by Kaylea Cross
Jennie stood there with a stunned look on her face and Jack wondered if she’d ever been caught at any of her little games before.
“Oh, and Jennie,” Jack said.
“Yes, sir?”
“Keep the deal between Kelly and me quiet. Don’t mention it to anyone, including Chad or you’re fired and Kelly won’t get a penny. That goes for anything else you’ve overheard. And tell maintenance to get that damned intercom fixed.” He had known the light didn’t work right on the phone but hadn’t thought it would be an issue. Hell, usually his company was the one investigating other people. But Jennie had been eavesdropping on him, in his own office. He should have been more careful to protect himself. But at least he could put her to work for him from now on. Jennie had managed to fool him and look so damned innocent this whole time, he was sure she’d be an asset on Chad’s team.
As Jennie skittered out of the room, Andrew walked in and looked at Jack and Kelly. “Hey, Jack,” he said slowly, “what’s going on?” His head whipped back and forth from Jack to Kelly as if he were watching a tennis match.
“Did you find anything?” Jack ignored Andrew’s question, asking one of his own.
“I found a friend of Chad’s from prep school that owed me a favor. Says Bryan and Chad knew each other. They weren’t close but they also didn’t hate each other. Hung out with some of the same people so it might be a gamble hoping that he wouldn’t back Chad for CEO.”
Jack shook his head as Andrew finished his explanation. Andrew knew Jack didn’t have it in his heart to ask Chad to do that to his mom. To Jack, family was family and he would lose everything he had, for his family. The irony was, in this case, it was his own family that was attacking him so he was in a catch twenty two. Still, he wanted to do all he could not to hurt his aunt as he defended himself.
Chapter Seven
Jack faced Kelly again. He was now fully back in his element. He took control of the negotiations now that he had made the decision to run with this. He didn’t really have any other option and she didn’t appear to be a lunatic. In fact, as he watched her quietly come to grips with what she had done and get her confidence back, he marveled at her. It had really taken guts to walk into the room and pull off what she had. And she’d done it with such grace and confidence. She owned his office as if it were hers and there weren’t many people who could pull that off. He found himself a little in awe of the gorgeous creature who now sat quietly on his couch.
“Okay. One year of marriage. You’ll sign a prenuptial agreement. You get your law school tuition and you’ll have a credit card for expenses while we’re married. You’ll have to attend occasional dinner parties and fundraising events, that sort of thing, so you’ll need appropriate clothes. Some of them will be black tie. Put anything you need on my card. After the divorce, I’ll get you a condo in New Haven and some spending money for the three years you’ll be at law school. After graduation you’ll be on your own. You’ll move into my house in Fairfield while we’re married. At the end of the year, we cite irreconcilable differences and end the marriage.”
“I hadn’t really thought I’d need to move in with you. I-I thought this would only be on paper,” Kelly stammered while Andrew watched the scene play out, with a look of shocked amusement on his face. It was more than obvious Andrew didn’t know who this woman was or how Jack had found her – and that he couldn’t wait to hear the details.
Jack shook his head. “Uh uh. My Aunt Mabry and my board of directors will need to be utterly convinced this is a real marriage. We need to live together. Don’t worry, there are nine bedrooms so we won’t need to sleep together. I have a housekeeper who lives in an apartment over the garage but she’s very loyal and discreet. She won’t say a word if we aren’t sharing a bed. The house is on the water so you can spend the summer relaxing and hanging out before school.”
Kelly blushed at his mention of shared bedrooms. Jack found himself intrigued as he watched Kelly’s cheeks flame red. She was gutsy and courageous one minute and sweet and innocent the next. It was a captivating combination.
Wait.
Jack shook his head to clear his thoughts.
What am I thinking? Focus on the big picture, Jack. She’s a means to an end. Nothing more.
Andrew piped back in. “I left you alone for three hours and you found a wife?”
“She found me,” Jack answered in a distracted manner, not bothering to elaborate.
