Hired Bride

by Jackie Merritt

  “Mistake,” Zane said softly. “So, it was just a mistake to you.” Hurt, he got out of bed and began pulling on his clothes.

  Going to the closet, Gwen plucked her bathrobe from a hook on the inside of the door, slipped it on and then let the sheet fall away. Tying the sash around her waist, she turned to check Zane’s progress.

  He was dressed, sitting on the edge of the bed, putting on his shoes…and watching her. “You’re a curious woman,” he said. “Why do you think that making love with me was a mistake?”

  “Because it was,” she said flatly. “It’s not going to happen again, Zane, so don’t leave this house with any foolish notions.” She suddenly had the most discomfiting memory of an embarrassingly erotic dream. But it seemed so real. It had been only a dream, hadn’t it? She wanted to question him so badly she could hardly keep her mouth shut, but if it had been just a dream, talking about it would be utterly humiliating.

  Zane laughed softly. From the stunned, almost disoriented expression on her face, he knew that she had remembered their second session of lovemaking. Rather, she was remembering but wondering if she’d dreamed it.

  Still worrying about the dream, or whatever it had been, Gwen moved to the bedroom door. Zane walked over to the door as well, and it never dawned on her that he planned to do anything but leave.

  He snaked his arm around her waist and hauled her up against himself. “Zane, don’t,” she whispered.

  “Zane, do,” he whispered back. He took hold of the back of her head with his free hand, and then took possession of her lips. It was a lover’s kiss—hot, wet and emotional. And Gwen knew at that moment that what had seemed to be a dream was actually the sexiest, most erotic experience of her life.

  When he finally stopped kissing her, she couldn’t look him in the eye. “I…I’m going to…open the door now,” she stammered. “Please don’t talk in the hall as we pass the…the children’s bedrooms. I really don’t want them waking up and seeing you.”

  “You know it wasn’t a dream, don’t you?” he said softly.

  “Yes, but please don’t make me talk about it,” she whispered.

  He took her chin and tipped up her face. “Gwen, you amaze me. Why does making love embarrass you so much? We’re both adults, we’re both free agents. And there’s something happening between us. Haven’t you wondered if it’s something important?”

  “There’s nothing important happening between us, Zane, and there never will be. There’s such an enormous chasm between your life and mine that we might as well be from different planets. Now, please be quiet.” She opened the door and listened.

  With a disgusted shake of his head, Zane followed her into the hall. She said nothing, he said nothing, and neither of them made any other sound.

  And yet, there was Donnie, standing in his bedroom doorway, looking sleepy-eyed and curious.

  “Hi, Zane,” the little boy said. “Mom? Where you going?”

  Gwen shot Zane a venomous told-you-so look, then hugged her son and led him back to his bed. “It’s too early to get up, sweetheart,” she told Donnie as she kissed his smooth little-boy cheek. After tucking the covers around him, she returned to the hall, said not a word to Zane and preceded him to the front door.

  “Go,” she said.

  “Donnie seeing me is not the end of the world,” Zane said quietly.

  “Please just go,” she said wearily.

  “Fine. Good night.” He walked out.

  By nine that morning Gwen had taken her shower and gotten dressed, fed the kids breakfast, and seen to their baths and clothes for the day. She’d arranged a bed on the sofa for Ashley to lie on and tuned the TV to the comical cartoon channel. Since her own activities were going to be confined to the house today because of Ashley, she decided to bake some cookies.

  Her doorbell rang at ten. Quickly rinsing her hands at the kitchen sink, she dried them as she went to see who had come calling. Not Zane. Please, not Zane.

  She opened the door to her parents, and her nervousness turned to glee. “Mom, Dad! Goodness, what a nice surprise.” She received two big hugs. “Come in.”

  Lillian began jabbering as she and Jack went in. “We weren’t sure what Sunday School service you brought the kids to, so if you’re getting ready to go, just say so.”

  “We’re not going this morning, Mom.”

  Lillian spied Ashley on the sofa. “What happened?” she cried, and ran over to her little granddaughter.

  “I fell off a horse, Grandma,” Ashley said proudly. “I have five stitches.”

