STORM: A Standalone Romance (66 page)

“What does this mean?”

Miles leaned close to me to look at the documents I had spread out in front of me on the conference table. He smelled like wood and spice, his expensive cologne washing over me every time he moved. And he was so close to me that I could feel his breath against the back of my neck when he spoke.

“It just means that you agree to live in my house during the course of the marriage.”

“Then why doesn’t it just say that?”

“Lawyers can’t just say things out straight. They have to wrap it up in complicated language so that we have to go to them to explain it to us.”

“Then how do you know what it means?”

“I went to law school.”

I looked up at him as he moved away, crossing the room to his desk. It was late. Most of his office staff were gone before I arrived, which is why I suspect he asked me to come after my shift at Starbuck’s. He was dressed, as always, in jeans and an old t-shirt, mud splattered on his pant legs despite the fact it hadn’t rained in weeks. He picked up a bottle of soda off his desk and took a long drink, sighing when he set it down again.

“You’re a lawyer?”

“No. I went to law school. There’s a difference.”

“Why didn’t you finish?”

He glanced at me, his expression tightened. “I never said I didn’t finish.”

“But if you’d finished—”

“I just didn’t take the bar exam.”

“Why not?”

He shrugged. “Because it was what my father wanted. And I try very hard not to do what my father wants me to do.”

I turned back to the legal papers laid out in front of me, trying not to ask why that might be. It was obvious he didn’t like talking about it, but it seemed to answer a few questions, like why he’d moved so far from home.

I ran my finger over the words on the page, searching for the section I had been reading. He came back over—I could smell him again—and settled in a chair beside me.

“It’s all very straightforward,” he said, a touch of boredom to his voice. “It basically just says that you agree to marry me and act as my legal wife for as long as I need you to. Then, I agree to pay you a million dollars, as long as you don’t contest the divorce or the prenup.”

“I have the option of fighting the divorce?”

He shrugged. “Everyone has options. But I wouldn’t recommend fighting it. My father’s lawyers would keep you in court for so long that you wouldn’t get anything.”

I brushed a piece of hair from my face and turned back to the contract. To be honest, none of it really made much sense to me. Yet, I felt compelled to read it from beginning to end, just to be sure I knew what I was getting myself into.

After a few minutes of silence, Miles sighed quite heavily.

“Look,” he said, gathering the papers and shuffling them together, “there’s no reason to read the whole thing. If you agree to be my wife, I’ll pay you. That’s all there is to it.”

“Why?”

His hands paused for a minute. “Why is that so important to you?”

“Because I want to know what I’m getting myself in the middle of. Clearly you have a reason for doing this. If I know what the reason is, maybe I can avoid making a mistake that will make everything worse.”

“Don’t worry about that. Nothing can make this any worse.”

He stood up again, crossing the room in two, quick strides. He grabbed a pen from his desk and came back, setting a single piece of paper in front of me.

“Sign this.”

I took the pen he held out to me, but I didn’t open it. I just stared at the paper for a long minute, then sat back.

“What?”

“I need to know more about you.”

He practically growled, clearly annoyed with me. He practically threw himself into a chair and stared at me with what I’m sure he thought was an intimidating looked. However, I didn’t turn away; I didn’t even drop my gaze for an instant. My aunts always said I was the most stubborn person they knew. When I wanted something, there was nothing in the world that could drag the thought from my mind. That was something Miles was going to have to learn about me.

“Why do you need to know about me?” he asked.

“Because people are going to ask about us. How we met. What our first date was like. How you proposed. And they’re going to expect me to know about you.”

“So lie. Women are supposed to be really good liars. At least, they always have been in my experience.”

There was a bitterness to his words that made me wonder what the women in his life had done to him. Was this about Claire Watson? Had she broken his heart?

That was something I should know if I was going to be able to convince people our marriage was real.

“I’m not a great liar. And if someone asks me what your favorite color is, I’d really like to be able to answer honestly.”

He stared at me for a long minute, a war going on behind his eyes. Slowly, a little resignation came into them, and he sat up. “Fine. What do you want to know?”

“Why did you come to Texas?”

