Overnight Wife

by Mollie Molay

  It was just as well. At least she wouldn’t be able to discern his growing confusion. A few hours ago, he’d been dead sure about the new life he intended to make for himself. Now even that assurance had begun to dim. He gazed around helplessly, wondering what he’d done to deserve the predicament he’d gotten himself into.

  Arden stirred and awakened.

  “Cold?” Luke asked her.

  “I guess so.” She shivered and wiped sleep from her eyes.

  Her expression told him the shiver was more than from the cold. What had she been dreaming of? he wondered, as a blush came over her cheeks.

  “Okay, folks, you can go on back to your own gate now,” a familiar voice behind Luke announced. “I’ve finished cleaning up over there. This one is next.”

  Luke’s temper started to simmer. “You’re joking!”

  “I never joke about my job,” the burly maintenance man answered.

  “Then, no thanks. And I’m sure I speak for all of us. We’d rather not move. All we want is to be left alone to wait until the airport reopens.”

  “Sorry, I’m afraid this gate isn’t going to be it,” the maintenance man replied. “My schedule says I’ve got to clean up here now.”

  Luke fished for his wallet and brought out a sizable bill. “Sure I can’t persuade you to change your mind?”

  “Nope,” the man said firmly. “Like I told you, I follow the same routine every night.” He glanced at his wristwatch. “Sorry, folks. It’s getting late. I’ve got to get moving.”

  “What’s the point in trying to clean up on a night like this? The area will be a mess in about three minutes flat after we all come back.”

  “Beats me.” The man grinned. “But a job is a job.”

  Resigned to the inevitable, Luke rose and helped Arden to her feet. “Come on, it looks as if we’ll have to find someplace else to keep warm.”

  Now that Arden was awake, the thought of Luke keeping her warm again sent Arden’s blood racing. Just as it had in her dream a few minutes ago, and again when he’d caressed her not realizing she was awake.

  Being held in his arms had been okay when she’d been too sleepy to react to his muscular body, his arms holding her, his breath against her hair and the touch of his hands when he’d gently tucked his overcoat closer around them. Her senses had been blurred before, but now she was wide-awake.

  “Mr. McCauley,” Agnes Chambers, the tour leader, called as she hurried over to join them. “Do you and your wife have a minute?”

  The too-familiar question stirred Luke’s antennae. What in the blazes had they done now? “I don’t know how it’s possible to attract so much attention in one night,” he muttered, more to himself than Arden. He looked back at the agitated tour leader, who was slowly making her way through sleeping couples to join them.

  “What’s wrong now, Ms. Chambers?”

  “It’s just that I remembered you were listed as a single passenger on the manifest,” she said eyeing Arden curiously. “Your wife makes an extra person to account for. May I ask your given name, Mrs. McCauley?”

  “Arden Crandall…er, McCauley.”

  The tour guide made a rapid notation.

  “Surely that’s no problem,” Luke interjected. “There must be one extra seat on the plane.”

  “Actually, there are two, now that I’ve lost the Travers party!”

  “Lost the Travers party?” Arden asked nervously.

  “Yes. They were listed as passengers. I’ve been looking for them for hours.”

  Arden swallowed the lump that rose in her throat. Travel documents in her purse declared her to be one half of the Travers party. She glanced at a noncommittal Luke. If he thought he’d had enough of trouble, she wasn’t going to be the one to remind him there would be even more waiting for him when the plane was ready to depart and the tour leader would check them in.

  “Maybe they changed their mind and went back home when they found we weren’t going to be able to leave?” Arden said hopefully.

  “I’m not sure about that,” Agnes Chambers answered. “Not in this kind of weather. Well, maybe they’ll turn up before we leave. See you later.”

  Luke kept his silence. Arden was doing well enough without him. Until he took a good look at her and realized he’d forgotten something.

  “Wait here a minute,” he told her. “I’ve some shopping to do.” Without a backward glance, he headed for the gift shop where they’d gotten the cookies.

