“That’s true. The next part I’ll leave up to you.” He glanced across at her then back out the windshield as he made his way through traffic to the office to get the license. No point waiting for that and making them delay getting married even longer. “We could start out as we’ll continue and just shack up for the next three days, get a head start on that family.” He glanced over at her and noticed she’d gone white. “But I think it would be better if we wait, at least until things are legal.”
“I think I agree with that. It would give us a chance to get to know each other a little too.”
“Now for another decision, this one I’ll leave entirely up to you.” He glanced over again and found she’d regained her color and was watching him with interest. “I can get you a hotel room and you can stay there, or my place has plenty of room. I’ve got two bedrooms and you’re welcome to take the other for yourself until the wedding.”
“I think I should probably just stay at your place. I don’t have money for a hotel.”
As they sat at a red light, Sean frowned and looked over at her.
“I told you I would get it. If you would be more comfortable in a hotel, then I’ll get you a room. And I’ll pay for it. The cost is not what I’m worried about.” He kept glancing back at the road, then the light changed and he had to pay closer attention to driving.
“All right. Can I think about it first?” She bit her lip and looked away, as if unsure what she wanted.
“Of course you can. I’d even be happy to show you my place before you decide.”
Sabrina fell silent and he drove. He stole several glances at her as he made his way through traffic. While she wasn’t classically beautiful, with her golden skin and shining dark hair that curled around her face, she was more than a little cute. He still didn’t quite understand why she would choose to become a mail-order-bride. Surely she could have found what she was looking for without going to that extreme. But then again, so could he, if he’d been willing to be patient and wait for the right person to come along. Impatience, he found, could be quite a motivator.
Thirty minutes after he’d pulled out of the lot at the airport he parked in front of the county clerk’s office. Not the main office, but one of several scattered around the county that made it convenient to stay legal. He wondered how things were going to go and how long this would take.
Chapter 4
The man she’d just met, yet was going to marry in a matter of days had been quiet for the last fifteen minutes and Sabrina wondered what her fiancé was thinking. The longer Sean remained silent the more nervous she got. Maybe he was having second thoughts? Maybe he had gotten one look at her and decided this wasn’t what he wanted to do. She’d hoped he’d speak up and send her back before it got this far if that was how he’d felt after seeing her, but it hadn’t happened, at least not so far. She wished again she’d looked up the marriage laws in Texas, but it was too late now. If she looked it up now it would look like she didn’t trust him, and that was no way to start a life together.
Sean pulled the full-sized pickup, which had surprised her a little only because it was used and worn looking, as well as the only truck in the lot. Considering this was Texas — and that he was in construction — it shouldn’t have been a surprise. He found a parking spot and together they went into the single floor, generic government looking building with the words Harris County Court House Annex on the side. It didn’t take them long to find the right office, then they took a number and waited their turn. She wanted to ask him more about his place and about him, but hesitated. She didn’t want it to look like they were strangers while buying a marriage license. It just seemed…wrong. Not to mention indiscreet.
Instead, she sat with one ankle tucked behind the other and her hands folded on her bag in her lap, aware of the man sitting beside her in a way she wasn’t sure she’d ever been aware of anyone, except maybe Billy MacPhearson. He’d been a senior while she was a sophomore in high school. As home-coming king, captain of all the teams, not to mention prom king, there was no way he’d even known her name. He was too involved with Tiffany Drennan. But Sabrina knew his. He was her first crush and she had mooned over him for months. Her heart had fluttered every time he’d even looked in her direction, much like it did now when Sean looked her way. Somehow, even the butterflies in her stomach knew this was different. This time the other person, Sean, not only knew who she was, but was planning to marry her — and more. If only she could keep him from changing his mind in the next three days.
“Have you thought about what you want in the way of a wedding?” he asked after they’d been sitting, waiting for about twenty minutes.
“I don’t want anything big.” She shook her head, hoping he wouldn’t push.
“Small is doable. Do you want your family to come?”
Her face heated under his gaze. “No. They don’t know where I am or what I’m doing.”
“Why not?” He frowned and tilted his head to one side, as if that worried him.
“They don’t understand me. They think I should find a job and a man there close and have the same life they’ve always led.” Her face flamed. She knew she was blushing bright red. “I could do that, but then nothing will change. I want something different, not just for me but for my children.”
Sean nodded slowly. He was surprised to find someone who wanted basically what he did. Every woman he’d dated that he’d told what he was after had accused him of being archaic and a cave-man. Basically, they’d told him he wanted a woman who would stay barefoot and pregnant, chained to the kitchen and that wasn’t it at all. “Wow. Thank you for telling me. I think you’re the woman I’ve been searching for, in all the wrong places, for years.” He looked away, scanning the room before looking at her again. “What about the ceremony? Do you care if it’s a religious or civil one?”
