Read The Bridal Bargain for Free Online Page A

the apartment key from my brother. It will only take a few minutes.” He pointed to the building he was about to enter. “That’s the control centre for King Investments. Alex runs it. Are you okay waiting here?”
    She nodded, her attention turning to the building so he only caught a glimpse of the bewitching green eyes. He got himself moving, determined on swift practical action. The sooner Hannah was delivered to an apartment, the sooner he could get her out from under his skin.
    A pity he wasn’t involved with anyone at the moment. That was probably half the problem, missing the intimate company of a woman he liked. There was a hole in his life to be filled, but that was no reason to fill it with Hannah O’Neill. It was just a matter of looking around, putting himself in the social swim. He’d find a woman who attracted him and maybe she’d be right for him. Like Gina was for Alex.
    Now there was a marriage he could envy. His brother had hit the jackpot with Gina Terlizzi. And made a lucky escape from the woman who’d thought she had Alex right where she wanted him—a user like Robyn. Self-centred sexy women could be very dangerous. A man definitely needed to keep his wits around them.
    He just caught Alex as he was about to leave. Five o’clock. No working overtime now he had Gina to go home to. “Hold on a moment! I need a key to one of the guest apartments,” Tony told him, blocking the doorway out of the executive office.
    His big brother backtracked to his desk, throwing him a questioning look. “I didn’t know we had anyone arriving.”
    “We don’t.” He heaved a sigh and rolled his eyes. “Nonna, in her wisdom, has offered an apartment to my new chef for Duchess until she gets herself settled in Port Douglas.”
    “She? You’re replacing Chris with a woman?” Raised eyebrows. “I thought you preferred a male chef.”
    “Chris has worked very well, but he did put me in a bind to get someone fast and there were only female applicants.” Sighing his vexation over the whole pressure situation, he went on to explain, “I asked Nonna to interview them and she seems to have taken a real shine to this Hannah O’Neill. Gave her the job before even consulting me about the others.”
    “Accommodation, too,” Alex remarked, smiling at Tony’s obvious chagrin.
    “I just hope she’s not a free-loader who’ll prove difficult to shift once she’s in,” Tony muttered darkly.
    “Oh, I’d trust Nonna’s judgement on that. Very astute when it comes to character,” Alex drawled, fishing a key out of a drawer.
    “Character has nothing to do with the overall picture,” Tony argued. “I don’t like any of my staff getting preferential treatment, let alone a newcomer.”
    Alex shrugged. “If it’s only a stop-gap...”
    “Nonna even invited Hannah to afternoon tea in the loggia. And asked her to come again.”
    “So?” Alex’s sharp blue eyes were highly amused at this preferential treatment. “Aren’t you always telling me to relax and go with the flow?”
    Tony heaved a sigh of exasperation. Alex had always been into controlling things. It seemed that being the oldest brother he’d been over-endowed with a sense of responsibility and he was big enough and tough enough and smart enough to carry through anything he thought should be done. Over the years Tony had tried to lighten him up. Turning those tables on him now was simply not appropriate.
    “This is work, Alex, not play,” he tersely reminded him.
    “If Nonna thinks it will work out fine, I’m sure it will,” he blithely returned, tossing over a key attached to the Coral King tag. “I take it this Hannah O’Neill is...uh...very appealing?”
    “As far as I’m concerned she’s completely out of bounds. Thanks for the key.” He turned to leave, then hung back on a strong afterthought. “Don’t mention this to Matt.”
    “Why shouldn’t I mention it to Matt?”
    “Because...” He didn’t want his younger brother