Marrying Alexa would be like trying to tie down the wind. And yet, Cam couldn’t discount his father’s suggestion without thorough thinking. “You really believe we need to go to such extremes?”
The Senator leaned back in his chair, took a pipe out of his pocket and stuck it into his mouth without lighting it. “I don’t know. The damage this article did to your case is immeasurable. Do you want to take even the slightest chance of losing the boys?”
“But marriage?” Cam spoke aloud even as he considered the advantages. He could claim he’d brought the twins to this unfinished house to build it for his bride. The story would have a romantic bent, and the house would no longer seem a dangerous place to raise children. And the judge would see a stable household, a family unit with two capable parents, not a single father with a busy medical practice.
The Senator turned to Alexa, his voice patient and concerned, which seemed to baffle her almost as much as his outrageous suggestion. “There’s no one special in your life right now, is there?”
Alexa cringed. “My job takes me all over the world. I couldn’t possibly—”
“—take a leave of absence?” Cam looked at Alexa, wondering if she found the idea of marriage abhorrent or marriage to him abhorrent.
The Senator shoved back his chair and stood. “If you could decide tonight, we could have the wedding…this week.”
“Why so soon?” Cam asked, once again startled by his father’s suggestion.
“Since the Barringtons can’t leave, they’ll have to attend the nuptials. And I’ll have pictures taken of not just the happy event but their seeming approval by being in attendance. We’ll leak the story to the tabloids, and those pictures will go a long way toward canceling the damage.” The Senator nodded to Alexa and squeezed Cam’s shoulder. “Please, think it over. But don’t think too long. Don’t get up. I’ll see myself out.”
Neither Cam nor Alexa said a word as his father left. Alexa avoided his gaze and simply stared into her coffee cup. Cam couldn’t tell what she was thinking, didn’t know his own mind.
To him, marriage was a sacred vow between two people deeply in love. And while he’d come to like and admire Alexa, and he felt an attraction to her—okay, a great attraction—he didn’t necessarily want to spend the rest of his life with her.
Her work took her to the glamorous corners of the world. She dealt in precious art. She flitted. She didn’t put down roots. Asking her to stay on a ranch in Colorado would disrupt her life, take her away from friends. He had no right to ask her to make such a sacrifice on his behalf.
“My father just made a suggestion. We don’t have to—”
“I promised Sandra.”
“You didn’t promise to marry her husband.”
At his harsh words, Alexa straightened her shoulders, and her eyes blazed with the attitude that made her so attractive to him. “Those pictures are just as much my fault as yours. I’m partly responsible for this mess.”
“Maybe. But you don’t have to spend the rest of your life—”
“So we marry,” Alexa said. “Big deal. Divorce is still legal, isn’t it?”
Her attitude hit him like a punch to the gut. “You’re saying we wouldn’t have a real marriage?”
“For legal purposes we would.”
“And what would that do to Flynn and Jason? They’ll get to know you, love you, think of you as their mother. Then you’d up and leave.”
What would her leaving do to him?
“And if my grandparents win, how much will it hurt the boys to lose their father?” Alexa countered, her tone hard, her chin set with determination. Yet her hands shook so much, she set down her coffee cup and proceeded to twist a napkin to shreds.
“What about your work?” Cameron asked.
“I’ll put it on hold.” She drummed those perfectly manicured nails on the table. “After all, I don’t need to work. I’m marrying a doctor.”
Cam almost laughed at her sarcasm. Just like Sandra, Alexa didn’t need to work. She’d inherited a trust fund larger than most lottery jackpots. She didn’t work because she needed money but because she loved what she did. And if she quit, he suspected she wouldn’t be able to pick up right where she’d left off when she decided to go back. Jobs like hers were rare and openings didn’t come up often.
He didn’t want to ask her to make this sacrifice. But he couldn’t lose his boys.
Images of Alexa—protecting the twins from that bull, her ease at taking a shower in a horse stall, her screaming at him to wake up inside the SUV—all gnawed at him. She was brave and vibrant and full of life, and if she stayed here, would she wither, and blame him?
