Fiancé in Name Only

by Maureen Child

  Kelly kept her voice down so the girls running the counter out front couldn’t hear her. “Terry, I’ve never—I mean, I had no idea that—Why didn’t you tell me how amazing sex is?”

  Terry laughed and shook her head. She picked out a cookie cutter and quickly, efficiently, stamped out a dozen shapes in the dough. Then she carefully lifted each of them to put on a cookie sheet for baking. “Honey, you were married, I thought you knew.”

  Feeling disloyal again, Kelly said, “It was never like this with Sean. I didn’t know feelings could be so big. I mean,” she said, sighed heavily and closed her eyes briefly to bring back the magic of Micah’s hands on her skin. “What he does to me, it’s...” She couldn’t even find the words to explain and maybe that was best. “I just never want him to stop touching me.”

  Terry took a moment to fan herself with her hands. “Good thing Jimmy’s calling me tonight because I’m dying of jealousy here.” Then she took another long look at Kelly and said, “You’re feeling guilty, too, aren’t you? About Sean, I mean.”

  “A little.” A lot. She didn’t mean to compare the two men, but it was inevitable when what she felt with Micah was so much more than anything she’d ever known.

  “You don’t have to.” Terry patted her hand. “Sean was a sweetie, but it’s not like you two were legendary lovers or anything.”

  “I loved him,” Kelly said softly.

  “Of course you did,” Terry agreed. “In a nice, comfortable, safe kind of way.”

  Was that what her marriage had been, Kelly wondered? Had she simply married Sean because he’d made her feel safe and settled? If Sean had lived, would they have stayed together? Would they have been happy? Kelly sighed again. There were no answers, and even if there were, they wouldn’t change anything.

  “He loved you, too,” Terry said. “Enough, I think, to want you to be happy, Kelly. So, if Micah makes you happy, then yay him!”

  Kelly picked up a finished cookie and took a bite, thinking about what Terry said. “He really does, you know? Every day, it just gets better between us. He’s funny and crabby and kind and, God, the man has magic hands. In California, we were together all the time and...look.” Leaning in, Kelly reached beneath the collar of her T-shirt and pulled out the emerald.

  “Holy Mother of Cinnamon!” Terry all but leaped over the marble counter to lift the emerald with the tips of her fingers. She looked from the stone to Kelly and back again. “Is it real? Of course it’s real. Rich guys don’t buy junk. I didn’t know emeralds got that big, for heaven’s sake. And those are diamonds...

  “Oh my God, I can’t believe it took you two weeks to show me!”

  Kelly laughed at her friend’s reaction. “I just—it’s kind of embarrassing. I mean, I told him not to buy it—”

  “Of course you did.” Terry sighed. “Why are you embarrassed to show me?”

  “Because it sort of felt like bragging, I guess.”

  “Why wouldn’t you want to brag about it?” Terry lifted the emerald and turned it back and forth so that the light caught and flashed off it. “That is amazing. If it was mine, I’d wear it stapled to my forehead so everyone would see it.”

  Laughing, Kelly realized she should have shown it to Terry as soon as she got home. But hiding the necklace wasn’t just about not wanting to show off.

  It was about the unshakable feeling she had that the emerald had been Micah’s way of saying goodbye. Of letting her know that he would be leaving but he wanted her to have something to remember him by. Being Micah, it just had to be an emerald-and-diamond necklace, but the point was, she worried that he was already pulling away.

  She’d noticed it more after Sam and Jenny had shown up. It was as if having his friends there had somehow made Micah shut down, go into self-defense mode. Jenny had told her that she’d never seen Micah happier than he was with Kelly. But since their weekend away, he’d drawn more into himself. It was nothing overt, but she felt the distance he was slamming down between them, and she had no idea how to get past it.

  Yes, this had all started as a lie to make her grandmother feel better, but it had become so much more for Kelly. And maybe, she told herself, this was Karma’s way of punishing her for the lie. Make her feel. Make her want. Then deny her. But even if it was, she told herself, she still had three months with Micah and she wouldn’t let him leave her emotionally before he actually left.

