by Anna Mara
"She lives near Phoenix. That's dad's idea of a joke," Bill replied. Oh no, he thought. Had his dad caught that one?
William had indeed caught ‘that one’. He pretended to be confused as his gaze wandered from one to the other and back again. He chose to focus on Bill, "My dear boy, you've been dating for three months and you've never told your fiancée whether your mother was alive or not? But how can that be? These are things lovers talk about when they first get together?" William gave his son his complete attention as he waited for an answer.
Another three-second pause swept the room as Bill's thinking processes froze. Christina, on the other hand, began to smile inwardly. At first, she'd been shocked by her faux pas but then she remembered she was here to get revenge on this nightmare-of-a-man. And although she may have agreed to his devil's one-month bargain, there was nothing in it that said she was supposed to make it easy for him. Christina innocently looked at Bill, waiting for him to bail them out of this predicament.
William persisted, as he scrutinized his son, "Well?"
Bill turned to Christina, "But darling, I've told you about mother. About how her and dad divorced five years ago and she went to live on the commune in Arizona? Don't you remember?" Bill's eyes implored her to agree with him.
He was sweating again, Christina thought to herself. How wonderful! She turned to William, "You know, I completely forgot. Bill did tell me. It must have slipped my mind with all the excitement of getting engaged." She turned back to Bill. "We'll have to invite her to the wedding, honey bunny."
"Of course, sweetie pie," Bill readily agreed.
William turned back to Christina, "Yes, it's true. My loon-of-an-ex-wife left all this to go live like a hippy in the desert. How crazy is that?"
"Maybe the desert's not as hot as hell?" Bill cracked slyly, as he bit into a shrimp.
"If this is such a 'hell', then how come you're still here?" William tersely responded.
"Because I'm the devil's son. It's in my blood to stand the heat," Bill angrily shot back and the two glared at each other.
The tension was suddenly broken when Bentley and an under butler walked in to serve the main course of beef bourguignon, steamed green beans and mashed potatoes.
They expertly removed the appetizer dishes and served the meal before quietly disappearing. Both father and son slowly turned away from each other and focused on the hot food in front of them.
Christina casually speared a green bean and addressed William. "Bill mentioned that you owned Fido Foods. It's unbelievable to think that dog food did all this?" She let her fork sweep the luxurious room.
"Yes, isn't America wonderful? I came here with nothing but I worked hard and I made something of myself."
Ignoring his father, Bill addressed Christina, "Fido Foods is my father's flagship company but he owns many, many others. He's a very busy man."
William gave his son a sideways dirty look, "Yes… and unfortunately industriousness is not hereditary."
"Maybe it skips a generation?" Christina slyly piped in as she dug into her mashed potatoes.
William burst out laughing. "My sentiments exactly," he said. He turned to his son and poked him in the arm. "She's charming, absolutely charming." He was almost giddy with excitement.
Christina could tell by the sour expression on Bill's face that he didn't appreciate her catty remark. Good. She was here to stir things up anyway.
She addressed William again, "They say that behind every great fortune there's a great crime. Is there, William? A great crime, I mean?"
The room fell silent. Bill stopped midway to putting a forkful of beef bourguignon into his mouth and smirked at his father. "More like many, many smaller crimes instead," he cracked sarcastically.
William looked from one to the other. Silence. Suddenly he burst out laughing again and he was laughing so hard that he had to dab his wet eyes with his napkin.
"Oh Christina, pardon my French but you do have balls."
His laughter subsided as he gave Bill a dirty look. "At least one of you will have them in your marriage." Bill glowered at his father but didn't say anything. William turned back to Christina. "Tell me, Christina how did you and my son meet?"
"I was coming out of Bloomingdale's loaded with packages. I didn't see Bill on the sidewalk and we kind of crashed into each other."
"And I picked her up… literally and figuratively," Bill interjected. "I took one look at Christina and knew I was in love. She was the one for me."