  “A horse!” Jack exclaimed. “What in heck were you doing on a horse?”

  “I was riding it,” Ashley replied, looking a bit startled that she would have to explain something so obvious to a grown-up.

  “I rode a horse too, Grandpa,” Donnie said, anxious about Grandpa Jack thinking that Ashley might have done something exciting that he hadn’t. “I really like horses. I wish we lived on a ranch.”

  Jack looked at his daughter. “So this horseback riding took place on a ranch?”

  Gwen felt like squirming under her father’s disapproving gaze, but she managed to smile and say, “Yes. How about some coffee and fresh-baked cookies? Come to the kitchen so we can talk. Kids, I’ll bring you some cookies too.”

  Lillian and Jack took off their lightweight jackets and sat at the kitchen table. Gwen quickly made coffee, then brought a plate of cookies to the living room. “Two apiece,” she said firmly to her children. Returning to the kitchen, she prepared another plate with cookies and set it on the table, along with small plates, cups and napkins.

  “Goodness, you’re a whirlwind this morning,” Lillian said. “Come and sit down.”

  “I had to get things ready, Mom.” Gwen pulled out a chair from the table and sat. “The coffee will be done in a few minutes. So,” she said, looking from one parent to the other, “how have you two been?”

  “We’re fine,” Jack said. “How have you been? Tell us about the ranch and the horses the kids rode. Whose ranch did you visit?”

  “Oh, the coffee’s done.” Gwen got up for the pot and filled their cups. Seated again, she cautiously sipped from hers. “Now, what were we talking about?”

  “About the Fortune ranch,” Jack said sternly.

  “Yes,” Gwen said slowly, realizing that her father had put two and two together. “It was the Fortune ranch. Something wrong with that, Dad?”

  “Maybe. This Zane guy. How’s he treating you?”

  “Uh, I’m not sure what you’re getting at.”

  “Don’t play games, Gwen. We’re not in the Fortunes’ class, and just what does Zane Fortune want from you?” Gwen could feel herself turn three shades of red. “Aha! I knew he was up to no good. Lil, didn’t I tell you?”

  “Now, Jack,” Lillian admonished. “Don’t jump to any hasty conclusions. Gwen, um, has Zane Fortune become a good friend? He would be an incredible catch for a woman in your situation.”

  “Mom!” Gwen exclaimed, appalled that her mother was hearing wedding bells simply because Zane was wealthy. “I have absolutely no unrealistic hopes where Zane is concerned. He’s one of Help-Mate’s clients, which is how we met. And yes, I’ve seen him a few times beyond the work I do for him. But—”

  “So we understand your hopes. What about his?”

  Gwen was on a very hot seat. In the first place, she didn’t know any more about Zane’s hopes where she was concerned than her father did. Or, in all honesty, if Zane even had any. Last night he’d gotten what she had believed all along that he’d been wanting from her, and maybe that’s all there would ever be to their relationship.

  “I have no idea what Zane Fortune thinks about anything,” she said flatly, and lifted her cup for a swallow of coffee, meeting her father’s stern, disapproving eyes over the rim. Lowering the cup she added, “And that is the end of this discussion. I’m very happy to see each of you, but I’m not going to talk any further about Zane.”

  “You’re n
ot telling us something,” Jack accused.

  “Oh, Dad, I haven’t told you everything since I was sixteen years old, maybe even before that.”

  “Well, you won’t think it’s so cute when it’s your kids keeping things from you.”

  “I’m sure you’re right,” Gwen said quietly. She picked up the plate of cookies and held them toward her father. “Have a cookie, Dad, and let’s talk about something else. You’ve always been wonderful parents, especially since Paul died. I have a little money in the bank, and I’m going to make a payment on what I owe you. Wait here.”

  Rushing from the kitchen to her bedroom, Gwen grabbed her checkbook and hurried back. She sat again and wrote a check for three hundred dollars, which she handed to her father.

  He looked at the amount, then at her. “How can you afford this?”

  She hadn’t expected the question and she started stammering. “I…I…”

  “Did Zane Fortune give you money?” Jack was glowering.

