His Marriage Bonus

by Cathy Gillen Thacker

  “Well, I thought it over, and you are right. Our two shipping businesses’ continued battle for market share was unnecessarily sapping the energy and resources from us both. We should stop trying to outsell each other, agree to go after different areas of the marketplace and focus on simply increasing revenue in our own specifically targeted areas.”

  Mitch remembered the meeting—and his own disappointment and disillusionment afterward—well. “Right, and even after I finally managed to convince you that my proposal wasn’t a trick to diminish your various accounts or overall sales, you still didn’t want any part of a formal no-compete agreement, never mind a merger between our two firms.” Nor, unfortunately, had Mitch’s father. Mitch looked Payton straight in the eye. “You said competition was the lifeblood of business and that your ongoing contest with my father and me was what kept you and your sales force on their toes.”

  “And that’s still true,” Payton said matter-of-factly. “But so is what you said. Maybe it’s time we both looked at change. And the best way, the surest way, to do that is through you and Lauren. Don’t you see?” Payton returned to his desk and sat down, albeit a bit stiffly. “If you and Lauren marry and join our families and businesses through that marriage, it gives us an incentive to make the situation work fairly for both families and businesses. It’s sort of like an insurance policy that both sides will do their best to see that you and Lauren are happy.”

  “With one exception,” Mitch corrected, his uneasiness only increasing as he looked Payton Heyward straight in the eye. “I never brought up the idea of either dating your daughter or marrying her. Furthermore, you just saw what Lauren’s answer to your proposition is. She wasn’t the least bit open to the idea.”

  Payton waved a hand and countered confidently, “She’s upset. She’ll calm down once she’s had an opportunity to mull it all over.”

  Mitch wasn’t so sure of that. Lauren had looked pretty certain of her feelings to him. “I’m not interested in having a woman forced to marry me for business reasons,” Mitch said firmly. Being married for what he’d thought were all the right reasons, and having that not work out, had been hard enough. He didn’t think he could weather another unhappy liaison, even if his emotions weren’t involved this time because the marriage was strictly a matter of convenience.

  “She won’t be coerced into this if you play your cards right and convince her to cooperate,” Payton persuaded softly.

  “And why would I want to do that?” Mitch asked.

  Payton smiled magnanimously. “Because of the secret bonus in this for you,” he said.

  Secrets were trouble. Mitch knew that. And yet the more curious side of him couldn’t keep from biting as he rose from his chair and began to pace. “I’m listening,” he said impatiently after a moment.

  “If you can get Lauren to marry you, I will give you fifty-one percent of Heyward Shipping as dowry as well as the position of CEO during the transition period. I will control the other forty-nine percent until my death, and then that percentage will go to Lauren.”

  “Which would leave me in control of the company,” Mitch said. And a huge chunk of the Deveraux-Heyward empire on his own. The idea of that, of having his own shipping company to run even before his father retired and turned over the Deveraux empire to him, appealed to him immensely.

  “Naturally I’d want to give you every incentive to make this arranged courtship and marriage of yours work,” Payton continued, “so if the marriage dissolves, your fifty-one percent of the company will revert to me, and eventually, Lauren’s control.”

  Mitch forced his attention to the problem at hand. “Unfortunately,” Mitch told Payton frankly, “Lauren won’t even go for the idea of us dating for one week. She’ll never agree to the two of us marrying.” Even if he wanted that, Mitch added silently to himself, and he didn’t think that he did.

  Payton eyed Mitch thoughtfully. “That’s why this part of our agreement must remain secret,” Payton explained even more pragmatically. “Lauren doesn’t understand the shipping business and the enormous responsibility of running a huge company. She would not comprehend that I am only doing this to make sure that she and her financial interests are taken care of for the rest of her life. You, on the other hand, have already weathered a messy, ugly divorce. And no doubt know that passion is a poor basis for a marriage meant to last a lifetime.”

