A Marriage of Anything but Convenience

by Victorine E. Lieske

  His smile faded away as quickly as it had appeared. “You called me a genius. That’s all. It made me laugh because everyone knows those photography tricks.”

  “I didn’t know.”

  “You’ve probably never picked up a photography book.”

  “That’s true. How did you know? You must have superpowers. I think we should call you The Masked Emperor. That can be your superhero name.” She peered up at him, hoping his smile would come back, but it didn’t. Too bad. She liked it on him.

  She walked along the gravel paths with him, the sun beating down. At least she’d remembered sunscreen this morning. She’d be burned to a crisp if she’d forgotten it.

  They entered a new section of the park. She pointed to a patch of flowers. “Wow, look at all the butterflies.”

  “They planted flowers that attract them. Those are swallowtails, I believe. There are over sixty butterfly species here, five of which are native to the Cayman Islands.”

  Nara looked up at him. “How do you know so much about butterflies?”

  “I read the pamphlet.”

  She snorted and shoved his chest. It was like shoving a brick wall. “Geesh, I thought you were some romantic or something.”

  His mouth dropped open. “What? I am a romantic. Are you saying I’m not? I studied a pamphlet about flowers and butterflies, for Pete’s sake.”

  He had a point. “Okay, you got me there.”

  He squatted to take another close-up shot of a flower.

  “You must like taking photos of flowers. I think you’ve got about fifty thousand now.”

  He stood up and shrugged. “Flowers remind me of my mother. When I was growing up she always had them in vases around the house. We didn’t have a ton of money, with my father pouring it all into the business he started with your dad. But my mother loved flowers, and he would save up and bring them home for her. She said they brightened up her day.”

  Nara’s throat grew dry and she blinked back moisture. “I don’t remember a lot about your mom, only that she loved to laugh. I can still hear the sound of her laughter ringing through the building as she tried to catch us when it was time for us to go home.”

  Derek chuckled. “Yeah.”

  “You miss her, don’t you?”

  “Yes.” His answer was quiet, and she had to look at him to make sure he’d even said it.

  “Then let’s take many pictures of the flowers today. To remember your mother by.”

  Derek clenched his jaw, and she saw a wave of emotion come over his face before he nodded. “Okay.”

  The sprinklers turned on, and Nara squealed as one of them, pointed the wrong direction, doused her leg with cold water. She did a dance, trying to get out of reach from the water.

  “What are you doing?” Derek asked, his face stoic, as usual.

  “I’m getting wet! Can’t you feel that?”

  “It’s not hitting me.”

  Nara grabbed his shoulders and swiveled so he was in the line of fire. “Hey,” he said, repeating her dance. “That’s cold.”

  The way he was hopping around made her giggle. She stuck her hand down by the sprayers, getting it wet, then flung it at his face.

  “So not fair,” he said, reaching for her. She jumped out of the way, and Derek chased after her.

  She turned and ran down a path, making sure she didn’t step on any flowers. Derek’s legs were longer, and he easily caught up to her. His arm snaked around her, bringing her to his chest. “You’re going to get it now,” he said, his breath hot on her ear.

  She was laughing so hard she could barely speak. “But now we’re away from the sprayers,” she managed to get out between giggles.

  He stared down at her, his expression pensive. “Huh.”

  His tight hold on her didn’t relax. She became acutely aware of every point of contact with Derek. The way his hands were warm against her back. The skin on her arms touching his biceps. Her chest pressed against his. Her laughter subsided and her heart picked up speed. He was so muscular. When had the lanky teenager she used to know turn into this Dwayne Johnson lookalike? She went to say something snarky about it, but as her gaze met his, she found her breath pulled out of her and she was powerless to say anything.

  Did he just grow more handsome in the last fifteen seconds? His jawline was so striking. And his cheekbones were sharper. She wanted to rub her eyes to clear them, because she was sure she wasn’t seeing things right, but her hands wouldn’t move. All she could do was stare at Derek and wonder what was happening to her brain.

