THE PERFECT
DIVORCE!
Leigh Michaels
THEIR PERFECT DIVORCE WAS FALLING APART!
Valentine's Day, the most romantic day of the year. It should have been the first wedding anniversary of Synnamon and Conner Welles—instead, it was the day their divorce would be finalized! The arrangement was perfectly amicable: no tears, no recriminations… Their marriage of convenience was over.
But somehow their civilized plans kept going awry. Synnamon's first mistake was to fall in love with her husband—for real! Her second was to find herself pregnant with Conner's baby… Only, Synnamon didn't see it as a mistake. She wanted that baby—what she didn't want was a husband staying with her out of duty. But Conner insisted. The perfect divorce was off. He was determined they should become the perfect family!
CHAPTER ONE
The Contessa was dying.
Synnamon felt the announcement sinking into her bones like lead into water, and she hardly recognized her own voice. “But I thought she was better! Just last month, after her surgery, she told me—”
The voice at the other end of the telephone line was almost diffident. “I’m sure she didn’t want to worry you right then, Mrs. Welles, when you’d just lost your father. But the doctors told her, I believe, that it was only a matter of time.”
That made sense, Synnamon thought. With everything that had been going on in Denver in the past few months, it was no wonder the Contessa hadn’t wanted to add her bad news to Synnamon’s burden.
As if not being prepared would make it easier to lose her, Synnamon thought.
“You won’t tell her I called, will you, Mrs. Welles?”
“Of course not, Hartford. I’ll be there as soon as I can get on a plane.”
She could hear relief in the weary voice. “We’ll make arrangements for you and Mr. Welles to be met at the airport.”
Synnamon kept her tone steady with an effort. “I don’t think Mr. Welles can get away.”
There was an instant of shocked silence. “But if you were to come alone, she’d suspect I’d called you. I thought if I could tell her that you and Mr. Welles were coming for a long weekend, sort of sneaking off for a second honeymoon…”
Second honeymoon. If only Hartford knew how deliciously ironic that was! But he was right, of course. The Contessa adored Conner. If he was there, she wouldn’t ask uncomfortable questions about exactly why he wasn’t.
And if there was one thing Synnamon didn’t want to explain to her dying godmother, it was that she and Conner would never have a second honeymoon, or even a first anniversary—because in a matter of weeks they’d have a divorce decree, instead.
Synnamon bit her lip and sighed. “I’ll see if he can clear his calendar,” she said. “I’ll have Annie call you back with the flight number.”
She put the telephone down and noted with detached interest that her hand was trembling. It still looked shockingly bare, too. Though she’d worn her diamond solitaire for less than a year and the matching wedding band for little more than eight months, there hadn’t been enough time since she’d taken them off for the indentation at the base of her ring finger to disappear.
She punched the intercom button. “Annie, book two seats on the first plane to Phoenix, and see if Mrs. Ogden is still at my apartment. If she is, ask her to pack an overnight bag for me, and send a car out to get it. And call Mr. Welles’s secretary, please, and ask if he can see me right away.”
Annie’s voice held a hint of hesitation. “Do you want him to come here?”
“Of course not. I’ll go to his office. And if there’s anything that needs my signature before the end of the week, can you have it ready in the next hour?”
“I’ll check, but I’m sure I can.”
“Thanks, Annie.” Synnamon turned off the intercom and pulled open the door of her tiny closet to check her hair and makeup. It was silly, perhaps, to still want to look her best for Conner…
Now what had made her think that? She wasn’t trying to impress him. It was long-ingrained habit for Synnamon, as the daughter of a cosmetics baron, to always make sure she looked as attractive as possible. And maybe, too, she was trying to postpone the instant she’d have to walk into Conner’s office and ask for a major favor.
Which was sillier yet, of course, because in the month since they’d agreed to go their separate ways, they’d gotten along quite well. Not that they’d been pals, exactly—they’d never been that—but they’d discussed their business matters without a hint of acrimony. In fact, Synnamon had almost enjoyed the night they’d had dinner with both their attorneys. They’d been so civilized that they’d settled the entire division of property over the appetizers, and then the four of them had spent the rest of the evening amicably discussing theater and politics.
She straightened her hair, tucking a few ash-blond wisps into the neat French twist, and touched up her mascara even though it was the new brand they were testing—guaranteed to stay on through water aerobics, rainstorms and lifeboat rescues. Then, with nothing else to delay her, Synnamon walked down the hall to the chief executive’s office.
The hallways of the Sherwood Cosmetics complex were deeply carpeted in the rich royal blue that was the company’s trademark color. Carved into the thick plush at regular intervals was the stylized letter S that Silas Sherwood had sketched on the first lipstick tube he’d manufactured thirty years before.
His monument, Synnamon thought wryly. He’d called it the symbol of an empire built on vanity. Though he’d been talking about the women who used his products, Synnamon had always thought that when it came to defining vanity, her father’s own egotism was an even better example.
The marketing director was sitting in the waiting room outside Conner’s office, and Synnamon started to take a chair nearby.
