The Husband She Can't Remember (Southwest Secrets Series Book 1)

by Tina Cambria

  “What was she supposed to figure out?”

  “Excuse me, Leslie, but some things are best kept between husband and wife.” Kyle cocked his head and stared hard at her.

  “You barely know her.”

  Danielle, who’d been sitting quietly in the passenger seat, leaned across him toward Leslie. “It’s okay, sweetie. I’ll be all right.”

  Looking back and forth at Danielle and Kyle, Leslie nodded. “Dr. Chartoff’s office is on the second floor of the medical office building across from the hospital. I’ll see you after I get home from work tonight,” she said to Danielle, then turned and headed to her car.

  With Danielle already gripping his right hand, Kyle placed his other hand on top of hers and gave it a squeeze. “Hey, we’re in this together, right?” He smiled at her, and she managed a weak smile in return.

  So, why did he now feel that he was trying to convince himself that they were a real couple as much as he was trying to prove it to Danielle?

  * * *

  Thirty minutes later, Danielle clutched the opening of a paper gown, trying to completely cover her chest while waiting on an examination table in Dr. Chartoff’s office. Was it a mistake to bring Kyle into the room with her? She couldn’t help shaking her head. What was the difference now? She seemed to be on a roll with making mistakes. Letting the man who claimed to be her husband sit with her during a GYN exam probably wasn’t the biggest mistake she’d made in the past six weeks anyway.

  “You all right?” Kyle leaned over from the chair next to the exam table and rubbed her forearm.

  She bit her lower lip. “I guess.”

  They sat in silence, Kyle stroking her arm while she focused on remaining calm.

  It was just a matter of finding out whether that at-home pregnancy test was accurate, right? But deep down she knew that if Dr. Chartoff confirmed the result, her whole life was going to change—probably in ways she couldn’t even imagine.

  The way the pregnancy would affect her body was the most obvious change to be expected. And see-sawing emotions too. She’d heard all about pregnant women feeling on top of the world and then going on a crying jag the next minute.

  And, of course, she’d be concerned about the baby’s health. She’d only found out about the baby a few hours earlier, and she already felt connected to it. She wanted to take good care of herself during the pregnancy to help ensure everything would be right with the baby.

  Catching sight of a poster on the wall that laid out the baby’s development during each month of the pregnancy, thoughts of labor and delivery popped into Danielle’s head. With the kind of luck she’d been having lately, she’d probably be one of those women who experienced twenty-four hours of hard labor.

  And after that—there’d be an infant to care for.

  All by herself.

  Unless she worked something out with this guy sitting beside her. She sure wasn’t going to agree to stay married to him just so she wouldn’t have to raise a baby on her own. But how could she hold down a full-time job and take care of a baby without any help? Being a single mom was something she’d never expected to experience.

  A light tapping sounded on the door to the exam room, and Dr. Chartoff entered with his nurse following behind. He introduced himself, shaking hands with Danielle and then with Kyle.

  “I understand you’re a brand-new patient, and you’re here to confirm your pregnancy?” the doctor began.

  Nodding, Danielle couldn’t help thinking that Dr. Chartoff looked not much older than she was. If that. Quite a difference from her previous physician, a kindly silver-haired gentleman who’d retired from medical practice about a year earlier.

  Explaining what he was doing as he proceeded, Dr. Chartoff listened to her heart and lungs with a stethoscope, examined her breasts, and then performed a pelvic exam. Although she hardly knew Kyle, Danielle found herself feeling grateful that he held her hand throughout the entire process.

  When the doctor finished his exam, he instructed Danielle to sit back up on the table. He smiled. “My examination along with the lab work we did when you first arrived confirms what you suspected. Congratulations to both of you! Everything looks good so far, and I expect that you’ll become parents around May 8th of next year.”

  So, it was really happening. She didn’t have any kind of energy-sapping virus, and the at-home pregnancy test had been accurate.