Andrew raised his eyes to the ceiling and muttered to no one in particular. “Whole industries are built on helping men and women try to find someone and Jack has women walking in off the street to marry him. Wait, why did she walk in off the street?” Andrew asked as he directed his eyes back to Jack. “She just happened to know you were in the market for a wife? This is like an episode of I Dream of Jeannie.”
Jack ignored Andrew’s questions and kept his focus on hammering out the details with Kelly. “We’ll have to spend some time getting to know each other, go out to dinner and things occasionally, maybe kiss once or twice in front of the right people,” Jack continued.
Now Jack could really see the heat climbing its way up Kelly’s cheeks. Jack was almost enjoying this and wanted to see how red he could make those cheeks burn. Her eyes had gone big and round at the mention of a kiss. What would those doe eyes do if he told her what else he was thinking of doing as he watched her now?
Jack glanced over at Andrew and saw Andrew had one eyebrow raised as he regarded Jack and Kelly. He leaned a shoulder on the wall, crossed his arms, and watched the scene unfolding before him. Jack knew he was going to catch a lot of flack about this from Andrew but he needed to focus on Kelly for now. Andrew shook his head and muttered something about a bottle and Jeannie and Captain Nelson. Andrew looked amused now, but Jack knew once he heard the full story, Jack was going to catch hell for what he was planning to do.
* * *
Kelly watched Jack as he detailed the terms of their deal. She hadn’t really thought through the actual implementation of her plan. Her palms were sweating and her cheeks flaming as she listened and considered the implications. She wasn’t a virgin but she certainly hadn’t thought through the possibility they would need to share a bed, so she was relieved to hear that she would have a separate room.
She could handle being housemates if necessary, but the thought of kissing Jack made Kelly feel like an inexperienced 15-year-old. In a normal world, she wouldn’t dream of kissing a man like him. He was powerful and striking, with a chiseled body and eyes that felt like they could melt her with a glance. When she was with Jack, she felt like a whole swarm of butterflies had been let lose in her stomach. Her breath came faster and shorter. She felt like she might pass out when he looked at her with that steady, sensual gaze as if he could look right into her and read her thoughts.
Kelly felt a tightening in her stomach and wondered for the fiftieth time that hour just what she had gotten herself into.
Chapter Eight
When Mabry Thompson left Jack and Kelly she walked down the hall to her son’s office. She entered without knocking and immediately dove into a tirade.
“Married, my ass. That engagement is as fake as my highlights. I don’t know how he did it or who she is, but we need to expose this marriage as a fraud.” Mabry tossed her purse down on one of the two chairs in front of Chad’s desk and lowered herself into the other.
“Hello again, Mom. Long time no see,” Chad deadpanned as he turned away from his computer to face his mother. Chad didn’t know quite what was going on with Jack’s sudden marriage announcement and he agreed something didn’t smell right. But, Chad couldn’t care less if Jack had cooked up this wedding to save his position as CEO. If it meant keeping his mother out of his hair about taking over control of Sutton Capital, he was fine with whatever arrangement Jack made.
His mother ignored his reply and continued her tirade. “They’re apparently going to be married by the end of the week, just in time to meet the terms of his mother
’s will. There’s no way this is a real marriage. I’ve never even heard him talk about this girl and all of a sudden they’re getting married?”
Chad sighed. He hadn’t heard of Kelly or even that Jack was dating anyone seriously, but for him this marriage was a godsend. He had no interest in taking over as CEO. He’d told his mother as much, but she wouldn’t listen. This marriage would be just the thing to stop her plan and get her off of his back.
“It won’t matter if they aren’t in love, Mom. As long as they go through with the wedding, the terms of the trust will be met and the shares become Jack’s. Let it go, Mom. I don’t want to lead the company anyway.” He knew she wouldn’t even pretend to listen to him. No matter how many times he told her, she was determined to hurt Jack and that meant she wanted to see her son take over Jack’s position.
