“I wouldn’t have to actually live with you or anything, would I?”
“Am I that bad, really?”
Rachel shrugged. “I dunno. You were pretty mean at the Winking Wizard today.”
Jake rolled his eyes at her, which rubbed her the wrong way. She let it slide, though. If she did go through with this, it would be akin to a business transaction. She couldn’t let emotions get in the way of things. The thought depressed her. An emotionless marriage. There’s every girl’s dream right there.
“You don’t have to live with me if you’re set against it,” Jake said. “But I would need you to appear with me at some official government events. Other than that we can live separate lives. And if you do want kids, we can discuss having some together. I may not be your idea of a perfect man, but I’m good with kids, and I promise I’d be a dedicated father.”
Rachel felt a strange flutter in her stomach at the thought of having children with Jake. That would require sleeping with him, the prospect of which gave her a bit of a thrill. Yes, he was an asshole, but he was hot as hell. She bit her lip and looked down at her feet, ashamed to even be thinking that way. What was wrong with her? She was actually considering marrying this guy and having kids with him, even though she didn’t love him and he didn’t love her?
Yes. Yes, she was. After all, like he’d said, lots of marriages ended up pretty loveless in the end. Just thinking that you’d found your soulmate didn’t guarantee that you had. Wasn’t it better to start things out as a business arrangement, with the up-front knowledge that a marriage union was intended to accomplish practical goals?
“I…I need to think about this,” she finally said.
Jake nodded. “Of course. I know it’s a huge thing to just spring on you all at once. You have my number. Take some time and think about it, and then let me know your decision. We have a little bit of time. Say, twenty days or so.”
Rachel sighed. “Alright. I’ll think on it and get back to you.”
But even as Rachel closed the door behind Jake when he left several minutes later, she knew she’d already made her decision. She had just been offered the chance to recover so many things she’d given up as lost forever after the High Council’s announcement this morning. Her family’s fortune was all she had left of her family. Yes, the money was nice to have, but more than that, she couldn’t bear the thought of losing all of the heirlooms her parents had left behind. Even her mother’s books, which didn’t have that much value to anyone else, were priceless treasures to Rachel. Her mother had loved to read, and those books were one of Rachel’s only connections to her deceased mother. And then, there was Rachel’s dream of owning a music store and school—a dream that would also go up in smoke if she didn’t have the money to back it up. Couldn’t she put up with being married to Jake for the sake of her own future? And for the sake of holding on to her family’s past. Sure, he had acted pretty awful toward her earlier today, but most of the time he was a gentleman. His obsession with honor would keep him from doing anything truly terrible, like beating her or trying to run off with her family’s money. She could handle the odd rude remark here and there, couldn’t she? And, objectively speaking, he would make a good dad.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Rachel said aloud. Then she picked up her phone and sent Jake a one word text.
Yes.
Almost immediately, he sent back a one word text of his own. Excellent.
“Holy shit,” Rachel said, staring down at her phone. “I’m getting married.”
And then, she did something strange. For the first time since she’d learned of her parents’ death, she pulled out her violin and played. She felt this new beginning deserved a song. True, it wasn’t exactly the new beginning she’d been hoping for, but it was a new beginning all the same. And she had a feeling it wasn’t going to be all that bad in the end.
Chapter Nine
Jake drummed the steering wheel of his truck nervously as he watched Rachel’s small sports coupe pull into the parking lot. She caught his eye through their front windshields, then drove straight toward him and took the parking space next to him.
He glanced at his watch. Three forty-five. She was exactly on time. He, on the other hand, had been here for half an hour already, turning himself into a nervous basket case. He’d wanted to arrive before she did, although he wasn’t sure why. He just felt more prepared somehow, when he was waiting on her rather than the other way around. Although, was there any way to really prepare for what he was about to do? Taking a deep breath, he reached for the door handle and opened his truck’s door. He pasted a broad smile on his face as he climbed out, although he felt more like creasing his face into a worried frown than a smile right now. But he didn’t want Rachel to know that. She was already skittish enough about this idea as it was.
“Hi,” she said as she climbed out of her vehicle too. She made no attempt to hide the nervousness in her voice. “Let’s get this over with.”
Jake winced. “You don’t have to make it sound so awful.”
She only gave him a sad shrug, then turned to walk into the building.
The county clerk’s office was a plain, unassuming brick building on the very outskirts of the government sector in downtown Torch Lake. And, right now, there were only two cars in the parking lot other than Jake’s and Rachel’s. Jake had figured that late in the afternoon would be the least busy time here, and he was pleased to see that he’d guessed correctly. Everyone came to get their official business done early in the day, or perhaps right after lunch. By now, with the clock edging close to four, most people had already taken care of their official county clerk needs for the day.
Jake held the door open for Rachel, then stepped into the dreary hallway behind her. He shook his head in slight disgust at the beige walls and ratty beige carpet. The elevator looked like it had been built fifty years ago, even though this building couldn’t have been more than three years old, since Torch Lake hadn’t even existed before then. Was there some unwritten law that government offices always had to be as ugly and depressing as possible?