William raised a skeptical eyebrow at his son before turning to Christina. "And what about you, my dear. I suppose it was love at first sight for you too?
"No."
Bill choked on a green bean and both father and fiancée stared at him. He took a sip of water and tried to push it down his throat.
Christina continued, "What I mean to say is it wasn't love for me right away but he was so persistent, that it came on gradually. Before I knew it, I was involved." She gave Bill a small, tight smile.
William took a sip of his wine. She was doing it again—twisting the truth with the lie. How clever this girl was.
William's eyes scanned the both of them. "Like a bad rash, you mean? You don't know it's there until it starts itching?"
Christina laughed, "Something like that." She refocused her gaze on her fiancé. "And then when Bill proposed, I had no choice. I had to say 'yes'. Who knows what my life would have been like, if I'd said 'no'."
Oh, she is good, William thought as he continued to sip his wine and watch the two of them. His useless son was no match for this smart female.
"Tell me, Christina, are you marrying my son for his money?" There—let's see how she answers that one, William thought, as he put a spoonful of beef bourguignon into his mouth.
Bill nervously looked up from his food. Oh no—how was she going to answer that one without sounding fake if she denied it or greedy if she acknowledged it?
Composed and collected, Christina gave William an unruffled sideways look. These two bozos were not going to fluster her—no matter what was thrown her way. That was a promise to herself.
"Of course," she replied, as she too calmly put a forkful of the beef concoction into her mouth.
"How interesting," William's head swiveled in his son's direction.
Bill uncomfortably glowered at Christina. "Dad doesn't know you're joking, sweetheart." He gave her a secret eye signal as if to say 'what the hell are you doing?'
"But I'm not, my love." Let him panic, Christina thought. She swiveled her gaze back to William. "What I mean to say is that I do… love… your son very much, William and the money is just a part of who he is." God she'd almost choked on the word 'love'.
Relieved, Bill gave his dad a small smile. "She loves all my parts."
"Even the defective ones?" William quipped.
"You mean the ones I inherited from you?"
"Not bloody likely. More from your mother's side of the family, I'd say."
Bill turned to Christina. "Mom's side is more… fun."
William refilled his glass as he also addressed Christina. "Yes… the crackpot side. Let's hope your future children… my beautiful grandchildren-to-be… don't get stuck with those rotten genes." He sat back in his chair and perused Christina. "So my dear, you're marrying for love and money. Blunt, honest and to the point." He gave Bill another forceful jab to the arm. "I do like this girl."
Christina laughed. "Now the real question you should have asked me, William was this. If my little love pot over here…"
she cagily glanced at Bill, "…were to lose everything tomorrow, would I still marry him?"
The room went silent.
Intrigued, William quipped, "And would you?"
Bill's eyes darted nervously to her face. What the hell was going to come out next out of that perfectly shaped, luscious mouth of hers?
Christina let him sweat it out for a few seconds more before answering. "Of course, I would. How could I resist a handsome face like th
at?" She gave her fiancé a little laugh. Bill visibly relaxed and Christina continued as she addressed him directly, "Besides we don't need money, darling. We have our love to live on."
Bill pulled at his collar as if it was suddenly strangling him. "That's so romantic, lovebug. I wonder where Bentley is with the dessert?"
William snickered. He was having a blast tonight. Although this girl may have struck a devious bargain with his lying, idiotic offspring, it was obvious she wasn't going to make it easy for him. Attuned to every flinch, fidget and nervous tick from his son, William was in heaven. Oh—if only he could have had this entire evening videotaped so he could have replayed it over and over again!
At that moment, Bentley, the butler walked in with a bottle of French champagne elegantly cradled in a sterling silver ice bucket.
"Ah… time for a toast," William announced.
As Bentley began to pour the champagne, he reached for Bill's glass and Bill again stopped him, covering the crystal flute with his hand.
"No thank you, Bentley," he said.
"How can we toast to your impending nuptials without champagne?" William demanded.