  The light shined in his blue eyes, making them almost look aqua-marine. He peered down at her, his expression unreadable. What was he doing? Why was he looking at her like that? Like he hadn’t ever really looked at her before?

  Or maybe it was the other way around. Maybe she had never really seen him before. Because all her life she’d known Derek, but right now, she had the strangest feeling that she didn’t know him at all.

  She swallowed, and her brain grew fuzzy. Her fingers hummed with some unknown electrical current as they skimmed across his arms. He leaned down, closer to her. For a split second she thought maybe he was going to kiss her. The thought surprised her, and she jerked back.

  He let go of her and stepped away. A flash of disappointment skittered through her body. Wait, what? Had she wanted him to kiss her? What kind of crazy thought was that? Derek kissing her? Why did that make her knees weak all of a sudden? Weird.

  Her heart didn’t calm down and she wondered what in the world was going on. Was she attracted to Derek? Or was it just his muscles? What would happen if she did kiss him? She brushed her hair from her face, confused about everything in her world now.

  “So, you have a gym at home or something?” She tried to say it nonchalantly, but it came out sounding funny, like she was breathless or something.

  Derek got a funny look on his face. “Yeah. Why?”

  Nara tried to think of something to say that wasn’t insulting. He went from skinny kid to rock hard wall of muscle. How do you put that politely? Finally, she just blurted, “You’re buff.”

  That tiny smile-but-not-smile pricked at his lips. “Buff?”

  Heat assaulted her face and she turned from him, embarrassed that she’s gotten flustered over it. “Yeah. Just figured you had a home gym. Which is good. Because I need to tone up a bit. I’m feeling the flab coming on.” Now she was rambling. She faced the breeze, hoping her ears weren’t too red.

  “You? Hardly.”

  That made her smile. “Yeah. I ate too much over the holidays.”

  “I’ve seen you in a bathing suit. There’s no flab anywhere on your body.”

  She swiveled around, squinting at him. “You were checking me out?”

  Now it was Derek’s turn to blush, and she held in a laugh. His face turned a lovely shade of crimson. It was adorable. “No,” he said, shaking his head, his eyes wide. “I wasn’t. It was just hard not to notice…”

  “So, you noticed my body?”

  “No. I mean…” He pointed. “Let’s head over there. They have the blue iguanas in that direction, and I was hoping to get some photos of them.” He stepped around her and started down the trail.

  Nara bit the inside of her cheek to stop from busting out. She’d successfully made The Emperor embarrassed. That, and she also got him to laugh out loud earlier. Well, maybe not an actual laugh, but it was a chuckle and she’d take it. Before the end of this honeymoon, she was going to get an actual gut-busting laugh. She’d make sure of it.

  As they walked, the image of Derek’s face coming closer to hers flashed through her mind, and she wondered if she hadn’t jerked away, would he have kissed her? What would that have been like? She’d never thought about Derek that way before, but now, she couldn’t get the thought out of her mind. If her body reacted to touching his arm with such a strong attraction, what would kissing him really be like?

  They were married. At least, they were married on paper. And the
y were supposed to make the company think it was real. Maybe kissing Derek wasn’t out of the realm of possibility.

  Chapter 10

  Derek snapped a candid shot of Nara crouched down, reaching out to touch an iguana, then zoomed his camera in to catch the smile on her face. It carried up through her eyes. Warmth enveloped him as he watched her inch closer to the creature. Her fingers made contact and the iguana jumped and scurried away. Nara squealed and hopped back, laughing. “Did you see that? It took off like a rocket. I didn’t know iguanas could move so fast.”

  He lowered his camera and swallowed. She looked radiant in her yellow sundress. He hoped it came through the lens. He wanted to remember this feeling that was spreading through him. It was comfortable. Happy. He didn’t want it to fade.

  She pulled her hair to the side and around her shoulder, and he noticed the tag of her dress sticking out. He walked to her and reached to tuck it back inside the dress. She whipped around. “What are you doing?”