“This way,” Rachel said, pointing to the left. Jake saw a sign that said “Marriage Licenses,” and followed Rachel as she walked in that direction. His heart started pounding, and he felt his hands breaking out into a cold sweat. Why was he so nervous? He’d thought this through a thousand times, and he’d decided that this was the best course of action for him. The only course of action. Rachel agreed with him, since she’d agreed to the marriage as well. He wished she wouldn’t act so stiff around him, though. Her cool attitude made him feel like he was forcing her into a life she hated. If she didn’t want to do this, she didn’t have to. He’d told her that a hundred times at least.
But once she’d made her decision, she seemed determined to stick to it. He couldn’t blame her. Once she knew that there was a way for her to actually keep her fortune, she wouldn’t want to go back to the prospect of losing it. It was the same for him: once he knew that he had found a way to run for People’s Governor, he didn’t want to lose that, either.
Rachel walked in front of him now, her pace brisk as her designer flats padded down the ugly carpet. The soft, expensive leather on her feet made a sharp contrast to the torn, stained carpet. Jake allowed his eyes to travel upwards from her shoes to her shapely legs, taking in the view with appreciation. Normally, he would have tried to be a little more respectful of a woman’s body and not openly stared at her. But there was no one here to witness his shameless gazing, and besides, Rachel was going to be his wife soon, even if it was unlikely they would ever be intimate. She’d made it abundantly clear to him that he should not expect anything from her on the physical front, although they hadn’t set any rules on whether this would be an open marriage. Jake sighed. They needed to talk about that, and about a hundred other little “details.” He didn’t really like the idea of a sexless marriage, but it was a sacrifice he was making for the sake of Torch Lake. This city needed a real
People’s Governor, someone who would watch over its people and actually take their best interests to heart.
“The things I do for this town,” Jake muttered under his breath. Then he turned his attention back to admiring Rachel. That was a much happier pastime than worrying about becoming People’s Governor.
Rachel was wearing a simple yellow sundress. The bright yellow of the spaghetti straps accented her tanned shoulders, and the loose, airy fabric of the dress swung enticingly across her curves as she walked. Her hair had been pulled up into a neat bun like the ones ballerinas wear when dancing, giving Jake a full view of her long, elegant neck. Jake loved a long neck on a woman. For the briefest of moments, he let himself imagine kissing up and down the length of Rachel’s neck. But he didn’t let himself go far down that road. He might be marrying Rachel, but he had no right to her body. Besides, she might be the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, but her personality left something wanting. He would never be marrying her if he didn’t need to be married because of those stupid laws. Who wanted to be hitched up to a woman who’d been born with a silver spoon in her mouth and thought she deserved only the best, most expensive clothes, shoes, and cars? He knew Rachel had taken offense at his comments about her fortune when they were together at the Winking Wizard, but the truth was he wasn’t sorry for what he’d said. She was only offended because it was true.
His train of thought was abruptly derailed when he felt Rachel taking his hand in his. Startled, he looked down at his hand with dumb wonder, as though he’d never seen a woman’s hand holding his before.
“We should act like a real couple, don’t you think?” she asked him. “We are about to ask for a marriage license, after all. And if we’re going to go through with this, we’ll need to learn to play our parts.”
Jake nodded and shrugged slightly. He didn’t trust his voice to speak right now, because her fingers on his skin were sending a thousand unexpected lightning bolts up and down his arm. He’d never anticipated having such a strong reaction to her touch, and the sensation surprised him. He felt warm and a bit dizzy, and he couldn’t remember the last time that he’d felt that way about a woman.
The next few minutes were a blur. With Rachel’s hand still holding his, they walked into the county recorder’s office and requested a marriage license as though they were any other young couple in love, hardly able to wait until their wedding day. The county clerk looked at Jake suspiciously for a moment, and Jake knew the man must have recognized him on some level. Jake’s face had been plastered all over the newspapers and evening news after the protests last Saturday, but Jake had no idea whether the county clerk recognized who Jake actually was, or only thought Jake’s face looked vaguely familiar. Jake really hoped it was the latter. He knew if word got out that he was getting married, the newspapers would be quick to pick up on that story as well. Torch Lake tended to be a slow place in terms of news, and what could be more salacious than a story about how the man who had protested against the marriage requirement laws was suddenly entering into a marriage of convenience?
Jake tightened his grip on Rachel’s hand. Perhaps he should attempt to make this “relationship” look a bit more legitimate. Not that it should matter whether they were in love or not. They were both adults, and both of them were knowingly enter into a binding legal contract. That’s all there was to this. The fact that the “contract” of marriage was usually preceded by love shouldn’t matter. Love wasn’t a legal requirement for marriage, so Jake and Rachel weren’t doing anything wrong here. They weren’t breaking any laws.
So why did Jake feel so guilty as he handed over his I.D. to get the marriage license printed up? Or why was his stomach tying itself in strange knots as the clerk handed the fresh document over to him, the ink barely dried on its pages.