Alexa reached across the table and took his hand between hers. “I couldn’t live with myself if I let Sandra down. So call your father. Tell him we’re having a wedding.”
Cam swallowed hard, knowing Sandra would have wanted him to accept this courageous woman’s proposal. He felt a presence nudging him toward Alexa, and a pure red flame of approval bathed him. He gathered Alexa into his arms and kissed her forehead with tenderness.
He would accept her generous offer and pay the price of letting her go if need be. Whatever happened between the two of them, he wouldn’t forget her decency.
Meanwhile he’d decided not to tell the twins about the custody battle or his reason for marrying Alexa. Why worry the boys?
FIVE DAYS LATER, the wedding had been arranged. Alexa slept soundly and awakened on her wedding day to the calm certainty she was doing the right thing. She stretched, looked out the window at the inviting green ripple of grasses and the luminous clear sky. She wondered how the Senator would arrange a wedding with the bridge out.
Her peaceful feeling changed at the sound of little feet thumping up the stairs. Her door opened and the twins bounded into the room, chubby cheeks flushed with exuberance, eyes sparkling with mischief.
“Lexi!”
“Wake up. Up. Up. Up!”
The boys crawled over her sleeping bag and cuddled like wriggling puppies. Alexa put an arm around each boy, surprised by how much she enjoyed their sweet-smelling wet kisses.
Flynn whispered into her ear. “Aunt Laura brought you a present.”
“Shh.” Jason put his hand to his brother’s lips. “Aunt Laura said don’t tell her about the dress.”
Flynn rolled his eyes. “You just told her.”
“Didn’t.”
“Did.”
Alexa kissed each boy on the cheek, then tickled them out of the argument. “It’ll be our secret.”
At the sound of a knock on her door, she looked up. A blond woman walked into the room and smiled cheerfully at the twins. She carried a delicate white wedding gown beaded with tiny seed pearls, a pair of white satin heels and a wispy headpiece. “Who’s keeping secrets?”
The boys giggled and spoke in unison. “We are.”
“I’m Laura Sutton,” the woman introduced herself. The dress was on a hanger and she hung it on the door, then scooped up Jason.
“Hi, Aunt Laura.”
“She married Chase,” Flynn explained to Alexa.
“They made our cousin Keith.”
“And the baby.”
Laura laughed and smoothed Jason’s hair. “You’ll have your hands full with these two tigers.”
“Grrr.” Flynn barred his teeth and growled. “I’m a tiger.”
“Grrr, yourself. I’m a bigger tiger.”
“And tigers need their milk and cereal to grow up to be big and strong,” Laura told them. “Why don’t you boys go down and ask Leo and Julie to fix breakfast?”
“Do tigers like waffles?” Flynn asked.
“I’m not sure, sweetie. Cody will know. Hold his hand when you go down the stairs. After you guys eat, Uncle Chase is taking you and Keith for a ride.” The boys obeyed Laura and toddled out of the room. Laura then turned to Alexa with a dazzlingly sunny smile. “That should keep the kiddies out of our hair this morning. I think this dress will fit. Do you lik
e it?”
Not only did she like the dress, she liked Laura’s friendly smile, so different from the sophisticated women she knew. Laura had calluses on her palms, hair streaked by the sun—not peroxide—and a down-home confidence in herself that Alexa found fascinating.
Alexa smoothed her T-shirt and crossed the room to the dress. “It’s beautiful, and I thank you for bringing it. But isn’t it too dressy for what the Senator has planned?”
“Not a chance. The Senator never does things halfway, and he has all the equipment, since he throws big parties several times a year. Tents are already up. The silver is polished and the fine china is set. Guests are already arriving.”
“But the bridge is out.” Alexa frowned. “Maybe it’s because I haven’t had my caffeine jolt to wake me up, but how can the Senator bring guests to the ranch?”
