by Robyn Carr
Erin let the pages fall against her thigh in utter frustration. “Why’d you marry her if she was so crazy?”
“I told you—it was a mistake!”
“You’re raising your voice again,” she calmly pointed out.
“It was a mistake,” he said more calmly. “I was desperate for a little female company, met her at the officers’ club, drank a little too much and ended up in bed with her. It wasn’t until after that that I found out she was enlisted personnel assigned to my hospital. That kind of liaison is not allowed. Ever watch 60 Minutes? Fraternization is considered a crime in the military—court martial is usually followed by dishonorable discharge—and all this was after I’d invested years in the navy. All this right before my residency—the navy’s commitment to me—was just starting. I had to marry her to make it all look decent. Legal.”
Erin was appalled. “After one slightly tipsy roll in the hay?” she asked, stunned.
He couldn’t respond right away because he knew how it looked, how it sounded. In fact, he absolutely believed Annalee had taken all that into consideration when she picked him out, stalked him, blew his brains out with mind-bending sex that he’d been totally starving for, for a couple of years, and…He groaned. “It was more than once, but not much more. And before I could run for my life, it leaked, and it seemed everyone knew about our relationship. My boss gave me two choices—come up on charges for sexual harassment, fraternization and dishonorable discharge, which would make me look real goddamn desirable as a civilian woman’s doctor. Or just make it legal so it looked like true love, not something nasty and sordid. I saw my life flash before my eyes.”
“And your family? They know about this?” she asked.
“Sort of,” he said. “My brothers know. Luke and Sean were involved. Colin and Paddy heard about it. It’s not the kind of thing you explain in detail to your widowed mother.”
“Oh, man,” she said, shaking her head. “I wish I’d known this before you forgot that condom,” she muttered.
He’d moved on her too fast, he realized that. But this was only the second time his life flashed before his eyes—the first was Annalee and hysterical fear, the second was now, when he’d finally found the woman he’d always wanted and she was so close to denying him. A few hours ago nothing mattered but them being together, maybe forever, and now she was regretting that absence of a condom—the little slip that could possibly begin to build them a family.
He grabbed her upper arms, feeling scared and desperate. “Listen, she’s nuts, she’s a liar and she probably just wants more money to go away. Finding out the divorce wasn’t final was probably the best news she’s had in years—she can cut a deal all over again and make me pay. Erin, I love you! This woman—Annalee—she’s just a con artist! I’ll get this fixed! I swear to God, I’ll get this—”
“Aiden, Aiden,” she said softly. “Please. You’re hurting me.”
He let go at once. “God, I’m sorry,” he said, backing off. He crossed the room before he turned back to face her. “Listen, do you see?” he said. “I’m standing here in my underwear trying to make you believe that she’s the crazy one. That I couldn’t possibly have made this many stupid mistakes unless some huge con was in place—which cost me a lot of money and the respect of my colleagues. Come on, Erin, I’m smarter than that mess indicates. You have to give me the benefit of the doubt.”
She took a deep breath. She put the stapled sheaf of papers on the leather ottoman and picked up her coffee cup. “We have an attorney in the firm named Ronald Preston. We call him Arnie Becker after that divorce shyster on the old series L.A. Law. He’s completely within the law as far as anyone can tell, but the deals he manages to pull off are pretty amazing…and incredibly good for his clients. Here’s me—giving you the benefit of the doubt. I wouldn’t want someone like Ron handling my divorce unless I was divorcing a completely unscrupulous, greedy, horrible, dangerous person who was trying to get me before I got him. Ron’s in Chico, but he has a fairly far-reaching clientele. And a full stable of assistants, secretaries and investigators.”
After a moment of silence he said, “Thank you.”
“Well, if you’re being completely honest with me, you’re welcome. If you’re not telling me the whole truth, I’m sure I won’t be able to go any further with you.”
“I swear, Erin. It’s all true. Especially the part about loving you.”
Erin didn’t want to obsess about how Aiden was handling the complications in his life, but it was impossible to blank out her mind. After giving him Ron Preston’s name, phone number and directions to her law office in Chico, he said he’d call, but feared this whole effort would take up a lot of time he’d rather be spending with her. She told him the time would be well spent. She was sure she wouldn’t ever be able to change her feelings about him, but she did think it would be in her best interest if he tidied up his personal life before they got any more serious.
The larger question was—if this didn’t turn out well, could she ever forget him? For all the lack of romantic intrigue in her life, she’d never had her heart broken. Oh, there’d been disappointments. That seemed inevitable. But in the grand scheme of things, they were very small. There had been a man who suggested they weren’t very compatible, that there wasn’t true chemistry. She’d actually agreed, but was sorry they weren’t going to give it more than a couple of dates to figure out. There was another whose ex-fiancée returned to the picture when they’d barely started dating. Yet another found her far too unavailable with her demanding legal practice and family responsibilities—he was looking for a woman who’d be there first for him.