  Ruefully, Kelly admitted, “I can’t bring myself to take the necklace off. It’s like as long as I wear it, Micah’s mine.”

  “Oh, sweetie, you’ve got it bad, don’t you?”

  “I love him.” Her eyes went wide and she gasped a little before saying, “Oh, God. I love Micah.” Kelly slapped both hands to her stomach as if she were going to be sick. “How could I do this?”

  “Are you kidding?” Terry demanded. “Have you looked at him lately? It’s a wonder it took you this long to fall for him. And that’s not even counting the jewelry and the great sex.”

  Kelly laughed, but it sounded a little hysterical, even to her. She hadn’t meant to fall in love, and she knew all too well that Micah would be horrified if she confessed what she felt for him. Heck, he’d probably be nothing more than a blur on his way out the door if he thought she was in love with him.

  This had just slipped up on her. She hadn’t meant to love him. And it wasn’t the luxury vacations. Or the necklace. Or the sex—okay, maybe the sex was part of it. But she’d fallen in love with the man.

  The man who could look so surprised when she didn’t react the way he expected. The man who helped her with her haunted maze. The man who stood with a little boy so he could say good-night to his pumpkin.

  “Oh, God,” she whispered again. “This isn’t good.”

  “Honey,” Terry reached for her hand and squeezed it. “Maybe he loves you, too.”

  “Even if he did, he probably wouldn’t tell me.” Kelly shook her head. He’d been pretty clear, hadn’t he? One engagement in his past and no desire for another. She could still hear him... No wife. No girlfriend. No interest. She closed her eyes and took a breath to try to steady herself. It didn’t work.

  “This wasn’t supposed to be about love, Terry,” she said, and was talking to herself as much as her friend. “This was just...”

  “An affair?” Terry shook her head. “You’re just not the affair kind of person, sweetie. This was always going to end up with you in love.”

  “You might have warned me,” Kelly said miserably.

  “You wouldn’t have listened,” Terry assured her and carried the cookie sheet to the oven. She slid it inside, set the timer and came back again. “You might be upset over nothing. I’ve seen you guys together and he does feel something for you, Kelly. If it’s not love, it’s close. So, maybe he won’t leave when his time here is done.”

  “I want to think that, but I can’t.” Kelly shook her head firmly. She’d already set herself up to have her heart broken. She wouldn’t make it harder by holding on to the hope that things would change. “If I believe he’ll stay, when he does eventually leave it’ll only be worse on me.”

  “You could try to keep him here.”

  “No.” Kelly had some pride, after all. She took another breath, squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. “If I had to make him stay then it wouldn’t be worth it, would it?”

  Terry sighed. “I hate when you’re rational.”

  Kelly laughed sadly. “Thanks. Me, too.” She finished off her latte. “He’s going to leave, and I’ll have to deal with that when it happens. For right now though, he’s here. And I’ve got to go. Micah went to the university library today to do some research—”

  “He’s never heard of the internet?” Terry asked.

  “He’s a writer,” Kelly said, with a sad smile. “He likes books. Anyway, I want to beat him home because
I’m making dinner.”

  “I thought you said you loved him,” Terry quipped.

  “I’m not that bad,” Kelly argued, though she could admit that she wasn’t the best cook in the world, no one had died from eating what she made.

  “Right.” Terry turned and headed to the cooling racks. “Why don’t I send some cookies home with you and then at least you’ll have dessert.”

  “You’re the best.”

  “So I keep telling Jimmy,” Terry said with a wink.

  The drive home only took a few minutes, but even at that, her faithful truck wheezed and coughed like an old man forced to run when all he wanted was a nap. Kelly sighed a little, knowing she’d be buying a new one soon.

  Micah’s car wasn’t in the driveway, so Kelly took that as a good sign. She wasn’t completely ready to face him yet. The whole I’m in love revelation had hit her hard and she needed a bit more time to deal with it.

