Momentary Marriage(22)

“But I could try again,” Kelsey faltered. “Tell him that I didn't realize before—“

“Words just don’t sink in. It’s true that actions speak louder than words. I just need to get away from him, go to London.”

“Wait, Amy,” Kelsey yelped. “Promise me that you won’t take that job offer yet. Give me a week to come up with something.”

Amy sniffled and she was silent for a moment. “Okay. I guess a week won’t hurt, but I don’t think it’ll do any good. As long as you’re there, he’ll keep waiting for you to realize he’s your Prince Charming.”

“Then I'll just have to convince him otherwise,” Kelsey said with a surge of determination.

“Whatever,” Amy said. “Since you want me to, I’ll give it a week, but then I’m moving.”

Kelsey hung up the phone, feeling both stunned and frightened. She had to do something quick if she didn’t want her sister moving an ocean away. Amy had already given Doug chance after chance to see her as a potential mate. How many women would do that while a man mooned over someone else?

If only she herself were committed to someone. If Doug saw her as irrevocably tied to another man.

“Boy, do I need a husband,” she blurted out. “Immediately.”

Jared felt his brows climb in surprise. “Excuse me?”

She tossed her pencil on the jumbled desk and said in anxious disgust. “I need a husband.”

“This is about Doug, isn’t it?” After having lunch with her, Jared had dreamed about her all night. Hot, erotic dreams. He’d been compelled to see her today and had dropped by only to walk into something totally unexpected.

So, she thought she needed a husband? This was a twist he hadn’t anticipated.

“Yes,” she sighed, “Doug’s pushed Amy as far as she can go. She’s seriously considering taking a job overseas and I can’t let that happen.”

“You want to stop her from moving?”

“She’s my sister. I love her.” Kelsey said emphatically, picking up the pencil again. “And I feel responsible for the problems between them.”

“Why?”

Her blue eyes seemed impossibly dark. “Because I’ve been a selfish, dimwitted idiot for fifteen years.”

Jared couldn’t help smiling. “You’re going to have to explain that.”

“I’ve just realized in the last week,” she said with dignity, “that Doug really thinks he’s in love with me, has thought so for years, and that he’s convinced I’ll eventually return his feelings if he just hangs around long enough.”

“Okay, that explains part of it. Now tell me about the selfish, dimwitted idiot part.” Seeing her obvious distress made him want to haul her onto his lap and kiss her silly. She was so sweet.

Oblivious too. Doug’s infatuation was plain.

Kelsey made an exasperated sound, flinging out a slender hand. “All this time, I’ve…relied on him. Led him on, I guess. Amy’s right. I had no idea that she was so much in love with him and I’ve been throwing him crumbs all these years and never thought about her side of things. Or his. Don’t you think I should have noticed when he cancelled plans to be with me? Ran errands for me? Sent me flowers when my dates turned out to be jerks? I just got…used to him being there.”

“And now you’re wallowing in guilt,” Jared concluded, understanding perfectly how a vibrant, vivacious woman like Kelsey could get used to men’s attentions.

“Rightfully so.” She paused. “I never thought about his feelings or Amy’s. I love her and I love Doug like a brother. I feel terrible that I’ve been…using him.”

“And the husband thing?” This was the part that intrigued him the most. The more he saw of her, the more he was convinced that he was the only husband for Kelsey. So, the thought of her considering marriage possibly to someone else did not please him.

“Amy says Doug thinks I’ve got a commitment problem, that I’m afraid to fall in love. Now I realize, he thinks if I come to terms with my fears, I’ll automatically fall in love with him. But if I were to get married to someone else, Doug would have to see that the reason I haven’t fallen in love with him is that I don’t love him that way.”

“Of course.” Jared realized with a jolt that she was totally serious. She was actually considering getting married to help Doug get on with his life, hopefully with Amy.

“So,” he said, his mind shifting into hyper-alert, crisis mode, “why do you suppose you haven’t married one of the guys you’ve dated. No one made your heart flutter?”