Marrying Mr. Right. Carolyn Greene
to suit her.” He gave her a charming smile that showed straight, white teeth and a hint of a dimple. “So I told her I was married. Now she wants to meet my wife. That’s you.”
“You own a chain of exercise gyms, and she wants proof that you’re settled?”
“Well, I am new back in town, and there’s that matter of my jail time...”
Donald’s eyes widened. “Hey, buddy, if you were involved in some kind of white collar crime, then you better find someone else to handle your business affairs.”
“Oh, no, it’s nothing like that,” Trina said, rising from the table and tugging at her jeans. “It was only robbery, and that must have been ten years ago.”
“I know you’re trying to help, but you’re making it sound worse than it was,” he told Trina. To Donald, he said, “It was a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and with the wrong people.”
Greg reached into his pocket and pulled out his keys. “All I need you to do,” he said, turning back to Christina, “is come to Mrs. Odell’s town house with me, meet her for tea and look wholesome and settled.” Almost as an afterthought, he added, “That ought not to be hard for you.”
Christina wasn’t sure whether to take that last part as a compliment or an insult.
“I’d offer to stand in for you,” Trina interjected, “but it would be hard for me to tone down my natural ‘glam.’ You, on the other hand, absolutely reek of reliability and stability.”
Greg caught Trina’s eye and made a slicing motion across his throat. She, in turn, mimed a locking gesture beside her mouth, then threw away the imaginary key.
Turning back to Christina, he added, “Oh, and you’ll have to hold off on the annulment until the lease is signed.”
“I can’t do that.” She stepped closer to Donald and reiterated what she’d said before. “We’re getting married, and the annulment needs to be finalized right away.”
“Legal notices are publicized in the newspaper. If word of the annulment gets out before the deal is done, Mrs. Odell will sign the warehouse over to someone else.”
Christina tilted her chin up. His reappearance had her emotions all topsy-turvy, but she couldn’t let him see the power he held over her. She would not bend to his will. “That’s not my concern.”
“Fine, then I won’t sign the papers.”
“Then I’ll just proceed without you. Donald, I can do that, can’t I?”
“Well, it depends—”
“It’s not like we ever lived together, and we certainly didn’t consummate the marriage.”
Donald and Trina spoke in unison. “You didn’t?”
Greg remained silent, leaving it to Christina to explain.
“Circumstances intervened.” No need rehashing the arrest...or the fact that he had rebuffed her after the honeymoon was interrupted. She’d cried many tears over that, not only because he had rejected her when she’d been trying to live up to her marriage vow of sticking by him for better or worse, but also because she’d been forced to consider the possibility that his intent in proposing had not been for marriage itself, but for the wedding night. And once that possibility had been taken away, he no longer wanted her. She tried with limited success to keep the tremor out of her voice as she spoke. “In retrospect, it’s clear that our marriage wasn’t meant to be.”
“I still don’t understand how two healthy, normal human beings could pledge themselves to each other, and then not follow through on the best part,” Trina said. “It’s a mystery to me.”
Christina supposed it was fortunate she hadn’t sampled the “best part.” As it was now, Donald’s and her virginity pledge had kept them from being reckless as they headed toward a permanent partnership. In this relationship there was no crazy rushing into marriage, no frantic clinging to each other while yearning for bodily delights. No, this was a much more mature relationship, one that allowed them to exchange chaste kisses without the desperate urge for sexual release. This impending union was nothing at all like the first, and she took that as a good sign. When the time came—after the “I do’s” and when they were ready to start a family—they would proceed calmly and maturely to the marriage bed.
“So I don’t need Greg’s signature in order to proceed, do I?” she prompted.
“No, I don’t think so.” Frowning as he mulled over the particulars, Donald absently rubbed his Adam’s apple. “It may take slightly longer, getting witnesses to say that you’ve lived apart all these years and never slept together, but an annulment should be fairly quick and easy.”
“True,” Greg agreed, “but a divorce can be long and dragged out, especially if it’s contested.”
His deep voice rumbled seductively, and Christina had the feeling he practiced that tone often to get what he wanted. She suspected his success rate was high.
“But we don’t need to go through a divorce since the marriage was never consummated.”
“According to you, it was never consummated, but I might have something different to say about the matter.”
“You wouldn’t!”
“Go along with me until the lease is signed,” he said with a smile, his voice deceptively light and coaxing, “and I won’t have to.”
“He’s like that in his business dealings, too,” Trina announced proudly. “He just won’t take no for an answer.”
That was certainly the truth. Christina had never known him to give in easily, especially if he wanted something badly enough. Why, look what measures he’d gone to after he had set his sights on her. Sure, lots of girls at school would have succumbed to his charms—and probably had—but Christina had wanted even then to take her virginity to the altar. After ten years of reflection, she could only guess that marriage had been merely an obstacle to overcome in his quest to bed her.
She turned to look at her fiancé. In light of his easygoing nature and relatively calm reaction to tonight’s turn of events, she guessed he would probably go along with Greg’s request...not that they had much choice. But it was only fair to offer him a say in the matter.
“Donald?”
He dropped his hands to his sides and stepped away from her as if he were already turning her over to Greg. “I suppose if it’s only to have a cup of tea with an old lady, there wouldn’t be any harm in that”
Donald was such a gentleman, and Christina felt lucky to be engaged to him, even if theirs was a rather odd arrangement. So why did she feel disappointed that he didn’t raise at least a little fuss?
“No, I suppose there wouldn’t,” she reluctantly agreed. But something in the back of her mind whispered that where Greg was concerned, there was always the potential for danger.
“Good, then it’s a deal.” Greg stretched out his hand to Christina. After a moment’s hesitation on her part and his joking reassurance that no buzzer lay hidden in his palm, she slipped her fingers into his.
Once again, Greg had managed to get her to bend to his will. Feeling manipulated and used, she clenched her teeth. She may have been railroaded into the deal, but she was determined to get it over with as soon as possible.
He held her hand in his grip for a mere second longer than necessary, gave a firm but meaningful squeeze, then abruptly let go as he turned to Donald and clapped him on the shoulder. “Thanks, pal. I appreciate your understanding.”
“No problem,” Donald said.
Then, to Christina, Greg added, “I’ll pick you up at three-thirty on Sunday for tea at Mrs. Odell’s.” He looked her over, his gaze settling on the grass-stained, faded jeans and overlarge T-shirt.