  Grabbing the grocery bags from the passenger seat, she headed into the kitchen through the back door. She had steaks, potatoes for baking, a salad and now the world’s best cookies. After she put everything away, she opened a bottle of wine so it could breathe. Because, boy, she needed a glass of wine. Or two. Maybe it would help her settle.

  She’d been married, been in love and, yet, this feeling she had for Micah was so huge it felt as if she might drown in it. And she couldn’t tell him. Kelly had absolutely no desire to hand him her heart only to have him hand it right back.

  She looked around the familiar kitchen as if she were lost and looking for a signpost to guide her home. Micah had stormed into her life with the promise to leave again in six months. Now she was halfway through that timeline and Kelly knew that nothing in her life would be the same without him in it.

  “Oh, stop it,” she told herself, slapping both hands onto the cold granite counter. “You’re feeling sorry for yourself. You’re missing him even though he’s not even gone yet. So cut it out already.” Nodding, she reacted to the personal pep talk by tucking her feelings away. There’d be plenty of time to explore them all later. But for now... “Grab a shower, and put on something easy to take off.”

  Wow. She was thinking about sex. Again. And had been since... “Micah came into your life, that’s when.”

  Her stomach swirled again as she headed for the stairs. Nerves? Anticipation? Worry? She frowned a little. “Please don’t be getting sick, that’s all. There’s enough going on without that. Besides, it’s almost Halloween and there’s way too much to do.”

  Kelly climbed the stairs, walked down the hall, turned into the big bedroom and stopped dead. “Who are you?”

  The completely naked stranger propped up against Kelly’s pillows stared at her. “I’m Misty. Who’re you? Where’s Micah?”

  Nine

  “Micah?” Kelly stared blankly at the woman. Why was she naked? Why was she here? In their bed? And mostly Kelly’s brain screamed, Why are you just standing there talking to her? Why aren’t you calling the police? All very good questions. And still, Kelly started with, “How did you get in?”

  “The doors weren’t locked.” Misty sat up higher in the big bed, clutching the duvet to her bare breasts. Thick black hair fell in tousled waves around her shoulders. She had too much makeup on her wide blue eyes and her lips had been slicked a bright red. As for the rest of her, Kelly didn’t want to know.

  “You need to get dressed and get out of my house.” Kelly folded her arms across her chest and tapped the toe of her boot against the rug. She was hoping to look intimidating. If that didn’t work, the sheriff was next.

  “Your house?” The woman sniffed and settled back more comfortably against the bank of pillows. “Micah Hunter lives here and I don’t know what you’re trying to pull, but he won’t be happy when he comes home to find you.”

  God, Micah would be home any minute, too. Good thing? Bad? Who could tell?

  “How do you know Micah?” Kelly had to wonder at the woman’s complete confidence. Was she a girlfriend Micah hadn’t told Kelly about? An ex, maybe?

  “He’s my soul mate,” Misty declared dramatically. “I knew it the first time I read his books. His words speak to my heart. He’s been waiting for me to find him and he won’t appreciate you being here and spoiling our reunion.”

  Kelly shook her head. “Reunion?”

  “We’ve lived lifetimes together,” Naked Misty intoned with another touch of drama. “In each incarnation, we struggle to find each other again. At last now, we can be together as we were meant.”

  Baffled, Kelly could only stare at the woman. She was clearly delusional and that might make her dangerous. And she was naked. What was going—and that’s when the truth hit her.

  Naked Misty had to be one of the crazed fans Micah had told her about. He’d said they tracked him down and sneaked into hotel rooms. Sneaking into an unlocked Victorian had to have been a snap. Kelly was now alone with a crazy person who might at any moment decide that Kelly was her competition. She had to get Misty out of the house and she wanted backup for that plan. Finally, she pulled her cell phone from her back pocket.

  “I’m calling the police if you’re not out of this house in the next minute.”

  “You can’t make me leave.” Misty pouted prettily. She probably practiced the look in a mirror. “I’m not going anywhere until I see Micah. He’ll want to see me,” she said, letting the duvet slip a little to display the tops of a pair of very large breasts.

