Momentary Marriage(26)

She laughed suddenly. “We won’t need to worry about playing a role for my father. Yes, he lives in the city, but I haven’t seen him since I was two or three years old.”

“Bastard,” Jared said, his voice level. He could just imagine a little Kelsey wondering why her daddy never came.

Glancing up in obvious surprise, Kelsey shrugged again. “Probably. All I know about him is that he’s supposed to be successful on Wall Street. It’s not that big a deal, not knowing him. Fathers bail out on their kids all the time. Mothers, too, sometimes.”

“It’s still a big deal.”

She fiddled with a piece of paper on her desk. “I suppose so, at least when you’re a kid.”

“So,” Jared said, trying not to hold his breath, “will you marry me?”

Kelsey laughed, the sound a mixture of anxiety and resignation.

He reached across the desk and captured her nervous hand. “We could start the play acting now. Shall I drop to one knee?”

“No,” she said, raising her blue gaze to his. “I think we should play act for other people and be straight with each other.”

“Will you marry me?” he asked again, her slim fingers still in his. “Give your sister a chance to win the man she loves while we share a year of mind-blowing sex?”

Kelsey took a deep breath.

“Yes. For my sister’s sake, I think we should get married.”





CHAPTER SIX

Jared sat back as the limo pulled away from the curb. His rapid decision to propose to Kelsey a half hour before sat comfortably on his shoulders. It would work, this alliance between them. If his mind hadn’t been completely made up before, the kiss had settled it.

The memory of it returned instantly to him, tightening his gut. How perfectly she fit against him, her slender body soft and erotic as she melted in his arms. The apple blossom scent of her hair.

Shifting in his seat, he turned his mind away from their kiss. No point in arriving at his office too hard to walk straight.

She pushed all the right buttons, that dark-haired witch. Seduced his mind and body with her intelligence and the smokey invitation in her eyes. The fact that she continually surprised him only added spice to the mix. Who’d have thought the trouble he’d stirred up with Amy and Doug would lead to this?

Looking out the limousine’s dark windows as the city streets passed by, he thought about how much his family would love her. In truth, they would be eager to meet any woman who’d captured his heart. But Kelsey’s friendly demeanor and charming smile couldn’t help but win them over. Only his mother might be concerned at the swiftness of his engagement, he supposed. Mothers were inclined to worry.

Still, she’d mentioned more than once in the years after his divorce that he needed to put his failure behind him and find a woman who would love him and help him make a home for a family.

“We are headed back to the office, aren’t we, sir?” Clarence glanced at him in the rear view mirror.

“Yes,” Jared confirmed. He had a meeting with several of his top executives from all over the country and had decided to use the limo to make their day even more luxurious.

“Do you have the gate number?” he asked his driver. “You’ll need to go on to JFK as soon as you drop me off.”

“Yes,” Clarence confirmed.

Jared ran through the day’s schedule in his mind. He really hadn’t had the time to stop off and see Kelsey, but how fortunate for them both that he’d made time.

She was going to marry him. If she didn’t bolt before the big day.

A grim smile eased onto his face. No doubt about it, he’d chosen a skittish bride. Her sister’s love for Doug might get Kelsey to the altar, but he’d be the one conniving a way to make her stay married to him. What would win her heart? Convince her that they could make a good life together?

Drawing his cell phone out of his pocket, he punched in her office number and wait while the receptionist connected him to Kelsey’s extension?

“Hello?” Her voice sounded frazzled, as if she were in the middle of something.

“I’ll pick you up at five,” he said. “We need to tell Doug we’re getting married.”

“Jared,” she said with an uncertain laugh. “Are you sure this isn’t really crazy?”

“Yes,” he said in complete confidence. “Five o’clock?”

He heard her hesitation.

“Better to do the thing all at once,” Jared advised. “Commit to the plan. You have to do this.”

“You’re right,” she agreed, her tone stronger. “Okay, five o’clock it is.”

“Good. I’ll pick you up.”