Honey Moon (18 page)

Keltz gestured at the bed. “Sit down. Answer me honestly and I can make all this—legit and non-legit wife included—go away.”

An imaginary judge’s gavel punched Jenna in the gut. Of course. Sam had signed a marriage contract with the blonde she’d seen at the bar. Naturally, Miss…Mrs. Perfect wouldn’t contest it. After all,
her
husband was currently the hottest guy on this planet. While Jenna, Miss Forger, stood there with the guilty taste of cum in her throat, the most notorious fake-hooker.

Jenna remained rooted to the floor as Keltz strode forward. Sam was no longer white. He’d gone a weary shade of gray. Keltz grasped his elbow and pushed him backward to the gurney.

“I can explain.” Sam collapsed to sit.

Keltz stepped back. “No need. Answer a couple more questions, do not challenge my ability to detect crap and we’ll wrap this up. How long has it been since you slept?”

Sam sighed. “I’m fine.”

“I said no lies,” Keltz barked. Emotion finally broke out on her face and the lady did not look happy.

“Ah… Maybe thirty-six hours.”

“Do you wish to press charges against Miss Jensen for identity tampering and alias forging?”

“Absolutely not.” Sam glanced at her. “Jenna, come here.”

Keltz’s hand rose and Jenna stayed frozen. “Was the contract you signed using the alias of Samuel Cooper nothing but a pretense to board that shuttle, and do you accept full responsibility for vows exchanged with the woman, formerly known as Laree Spring, who claims to be Mrs. Laree Cooper?”

Sam slumped. “Yes. I used her.”

“Do you wish to renege on the contract as both Cooper and Dexter?”

Sam raised his chin and hope flared in his expression. “God, yes. Can I just pay some fine and a severance amount—I don’t care how much—to be free of this? Of her?”

“You should care,” Keltz muttered. “You’ll be wide open to ongoing disputes without a clean, decisive break.”

Jenna cleared her throat. “What do you suggest?”

“Man-up and keep it simple.” Keltz narrowed her gaze at Sam. “Son, if you could control your fate for the next twenty-four hours, what would you want?”

“Honestly?” Sam shrugged. “A few hours of sleep without being hounded by anyone and legal ties severed with the woman I callously seduced and used for no reason other than the gut feeling something was—is—terribly wrong with a terrifying percentage of the bastards that run this world.”

“In regards to the callous seduction, which woman are you referring too?”

Sam scrubbed his hand across his face. “Huh?”

“Not me.” Jenna crossed her arms. “I was the one who tampered with his wrist phone to change his name so it appeared he was married to me then I drugged him.”

“Hmm. Young lady, I have no doubts as to your integrity. His is another story.” Keltz turned that cold gaze on Sam. “That’s it? Rest and freedom from Mrs. Laree Cooper?”

Sam scowled. “Yep. Maybe throw in a glass of water,” he blurted, “and a crown as I ask for world peace.”

The woman resumed tapping at her wrist phone. “Before I crown you anything but presumptuous, you should reconsider leaving this facility without a bride on your arm.”

“For the love of God, why?” Sam groaned.

Keltz glanced around the windowless room. “My mistake. Preoccupied with pretend illnesses and arranging sexual liaisons, perhaps medics neglected to mention this soundproof facility is surrounded by World Security. Seasoned soldiers, yet ill-equipped to handle mobs of lemmings wearing shirts expressing lust and admiration for a man they believe to be a romantic hero—erroneously? Time shall tell.”

Jenna gulped as the woman’s icy expression not only shattered, the hard glint filling the admiral’s eyes had Sam flinching.

“One of those teenage idiots happens to be my child,” Keltz said. “I’ll personally see to your neutering and permanent incarceration, Dexter, if she’s harmed in the slightest.” The woman renewed working her phone. “But, on topic and deemed by the power invested in me as Attorney for the United Governments, the marriage between Laree and Samuel Dexter, a.k.a. Samuel Cooper, is hereby dissolved based on witnessed adultery—marriage amendment 808 stating that yes, oral counts—and my own dislike of womanizing liars.”