  Mitch had already come to the same conclusion, and in fact, had been looking for a wife who would enhance rather than complicate his life. However, he wasn’t sure an overemotional woman like Lauren was what he was looking for. He’d had in mind someone a lot more sedate and willing to follow his directions. On the other hand, a deal like this—with such a lucrative payoff—did not come along all that often. Mitch didn’t want to pass it up. And that went double for the part of it that Payton had dared mention in Lauren’s presence.

  Already beginning to formulate a plan, Mitch checked his watch. “You said I’ve got until six o’clock to decide about the merger?” he asked casually.

  Payton nodded. “The deal requires you date my daughter for one week, starting tonight, every evening from 6:00 p.m. until midnight. I don’t care what you do. Or how you spend your time. As long as you spend it together.”

  Chapter Two

  “I thought I might find you here,” Mitch said as he stepped through the open front door at 10 Gathering Street and confronted Lauren, who was standing in the majestic front hall looking at the chandelier above her head. She had taken off her fitted coral blazer and looped it over the newel post of the sweeping staircase railing.

  Lauren turned to regard him with a sweetly challenging look. “And I thought you might come after me.”

  “Because I found you irresistible?” he asked, mocking her wry tone to a tee.

  “Because you found the business deal my father offered you irresistible,” Lauren corrected, color filling her cheeks.

  If only she knew what had been offered—in exchange for her hand in marriage—after she left.

  “Don’t you think that’s a little like the case of the pot calling the kettle black?” Mitch questioned casually, shutting the heavy oak door behind him. He stepped closer, noting how snugly her sleeveless white silk blouse molded the fullness of her breasts and the slenderness of her torso, while revealing her well-toned arms and the sexy, rounded curves of her shoulders.

  Lauren tilted her face up to his, looking all the more outraged. “What do you mean?” she bit out in a low, clipped tone.

  Mitch shrugged. “You’re interested in the deal your father offered, too. Otherwise you wouldn’t be here looking at the house and wondering just how bad it would be to date me for one week, if at the end of that time you owned this showplace.”

  Lauren shook her head indignantly. “Even if I agreed to that—which, by the way, I have not—I still wouldn’t have the funds to fix it up.”

  Mitch had the strong feeling that now was not the time to bring up marriage and the huge financial bounty that would reap for both of them. Finding the interior of the house warm, he took off his suit jacket and looped it over the banister next to hers. “So you’ll earn them with the sale of your existing home,” he said, willing to do whatever was necessary to talk her into accepting the first part of her father’s proposal.

  Lauren’s dark brown eyes flashed. “My house is already mortgaged to the hilt. I had to do that to underwrite the costs of restoring it to its former grandeur,” she told him impatiently.

  “So you’ll wait a bit,” Mitch said, loosening the knot of his slate-gray tie and the first two buttons on his starched dove-gray shirt, “and sell it for a profit then.” Damn, it was warm in here! And rather musty-smelling, too.

  Lauren strode across into the adjacent drawing room and went to one of the floor-length sash windows that fronted the house. She unlocked it and tried without much luck to push it up. “I’m successful at what I do, but I can’t afford the upkeep, taxes and insurance on two multimillion-dol
lar properties.”

  Mitch joined her at the sill and easily raised the pane she had been unable to budge. “Surely you’ve got some money coming from a trust fund,” he argued, as fresh spring air, redolent with the heady fragrance of flowers, poured into the room.

  Lauren went to the next window and unlatched it. “It’s all tied up in Heyward Shipping Company stock,” she said as Mitch helped her lift that one, too. “I own forty-nine percent of the company, but I’m forbidden from selling a penny of it until I’m fifty. Or become an acting partner in the company, along with my father.”

  “That seems harsh,” Mitch commiserated, as another draft of fresh air poured into the room. He and his siblings all had trusts from which they could draw forth on a yearly basis, regardless of what career they chose for themselves. And though they all preferred to support themselves with their own efforts, the money was still there for whatever they chose to use it for, even if it was nothing more than a financial safety net.

