“I never thought this would happen, either. Things change. I have a penthouse in Manhattan—plenty of room for you and Callie to move in. We only need to be married until her parents come back. Then we’ll have to be legally separated for a year before we can divorce.”
Divorce? “How do you know about that?”
He laughed. “Thomas schooled me on the legalities of marriage when Joe and Marisol got together, and what it would mean for our joint assets. But it shouldn’t be a big deal,” he said, “unless you have some boyfriend I don’t know about waiting in the wings, wanting to marry you, instead?”
She blushed. Damn him, he always made her blush. “No. But—what about Callie?”
“We’ll share joint custody, of course.” Mack smiled at her as if that solved everything.
“No.” Lauren shook her head resolutely, tearing her eyes away from his handsome face. “This is crazy. People don’t do this kind of thing anymore.”
“What kind of thing?” he asked, amusement creeping into his voice.
Why did he have to be so good-looking?
“A…a marriage of convenience.”
“Stop thinking of it as a real marriage,” Mack said. “Joe was my best friend. I have an obligation to do what he would have wanted me to do. So just marry me and help me raise Callie, like your brother wanted.”
He tilted her chin up, forcing her to look in his chocolate-colored eyes. “Please,” he said softly. “Marry me, Lauren. For Callie’s sake. Put up with me for one year.”
“Everything’s just business with you, Mack.”
Mack’s lips curved into a small smile. “It sounds like you don’t want to miss out on the other benefits of matrimony.”
“Other…benefits?” The words came out breathlessly as images from her dream of him ran through her mind.
He ran one large hand down her cheek, smoothing her hair behind her ear. The light touch tickled her senses, lighting a fire deep within her. “You know,” he murmured. “Benefits.”
“I can’t…I can’t think of any benefits.” Her skin tingled where his hand lingered. His mouth, mere inches from her lips, became the focus of her world.
“I can.”
Was he going to kiss her? Was she still in fantasy-land? No. This was real. Heat rushed through her. “I wasn’t thinking about sex.” Liar.
He froze, his lips a breath away from hers, before pulling back. “I see. Well, if you ever do think about sex, I wouldn’t hold you to monogamy in a marriage of convenience. You could still date other men, as long as you were discreet.”
If he was inviting her to sleep around, that could only mean one thing—he had every intention of continuing his playboy lifestyle, even if they were legally married. God, was she actually considering this as an option? She couldn’t marry Mack Hansen.
“Cheat on you?” she asked. “I would never do that. And I’d be furious if you had an affair, even if our marriage is just a…piece of paper.”
“Then it’s settled. We’ll get married and we won’t sleep with anyone else.” Mack stuck his hand out for her to shake.
“Oh, you are slick,” she laughed dryly. “Is that how you close so many deals? I can’t believe you just smooth-talked me into that.”
Hope bloomed on Mack’s face. “So you’ll do it? You’ll marry me, for Callie?”
Could she go through with it? How could she marry a man who didn’t love her? But if she didn’t, then Callie would end up being raised by strangers until Joe and Marisol returned, and they had no idea when that might be. Or, knowing Mack, he’d dupe some other woman into marrying him so he could fulfill what he considered his obligation to Joe.
The thought of another woman marrying Mack sent a shiver of resentment down her spine. She couldn’t imagine another woman sharing Mack’s bed every night.
His bed. Would they sleep together, if they got married? The thought secretly thrilled her, to have Mack at her disposal whenever she desired him. Which, if she was honest with herself, was every time she looked at him. But that wasn’t exactly being married in name only, was it?
Yeah, it was, actually. Because as long as he didn’t love her and she didn’t love him, then it was a sham marriage. Would that be better for Callie than being raised by a foster family?
Yes. Damn it.
And this could be her one opportunity to be with Mack, with no emotional strings attached. He couldn’t break her heart if she knew he’d be leaving her in a year. She could actually have her fantasy man.
“Okay,” she whispered. “You win. I’ll marry you.”
He smiled at her, that beautiful smile of his with his one crooked incisor serving only to emphasize the perfection of all his other straight, white teeth. “Good.” He lifted her hand to his lips and brushed a soft kiss against her knuckles. “I knew you liked me.”
True. She did like him. Lauren smiled back despite the insanity of the circumstances. She never thought she’d find a man to marry and she certainly never thought she’d have a child of her own. Now she was getting her wish, an instant family.
Too bad it was all going to be a sham. She’d have to protect her heart and play her cards close to her vest around Mack if she didn’t want to end this year with a broken heart along with their planned divorce and separation.
Mack’s phone buzzed in his pocket, and he looked at it quickly.
“Is it Joe?” she whispered hopefully.
“No, it’s just some woman from—never mind. Irrelevant. I’ll let her know I am unavailable.” He quickly texted and slipped the phone back into his pocket.
Lauren frowned. “A woman you’re dating?”
“Like I said, not an issue from here on out.”
“Okay…” What could she do, other than trust him, for Callie’s sake?
“I’ll have Thomas draw up a prenuptial agreement immediately so we can get this matter settled,” he said.
“A prenup?” she asked, offended. “I don’t want your money.”