  Danielle thought she heard Dr. Chartoff say something about a prescription for prenatal vitamins and scheduling a follow-up appointment for the next month, but his voice was muffled by a roaring sound that erupted in her head. She was going to have a baby. And the man at her side was probably the father.

  But she barely knew him.

  The roaring sound subsided enough for Danielle to hear Dr. Chartoff’s final piece of advice before he left the room. “Since you have no history of miscarriage and you haven’t experienced any bleeding thus far, there’s no reason why you can’t keep up your usual sexual activities for the time being,” he said, tucking his stethoscope into the pocket of his lab coat.

  Usual sexual activities?

  She wanted to call out for Dr. Chartoff to come back in the room, so she could explain that she and Kyle didn’t have any usual sexual activities. But she could imagine the expression on the doctor’s face—and on his nurse’s—when she said she’d married a man in Vegas who she didn’t even know and then must have had unprotected sex with him at least once.

  And she didn’t remember one bit of it.

  Of course, she’d written down on the medical history form about her car accident and the resulting partial amnesia. But she’d left out one itsy-bitsy part of her story. The fact that their marriage had only taken place a week before the accident and was apparently part of some business scheme. Would anything really be gained by sharing that juicy bit of information with the doctor and his staff?

  Dr. Chartoff knew she’d been in a car accident after the baby was conceived, so Danielle was happy to leave out the details about the week before that and avoid any potential judgment regarding her…her so-called extra-curricular activities in Vegas.

  Looking over to Kyle after the doctor left the room, she wasn’t sure how to take the pleased expression on his face. Was he happy to hear that everything looked good with the pregnancy? Or was he filled with eager anticipation after getting a green light from the doctor for more of what had gotten her in this condition in the first place?

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Kyle tried to figure out his next step after he and Danielle left the doctor’s office and headed back to Leslie’s house. Danielle acted like someone who’d just been told they’d hit the lottery. Mostly stunned and with a touch of nausea about to break through. And a big helping of fear of the unknown served up on the side.

  “I guess that was a lot to take in,” he said once they were inside the house. “No doubt about the baby now.”

  “What time is it?” Danielle asked, fanning herself with her hand. Before Kyle could even pull out his phone, she continued, “It couldn’t have been more than a few hours ago that I thought I was laid low by some lingering virus. Now, a bona fide obstetrician has confirmed that I’m definitely pregnant. And I don’t even know how it happened.”

  Kyle raised his brows. “Come on, Danielle. You do know how it happened…”

  “You know what I mean.” She winced and plopped onto the sofa, her expression changing to one of pure frustration. “I know I was running short on cash when I left L.A. And there’s no denying that you’re a good-looking guy.”

  “If you say so.”

  “But I just can’t imagine how I would’ve gotten into a scheme that ended up with…with me getting pregnant.”

  On a typical day, Kyle was pretty sure she never would have done anything like what he’d convinced her to do. But things between them were anything but typical. Amnesia side effects or not, he had to tell her a little bit more about what had happened when they met. He could see she was torn up ins
ide because she wasn’t sure if she’d done something truly wrong—even illegal.

  “Look, you didn’t do anything wrong—”

  “According to Dr. Chartoff, I did.”

  “When did he say you did anything wrong?” He’d been in the exam room with Danielle the whole time, and he’d be damned if he remembered hearing the doctor passing judgment on her.

  She grimaced. “He didn’t have to say it. I mean, he doesn’t even know the circumstances of our so-called marriage.”

  “Why are you calling it a so-called marriage?” Irritation flared within him. “Maybe we didn’t have two hundred guests and a five-tier wedding cake, but it’s just as legal. It’s for real, baby.”

  “It sounds like fraud to me. You said we were planning all along for a quick annulment.”

  Letting out a long sigh, Kyle rolled his eyes to the ceiling. She had a point. “Okay, maybe it didn’t start out like a fairy tale. But how many marriages do? Everything isn’t always like in the movies.”

