A Marriage of Anything but Convenience

by Victorine E. Lieske

  She stopped and stared down at the sidewalk. “I guess I was trying the work-your-way-up-from-coffee-girl approach.”

  “How’s that working for you?”

  “It’s not,” she said, twisting the dime-store wedding ring Derek had placed on her finger.

  He squinted at her, then reached out and lifted her chin. “You’re good enough.”

  Those three words hit her like an arrow to the heart, and she blinked back a wave of emotion. How had he done that? How had he been able to see right through her, assess what she wasn’t saying, and counter with just the right thing she needed to hear?

  “Thanks,” she said, her voice almost a whisper. She stood there, feeling strangely vulnerable for some reason.

  Derek cocked his head to the side. “Do you hear music?”

  She blinked, not expecting him to say that. “No.”

  “Listen.” He held a finger up and Nara searched to find what he was listening to. And then she did hear it. Soft strains which carried on the wind.

  “Carnival music?”

  “Yes. I think so.”

  Grateful for the change in subject, Nara bounced. “Well, we have to find it. Carnivals are my favorite.”

  It took them about twenty minutes of walking and asking people, but they finally made it to the music. A street fair was set up around one city block. There were several rides that looked like miniature versions of the real thing. The Ferris wheel stood about one story tall and had only six passenger cars. Nara gasped. “Oh, look at the teeny tiny rides!”

  “I guess this is just for kids.” Derek stopped walking.

  “No way. I want to ride.” She tugged on his arm, but he planted his feet and didn’t budge.

  “Hey, come on. Don’t you want to make your wife happy?” She batted her eyes at him.

  A passerby motioned at Derek, his loud shirt proclaiming that he was a tourist like themselves. “Oh, go on. Make your wife happy.”

  Derek cringed. “Do you know what she wants me to do?”

  “No, but you’re on vacation. You can splurge a bit.”

  He pointed. “She wants me to go on that Ferris wheel. For kids.”

  The man chuckled. “That’s what you want?”

  Nara nodded enthusiastically. This was no longer something fun to do. It was now a challenge. Get Mr. Emperor himself to go on the kiddy ride. “Yes. More than anything.”

  The tourist turned back to Derek. “They let adults on there. Just do it for her.”

  Derek’s cheeks turned pink. “No.”

  The man waved his hand like he was quitting. “Whatever.” He began walking away, but Nara heard him mutter, “If I was with a beautiful woman, and that’s what she wanted, I’d do it.”

  Nara put on a pouty face. “Please? I want to ride the Ferris wheel. Come on. You know you want to.”

  Derek’s lips didn’t even pretend to lift. “I do not.”

  “I dare you.”

  “That won’t work.”

  “Why not?”

  He frowned. “Because I’m not six.”

  She rolled her eyes and huffed. “Just come over there with me. I want to ask the guy running it if he’d let me on.”

  “He’s going to say no.”

  A plan started to form in her mind. “Are you sure about that?”

  “Absolutely.” Derek folded his arms across his chest.

  “Then come with me. If he says no, I’ll stop pestering you. But if he says yes, you’ll have to come on the ride with me.” She gave him her best one-eyebrow-raised look. “Unless you doubt your assessment.”

  “I’m right. I know I am. Look at that thing. There are no adults on it. Only children. If I reached up I could probably touch the top of it.”

  Nara snorted. He was tall, but he wasn’t that tall. “Hardly,” she said under her breath.

  “It’s for kids.”

  “Okay, let’s go see.” This time when Nara tugged on his arm he reluctantly followed after her.

  When she approached the man at the gate, he smiled at them. The man had dark skin, and teeth so white they almost shone in the darkness. “Do your kids want to ride?”

  Derek let out a small, “Ha,” and she kicked his sandal.

  “We actually were wondering if it was okay if we took a ride.” Nara put on her best sweet face.

  The man nodded. “Sure. That’s fine. Sometimes kids are scared to ride, and their parents go with them. You’re fine to ride with your child.”

