Caught at Last: The Montgomerys, #5

By Lexy Harper

THE FIFTH IN THE SERIES OF SIX STANDALONE ROMANCES.

Matthew Montgomery has been always known as the playboy Montgomery. His exploits have been vastly exaggerated by his brothers, but he's enjoyed the idea of them thinking that he sleeps with anything in a skirt.

Natasha Johnson is a divorcee of ten years with a twelve-year-old daughter. After ridding herself of a controlling much-older husband, she's not looking to tie herself down to anyone.

When she meets six-years-younger Matthew at the party to celebrate her cousin's engagement to Matthew's identical twin, she decides that he would be a good candidate for one night of pleasure. She's surprised by their passionate encounter. The trouble is that she has unresolved issued with her ex-husband and also doubts that Mr Matthew 'Player' Montgomery has any intention of being Caught at Last!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ebonique Publishing
• Release date: Nov 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215315910

Book preview

Chapter one

Saturday, 26th August, 2017

Michael Montgomery’s and Elizabeth Abbott’s engagement party.

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Natasha Johnson watched Matthew Montgomery from across the room, marvelling at the contrast between him and his twin Michael, men who looked so similar she couldn’t tell them apart except for the fact they were dressed differently and had vastly different expressions on their faces.

It was her second cousin Elizabeth’s and Michael’s engagement party and they couldn’t seem any happier with each other.

Elizabeth had told her that she had been out several times with Matthew and two of his female friends, but had sworn that it had been nothing more between them than friendship.

So, why was he acting as though he’d lost the love of his life?

Every time she looked at him, he had a full glass of beer in his hand.

They were both good looking, she had to admit.

In fact, they were altogether a rather good-looking family.

Their older brother Sebastian was perhaps a smidgen better looking than the twins.  He resembled their mother who was still gorgeous despite the streaks in grey in her hair.

Their sister Maya, who also looked like their mother, was exquisite.

None of them had a reason to be envious or resentful of another sibling’s looks and Natasha was sure that they had no idea just how lucky they were.

She hadn’t been so fortunate and in moments of fancy, she likened herself to Cinderella and her two wicked stepsisters.

In her case, the sisters were full blood sisters who bore little resemblance to her.

People had often, in jest she had to assume, asked her mother if she’d brought the wrong baby home from the hospital.

Natasha looked nothing like her parents either and for years she’d wondered if there was a possibility that there had been a mix-up at the hospital.

It was only when her aunt had visited from Trinidad when Natasha was eleven and told her niece that she resembled her father’s grandmother who had been half-African and half-white that Natasha had stopped worrying that she would one day be torn from her family.

Although there were times that she wondered if being separated from her sisters would have been such a bad thing.

Although both of her parents have African ancestry, they both look predominantly Indian and have dead straight hair.

So did Natasha’s two sisters.

Hers was curly.

Her sisters had also inherited their father’s dark skin; Natasha’s complexion was closer to their mother’s.

They had all inherited their mother’s aquiline nose, but Natasha’s wasn’t as hooked as theirs.

People complimented Natasha on her great skin, but her sisters had both had the same flawless complexion before they’d started using bleaching creams.

But even before that, at age eighteen and seventeen, they had begged and cajoled until their parents had agreed for them both to have surgery to correct their noses.

It was odd that though the feature was smaller and somehow more feminine on both Natasha and her mother, it had resembled an eagle’s beak when either of her sisters was viewed in profile.

Natasha had understood the reason why they would have sought corrective surgery, but once they had started down the road of pursuing plastic perfection, they hadn’t been able to stop themselves.

The latest addiction was lip enhancement.  They both now looked like ducks and seemed to think that they needed to enhance the look by pouting further.

Natasha would have loved fuller lips, but she wasn’t about to have anyone inject heaven knows what into hers just to make them look more enticing.

Her sisters also wore way too much make up.

She didn’t like being around them because they banked up on her, acting as though she’d somehow chosen to look the way she did.

Growing up she’d always thought her beauty was a curse.

They were one of the reasons she’d foolishly said ‘yes’ at eighteen when thirty-four-year-old Neil Johnson had asked her to marry him.  She’d wanted to get away from their torment.

Sadly, that had been jumping from the frying pan straight into the fire.

***

Matthew Montgomery couldn’t explain why he was feeling so out of sorts.  He was glad that his twin Michael had found the woman he wanted to marry.