“You have fifteen days from today to hold a ceremony and make the marriage official,” the clerk said. “You need two witnesses, in addition to a certified officiant. The marriage is official as of the date the ceremony is performed, but you must bring the license back here to be recorded before you have the legal rights of a married couple.”
The clerk looked directly at Jake as he said this, and Jake winced inwardly.
He knows, Jake thought. He knows that I’m getting married because I need to be, not because I want to be.
It was a relief to finally step out of the stuffy building and into the fresh air and sunshine. Jake glanced at his watch, which now read three fifty-eight. The whole thing had taken less than fifteen minutes, which struck him as funny. He laughed, and Rachel cocked her head at him.
“What’s so funny,” she asked as she finally pulled her hand away from his. He regretted the loss of her warmth, but he’d known that was coming. He couldn’t expect her to keep holding his hand now that they were safely away from the suspicious eyes of the clerk.
“It’s just funny that in less than fifteen minutes you can get a document that binds you to someone for the rest of your life. Seems like there should be more hoops to jump through, or at least some dramatic fanfare or something. It’s all so…ordinary.”
“Were you expecting trumpets?”
She grinned at him as she said this, and he couldn’t help but laugh. She had a sense of humor when she wanted to. Having her for a wife wasn’t going to be all that bad. At least she was pretty and funny. He could have done a lot worse.
“And anyway,” she was saying, “The document itself is meaningless until you hold a ceremony with witnesses. So it does take slightly more than fifteen minutes to change your life forever.”
“Only slightly.”
“All this life-changing talk has made me thirsty. Do you want to go grab some drinks and maybe an afternoon snack? We should iron out details about how we’re going to actually do the ceremony. And maybe about how we’re going to break the news to everyone that we’ve gone from single to engaged in the span of a day.”
The last thing Jake wanted to do was iron out details. He would have preferred to go home and turn on some mindless television to get his mind off of this comedy that his life had somehow become. But Rachel was right. They did need to iron out some details. Besides, his stomach was growling. He definitely wouldn’t turn down the chance for a beer and a plate of nachos right about now.
“The Winking Wizard?” he asked.
She shook her head no. “I don’t think we should do our wedding planning there. Too many people who know you. We’ll be interrupted every two minutes, which will make it hard to get anything done. And beyond that, it’ll probably only take about two minutes before someone overhears us and realizes what’s going on. By the end of the evening, the whole town of Torch Lake will know we’re engaged.”
Jake sighed. He hated that they were sneaking around like two teenagers whose parents had forbidden them to see each other. Usually, when two people got engaged, they wanted to shout the news from the rooftops. Jake was about as far from a hopeless romantic as you could get, and he’d all but decided in the last few months that fate had overlooked him when doling out lifemates. When his buddy Russ had found his lifemate Mandy, Jake had been both touched by their romance and depressed by it. He was happy for Russ. In fact, he’d pushed Russ toward Mandy when Russ was unsure. But Jake couldn’t help but think that there was no way any woman would ever look at him the way Mandy looked at Russ. Knowing this had made agreeing to marry Rachel seem a little less ridiculous. Still, he wished that they didn’t have to worry about people seeing them together. That seemed downright absurd for two people who had just obtained a marriage license together. But he knew as well as Rachel did that the last thing they needed right now were front page headlines declaring that the two of them were being married only to circumvent the marriage requirement laws. No one wanted that kind of drama in their lives. “Right. You have a point. But do you know another place? Pretty much the only bar I ever go to is the Winking Wizard.”
Rachel smiled at him. “I know just the place. Follow me in your truck, okay?”
She climbed into her car without even waiting for an answer, leaving Jake no choice other than to climb into his truck as instructed and zoom out of the parking lot after her.
She headed toward downtown, and he swallowed hard as he realized that he was probably about to get his first experience at one of the expensive, snooty downtown cocktail lounges.
“Man up, Jake,” he said to himself. “You’re an engaged man now. You have to learn to let your fiancée choose the bar every once in a while.”
He wasn’t sure how he was supposed to feel manly, however, when she pulled up in front of a frilly place called the Magic Cocktail. He groaned as he struggled to squeeze his truck into a parallel parking spot that would have been better suited to a mini cooper.
Here we go, he thought. Time to see how rich, snotty wizards spend their free time.
This was going to be interesting.
Chapter Ten
Rachel watched Jake’s face carefully as he pored over the menu. He squinted, as though he was having trouble reading the elegant script. Rachel suspected he was able to read it just fine, though, and was more confused by the unfamiliar names given to some of the drinks and dishes. After a few minutes of reading, he looked up at her and shook his head.
“This place is crazy.”
She smiled. “It’s not the Winking Wizard, that’s for sure. What are you going to order?”
“I have no idea. There’s no beer here? And I’ve never even heard of half the foods on this list.”
“No beer. This place only has wine or cocktails. Do you drink whiskey?”
He nodded.
“Try the Magic Bonfire cocktail. It’s whiskey based, and most guys love it.”
Dragon Proposing (Torch Lake Shifters Book 2) Page 7