Not the Marrying Kind(50)
Well, screw them. And screw him.
“In here.” She opened the door to a supply closet and yanked him inside. When he didn’t say anything, merely stared at her with blank, cool indifference, she lost it.
“What’s it going to be? Your wife or your all-important deal?”
“Calm down.” His icy tone raised goose bumps of trepidation and she surreptitiously rubbed her arms. “I can’t think with you carrying on like a banshee.”
“Banshee?” Of course her voice screeched like one and she curled her fingers into her palms to stop from slugging him. “I told you how important it was for me to remain anonymous. Yet here we are, with that pompous jackass knowing everything and threatening you.”
She wrapped her arms around her middle and hugged tight. Yeah, like that would stop the pain. “How the hell did he find out?”
“Who frigging cares? Everything I’ve worked so hard for is in the balance.” He slammed the wall with his fist and she silently applauded. At last, some sign of emotion. “There’s only one solution here.”
She knew what was coming before he spoke and it saddened her beyond belief that he’d expect it of her. “What’s that?”
“Shut down Divorce Diva.”
“Go to hell.” She thrust her chin up, eyeballed him. “Sara can’t lose her business.”
“She won’t lose. Name your price. I’ll pay you whatever it’s worth in lost revenue—”
“No.” One syllable, deadly cool, deadly calm, when inside she seethed with so many emotions she could’ve launched herself at him and shaken him until he understood.
Not that it would do any good. If he didn’t get it now, he never would.
“No?” His incredulous expression was that of a man not familiar with being refused anything.
“Is that your solution to everything? Throw a few million at the problem, hope it’ll go away?” She stepped into his personal space, resisting the urge to throttle him. “Need a wife? Easy, fling half a mill at her. Need her to go away? Fling some more.”
She jabbed at his chest, hating how she registered how rock hard it felt at a time like this. “Newsflash. I can’t be bought.”
“Really? Because it worked before.”
She saw he regretted it the moment the accusation spilled from his lips. He swiped a hand across his face as if to erase it. “Sorry, that was a cheap shot—”
“You can stick your apology and your offer up your ass.” She made it sound like he’d proposed to give her the plague rather than cash. “I married you to save my sister, and yeah, the money is helping. But I thought…” She swallowed the rest of what she was about to say, hating that emotion could cloud her judgment at a time like this.
“What?”
“Never mind.” She shook her head, but it did little to shut up her inner voice, the one wishing he’d give up everything—including his precious deal—to be on her side.
“I need this deal to happen.” He grabbed her upper arms. “And I need you to help me do it.”
“I can’t—”
“Then that’s it.” He released her and stepped back, the cold finality in his tone making her shiver.
“This marriage is over?”
He couldn’t meet her disbelieving stare, his glassy gaze fixed on some point over her right shoulder. “Whatever you think.”
All the confusion of the last few weeks—dealing with uncharacteristic emotions including stupid love, marrying in a whirlwind, moving—erupted in a flash of fury. “I think you’re scared. So damned terrified of what’s been happening between us that you wanted out of this marriage and this is your way of doing it.”
“What the—”
“You leaked the Diva info. You knew Stan wouldn’t tolerate it. You’re running scared.”
He finally dragged his gaze to meet hers and the devastation she glimpsed matched hers. “You’re not making sense. I need this marriage to work—”
“Wrong. Once you signed that deal you wouldn’t need me at all. But you screwed up. You thought you’d sign the deal today and I’d be out of your hair come Monday. Too bad for you Stan changed the deadline and your leak worked against you.”
“You’re crazy.” He backed away, not having far to go until he hit the closet door. “Are you listening to yourself? You’re a bundle of contradiction.”
Maybe she was. Maybe she was so overwrought at losing the one guy she’d been foolish enough to fall in love with that her brain had entered meltdown. But she couldn’t stand here one second longer and participate in her marriage falling apart. A marriage that suddenly meant more to her than she could’ve ever thought possible.