, and made the excellent champagne taste like sawdust as she swallowed.

Come what may she had to guard her heart. She could do this, right?

Logan straightened the cuffs of his monkey suit for the umpteenth time, and scowled at the elderly registrar. Where the fuck was his bride to be? It didn't take that long to walk down the castle steps and make her way into the garden where the ceremony was to be held. The photographer aimed her camera into his face, and he flexed his fingers against the urge to wrench that piece of equipment out of her hands and throw it into the stream which formed a small lake. An idyllic setting the brochure had said, and he supposed that was true.

The way Hannah's eyes had lit up in silent joy, when they'd pulled up the long gravel drive yesterday afternoon had certainly been worth the organizational nightmare to get them all up to Scotland and everything put in place in just under a month.

It had given him a far too suspicious glow inside to know he'd made her happy. He wasn't going to examine his motives too closely, that's for sure. This was a means to an end, that's all. Admittedly one with pleasurable side benefits, or at least it would have those once little Hannah was finally his. What had possessed him to instigate the no sex until they were married rule, anyway? He needed his head examined, but he hadn't wanted to muddy the waters.

If the one night of sex which was indelibly imprinted on his brain was anything to go by, he'd lose himself in her soft body at the detriment of all else, and Logan had needed his head in the right place for this all to work out.

So far, so good. The prenup his solicitor had drawn up was as watertight as one could make these things, and as per Hannah's request-one that still didn't sit right with him—she would leave the marriage with nothing more than the clothes on her back.

Maybe that's why he seemed addicted to seeing that joyous light in her blue eyes. If she was determined to not avail herself of his money, he could spoil her a little in other ways. Like the engagement ring. He'd chosen the deep sapphire, set in a cluster of priceless diamonds and platinum, because it reminded him of the color of her eyes. Not that he'd been foolish enough to mention this to her.

That would give her entirely the wrong idea. Logan had resented the ache in his chest when he'd all but thrown the box at her. That moment shouldn't have meant anything more than making sure she wore the required jewelry to make them look real.

Her gasp of surprise and the way she'd looked up at him, blinking away tears-Logan cursed under his breath-it had stirred emotions he didn't want to acknowledge. It had started a seeming deep-seated need to make her happy, to see those expressive eyes light up in joy and hope, and it felt damn good to know that he was the reason for that smile. A smile she'd hitherto bestowed only on Rhia. "Relax, she'll be here soon. It's the bride's prerogative to be late."

George, Hannah's sister's fiancé and his best man by the sheer necessity of having to keep things in the family, slapped him on the back and grinned. "And wipe that scowl off your face. This is supposed to the happiest day of your life, yet you look like man about to face the gallows."

Logan shook his head, made a non-committal grunt, and forced his tight shoulders to relax as he looked around the select few people who'd been invited.

His side of the guests looked far too empty. His solicitor and his wife, a few business clients, chosen specifically with future deals in mind-it always helped to butter them up-and the empty slot where his mother ought to be. Unfortunately, she was recovering from a nasty chest infection, and thus unable to attend.

Hannah had urged him to postpone the wedding a couple of weeks, but Logan couldn't afford that luxury. The custody hearings were looming, and he knew his every move was under scrutiny by the authorities. While he'd been granted temporary custody of his niece-as per the terms of Claudia's living will, a fact which still astonished him-her grandparents had started a vicious battle to smear his name. This wedding was damage limitation of the highest order, and it had to work. While he was far from suitable daddy material, he owed Claudia this much.

The wedding march started up, and George's low, appreciative whistle raised the fine hair on his neck. Even without that warning of his bride-to-be's approach, he'd have known Hannah was near. The breeze kicked up, bringing with it the scent of her light perfume, and inhaling deeply, he turned around. He blinked at what he saw. Rhia came first, her little face screwed up in concentration, as she clutched her basket to her chest and threw handfuls of rose petals on the red carpet that had been laid to form the makeshift aisle.☐☐☐☐