  “I need to find something to keep my wife warm,” he told the clerk. Wife? Where had that come from?

  She gestured to the shop’s depleted stock. There were a few I Love NY sweatshirts, caps with the same logo and a number of children’s and infants’ garments left hanging on the display racks.

  He held up a sweatshirt and tried to visualize how Arden might look in it. Even to his inexperienced eye, it looked as if it was miles too large for Arden’s small frame and would cover her from neck to toe. A pity, he thought, considering how interesting she looked in her clinging velvet dress. Still, at the rate things were going, he wasn’t sure he dared to have her in his arms for the rest of the night without getting into trouble.

  “Don’t you have something suitable for an adult woman?” he asked. “Something a little warmer and more stylish than this?”

  “We did,” the clerk answered. “But as soon as the runways shutdown, I sold out of sweaters and scarfs. I guess most everyone realized it was going to be a long, cold night.”

  “I suppose the sweatshirt will have to do,” he finally decided. “Although it looks kind of big.”

  “It is big,” she answered cheerfully. “But why don’t you look at it this way, it certainly will keep your wife warm.”

  “How much?” Luke replied, digging into his wallet. This was actually only one of the items he intended to buy for Arden, but first things first. If his shopping spree went on much longer, he’d have to find an ATM or start writing checks. Of course, he realized, either one would leave a trail of his whereabouts behind him. But he couldn’t leave Arden shivering, could he?

  “Twenty-two dollars. No tax,” the clerk grinned. “After all, it’s—”

  “Yeah, I know,” he agreed. “It’s Christmas.” A Christmas he was going to remember for the rest of his life. “Thanks!”

  “Here, put this on,” he told Arden when he reached her. “You shouldn’t be walking around without something to keep you warm on a night like this. I’d give you my overcoat if I could take it off,” he added helplessly. Frustrated, he gestured with his handcuffed left hand. The chain rattled, the briefcase bounced in the air.

  Arden winced at the sound. The handcuff, the chain and the briefcase were definite reminders of Luke’s dark edge. The security guards who seemed to be behind every column in the terminal were another. Did she really know what she was getting into?

  She studied the fleece-lined sweatshirt. If she had a choice between the shirt and Luke’s warmth, she would have chosen his arms. But she couldn’t turn down his well-meaning gift. Not at the rate the temperature in the terminal seemed to be dropping as the night went on.

  “I should have thought of it myself,” she muttered, putting the thought of his arms out of her mind. How quickly she’d forgotten she should put the brakes on her growing response to Luke’s strong male appeal. “How much do I owe you?”

  “No, really, it’s on me,” he said, as she thrust a twenty-dollar bill toward him. “Actually, I owe you.”

  “For what?”

  “You saved me from the law,” he replied with a wry grin. “With the way my luck was going, I’d probably be spending Christmas in the slammer if you hadn’t spoken up for me.”

  “The slammer?” Her brow wrinkled. “I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

  “Jail, to you,” he said, thinking of how sheltered she must have been and what a different world awaited her. “Stepping in and telling the law you’re my wife took a lot of courage.”

  “I only did what I
felt I had to do,” she answered. “What’s right is right. I couldn’t let him arrest you just because you resembled some criminal, and without any real proof, could I?”

  “Is that the only reason you spoke up?” Luke asked. What devil was driving him to play a game with her?

  “Not at all,” she answered. A faint blush told him she knew this was a game. “After he said I fit the description of the wanted man’s female accomplice, I expected to be arrested myself.”

  His sable eyes bored into hers. How could he tell her how reluctant he was to face the rest of the night without her in his arms? He had to let her go. Now was as good a time as any.

  “Still, it was a brave thing to do,” he assured her. “For all you knew, I could have been the guy in the Wanted poster.”

  Arden shuddered at the reminder.

  She, too, could have ended up in jail, or at least down at the police station for questioning.

  And Luke? She recalled the doubt in the security officer’s eyes when he questioned them. And the way the man still dogged their footsteps. If she didn’t want to be the one to put Luke in jeopardy, she’d have to stay.