  Irritated, Kelly realized she was going to have to burn the sheets, the duvet...maybe the bed. First, however, she had to get rid of Naked Misty.

  “Kelly?” Micah’s voice came in a shout from downstairs. “Are you here?”

  “Well, backup’s arrived. It seems you’re about to get your wish,” Kelly told the woman who was still pouting and using one hand to further tousle her hair to make the best possible impression. Without taking her eyes off the woman, Kelly shouted, “I’m upstairs, Micah. Could you come up?”

  The tone of her voice must have clued him in that something was wrong. Kelly heard him come upstairs at a dead run, and when he swung around the corner into the room, he stopped right behind her.

  “What the hell?”

  “Micah,” Naked Misty cried, then sat up straight, threw her arms wide in welcome and let the duvet drop, displaying what had to be man-made breasts of monumental proportions.

  Kelly slapped one hand across her eyes. “Oh, I didn’t need to see those.”

  “Me, neither,” Micah muttered.

  “Who’s she?” Naked Misty demanded with a finger point of accusation at Kelly.

  Micah gritted his teeth, then gave Kelly an apologetic look before saying, “Kelly’s my fiancée. Who the hell are you? No,” he corrected. “Never mind. Doesn’t matter.”

  “You’re engaged?” Misty sputtered and still managed to sound outraged. Betrayed.

  “Yeah,” Kelly said, then pointedly used Misty’s own words in retaliation. “His words speak to my heart.”

  “How can you be engaged to her?”

  Insulted, Kelly countered, “Hey, at least my breasts are real.”

  Honestly, she might have laughed at this mess, but the situation was just too weird.

  “That’s it,” Micah ordered, stepping past Kelly to stride to the bed. “Get up whoever you are—”

  “Misty.”

  “Of course you are.” He huffed out a breath. “Well, Misty, get out of my bed, get dressed and get out.”

  “But I love you.”

  “Oh, boy,” Kelly murmured. She didn’t know whether to feel sorry for Misty or Micah or all three of them.

  “No, you don’t love me.” Micah glared down at the woman until Misty seemed to shrink into the covers.

  Kelly’s stomach churned. Yes, Misty was crazy a
nd an intruder, but she’d told Micah she loved him and he’d brushed it off coldly. And she knew that he probably wouldn’t accept her declaration any better.

  His features were cold, tight, as he stalked across the bedroom, scooping up the woman’s discarded clothes. He tossed them at her and Naked Misty’s pout deepened.

  “You’re mean.”

  “Damn straight.” He stood beside the bed, legs braced, arms folded across his broad chest, and gave Misty a look that singed even as it iced. “If you’re not out of this house in two minutes flat, I’ll have you arrested.”

  “But—”

  “If you ever come back,” he added, “I’ll have you arrested.”

  Naked Misty was pulling on a shirt as quickly as she could, thankfully tucking away those humongous breasts. “I only wanted to tell you how I feel. I do love you.”

  Kelly was watching now and saw the miserable resignation on Micah’s face, and she didn’t know how to help. She felt sorry for Misty, but she felt sorrier for herself. Loving Micah was hard. Knowing he wouldn’t want her to was even harder.

  “You don’t even know me.” He moved out of the woman’s way when she leaped out of the bed and dragged her jeans on. Once she was dressed, Micah gave her enough time to scoop up her shoes and grab her purse from a chair. Then he took her by the arm and steered her out of the room.

  Kelly heard them taking the stairs, but she didn’t wait for Micah to come back. The only way to get a handle on the strangest situation she’d ever been in was to return things to normal. She immediately began stripping the bed. When Micah returned, he helped her take the sheets and duvet off and put on fresh sheets. Through it all he was silent, but the expression on his face told Kelly he wasn’t happy.

  “Did Misty get away all right?”

  “Yeah.” He huffed out a breath. “What the hell kind of name is Misty?” He smoothed the sheet, still avoiding her gaze. Well, Kelly wanted things back to normal between them, too.