His Convenient New York Bride

by Andrea Bolter

  * * *

  “Would I what?” Mimi’s heart thundered against her chest. Jin was in front of her on bent knee, having just asked her to marry him!

  Was this actually happening? She may have dreamed of this happening before, albeit in softer focus. But she definitely wasn’t asleep now. If it was a dream she’d be dressed better.

  “You know I’ve been trying to figure out how to satisfy the condition of the will,” Jin began, still on one knee in front of her with a wrenching look of vulnerability on his strong face that was so unlike his usual sureness. “Which led me to think about motives for why people get married. That it isn’t always for love. How nobody but me would know if I got married to someone for a different reason.”

  Mimi deflated.

  This wasn’t the moment she’d been holding out hope for all these years. Just the opposite. He was making it clear that he wasn’t in love with her. Stating up front what she already knew to be true.

  Which made perfect sense. Jin never had an inkling of what she held inside, so he wouldn’t know to be sensitive with his choice of words. It was his business that he was concerned about.

  Rightly so.

  “I see,” was all she could scratch out. Still, the hairs on her arms stood at attention.

  She indulged a quick fantasy. Her Jin had finally come to claim her. To begin their life together, at last. Children. A home filled with joy. Like her parents had had. She’d show him the meaning of loyalty, and the wounds cut into him by his father and his ex-wife would heal. He’d learn to love again.

  Reality check.

  That wasn’t the proposal being offered.

  “You know I’ll never marry again in earnest. So I got to wondering,” Jin continued as he rose up from one knee and gestured for Mimi to make room for him on the sofa.

  Suddenly self-conscious about the skimpy jersey fabric of her pajamas she scooted across the cushions, as far as she could, as a matter of fact. She folded her arms across her chest in modesty. Jin had seen just about every inch of her body over the years, but not while he was proposing marriage.

  “Wondering?”

  The thimble was still fitted over the top of her finger as it pressed against her other arm.

  “What if I married someone for practical purposes and then divorced a year later after I fulfilled the requirements of the will?”

  “Uh-huh.” So that was his scheme. Disappointment rang through her.

  “Then I thought about that from a realistic standpoint and realized it couldn’t be just anyone.”

  Mimi’s breath sputtered at the acknowledgment that she wasn’t just anyone to him. There was a bit of satisfaction in that.

  His eyes seemed to be pleading for her to connect the dots so that he didn’t have to lay it all out for her.

  They might be friends but there was no way she was going to make this easy for him. Not after all she’d had to swallow for the past thirteen years. She’d hear out his proposition before issuing a resounding no. After all, she might as well stretch the moment out. It was the only time she’d ever hear those words coming out of his mouth.

  What a thought. Fake married to Jin. To live as man and wife except for the love part.

  A fate worse than death.

  “I see.”

  “We’re practically family already, Special Agent Mimi,” he said, referring to a silly taunt he and Aaron had used as teenagers when she would disclose to them school gossip they knew nothing of. “Would you consider this ultimate con to help me save LilyZ? If not for me, could you do it for Mamabai?”

  She scrunched up her face at him. If he was trying to draw on the loyalty they had for each other, he was doing a pretty good job. It was just this morning that she and Aaron had been talking about finding a way to help Jin out of his predicament. But marriage! That was beyond a line she could cross in the name of duty or anything else.

  “There must be another solution.”

  An image passed across her brain. She was in an elaborate lace wedding gown with a long train, the type she wouldn’t wear in real life, walking down an aisle toward Jin in a tuxedo. She strode in rhythmic paces, each one taking her closer and closer to her beloved.

  Wait. It wasn’t her in that mental picture. It was Helene. The woman Jin had actually married. In reality, on that fateful day Mimi was cast off to the side with two other women, the three of them in pewter-colored bridesmaids’ dresses. Later, when her brother, who had acted as best man, asked Mimi why she had dabbed streaming tears from her eyes during the ceremony, she’d told him it was because she was so happy for Jin.

  It had been one of the hardest days of her life.

  “I’ve considered it left, right and center, and I can’t come up with any other way,” Jin said, bringing her attention back to the here and now. “Hear me out. I’m trying to think logically about a way this could be a good step for you, too. You could come stay with me. You could have the master bedroom and bathroom all to yourself. I’ll take the guest room.”

  The master suite. Where he slept. Again he was making crystal-clear that his proposal had nothing romantic attached to it. He wanted to be sure she received that message loud and clear. Separate bedrooms.

  “You’ve already offered to let me stay with you,” she quipped, perturbed by this whole suggestion.

  “Why haven’t you said yes?”

  She uncrossed her arms and twisted the thimble on her finger, studying its painted details. Unable to answer Jin’s question.

  To tell him anything would be to tell him everything. Which she never had and never would. She’d decided years ago to settle for the friendship, the concern, the trust and the fun.

  It had never been easy but it had always been worth it.

  “We could make it quite simple,” he insisted. For him maybe. “No one would know that we were living apart under one roof.”

  “I’d like to help but...”

  “Please—” he glanced at the thimble then back to her eyes “—let me finish. As I said, I know this is a huge thing to ask of someone. I’d want it to be worth your while. What if we got married and I named you as LilyZ’s new designer?”