  Arden could see by the expression on Luke’s face that his thoughts paralleled her own.

  “Actually, I’ve been thinking,” she said. “Perhaps we should stick together tonight, after all. I’m willing to be Mrs. McCauley until we get to Cancun.”

  “I’m glad to hear that,” he said gravely. “I’ve been told there’s safety in numbers. Mr. and Mrs. McCauley it is.”

  “Wait a minute,” Arden said sternly. Caution was better late than never. “Let me finish. I intend this to be a purely business relationship from now on.”

  “Right,” he replied, relieved that the sexual tension that had grown between them was over. “You have my word on it. Here, put the sweatshirt on over your dress before you catch cold. Then we’ll find a place where we can hole up for the rest of the night.”

  “In plain sight?”

  “Of course,” he answered. “In plain sight.”

  He wasn’t sure what was bothering her, but if hanging around in plain sight was what she wanted, that’s what she was going to have. Personally he would have preferred being somewhere out of sight where the security staff couldn’t find them.

  Arden was relieved. There was safety in numbers, although not for the reason Luke may have thought. Now that they’d declared some kind of truce and would spend the rest of the night together in the open, she felt protected from the irresistible attraction she felt for Luke. And hopefully safe from the security guards who kept popping up to question them.

  Independence was fine, but not if it landed her in jail.

  The sweatshirt, when she put it on, hung over her hands and down to her knees. Her velvet wedding dress had shrunk and hung in uneven lengths around her ankles. Chagrined at her appearance, she pictured the way she must look to Luke. Until she saw the interest grow in his eyes.

  Mental danger signals sounded. If Luke was as interested in her as she was in him, she was headed for trouble.

  “Come on,” he urged. “Let’s find a place where I don’t stick out like a sore thumb. I’m beat.”

  So was she, Arden sighed as she gazed around the terminal. Fellow travelers had settled down for the night. Voices were subdued, the sounds of Christmas were fading.

  She followed Luke to the corner where they’d first met and where the night had started. Deep in thought, she slowed.

  Luke noticed she wasn’t at his side. He swung around. Arden lagged behind him. Worry lines creased her forehead.

  “Something wrong?” he asked as he turned back to join her.

  “No, not really.”

  Not really? If ever he’d seen a woman with something on her mind, it was Arden.

  “Come on now,” he teased. “I wasn’t born yesterday. I know a problem when I see it. You’re not still worried about your father’s health, are you?”

  “No, I’m sure he’ll be fine as soon as he gets over last night’s excitement.”

  Luke studied her for a long moment. “So what’s the matter? You look kind of funny. Aren’t you feeling well?”

  She felt kind of funny, too. Torn between trying to hide her mixed feelings about him and the urge to tell him the truth about her thoughts, she decided to choose the middle ground. After all, outside of his being chained to a briefcase, Luke hadn’t said or done anything to alarm her. So far he’d been decent. And even though she was sure she could have seen the night through by herself, he was a welcome companion.

  It was the future she was starting to worry about.

  What would be the use of falling for a man who’d made it clear he was going his own way after tomorrow?

  She said the first thing that popped into her mind. “I was just thinking what a wonderful night this is.”

  “A wonderful night this is?” Luke glanced at his wristwatch. “Outside of being holed up here for at least eight hours without something decent to eat or drink, or even a place to relax, what’s so wonderful about tonight?”

  “It’s the reminder that it’s Christmas morning, or will be in a few hours,” she answered. She gestured to where one whimsical passenger had built a small snowman with real snow he’d brought from outside the terminal. “Only, Christmas is a time to be with your family,” she added wistfully.

  “I thought that you and I were a family,” Luke joked.

  He could tell from the wary look that came into her eyes he may have said the wrong thing.

  “What would people think if they knew the truth about us?”

  “What truth?”

  “That we’re really not married.”

