A Family Circle 1 - A Very Convenient Marriage (18 page)

Sam held her a moment longer. She wanted him. He could feel it in her, in the way she trembled in his arms, in the ragged edge to her breathing. He could change her mind. It wouldn't take much to have her begging for him there and then, to hell with going upstairs.

He shuddered as he eased his hands away from her, steadying her until her feet were solidly on the ground. He drew an unsteady breath and stepped back. She was still too close for his peace of mind, but at least he didn't inhale the scent of her with every breath he drew.

They stared at each other across the rubble of their tidy marriage of convenience.

"It's going to happen," Sam said quietly. "Not tonight. Not until you're ready. But it is going to happen."

Nikki opened her mouth to deny what he was saying and then closed it without speaking. She knew he was right. She couldn't pretend otherwise. Now that the hunger, the need, was out in the open, it was inevitable that they'd come together.

She looked away from him, staring down at the fine white grains of sugar and the powdery brown cocoa that dusted the dark tile floor.

"I should get this cleaned up," she said. It seemed like the accident had happened a thousand years ago.

"Why don't you leave it till morning?"

"Lena will have a fit if she walks in on this in the morning. Besides, I'm... not really sleepy."

Sleep was the last thing on Sam's mind, but he wasn't such a glutton for punishment that he was going to offer to stay and help her. His self-control was stretched to the limit. As it was, it was going to take an hour or two in a cold shower before he'd cooled down enough to think about going back to bed.

"I'll leave you to it, then," he said.

Nikki nodded without looking up. Sam hesitated a moment longer before turning away. He picked up his gun on the way out of the kitchen. All in all, he might have been better off finding the burglar he'd been expecting. It certainly would have done less damage to his peace of mind.

"
S
o, are you two sleeping together yet?" Liz asked, eyeing Nikki with cheerful curiosity.

Nikki choked on a mouthful of ice tea. When she managed to regain her breath, she glared at her friend out of red-rimmed eyes. "What did you say?"

"You heard me." Liz twisted her fork in the fettuccine Alfredo on her plate, looking as if she didn't know she'd just asked an utterly outrageous question.

"I heard you, but I thought I must be hallucinating."

"No, you didn't. We've been friends too long for me to surprise you." Liz popped the fork in her mouth.

"That's what I thought. But I can't believe you just asked me if.. .what you just asked me." Nikki couldn't bring herself to repeat the question. The images it brought to mind were simply too powerful. "You know this isn't a real marriage."

"I know he's a man and you're a woman."

"You sound like a bad pop song," Nikki muttered.

"And I know chemistry when I see it," Liz finished, ignoring the interruption. "There was definitely chemistry between the two of you at the wedding."

"All bad," Nikki snapped. "I despised Sam then."

"Aha!" Liz pounced on the weak point. "Despised. Past tense. Obviously, your feelings have changed."

"For heaven's sake, Liz, you've got to get out more. You're starting to sound like a talk-show hostess." Nikki dropped her voice in imitation of a television announcer. " 'Today our show is about women who marry men they dislike in order to get inheritances that should have been theirs in the first place.' And I always thought they made all that stuff up."

"Truth is stranger than fiction," Liz said imperturb-ably.

"You're stranger than fiction." Nikki jabbed her fork into a broccoli floret.

She'd thought about canceling her monthly lunch with Liz but had decided she was better off occupying her time with something more productive than thinking about Sam. Now she wished she'd listened to her instincts. This conversation wasn't doing anything to help put him out of her mind.

It had been three days since
The Kiss
. Nikki had counted herself fortunate that her path and Sam's had crossed only briefly in that time. Sam was apparently putting in long hours at work, because he didn't seem to be home much. Either that or he was no more anxious to see her than she was to see him.

She had mixed feelings about that thought. He was the one who'd said that they were going to end up sleeping together, and she hadn't been able to deny it. Shouldn't he be putting some effort into convincing her? Not that she wanted him to convince her. At least, she didn't think she did.

And it really didn't matter, anyway, because she was very busy with the day-care center. With Christmas just around the corner, many of the parents were working extra hours, which meant Rainbow Place stayed open later, which meant everyone was putting in more time.

It was an unfortunate fact that, despite the additional work, it seemed there was still plenty of rime to brood about Sam. And now, when she thought she'd be able to escape her own thoughts for a little while, her best friend was dragging him into the conversation.

