Just the Husband She Chose

by Karen Rose Smith

  “Don’t you?”

  “I just want to know what makes you…you.”

  He came over to her then and studied her. “I suppose we have a lot to learn about each other.”

  The electricity between them had been buzzing all night in a look, a glance, an inadvertent touch. In the car she’d been aware of his tall body, his heat, the strength in his arms as he’d driven his Lexus. At the Morgans’, as they’d sat beside each other on the sofa after dinner, her heart had raced, and she’d had to make an effort to keep her mind on the conversation. Now in his blue eyes there was a silver light that she knew had something to do with that electricity.

  “Hunter, this really isn’t what I wanted to talk about.”

  He slid his hand under the hair on her nape, and she trembled. “Maybe we shouldn’t talk at all,” he murmured.

  She knew what he had in mind, but another kiss could lead to the bedroom. First there was something she had to know.

  “Hunter, are you involved with another woman?”

  Chapter Three

  Hunter’s expression became unreadable. “Why do you ask?”

  “I found something in the bedroom…a nightgown.”

  “I see. No, I’m not involved with anyone.”

  Hunter had seemed more open five years ago, more forthcoming. Had she done this to him? Or was she giving their brief interlude in his life too much importance? Still, before she went through with this marriage, she had to know something.

  “On Tuesday, we’re going to make promises. I need to know what that means to you.”

  His eyes became a deeper, darker blue, and she wondered what was going through his head. “I take marriage vows seriously, Eve.”

  She felt relieved, only it wasn’t the complete assurance she was looking for. But how could she be sure of anything when they were entering a marriage of convenience? They needed time to get to know each other all over again. They needed time to figure out if feelings were left from the past and if they could build on them. If they couldn’t…

  She didn’t want to think about that. Maybe a change of subject would help Hunter open up to her. “Tell me about the accident you were involved in.”

  A flash of surprise flickered in his eyes, then he said, “Why don’t we get something to drink while we talk?”

  As Eve went into the kitchen with Hunter, he opened the refrigerator door. “It’s a little limited. I’m not here very much. Soda or orange juice?”

  “Orange juice. Would you like me to stop at the store and pick up a few groceries?”

  “Are you going to cook for us?” he asked with an arched brow.

  “I can.”

  Removing the carton of juice, he studied her. “Didn’t your housekeeper do all the cooking?”

  “When Dad was away on business, I gave her time off. I can take care of myself, Hunter.”

  “You’ve changed,” he commented as he took two glasses from the cupboard.

  “I grew up.”

  Their gazes met and the air between them became charged again with memories, including her refusal to marry him five years ago.

  She looked away first and took a seat at the small pine table. “Were your injuries from the accident serious?”

  After he poured the juice, he came to sit across from her. “I don’t remember much. One of my clients had a plane and his pilot flew me to Denver. I’d been in England for almost a month.”

  “You spoke to Slade while you were there?”

  “On Christmas Eve. I told him I’d call him as soon as I was back in the States. I intended to fly to Montana for a week or so.”

  “Finding a twin out of the blue must have been a shock, but a wonderful Christmas gift, too. What was it like when you spoke to him for the first time?”

  Hunter smiled. It was the smile she remembered…the one that had always weakened her knees.

  “It was odd,” he mused. “We were strangers and yet…” He stopped. “There was this bond there, something we knew had always been there. We didn’t say much that first time.”

  “And then what happened?” she prompted. She liked the warm look that always came into Hunter’s eyes whenever he talked about Slade.

  “It was snowing when we came in for a landing in Denver. I’d forgotten to fasten my seat belt. The next thing I knew we were careening out of control on the runway and I was thrown from my seat. I’m not sure if I felt the pain in my leg before I blacked out or not.”

  “Your dad said you had a serious concussion.”