  Derek grunted. “But we don’t have kids. She means just us.”

  The man did a double take, then he chuckled as he assessed the two of them. His expression seemed to imply he was looking at a couple of silly teenagers. “I suppose that would be all right.”

  “What?” Derek took a step back, like he was preparing to bolt.

  Oh, no. She wasn’t going to let him get away. He was doing this with her, if this was the last thing she did on earth. Nara grabbed his arm in a vice grip. “Did you hear that, honey? The man said we could ride. Isn’t that great?” She turned to the ride operator. “How much?”

  “Three dollars.”

  She whipped out the cash before Derek had the chance to even think about leaving her standing there by herself. “Here you go.”

  He opened the gate and Nara shoved Derek toward the ride. The seat was so small Nara worried they both wouldn’t fit, but she climbed on after Derek and was able to squeeze in beside him. The man put the bar down and locked it into place.

  Nara couldn’t help it. A smile crept onto her face that she was sure looked smug.

  “You happy now?” Derek squirmed, his large bicep crowding her.

  “You’re going to have to put your arm around me, or you’re going to shove me out of this thing.”

  He did as he was told, even though he gave a slight grunt as his arm rested behind her. Nara grinned and snuggled into him. “There. That’s better.”

  The Ferris wheel turned to let on another passenger. A ten-year-old boy. Nara held in a laugh. This was so much fun. Derek cleared his throat in that way that told her he was going to say something, so she looked up at him.

  “Is this what you meant by PDA?”

  Her face heated and she averted her gaze. Why had she even said that, about PDA? She was in a strange mood. Kind of flirty, maybe? She didn’t know. All she knew was she couldn’t get kissing Derek off her mind, so she was trying to figure out a way she could test it out without actually kissing him for real. That was the thing that popped into her head. The idea that eventually they’d need to pretend to be married in public, where other people knew them.

  But why she’d decided to blurt it out like that at the park she had no clue. It was stupid. And even more embarrassing when Derek couldn’t figure out what she meant. Now, what was she supposed to say to him? His blue eyes pierced through her as he stared at her, waiting for her to answer him.

  She shrugged, thinking it best to play it off as no big deal. “Yeah. I guess.”

  “I mean, my arm around your shoulder. That’s what you meant, right? That we should do things like this?”

  She glanced up at him to give him a short nod, but his intense gaze captured her and took her breath away. The Ferris wheel moved again, but she no longer paid attention to it. All she could do was look at Derek and take in his serious expression.

  His voice had been light. Conversational. But his gaze told her another story. This question wasn’t the light one he’d wanted her to believe. There was something more going on. She just didn’t know what it was. Finally, she managed to speak. “Yes.”

  He gave her the curt nod she was going to give him and stared out at the view. Even though the Ferris wheel was small, it did get them up high enough to see some of the city lights, which she had to admit looked pretty.

  His fingers grazed her arm. It was the kind of simple thing someone who cared about you would do without thinking. But this wasn’t a normal situation. And his touch wasn’t something she could easi
ly ignore. Not with her heart now racing like Forrest Gump.

  Maybe she could scoot over a little, and he wouldn’t notice. But when she tried, she couldn’t budge even a quarter inch. She was pressed up against his side like peanut butter on jelly. And to make things worse, she was now smelling his cologne. His masculine, almost woodsy scent.

  His thumb moved a fraction of an inch and a cascade of tingles shot down her arm. The ride jerked to life and moved them to the top position. She tried to ignore the now obvious attraction she was feeling toward Derek as she stared off into the distance.

  “I love how everything looks so tiny up here. The people all look like ants.” Derek leaned over and peered down.

  Was he making a joke? Nara bit her lips together, trying not to laugh. He could be really funny sometimes. She’d been so blind to it before. She decided to play along. “I know. You can barely make out those cars over there. They look like beads.”

  “It really is amazing how far you can see. I think I see a building from a block away.”

  She snickered. “I think I might get a nosebleed.”

