Gabe nodded and smiled. “You’re very quick. I’d better remember that.” He turned the glass around and around in his fingers. “I just wish there’d been a role model around for Geena. Unfortunately, there wasn’t, so when she turned sixteen, she ran off with some guy who promised her the moon, but gave her nothing more than a hard time and a son. She finally found the guts to leave him, but her life went downhill from there.
“I sent her money when I could,” he continued. “She wouldn’t let me help any other way.” His voice sounded oddly bereft of emotion at this point, almost as if he were numb on the subject. “But no one is going to stop me from making a home for her son Ryder as soon as possible. Meanwhile I have to be content with a weekly phone call and one visit per month since he’s still in L.A., which is too far away from my place in Washington for anything more.”
“You think a judge will give you custody?”
Gabe’s eyes flashed, revealing the stubborn side she had heretofore only suspected. “I’m all the family that kid has, I’m willing, and soon I’ll be settled down with a viable business. Why the hell wouldn’t I get custody?”
Jessi could think of several reasons right away, not the least of which would be their own annulment. She said nothing, however.
Gabe smirked just a little when she didn’t speak, obviously assuming he’d made his point. “Now that we’ve settled that, I believe it’s your turn to confess, Jessi Dillard.”
Startled by his use of her new name—a cold reminder that this wasn’t just dinner with an interesting stranger—Jessi could only stammer, “I—I don’t have anything to confess.”
At that moment, the waiter walked up with a tray of hors d’oeuvres. Grateful for the diversion, Jessi selected for both of them again and then thanked the man, who left them alone again too soon.
“These, um, look scrumptious,” she murmured. “Try one.”
Gabe glanced from Jessi to the appetizer she offered, then back to Jessi again. He arched an eyebrow at her. “As my wife, you stand to inherit if I die of food poisoning, don’t you?”
Jessi actually laughed and marveled that she could respond so easily to his teasing in her present state of nervousness. Clearly what she still didn’t know about this man’s character might fill the pages of a book, yet the one trait she was sure of, his sense of humor, almost put her at ease.
Almost.
“Shall I be the royal taster?” With a hand that still wasn’t steady, Jessi picked up one of the artful delicacies and took a bite, savoring the pungent spices.
“Good?” Gabe asked.
“Divine.”
“I’m a meat and potatoes man myself.”
“Are you telling me that’s all I’m going to be able to cook on this trip?”
“August Taylor is your boss, not me. I expect he and his missus are used to fancy fare.”
“It’s actually remarkably easy to get used to.” Jessi reached over to pick up one of Gabe’s hors d’oeuvres. She raised it to his mouth, which he dutifully opened. Slowly, looking as if he might be sampling baked rattlesnake, Gabe chewed.
Almost instantly, his powder-blue eyes lit up. “This is excellent.”
“You thought I’d lie to you?”
“That could be one of the character flaws you don’t need to confess.”
“It could be, but it isn’t,” Jessi retorted, the next moment belatedly registering the enormity of tonight’s transgression. At once the doubts stuffed in the back of her mind the past week exploded to the forefront with a vengeance, leaving her anxious and confused. “Or maybe I should say it wasn’t.” She frowned and pushed her plate away, having suddenly lost all desire to eat. “God, I hate lying. And I can’t believe that I let greed get the best of my scruples. Normally, I’m honest to a fault.”
“You’re only human, and greed is a very human emotion. Why, I’ll bet the problems of ninety-nine percent of the men and women who populate the prisons of this nation are rooted in that. Unfortunately, they got caught in the process of satisfying it.”
“And what happens if we get caught?”
Gabe sat in silence, his dark brows knitted in a frown. “August Taylor tosses us into a rattlesnake pit and rolls a stone across the entrance?”
“This isn’t funny, it’s wrong...very wrong. We’re part of a scam. We’re deceiving this man for his money.”
“Lighten up. All we’ve done is pretend we were lovers before we married. That’s an insignificant deceit when you consider that he’s going to have the best damn guide in the country, not to mention a gourmet cook, at his beck and call for however long it takes.”
Jessi shrugged away the rationalization. “A lie is a lie is a lie.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I’ve felt awful about this whole marriage thing all day, and at this moment I don’t think I can go through with it.”
Gabe’s jaw dropped. “You can’t be serious.”
“As war.” Jessi hesitated only a second longer before doing what she knew in her heart of hearts had to be done: tugging off the ring and handing it to him.
“Just a damn minute!” Gabe caught her wrist with his free hand and stared at her in total disbelief, clearly as astonished as Jessi that she could change her mind at this late date. “Have you forgotten how much money is at stake here?”
“How could I? That’s what got me into this mess in the first place.” Jessi shook her head, honestly regretful to be throwing a monkey wrench into his big plans, but knowing she had no choice. “I’m so sorry. I thought I could do this... I mean I really did. But how can I possibly face that man day in and day out, knowing that I’ve lied about something that matters so much to him—”
“For God’s sake, would you just listen—”
She held up her free hand to halt his words. “No, Gabe. It’s no use arguing. I can’t go through with it, and that’s that.”
“That is not that, Jessi. My future with Ryder hangs in the balance here. You can’t possibly back out now.”
“You’re wrong. Now is exactly the time to do this—before things go one step further.” She sagged under the weight of his stare. “Look...I’m really sorry about Ryder, but I believe you’ll find a way to get him and maybe even that land you want. As for Elaina...I’ll talk to her myself. I’ll take full responsibility for everything.”
Gabe abruptly released her wrist and sat back in his chair, his expression now cool. “Fine, then. Do what you must. But you might want to get yourself a good lawyer before you make any calls to Elaina.”
“Why would I need a lawyer? Technically, our marriage license isn’t legal until it’s filed.”
“The license may not be, but Elaina’s agency contract sure as hell is.”
“That was just a formality,” Jessi replied, waving away his foolish concerns. “All it said was that she’d get a percentage of whatever salary I earned, which would only be fair.”
“Did you read the small print?”
Jessi bristled. “I read the whole thing.”
“Then you recall that you promised to pay that percentage whether or not you held up your end of the employment bargain.”
“No....”
“Oh yes. I believe that particular clause was in the middle of the thing, surrounded by several whereas-es and wherefores.”