Sam stared at the floor and the tightness in Jenna’s chest returned with a vengeance.
Pretend-hooker, claiming to be sterile, erasing a wife and becoming one without consent. Round and round it goes.
If there was one thing she’d like in this moment, it’d be to disappear from this room, building and oh hell, why not wish she was on a shuttle for Jupiter?

Heavy silence filled the room before the admiral’s flat voice continued, “Well, that’s that. Unless you, Miss Jensen, have anything to say to or concerning this man who’s not legally partnered to you either? Technically a bachelor?”

A bolt of anger charged up her spine. “Yes, I have an opinion. He saved thousands—”

“Blah. Blah. A true hero, yes. But on a personal level, what’s your assessment of character?”

What on Earth did this formidable woman want? Jenna shot Sam a confused look. No help there. He sat, twisting the gold band on his finger. The one she’d given him.

“Strong, kind and a damn good man who”—Jenna swallowed hard—“I’d give anything to be married to and not just to easily exit this building.”

Sam shoved to his feet as Keltz stepped forward, her intense gaze on Jenna. “Then you, young lady, you’d march this damn good man from this facility claiming he’s yours in sickness and in health and subject to strangulation if he even attempts to consort with his fans or the press?”

Her heartbeat stuttered as Sam stumbled closer and went down on one knee. “Please, sweetheart, tell me I’m the happiest guy alive.”

Bursts of joy yearned to explode within her, reined in by reality. “Sure.” She drew a deep breath. “It makes sense to walk out of here with your head high and pretending to be married.”

Sam jerked back. “No. Not a sham.” He glanced at Keltz. “If she says yes, you can marry us right now? Make it legal?” He didn’t wait for an answer. A grin broke out on his face. He pushed to his feet and tugged the ring off his finger. “Wow. I hope you can see them, too.”

“See what?” Jenna asked.
Oh God, he’s hallucinating.
Was he so sleep-deprived he didn’t mean or quite comprehend a word he’d just said—her heartbeat stopped—that he really did want to exchange vows?

Sam clutched the gold band as he glanced about his head. “The bluebirds bobbing and rainbows circling.” He smiled at her. “This is the real deal, sweetheart, if you want it to be. Love at first sight is an actual, for certain thing I feel for you, and not because we survived this first day we’ve had together. I do love you. I do. I do. And I want to say that again in front of the world.”

Her throat dry, she pushed the words out. “You love…
me
?”

“I
do
.” Sam gestured to Keltz. “Look. See that smile? She, the lady with the stare that shrivels balls, believes me. You should, too. Take off the ring, Jenna. Please.”

Ohmygodohmygod.
She tugged the band off her finger and tossed it as he did the same. The rings tumbled across the space of a couple of feet like the Love Center’s logo, passing each other. Sam snatched hers and she caught his.

He winked at Jenna. “Maybe if I beg nicely, we’ll get a first night together.” He turned to Keltz. “Right, ma’am? Tonight?”

Keltz narrowed her eyes at Sam. “Do as told and we shall see. Keep those balls shriveled, put tongues back in your mouths and rings in a pocket.”

The admiral’s fingers tapped a fast jazz at her wrist phone. “I’d like an acquaintance or relative, who can be here within the half hour, to stand beside each of you as witness as required when not going off to colonize space.” She looked up. “Names?”

Jenna pinched her arm. Was this happening? The brilliant man she’d dreamed about since she was a teenager, watching her with such passion, hope and love in his expression, was about to legally become her partner?

“I said names,” snapped Keltz.

Sam jerked his head around. “Kurt…don’t remember his last name. Guy who lost his wife and helped land the shuttle. He’s around, mustering forces to break me out of here.”

“And you, Miss?”

A haze of purple crossed her mind. “Um…there’s a rep at the LC in this city named Lenard Harding.”

Puzzlement crossed Sam’s face while Keltz returned to dead fish mode. “The Love Center and all its assets, including employees, are stationary pending investigation, contracts within the past month automatically voided and fees to be returned.”

Sam cleared his throat. “
All
contracts?”

“Yeah. Got a problem with that?” Keltz’s lips pressed together, making a thin line.

