His Marriage Bonus

by Cathy Gillen Thacker

  “My turn,” Mitch whispered.

  Lauren sighed contentedly and moved onto her back, expecting him to take her then and there. She placed both her hands around his neck and brought his head down to hers. He kissed her until she was shuddering and so was she, and all coherent thought spun away.

  “Now,” she murmured.

  But Mitch only grinned, and kissed his way down her neck, sensually exploring the delicate U of her collarbone, her shoulders and arms, the insides of her elbows and wrists, and finally the uppermost curves of her breasts. They had all the time in the world, and he was going to take it. Because tonight was a night she would remember the rest of her life.

  He bent his head and traced the rosy areola with his tongue, brushed it dry with his lips and then suckled her tenderly. Eager to know all of her, he continued his slow, sensual exploration, until her head fell back and her body arched against him. Moving lower still, he stroked her with light butterfly kisses until she shook with her need for him and made a low, whimpering plea. “Mitch…Mitch…”

  Needing to possess Lauren the way he had never wanted to possess any woman, Mitch moved back up her body. Sliding his hands beneath her, he brought her up to meet him. She opened up for him, surging against him, drawing him deeper, giving him what he needed, what they both needed. Until they were both perspiring, surging toward the outer limits of their control. Soaring into soft, sizzling love and shuddering pleasure.

  Afterward, Mitch held Lauren close. The pinnacle of pleasure had passed, leaving them exhausted, replete and more than a little awed. So much had happened in just a week. And suddenly Mitch needed—wanted—to put it into words. He shifted so she was beneath him once again, and framed her face with his hands. “I love you, Lauren. With all my heart.”

  Lauren smiled up at him, her pretty eyes filled with tenderness. “And I love you,” she murmured, the silence of the night around them broken only by the ocean water lapping timelessly against the hull of the boat.

  “Then marry me, Lauren,” Mitch murmured, stroking a hand through the tousled silk of her golden-brown hair. “And build a life and a family with me.”

  “Oh, Mitch,” Lauren said softly, looking up at him in a way that was conflicted and yet still filled with all the joy they had found. He knew what she was thinking. It was all happening so fast. But it also felt more right than anything ever had, for both of them. “Tell me that’s a yes,” he said, knowing he would do and say whatever necessary to get her to say yes, she would marry him.

  Abruptly, Lauren’s features were flooded with relief. “It is,” Lauren whispered ecstatically as she wrapped her arms around him once again. “It absolutely is!” She and Mitch kissed again. Gently. Rapaciously. And every way in between. Mitch chuckled as he swept her into his arms. “I don’t know about you, but I think it’s time we tried out that bed down below.”

  They made love throughout the night, each time better than the last, and Lauren woke the next morning wrapped in Mitch’s arms. They made love one last time, slowly and tenderly, and then had a leisurely breakfast of coffee, juice and blueberry crumb cake in bed, before showering and dressing and heading back to shore.

  “You want to buy a ring today and make it official?” Mitch said as he steered the yacht back into its slip and dropped anchor once again. He turned to regard her seriously, all the love he felt for her in his eyes.

  “Actually,” Lauren said, taking a deep breath and drawing on every bit of courage she possessed, “I’d rather the two of us just get married.”

  MITCH LOOKED at Lauren in a way that told her he wasn’t sure what Lauren meant. He leaned against the steering wheel and folded his arms in front of him. “Without an engagement ring?”

  “Or a big wedding,” Lauren rushed to elaborate, before she could lose her nerve. “Or any of the hoopla.” Nervously, she ran her fingers across the glass housing covering the navigation instruments. “Couldn’t we just hop on a plane and go somewhere and elope?” She loved him so much she didn’t want to risk anything, be it family or business or even random incidents in life, preventing them from spending the rest of their lives together.

  To her delight, Mitch looked extremely amenable to her heartfelt suggestion. He dropped his arms and moved close enough to take her in his warm embrace. “Like Vegas?”

