by Abby Gaines
In his younger days, Sam had worked as a prosecutor of white-collar criminals. Some of his most satisfying moments had come from cases where a key witness hadn’t been able to see what had been right there all along. When awareness dawned, the witness’s credibility was even greater than that of one who’d told the same story right through. That was when Sam knew he had the case in the bag.
He paused at Eloise’s front door. He wouldn’t go so far as to say he had Eloise in the bag. But she was in that dawning realization phase. And because Sam was several steps ahead of her, he had the upper hand.
He lifted the heavy brass knocker, and let it fall with a thud. Instantly, the door was opened by a man in uniform, whose eyebrows shot up.
Sam stepped inside.
And realized immediately the advantage an invitation would have given him.
“So,” he said to the doorman, as he surveyed the sea of women dressed in bright evening gowns and tuxedo-clad men, “it’s not a fancy-dress ball, then?”
“No,” the man agreed. “Just masked.”
Sam sent up a brief prayer of thanks that he’d resisted the suggestion of the girl in the costume shop that he paint an authentic eighteenth-century beauty spot on his cheek.
“Sir, do you have an invitation?” the doorman asked.
Sam decided he’d had enough of chatting to the hired help. He’d screwed up on the costume front, but he still had his mission. Clutching his cushion and glass slipper, he stepped forward and paused in the entryway, scanning the crowd for Eloise.
“Hey!” the doorman called from behind him, but Sam ignored him.
There she was, stunning in dark green velvet, a dress that molded her slim waist and showed she had enough curves to satisfy any man. Her gold-and-green mask rendered her mysterious, exotic, but still the Eloise he...loved. Yes, loved, dammit.
He’d behaved like an idiotic schoolboy the past three years. But over that time, his feelings for Eloise had grown into an unshakeable love. If she wouldn’t have him...
Her eyes met his across the room. He imagined them widening with shock beneath her mask, as much that he’d dared to arrive uninvited as with surprise at his costume. She raised her hand to her lips, but Sam saw the corners of her mouth quirk. She was laughing at him.
Declaring his love for her now would doubtless send her into hysterics.
Sam tasted bitter disappointment, and swallowed. So the witness hadn’t yet reached the stage of enlightenment that he’d hoped. It was his job to fix that.
He nodded curtly to Eloise, shook off the restraining hand of the doorman, then strode into the crowd, away from her.
* * *
ADAM WAITED OUTSIDE Casey’s apartment until eleven o’clock, growing increasingly despondent, then annoyed.
She’d better not be out on a date.
He pushed away the unreasonable jealousy that thought provoked. He wanted to see Casey tonight, but had to accept that might not happen. The evening might be a disaster for him, but he’d better not disappoint Eloise by missing her birthday party.
When Adam pulled into Eloise’s driveway, things started to look a whole lot better. In the glow of the fairy lights threaded around the pillars on the porch, he saw his Aston Martin sitting right by the front door.
Elated, he ran up the steps and into the house. People thronged the foyer, the staircase, every available space to the marquee out the back. Adam made his way toward the ballroom.
He saw her immediately. Casey, in the arms of a man he didn’t recognize. But he did recognize the sappy smile the guy was giving her.
As Adam watched, the man leaned close and whispered something in Casey’s ear. Adam stiffened, his hands clenched at his sides.
At a light touch on his arm, he turned. It was Eloise, resplendent in dark green velvet and a green-and-gold mask.
“Adam, darling.” She patted his cheek below the blue domino mask that didn’t hide his identity one bit. “You made it.”
“I’m sorry I’m late,” he said formally, his gaze back on Casey, who appeared to be smiling at something that jerk had said.
“You’ve been unbearably slow these past months, but you’re not too late, and that’s all that matters.”
“Huh?” Adam turned back to Eloise, who was also looking at Casey. Of course, his stepmother had known she would be here tonight, but had chosen not to mention it to Adam. No doubt part of some elaborate scheme to bring them together.