These were not broken hearts but mere pinches. Minor letdowns. Besides, she’d known she’d been settling for less than her heart’s desire with each one. They hadn’t set her blood on fire, made her weak in the knees, caused her to lose control. She had long wondered if she was too fussy or just plain impossible to please.
Then came Aiden. He’d taught her how to have fun, how to enjoy the real companionship of two people who seemed perfectly suited. Then he’d taught her how to crave intimacy, something she’d pretty much been able to do without. Doing without it now, doing without him, would be very hard. She missed him so much in just a day.
He’d called twice. He’d been to an appointment with Ron in Chico; Ron had collected what Aiden described as a very large retainer for the job. Once back in Virgin River, Luke and Shelby were just bringing the new baby home, and his family had once again amassed. “Tomorrow,” he said to her. “Nothing will keep me from you tomorrow.”
A couple of days and she was aching for him. She’d never felt quite so vulnerable. Not quite a week since the Fourth of July and already she was hurting for him. He had definitely burrowed under her skin and—
She heard a car and for a second her heart leaped. She realized that if it was Aiden she would be hard-pressed to even ask him if he’d resolved anything. She’d probably throw herself at him and smother him with kisses.
It was not Aiden. It was a young woman in a very fancy car—a model Erin had actually looked at once. A classy and expensive pale blue Lexus—a fully loaded hybrid. That might be a hundred-thousand-dollar car. And the woman—very young, beautiful and tiny, but with enviable curves, stepped out and closed the door.
Erin stood in the cabin doorway. The woman smiled as she came closer. “You must be Erin,” she said almost shyly.
“That’s right,” Erin said, and her gut began to twist because she had an ill feeling about who this might be.
“I hope you’ll forgive this intrusion,” she said. “This isn’t something I ever thought I’d do. My name is Annalee Riordan and I’ve come here to ask you to give me back my husband.”
That slight twist turned into a terrible clamp around her insides; she nearly doubled over with the pain. She called upon many years of practice at never letting anyone see her sweat. “I don’t have your husband,” she said.
“You’re not the wo
man involved with Aiden?” she asked, looking very surprised. “Oh, I’m so sorry—you must think I’m an idiot. I thought it was you. I apologize. I’ll go now.” And she turned away.
“Why are you here? What is it you think I can do for you?”
She turned back and flipped her beautiful, thick blond hair over one shoulder. She shook her head dismally. “So, you are the one. Well, I’m not even sure. Tell him you’re no longer interested in him, maybe? Tell him to give his marriage another chance? I mean, we made a lot of mistakes, me and Aiden—and I take responsibility for at least half the problems—but shouldn’t we try to work it out, since there was some complication with the paperwork and we’re not actually divorced? I took it as a sign. Maybe now, older and wiser, we can do better…”
Erin crossed her arms over her chest. “Please, don’t take me for a fool. You were married three months before signing your divorce petition.”
“Three years,” she tossed back rather softly.
“The documents are dated,” Erin pointed out matter-of-factly.
“Of course they are. So were the next documents and the next and the next. We went that route more than once. The first time was soon after we were married, probably three months. Those were probably the ones he showed you. In fact, we separated for quite a while—several months. There was always something, though…I’m not sure what it was…We always ended up back together for a while.”
Ew, that caused a shiver to go up Erin’s spine. Chemistry? That thing she was feeling with him now—that irresistible, insatiable hunger? “How long since you’ve actually lived together?”
“A long time,” she admitted. “Four or five years, I think.”
“There was a check,” Erin said. “Also dated…”
“For ten thousand? Yes, that was the reason for the first separation. The abortion. It was a horrible fight. In the end he was very generous, since he didn’t want a baby with me. I went home, saw a very good doctor, spent some time to think things over.” She looked down. “I probably shouldn’t have gone back to him. He was—He wasn’t always easy to get along with, but I probably wasn’t, either. He said I provoked him, and thinking back, maybe I did. I was so young when we got married. Young and not very smart.”
She was very young-looking now, Erin thought—feeling every minute of her thirty-six years. “How young?”
“Eighteen.”
Erin knew she was being taken for a ride here, but she didn’t know how. “You seem to have done quite well for yourself, for a woman so young,” she said, nodding toward the car.
“Thank you, yes,” she said, smiling. “The car is a rental. It’s important in my business to look successful when I’m meeting clients. I’m a fashion buyer and consultant. I was meeting a designer in San Francisco and the car is a business expense. I’ve only been doing it for a couple of years and it’s gone so well for me.”
Erin frowned. “Yet this whole time, longing for your ex-husband?”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “Oh, no, it isn’t like that. It’s true—I spent a lot of time wondering how I could have done things better. I regretted our mistakes, of course. I think anyone who goes through a divorce does—but I was moving on. And when I discovered something went wrong with the paperwork, I thought…” She shook her head as if it didn’t really bear mentioning. “Well, I’ll get out of your hair.”
“Just how did you discover the oversight?” Erin asked.
She lifted her chin. “A man I was seeing for a couple of years asked me to marry him. I told him about my marriage and divorce, of course, as anyone would. He’s the one who discovered it.”
“When are you getting married?” Erin asked.