“Most people are riding in, either fording the river where it’s shallow or going around the long way through the mountains.” Laura took down the dress, removed the clear-plastic wrapping and handed the dress to Alexa. “Judge Stewart, an old family friend, has agreed to perform the ceremony.”
Alexa suddenly turned shy with this self-assured woman, who reverently stroked the wedding gown. Knowing instinctively that Laura was offering her own wedding gown sent warm, friendly feelings through her. “Since we’re going to be sisters-in-law, I’d like you to be my matron of honor.”
Laura spun around, and her grin, already wide, brightened. “I was hoping you’d ask. I have this fabulously wicked dress that Chase hasn’t seen yet…”
Obviously Laura and her husband, Chase, were very much in love. From the glow on Laura’s cheeks and the impishness in her eyes, she was planning a seduction.
“But first we need to get you ready.” Laura lifted up a canvas bag Alexa hadn’t noticed before. A curling iron, a blow-dryer and other assorted items overflowed the top. Laura dug inside and removed an iron. “While you take a shower, I’ll touch up the gown.”
“What time’s the wedding?” Alexa asked.
Laura shrugged. “I’m not sure, but everyone who is anyone within five counties will be here. The press has their own tent. The Governor’s flying in and so is another Senator and possibly the head of the Department of Transportation.”
“The Department of Transportation?”
“Don’t worry. He eats barbecued ribs with his fingers and teeth the same way as everyone else.” Laura took one look at Alexa and paused. “What’s wrong, honey? The Senator said you work around important folk. You aren’t going to let a few celebrities upset you on your wedding day, are you?”
Alexa took several deep breaths to steady her charged nerves. A long time ago she and Wyatt Smithee, the head of the Department of Transportation, had been friends, very good friends. When Alexa stepped into the hot shower, she leaned limply against the wall.
Wyatt had broken off their relationship when she’d told him she couldn’t have children. Pain swam like a demon to the surface of her thoughts, and all the hot water in the world couldn’t wash away the old inadequacies, ugly doubts and bitter regrets.
Before winning his cabinet seat, Wyatt had been the youngest congressman the people of Massachusetts had ever elected to office, and the dashing politician had swept a very young Alexa off to the glamorous parties and charity functions of Washington, D.C. The Barringtons had approved the match. All of Alexa’s friends except Sandra were jealous, because everyone knew Wyatt Smithee would one day be elected to the White House.
And now he was coming to her wedding to watch her marry another man. She hadn’t seen him since that terrible night when he’d cruelly told her that his career was more important to him than she was—and that career demanded a wife who could have children. And since Alexa’s ovaries had been removed due to a severe infection, she couldn’t ever bear children.
Since then, Wyatt had married a former Miss America and together they’d produced four children. Alexa wondered if the woman had had to present a certified document from her gynecologist before Wyatt proposed. Alexa supposed she should have been grateful to have learned of Wyatt’s ruthless ambition before the wedding. After all, what woman with sense would want to be stuck with a man who saw her primarily as a breeding mare to further his career?
But Wyatt had done damage to her confidence. Since then, Alexa had never placed herself in a position where a man would ask her to settle down and raise a family. Instead, she’d made a good life for herself. She had a fascinating career, friends in almost every city in the world. And for the past eight years, she hadn’t ever seriously considered staying in one place long enough to miss the family she could never have. Until Sandra had had the twins, Alexa didn’t even know she liked children.
And within hours she would be a mother. If she was entering a real marriage, she would have told Cameron up front about her inability to conceive. But these circumstances were far from normal. No matter how adorable she found the twins, she had no intention of staying at the ranch to play wife and mommy for more than a few months. There was no point in letting the twins think she was more than a temporary visitor in their lives—just a fond auntie.
And Cameron? Oh, God.
She tilted her head back and let the spray of water spatter her face and neck. Alexa would have to keep their lives on a friendly footing. No more stepping over the line. No more kisses, especially no more of those devastating kisses that made her forget she was in charge of her hormones and not the other way around.
She would think of their marriage as a temporary business agreement. He’d win custody of the children at the trial and then she’d be free to leave. Maybe she’d have to stick around another month or two just to make the marriage seem real…but then she’d be free again.