  Lauren wrapped her arms around his neck and lifted her face to his. She had never in her life been this reckless or impulsive, but she couldn’t say she wasn’t enjoying it. “Or the Bahamas. Or Mexico,” she suggested practically as she studied his expression, thrilled at the devotion she found. “I haven’t done any research, but I am sure there are places where it’s quick and easy and—”

  A knowing look appeared on Mitch’s face as he guessed dryly, “Painless?”

  Lauren knew how this sounded—as though she was rushing into this for fear if she delayed something, one of them would change their mind, but that wasn’t it at all. Wanting Mitch to understand that, she said, “It’s just—I’ve been engaged twice, Mitch, and started the whole planning-a-wedding process and then ended up having to call it off. So I almost feel like if I were to do that again, I would either jinx it, or maybe it’s just, given enough time, something is bound to go wrong with the whole big-wedding thing, and this feels so right to me, I don’t want to even contemplate that happening.” She wanted them to continue being together the way they had the night before.

  Mitch paused, his expression conflicted. “Your father would be hurt,” he worried out loud eventually.

  Lauren disagreed. “He’d be happy. He wants us to get married, remember? He went to great pains and expense to arrange it. And besides, given his health right now…Well, the stress of trying to put on a wedding, while at the same time arranging a merger of our two family companies, could not possibly be good for him.”

  Mitch began to relax. “You’re right about that,” he said, smiling once again.

  “Please,” Lauren said, taking his hand in hers, “let’s just do it.”

  MITCH DIDN’T NEED much more convincing. He didn’t want anything messing up the love they had found, either. The fact that she was willing to be so practical and businesslike about the exchanging of their vows boded well for the marriage ahead. So, that evening, they were in the Caribbean. They said their vows on a beautiful beach at sunset, and then made love all night and all the following day. Only the fact that they had to tell their families, and wanted to do so in person, had them back on the plane to Charleston Wednesday morning.

  “We’ll take a longer honeymoon as soon as we can,” Mitch promised Lauren as they settled into their roomy first-class seats.

  Lauren tucked her hand in his and sat as close to him as she possibly could. “You’re assuming the honeymoon is going to end the moment we get back to Charleston,” she teased, gently tracing the sensually chiseled outline of his lips with her fingertip. “It’s not. Our honeymoon will continue wherever we are, regardless of what we’re doing, the rest of our lives.”

  Mitch put his arm around her shoulders and drew her farther into the curve of his warm, strong body. “Lady, I like the way you think,” he murmured, pressing tender kisses in her hair.

  “And I like the way you make me feel,” Lauren whispered, leaning over to kiss the strong, suntanned column of his neck.

  “Which is…?” Mitch took her face in his hand and pressed his lips to hers.

  “Loved. Cherished. Admired.”

  “That’s good,” Mitch whispered, pausing just long enough to kiss her once again. He drew back, looked deep into her eyes. “Because I feel all of those things for you, too, you know.”

  Lauren smiled as contentment flooded her heart. “I know.”

  “And I love you, too,” Mitch continued, kissing her passionately once again. “With all my heart.”

  Too soon, their plane landed at the Charleston airport. They got Mitch’s car out of the parking lot and began driving into the heart of the city. “What should we do first?” Lauren asked.


  Mitch knew he had to talk to Payton Heyward before they told him of the marriage. He didn’t want Lauren privy to that conversation. He frowned, hoping like heck she would understand as he told her, “I hate to do this. But I’ve got some crucial business to take care of. So how about we go our separate ways and each do what we need to do. And then meet up again this evening and go see our parents together and tell them the happy news.”

  To Mitch’s relief, Lauren grinned. “That sounds good to me.”

  “Six o’clock tonight at 10 Gathering Street okay with you?” Mitch asked as he turned his car into the historic district, and then waited for a horse-drawn carriage full of tourists to make it across the next intersection.

  “Seems like old times. And that’s great. I’ll see you then.”