  Embarrassment shot through him. “Sorry. Your tag is sticking out. I was just going to…”

  “Oh. Sorry. Go ahead.” She turned and held her hair out of the way.

  Before he could tuck it in, he noticed what it said. Nara’s Choice. He hid the tag, then smoothed out the dress. “Done.”

  “Thanks.”

  He cradled his camera, a pose so natural for him he barely registered he was doing it. “Did you design this dress?”

  She grinned. “Yeah. It was one of my first pieces. What do you think?”

  He knew nothing about fashion. All he knew was she looked amazing in it. “I like it.”

  She playfully punched his arm. “You have to say that. You’re my husband.” The laugh that burst out of her after she said the word ‘husband’ carried over the air. “That’s so weird, isn’t it? You’re my husband.”

  Oh, no. Was she going to laugh again about that? Because he didn’t find it very amusing last time. “Yeah. Weird,” he mumbled under his breath as he turned to find another iguana to memorialize with his camera.

  “No, I don’t mean it like weird, weird. I guess I’m just getting used to it. That’s all.” She bit her lower lip. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”

  Had he acted like she’d hurt his feelings? He hadn’t meant to. He bent down to snap a picture. “My feelings are fine.”

  She took hold of his arm after he stood again. “Are you sure? Because you seem…upset.”

  “I just didn’t want you to start laughing again.” He cringed. “Non-stop. For another ten minutes.”

  Nara sucked in a breath and her hand flew to her mouth. “Oh, geez, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize that embarrassed you.”

  “I’m fine.” He stressed the word so she would know she could stop apologizing now.

  “Are you sure?”

  He let go of his camera, letting it hang around his neck, and put his hands on her shoulders. “Do I look upset to you?”

  Her gaze darted over his face. “Kind of.”

  He let out a breath and shook his head. “You’re impossible.”

  “There. That’s what I wanted to see. Your almost smile.” She grinned at him and he returned it with a questioning look.

  “My what?”

  “Your almost smile. It’s gone now, but it was there. When you told me I was impossible. Your lips lifted a fraction.”

  He opened his mouth to argue, but decided against it and shut it again. “Let’s keep walking.”

  “Okay.” Nara fell into step beside him.

  They came to a park bench, and Nara tugged on his arm. “Let’s sit here. I want to watch the iguanas. They’re such a pretty color, aren’t they?”

  “Sure.” He joined her on the bench. A few clouds crossed the sun, giving them a nice break from the bright light. He watched as a man with a wide-brimmed hat dumped chunks of yellow fruit and lettuce leaves into a shallow basin. The animals must have heard, because they flocked to the basin to eat.

  Derek moved closer to get a shot of the iguanas eating. A fight broke out and he got a great photo of one of them rearing up and hissing at another. They circled each other for a moment before the smaller one backed off. Derek sat back down beside Nara.

  She fidgeted. “Hey, I just thought of something.”

  “Hmm?”

  “My father wants the board of directors to think we’re married, right?”

  “Yes.” He looked through his camera lens to see the smaller iguana up close. It was creeping up on the large one again.

  “So, we should probably get used to PDA.”

  Derek went to swallow, but what Nara said hit him and he sucked in a breath instead, inhaling spit into his lungs. He coughed, nearly hacking up a lung. When he could finally breathe again, he said, “What?”

  Nara shrugged, like it didn’t mean anything to her. “You know. PDA. Public display of affection.”

  “I know what PDA stands for. I just don’t know why you want to—”

  “We’ll be going to the annual company Valentine’s ball, right? That’s in less than a month. Dad will have a fit if we don’t look like we are actually married.”

  What exactly was she saying? He wasn’t sure at all. Was she thinking he wouldn’t be comfortable holding her hand at the dance? What kind of guy did she think he was? Of course he would hold her hand. He wasn’t a germaphobe. “So, you want to…?” He let his question drift off, not knowing how to finish.

  “I think we should practice. You know, so we look like a real married couple when we get home.”

  He heard her words. Unfortunately, he was still clueless. “What exactly does that mean?”