He groaned. “You have to go for the jugular, first question out?” He dragged his fingers through his hair, as he leaned back, his eyes shifting to the ceiling for a long second. “If you must know,” he said very slowly in a tone that suggested he really didn’t want to tell me, “my brother had just married my fiancée. So, I felt like it was a good time to get out of Dodge. And Joan was here, so this is where I decided to come.”

“You and Joan are close?”

“I told you, Joan used to work for my father. I’ve known her since I was quite young.”

“Why did your brother marry your fiancée?”

His eyes narrowed as he regarded me. “When you get the answer to that question, feel free to fill me in.”

I looked away, feeling a little guilty for pushing that issue, but at least I knew now why he didn’t just ask Claire to go through with her promise to marry him and why he would run away from home. I might have done the same thing in his position.

“Your turn,” he said. “If you have to know about me, then I should know about you, too.”

“Okay,” I said, dragging out the syllables as I wondered what it was he might ask.

“Why don’t you have a boyfriend?”

I blushed. “What do you mean?”

“Why isn’t there some big, dumb guy knocking me out for asking you to do this?”

I caught the edge of my bottom lip between my teeth as I focused on the pen in my hands, twirling it between my fingers. That was actually a pretty good question. I just wished I knew how to answer it.

“Surely you’ve had men in your life. Are you between lovers right now, or what?”

“You make me sound like a promiscuous woman.”

“No. Just a typical, modern woman.”

I chuckled softly. I’d never been accused of being typical before. And he couldn’t have been further from the truth. My first kiss was from Lisa’s brother because we happened to both step under a piece of mistletoe at the same time and their mother goaded him into it. My second kiss didn’t happen until the night of my high school graduation and that was my high school crush saying goodbye. I was too tall in high school to get much action. Most of the boys were intimidated by me. And college was a whirlwind of all-nighters that were more about studying than sex.

But I wasn’t about to tell him that.

“I’m picky about who I go out with.”

“Yeah? What’s your type?”

I looked at him. “Why? Does it matter now? Are you going to set me up with someone when you toss me aside at the end of this deal?”

“Maybe.” He grinned, but there wasn’t much humor in it.

“What kind of music do you listen to?”

I figured a change in subject was warranted. I didn’t expect to see a light come into his eyes. He sat up again, that twisted grin turning into a pleased smile.

“Would it surprise you if I said I was into an eclectic combination of music? Jazz, pop, rap, big band, classical…I really like a lot of things.”

I couldn’t help but be lured in by the enthusiasm in his voice.

“Do you listen to Sinatra?”

“Old Blue Eyes? Who doesn’t?”

“I grew up listening to him. My aunts—they have this thing for him. Every Sunday they would play his records, one after the other, while we cleaned the house. I grew up knowing the words to all his greats.”

“Don’t tell Joan that. She’d be your best friend for life. She thinks no one appreciates the greats anymore. But she’s the one who introduced me to Sinatra and Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald.”

“She had a lot of influence on you.”

“I spent more time with her as a kid than I did my parents. She was my father’s assistant, so she was always at the house, working in his home office while he was off playing golf. If not for her, my father’s company wouldn’t be what it is today. And she’d let me hang out in the office with her, sit and watch her negotiate over the phone and do all the things she did so well. She always had music playing, always had some bit of knowledge to bestow on me. I was like a lost puppy dog, following her around. I thought she was the most amazing woman in the world.”

“You had a crush on her.”

“It was more than a crush. She was the love of my life until I was fourteen and discovered she was already taken.”

“That must have been tough.”

He nodded—even as a wry smile twisted his lips. “But she let me down easy.”

I remembered my first crush and couldn’t help but sympathize. Mine was my fifth grade teacher. He was young, single, and the most handsome man I’d ever known until that moment. All the girls in my class had a crush on him, even Lisa, but I thought that the special attention he showed me meant that I was at the top of his list. It never occurred to me that it had more to do with the fact that I was struggling in my work because that was the year my aunts discovered I needed glasses. He didn’t let me down easy. I just happened to be hanging around the classroom after school one day and saw his girlfriend arrive to pick him up. I cried for a week.

“Can I ask you something?”

He shrugged. “I thought that was the purpose of this.”

“My aunts…they would never accept the money if they knew why we were doing this. If they found out—”

“No one needs to know the truth.”