"You can insult me all you like," Liz said calmly. "But I know you well enough to know when you're hiding something from me. You can tell me it's none of my business—"

"It's none of your business."

"But something's bothering you, and I think it's Sam. I thought it might be that the two of you were starting to get involved."

"We're married. I think that's plenty involved."

"You know what I mean."

Nikki knew exactly what she meant. She'd had a graphic demonstration a few days ago of what Liz meant.

"I don't want to get any more involved with Sam than I already am,'' she told Liz firmly. But even as she said it, she knew it wasn't entirely true. Her head didn't want to get involved with him, but the rest of her didn't seem to feel the same.

"What you want and what you get aren't always the same thing." Liz waved a forkful of fettuccine for emphasis. "Look at me."

"What about you? You wanted to marry a nice guy and have one or two kids and a home of your own, and that's exactly what you got.''

There was a brief silence.

"Okay, so that wasn't a good example," Liz admitted. "But that doesn't change the essential truth of what I said. Life doesn't always go the way you plan."

"Tell me about it." Nikki looked down at the gold band on her finger. At the moment, almost nothing in her life was going as planned. Liz must have read something of that in her expression, because she dropped the faintly teasing tone she'd been using.

"Look, Nikki, all kidding aside, I worry about you."

"Why?" Nikki gave her a surprised look.

"You're so directed, so focused on what you want and how to get it. You always have been."

Nikki raised her eyebrows. "This is bad?"

"No, it's good," Liz said quickly. "You know how much I admire the work you do with Rainbow Place. I didn't even argue when you told me you were going to marry some guy you'd just met to get your inheritance so you'd have the money to expand the program."

"Maybe you should have argued," Nikki said. At least then she wouldn't have to worry about the possibility of falling in love with a man who'd only married her for her money. No matter how noble his intentions for that money, it still wasn't a comfortable feeling. Even now, he hadn't so much as hinted that he loved her, just that he wanted her.

"Maybe I should have," Liz agreed. "But I knew how much getting this money meant to you. And then I met Sam and I thought there might be other benefits besides just getting the money."

"You figured that because he was good-looking, we were going to fall in love and live happily ever after?"

"I figured that the two of you struck too many sparks off each other for this to remain a cold business deal. I was really hoping it might lead to something, if you'd let yourself be distracted."

Distracted? That doesn't even begin to describe the effect Sam has had.
"The only thing I want it to lead to is me getting my inheritance a year from now," Nikki said firmly.

"What about Sam?"

"What about him?" Nikki toyed nervously with her silverware.

"Is he just going to walk out of your life? Disappear forever?"

The question caused a sharp pain in Nikki's chest. She swallowed hard. "That was the plan."

"But plans can change. That's what I mean by you being so focused. Sometimes I think maybe you don't look at the possibilities." Liz leaned forward, her hazel eyes intent. "Wouldn't it be wonderful if Sam turned out to be the love of your life?"

"I've only known him six weeks." Nikki's protest sounded weak, even to her own ears.

"I knew a week after we met that Bill was the only one for me."

"Not everyone has your ability to make snap judgments."

"You don't have to make a snap judgment. You've got a whole year to make up your mind." Liz poked her fork in a slivered carrot and then waved it at Nikki. "Think of how much time you could save if you and Sam stayed together. You wouldn't have to spend time dating another guy or planning another wedding."

"So you think I should try to fall in love with Sam because it's efficient?" Nikki's mouth twitched at the corners.

"It's as good a reason as any. Besides, you'll either fall in love with him or you won't. You won't have to fry to do it."

That's just what I'm afraid of,
Nikki thought. She ran her thumb over her wedding band. She was very much afraid that she wouldn't have to try to fall in love with Sam at all.

It just might be happening already.

With an effort, she looked away from the ring and fixed Liz with a look that held both determination and warning. "Enough about me. Tell me what my wonderful godson has been up to lately."

To Nikki's relief, after only a momentary hesitation, Liz followed her lead and the topic of her marriage was dropped. But Liz's comments stayed with her.

She was still thinking about them a couple of hours later when she turned into the driveway and saw Sam's truck sitting in front of the house. She shut off the engine on the rental car—Barney was at Bill's garage awaiting a new fuel pump—but didn't immediately get out.