  He turned to her. “Right? I think the air is thinner up here.”

  His fingers trailed down to her elbow. “I’m finding it harder to breathe,” she mumbled to herself.

  The ride began to go around. They must have filled all the seats. Her stomach dropped as the ride descended. It tickled her insides. “This goes faster than I thought it would,” she said, laughing.

  His hold on her arm tightened. “Indeed.”

  She suddenly remembered his seasickness and gasped. “I totally forgot you get motion sick. Are you okay?”

  He nodded. “This doesn’t bother me.”

  Relief poured over her. She would have felt terrible if he’d gotten sick with the ride. How could she have forgotten a thing like that? She was so bent on forcing him to do something spontaneous and a little silly that she wasn’t thinking. “Are you sure?”

  “Of course. I wouldn’t lie about that. I’ve decided it’s totally not worth it, after almost losing it on the boat. I should have learned my lesson the first time.”

  “Okay, good.” Satisfied, she sighed and leaned into him, closing her eyes and enjoying the ride. The motion, combined with the feeling of being next to Derek, made her almost giddy.

  Like she was next to her high school crush, and he’d just confessed he had feelings for her. She held in a snort. How sappy was that? And so not true. Sure, she probably did have a crush on Derek. It was odd to think about, but what else explained all the crazy attraction she was feeling? But he was never going to reciprocate.

  He married her for money.

  The thought didn’t sit well with her, and she shoved it away. So what if he married her just to get the company? She married him to get the one thing she wanted from her grandmother’s estate. And after they got home, she’d weasel it out of her father’s hands.

  The ride continued to carry them around for another minute. She reveled in the feeling of being close to Derek, and doing something childish. It was fun.

  As the ride slowed, and then stopped, she peered out over the crowd of kids. One of them carried what looked like a unicorn that had eaten a million marshmallows. It was almost larger than the child. She struggled to not drop it. It made Nara giggle. “Look at that.”

  Derek followed her gaze. “The giant stuffed animal?”

  “Yes! It’s adorable! Where did she get it, do you think?”

  “Probably over there.” He pointed to a carnival game. Balloons covered the back wall, and kids were tossing darts, trying to pop them.

  “Ooh, let’s go try to win one.” She craned her neck to see the booth as the ride brought them down closer to the ground.

  Derek exhaled and rubbed between his eyes. “I suppose you won’t listen if I say it’s for kids?”

  “Nope.” She grinned at him, and he actually did his little lip lifting thing back. She was wearing him down. It wouldn’t be too much longer, and she’d have him smiling for real.

  Chapter 12

  Derek concentrated, threw the dart, and missed again. He frowned. “You know these things are all rigged, right?”

  “No, they’re not.” Nara clasped her hands together under her chin and batted her eyes. “Please win me a unicorn. Please, please, please?”

  He huffed and slid another five-dollar-bill over the counter. The man took his money and tossed the darts his way. This was ridiculous. He was never going to pop three balloons in a row. He couldn’t even get one. How emasculating.

  If only Nara didn’t look so adorable as she begged him to win her an animal. And, if he was being honest with himself, he would actually do anything for her. He aimed another dart and held his breath as he threw it.

  A balloon popped. “Yay!” She squealed and clapped her hands. “You got one!”

  “Two more,” the man behind the counter said.

  “That was a fluke,” Derek said to her. “I’ll never get another one.”

  She patted his arm. “Sure, you will. Have confidence.”

  “I have confidence that this is a really stupid waste of money,” he said low, under his breath.

  Nara nudged him. “Just two more. That’s all.”

  “You have been watching me, right? You did notice I’ve thrown about a hundred of these without hitting anything.”

  She rolled her eyes and picked up a dart. “Fine. I’ll throw then.”

  Derek imagined what would happen if Nara popped two more balloons and balked. She was totally the kind of person who would do a victory dance in front of everyone. Loud yelling and hooting would probably follow. She’d gloat for eternity. He grabbed the dart from her hand. “Wait. Let me try again.”