“Nonsense,” Mabry said harshly, once again completely ignoring her son’s wishes. Chad gritted his teeth and waited his mother out. She was good at ignoring what Chad wanted. She had practically ignored the fact that he joined the Marine Corps after college. She ignored him again when he came home from the military and started to run the security division of Sutton Capital. Together, he and Jack had made the security division into what it was today; a crucial part of the business rather than a small cog in the wheel.
He knew he could press her and make her stop but he’d had trouble putting his foot down with her since his dad walked out on her ten years ago. That abandonment had changed her. It broke her and that broke Chad’s heart. It was like she was a different person. She was hard and unreachable sometimes and other times she was fragile and would have a meltdown at the drop of a hat. She seemed filled with anger. Like Jack, Chad was afraid if he pushed too hard, and said just plain ‘no,’ she’d feel like he was leaving her too.
Mabry ignored the look of exasperation on her son’s face as he continued to sort papers on his desk. “If we can show the board the marriage is a farce, we can convince them Jack isn’t fit to run the company and outvote him. We need to figure out how to show those two aren’t really in love. We need to figure out who she is and what she’s getting out of this.”
Chad had learned a long time ago to ignore what his mother was doing and try to live his life, but now he began to worry that she might go too far and hurt Jack.
Chapter Nine
Two days later, Kelly stood outside the New Haven County Courthouse on Church Street and waited for Jack. She thought about how she would break the news to her mother that she had married someone without telling her family. Without even introducing them to Jack first. She knew it would break her mother’s heart and her sister wouldn’t easily forget the fact that she missed out on being Kelly’s maid of honor, but she also knew it was wrong to have her family witness a fake marriage. She decided to ask for forgiveness after the fact instead of inviting them to the ceremony.
Kelly tucked her hair behind her ears as she watched Jack striding down the street toward her from his office a block away and was taken again with how utterly and completely gorgeous the man was. Just as he took over any room he entered with his presence, he seemed to take over the street as he moved down the sidewalk. Kelly couldn’t take her eyes off him as he strode confidently toward her as if he owned the sidewalk.
She watched him walk up to her and felt nerves take over as she thought about what they were about to do. It should be a crime to look as good as Jack Sutton. Tanned skin and mahogany eyes that burned through Kelly and a smile that made her legs turn to mush right there on the sidewalk.
As Kelly stood watching Jack, her palms got sweaty and for a minute she thought about running – just leaving and forgetting all about this crazy idea. She sighed and, despite her reservations, resigned herself to go through with it. It was her crazy idea to begin with and she had given her word she’d do it, so she would. It wouldn’t be fair to Jack to go back on her word now.
As Jack approached, he smiled at her, taking her hands as if he knew she needed to be grounded. Maybe he could spot that she was considering bolting. He gave her a look that felt like he could see deep inside her, understood her anxiety, and with it, she felt a wave of calm wash over her. She was ready.
* * *
Jack watched the play of emotions that ran across Kelly’s face as he walked toward her. There were times when she was so calm and confident and other items when he could see the panic start to edge onto her face. He supposed that made sense since it was a bit crazy to walk into his office and propose he pay her for a year of marriage – and then actually go through with marrying a man she didn’t know at all. He found it fascinating to watch her shift from one emotion to the next. Hell, who was he kidding? Jack found it fascinating to watch Kelly no matter what she was doing.
Jack thought Andrew was going to keel over and die in his office that day when Jack finally wrapped things up with Kelly and explained the situation to Andrew. Andrew had a protective streak, so although he found her approach mildly amusing, he was more than a little suspicious of Kelly. Jack knew Andrew had damn good reasons for his distrust of women where money was concerned, but even Andrew began to warm to her when Jack explained that she had only asked for law school tuition. And when the results of the private investigator’s report came in the next day with nothing but squeaky clean results all the way around, he was sold on her. So, it looked as though, for better or worse, Jack was getting married.