  “So, how did you rope me in?”

  “Geez, don’t make yourself sound like a calf running around a rodeo ring.” Besides, she hadn’t been that hard to rope in. Once he’d gotten the ball rolling, she’d been more than willing to go along with his idea.

  Her chin rose. “Look, I think you owe me an explanation of how I got to be your wife and now—I guess—the mother of your child.”

  He couldn’t disagree. Considering she had amnesia about that week, he did owe her an explanation of how she’d gotten into her present situation. A big explanation. But he needed to start slowly.

  “You’re right.” He shook his head in agreement. “Let’s see—where should I start?”

  “How about telling me how we went from you giving me a ride after my car broke down to us ending up half-naked in a hot tub?”

  Grinning, he said, “Oh, we weren’t half-naked.”

  “You’re not making this any easier, Kyle.”

  He watched as a flush of color worked its way up her neck and into her cheeks. Time to dial down his descriptions a notch or two. Even though he enjoyed thinking back to their week in Vegas, Danielle’s head obviously wasn’t in the same place. And how could it be? Some kind of force to her brain had wiped out those memories.

  But she’d feel the same way as he did about what they had shared if she could just remember it, wouldn’t she? He sure hadn’t needed to strong-arm her into marrying him or making love with him. Granted, she had training in acting. But she’d be up for an Academy Award if she’d only been acting like she was having a good time with him that week.

  No, everything they’d shared had been the real deal. He’d be willing to bet on it.

  Kyle patted her hand. “I apologize if I’m embarrassing you. That wasn’t my intention.”

  “Apology accepted.” She nodded, and a tentative smile seemed close to emerging. “So, can you tell me more about what happened after you gave me a ride? And clarify exactly when this idea of getting married was hatched?”

  He recapped how he’d stopped at a convenience store in Barstow, California on his way to Las Vegas from L.A. “It was a pit stop to use the restroom and pick up a cold bottle of water. I was strictly being a Good Samaritan when I offered to give you a ride to Vegas, so you wouldn’t lose your hotel deposit.”

  “And being a Good Samaritan included marrying me?” Danielle asked, her voice practically oozing skepticism.

  “Now hold on, you’re getting ahead of the story.” He needed to tread carefully but still stick to the truth. “I had no plans to marry you—or sleep with you—when I offered you the ride. I mean, I thought I would like to sleep with you, but—”

  “But what?”

  “But I’m a gentleman,” Kyle said. “Seriously, I am. I didn’t intend to act on my desires.”

  “And just when did you decide to forget about being a gentleman?”

  Kyle decided to ignore the thinly-veiled insult. “Like I said, not until we said our vows, and that wedding ring was on your finger.”

  She huffed out a sigh. “This just keeps going in circles.”

  “Whoa, let’s regroup here.” Kyle held his palms in front of him. “I was on a business trip. But I’ve gotta admit that when I tell you what it was about, you may think it sounds a little shady.”

  “Could this get any worse?” Danielle moaned.

  “Let me finish.” He’d better make his explanation good or he was liable to lose Danielle before he ever got the chance to let her get to know him again. “My boss had given me what he called an important assignment to gather information on a competitor—an upscale resort that just opened in Vegas and caters to honeymoon couples.”

  “You mean working there and learning how they operate behind the scenes?”

  “In hindsight, that might have been a better strategy. But no, my boss had something more dramatic in mind.”

  “Just spit it out, please.”

  Kyle took a deep breath. He felt like he was one step away from jumping off the high dive—into an empty pool. “My boss came up with the idea for a female colleague and me to check into the resort posing as husband and wife. Going undercover as guests to observe how things were done there. He lined up a woman who worked in management at our Scottsdale location.”

  Danielle gaped at him. “You’re kidding, right?”