“I hadn’t considered it.” She fell silent for several long seconds, then spoke again. “I suppose since it hadn’t crossed my mind, then it doesn’t matter to me. Would you be able to find a clergyman willing to marry us on such short notice without classes or something?”
It was his turn to fall silent.
“I’ll see what I can do,” he said after a little while. They sat a little while longer, then their number was called. They filled out the paperwork, showed their ID’s and after several minutes, walked out, license in hand. Sean unlocked the truck with a remote as they approached the truck then opened her door for her. That was something she would have to get used to, but it wasn’t something she minded, then went around and got in the other side.
“Now I’ll show you my place.” He started the truck and she wondered how long it would take to get there. Somehow, she imagined he lived in a small cottage with an old west decor, more authentic than designed. He’d said he grew up in Dallas, otherwise it would probably be a family home. Not sure what to expect, she settled in, but her mind wouldn’t let her fully relax. What would his home be like and would she be able to stay fully separate from him for three whole days? She cut a glance at the handsome man next to her and licked her suddenly dry lips. Only time would tell…
Chapter 5
Sean glanced over at Sabrina as he made his way toward the penthouse. He’d deliberately not told her where he lived. He’d not said house or apartment or anything other than his place. He wanted to see her reaction when he pulled up in front of the building and handed the truck over to the valet. He mostly believed that she didn’t know about his business, but was she expecting the kind of money he had? The kind of lifestyle he lived? His only hope was that she didn’t lie well, and her reaction would be written across her face for him, and anyone else, to see. She seemed absorbed in checking out the city as they passed, and he refrained from asking too many questions. They would have time for that later.
Thirty minutes after they left the courthouse annex, Sean pulled the pickup into the valet area at One Park Place and put it in park. He looked over at his bride to be and found her stari
ng at him with wide eyes.
“Here?”
He couldn’t help but smile. “Here.” He opened his door while the valet opened hers. Sean grabbed her bags from the rear of the truck and turned them over to the doorman. “Have these delivered upstairs for me, please.”
“Yes, sir.”
Sean turned back to find Sabrina looking around, her eyes wide, as if she’d never seen anything like this.
“Come on.” He waited until she realized he was talking to her then led her through the ground floor to the elevators. He waited during the ride up, expecting her to say something, but she never did. The elevator doors opened on the 39th floor and they walked down the short hall with only five doors. He unlocked his and stood aside to let her in. She stood in the small hallway that was the entrance, watching him. “This way.”
Sean showed her through the apartment, well, penthouse, not just the main living space, but the whole thing, all three thousand square feet.
“Wow. This is more room than I grew up in, and there were six of us.”
“Six?”
“Yeah, I have a sister and three brothers.”
Sean blinked then looked at her. “Was one of your parents absent?”
“My dad left when I was eight. Mom worked her ass off to make it work.” She shook her head. “I got to see first-hand what it was like without someone home. I want better for my kids.” Her eyes were wide as she looked around.
“My mom was home with us. I know it’s not the in thing now, but it’s what I want for my kids as well. I’m glad you’re on the same page.” He went to one large window in the living room. The blinds and curtains were open, overlooking the large pool area and downtown Houston far below them. “Come see this.” He waited until she came to stand beside him then pointed to a building about a block away. It was tall, almost as tall as the one they were in and not square and without personality like most of the buildings on the street. “See that one? The kind of rounded one?”
“Yes.”
“That’s where my office is.”
She looked at him a moment, her mouth hanging open. He wanted to lean over and kiss her, but was afraid of how she might react, at least so soon.
“Is your office really that close?”
“It is. Unfortunately, I don’t spend as much time there as Harriet and some others would like.”
Sabrina frowned. “If you’re not at the office, where are you?”
Sean turned away from the window and walked the length of the room before turning and looking at her again. “I admit. I’m bad about the office. I grew up swinging a hammer and my first love is being on the job site.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that,” she said with a shrug. “Learning to delegate and who is best at what job is part of doing it right. As long as you make sure the work gets done, you don’t have to do it all yourself.” She looked back out the window toward the building with his office. “Besides, I can’t imagine being stuck behind a desk all day. It would be immensely boring.”
“See, that’s how I feel.” He watched her for a few minutes, tilting his head to one side. “I get wanting to be here to raise your kids, but you don’t have them yet. What do you do to fill your days?”
Sabrina shook her head and looked at the floor.
“I’m a blogger,” she said in a soft voice.
“A blogger?” Sean wasn’t sure he’d heard her right.
She nodded.
“What do you write about?” He hoped it wasn’t politics, not that that would be a deal breaker, but it could make life a little more incendiary.
“Books and movies.”
“I guess the movies and books would keep you busy.”
“They do and it’s flexible. I can do it pretty much anywhere. I can travel or work around pretty much anything.”
“Does that make much money?”
“Enough to get by, but nothing to brag about.”
He thought about it for a few seconds, he’d insisted on someone who didn’t want a career, but this wasn’t a career, it was more like a hobby, at least in his mind. Like cooking, reading or knitting. “If you want to continue, I don’t see why you shouldn’t, but you don’t have to. I don’t know how much time you’ll have once we start having children.”