Typical. Didn’t she know he had this all mapped out?
But gratitude for her good intentions welled in his heart, constricting his chest. “Thanks,” he said gruffly.
Eloise smiled at him, tears in her eyes. “Go,” she ordered. “Claim your bride, before Richard Lovington III nibbles her ear off.”
Further realization dawned, halting Adam in his steps. “Your birthday’s not till November,” he accused her. “This party isn’t for you. It’s for me—and Casey.”
Eloise sighed, but the look in her eyes was far from penitent. “It’s the bridefest, darling. I know I shouldn’t have, but I—”
Adam hushed her with a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you,” he said again. “Thank you, Eloise.”
She hugged him, then pushed him away, brushing impatiently at her eyes. “I don’t think I’ll ever understand men,” she said. Half indignant, half amused, she added, “Sam came to my party without an invitation. Look at him!”
Adam choked on a laugh. The preposterous elegance of Sam’s Prince Charming costume couldn’t hide his distinctive shuffling step, even as he danced with a woman in a low-cut red dress. “Has Sam danced with you?” he asked.
“He hasn’t even spoken to me,” Eloise huffed. “What does the man think he’s playing at?”
The dance ended, and as if he’d guessed the subject of their conversation, Sam made his way over to Adam and Eloise.
The two men nodded to each other. Adam swallowed his comment about Sam’s outfit.
“Good evening, Eloise,” Sam said. He stood close to her, and Adam saw that she didn’t move away, but swayed toward him slightly.
“Sam.” Her voice was cool.
“It seems my invitation to your party went astray,” he said.
“I didn’t send you one.”
“Then I apologize if my presence here embarrasses you.”
Eloise inclined her head. “Not at all.”
“I had to come,” Sam said.
“To check how I’m spending my money?” Eloise asked. “To see if I’ve briefed the catering staff correctly? To nag me about keeping my insurance paid up?”
“To dance with you,” Sam said.
“Oh.” Eloise was clearly flustered.
Adam enjoyed the spectacle.
But she had no trouble seizing the upper hand again. “Then why haven’t you asked me to dance?” she demanded acerbically.
“I’ve been waiting for the band to play the tune I requested.” Sam paused, alert. “It should be about now.”
Sam had done it again, Adam realized. Knocked Eloise off balance. For the first time, it occurred to him the lawyer might be good for his stepmother.
The band struck up “All the Things You Are.”
Eloise caught her breath, glanced uncertainly at Adam. He nodded encouragement. She turned to Sam. He gave her his hand. “Dance with me.”
* * *
CASEY HAD LOST COUNT OF the men she had chatted with over dinner in the marquee, and danced with in Eloise’s ballroom. But despite the masks that concealed their faces, she knew none of them was Adam. Had he heard she was coming and decided to stay away? Eloise was at a loss to explain his absence, and Casey sensed the older woman’s disappointment. Damn the man.
Then, as if her anger had conjured him up, he appeared over the shoulder of her current dance partner, masked but instantly recognizable.
Adam tapped the other man on the shoulder. “May I?”
Her partner, who had been in the middle of asking her out to dinner, hesitated. To C
asey’s shock, the infallibly polite Adam Carmichael elbowed him out of the way. The other man started to say something along the lines of “See you later,” but the glitter in Adam’s eyes, behind his blue domino mask, deterred him from finishing.
Casey fitted her hand into Adam’s, trying to calm the sudden racing of her pulse. How had he recognized her in a dress he’d never seen, with a mask obscuring most of her face and hair?
But she said nothing, just relished the sensation of his hand at her waist. For a few moments they danced in silence.
“I knew you by your shoulders,” he said at last, sounding almost angry.
“I...what?”
He lifted his hand and ran a finger along her shoulder, from her neck to the top of her arm. Casey shivered.
“Isn’t that curious?” he said, his tone conversational now. “I walked into the room and I knew you.”
“Curious,” she agreed, hardly daring to breathe.