“But they would expect there to be a proper wedding. They’d want to help plan it.”

“I thought we’d just go to the justice of the peace.”

I half nodded. “But my aunts and my friend Lisa, they won’t believe this is real if we don’t at least have a party, or something. They know me. They know I’ve dreamed of a big wedding since I was a little girl. To run off and elope…they know that’s not me.”

“Then what do you propose?”

“A small wedding in my aunts’ backyard?”

“It would take time to pull together a wedding. I need this to happen in the next two weeks.”

“Why the rush?”

That tightness came to his face again. I knew he wouldn’t answer, so I wasn’t surprised when he leaned forward and groaned. “If you can pull it together by the end of next week…”

“I can.”

“And we have to have a priest. My mother will not accept this whole sham if we don’t have a priest officiate.”

There was resignation to his voice that was beginning to sound a little familiar.

“No problem. My aunts attend St. Michael’s over on Third Street. I’m sure Father Brian would be more than happy to do it.”

Miles waved his hand at the paper still sitting in front of me. “So, sign the contract and we’ll get this thing going. Just tell me what I have to do.”

I signed with a flourish, growing excited despite myself.

Maybe this wouldn’t be the disaster I had feared.

My hands shook as I reached up to pin the lacy veil to my hair.

“Let me do it.” Aunt Edna smiled at me in the mirror as she walked up behind me. She took the bobby pins and pressed her hand to the top of my head, positioning the veil just right.

“I’m so glad you decided to go with mother’s veil. It looks so nice with this dress.”

“Do you think so?”

She caught my eye in the mirror again. “You are a beautiful bride.”

Tears filled my eyes, but not for the reason Aunt Edna obviously assumed. She patted my shoulder softly as Aunt Colleen walked up beside her and grabbed a box of tissues from the top of my dressing table.

“Don’t ruin your face, my dear,” Aunt Colleen said, as she handed me a tissue.

I pressed it to my eye, catching a tear as it spilled.

This should have been the best day of my life. This was supposed to be the day I pledged to love, honor, and obey my soulmate. Instead, I was making a mockery of the whole thing by marrying a man I barely knew for money.

What did that make me?

I’d picked up the phone a dozen times last night to call this whole thing off. However, I knew Miles wouldn’t go for it. Besides, he’d already paid the mortgage on my aunts’ house. I was planning to give them the deed before we left for our honeymoon.

Honeymoon. It was actually a quick trip to Florida so that he could check out a building there that had been built using some advanced, environmentally friendly techniques that he was thinking of having his company adopt. He said it was a perfect cover, what with us trying to convince the whole world that our marriage was real.

It’d hit the tabloids on the internet two days ago. He swore it wasn’t him. However, he’d told his parents and his siblings about his upcoming wedding, so maybe one of them had done it. I suspected it was him and that he was lying for the same reason he continued to refuse to tell me why this was necessary in the first place. I’d had to quit my job a day earlier than planned because reporters kept calling the manager and tying up the phone lines. He hadn’t appreciated it much.

It was out of my realm of reality, all this attention I was suddenly getting. I’d told Lisa and my aunts. That was it. But now…the whole world knew and everyone wanted to know who I was. No one had ever cared who I was before.

Lisa was beyond excited. She was in the bathroom right now, fixing her face for the third time. When she heard that Miles had his best friend, Colin Parsons, coming to act as his best man, her mind immediately jumped to romance.

“Wouldn’t it be so cool if the best man at your wedding ended up with me?” she’d asked.

It didn’t hurt that Colin Parsons also happened to be the hottest new face in Hollywood at the moment. At least the excitement of meeting him had distracted Lisa from the fact that I’d only known Miles a few weeks. I introduced Miles to both Lisa and my aunts over dinner at a local restaurant. Miles was polite, even charming. And Lisa was blown away by him. My aunts had no clue that his family was one of the oldest and most respected in the country, let alone who he might have been engaged to a few months ago. But Lisa knew. She giggled whenever he looked at her, and she tried to ask a bunch of questions about Claire Watson, but he carefully redirected the conversation each time he saw her moving in that direction. But when it was all said and done…

How long have you known him? Where did you meet him? Why are you rushing into marriage? Are you pregnant?