"I'm driving Christina home later."
"Oh, don't be daft," William rudely interrupted. "One sip won't make a difference, not to your pickled constitution anyway."
Slowly, Bill removed his hand and Bentley filled his glass with the bubbly.
"Now…" William raised his glass high in the air as he stood up. "A toast to the happy couple."
Bill warily looked at Christina before standing up too.
Slowly, Christina followed suit and pasted another phony smile on her lips. God—how much more was she going to have to endure this evening?
William gave a big grin as he focused on Christina. "My dear, you are a breath of fresh air that has swept into this old house and I approve most heartily. For once, my son…" he gave Bill a look of disgust before turning back to Christina, "…has done something right."
"Gee thanks… daddy," Bill, sarcastically, piped in.
"Shut up," William barked at Bill before again turning to Christina. He raised his glass even higher in the air. "To Christina and to your upcoming marriage. May it bring the both of you all that you wish for—love, joy, togetherness…" he slyly eyed them both before continuing, "…honesty, truth and intimacy."
Christina squirmed a little as she suddenly felt a twinge of guilt. Love, honesty, truth, intimacy? These were the things that real lovers would be toasting to and here she was—toasting to a big lie. Maybe this wasn't right—lying like this, fooling this old man? Maybe—?
And then she turned her gaze to Bill—and suddenly, she remembered everything. Billy Havenwood, revenge and the accident money she owed him, that's why she was doing this. And she was determined to go through with it no matter what it cost her—no matter what.
Christina raised her glass even higher in the air and gave William a wide confident smile. "Thank you, William."
Bill was feeling a bit uncomfortable himself. Yes, he was ecstatic that things were going so well with his old man and yes, it looked like he was back in the money but—well—he just had this feeling of impending disaster to come.
He looked up to see Christina studying him. She smiled and saluted him with her raised glass. He returned the gesture. Yes, things were going very well and this beautiful woman had helped him pull it off. He couldn't have picked a better partner-in-crime if he'd advertised for the job. She was gorgeous, witty, clever—and smart. Very, very, smart. Smart enough to handle his bastard-of-a-father and that was saying a lot.
William continued his speech. "Christina my dear, here's to you and my son. May you both be very happy together and produce many grandchildren." He toasted them both with his glass before taking a sip of his champagne.
Christina received the toast graciously and took a sip of her drink.
Meanwhile, Bill was, suddenly, eying his drink as if it was a snake. And no venom could have been as deadly as that champagne was to him right now. In fact, he'd be safer drinking the venom. His hand holding the glass started to shake slightly. God, he wanted to drink it; he wanted to very badly. But he couldn't; not after—everything.
Eying his father and Christina, Bill brought the glass up near his lips and pretended to sip as he turned away from them. He turned back and was relieved to realize that neither of them had witnessed the 'fake' sip. He quickly put the tempting glass of bubbly down on the table.
William turned then and eyeballed his son, "Well?"
"Well what?" Bill inquired.
"Go and kiss your bride-to-be and seal the bargain."
"What?"
"Give her a kiss, you moron."
"I… I…"
"Go on."
Bill nervously stole a quick glimpse of Christina. Yes—she was mad—steaming mad from the look on her face. Should he dare?
"You do know how to kiss, don't you?" his father bullied.
"Of course, I do," Bill angrily retorted.
Wickedly, William turned to Christina. "I hope he doesn't need step-by-step instructions on your wedding night too," he chuckled.
Bill's gaze was still focused on Christina and he gave her a sheepish 'I-have-no-choice' kind of smile.
Christina was not amused. This was not part of the bargain but how were they going to squirm out of it without getting Williams' suspicions aroused? A kiss between an engaged couple was no big deal but there was no way she was going to let that imbecile give her that kind of kiss. What was she to do? And oh no, was he actually starting to walk around the table—coming towards her?