  Mitch dropped Lauren at her place, and saw her safely inside, then went straight to Heyward Shipping. Payton Heyward saw him immediately in the executive office. He looked tanned and rested from his days of playing golf at Pinehurst. “I was wondering when I would hear from you,” he said.

  LAUREN KNEW she’d promised Mitch that she would wait and see their parents together, to tell them about the marriage, but she also wanted to talk to her father alone first. She wanted to tell him, before he found out about the marriage, that while she was accepting the property at 10 Gathering Street, she would not be accepting any funds from him to renovate and furnish it. Those, she could manage on her own. She also wanted to thank her father for matching her up with Mitch. It galled her to have to do it, but she knew she owed Payton a debt of gratitude since he had fixed her up with the man who had indeed turned out to be the love of her life.

  She entered the executive suite at Heyward Shipping and noted that his secretary was away from her desk. Figuring her father wouldn’t mind if she barged in, she swept toward the door then stopped dead at the sound of the familiar voices inside the suite.

  “I told you before. There is no reason Lauren has to know about any of this,” Payton was saying in an irritated voice.

  “Look,” Mitch returned, his voice just as short, “I know what the original deal was, but I’m telling you it’s no longer viable.”

  “You want more money and influence—is that it?” Payton demanded, sounding just as incensed, betrayed and disbelieving as Lauren felt.

  “I’d like to know that myself,” Lauren said bitterly, opening the door the rest of the way and walking in un-announced. Unable to believe how gullible and foolish she had been, to follow her heart instead of her head, Lauren clamped her arms in front of her and glared at her “new husband.” Calmly, quietly, she asked, “Exactly how much is marrying me worth to you, Mitch?”

  MITCH SWORE INWARDLY at his bad luck and her timing as he swung around to face his wife of just thirty-six hours. “Lauren,” he acknowledged her reluctantly.

  Looking as if she was ready to burst into tears at any second, Lauren stepped forward and snatched the legal documents from his hand. It took only a minute or so for her to read through the legalese and understand what had been going on behind her back all along. Mitch didn’t have to be a mind reader to know that the knowledge hit her like a bullet to the heart. She stared at Mitch as if seeing a stranger she didn’t particularly like or want to get to know. “My father offered you controlling interest in the family company to marry me?” she asked incredulously.

  Guilt and regret swept through Mitch in equal portions. Too late, he realized he should have told Lauren everything before they married rather than chance she would never have to know, or find out about it on her own. Mitch looked her straight in the eye. “Just because he offered it doesn’t mean I was going to accept it,” he stated bluntly, hoping she would give him credit for at least that much.

  “No, you wanted more,” Lauren said bitterly, citing the gist of what she had apparently just overheard.

  “If you’ll let me explain—” Mitch said.

  “What’s to explain?” Lauren waved the papers with her hands like a call to arms. “It says it all right here in the contract you were about to sign. All you had to do was marry me and you got fifty-one percent of the Heyward Shipping Company, as well as chief executive officer position during the transition period. That’s a pretty tidy chunk of change and power for a quick ‘I do’ with me in the Bahamas, isn’t it?” she asked sarcastically, moisture shimmering in her dark brown eyes. “No wonder you wanted to cut our honeymoon short so you could get back to work. And you—” Lauren turned to her father, clearly so outraged and hurt she could barely speak. “How could you make a deal like this behind my back?” she demanded hoarsely.

  Payton regarded her in exasperation. “I was trying to protect you!”

  “Too bad I don’t see it that way,” Lauren said bitterly. She ripped the papers in her hand in two and dropped them into the trash. She removed her wedding ring and threw it at Mitch’s feet. Her lips pressed together furiously, Lauren glared at Mitch, then her father, then back at Mitch again. “Just so you know, gentlemen. The deal is off because my marriage is being annulled!”

  Mitch started toward her. “You’re making a mistake.”

  “I think so, too,” Payton agreed.