  He could feel the exasperation roll off her shoulders as Nara let out a little huff. “I don’t know. Forget it. Maybe it was a dumb idea.” She jumped up from the bench and started down the trail.

  Now Derek felt like an idiot. Not only was he totally confused about what Nara wanted, he also didn’t know what he could do to please her. Did she want him to forget it? Because in his limited experience with women, mostly dealing with his sister Brielle, when she said, “Forget it,” she actually didn’t mean that. If he would drop whatever they were talking about, it just upset her more.

  He hurried to catch up to Nara, feeling more and more like the awkward person he knew he was. Nara wanted something from him, but he couldn’t figure out what it was. Surely she didn’t want him to start acting affectionate toward her…did she? He swallowed as he fell into step beside her.

  “This is a nice vacation and all, but I will be excited to get back to LA so I can start working on this new line of clothes I sketched. I’m itching to get my fingers on some fabric.”

  Derek fiddled with a button on his shirt, relieved Nara had changed the subject and no longer seemed upset. “I have a spare bedroom we can convert into a sewing room, if you’d like.”

  She smiled at him. “I’d love that. Thank you.”

  They continued walking through the park. Even though Derek was glad the conversation had moved away from the whole PDA thing, he also worried he missed out on some obvious thing Nara was trying to tell him.

  Chapter 11

  The vanilla ice cream numbed her tongue as Nara licked her cone. They’d eaten fresh seafood at a restaurant on the beach, and now were walking along the sidewalk watching the vendors packing up their booths. They’d managed to score a couple of ice cream cones before the stand was closed. A light breeze carried the smell of the salty sea. The sun had already set, but the sky wasn’t completely dark yet. It was that lovely twilight time that Nara loved.

  Her phone chimed and she pulled it out of her pocket to see who texted. When she saw it was from Chelsea, she grew excited. Those last few sketches she’d sent were golden. Surely Chelsea would see her potential in one of them.

  Nice try with this last batch, but these designs are very close to something Brenda is already working on, although Brenda’s designs are superior. I did like the faux buttons, though. Good touch. Keep tryi
ng. You’re improving.

  “Gah!” Nara shoved her phone back in her pocket. She was sure at least one of her drawings would gain her high praise. But no. There was always something wrong with them. Either they were too highbrow, or too simple. Too bold, or too safe. She couldn’t seem to get anything right.

  “What’s wrong?” Derek’s eyebrows knitted together in concern.

  “My designs were rejected. Again.” Nara huffed, then took a large bite of her ice cream, unable to appear lady-like anymore. She needed sugar.

  “Oh, no.”

  The cold froze the roof of her mouth, and Nara winced, an ice cream headache throbbing behind her eyes. “Ohhhh,” she moaned after she swallowed. “I shouldn’t have eaten it that fast.”

  “Headache?”

  Nara nodded and closed her eyes. “Ouch.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “I’ll live. I’m just being a baby. I knew better than to eat it like that.” She laughed. “Serves me right.” She bit into the cone, and finished it in three more bites. At least her sugar craving was satisfied.

  Derek shoved his hands into his pockets. “How many design companies did you send them to?”

  “Just one. The company I worked for in New York.”

  “Maybe you should send them to more companies.”

  Nara bit her lip. “I don’t think fashion companies welcome just anyone sending in drawings. Chelsea is different. I know her. She encouraged me to share my work with her.”

  “But she doesn’t like anything?”

  Nara sighed and wiped a hand over her forehead. “No.”

  He was silent for a few heartbeats, and Nara glanced up at him. He scratched his chin. “Have you entered any contests?”

  The question caught her by surprise. “No. How did you know there were contests in the fashion world?”

  Derek shrugged. “I know stuff. Why haven’t you tried entering a contest? Can’t you get your foot in the door that way?”

  A wave of insecurity rose in her chest, and she swallowed. If she couldn’t even get Chelsea to praise her for one sketch, how could she compete against a thousand other designers enough to stand out? Not once had Chelsea gushed over anything. Maybe she should take that as a sign.