  “I was unconscious for a few days. From what I understand, the doctors were afraid I wouldn’t wake up again. When I did wake up… I’m not sure it happened all at once. I remember hearing Slade’s voice. Something made me want to latch on to it. I heard him say I couldn’t slip away now that we’d found each other. He told me to come back so he could get to know me. Somehow I pushed my eyes open, and there he was sitting by the side of my bed.”

  “He pulled you back,” Eve murmured.

  “Yes, he did.” Hunter’s voice went low and deep. “I’ll always be grateful to him for that.”

  She sensed the emotion underlying Hunter’s words. “Did Slade stay in Denver while you recuperated?”

  “No, he couldn’t. He was helping Emily run her ranch. She’d just had a baby. He’d hired on to help her with her chores and to search for me, and he ended up with a family. He’s had a very different life than mine, but we’ve found we’re not so different.”

  “It sounds as if you’ve gotten to know each other pretty well.”

  “We haven’t spent a whole lot of time together. I went to Montana for his wedding and stayed about a week. We’ve only talked over the phone since then. But it’s as if he’s in the same room.”

  “It must be wonderful to have that kind of connection with a brother or sister. I always wished I had one. Now you have a sister and two brothers.”

  When Hunter finished his glass of juice, he stood, obviously not wanting to talk about the family he’d grown up with. “I have appointments all day tomorrow, but if you run into any snags with wedding plans, leave a message and I’ll get back to you. I’m trying to clear my desk before we leave for Savannah.”

  “Besides the cake and flowers, your mother is going to help me shop for a wedding gown.”

  “I have a client who designs wedding gowns. I could contact her,” he offered.

  “Thanks, but I think I’d rather shop with your mother. I can get to know her better that way.”

  Eve stood, too, and placed her glass in the sink at the same time as Hunter. His gaze found hers, and he seemed to be looking for something. Her arm brushed his, skin against skin, heat against heat. Neither of them moved, and she held her breath.

  When he leaned away, the contact was broken. “I’d like to go house hunting tomorrow night. I’ve sorted through the real estate information and there are about ten properties I’d like you to see.”

  “All in one night?” she asked with a smile.

  “Unless we find the right one on the first try. Is there anything you particularly want or don’t want in a house? Maybe I could eliminate a few.”

  “I don’t have any expectations, Hunter.”

  “About the house or about the marriage?” he asked.

  “I think both might be trial and error,” she responded softly.

  His blue gaze was intense, and she felt anticipation rather than expectation. Slowly he bent his head, as if he were giving both of them time to decide if they wanted to do this or not. She didn’t move, afraid he wouldn’t kiss her, afraid he’d decide this marriage wasn’t a good idea after all. Maybe they needed another kiss as reassurance that they were making the right decision.

  When his lips met hers, reassurance turned to desire. He didn’t wait for her to part her lips but he pressed inside, taking her, making her sway toward him, needing to hold on for dear life.

  But then he withdrew, and she looked up at him in need of more reassurance than before
.

  “Good night, Eve,” he said, his voice husky. Then he turned away from her and left the kitchen, leaving her to wonder if she’d ever understand this man she was going to marry.

  “It’s lovely, Eve.”

  Eve was standing on the dais in a large dressing room, looking in the mirror at her reflection. She examined the sweetheart neckline of the wedding gown, the short beaded white sleeves, the dropped waist, the full satin skirt. “I love it, but…”

  “What’s wrong?” Martha Morgan asked gently.

  This morning they had chosen flowers, decided on a wedding cake and had lunch. Eve liked Martha and felt close to her already. This was the second bridal shop. The first one couldn’t promise alterations by Monday. Now Eve answered her soon-to-be mother-in-law. “It’s just that we’re having a small wedding, and maybe I should buy something…simpler.”

  “A woman only gets married once, at least that’s the way it’s supposed to be.”

  Eve turned to face Martha. “I only intend to get married once.”

  The older woman smiled. “Well, then, dear, I think you should buy exactly what you want to buy and everyone else’s opinion be hanged.”