  Luke eyed her thoughtfully. Her shimmering blue eyes drew him deeper than he wanted himself to be drawn. Innocent intentions or not, he had the alarming premonition that if anyone could mess up his plans, it would be Arden.

  “Since you’ve spent most of the night in my arms, I’m sure no one will think anything of it,” he answered lightly. “After all, we are supposed to be married.”

  Arden felt herself blush. The word marriage started a whole new train of thought that excited even as it worried her. Thoughts she couldn’t afford to picture, let alone think about. Not with Luke as her husband. Not when the twinkle in his eyes was more suggestion than laughter.

  A spark of excitement ignited in her middle. She knew she’d have to put out the fire unless she was ready to let her heart lead her deeper into this relationship. Make-believe or not. And with a man she only half trusted.

  She’d never felt this way before, she realized. John had been very proper and had treated her as if she were a vestal virgin. Virgin she might be, but she’d always felt there was more to life than living on the pedestal where he’d put her.

  With Luke, somehow it was different. He made her feel alive.

  “I wasn’t thinking along those lines,” she said, avoiding his gaze in case her intimate thoughts were written in her eyes. “I was thinking about my family, and the way we gathered around the tree on Christmas morning to open our gifts before we went to church.”

  “Arden,” Luke explained patiently, “in case you haven’t noticed, there is no Christmas tree, no gifts, and although there may be a chapel around, we are in an airport waiting for clearance to leave the country. We are not going to go to church, either. We’re going to Cancún.”

  In spite of the smile Arden had pasted on her lips, Luke sensed something was wrong. For one thing, the smile was obviously a phony. And then there was the way she kept twisting the ersatz wedding ring around her finger. For another, she clutched her purse to her chest in a way that told him she was a hundred-andtwenty-pound bundle of anxiety waiting to explode. Or maybe a little less, he thought as he remembered the way the wilted velvet wedding dress had drooped limply around her slender figure exposing every delectable curve.

  As far as he could tell, Arden Crandall was definitely not okay.

  For the first time in a long time, he r
ecalled the love and laughter of his own Christmas mornings as a youngster. The tree with the popcorn and cranberry garlands he and his sister had strung every year. The hot chocolate with tiny marshmallows floating on top his mother prepared for the family to ward off the early-morning cold as they gathered under the gaily decorated tree. And his young sister’s delight when their father, masquerading as Santa Claus in a rented suit, passed out gifts.

  What the heck, he thought, maybe she was right about Christmas. Maybe it wasn’t only for kids. If it took a Christmas tree and a few small gifts to make her happy, by God, he was going to see to it the smile on her face became real. Considering the traumatic phone call she’d had with her father and the unwitting part he’d played in her problems tonight, he felt he owed her that much.

  The food concessions were still closed, Luke noted regretfully as they walked through the terminal, so hot chocolate was out. He wasn’t going to pretend he was Santa Claus, either, but he was pretty sure he could take care of the rest of the setting.

  “Come on, let’s go,” he said as he started off.

  “Go?” Arden hung back. “Go where?”

  “Shopping,” he called over his shoulder.

  Arden had to pick up her skirts and run to keep up with him. “Again?”

  “You’ll see.”

  The gift shop was still open. He’d been right, Luke thought gratefully as his eyes searched the counters. No merchant in his right mind was going to close on a night like tonight. Not when there were hundreds of captive shoppers, and definitely not until the shelves were bare.

  “Wait out here a minute,” he told Arden. He intended to make sure this holiday wasn’t going to be different for her than other Christmas mornings. Christmas gifts were supposed to be a surprise.

  He noted the way she hesitated, as if uncertain as to whether or not to wait. “I won’t be long,” he called out to her. She rewarded him with an uncertain smile.

  Thankfully, the gift he’d had in mind was still there. Luke made straight for the counter and picked up the Santa Claus music box he’d seen earlier. He turned it over, wound the key. The tiny sled started to move across miniature tracks on the top of the box to the music of “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.” With a satisfied smile, Luke handed it to the smiling clerk who’d waited on him earlier.