  “It is harsh,” Lauren concluded with a beleaguered sigh. “But then that’s my father. He wants what he wants and he doesn’t care what kind of machinations he has to go through to get it.”

  “And what he wants is you to be an active participant in the family company.” Mitch understood that. His father had wanted the same thing from his children. Only Mitch had been interested in working alongside Tom, however. His younger brother, Gabe, had gone into medicine. His older brother, Chase, had started a magazine for men. And his baby sister, Amy, had started her own redecorating business.

  “Right,” Lauren said as she inspected the elaborate, composition-decorated brass and marble mantel. “But I have no interest in the shipping business.”

  That could be disastrous for the company she was inheriting. Especially given the rapid changes that were now happening in the centuries-old business. But figuring Lauren wouldn’t be interested in the impact the Internet was having on the industry, any more than his father currently seemed to be, Mitch let the subject go. “How’d you get involved in real estate anyway?” Mitch asked as Lauren continued to inspect the intricate frieze carvings around the doors and windows.

  “I like houses.” Lauren ran her fingertips across the painted white paneling on the walls, disturbing a surprisingly thick layer of dust. “Love seeing what’s inside them. And helping find the perfect owner for each house.”

  Mitch grinned as Lauren blew the dust off her hand. “Instead of the perfect house for each owner.”

  Lauren pivoted toward him, her eyes alight with a mixture of curiosity and pique. “And your distinction is…?” she prodded.

  Mitch shrugged, and seeing no reason not to be forthright, said, “I get the feeling you care more about the homes than the people who buy them.” There was a very real tenderness about her as she looked over the house and determined what it would need in the way of time and attention. It was as if she felt the people could fend for themselves—these lovely old houses couldn’t—their very existence rested on continued loving care. Which, sad to say, some home owners and investors obviously were not motivated to give.

  Lauren released a short, amused breath. “That’s a very shrewd observation,” she volleyed right back, holding his eyes. “And I’d probably be offended if it weren’t so true.”

  Knowing she wasn’t alone in her feelings of reverence for the historic district, but a little surprised she would be so candid about her emotions, nevertheless, Mitch asked, “Why do you feel that way?”

  Lauren led the way back out into the hall, back past the library and the spacious and once-elegant formal dining room, to the kitchen. “Think about it,” she said as she walked into a room with uneven floors, no appliances whatsoever and only the most rudimentary of metal sinks. She peered into the pantry, which housed several outdated cans of sardines, a bag of rotting onions and two empty mousetraps.

  Holding her nose, Lauren plucked up the mesh bag and carried the seeping mess to the metal garbage can sitting just outside the back door. She dumped it inside, then went back to the sink to wash her hands. “Charleston was founded in 1670 and it’s the oldest city between Virginia and Florida. The homes in the historic district have been here for several hundred years. They’ve weathered hurricanes and wars and all sorts of other calamities, and yet they are still standing, strong and proud. Homes like this are worth preserving.”

  “I agree with you there.” Mitch opened a window, letting much-needed fresh air into the stuffy room, while Lauren knelt down to inspect the massive brick fireplace. “The historic section of Charleston is one of the most beautiful and memorable residential areas I’ve ever seen. And I’ve been in some of the finest homes up and down the East Coast. You didn’t grow up here, though.” Seeing she was about done, Mitch offered Lauren a hand up.

  “No.” Lauren smoothed her trim coral skirt over her hips. “My father wanted to live in the country. So we lived out at the family estate in Summerville, where he still resides on weekends.”

  Mitch knew the place—some forty-five minutes away. Payton Heyward’s estate was a magnificent property, renowned for its beauty and historical significance. “But you have a double here in the city.”

  Lauren led the way down the hall to a series of small rooms that had once functioned as servants’ quarters. “You’ve been doing your homework.” She studied him with a mixture of suspicion and respect.