“Manipulated into going down on my knee, and I didn’t even need to beg to be released from the first Mrs.?” Sam cracked a grin. “Not in the slightest.” He lost the grin. “Jenna… Someone at the LC?”

Heat flared in her face. “I’d like to find him. He’d be able to…ah…dress…” She peeked at Keltz, who looked up from her wrist phone. “Look, I have a right to ask for whom I want, don’t I?”

Keltz glared at her, then dropped her gaze back to her wrist phone.

Jenna sucked in a deep breath. “Um…don’t you think the press would agree a bride gets her way?”

“Hmpf.” Keltz jerked up her chin. She looked as if she’d love to strangle Jenna. “I heartily disapprove, but per your wishes, Mr. Harding has been located. An agent is contacting him now.” She returned to scowling at her wrist phone, and held her finger up, signaling Jenna and Sam to remain silent. A pause, then her low voice muttering into the phone was barely audible. “No. He’s to come alone. I promise a court martial if this Harding isn’t standing in front of me ASAP. Out.”

Sam hadn’t taken those deep green eyes off Jenna, and the bluebirds and rainbows he’d mentioned began spinning around her head as well.

Chapter Twelve

Inside the chapel at the medical center, Sam stood at the front to the right of the pulpit. In all of a half hour he’d been showered, shaved, buttoned into a black tux and most importantly, had sucked down two large cups of highly caffeinated coffee. Kurt hovered beside him, wearing a forced smile.

“Sure you want to do this?” Sam mumbled.

“Do what? Put on hold plans to smash every suit I see who wants a piece of you, hang about while I marry—for real—the hot babe who saved my life, then bust out of here in a dramatic exit that’ll have a gaggle of
In the Loop
fans either screaming with envy or swooning with happiness at the sight of a bride and groom who aren’t en route to a funeral parlor?”

“Yep.”

“Stop feeling sorry for me before I distract you with a fist to your gut.”

Sam flung his arm around Kurt’s shoulders. “We can postpone. Give you longer than a few hours to cope with your loss.” He removed his arm and stared at the guy.

Kurt brushed non-existent dust off his lapel. He too wore a tux. “For the last time, I’m not fine but I’m here and I know I don’t have to be. That medic would jump at the chance to be your best mate.” He cracked a smile. “Hey, is it true you got to be alone with Jenna? Took the opportunity to get…blown away, divorced then down on one knee?”

Sam snorted. “Does everyone in this place know I got a BJ?”

“You’re one lucky guy, Dexter.”

“I am indeed.” Sam’s heartbeat stuttered. Low music,
Here Comes the Bride,
began playing and the most beautiful sight entered through the arched doorway thirty feet away. He barely glanced at the tall man in a white tux, taking in the short woman on the guy’s arm.

Jenna wore a lacy ivory gown that swept the floor. Little frilled bits of silk were strung as accents everywhere, including places he couldn’t wait to handle. The gown was slit from thigh to ankle so she could walk, and she looked so damn pretty that his knees were about to give out.

A low whistle came from Kurt and he grasped Sam’s elbow. “Easy. He’s something, that’s for sure. Almost… Oh yeah, dear lord, I do wish I was gay.”

“He?” Sam tore his gaze from the radiant woman floating closer and closer, and the guy escorting her stared right back. Thick hair—purple—reached his knees and fluttered about as he pranced forward, Jenna’s grip on his arm, pulling her along. The pristine white suit had to be made of leather, molded to his lean body like a second skin and if a man cared, he’d find the muscular guy beyond movie star handsome.

A throat cleared to his right and Sam snapped his jaw closed. Admiral Keltz had come in the side door. Wearing that impeccable navy suit, she waited at the podium.

“Get on with it,” Kurt whispered and dropped his elbow. “Say something memorable before that dude—who looks at the bride like he’s more bi than gay—upstages the groom.”

My bride
.
Jenna
. Sam swallowed hard. His heart pounded painfully as she came to a stop within arm’s reach and smiled at him. He drew in a shallow breath, noticed and ignored the faint whiffs of a field of lavender emanating from the guy. “Nice dress.”
Great. For a bibliophile who blogs for a living. I can be so lame.