“Then you shouldn’t mind signing a prenup. I would be a bad business man if I married a woman I barely knew, with the intention of getting divorced and separated, if I didn’t have you sign something to that effect.”
Okay, that made sense, if he seriously thought she was a gold digger. Grrrr. And what did he mean that he barely knew her? “I’ve known you for almost as long as Joe has,” she protested.
“We’ve seen each other at parties and grand openings over the course of the last decade,” he admitted. “But we’ve talked more in the past two days than we have in all our previous interactions combined.”
“So why do you want to marry me?” she asked. “Why me? Why not some other woman? Surely a guy like you has a girlfriend—like the woman who just texted you?”
“No,” he said, looking away. “No girlfriend. Just dates. Besides, no other woman could love Callie like you do. This is all for her.”
Of course, this was all for Callie. Her heart sank a little at the meaning behind his words. She was about to legally marry a man who had absolutely no interest in her as a wife.
“Okay, I guess we better go announce our intentions,” she said.
Mack looped her arm through his and they stepped back into the lawyer’s office.
…
“I don’t know about this,” the social worker said. “This is quite unusual. And, to be honest, unexpected.”
Lauren put on her best smile. “What’s so unexpected about it? Mack and I have been family friends for years, and we both love Callie, so why shouldn’t we get married?”
Mrs. Salazar frowned. “Do you have experience raising children, Mr. Hansen? My understanding is you have a large corporation to run, what kind of father are you going to be?”
She’s right. Lauren cringed.
Mack’s face darkened. “I’ll be a father who will take care of everything that little girl needs. What more could you ask for?”
Love, she thought. Love would be nice. But everything was business to
Mack. Business and obligation. Still, she loved Callie and this was the only way she could be with her—and it was a way to spend more time with Mack. Her fantasy come true, if only for a little while.
“I want to go straight to the courthouse after we finish signing things here,” Lauren said.
Thomas nodded. “It won’t take me long to get something simple written up. In New York State you need to wait twenty-four hours after filing for a license to be married, unless you can get a judicial waiver.”
“We’ll get the waiver,” Mack said confidently. “And we’ll be married today.”
…
“Mr. Hansen, please stand here, on the lady’s right side,” the judge said. After hearing the importance of obtaining an immediate marriage license, he’d quickly consented to waiving the traditional twenty-four hours before the ceremony. Lauren called one of her best infant nannies from her daycare center to bring the baby back to Mack’s penthouse for a bottle and a nap rather than bring her to the bustling courthouse. Fortunately, Callie had done well in daycare that day. Especially since everyone had doted on her.
“Thank you,” the judge continued. “Let’s begin, shall we? Now, do you, Mack Hansen, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife, to live together in holy matrimony…”
My wedding. It was nothing like she’d hoped it would be. She never dreamed she’d marry a man who didn’t love her. Who couldn’t love her, since all he saw when he looked at her was a solution to a problem. An obligation to his business partner and best friend.
“To love, honor, and cherish her. To be with her in sickness and in health,” the judge was saying. “Forsaking all others, keeping only unto her for as long as you both shall live?”
Mack looked at her and smiled. A smile that seemed to say, Wow, we’re really doing this. What a joke we’re pulling. “I do.”
“And Lauren Peters, do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband, to live together in holy matrimony. To love, honor, and obey. To be with him in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, keeping only unto him as long as you both shall live?”
The word “obey” bugged her, but she wasn’t planning on being with him for as long as they lived, either, so what was one more white lie in this marriage of convenience? Lauren swallowed hard around the lump forming in her throat. This was it.
“I do.”
“Mack, please place the ring on her left hand, and repeat after me. With this ring.”
Mack slid the thin platinum ring onto her ring finger. He’d had his assistant run out to the jewelry store down the block from his lawyer’s office and buy two plain bands for them as placeholders. Of course she couldn’t have picked out her own ring, what was the point? None of this was real.
“With this ring,” Mack said.
The cool metal closed around her finger. It sure felt real. Oh God.
“I thee wed, in love and truth…”
Mack smiled. “I thee wed, in love and truth…”
“And with all my worldly goods I thee endow.”
Well, at least for a while, until we get divorced. And then the airtight prenup she’d signed would eliminate that vow.
“And with all my worldly goods, I thee endow,” Mack repeated.
She wondered if he was thinking the same thing about the prenup as she said the words and placed the ring on his finger.
“Join hands,” the judge said.
She held his hand. It felt warm and comforting as it enveloped hers.
“Mack Hansen and Lauren Peters have consented this day to live together in holy wedlock. They have given and pledged themselves to each other in the presence of these witnesses. Therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the laws of the State of New York, I now pronounce you…husband and wife.”
“Wow,” she whispered. This man, this near-stranger looming above her, staring down at her with that gorgeous face of his…was her husband.
Her husband.
“You may kiss the bride,” the judge concluded.
Suddenly Mack’s mouth was on hers, his warm lips pressing urgently against her own. She gasped in surprise at the passion behind the kiss. This kiss…this was no fake kiss. It was real. At least…it felt real.
Did it feel real to him too?