  “Uh…yes, but I, uh, earned it.” Oh my God, what if he asks how I earned it? I could never confess that I took money from Zane to lie to his family. Mom and Dad would be devastated by such behavior.

  Scowling, Jack got to his feet. “Lillian, it’s time we left.”

  “But we just got here, honey.”

  Gwen knew she should plead with her father to stay longer, but she couldn’t force the words out of her mouth. Jack Lafferty’s mind was not easily changed once set on something, and it was obvious that he didn’t like his daughter’s association with Zane Fortune one little bit. If she did get him to stay longer, she knew it was all he would talk about. He might even say things she would not be able to forgive.

  So it was with a genuine but sad relief that she saw her parents to the door and kissed them goodbye.

  Returning to the kitchen she sat at the table again, and her gaze fell on her checkbook. She was spending the two-thousand, and if Zane ever did tell her how much the repairs to his car had cost she probably wouldn’t have the money to reimburse him.

  “To heck with it,” she mumbled. He should have told her right away.

  Her eyes watered with unshed tears. There were a lot of things Zane should have done, a lot he shouldn’t have, but none of his sins compared to the stupidity of hers. Even though no battle lines had ever been drawn between them, he’d won the first skirmish of a very emotional war of wills. At least it was emotional for her. She could only guess at his feelings.

  At any rate, she’d made a complete fool of herself with Zane last night, and she hadn’t done much better with her parents today.

  Gwen put her face in her hands and groaned, doing so quietly to keep her misery private from her children. Maybe she deserved to suffer, but they didn’t.

  Twelve

  Later that afternoon Gwen had a long telephone conversation with Ramona, explaining how Ashley had gotten injured and about the ordeal of the Emergency Room. Ramona listened with few questions, but then finally said, “He’s gorgeous, Gwen.”

  “Who is?”

  “Do you have the gall to act like you don’t know to whom I’m referring? Zane, Gwen—Zane Fortune. He is so good-looking that I would have liked to just stand there on my own front porch last night and stare at him. Thank goodness I didn’t.”

  Gwen sighed. “Yes, he’s good-looking.”

  Ramona was silent a moment, then asked quietly, “What’s wrong, Gwen?”

  “Nothing,” Gwen said quickly. She was afraid of saying too much about Zane; she really couldn’t tell anyone about last night, not even her best friend. “Nothing more than the usual, that is. Um, Mom and Dad dropped in this morning.”

  It was a good change of subject, even though it could have led to Zane too, if Gwen had let it. Instead she and Ramona discussed their respective parents for a while and finally said goodbye. Gwen hung up and eyed the phone. She’d seen her parents and talked to Ramona today. There was no one else she wanted to hear from.

  Switching on the answering machines, she walked into the living room, saw that Mindy was falling asleep on the floor next to the sofa, and picked up the tot. “Time for your nap, little darling,” she whispered as she carried Mindy to her crib.

  After checking Ashley again and finding no sign of fever, Gwen decided to work on the old furniture in her garage. She told the kids where she would be and not to answer the phone. “Let the machine pick up any messages, okay?”

  “Okay, Mom,” they both agreed.

  Gwen was still moving furniture around, undecided about which piece to work on, when her mother walked in through the connecting door between the house and garage. Obviously Donnie had let her in.

  “Mom! For goodness’ sake, two visits in one day?” Panic suddenly seized Gwen. “Is Dad all right?”

  “Your father is fit to be tied, but that’s all that’s wrong with him,” Lillian said dryly. “Anyway, he sent me over here to return this.” She pulled Gwen’s check from her purse and put it in her daughter’s hand.

  “Return it!” Gwen exclaimed, completely baffled. “Why, for heaven’s sake? I owe you a lot more than this.”

  “Because it came from Zane Fortune.” Lillian held up her hand. “Now don’t go getting mad at me about this. I’m merely the go-between.”

  Gwen couldn’t help getting angry. “That’s the silliest thing I’ve ever heard! What’s wrong with Zane’s money?”