He pulled her closer, both hands on her waist as they danced. Casey was faint with desire.
“I’ve been reading about you in the newspaper,” she said.
“That photo. That woman?” he asked, and she nodded.
“There’s a psychological term for it,” he said. “Sublimation, or substitution—something like that.”
“Substitution for what?”
“You’re the psychologist, you figure it out. But know this—I haven’t so much as touched another woman since you left. Not beyond a kiss on the cheek.”
“Thank you....” But it wasn’t enough. “It’s been two months.”
“Some people are slow learners.” He rested his chin lightly on the top of her head. “I have some bad news for you.”
“What’s that?”
“I had your car towed away.”
“You what?” Casey pulled back in alarm, but he wouldn’t let her move more than a couple of inches.
“I lost the keys,” he said. “What else could I do?” He’d maneuvered her to the doorway that led to the back porch, and they stepped out into the cool evening air. He guided her to a seat on the edge of the porch, where he pulled off his mask and, without speaking, helped Casey remove hers.
“So I want you to keep the Aston Martin,” he continued.
She gaped. “But you love that car.”
“It’s not a car, it’s the sublimation of my boyhood dreams.” He smiled, took both her hands loosely in his own. “I have different dreams now.”
“Which are?”
“I’ll get to those in a moment. Besides, I wasn’t happy at the thought of my wife driving around in that heap of rust you call a car.”
“I’m not your wife.”
“Ah, yes. That’s the other piece of bad news. We’re still married.”
Her heart stopped for a moment. “What? How?”
“All my fault, I’m afraid.” He didn’t look the least bit apologetic. In fact, she’d bet he was enjoying her outrage. “I couldn’t live a lie any longer.”
“What lie? Adam, what is this?”
“Sam gave me a copy of the judgment from our annulment hearing. Turns out the judge considered two key factors in deciding to grant it. First, we hadn’t intended to get married. And second, we hadn’t—”
“Consummated the marriage,” she finished for him. “Oh, no.”
“That’s not a particularly flattering reference to our consummation,” he said.
“So this is about your ego? You didn’t want it on public record that you hadn’t slept with your wife?”
He tightened his grip on her hands. “It wasn’t public record,” he said. “The judgment was sealed. I petitioned the court to revoke the annulment because I couldn’t bring myself to deny the best night of my life.”
“The best?” Casey swallowed.
He nodded. “Sam argued the case at the county court, and he called me earlier tonight to say the judge revoked the annulment.”
“So now what? We get divorced?”
“Now, I tell you my new dream. Which is to spend the rest of my life being distracted, provoked and seduced by you.”
“You asked me to marry you once before, Adam, and I told you no.”
“But this time I’m laying down some strict conditions,” he said.
“Oh, are you?” Indignation colored her tone.
“You might think it’s okay to be fond of your husband, but I’m settling for nothing less than mutual adoration.” He lifted her fingers to his lips and kissed them.
The reminder of the day they’d first met, when he’d told her she might never find a man who adored her, brought a lump to her throat. Casey gazed into his eyes, and saw all she needed to know about how he felt toward her.
“Adoration? That’s a lot to ask,” she said thoughtfully. “You could wait a long time for a woman who adores you, Adam. You might never find one.”
“I’ll wait,” he said.
“But what about your father’s will? What about that baby you want to have, to secure the business?”
“That’s all over,” he said. “Soon after you left, Anna May backed down from her lawsuit. Turned out Henry didn’t really want to run the company. He wants to coach high school tennis and still pick up a fat dividend from the business every so often. I said that can be arranged.”
“That’s great.”
“Anna May figured all this out after you gave her a lecture about wanting what’s best for the people you love,” Adam told her. “She asked Henry and he finally got up the guts to tell her what he did want.”
He broke off as another couple stepped out on the porch. A loaded stare from Adam soon had them retreating back into the ballroom. “Once Anna May dropped her opposition, Sam was able to get the marriage clause struck from Dad’s will.”
“So you don’t need a wife,” Casey said. “Or a baby.”