It was overwhelming. I should have gone along with the eloping thing. At least then I wouldn’t have had to answer those questions until after everything was said and done. And I wouldn’t feel as though I were perpetuating a fraud on everyone I cared about.

Aunt Edna finished fastening the veil to the top of my head. I stood and moved to the full-length mirror that hung on the back of my closet door. I almost didn’t recognize myself. My mahogany hair was pulled back into a French knot, a few curls just touching my forehead and covering the tops of my ears. Lisa had done my makeup. It was a little heavier than I usually liked, but it was tasteful, pulling out the color of my eyes and making them look wider than they normally appeared. And my dress…I couldn’t believe how beautiful it was. When I went shopping with Lisa last week, I hadn’t expected to get anything near to what I wanted. But this was perfect. It was white satin with a sweetheart bodice and a high waist, the skirt flowing into an almost bell shape that flattered my hips rather than making them seem wider than they really were. It wasn’t the belle of the ball type of dress I’d always dreamed of, but it was close enough so that I felt like an angel wearing it. And the veil was the icing on the cake, old lace that my great-grandmother made herself for my grandmother’s wedding.

It would all be so perfect if only…

“It’s about that time,” Aunt Colleen said, moving up behind me, tears in her eyes.

“You are so beautiful,” Aunt Edna said at my other elbow, also wiping away tears.

It was almost too much. But then I thought of them packing boxes, moving out of the house they’d always lived in and going to some facility where they wouldn’t be cared for as well as they could be here, and I knew I had no choice. I took a deep breath and nodded as I turned to face the door.

“Let’s go.”

Lisa stepped out of the bathroom at that moment, nerves like what I should have been feeling crisscrossing her normally relaxed face.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” she said.

***

The backyard had been transformed into some sort of wedding day dream. There was a white arch at the end of a path created with a fine, red cloth and rose petals. There were red ribbons on everything with rose stems weaved through them, decorating the guest chairs, the arch, even the lapels of the three gentlemen who stood beside the makeshift altar: Father Brian, Colin Parsons, and Miles.

Lisa gasped when she saw the guys in their tuxes. I had to admit that Colin was attractive. He was blond with blue eyes, a bigger, more muscular version of Brad Pitt. But not really my type. Lisa, on the other hand, was Miles’ type. I found myself watching his eyes as she walked slowly down the aisle in her short, red dress. However, he wasn’t looking at her. His attention was drawn to someone seated to his right.

There was a decent crowd at our little, impromptu wedding. I recognized Joan Tarek sitting just to Miles’ left. And a few of the other people I’d seen in the office—architects, secretaries, and others whose roles with his company I didn’t yet know. My aunts had invited their bridge buddies and the ladies from their book club. There was the guy who brought their groceries twice a week and their doctor—a kindly man who was so patient with them that he probably deserved some sort of medal. And Lisa’s brothers sitting with their significant others—those who had them—and their parents.

There were a few others I didn’t recognize, including the dark-haired woman Miles was staring at. I could only see the back of her head and the curve of her jaw. I couldn’t imagine who she was or why she was here. But Miles seemed unsettled by her presence.

The music changed as Lisa arrived at the altar, and Colin took her arm to lead her into position. It was my turn. I had considered having my aunts walk me down the aisle. But I didn’t want to waste that sentiment on this. So I decided to walk alone. And, in this moment, I was regretting it.

My knees were shaking, and my feet didn’t seem to know how to take a step. I bit my bottom lip, and then remembered the lipstick Lisa told me to be aware of, not to eat it off. Heads were turning in my direction, and I just felt that much more rooted to the spot. I was panicking, even as I willed myself to move. Little titters rose in the air around me as Lisa’s brothers began to laugh behind their hands. My heart was pounding, and I simply couldn’t move.

And then Miles was there, his hands gentle as he touched my upper arms.

“You okay?”

I couldn’t even shake my head. I was so lost in my panic that I it was like I was paralyzed. He ran his hands slowly up and down my arms, the heat of his touch bringing back some sense of feeling. His eyes never left mine as he said quietly, “One step at a time, okay? Just follow me.”