Bill was scared as he stiffly inched around the massive, mahogany table slowly. What was she going to do if he tried to kiss her? Would she call this whole thing off and tell his father the truth? He turned to William, who was standing there with expectation on his face.
"You know it's not a true engagement until the happy couple seal it with a kiss of love," his father innocently proclaimed.
Damn him, Bill thought, as he faced his evil father. He then looked at Christina who was silently warning him with her eyes to not try anything—or else. What was he to do? If he didn't kiss her, his father would know something wasn't right and throw him out. And if he did kiss her, Christina would break their deal and his father would throw him out.
He was trapped and his whole life was about to blow up in his face in the next five seconds.
Bill nervously approached Christina like a condemned man shuffling to the gallows. He smiled uneasily as he started to lean into her—getting closer and closer to her lips. He was so close he could smell her heavenly perfume—he was now only a fraction of an inch away now from those lush, pillow soft lips of hers—he could almost taste them—
And that's when it happened—Christina sneezed.
Stunned, he looked at her, not quite realizing he was being thrown a lifeline. She sneezed again and this time Bill backed away.
"Sorry, darling but you're wearing that cologne again. Did you forget that I'm allergic to it?" Christina artlessly remarked.
"What?"
"Your cologne. I'm allergic to it. Remember?" Christina fumed to herself. God, maybe his father was right—maybe he was a moron.
"Right, my cologne. You know passionflower, I did forget. Sorry." Bill quickly pressed a speedy kiss on her cheek and moved like lightening back to his side of the table.
"Well, that wasn't much of a bloody kiss," William cracked.
Bill looked at his father and shrugged his shoulders as if to say 'oh well.' William rolled his eyes upwards and sat back down. On the outside he looked disappointed but on the inside he was in seventh heaven. That had been the funniest display he'd seen all year. He'd wondered how they were going to get out of kissing each other and now he knew. And it had been all the girl's idea, of course—not his useless son's. She was the clever one in that unholy union.
Oh, what a fabulous time he was having. To watch his son sweat with nerves as he approached her angry
visage—what fun! William never wanted this magical, enchanting evening to end.
Christina, on the other hand, couldn't wait to get out of there. There had been no way in blazes she was going to allow that swine to kiss her on the lips again and she'd come up with the fake sneezing fit at the last millisecond.
William was speaking to her again and Christina focused on him. "Sorry, William?"
"I was saying about your engagement ring. I can see my son has 'forgotten' about that too."
"I didn't forget. We wanted to tell you first," Bill smiled at his dad.
William ignored him. "Tomorrow Christina, you will…"
At that moment, Bentley stoically walked in. "Excuse me, sir. A telephone call from Mr. Downey for you." He gave a slight bow.
"Ah yes; I was expecting that call." William apologetically smiled at Christina. "Excuse me, my dear. I shan't be a moment." William rose from the table and walked out of the room. Bentley followed and closed the door behind him.
Christina's phony smile evaporated as she angrily turned to Bill. "Mr. Havenwood, I thought we'd agreed to no-kissing-on-the-lips," she enunciated through her gritted teeth.
"What did you want me to do? This old man was expecting a display of affection and if we'd been a normal engaged couple, it would have been no big deal."
"But we're not 'normal', are we?"
Bill paused for a second as he studied Christina. Should he dare? Why not? "I think we might have to reconsider the 'no-kissing' thing."
"Excuse me?"
"Look, Miss Matteo, if we're going to fool this old geezer, we might have to give each other a kiss on the lips… once in awhile… maybe a couple of times, if the situation calls for it… like an emergency… like it was tonight." Bill watched Christina intently as he cringed inwardly waiting for the bomb to detonate.
But it didn't as Christina returned the stare. Even she had to admit the fool did have a point. But that didn't mean she wasn't going to go down without a fight.
Bill was wary and he continued. "I mean you can't go on sneezing forever, can you?" He gave a nervous laugh.
"It won't be forever. It'll only be for one month, remember?"