But Conner’s secretary waved a hand toward the door to the inner office. “Go right on in, Mrs. Welles. He’s waiting for you.” The surprise in her voice was faint, but Synnamon could hear the signs.
In the time they’d both worked at Sherwood, she’d never been one to pop into Conner’s office or encourage him to dash into hers. The rule of business etiquette dictated a polite call before dropping in on a co-worker. She’d seen no reason to violate that rule when the coworker was her husband, and felt even more strongly about it now that the relationship was in name only. And since Synnamon’s job was in customer relations, her business was seldom so urgent that it couldn’t wait for the chief executive officer to finish what he was doing and get back to her.
No wonder Carol was surprised today, not only by Synnamon’s request for immediate attention but by the fact that Conner had put her ahead of the marketing director.
He’s waiting for you. Synnamon wondered if that meant Conner had something on his mind. It must be close to a week since they’d run into each other. Yes, it had been in the staff dining room, last Friday. She’d said a polite hello, and he’d returned it. She’d picked up yogurt and a bagel, and he’d selected a chicken salad plate, and they’d moved almost automatically to tables on opposite sides of the room
But there couldn’t be anything important going on, or he’d have sought her out and brought it up. They had agreed to be civilized about this whole thing, after all.
Synnamon tapped twice on the door and pushed it open.
The chief executive’s office was huge, so big that even the overstuffed couch and love seat seemed to be tucked into a corner. A wall of windows looked out over downtown Denver to the faint blue line of the Rocky Mountains beyond.
Conner was sitting at the enormous ebony and glass table that served as his desk. His profile was silhouetted against the mountain skyline, and the telephone was at his ear.
; He looked at Synnamon and murmured into the phone, “Excuse me just a second, Nick.”
“I’m sorry.” Synnamon’s voice was unsteady. “Carol must not have realized you were busy.”
“No, I told her to send you in. Sit down, I’ll be off in a minute. Ask Carol to bring coffee, if you’d like.” Synnamon shook her head, but Conner didn’t seem to notice. He swiveled toward the window and put the phone back to his ear.
She chose the chair squarely across from him and sat down, idly smoothing the rose-pink tweed of her skirt as she watched him. He seemed to have forgotten her presence, or else he was completely undisturbed by it. He’d picked up his conversation crisply, almost in midsentence. Something about the chemical composition of a new product, she thought.
Not that she expected him to be uneasy with her around, any more than she was nervous with him. They were like strangers, really. No more like longtime casual acquaintances who no longer had much in common. She hadn’t even really looked at Conner in weeks—since the day not long after her father’s funeral when she’d told him she wanted out of their marriage, out of Sherwood Cosmetics.
Synnamon eased back in her chair, curved one slim leg around the other and watched Conner’s profile against the hazy gray-blue of the winter sky. He wasn’t conventionally handsome—his face was too craggy for that, his dark hair a little too wiry. But his eyes were quite nice, so blue they were almost purple, surrounded with long black lashes that could turn an ash-blond like Synnamon green with envy. And his smile could be attractive. In fact, just the other day she’d overheard a couple of production-line workers discussing Conner’s smile—and other things—in terms that might have made Synnamon blush if she’d still been his wife in anything but the legal sense. Gorgeous was one of the terms they’d been tossing around. And incredibly sexy…
They were probably right, she admitted calmly, if one was interested in that sort of thing. She could take it or leave it, herself.
She wondered if Carol was the one who made regular appointments for his haircuts these days. Conner certainly was better groomed than before he’d moved into this office.
And the office was different, too, she noticed. The changes since Silas Sherwood’s day were subtle—as if Conner were still feeling his way. Or perhaps there were more important things than decorating on his mind.
Silas’s favorite Andy Warhol print had given way to a soft watercolor of a sailboat passing under a suspension bridge. The overstuffed furniture was the same, but the couch and love seat had been pulled around into a less formal arrangement. The desktop was clear except for a couple of folders, much as Silas had always kept it, but the new coffee table held a bit of clutter, papers Silas would never have allowed to gather. And the putting green that had been her father’s favorite tension reliever was gone.
Conner put the telephone down and stood, and for the first time Synnamon realized he was wearing a long white lab coat. That was different, too. She couldn’t remember ever seeing her father wearing one, though he had a doctorate in chemistry, just as Conner had. That was one of the reasons, no doubt, that Silas had taken to Conner Welles the moment he’d walked into Sherwood Cosmetics and applied for a job as a research and development chemist.
“What’s wrong, Synnamon?”
She must have looked startled, for Conner’s eyebrows went up slightly. “I’m not claiming to be psychic,” he said dryly. “But when I asked if you’d like to move over to the couch, you didn’t hear me. And you’ve been nibbling at your thumbnail since you came in. Keep it up and you’ll have eaten your whole hand by dinnertime.”
“Oh.” She jerked her hand away from her mouth, feeling color flare in her cheeks. She’d given up biting her nails when she was twelve. What Silas would have said about a relapse didn’t bear thinking about—but then she had only herself to please now. “Thanks for seeing me, Conner. I’m sorry to interrupt, and I won’t take long, since Larry’s waiting outside.”
“That’s all right—he’ll wait.”