His tongue slipped inside her mouth and she parted her lips, delighting in his taste. Kissing him was so…familiar, and yet so new at the same time. She’d always imagined what it would be like, and after that one drunken kiss almost a decade ago that she’d pretended to forget, she couldn’t help but fantasize about what would have happened if the kiss had gone further than it had.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down toward her, deepening the kiss. Her husband. She was kissing her husband. This might never happen again—now might be the only time she got to experience this particular pleasure.
She heard a bemused clearing of a throat behind her. Mack lifted his lips from hers and smiled at the judge.
“Thank you, your Honor,” he said.
“Save it for the honeymoon,” the judge said with a smile, shaking his head. He called to the waiting couples lined up by the hall. “Next!”
She blushed at the thought. “We’re not going to…consummate this marriage, are we?” she whispered in his ear.
Mack tilted his head and looked at her, a slow gaze that left her feeling vulnerable—and desired. “You’re my wife now. I’ve agreed to monogamy, not celibacy.”
Oh God, that was true. She couldn’t expect a red-blooded young man to be abstinent for a whole year. And if she didn’t want him sleeping with anyone else…
She inhaled sharply, desire pooling in her belly. This was really happening. She’d painted herself into a corner with her own rules. Not that she minded her predicament.
Mack smiled again, his crooked incisor inspiring her to smile back. “Yes,” he said, “I expect we should consummate this marriage. Tonight.”
Chapter Three
Lauren didn’t speak a word the entire ride from the courthouse to Mack’s Manhattan penthouse on Central Park West. Her new home, for the following year, anyway. It was a big change from her building near Grand Central Terminal.
A valet came and took Mack’s car as soon as they pulled up. “I wonder how the nanny fared with Callie,” she said.
“If she works at your daycare, then I’m sure she was fine.”
Lauren nodded mutely. Did he really mean what he said at the courthouse, about consummating the marriage? Tonight? How could she sleep with him, this man she was never meant to be with?
Not that she didn’t want to. God, she wanted to. His tall, muscular body, his strong jaw, those incredible brown eyes and dark hair…he was definitely her type. This was her chance to finally live out her fantasy—to sleep with Mack. But she’d always thought of him as a calculating business man—a man reputed to crush his competitors without thinking twice. Could she really handle sleeping with him, knowing he didn’t truly care about her?
Stop thinking so much.
Maybe it was a good thing they were going into this marriage with their eyes wide open. They both knew they were in it out of obligation and convenience, and not out of love. That’s the only thing that would save her from heartbreak. At least she was attracted to him. So, so attracted to him. She bit her lip to stifle her sigh.
Inside, Mack hit the button marked PH and used a private key to access the floor. The elevator rose steadily up. That was what made her stomach drop…right?
The elevator opened directly into the front foyer of Mack’s apartment. Apartment wasn’t quite the right word. Her first thought was “mansion,” except she knew you couldn’t have a mansion inside a building. It was just a huge, beautiful penthouse suite.
Her heels clicked on the cherry wood entranceway as they stepped inside. A chandelier hung with hundreds of crystals lighting the hall, inviting them in.
“Iris?” she called.
The nanny padded in her stocking feet out from
one of the side doorways. “Shh,” she said, smiling. “Callie’s sleeping. I gave her a bottle and changed her diaper.”
Mack nodded, obviously not used to being briefed on an infant’s toileting needs. “So the movers brought everything for her nursery from Joe’s house okay? Everything’s in place?”
Iris handed him the video baby monitor. “See for yourself.”
Lauren leaned over to peer into the tiny screen, visible via a night-vision lens that showed the baby even in the darkness. Callie slept contentedly in her own crib with her own sheets and her familiar nursery furniture and hanging mobile surrounding her.
“She’s too young to understand,” Lauren said softly.
Iris grabbed her shoes and purse out of the front hall coat closet. “I’m heading home.”
“Stay here!” Lauren said, suddenly terrified to be left alone with nothing keeping her from sleeping with Mack except her own very fragile willpower. She looked at him. “Can she stay at your place?”
“It’s your place now too,” Mack said. To the nanny, he replied, “You’re always welcome here, Iris.”
“Thank you,” she said. “But I told my husband I’d be home tonight. Besides, I wouldn’t want to intrude on the newlyweds.”
Lauren knew that teasing jibe was directed at her. Well, what was done was done. “Thanks for watching Callie.” She handed Iris some bills. “Wait! How are my plants doing?” Lauren called after her as Iris headed for the exit.
“I’m watering them,” Iris said, eyeing the door like she was ready to get home. She sighed. “But your miniature roses aren’t looking great.”
Lauren frowned. What did that mean, not looking great? Would the fragile buds make it, or had they already died?
“You should not be worrying about this right now,” Iris said. “You just lost your brother, you moved, and you have a new baby to care for. All three of life’s biggest stressors in one day.”
“She’s right,” Mack said. “Don’t worry about the flowers.”
Lauren bit her tongue to keep from arguing. It wouldn’t make sense to either Iris or Mack if she did.
“I’ll see you when you get back to work,” Iris said. “Um…have a good night.” She glanced up at Mack with a shy smile.
The Tycoon's Convenient Bride... and Baby (Entangled Indulgence) Page 3