  He shook his head. “I said undercover, not under the covers. We were going to keep it one-hundred-percent platonic in the bedroom. Just act…you know…all romantic when we were at the pool, having dinner, or any place where people could see what we were doing.”

  “And the female co-worker agreed to this?”

  “Well, she did at first. I mean, it seemed like an opportunity to get a big raise or a promotion.”

  “But she changed her mind…”

  Kyle shot her a thumbs-up signal. “Exactly. While you were settling your car repair arrangements with the mechanic, I got a text from her saying she was sorry, but she couldn’t go through with it.”

  “So, you got the bright idea to substitute me in for that other woman.”

  Kyle laughed. “You’re making me out to be a much quicker thinker than I actually am.”

  Noting the slightest trace of a grin, he knew he had the chance to soften Danielle’s impression of what had happened when they’d made their deal. Besides, they hadn’t done anything wrong. At least that’s what he’d been trying to convince her. Because that’s what he believed. Everything was legal.

  They had nothing to regret. But what about their baby? That little one put a whole new wrinkle into their business arrangement. No more signing a piece of paper and forgetting that the whole week had ever happened. Actually, because of her car accident, Danielle had already forgotten that the whole week had ever happened. But the baby growing inside her was going to be an undeniably tangible reminder of what had taken place.

  He launched back into his explanation. “I didn’t say anything about the text message or even why I was heading to Vegas at first. And I didn’t need to fill in any awkward silences. You opened right up about why you were driving to Vegas and then on to Colorado.”

  Danielle’s voice was barely audible. “What did I tell you?”

  “The whole thing about leaving your teaching job to try to make it big in Hollywood as an actress. How you thought you were finally getting a break after six months when you landed a small part in a movie.”

  “And I told you what happened when filming started?” she whispered.

  He nodded. “Yeah, you were crushed when you showed up and found out your big part consisted of you lounging in a pool naked, sprawled out in one of those floating lounge chairs.”

  She sniffled. “It was humiliating. There was no acting involved. Just showing off my breasts for the whole world to see.”

  She looked so vulnerable, like a pretty cloth doll tucked into a corner of the sofa. It reminded him of the way she’d looked when she was slumped into the passenger seat of his Explorer as
they traveled across the desert, telling him about throwing in the towel on her acting dream.

  Putting an arm around her, Kyle said, “But you didn’t bare your breasts for the camera. You told me that once you found out what the job was really about, you walked out. And decided you’d had enough of trying to be a Hollywood actress.”

  “But then I showed off my breasts for you. You have the photo on your phone to prove it. And it sounds like I might have done it for money.”

  “Baby, we were married when that picture was taken.”

  “And tell me again how that happened. Or tell me for the first time, because I still don’t think I’ve got the whole story.”

  “We headed from Barstow toward Vegas and, like I said, you told me about trying to break into acting in Hollywood. We got to commiserating. I told you about the insane job assignment I was on and how it was going all wrong. We kind of hit it off.” His face lit up. “I mean, in a strictly-friends kind of way.”

  “I’m glad we at least liked each other.”

  “Oh yeah, we did. And we had something in common—dreams getting crushed and all that.”

  “Hollywood can be a dream-crusher, that’s for sure,” she said, resignation showing in her voice.

  “The business world can sometimes do a pretty good job of crushing dreams too. I’ve gotten a couple of bruises along the way.”

  “Sounds like we bonded while we were driving.” She looked at him with questioning eyes.

  “I’d say that.” He grinned. “Then—boom! I suddenly got this idea that maybe you could fill in for that woman in management from Scottsdale. What with your acting experience…well, I figured you’d be a natural.”

  Should he tell her that he’d also figured it wouldn’t be that hard for him to pretend he was having a good time with a beautiful new wife? Because Danielle pretty much fit the bill for the kind of woman he’d conjure up as a potential wife if he’d been putting together the specifications. No, better to leave the physical attraction part of the equation out of the discussion right now.