Jack wanted to make this marriage look as real as possible so he had picked out an engagement ring and wedding bands that he thought Kelly might like. As he stood in front of the courthouse with Kelly, Jack took a small box out of his pocket and opened it to reveal an elegant diamond ring in a platinum setting. The diamond was an Asscher cut diamond surrounded by smaller princess cut diamonds all the way around the center stone. Kelly gasped as Jack smiled at her and placed it on her finger.
“W-what is this for?” Kelly stammered as she stared at the ring.
Jack shrugged a shoulder. “Well, it only makes sense that I would buy you a ring. People will expect it and I thought this one was pretty. Do you like it?”
“It’s beautiful,” Kelly said and she nodded vigorously as she fingered it on her hand. She looked like she wasn’t used to the feel of a ring, much less one as heavy as the one on her finger now.
“Good,” Jack smiled at her then enfolded her hand in his and they walked side by side into the courthouse. Jack almost laughed when he realized how much he liked holding hands with Kelly. And in a way he felt like he had walked into some bizarre world where nothing he’d known before made sense. Jack Sutton didn’t hold hands. And, yet, here he was, happily grabbing Kelly’s small hand in his large one and trotting up to the alter with her.
They found the right room, signed in and presented the paperwork for their marriage license. The ceremony was short, basic, with two of the courthouse staff serving as witnesses. Kelly now wore a thin platinum band inset with diamonds next to the engagement ring and Jack wore a thick, plain platinum ring on his hand.
When the Justice of the Peace said the final words, “You may now kiss the bride,” Jack leaned down and softly, gently pressed his lips to Kelly’s. Jack was stunned at the shock of arousal that the small kiss sent coursing through him – and from the look on Kelly’s face so was she. Kelly stared wide eyed at Jack for a split second before glancing away, while Jack worked to school his expression, covering all emotion that he might have revealed in the split second he’d been caught off guard.
What in the hell was that?
* * *
Kelly’s apartment had been packed up, sublet, and her belongings moved over to Jack’s house on the water in Fairfield. She and Jack headed there right after the ceremony. She followed his car for the thirty-minute trip and was relieved to have that time to herself. When she was around Jack, Kelly felt like she couldn’t breathe. Her whole body tingled when he looked at her and she was mortified by the thought that Jack might look at her and realize exactly what she was thinking.
Kelly gasped when they turned into the driveway of what would be her home for the next year.
“Wow,” Kelly said to herself as she pulled to a stop. “Just…wow.”
‘Sprawling’ was all that came to mind. His home looked like a beach house on steroids with its cedar siding, rooflines that sloped and met at varying angles, and what Kelly thought might be called gables. She pulled into the circular drive behind Jack. Her little Honda Civic seemed wildly out of place behind Jack’s Jag.
“This is it,” Jack said, as he stepped out of his car and looked up toward the house.
Kelly stared at the house. “It’s amazing,” she all but whispered.
“Come on,” said Jack, handing her a key. “I’ll show you inside.”
Kelly looked down at the key. She was amazed how quickly Jack had thought of everything they needed. He had pulled this charade together in a matter of days. Her head hadn’t stopped spinning since she walked into his office.
She took a deep breath and vowed to have fun with this. After all, she’d had the guts to walk in his office and pull off this little deal…so why not live up to that new image that had bubbled up to the surface that day?
“I’ll need to get you a garage door opener and show you how to work the alarm codes. Mrs. Poole lives in an in-law suite over the garage and takes care of all of the cooking and cleaning. You can leave her a list of the food that you like and what you want her to stock in the house and she’ll see that it’s taken care of,” Jack explained as they walked in through the front entry.
“Oh, that’s really not necessary,” Kelly said hurriedly. “I really don’t want her to have to do things for me. I mean, I don’t want you to have to change things for me.” Oh no, thought Kelly. This really wasn’t what she had in mind when she thought up this insane plan. Truth be told, she hadn’t even thought it through this far, or thought about what their lives would be like for the next year.