He began to walk backward and, by some miracle, my body remembered what to do. I followed him as he walked backward, his hand slowly slipping down to mine, his fingers intertwining with mine. He stepped back and turned, walking beside me as we approached the altar. My heart began to pound again, beating so quickly that I couldn’t hear anything for the roar it created in my ears. But then Miles leaned close and whispered, “It’s almost over.”

I held on to that thought as the priest began the ceremony.

***

“Can you believe you’re really married?”

No. That’s what I wanted to say. I couldn’t believe it. The whole thing was so bizarre. I couldn’t even remember the ceremony. All my mind could focus on was the feel of Miles’ hand in mine, the feel of his sweat that proved he was just as nervous as I was. But I couldn’t remember the words, couldn’t remember repeating them to Father Brian. Couldn’t remember anything about it until we were walking down the aisle again, his hand on the small of my back.

Well, that wasn’t exactly true. I remembered the kiss.

I remembered how soft his lips were. I remember thinking they shouldn’t be that soft. And then I remembered all thought disappearing, as he drew me closer to him and the tip of his tongue brushed against my lips. I remembered the way my body responded to him, the way my belly fluttered and my heart skipped a beat. I remembered that I wanted it to go on forever, and when he pulled away it was like he’d taken away a gift he never should have offered in the first place. And I remembered the little spark of surprise in his eyes, as he looked at me in the seconds after that kiss.

I touched my lips now, the memory almost overwhelming for a second.

“You okay?” Lisa asked.

“Yeah. I’m good.”

“Did you pack a bikini? I mean, I don’t suppose you’ll need many clothes on this little honeymoon, but it never hurts to pack a few essentials.”

“I have a bathing suit.”

“Tell me you didn’t pack that old, black one-piece that you wear every summer?” Lisa groaned without waiting for an answer because she knew me too well to expect a denial. “You really don’t get it, do you?”

“Get what?”

“This whole seduction game. Just because you got the guy, doesn’t mean you don’t have to keep working at it. You have to make the man happy he chose you.”

“I think Miles understands better than I do why he chose me.”

Lisa didn’t seem to hear me. She was too busy rooting around in her backpack. A second later she mumbled something I couldn’t hear and came back over, a small bag in her hands.

“Here,” she said, shoving it at me.

“What is this?”

“A wedding gift. Don’t open it until you get to the hotel, okay?”

“Lisa…”

“Go on, now,” she said, pushing me toward the door. “Your husband is waiting downstairs.”

I grabbed my overnight bag, nearly tripping over my own feet as she gave me another shove. I’d changed into a white pant suit that my aunts insisted was the proper attire for a honeymoon trip. The ceremony had only ended an hour ago, but Miles was in a hurry to get to Florida. Lisa followed me down the stairs, her back growing a little stiffer, her posture a little straighter, when she saw Miles talking to Colin at the bottom of the stairs. The dark-haired woman was there, too, her face still turned away from me. She hadn’t come to congratulate Miles and me after the ceremony like everyone else, choosing to remain in her seat as everyone else milled around, enjoying the refreshments my aunts had worked all night putting together. But she was here now, and Miles seemed to be deep in conversation with her.

Colin spotted us and touched Miles’ shoulder. He turned, his eyes unreadable as he watched me come toward him.

He seemed as frozen as I had been earlier. Colin moved around him and slid the bag from my shoulder, smiling politely as he said, “Let me take that.”

“Thank you.”

Lisa moved up beside him. “Such a gentleman,” I heard her say as the two of them moved off, stepping deeper into the entry hall.

But my eyes were glued to Miles. There was something about the way he was watching me that felt different. Like something had changed between us that he didn’t bother to explain to me. Maybe it was just the stress of the day. Or maybe I was seeing things where they didn’t exist. But he seemed more aware of me than he had been before.

He continued to stare at me even after I stepped onto the laminated floor of the entry hall. I smiled softly, not sure what else to do. And then the dark-haired woman moved around him and I suddenly realized who she was.

“We haven’t had a chance to meet,” she said with a smile of her own. “I’m Lila Gardner, Miles’—”

“Sister.” At the slight frown that word produced, I said, “I recognize you from pictures.”

Her eyebrows went up. “Didn’t realize you were that sentimental, brother,” she said, pushing her shoulder into his side.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me, darling,” Miles said, as he slid his arm around her shoulders.

“I didn’t realize you were going to be here,” I said.