Marrying Mr. Right. Carolyn Greene

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СКАЧАТЬ don’t know where to begin.”

      “Why don’t you start by telling your fiancé that you’re already married to me?” Greg intervened. His gaze bore into her, and he seemed to be standing much too close, even though they were a respectable distance apart.

      “Oh my gosh, this is just like that soap opera, ‘A Million Tomorrows,’” Trina piped in. “Only Deiter Hawkins forgot to tell his fiancée about the baby he had by the nun who nursed him through his amnesia.” She paused to take a breath. “You two don’t have a child, do you?”

      “No.”

      “Yes.”

      “What?” Donald started to pace, an action generally reserved for times of high stress and low stock reports.

      “Not exactly.” By now Christina’s stomach was knotted with tension. She leaned a hip against the sink and turned a shoulder to Greg in an attempt to discourage him from participating any further in their conversation. But she knew from experience that a simple act of body language would not be enough to silence him if he had something to say.

      “A son, Murdock,” Greg said over her shoulder. Then, in a wistful tone, he added, “and we had such fun making him.”

      Christina spun to face her tormentor. “You’re not—hic!—helping matters!”

      “Hiccups again? Why don’t you sit down,” Donald suggested, “and I’ll get you a glass of water.”

      “Water doesn’t help,” Greg said. “It’s better if you make her laugh.”

      In all the time she’d known him, Christina couldn’t remember hearing her fiancé laugh. Odd that she hadn’t thought of that before now.

      “No, water’s best,” Donald insisted, pushing the glass toward her. “We’ve dealt with her hiccups every day since we announced our engagement, so I ought to know what works best.”

      “Hic!” Christina sat in the chair Greg had vacated a moment earlier. To distract herself from the memory of his open-legged sprawl in that very chair, she started chugging the glass of water.

      “And I’ve seen her through at least a dozen high school book reports and oral essays, so I ought to know that laughter works best for Christina.”

      “It doesn’t matter,” Christina said with a slam of the empty glass on the table. Now that she had their attention, she would attempt once again to tell Donald about her past. Their past. “Now do you want to hear—hic!—this or not?”

      Trina raised her hand and bounced in her seat. “I want to hear it. You go, girlfriend!”

      Christina took a deep breath. “Greg and I were assigned to be make-believe husband and wife in our Family Life course.”

      “They must’ve started that course after my time,” Donald said. “I never did anything like that.” Thirty-five years old, he had graduated seven years before her.

      “They did. The course was our principal’s attempt to teach students about life in the real world. During our role-playing as married couples, we learned to take care of a child, keep a budget, clean house and prepare meals.”

      “We took our roles very seriously,” Greg interrupted with a grin.

      He wasn’t helping matters at all! “Actually it was something of an impulse to get married for real.”

      Donald said nothing, just taking it all in, but his lack of response made her feel as if she should do a better job of justifying their impetuous decision.

      “We were young and foolish.”

      Christina had no idea why Greg had been attracted to her or asked to be her class partner. All she knew was that most girls with a normal level of hormones surging in their veins would have given their driver’s license for a date with the school hunk who was admired for the “six-pack” of muscled ridges that graced his firm abdomen and his ability to crack walnuts between his biceps and forearms. And yet she had married him.

      And almost made love to him. She gave an involuntary sigh.

      “We were as different as two people could be,” she continued.

      “You can say that again.” Greg addressed Donald as he filled in the rest. “Our teacher, Mrs. Murdock, had agreed to let us pair up for our class assignment. She must have thought Christina’s good behavior would rub off on me and keep me out of detention hall.”

      What would their teacher have thought if she’d seen how Greg’s sense of adventure had rubbed off on her?

      “You still haven’t told me about your son.”

      Donald looked disappointed, as he had every right to be. Surely he must think she had lied when she told him she was a virgin and wanted to remain so until a wedding ring—a real wedding ring—graced her finger.

      “We had a pact,” he reminded her solemnly.

      “It’s not what you think.” She would explain the details of their nonconsummated marriage later, but for now it was more important to set the record straight on the bigger issue. She hiccuped again. “Our so-called son was a rag doll and we were graded on how well we took care of it.”

      “Okay, that issue is settled,” Greg said in an obvious attempt to change the subject. He tapped the papers impatiently against the palm of his hand. “Now let’s get back to the divorce.”

      “Of course,” said Christina. “I’ll get you a pen.” Even though she had consciously known it would someday come to this, the finality of a divorce hadn’t hit until now. She handed him the pen, trying not to notice the hard calluses on his fingers or imagine what it might have felt like if he’d been given the opportunity to trace those calluses over the rest of her body so long ago.

      “I’m not signing.”

      “What?”

      “I said I’m not signing.”

      “I heard what you said. And I believe you also heard me say that Donald and I are getting married in two months.” She tried, unsuccessfully, to keep the panic out of her voice. “You have to sign those papers.”

      “That would present a problem,” Greg said, shaking his head. “You see, I need you to perform a few wifely duties first.”

      Stunned, Christina at first met his comment with openmouthed silence. She had seen that determined expression before, and it was obvious he was dead serious about his demand. A sudden urge to flee came over her. She could only assume this was fate’s payback for her having indulged in the fantasy of completing their wedding union each night as she drifted off to sleep. Christina backed away from the man who was threatening to wreck her life, stopping only when she collided with Donald.

      Her fiancé put his arm protectively around her.

      As she recovered from the shock of Greg’s demand, her emotions surged into anger. How dare he insult her with such a suggestion...and in front of her fiancé and his own girlfriend, no less!

      “Oh, СКАЧАТЬ