  “What?” Lead designer for his prestigious label? Otherwise known as an ultimate career goal? Her eyes bugged at the suggestion.

  “You could do it. I know you have the talent. I’ll teach you everything else you need to know.”

  Like thousands of others who go through design school, Mimi’s goal was to have her own fashions manufactured, sold and actually worn. It was the carrot every young designer was chasing. Not to merely assist a company with their ideas, but instead to be the one creating the vision. Only a few made it that far. Others adjusted their expectations into other occupations in the industry. Some left it altogether.

  Be careful what you ask for, the saying went. Because you just might get it.

  Life had a sense of humor, though. Offering Mimi what she’d always wanted.

  In more ways than one.

  Except the most important.

  “Look, if I could, I would hire you as my designer with no strings attached. But the industry would crucify me for appointing an apprentice as my lead. And I’ve got employees with far more experience than you. They would feel betrayed and overlooked. I could never do that to them.”

  “And this way?” Mimi was still trying to process Jin’s idea.

  “We’d be a team. I’m mentoring my wife and we’re designing together. It may not be fair but at least it’s understandable to people.”

  “So everybody would think I got where I was simply because I was your wife?”

  “I’d make sure you got credit for all of the designs.” Unlike Gunnar.

  “I’m sorry, Jin, but I have to say no.” Could he let her leave it at that?

  “Aaron said that...”

  �
��You talked to Aaron before you...” Comprehension stopped her. “You asked my brother for his permission? For my hand in marriage?”

  “So to speak.”

  She wished it didn’t, but Jin’s old-fashioned chivalry tugged at her heartstrings. With her father long dead, Jin went to Aaron. Even though the discussion was about a charade of a marriage, Jin had thought to discuss it with her brother.

  Mimi’s lungs ached. The hour was late, the proposition enormous. Yet she knew that pretending to be Jin’s wife would be the end of her. She’d just endured a horrible disappointment in Gunnar. Which left her much too raw for something as emotionally risky as a fake marriage to Jin.

  Of all people. The man against whom she measured all others. The only man she ever truly...

  “You know I’d like to help you. But I can’t.”

  She recalled dancing with her brother at Jin’s wedding. The newlyweds were on the dance floor as well. Jin had spun his bride under his arm until she circled back into his hold. Despite the well-wishers and the photographer, their smiles were only for each other. Mimi had watched them for as long as she could stand it and then had to look away. Peered again out of the corner of her eye. Gulped back her emotions. Until the wee hours when she had cried herself to sleep.

  Her fingers stiffened with tension as she absentmindedly stroked the side of her face with the bone china thimble.

  “Think about it, Mimi. Please.”

  For reasons beyond his control, Jin had set out to marry. If it wasn’t to her, it would be to someone else. One way or another, Mimi would have to dance at another one of Jin’s weddings.

  CHAPTER THREE

  “YOU LOOK AMAZING,” Jin told Mimi after the taxi he’d hailed pulled up to the curb. Wearing another dress he’d seen her put together at his studio, she was celestial in pale lavender. The dress had an organza overlay that shimmered with hand-sewn crystals.

  “Thanks. Do you think this ruching at the center here works?” She pointed to the gathering of fabric at the décolleté.

  “I’m not sure if I love it.”

  “I can rip it out and then it’ll just be a straight horizontal portrait collar.”

  “Let me think it through. The whole effect is phenomenal.” His jaw ticked at the snug fit across Mimi’s hips. She’d finished her outfit with beige leather pumps. “Really great.”

  Figuring she was probably cold in only a caramel-colored wool cape against the winter chill, he ushered her into the cab.

  “Isn’t Mamabai coming?”

  His mom was attending the Leo Berringer show, as well.

  “She’ll meet us there.”

  Last night, Mimi had refused Jin’s marriage proposal. He glanced over to her and a snicker crossed his mouth at how silly that sounded. Of course, it was an offer of a business arrangement and not a declaration of eternal bonding. Nonetheless, she’d said no and he actually felt a little bit rejected.

  It was a lot to ask. He knew that Mimi took marriage seriously. After the disappointment with Gunnar, he was sure she wouldn’t be rushing into any relationship anytime soon. In the meantime, he reasoned that his one-year ruse could give her a boost to her career that couldn’t happen any other way.

  Plus, he surely wasn’t suddenly going to marry into a real union himself, so his old friend had nothing to worry about in that area if that was on her mind. He was quite done with romantic relationships.

  Been there, done that.

  Something in him once thought that if he had a legitimate marriage it might erase the wrongs of the fractured home he’d grown up in. However, he’d made a colossal mistake in choosing Helene, who was actually just like his father with her cheating party-girl ways.

  Lesson learned the hard way. Over and done. He’d never have such naïve fantasies again.

  Which was all the more reason he wasn’t ready to give up on the Mimi prospect. Especially since it was the only one he had. Maybe she just needed to get used to the idea. He felt a tiny bit guilty in insisting she come to the Leo Berringer show with him today partially so she’d be reminded of what he was offering her.