  From the smug look on her face, he knew she played him. He huffed and concentrated on the board of balloons. Whatever. Maybe if he stared hard enough at one of the balloons, he’d hit it. He stared until his eyes watered, then threw the dart as hard as he could.

  “Two!” Nara bounced as she clapped again. “You are the master! I knew you could do it.”

  “I wasn’t even aiming for that one.” He shook his head. Why did he tell her that? He should have just let her think he was improving.

  “Just one more,” the man said, leaning against the sidewall.

  “You hear that? Just one more. Go on, you can do it.”

  Derek looked at her. She grinned and motioned for him to pick up the last dart. He reached for it, then paused and turned back to her. “I’ll throw this last one if you look up the fashion contests that are accepting entries right now, and enter one.”

  Her smile faded and she took a step back. “What?”

  “You heard me. I want you to enter a contest.”

  “What does that have to do with throwing a dart?” She folded her arms.

  He didn’t want to make her mad, but he knew she was intimidated. He also knew if she could get over it and enter, she’d have a decent chance of getting noticed. Even if she didn’t win, it could give her the confidence boost she needed.

  “Nothing. I just want you to. You’re telling me to believe in myself.” He pointed to her. “You need to do the same. So, pony up. Get some skin in the game.”

  She steeled her shoulders. “Fine. I’ll do it.”

  He hadn’t been sure he could convince her. Satisfaction warmed his chest. “Okay, then. Here we go.” He picked up the dart and aimed. If he didn’t make this one, he was going to die of embarrassment.

  Nara hugged the soft unicorn to her chest. It smelled like Derek, because he’d held it for her while she tried to ring the bell at the hammer game. She stuck her nose in the plush fabric and inhaled as she walked beside him, hoping he didn’t notice what she was doing. Her eyelids drooped, and she yawned. Today had wiped her out. At least the resort wasn’t too far down the sidewalk.

  Derek scowled at her. “I hope you enjoy that thing. I had to give up my man card to get it for you.”

  She bit back a smile, th
en playfully swatted him on the arm. “Oh, you did not.”

  “Did so. I really didn’t enjoy begging the man to let me buy you the unicorn. And I swear I overpaid by at least fifty bucks. If only I had made that last shot.”

  She had to bite the inside of her cheek to not laugh. “It might have helped if you had hit the board.”

  “My fingers slipped.”

  “That poor woman.”

  Derek wagged his finger at her. “She didn’t get hurt, and I hardly think that was my fault. She shouldn’t have been standing beside the booth.”

  “I didn’t say you hurt her. I think it startled her, more than anything. It did hit a sensitive area.”

  “She had plenty of padding there.”

  Nara pressed her face into her unicorn, trying desperately not to laugh. “The look on her face…”

  Derek’s lips twitched, and she couldn’t hold it in any longer. She let out a loud laugh, and soon Derek was chuckling as well. She clung to his arm, trying to get enough oxygen, but failing miserably at calming herself down. Tears ran down her cheeks as the giggles turned into hiccups.

  “Oh, dear.”

  “What?” She hiccupped again.

  “I think I broke you.”

  She laughed again, then hiccupped, then nodded. “Yes, you did.”

  “At least I got you the unicorn.”

  “I’ll treasure it always.” She yawned again.

  “You look tired.”

  “I can hardly keep my eyes open. But I’ve decided, Larry will make a really great pillow.”

  “Larry?”

  Nara held up her stuffed animal. “That’s what I’m naming him.”

  Derek cringed. “Really?”

  “What’s wrong with Larry? I happen to like that name.”

  “Reminds me of a cucumber.”

  Nara wasn’t sure what he meant, but she let it go. She liked the name. It fit. Larry liked his name, too. “I’m keeping it.”

  “Okay.”

  “And I’m definitely using him as a pillow tonight. Feel how soft he is.” She stuck Larry in front of Derek, even though he’d already held the animal. She kind of wanted more of Derek’s cologne to rub off on him.