  “Yes, well, you both would,” Lauren snapped, determined, it seemed, to think the worst of both of them. “But for once I am going to do what you both want me to do, and view this situation in a strictly businesslike way. I’m going to forget about what’s in my heart and go by the hard facts in front of me. I’m going to treat my romantic relationships with the unemotional attitude and efficiency used in business. And this contract tells me that as much as I’d like to believe otherwise that the reason Mitch followed your very explicit directions and married me was because of all he had to gain. And because of that, Mitch Deveraux—” she paused to give him a withering glance “—I don’t ever—ever—want to see you again!” She turned on her heel and fled.

  LAUREN WAS NEARLY to her car when Mitch caught up with her. Aware she had never looked as beautiful to him as she did at that moment, in a sleeveless white dress, with her cheeks full of color and her golden-brown hair blowing in the spring breeze, he asked angrily, “Don’t you think you should give me a chance to explain?”

  Lauren’s shoulders stiffened. “After what you did to me I don’t believe I owe you anything.”

  Knowing the love they shared was too precious to write off, Mitch explained patiently, “I came here to tell your father the deal was off.”

  “Right,” Lauren echoed sarcastically, throwing her arms up. “I heard. You wanted more than what he had initially offered, and I can’t say I blame you. You got me into the sack and wed to you!” She shook her head, recalling. “Nice work, too. Romantic idiot that I am, I didn’t suspect a thing.” Her eyes narrowed. “Even after I caught you spying on me and my father!”

  Mitch shoved his fingers through his dark hair. “I never wanted you to find out about this.” He regretted like hell not being able to protect her.

  Believing none of that, however, Lauren sized him up deliberately. “Obviously,” she agreed sweetly. “You knew I’d be ticked off. And that I’d call the marriage off. And I am.”

  His own temper beginning to flare out of control, Mitch regarded Lauren stormily. “Doesn’t the time we spent together mean anything to you?” he asked, aghast she could be so willing to simply call a halt to everything.

  That, Lauren thought sadly, was the problem. It meant more than she could possibly say. Determined not to let Mitch know that, she said, “You have a lot of gall asking me that.”

  His eyes narrowed even more. “Damn it, Lauren,” he said hoarsely, “I love you.”

  If only she could believe that, Lauren thought with more sadness than she ever thought she could possibly endure. “No,” she corrected dispiritedly, “what you love, Mitch Deveraux, is the whole concept of an arranged marriage and the opportunity my father offered you.” She didn’t know who she resented more—her father for making her love for Mitch all about money and
power in the end, or Mitch for taking advantage of her behind the scenes that way. All she knew for certain was that she had never wanted to feel the way she did right now—so hurt and disillusioned she could barely breathe, never mind think coherently.

  Mitch grasped her arms gently and pulled her into the warm, comforting circle of his arms. “You mean more to me than that. You have to know that,” he told her desperately.

  Refusing to let the seductive power of his touch distract her from what was really going on there, Lauren flattened her hands against his chest and pushed away from him. “It’s still not enough, Mitch.” Her heart breaking, she regarded him haughtily. “And it never will be.”

  Mitch knew he had made some mistakes, for which he had apologized. But he had also told Lauren and showed her that he loved her in every way he could. And she still didn’t believe him. Feeling more hurt and frustrated than he ever had in his life, he compressed his lips into a disapproving line and warned, “If you walk out on me now, Lauren, it really will be over.” Because it meant she had deceived him—when she’d promised to love and cherish him, through good times and bad, for the rest of their lives. It meant their marriage, brief as it was, had never been a real one after all. It meant their relationship was as flimsy and unsubstantial as the legal papers that had signified its end, able to be easily torn apart, destroyed.

  “Good,” Lauren retorted, looking every bit as hurt and angry as he felt. Her eyes glimmered wetly as she spun on her heel and stalked away. “Because that is exactly what I want. For my relationship to you to be over once and for all.”