  “Gwen, you know your father. He’s got it in his mind that Zane is taking advantage of you. Actually, we’ve been arguing about it since we left here this morning. I told him that you’ve never let anyone take advantage of you, but Jack’s the most stubborn, mule-headed—”

  “Mom, no,” Gwen said hastily. Her parents had always had a wonderful relationship, a good marriage, and the thought of them arguing over her and Zane was horrifying. “If it makes Dad feel better, I’ll tear up the check. But please don’t fight because of me.”

  Donnie came running in. “Can I have another cookie, Mom? Ashley wants one too.”

  Lillian caught her grandson and hugged him. “Do you want to get fat?” she teased.

  “You should’ve seen how much I ate at Zane’s ranch,” Donnie boasted.

  “Did you really? You must have had good food,” Lillian remarked while looking at her daughter.

  “Yeah, it was real good,” Donnie said.

  Even though Gwen was looking pained, Lillian asked, “Donnie, do you like Mr. Fortune?”

  Donnie shrugged and said, “Guess so.” He looked at his mother. “Mom, what time was it when I saw Zane in the night?”

  Gwen’s jaw dropped. So did Lillian’s. “Go ahead and get your sister and yourself a cookie,” Gwen mumbled to her son.

  “Yeah, but what time—?” Donnie persisted.

  “Never mind, it doesn’t matter.” Donnie ran out, and Gwen and her mother stood like two statues staring at each other.

  “He stayed the night, didn’t he,” Lillian finally said, almost sadly. “Gwen, are you in love with him?”

  Gwen looked away. “Please don’t ask me that.”

  “Are you unsure of yourself, or of him?”

  Gwen thought a moment, then sighed. “Circumstance is the real problem, Mom. Look who he is, and then take a look at who I am.”

  “Are you telling me that you would be in love with him if he weren’t a Fortune? Gwen, if you believe that, you’re deluding yourself. Either you’re in love or you’re not, and the same goes for him with you.” Lillian’s expression became seriously thoughtful. “Have the two of you talked about feelings? And ‘circumstance,’ as you put it?”

  “Mom, I really don’t want to discuss Zane. I’m just not in the mood.” Gwen stepped over to an old library table that was layered with decades of dirt. “Help me make a decision. Should I work on this piece or that chest of drawers over there?”

  “The table,” Lillian said absently. “Gwen, do you realize what marrying into the Fortune family would do for you?’

  “Mom!” Gwe
n gasped. “I hope you don’t think I would ever marry a man for his money.”

  “Oh, for heaven’s sake, Zane’s not some old geezer you could barely stand to have touch you. Obviously you’re attracted to him or you wouldn’t have let him stay with you last night.”

  “I do not believe what I’m hearing. My own mother, the soul of propriety, actually suggesting I go after a man for his money.” Gwen shook her head and added, “Tell me you were only kidding, Mom.”

  Lillian hesitated a few moments, then said, “Answer me this, Gwen. What are Zane’s intentions toward you?”

  Gwen smiled wryly. “Well, he’s certainly not after my money.”

  “You do know about his reputation with women.”

  “Yes, Mom, I do. Everyone in San Antonio knows about it.”

  “Has it occurred to you that fooling around with Zane could make you the talk of the town?”

  Gwen shrugged. “Who cares? The gossip would only last as long as the relationship.”

  “Aha! You just admitted there is a relationship.” Lillian sidled toward the door. “I’m going to leave now and let you get to work. I’ll call this evening to find out how Ashley is doing. And you might phone your father and me a little more often. We worry about you, whether you want us to or not.”

  Gwen let that comment pass and smiled. “Talk to you later, Mom.”

  “’Bye, honey.”

  After Lillian had gone, Gwen sank onto a dusty old chair to fret. Surely Mom wasn’t serious. But maybe she was. It would be a ton of worry off her and Dad’s minds if I ever became financially secure.

  Gwen realized that her body had become quite tense. She felt as though powerful pressures and conflicting opinions were pulling at her, tugging her first one way and then another.

  She covered her eyes with her hands, groaned quietly and wished again that she’d never met Zane. Now her parents knew just enough to worry themselves sick, and wasn’t she herself in just about the same boat? After all, what did she know about Zane’s feelings, other than the obvious?