In fact, he himself had pretty much acted as a matchmaker to bring his brother and his new fiancée Elizabeth together.

He was happy for them, but it felt as though he was losing a part of himself.

Michael had never been into the whole twin thing, but if Matthew had had his way they would have dressed alike and done everything else alike.

For him there was something unique and magical about being a twin and he’d felt it almost from a baby.

He remembered waking up to the glow of the night light in the otherwise darkened room and feeling comforted by the sight of his brother’s face right next to his in their cot.  Michael swore that he had no such recollections, but they remained vivid memories for Matthew to this day.

He’d always loved his twin more than any of his other siblings and that was saying a lot because he loved Christopher, Sebastian and Maya a whole lot.

The only person who rivalled Michael in Matthew’s affections was their mother.  He suspected that his siblings had loved their father and mother equally, but for Matthew their father had come a distance second.

Not that he hadn’t loved his father—far from it—he had been the greatest father, hands down, but nothing had ever beaten the comfort of being in his mother’s arms when he was a young boy or just simply around her as he got older.

When they were growing boys and he’d remained too attached to her apron strings, Michael had teased him that he’d breastfed for too long—a whole six months after his twin had been weaned.

As much as he’d loved Maya and the idea of having a sister, Matthew had felt supplanted in their mother’s affections when his sister had arrived when he was almost four.

Yet, it had been crystal clear that none of his siblings, not even Michael, had felt the same.

It was then that Matthew had started spending more time with his twin and thinking up all sorts of mischief.

They had been hellions up until the death of their father when they were eleven.

Then, almost overnight, Michael had become less daring, worried that their mother would go insane if she also lost one or both of them.

For Matthew being cautious hadn’t helped his father.

He hadn’t wanted to live a safe life, only for Death to come stalking him anyway.  So he’d often stared it in the face and silently taunted, ‘Come and get me’.

How he’d survived his teens and made it into adulthood was a mystery.

He was extremely grateful to be alive and he now thanked God regularly that He’d brought him through those years safely.

Little remained of the boy Matthew once was, but he’d held on to the idea that he and Michael would one day fulfil the pact that they’d made at the age of ten—that they would marry twin sisters and have a double wedding.

It had been a boyish fantasy that they’d soon realized wasn’t realistic as they’d grown up and developed differing tastes in women.

Matthew had given up on the idea of meeting twins, but he’d still secretly hoped for the double wedding.

He’d known that even that was unlikely to come true, but it was still hard to watch his brother so happy with his fiancée when he was alone.

He didn’t want to spoil his brother’s day—it hadn’t been smooth sailing for Michael and he deserved the happiness he was clearly feeling today.

But it was hard for Matthew to muster the energy to even post a fake smile on his face.

Usually on an occasion like this, he would have been hanging with the rest of his brothers and would not have felt his aloneness so keenly, but Christopher had travelled to Guyana at the beginning of the month.

And Sebastian was still too loved up with Loretta, his wife of almost three months, to have time for anyone else.

Maya and their mother were busy ensuring that the guests were comfortable and had everything they needed.

Matthew knew that he should be, too, but there was really no need.

The engagement party had been well organized and there was food and drink in abundance.

They didn’t need him.

Neither did his twin.

Abruptly, he turned and walked to the exit, leaving the hall with the beer that he’d been nursing all evening still in his hand.

*****

Chapter Two

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Natasha watched Matthew Montgomery leave the party and wondered where he was headed.  It wasn’t her business, but she wondered if his twin would notice his absence and if he did, would it affect his good mood?

The last thing she wanted was for Matthew to spoil the event.

She found him just outside, standing apart from the guests who had come outside to smoke.

She was relieved to find that he hadn’t jumped into his fast car and driven off at speed, as she’d imagined, even though she had no idea if he’d actually driven to the party or had a fast car.

She should leave him to his own devices, but somehow she felt the need to talk to him and find out what was bugging him.

Do you always drink this much? she asked when she was about two feet away from him.

He turned and stared at her for a long moment, his eyes remarkably clear and focussed for someone who had been drinking all evening.

I don’t see that it’s any concern of yours.

His voice was not dissimilar to his twin’s, but somehow it crept up Natasha’s spine and gave her an inner shiver.

"I know that it’s no