“Next April.”
“If we plan to stay together for a year, I’ll be there for those early months when I can help while you get settled into motherhood.”
She smiled at him.
“If we marry, even if it is just a bargain marriage, we’ll be thrown into close, constant contact—although it’s a big house. Just remember, Lara, I won’t change my mind. This marriage will never turn into something permanent, which I know you don’t want, anyway.”
“No, I don’t. I know from the start that it’s a business deal and it’s temporary. I can deal with that.”
“I’m sure you can,” he remarked dryly. “I just wanted you to clearly understand my feelings. I don’t want you hurt by this or having a broken heart. I feel as if my heart turned to stone when I lost my wife. You don’t even have to stay on the ranch all the time. I’d like you around some of the time while my grandfather is alive. I just want him happy.”
“I know. Losing someone you love hurts badly,” she answered. “Remember, I lost my mother and I had an engagement shattered and it hurt. I don’t want to go through that again, so I’ll be careful.”
“If you accept, and you sound as if you plan to accept, I don’t care what kind of wedding we have. I’ll leave that up to you. Whatever you want is fine. I can pay for it. It just has to be soon. I mean, like next week or the week after at the latest. I don’t want any last-minute thing. With Grandpa’s health the way it is, the sooner our wedding, the better.”
“The sooner the better. Oh, my. My head is spinning. I can’t believe all this. One thing. I’m enrolled in a night class this semester. The doctor said it’s fine. The class ends in December.”
“Lara, you said you don’t have any relatives. Who’s closest to you? Who will you tell about this?”
“There’s my friend Melanie, and Patsy from work, and some friends in my neighborhood, including an older couple next door who think they’re substitute grandparents. Mr. and Mrs. Vickers.”
“We really don’t have long to pull a wedding together. I want you to think everything over tonight and give me an answer tomorrow. You’re saying yes now, but I want you to be sure,” he said.
“I am so sure, Marc,” she said. “I promise you, I’m ready to accept your offer. And I will get out of the marriage, just as surely as you want to.”
“You don’t want to sleep on it?”
Aware she was changing her future, her life, her baby’s life, she shook her head. “My answer to your proposal is yes.”
“Then I’ll have my lawyer draw up an agreement and a prenup. If you back out, you forfeit everything except one hundred dollars that will be a token.”
“Fine,” she said. They sat gazing at each other, and her heartbeat quickened as she looked into his eyes. His hand covered hers again.
“We’re getting married,” he whispered. “We’re not in love, but we can get to know each other a little better and let the friendship grow. We’ve always gotten along and worked well together as boss and secretary. And now we have decisions to make as a couple—wedding decisions, decisions about when you quit your job, when we announce our engagement, a lot of things. Can you go to dinner tomorrow night?” He smiled suddenly. “Maybe then I won’t send you into shock and you’ll get to eat your meal.”
“Yes, I can.”
He nodded at her plate. “Want your dinner now?”
She shook her head. “I can’t eat a bite. I’m too excited. Actually, I’d like to take a walk. By now the weather outside should have cooled some and I feel like I need to move around.”
“Let’s go. They’ll put dinner on my tab. We don’t need to wait.”
He stood and held her chair as she rose. When she turned, she faced him and they were only inches apart. Her pulse jumped and she felt riveted, unable to move at all.
Our boss-and-secretary relationship just went up in smoke.
She remembered her words from a moment ago and realized how true they really were. Going forward, their relationship would be different. Very different, she thought, barely able to catch her breath. She had always tried to keep her distance and squelch any physical reaction she had to him. She had always avoided physical contact. Now they would be husband and wife. Even though it was in name only, nothing would ever be the same.
Shocking her almost as much as his proposal was a sudden, intense awareness of him, far beyond anything she had ever felt before. His eyes narrowed the barest fraction, but she noticed, and she felt as if sparks flew between them. A sizzling attraction made her want to lean toward him, to touch him. Her lips tingled and her gaze lowered to his mouth as she wondered what it would be like to kiss him.
How could their coming change invoke this hot attraction so swiftly?
She needed to get back her detached business personality and keep a wall between them. That’s what both of them wanted. This would not be a marriage made in love and she needed to guard her heart all the time because he clearly would not fall in love and she didn’t want to fall in love—or fall into his bed, either.
With an effort she stepped away from him.
He took her arm and they left the club, turning on the sidewalk in downtown Dallas. How long would it be before she would get accustomed to him touching her? She had a prickly awareness of how close he was when he took her arm to cross the street. People were still out, but she was conscious of no one and nothing except him. His height as he walked beside her, his hand grazing hers as they strolled. Was she stepping into a situation where she would have a bigger heartbreak than ever? When she’d ended her engagement, she had been the one who wanted out of the relationship. This time, Marc would end the relationship, so she needed to be careful to protect her heart and stay out of his bed.
“I don’t know much about your private life,” she said. “If I’m going to marry you, I think you better tell me, at least briefly.”
“Sure. I was born in Downly, Texas.”
She smiled. “You don’t have to start that far back.”
With a flash of even, white teeth, he grinned. “My mom’s family all came from Mexico because of relatives in Downly. Are you familiar with Downly?”
“I’ve heard of it, but I’ve never been there.”
“Mom and her family got jobs there and their citizenship. My mom got a job as a maid for a wealthy family. Actually, it was Dirkson Callahan.”
Startled, she looked up at him. “Oh, my. You’re about to buy some of his wells in South Dakota. You told me at the office that it was routine business. I know you’re close friends with his son, Gabe Callahan, but will buying the wells be something more personal?”
“You’ve already moved into the fiancée mode. You wouldn’t have asked me that at the office,” he said, sounding amused again.
“Are you going to be one of those men who’s got everything bottled up and keeps a lot to yourself? Maybe I should learn the parameters here.”
He laughed and put his arm around her to squeeze her shoulder as they walked. “I’m teasing you. Gabe always thought Dirkson was an uncaring dad. He didn’t keep up with his boys or share in their lives. None of them were happy with him. I talked to Gabe about it before I did anything, and he said it wouldn’t mean anything to his dad or any of them if I bought those wells and to go ahead. So I am. And you can ask whatever you want.”
“Oh, really?” she said, stopping to put her hand on her hip, unable to resist flirting with him.
“Oh, yeah,” he answered in a husky voice, his eyes twinkling, and her pulse jumped.