Free to miss Cameron’s laughter. Free to miss his easy relationship with his father. Oh, how she envied his big, warm family. Since she’d been here, she’d met only Chase and the Senator, but she remembered Rafe’s charm and Tyler’s steady good cheer from Sandra’s wedding. The Sutton men, all tall, dark-haired and gray-eyed, drew the ladies’ attention wherever they went. But it was their affection for one another that Alexa found so appealing.
Alexa stepped from the shower, wrapped a towel around her body and another around her head like a turban. She cleaned a spot of condensation off the mirror and stared at herself, suddenly full of doubts. She didn’t belong in a family where everyone knew everyone’s business, where the men stuck together and the women acted liked sisters. Cam and the Senator hadn’t told the others that the marriage was temporary. She hated deceiving such good people.
She couldn’t go through with this farce of a wedding. It might have been easier if the Senator hadn’t made such a huge production out of the ceremony. Then it wouldn’t have seemed so real.
Alexa now knew that she would have been making a huge mistake if she’d married Wyatt Smithee. She’d long since gotten over the man, just not the reason he’d rejected her.
Deep down, she recognized that Cameron Sutton was not the shallow excuse for a man that Smithee was—and yet, that attraction to Cameron made marrying him seem so wrong. He deserved someone better, someone who would fit into ranch life and into his loving family with the ease that Alexa collected fine art.
A knock on the door caused Alexa to jump. Laura’s voice scolded, “You’re not getting cold feet, are you?”
Alexa opened the bathroom door. “I’m afraid so.”
“Well, come sit.” Laura gently led her to a chair and pushed Alexa into it. Then she removed the towel from her hair and started to rub her hair dry with it. “I was a nervous wreck on my wedding day. It’s normal.”
“How did you know you were doing the right thing?”
“I didn’t. I don’t believe any intelligent woman is ever sure.”
“Then why did you go through with the wedding?”
“I might have had doubts, but I loved Chase, and I knew he loved me. That’s really what counts, isn’t it? Love gets you through th
e hard times and makes the good times great. You’ll see. Cam is wonderful husband material, and he has the same great looks all the Suttons have—dreamy dark hair and smoky gray eyes.” Laura flicked on the blow-dryer, effectively ending the conversation.
If love made a great marriage, Alexa and Cameron’s would surely be a disaster. They didn’t know each other well enough even to know what they had in common. Alexa didn’t know if he liked to read the newspaper on Sunday afternoons or watch ball games. She didn’t know his favorite color, his favorite dish or his birthday. She didn’t even know his age.
When Cam poked his head in the doorway, Laura shut off the dryer and scolded him. “Cameron Sutton, it’s bad luck to see your bride before the wedding ceremony.”
He eyed Alexa’s cleavage below the slipping towel. “She’s not dressed yet.”
“That’s another reason you don’t belong in here.”
“I like her better…undressed.”
“I’m sure you do.”
“You’re one to talk.” He stepped in and swatted Laura lightly on the rear with a wrapped present. “I believe Keith was walking before his parents married.”
Laura laughed, not the least bit insulted. “Chase and I were lucky to marry before the second baby came along.”
Alexa listened to the easy camaraderie between them with envy, wishing she’d had a family that had allowed warmth and teasing and genuine feelings for one another. Even if the Suttons accepted her, she wouldn’t fit in. Her proper Bostonian upbringing kept her separate.
Deep in thought, she’d lost track of their conversation, and then Cameron placed the wrapped box in her hands. “These were my mother’s. I’d like you to have them.”
Alexa opened the box and stared at a delicate diamond-and-sapphire choker set in platinum filigree.
Laura oohed and aahed. “It’s gorgeous and will go great with the gown.”
Baffled by the extravagant gift, Alexa held the necklace in her hand and admired it. She looked into Cameron’s eyes for answers. Why would he give her a family heirloom when the marriage would be finished within months?
Little Boys Blue Page 9