  Leo had a label about the size of LilyZ’s. While the smaller labels didn’t always do runway shows like this was to be, there was always a glamorous party or gathering in their studios during Fashion Week. Didn’t Mimi ultimately want that? A collection of her designs being presented to retailers?

  Maybe today would show her what she could have.

  The Berringer event was being held in a small art museum near Gramercy Park. As Jin and Mimi exited the taxi, photographers snapped guests while they made their way in. Jin had worn a finely cut gray suit and white shirt, choosing a silver tie. In his opinion, the press should be taking notice of Mimi’s dress so he did his best to position her in their direction.

  Onlookers behind velvet ropes called out the names of a few recognizable faces from the entertainment industry who were in attendance.

  As was always the case during Fashion Week, venues were chosen for dramatic effect. The Gothic architecture of the museum gave an interesting backdrop against the moody music that spilled out from the entrance doors.

  Once inside, Jin spotted his mother and waved. Bai Zhang was a chic woman with short dark hair who never let the shame and heartbreak she’d endured show. Jin took Mimi’s hand and navigated his way through the crowd.

  “Mom,” he greeted Bai with a kiss on each cheek.

  “Mamabai,” Mimi said, and followed suit.

  “Nice dress.”

  “Do you like the ruching?” Mimi repeated the question she’d asked Jin before they got in the taxi.

  Jin needed to remember that she was still only an apprentice. It took years, if not decades, to hone talent and craft. He had a moment’s consideration that if, in fact, he could convince Mimi to take him up on his proposal, he’d need to bring in some reliable colleagues to be sure her designs were really worthy of his label. After all, he owed that much to his grandfather, to make sure that every LilyZ garment lived up to Shun’s promise of quality style and quiet elegance. That decision shouldn’t be his alone.

  “No,” his mother said decisively about the ruching.

  “Help me fix it,” Mimi said to Jin as she shouldered herself toward him and away from anyone else’s view. She pulled a seam ripper out of her small purse and handed it to Jin. Last-minute modifications were something everyone in the industry was used to, so her actions came as no surprise to him.

  He reached to her décolleté to swiftly sever a couple of threads that allowed him to undo the stitching, which changed the dress’s neckline completely. In doing so, his fingers grazed against the milky skin on that delicate area of her body. An unexpected bristle ran through him.

  Mimi adjusted the new neckline to her satisfaction. Jin nodded once in approval.

  Several rows of chairs were set up on both sides of a runway that was positioned in between marble statues of longhaired nudes on pedestals. Some guests were already sitting, and the space was resonant with piercing laughs. A few pairs of eyes turned to watch when the three of them entered the seating area.

  As they stood near their seats, Bai struck up a conversation with someone. Jin noticed Mimi watching Bai.

  “She’s never lost her brave face,” Mimi leaned over to whisper in his ear.

  “No one should have to go through what my father did to her, especially in the end. Attending parties with gaudy gold diggers on his arm. Drunk and stupid enough to think that whoever it was would give him a second glance if she wasn’t trying to get something out of it.”

  “No respect for his wife at all.”

  Jin winced when he thought about how Helene had disrespected him the same way.

  Wei’s marriage to Bai was arranged. Shun had hoped a proper girl from a respectable family would straighten out his wayward son and Bai’s parents had also come to Ne
w York from Hong Kong. They’d opened a restaurant in Chinatown, which grew to seven throughout Manhattan.

  However, a happy marriage wasn’t in Bai’s destiny. Just as it hadn’t been for Jin.

  “I have to save LilyZ,” he reconfirmed to Mimi. And gestured toward his mother. “For her sake if nothing else. I’m not going to let my father destroy her.”

  Mimi blew some air out of her cheeks.

  “I...”

  “I didn’t mean to make you feel guilty.” Jin guessed what she might have been thinking. “You have to do what’s right for yourself.”

  “Believe me, it does burn me up inside that Wei wished her ill. After she had to witness your marriage falling apart, too. It’s a lot for someone to take.”

  “That’s why it can’t end the way my father wanted it to. Punishing both her and I.”

  “If you were going to up and marry someone, how would you even present that to Mamabai if she doesn’t know about the will?”

  They both studied his mother as she listened with sincere interest to the people she was standing with.

  “I haven’t figured it all out yet. If you had agreed, I was going to tell her that after your breakup and mine, we decided that as old friends we’d partner up. Don’t people always say that if they’re not married by thirty they’ll marry a friend? To form a partnership based on camaraderie and history. I’m thirty, you’re twenty-eight.”

  Mimi was silent.

  He pivoted his head to look at her.

  All at once, her cheeks had gone ashen and her eyes were watery. “Mimi,” he said, and gripped his hand around her upper arm, “are you okay?”

  She didn’t turn to face him, instead swallowing a couple of times. Her prolonged intakes of oxygen suggested that she was in turmoil.

  Mimi uttered slowly, almost under her breath, “Mamabai...has...always been so good to Aaron and I.”

  “She loves you like her own. Wasn’t that the promise she made to your mom before she died?”

  A wry smile crossed Mimi’s lips.

  Then she returned to herself a bit. “You’ll make your mother so proud when you grow the company in the ways you have planned.”