His Island Bride Read Free

to come down there and teach you how to have a good time. You can’t be in Jamaica and not soak up all the fun.”
     
“Well, we’ll see about that. I’d rather be locked away and take a break from people, thanks.”
     
***
     
Jessica finished packing her bags. Her flight would leave in three hours.
     
“I think you’re a little overweight.”
     
“What?”
     
“Your luggage, hun ,” her best friend Gina clarified.
     
“Oh, right. I should get a scale.”
     
“What happened to your old one?”
     
“Threw it out when it started going up in numbers every time I stood on it.”
     
“Honey, you’re not really overweight. You’re just a little…”
     
       “What? Heavy?” she said, raising a brow. “Anyway, I’ve booked into this really nice quiet resort where I can just sit in the sun all day and read on my Kindle.”
     
       “Oh, and you’ve got your Columbo DVD’s right?”
       “Well, of course. And my Kindle,” she said, blushing.
     
“Well, gonna miss you for the next two weeks. Just be careful out there and don’t forget to change the chip in your phone. If you use your cell from up here…girl, you will rack up hundreds or thousands of dollars worth of roaming charges and it is not funny, honey!”
     
“I hear ya !”
     
Later Gina dropped Jessica off at Terminal 3 at Toronto’s Pearson Airport and got checked in. She’d called her mother before switching off her cell and turned on her Kindle oblivious to everyone around her.
     
Finally, time alone. As much as she tried, she still couldn’t get the thought out of her mind. She may be getting married to a stranger this year.
     
Crazy.
     
But this was a decision she had to think carefully about. If only she could meet and fall in   love with someone on her own—a good person, for once. If only. If she had, her parents wouldn’t be so desperate to marry her off. She sighed and leaned back in the lounge area chair waiting to board her flight.
     
 
     
***
     
    Montego Bay, Jamaica
     
The flight was uneventful and only four hours long. Jessica was grateful she’d taken a direct flight from Toronto to Montego Bay. She switched on her Blackberry just to let her mom and Gina know that she’d arrived safely and would call from the hotel. Then she’d switched off her cell and plopped it deep into her bag to never use again until she changed the chip or got back to Toronto.
     
The warmth of the sun kissed her skin as she rode on the shuttle bus from the airport in Montego Bay to the Grandim Resort, enjoying the greenery of the tall trees breezing by on the ride. She inhaled the sweet island scents of coconut trees and palm trees and the freshness of the ocean. She gently held her sunhat as the cool island breeze swirled around her.
     
When Jessica arrived at the hotel she checked in at the lobby and was given her swipe key card. The porter brought her baggage up and she gave him a generous tip for which he was grateful.
     
“Jamaica, Jamaica. Here I am!” she whispered to herself with an appreciative grin as she entered her suite. She couldn’t believe she’d finally made it. Jessica had saved up for ages to afford the trip. She’d won a raffle prize for airfare to Jamaica but had to save up for the actual hotel stay since she didn’t know anyone on the island that she could stay with.
     
The room had a fresh sea scent to it. The sun beamed brightly as it welcomed her in but she noticed that the balcony door was already open. The mild island breeze blew in gently as the blinds cackled against each other.  She thought it was odd that the door was open but didn’t think anything more of it.
     
She had been soaked from earlier when she perspired  while sitting on the mini bus which did not have the air conditioner running. Jessica was all too glad to unzip her red suitcase and pull out the summer dress she would wear later. She undressed, turned on the gold-plated faucet in the tub and got