“That’s looking doubtful now. The gentleman isn’t happy about me meeting with Aiden. But I had to tell Aiden what we’d found out! I couldn’t let him make the same mistake I almost made! What if he remarried and it wasn’t legal?”
“This is all pretty far-fetched….”
“I imagine it seems so. Really, I’m sorry. I guess I’m a little out of my mind to even consider second chances. But I’d like you to know one thing—I might’ve been really young and not terribly experienced, but I loved him. I did. Even though our relationship was full of problems, I still—”
“You met his brothers, I understand,” Erin said.
She laughed very suddenly. “Oh, yes. Only Sean and Luke. I never met Colin and Patrick, but I have no trouble picturing them. There were lots of photographs around our apartment, of course. The Riordan men would kill for each other. Quite the band of brothers there. Be careful—don’t cross one of them.” Then she laughed humorlessly. “God, what am I doing? I can see I’m just making a giant fool of myself. Again.”
“Wait a second. You’ll be needed to sign new documents….”
“Aiden can call me—he knows how to reach me if he wants me, which he seems to every now and then.”
“What does that mean?”
“We haven’t lived together in a few years, but he stays in touch.”
“Is that so?”
She just made a face and shook her head. “Has Aiden led you to believe we haven’t seen or heard from each other in eight years? Has he really? Well, that wouldn’t come as a surprise—he has a short attention span, my husband. I stayed in San Diego until a couple of years ago, when I finally tried to make a clean break. Please, be so careful. Aiden can make a woman believe anything. And I learned the hard way—it’s dangerous to confront him, to fight with him. He has an ugly little temper.”
“Aiden?” she asked, aghast.
“You haven’t known him very long, have you, Erin?” Her expression was pained, sad. “Be very careful of him. Most of the time he’s an angel, sexiest angel on earth, but he doesn’t handle his anger well. He has a hair trigger.”
Then she gave a wave of her hand and got in her car. She backed up, turned around and drove slowly away from the cabin, down the road.
Erin felt a very creepy chill run through her, but she wasn’t sure where it came from. The perfect little beauty who claimed to want another chance with her soon-to-be ex-husband? Or Aiden, who she thought she knew so intimately but perhaps didn’t really know that well. Aiden, who a couple of days ago grabbed her harshly in anger.
She’d prefer to think this young woman was lying. The problem was, she had no real way of disputing any of their claims. Either one’s.
In the practice of tax and estate law, people could tell horrendous lies with all the innocence of a sweet baby. Money was at stake, sometimes huge amounts of money. Finger-pointing and swearing on a stack of bibles didn’t cut any grass with the law—everything had to be documented and proven.
How did you prove your boyfriend wasn’t calling his ex-wife? Maybe seeing her from time to time? Who did you believe when the stories were so disparate?
Erin called Ron Preston. “Did your new client, Aiden Riordan, happen to mention where his referral came from?”
“Yes, and thank you very much, Erin.”
“Did he happen to mention why I gave the referral?”
“He met you at that vacation spot where you have the cabin?” he replied by way of a question.
“Hmm. Yes, that’s correct. Met me, became a friend, dated me and now the ex-wife has appeared to state that she’s not an ex-wife. He says they parted company after three months of marriage and haven’t seen each other in eight years. She says they were together three years, filled out divorce papers more than once and have remained in touch.” Physically in touch?
“Erin, I can’t discuss this with you….”
“I understand that, Ron. The problem is, there is no way for me to check either story and I don’t want to be…” She couldn’t finish. Used? Abused? Lied to? Manipulated?
“I understand completely,” Ron said. “You’re emotionally involved, so I’m going to tell you something you already know. When I have a client whose story differs remarkably from the person they oppose in the process,
I listen very carefully, check the facts, do everything I can to represent my client, but I don’t necessarily believe them. That doesn’t mean he or she is lying, it means that there are many assertions that are simply impossible to clarify. This is just about process, Erin. May the better man win.”
“And if one of the by-products is that I’m emotionally decimated in the process?” she asked sarcastically.
“There’s no law that says you have to believe everything you hear. Slow down. Don’t leave yourself open.”
She sighed deeply. “Thanks,” she said. “Really, thanks. I needed to hear that. I hate it, but I needed to hear it.”
“I suspect this will be resolved soon enough. Guard your flanks. And your fanny.”
“Oh! That’s crude!” she snapped at him.
“Do it anyway,” he said. “Gotta run. Marriages are falling apart everywhere I look.”
She hung up. That was why she hated him—because he was cold and went in for the kill. And that was why she had a grudging respect for him, because he didn’t get emotionally involved. And where did that leave her? Aching for a man she was just a little afraid to believe in.
Thirteen
Mel Sheridan had a very busy week, beginning with being awake most of Wednesday night with Shelby Riordan. It was getting harder, she noticed, to pull those all-nighters and bounce right back. A lot of that could have to do with having two little kids, at least one of whom should be completely potty trained. Emma was two, David three, and when Mel had a sitter, a teenage girl was having more success than she was.