  Mitch shrugged, turned and stepped back against the wall to let her pass in the very narrow hall. “You received a Carolopolis Award for the revitalization of that home when you were done with it. Everyone knew about it.” The historic town home, which was exactly two rooms across, upstairs and down, had been photographed and featured in the Charleston newspaper.

  “What’s so special about this house,” Mitch continued, as Lauren smiled and led the way up the back staircase, “except for its size?”

  Lauren slanted him a glance over her shoulder, her soft golden-brown hair brushing lightly against her pretty face. “It bothers me, the way it’s been neglected. The family could have cared less about it,” she continued as Mitch reached the second floor and began following her through a series of bedrooms, baths and sitting rooms, all seeming in equally bad condition. “They opened it to the public sporadically to raise enough money to keep on paying the taxes, but they didn’t bother to take care of it in the process.” Lauren paused to consider the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves in the massive upstairs library. “There’s water damage all over the place, from leaks in both the plumbing and the roof. The floors, as you can see, need to be repaired and refinished. The kitchen is completely inadequate. And the whole house probably needs to be rewired from top to bottom.”

  “And yet,” Mitch said as they headed on down the hall to the music slash ballroom, “you’re willing to take it on.”

  Lauren turned to him with a smile as she walked through the spacious party room. “I could make several million selling it when I am finished.”

  Mitch had the feeling if she ever finished fixing it up and restoring it to its former glory, she would have so much invested in it, she wouldn’t want to sell it. “Or you could turn it into a museum,” he said.

  “Or a bed-and-breakfast.” Lauren opened the lid and fingered the chipped ivory keys on a badly neglected baby grand piano.

  “Are you thinking about that?” Mitch grinned as her noodling picked up speed and the familiar melody line of “Heart and Soul” filled the room.

  He took over the bass and joined her in an impromptu duet of his childhood favorite. “I can’t really see myself as an innkeeper,” she admitted, making a face, as they continued to play on the hideously out-of-tune instrument. “I don’t particularly like cleaning up after people. Tidying up after strangers is even worse. But you’re right, I could make it a museum.”

  Mitch studied her as the song wound down to an end and they stepped away from the piano. “But you don’t want to do that, either.”

  Lauren shrugged as she went to the window covered w
ith moth-eaten velvet drapes. “A home this lovely deserves to be lived in. It’s been roped off for far too long as it is.”

  She had a point there, Mitch knew. Still… “It’s too large a place to live in alone,” he said.

  She gave him a look that let him know she had no intention of living the rest of her life alone. “I’ll get married someday,” she promised softly. She paused, a defiant gleam coming into her lovely dark brown eyes. “But I won’t do it because my father has auctioned me off in exchange for some business merger.”

  Mitch leaned against the wall, facing her. “You’ll marry for love.”

  Lauren lifted her slender shoulders in an indifferent shrug. “That’s the only reason to marry.” She paused, looking deep into his eyes. “But I can see you don’t agree with me on that.”

  Mitch thought about what “love” had put him through. Feeling abruptly restless, he moved away from the wall, walked across the room. Hands braced on the frame on either side of him, he looked out into the spacious hallway, appreciating all over again how big and majestic this mansion really was, before turning back to face Lauren. “I think maybe your father is right,” he said with all due seriousness. “Maybe we’d all be better off if we approached marriage and relationships with the clear-headed approach we use on business deals.”

  Lauren rolled her eyes as she breezed past him and continued down the hall, to the sweeping semicircular mahogany staircase that dominated the center of the house. “You really want to date me, don’t you?” she mused.

  Mitch caught up with her on the stairs. He wrapped his hand lightly on the railing as they made their descent. “I really want the merger that will make Deveraux-Heyward shipping the most powerful firm on the entire eastern seaboard. And,” he concluded as he reached the main level once again and turned to face her, “if spending time with you for one week is what guarantees that, so be it.”