.
to the elevator that took them to the clerk’s office. He’d explained this to her. In Nevada, no blood test was required, but both parties wishing to marry had to appear before the county clerk for a marriage license. After proper identification was verified, a fee of fifty-five dollars in cash was paid and a certificate allowing them to marry exchanged. Her stomach lurched, not unlike the way it reacted in the elevator.
But everything went as he’d said it would. Then she followed Jason down the hall and into a room with generic plastic chairs lined up in the middle. Jason set the still-sleeping baby down on the floor by the first row. She’d always thought that if she married, it would happen in church. She’d have been wrong. Her wedding was happening in the same building where criminals went on trial and justice was meted out. It was best not to dwell on that.
Maggie sat and looked at the other couples waiting to get married. One girl who hardly looked old enough to be here wore a strapless, long white gown. Her husband-to-be didn’t look like he shaved yet. A middle-aged woman, with the portly man of her dreams, was dressed in a black-and-white suit. Maggie’s beige dress with matching jacket couldn’t have been more unremarkable. This wasn’t an especially good time to realize she’d wanted her wedding day to be remarkable.
Strapless-wedding-dress girl leaned across the chair separating them and smiled. “Your baby is so precious.”
Maggie started to explain that he wasn’t hers, then decided not to go there. “Yes, he is. Thank you.”
“I’m going to have a baby,” she confided.
“Congratulations,” Maggie said.
“Thanks.” She looked at Jason who was speaking with the clerk. “He’s pretty cute, too.”
Maggie studied the dashing figure he cut in his conservative navy suit, dark hair stylishly cut and her heart pitched and rolled. “I couldn’t agree more.”
“You guys are an awesome family.”
Did that make her “awesome” by association? Before she could answer that question, Mr. Awesome returned. “We’re all set,” he said, picking up the car seat.
Maggie looked around at the couples who had been there when they walked in. “All these people are ahead of us.”
“Blake pulled some strings. A justice of the peace he knows pretty well managed to get us in right away.”
“Don’t you get thrown out of amusement parks for taking cuts in line?”
He laughed. “I told you nice wasn’t exactly the best adjective for my attorney.”
“Still, it feels wrong. Shouldn’t we wait our turn?”
One dark eyebrow lifted. “Are you stalling, Maggie? Maybe you’re having second thoughts?”
Second. Third. Fourth. But God had given her the means to a miracle, and now she decided it best not to think at all. “I gave my word.”
He nodded. “Then let’s do this.”
She sighed once, then squared her shoulders and followed him through a door. The room was an office, the man before them an officer of the court.
“Fred Knox,” he said, shaking hands with Jason. Then he glanced at the baby. “Nice-looking fella.”
“Thanks.” Jason’s voice was warm with pride.
“You’re here to make this family official.”
Jason met her gaze. “That’s the idea.”
“Let’s do it, then.” He opened a book and settled their marriage license on it. “Do you Jason Hunter Garrett take Margaret Mary Shepherd to be your wife for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health?”
“I do.”
When he repeated the words to her, Maggie said, “I do.”
“Do you have rings to exchange?”
Jason reached into his jacket pocket and produced a jeweler’s black-velvet box with two gold bands inside and handed them over. He’d thought of everything.
The man said, “These rings signify that love is enduring, without beginning or end.”
And sometimes it’s nonexistent because this marriage wasn’t about love. In spite of her sound logic and self-reassurances, the thought made her sad.
Jason slipped the band on her left ring finger and it fit perfectly. His large hand dwarfed hers as she did the same, using a little effort to slide the circle of gold over his knuckle.
“With the authority vested in me by the state of Nevada, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Garrett. You may kiss your bride.”
Maggie’s eyes widened as her gaze shot to Jason’s. She was also aware that most business deals ended with a handshake, not a kiss. Her heart was pounding, but he seemed cool and in control. His hands on her arms were strong as he drew her against him. Then he lowered his lips to hers and her eyes drifted shut. The touch of his mouth was warm and soft. His hands slid down her arms and left heat in their wake. Her heart fluttered, quick and hard. Then he pulled away and she wasn’t ready for it to be over.
“That’s it then,” he said softly.
Was that it? She looked at him and the intensity in his eyes made her shiver with a sort of excitement that was as new and different as her marital state. Before she had a chance to guess at what he was feeling, Jason glanced at his watch.
“It’s getting late. We have to go.”
After congratulations and goodbyes, he took the car seat and placed his hand at the small of her back to guide her outside and to the waiting car. When they were settled inside, he gave the driver instructions to drop him at his office and take Maggie and the baby home.
“You’re going to work?” she asked.
“I’m late for a meeting,” he explained.
Of course he was. This was just another day at the office to him. What had she expected?
That was the thing. Until she’d taken each step and realized otherwise, she hadn’t been aware of having expectations. Getting married felt like a big deal to her, but to him it was simply the first business deal of the day.
She’d never expected to be sad and disappointed on her wedding day.
Chapter Six
It was his wedding day.
“Night,” Jason said to himself, something tightening inside him.
He tossed back the remainder of the Rémy Martin in his glass as he glanced around his study, noting that everything was the same. The lie echoed through him and collided with the heat that still lingered from kissing Maggie after their vows. The sensation was a lot like what happened when cold and hot air smashed together. Turbulence. Tornado.
All day he’d tried to get her off his mind. Some of it was about the bruised look in her eyes when his driver had left him at the office and Maggie realized her wedding day would be nothing out of the ordinary.
The devil of it was that there’d been nothing pressing workwise and he could have taken her someplace special for lunch. He hadn’t because it was important to set a tone for the marriage. They were husband and wife in name only per their deal. What had seemed like a good idea at the time didn’t look as rosy from this side of the marriage license.
Like every other night since she’d been his nanny, Maggie was bathing the baby and he was working in the study. He wanted to be with them but was keeping to his protocol of establishing a pattern. It seemed important until tension and heat ground through him.
He shot to his feet, grabbed his empty glass and went to the sideboard where he kept the cognac. After pouring another shot, he drank it down, glad for the burn in his throat