  Eve laughed and turned to look at the gown again. It was exactly everything she wanted in a wedding dress. “All right, I will.”

  Next they picked out a veil. Eve chose a simple headdress beaded like the dress, with fingertip-length tulle. As the sales clerk left the dressing room to box it for her, Martha unbuttoned the tiny buttons on the back of the wedding gown.

  “Thank you so much for helping me decide. It’s times like this when I really miss…” She stopped for a moment. “I really miss my mother.”

  “How long has it been?” Martha asked gently as Eve stepped out of the dress.

  “I was eleven when she died. Sometimes it seems like forever, other times it seems like yesterday.”

  “I know exactly what you mean.” Martha carefully gathered up the wedding dress. “I lost my own mother a few years ago. We lived pretty far from each other, but I always knew she was there if I needed her.” She paused and hung Eve’s gown on its hanger. “I think Hunter has always felt the loss of his biological parents, too.”

  As Eve lifted her emerald coatdress with white piping from a hook and slipped one arm into it, she asked, “But you adopted him when he was very small, didn’t you?”

  “He was eight months old.” Martha’s face took on a pained expression. “But Hunter has always kept himself aloof from us. I’ve done reading on adopted children over the years, and some never feel part of the family who adopts them. But John and I are at fault, too. We tried for years to have children. When we didn’t think we could have babies, we decided to adopt. We were so happy when the boys’ home said they had twin boys who could be ours. Looking back…” She turned and hung Eve’s gown on the hook. “We probably should have handled everything differently.”

  Slowly Eve buttoned her dress, hoping to learn more, but not wanting to be intrusive. “You adopted Hunter but not Slade.”

  “Yes. Several things happened at once. John was offered a job with the company in Montana. The salary wasn’t any better but the chance for advancement was. About the time we were approved for the adoption, I found out I was pregnant, and then Hunter’s twin became seriously ill and was hospitalized.”

  Martha sighed and shook her head. “With the move, a new baby on the way, the orphanage telling us it was better if we didn’t adopt Slade until he was out of the woods, we had to make some decisions. The director at the boys’ home was kind and assured us they’d find a family for Slade when he was well. We knew we were stretching our budget with two new mouths to feed and children to clothe, so we decided to take Hunter and start our new life in Montana. Ever since Hunter found out about Slade, he resents us for that.”

  “You never told him he had a twin?”

  “No. Now I realize we should have. We should have explained our reasons for what we did very early. But within a year, Larry was born and then Jolene came along a year later. Our lives were full and we told ourselves we did the best thing for everyone concerned. And probably everything would have been all right if Larry had been a different type of child. Or if Hunter had been different, for that matter.”

  Eve wondered what Martha meant by that and waited to see if she’d explain.

  Hunter’s mother continued, “We weren’t sure when we should tell Hunter he was adopted. Thirty-two years ago, adoption records were still kept sealed, and it wasn’t spoken about as freely as it is now.”

  “How old was Hunter when you told him?” Eve asked.

  “He was six. By that time, Larry was a handful, always wanting to be the center of attention, always wanting more than Hunter had. Jolene was the baby, requiring most of my care. When we told Hunter what adoption meant, that we had chosen him to be our son, he said in that mature way he has, ‘But Larry and Jolene are your real children. I’m not, right?’”

  Eve could imagine Hunter asking that, and she could only imagine what he felt when he did.

  Smoothing over the folds of Eve’s wedding gown absently, Martha said, “We tried to reassure him that he was indeed ours, too, but as Larry grew older, he seemed to always point out the differences to Hunter. Hunter had blue eyes, everyone else in the family had brown eyes. Larry let Jolene tag along with him and shut Hunter out. We always encouraged Larry to include Hunter, too, but that boy has a mind of his own.”