Synnamon stayed in her chair. She’d completely forgotten what he’d said about moving to the conversational corner, because she was trying to find the words to begin.
After a moment Conner perched on the corner of the glass-topped desk. “I knew if you asked to see me it must be important.”
Synnamon searched his voice for sarcasm, but she could find none. Of course not, she told herself. There was no reason for him to be sarcastic. He’d made a simple statement of fact. He knew she wouldn’t bother him about trivia.
“It’s the Contessa,” she said. “Hartford called to tell me she’s very ill. He doesn’t expect her to survive another week. I’m going to Phoenix this afternoon, as soon as Annie can get me on a plane. And—” She paused and cleared her throat. “Hartford thinks you should come, too.”
“He does, does he?” Conner wasn’t looking at her but at his shoe, swinging idly back and forth. “What do you think?”
Idiot, she told herself. As if Conner would take his orders from the Contessa’s butler! Of course, he wasn’t any more likely to take them from Synnamon. Not that she was trying to order him to go to Phoenix, she reminded herself. She was asking a favor, that was all.
“I mean,” she went on steadily, “that he doesn’t want her to suspect that he’s sent for me, which she will if I go alone. And I…”
Conner finished the sentence. “You don’t want to tell her about the divorce.”
“She’s dying, Conner. What good would it do?”
He didn’t argue. “Why didn’t Hartford tell us before that she was so ill? Or the Contessa herself?”
“She didn’t want to worry me.”
He looked vaguely dissatisfied. “Why? Are you sure she doesn’t know about the divorce?”
“Not from me.” Synnamon’s voice was sharper than she’d intended, and she regretted it instantly. You're civilized, she told herself. There’s no need to shout. “I intended to go down in a couple of weeks, to break the news to her.”
“Well, I certainly haven’t told her. I haven’t even talked to her.”
“I wasn’t accusing you. I’m sure she had her reasons for not telling me what the doctors said. They can be wrong, you know.”
“But apparently in this case they weren’t.”
“She might not have wanted to admit it even if she realized the end was coming. Maybe she wants to die with the same grace she’s carried all her life, without a whole lot of people standing around her bed.”
“And just maybe…” He stopped. “Go on.”
“And of course, with my father’s heart attack coming just a few weeks before she got this bad news…”
Conner nodded. “That I can understand. But I wouldn’t be so certain she doesn’t have an inkling what’s happening up here. So what’s the plan?”
“Hartford wants to tell her we’ve managed to find a free weekend and we want to get away. The weather’s so nice in Phoenix right now that it makes sense.” She didn’t think there was any point in mentioning what Hartford had said about a second honeymoon. Conner wasn’t apt to find any more humor in that than she had.
“And if we both show up, obviously we’re still in the throes of love?” Conner didn’t sound convinced. “All right. When does the plane leave?”
“Annie’s getting tickets. I’ll ask her to call Carol with the times.” Synnamon slid toward the edge of her chair. “Conner—thanks. This is very kind of you.”
For a moment, she thought he wasn’t going to answer. “Don’t mention it,” he said finally. “I’d like to see the Contessa one last time myself.”
“I hope it won’t interfere too much with your plans.”
He shrugged. “Sherwood can run without me for a couple of days.”
“That wasn’t exactly what I meant. I thought you might have—” she paused and added delicately “—plans for the weekend.”
“If that’s a request for information about who I’m spending my free time with, Synnamon—”
“From you, my dear,” Conner said, “that is the highest compliment possible.”
The flight seemed to take forever. Synnamon turned down the snack the attendant offered and stared out the window as she sipped her glass of white wine, trying to ignore Conner in the seat beside her. Not that he was attempting to gain her attention. That was obvious. He philosophically munched his airline peanuts, drank a single Scotch and water, and then leaned back, eyes closed, arms folded across his broad chest.
Synnamon had no idea if he was napping, meditating or contemplating a complex chemical formula, and she didn’t care. She wasn’t bothered by his presence, either, not really. It was just that he seemed to occupy all the space and consume all the air in the cabin. Thank heaven Annie had booked them into first class. Synnamon hated to think what this flight would have been like if Conner had had to fold his six-feet-four into a narrow coach seat. She’d have been practically sitting in his lap.
She hadn’t been so close to him since her father’s funeral, and that day she’d been too numb to notice much. She remembered that he’d been unobtrusively beside her every minute, offering an arm for support. She hadn’t needed it, of course, but it had been some comfort to know he was there.
And it would help to have him there when she saw the Contessa, too. The Contessa had fallen in love with Conner at first sight, and he could help bridge any awkward gaps that might arise. It wasn’t going to be easy to see a woman she loved in the state Hartford had implied…
Synnamon sighed.
Conner didn’t open his eyes. “I’d suggest you wait till you get there to start mourning.”
Synnamon stared at him. His lashes, long and thick and black, lay heavily against high, strong cheekbones. “That’s a pretty heartless attitude.”
The seat belt sign came on, and Conner shrugged and sat up straight. “Not really. I was just imagining the Contessa flinging open the front door and saying, Surprise!”
The Perfect Divorce! Page 1
