.
this thing around.”
Regina took a deep, audible breath. She paced a few steps, clearly agitated.
He followed her. When she turned suddenly, they were closer than they had been since their disastrous wedding night. Dell breathed in her light honeysuckle scent, and felt a small rush of attraction. Carefully he controlled his reaction.
“You don’t love me,” she said. “Elise—”
“No,” he said. “I don’t love you, but I don’t love Elise, either. I’m not interested in love and would never have chosen that as a rationale for marrying. You just said that you didn’t want love, either, so there are no impediments. I think we should begin again. Why shouldn’t we stay married since we’re already here?”
“Because now that I’ve had a chance to think rationally, I realize that I’m not O’Ryan material.”
“Too late. You’re already an O’Ryan.”
“Only because of a few words in a ceremony I don’t even remember.”
“That counts.”
She gave a cute little grimace, and Dell fought some primal male instinct to lean closer.
“Dell, this hasn’t been a good year, but I’m—finally—regaining my sense of independence and balance. Help me out here. I’m trying to do the right thing.”
He shook his head. “You’re trying to do me a favor by setting me free to continue on my previous course, but divorce is the wrong thing if we haven’t even tried to succeed. We’re married, Regina, even if we didn’t get here via the path your clients take. We should at least give ourselves a true trial run and get to know each other before we decide to divorce. There’s a chance we might make a success of this situation, after all. We could save ourselves a lot of trouble and the kind of unpleasant publicity that comes to those in the spotlight who marry and then divorce too quickly. Does that make sense?”
She looked a bit unhappy but she nodded. “I guess so. Yes.” Why did Dell feel that it was Regina doing him the favor now?
“How long a trial period?” she asked.
He considered. “How about two months? Long enough to get to know each other and become a couple.”
“I don’t know,” she began. “This still seems unfair to you.”
But Dell was warming to the idea. O’Ryans never did things impulsively. In fact, marrying Regina had been his only true impulse. His failure there was proof enough that slow and steady was best. For months she had been a silent stranger in his house, and he had accepted that. Now time was healing her, and there was renewed life in her eyes, vibrancy and spunk in her attitude and a woman emerging from the ashes. Yet he barely knew who she was. If they were going to end things, then he darn well wanted to know who he was divorcing. And if they were going to stay married, well…it was time to backtrack and uncover what had been covered. Methodically.
“If you’re still worrying because we’re not an ordinary couple, don’t,” he told her. “Not being in love is the best way. Love would only introduce complications and lead to possible rash mistakes. Emotional attachments would make it more difficult to end this later if that’s where we finish up.”
She had blanched when he had used the words rash mistakes and he cursed himself. She was probably thinking about her own past mistakes. He reached out and tucked a finger beneath her chin to distract her. “Let’s give our marriage a fair chance,” he urged.
Slowly she nodded, her soft skin sliding against his finger in a way that made him want to curve his palm against her jaw. “If that’s what you want,” she whispered.
He had no idea what he wanted, but he knew that when he decided, he wanted that decision to be based on logic.
Still, when he looked down at Regina rational thought slipped a bit. She had lifted her chin, and his finger had slid slightly down her throat, over silken skin that was made for a man’s caress.
“How about the touching part?” she asked in a choked voice, as if she’d read his mind. His body tightened. But her deep brown eyes were genuinely concerned.
He cleared his throat. “We’ll wait on that,” he assured her, hoping his voice sounded normal. “At the moment we’re just taking some time to make an effort and see if we’re going to stay together.”
“Or if we’re going to part,” she added, but he had the feeling that she had already decided that she wanted their marriage to end.
Maybe it would. They might be too different to make things work. But never let it be said that an O’Ryan walked away from a challenge or left a marriage before it was time.
Or left a bride unkissed. The phrase seemed to come out of nowhere. Just as Regina’s newfound spirit had. Now that he acknowledged that he was attracted to this reborn Regina with the soft skin and berry lips, he was going to have to stay more in control of himself. This time they would do things right, by the book. Letting his impulses run away from him where his wife was concerned was not a good idea.
Especially since neither of them was certain if they would still be husband and wife by the end of the year.
But a vision of those full lips still lingered after she had gone.
CHAPTER TWO
REGINA was at her desk at The Wedding Belles late the next day pretending to review her week’s schedule while she tried not to think about her future or the fact that it would soon be time to go home. The conversation with Dell yesterday had made her jumpy. Tall and dignified with that chestnut hair always in place and those unreadable amber eyes that seemed to measure everything, he was the picture of the elite male. Once again she had felt how ridiculous it was that a man like him should have been forced into marriage with a train wreck of a woman completely unsuited for him.
And that deep aristocratic voice of his always messed with her respiration and reasoning and made her feel as if she were babbling. She hated that. It reminded her too much of how her parents had always admonished her to be more normal and take the time for logic to kick in before she reacted to situations.
“If it were only that easy,” she muttered. She wanted to be the type of sophisticated woman who knew how to talk sensibly to a man like Dell without feeling dizzy, but that didn’t seem to be possible. Yesterday’s meeting with him hadn’t turned out at all the way she’d planned.
Suddenly she remembered that moment when he had suggested that they resume their role as man and wife and try touching each other…
Regina jerked at the thought and the pencil she was holding slipped out of her fingers. She lunged for it and knocked a photo album off the desk. It landed with a loud thud.
“Are you all right?” Julie’s voice called from the reception area.
Not even close. Two days ago she would have honestly been able to say that she felt fine, but this new situation with Dell made her heart positively race.
“I’m great,” Regina called, her voice muffled as she bent to pick up the album.
“Good. Could you come out here?” Julie’s slightly tense voice had Regina hurrying past a cabinet filled with frame and matting samples and rushing into the reception area.
Late afternoon sunlight spilled through the tall windows, onto the golden-yellow walls and oak flooring, turning everything bright. It was closing time and most of the customers had gone, so the usual bustle of the shop was missing. Other than that, however, things looked pretty normal. Except for the dozens of containers of yellow daisies just inside the door.
“Where did those come from?” Serena asked, coming out of her own space, carrying a length of satin ribbon from the dress she had been working on. “Callie, did you order daisies for a wedding? I don’t have any dresses on my list that would go well with that particular shade.”
“Don’t