  Martha shook her head again. “And that’s the way it’s been ever since. I think Hunter saw things that weren’t there. Larry was involved in athletics—mainly football and basketball. Those games were at night, so John and I tried to get to them. Hunter went out for track and the meets were after school. We couldn’t attend most of them. Hunter won awards with the debate team, but Jolene had dance recitals by then.”

  She looked sad and troubled. “I don’t know, Eve. Sometimes I look back on it and I think I wasn’t a good mother to Hunter. John carries his share of the guilt, too. When Slade came searching for Hunter, it was as if everything Hunter had ever believed about us was reinforced. We had left his brother behind.”

  Martha seemed to be unburdening herself by telling Eve. It sounded as if the Morgans had carried a lot of guilt over the years. “But you did love Hunter…and you do now.”

  “Oh, yes. We did and we do, and we’re still hoping that sometime he’ll realize that.”

  After a moment, Eve said, “Thank you for telling me.”

  “Thank you for asking. It means you truly do care about our son.”

  Eve did care about Hunter. Five years ago, for two weeks, she had dated him, talked with him, laughed with him, made love with him and had been afraid to decide her future based on a whirlwind of emotions she’d never known before. If she hadn’t lost their baby…

  She couldn’t think about that now, and it might be better to wait until the wedding preparations and the wedding itself were over before she told Hunter about it. They needed time to get closer…time to begin building a future.

  Hunter had rolled up his white shirtsleeves and looked as sexy as ever as they drove out of the city. He’d come into the apartment, shrugged off his suit coat and tugged off his tie, ready to begin house hunting.

  When they’d left the city behind, he said, “We’re meeting Sheila at the house at seven-thirty.”

  “Sheila?”

  “The real estate agent. Did you eat?”

  Eve had brought home two bags of food from a corner market. “Just some yogurt.”

  He grinned. “Yogurt?”

  “I eat light.” His glance was quick but thorough as it passed over her body, and she felt the thrill of knowing he found her attractive.

  “I called Douglas Creighton this afternoon,” Eve remarked.

  “Who’s he?”

  “My father’s lawyer. I told him we were getting married on Tuesday, and I wanted him to make sure the ownership of the paintings was transferred into your name.”
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br />   “Once we’re married, we’ll both own them.”

  “I offered them to you, Hunter, and I meant it. This way if anything should happen…”

  His voice was steady and deep. “You mean if the marriage shouldn’t work out?”

  She didn’t want to allow for that possibility, but she had to. “They’ll be yours, Hunter, no matter what.”

  He didn’t respond, keeping his eyes on the road ahead of him.

  An hour and a half later, they drove up in front of the fourth house on their list. It was dark now, but a floodlight had been placed on the lawn to illuminate the front. Hunter had been quiet and distant as they’d looked through the first three houses, only asking questions of the agent about the properties. He hadn’t given any hints as to what he liked best, or if one had been to his liking more than another.

  As they parked, this house caught Eve’s eye more completely than the others had. Curves softened the accent lines over doors and windows. She could see it was brick and siding and had a multigabled roofline. The front door was topped by a half-round window.

  “This one has character,” she murmured.

  He looked over at her in the shadows. “You didn’t say much about the others.”

  “Neither did you. What did you think?”

  “The yard was too small with the first one. I didn’t like all the levels of the second one. And the third one didn’t have anything to distinguish it from any other house. But this one…” He stopped.

  Coming around to her side, he opened her door and offered her his hand. She took it. His fingers were warm, his hand large, and she liked the feel of it around hers. But when she stepped up onto the curb, he released her.

  As soon as the agent opened the front door, Eve knew she liked the house. The barrel-vaulted entry led into a family room with a dramatically vaulted ceiling. There was a formal living room and dining room to the left. An open staircase divided the foyer from the family room, breakfast room and kitchen. The white brick fireplace with a raised hearth welcomed them into the family room, and there were beautiful drapes in blue-and-rose flowers in the living room, as well as pin-striped window dressing in rose and cream in the dining room. A short hall led to a suite behind the living room.