Adam squeezed her fingers. “But I do need you. I need your company, your love, your faith in me, the way you inspire me to be a better person.”
“What about a baby?” Casey asked. “Because if you need one of those...”
“We’ll figure something out,” he said carelessly.
“No!” She stood and stepped back.
He rose to join her, his face pale. “No, you won’t stay with me?”
“Adam, I love you—I adore you—and I want to us to be married. But I can’t promise you a baby.”
“We’ll figure something out,” he told her again. “Maybe, if you want a child as much as I do, we could look at adopting. I know you’ll be a great mom, whether it’s our natural child or not. Or if you want, we can try for our own baby and decide that whatever will be, will be.”
He leaned forward and kissed her gently. “I adore you, my precious, darling wife. Stay with me forever, and we’ll take everything else as it comes.”
Had there ever been as sweet a sensation as this? Casey almost laughed out loud with sheer joy.
“If I say no, do I still get to keep the Aston Martin?”
He chuckled. “Of course.”
“Mrs. Lowe’s not going to like it if I come back,” she warned him. “You’d better think hard about this, Adam, because it’s her or me.”
“I’ve already sent her off into retirement with a healthy bonus,” he said. “I couldn’t take another day of those frosty grimaces she seems to think are smiles.”
Casey giggled, then snuggled into his embrace. “I was wrong about something,” she said against
his chest.
Adam kissed her hair. “You, darling? Never.”
She pulled away just a little. “I agreed when you said we should be selfish. I said I wanted no-strings love. But it’s not true. I want to be tied to you, Adam. And I want you tied to me.”
His eyes, brilliant with emotion, met hers. “Real love,” he said, “comes with strings you tie yourself.”
Casey’s heart swelled. The man was the perfect soul mate for her. It seemed too wonderful to be true. Reluctantly, she came back to the stumbling
block she couldn’t believe might not prove impassable. “You’re sure you don’t mind if we never have our own baby? I wouldn’t blame you if you did.”
He paused. “Of course I want you to have my child. But Casey, you are the only woman for me, baby or no baby.”
She planted a kiss on his chin. “And what about—?”
“Enough,” he ordered. “You can make as many objections as you like, but I’m not going to change my mind. I adore you, you’re my wife and we have the rest of our lives to argue over the details. Now, are you coming back to me or not?”
“Of course I am.”
The kiss that followed lasted a very long time. When they parted, Adam’s eyes were dark with desire.
“You’re quite sure we’re still married?” Casey asked.
“Positive.”
She held out her hand to him. “Then I know just what I want to do next.”
They pushed through the throng, hand in hand, single-minded in their determination to reach one of Eloise’s many bedrooms. But Casey stopped dead when she heard “All You Need Is Love” playing tinnily from the vicinity of Adam’s pocket.
She turned to grab him by the lapels. “What,” she demanded, “is that?”
Sheepishly, Adam pulled out his cell phone. “Personalized ring tone,” he said. “It’s affirming.”
Casey took it from him, pressed the off button, then slipped the phone back into his pocket. On tiptoe, she pressed her lips to her husband’s. “Stick with me,” she said, “and I’ll give you all the affirmation you’ll ever need.”
EPILOGUE
“SHE LOOKS NOTHING LIKE her cousin.” Casey placed their beautiful daughter back in her crib and tucked the blankets around her tiny body.
“She’s way more beautiful.” Adam leaned forward to get another good look at his second-best girl. “This one takes after her mom.”
“She’s very noisy,” Casey agreed with a grin. “And she likes fast cars.”
“And she’s worth any amount of effort,” Adam said, conscious that most of the effort had been Casey’s. She’d had to have the surgery to repair her damaged fallopian tubes twice before it worked. But for the rest of their lives, Adam would do whatever it took to cherish his family. Casey nodded, tears glistening in her eyes. She always insisted her out-of-kilter hormones were responsible for her easy tears, but Adam knew his sensitive wife better than that.