So Sam was home. She hadn't seen him since yesterday morning when they'd bumped into each other in the entry-way, both on their way to work. They'd exchanged polite greetings, but she'd been vividly aware of the way his eyes had lingered on her lips, making her mouth feel as flushed and swollen as if she'd just been thoroughly kissed.

Of course, maybe she'd imagined the look. Maybe he didn't even remember the kiss and his promise that they were only postponing the inevitable. Or had it been a threat?

Muttering under her breath, Nikki pushed open the car door and got out. Accustomed to Barney's quirks, which included cranky latches, she slammed the door too hard and the little rental car shuddered under the impact.

"Wimp." She scowled at the car. It might have air-conditioning and a heater, but it was boring. But she knew it wasn't the rental car's lack of personality that was bothering her.

With a sigh, she walked up to the house. Maybe she'd be lucky and she wouldn't even see Sam. The door had barely shut behind her when she heard him call her name.

"Nikki? Is that you?"

She briefly considered the possibility of not answering. She wasn't ready to see him. Not when her head was full of Liz's comments about letting herself fall in love with him.

"It's me," she said.

"Could you come here a minute? We're in the living room."

We? Who's we? Her curiosity stirred. Nikki shrugged out of her coat, hanging it over the newel post on her way into the living room.

Sam was standing by the fireplace, and Nikki felt her breath catch a little when she saw him. He was wearing a pair of dark blue running shorts that came perilously close to qualifying for indecent exposure. He also wore a tank top that left his arms and a good portion of his chest bare. He looked like a poster boy for the benefits of working out.

Distracted by the flagrant display of muscle, she needed a moment to get her mind on what he was saying.

"This guy broke into the house and I caught him trying to get out with that vase." He nodded to a
Sevres
vase that usually sat on a side table. It was now lying on its side on the sofa. "I'd have hauled him off before now, but he claims he's your brother."

"My brother?"

A slightly stout young man of medium height rose, from the wing chair where he'd been sitting and turned to face her. "Nikki, would you tell this ape who I am?" he demanded petulantly.

"Alan?" She stared at him in disbelief. She hadn't seen him since her grandfather's funeral. He'd put on at least forty pounds. Despite the extra weight, he looked smaller than she remembered. Or maybe it was just the fact that Sam loomed over him that made him look small. "I thought you were in Monte Carlo or Rio or some such place."

"So he was telling the truth?" Sam didn't trouble to conceal his disappointment.

"Of course I was telling the truth." Alan adjusted the lapels of his pale gray suit and drew his shoulders back, his soft mouth settling into a self-important little sneer. "Now you'll know what it means when I tell you that you're fired."

"It means the same thing it meant a few minutes ago when you threatened to fire me," Sam said, looking more amused than angry. "Nothing!"

"You obnoxious, overbearing, overgrown—"

"Sam is my husband, Alan," Nikki said quickly. She came forward to stand next to Sam. "We were married six weeks ago."

The announcement cut through his tirade like a hot knife going through butter. "You're married?" His voice came out on a wheeze.

"We're married," she confirmed.

"I don't believe you." His eyes narrowed, and he shot an accusing look from her to Sam and back again. "You did this just to get around Grandfather's will. Just so you could keep your hands on my money."

"Your money?" Nikki felt a shaft of anger go through her, stiffening her spine. "Your money? Grandfather left you half of his estate, which you received on his death. The money I inherit when I marry is my money."

"That's a matter of opinion," he sneered. "But it really doesn't matter one way or another, because Grandfather's will specifically stated that it had to be a genuine marriage, not some stranger you picked up off the street and paid to marry you."

Nikki hoped he'd take her guilty flush as a sign of anger. He'd come uncomfortably close to the truth.

"Not that it's any of your business, but our marriage is genuine." Sam put his arm around Nikki and drew her against his side. The look he gave her held such blatant hunger that Nikki felt herself flushing again, but for a different reason. "Very genuine."

"I don't believe it." But Alan's protest was weak.

Just like the man, Sam thought, surveying him with unconcealed contempt. It was hard to believe that this whiny little specimen was Nikki's brother.

There was, he supposed, a certain physical resemblance. Both were fair, and Alan's eyes were a slightly paler shade of green than his sister's. But the resemblance ended there. It didn't look as if Alan had any of his sister's strength and determination.