She looked down then met his gaze. “That’s something I wanted to ask you about.”
“What?” He wondered what seemed to be bothering her now.
“What if we get married and all that, then I can’t get pregnant. What if I can’t have kids?”
“Do you have some reason to think that? Some illness that might prevent you having babies?” Sean frowned. He didn’t like the idea that she might not be able to have his children, or that she could be ill in any way.
“No, I just don’t want to leave the possibility uncovered. I like to know where things are going and be able to plan and feel confident in what’s going to happen.” She shook her head slowly. “I don’t like when things don’t work the way I planned, but if I have alternatives figured in advance, it’s not so difficult.”
Sean sighed and sat on the sofa beside her. He hadn’t really thought about the possibility that they couldn’t have children, but now that she’d brought it up, he realized that it was a possibility, not just with her, but him as well. No man liked to think they might be infertile, but it happened all too often. He watched her for a moment.
“I don’t know. I hadn’t even thought about it.” He let the idea roll around in his head for several seconds. He could divorce her and try again with a second wife, but what if it wasn’t her issue? “I’d like to ask you the same thing. If for some reason, we can’t have kids, what would you like to do?”
She turned and looked at the glass window, her lips pressed thin. “I’ve thought about it a lot. It’s one of the hazards of being the kind of over-thinker I am. There are a lot of options. We could do the specialist thing, maybe in vitro, and all the infertility treatments, but what if none of it works? What if no matter what we try, I can’t get pregnant? Or if something happens once I do?” Sabrina sighed and turned back to look at him. “I realize I’m being silly. I’m worrying over things that are only a possibility and slim ones at that. I can’t help it.”
“No, you’re right. It’s a good idea to discuss it, to know where we each stand before we get married.” He took a deep breath and thought about what she was saying for a moment. Infertility was something that had never crossed his mind that Sabrina had thought about it, and considered all the options, made him realize how serious she was about this. “I suppose, if you’re open to it, we could look into adoption.”
Her eyes went wide. “You would consider that? You aren’t insisting on children of your own?”
“Well, I’d like them to be mine, to be related by blood, but if we end up adopting, that doesn’t make them any less mine. If I raise them, then they’re mine.”
Sabrina’s shoulders dropped, she instantly became more comfortable and Sean realized she’d been holding herself tense, as if waiting for him to say the wrong thing. Somehow, he knew he hadn’t. He’d said what she was hoping to hear. That sent a rush of heat through him and again, he wanted to lean in and kiss her. Her soft heart made him want to kiss away her worry.
The ringing of his cell phone saved him from doing something stupid. He pulled it out and found the call was Harriet. “I’ve got to take this.”
Sabrina nodded. Sean stood and answered the call, and when it was over turned back to his fiancée.
“That was Harriet. I’ve got a few meetings this afternoon that couldn’t be postponed. Why don’t you make yourself at home? Unpack and help yourself to anything you’d like in the place. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Will you be all right here?”
“I don’t need a babysitter. Go, handle your business, I’ll be fine.”
He thought about kissing her goodbye, but decided she might not yet be ready for that and left, walking the block to his office building like he usuall
y did. What wasn’t normal was that his thoughts kept drifting back to her.
Chapter 6
Sabrina wandered through the huge penthouse wondering why one person needed this much space, especially if he spent as much time gone as he’d said. The place was spotlessly clean except for a small pile of mail on the kitchen bar. She wondered if he kept it that way himself or if he had a service come in and clean for him. There didn’t appear to be even a speck of dust, yet he’d said he’d come in the night before after having been out of town for a week. He had to have someone come in and clean. Knowing what she knew about most men, she wondered if they did laundry too.
Sean had said to make herself at home, so she wandered through, opening doors and cabinets. She even looked in the refrigerator and found there wasn’t much there, but the milk was fresh, and unopened. She’d noticed a grocery store and restaurant on the ground floor as they’d come through and wondered if he’d had whoever cleaned for him pick up what was there or if he did it himself. That would be something she wouldn’t mind doing, at least until she had to haul a couple little ones with her.
Going from room to room she admired the neat, crisp look of the place when she found herself in his bedroom. She started to leave, but something stopped her. Instead she went to the unmade bed. It appeared the housekeeper either didn’t come in every day or hadn’t been here yet, and smoothed her hand over the sheet, half expecting silk. She was surprised to find they were cotton, high end, and she had no doubt expensive, but still cotton. She looked around and was surprised that his clothes from the night before had been dropped in the laundry basket, not left on the floor, then she went into the attached bathroom and was blown away at the sheer size. It was bigger than her last apartment, well, almost. With a huge tub and a shower stall, she thought she could spend a week in there, only leaving to get food.
Billionaire Bachelor: Sean (Diamond Bridal Agency Book 7) Page 2