Lawful Wife (Eternal Bachelors Club) by Tina Folsom Read Free Book Online

Danny!” His mother pressed her hand against her chest, clearly shocked. “An escort service? Why? You’re better than that!”
    “I know. But, I had a big reception to attend, and I didn’t want to go alone. You both know how I hate those social events where every gold-digging socialite tries to dig her claws into me. And after what happened with Audrey, I didn’t want to spend the evening fending off women like her. So, I hired an escort to go with me.” He shoved his hand through his already messy hair. “I made it very clear to Tim that I only wanted her to pretend to be my girlfriend so that those single women at the reception stayed away from me.”
    “And Tim sent you Sabrina? You mean Sabrina really was an escort?” his father asked.
    “Yes. No!” He stared into his parents’ confused faces. “Tim sent me Sabrina, but she was pretending to be an escort. It’s complicated.” How could he tell the story without revealing that Holly was in fact an escort? He couldn’t betray her confidence like that.
    “I don’t understand. Why would Sabrina pretend that she’s an escort?”
    “Tim first wanted to set me up on a blind date. I told him no blind dates. I was done with women for a while. I didn’t want another messy relationship. So I guess Tim and Holly figured that they’d get me to go out with Sabrina nevertheless. So they concocted this whole elaborate scheme and told Sabrina to pretend to be an escort. But that it was really kind of a blind date.” Well, it wasn’t the entire truth, but it was close enough to the truth.
    “I liked Sabrina from the moment I met her. Hell, I paid to see her again the next night. We fell in love.” Daniel shook his head. “It was all very confusing at the beginning. But the point I’m trying to make here is that Sabrina is not a call girl. She never was.”
    “I’m not sure what to say.” His father stood and went to the mini bar in the corner. He poured himself a drink and took a sip.
    “I still don’t understand how Audrey fits into all of this. Obviously this was a private arrangement between Tim and Holly. No escort agency was involved. They were just playing,” Raffaela said, her forehead furrowed.
    “Audrey didn’t handle the breakup well. She convinced herself that I was going to take her back. So she showed up at my hotel room in San Francisco when Sabrina and I were . . . ” He glanced at his father who seemed to understand instantly. He didn’t have to spell it out. “I don’t know how Audrey could have found out that Sabrina was pretending to be an escort. The only people who knew were Tim, Holly, Sabrina, and myself. She must have been suspicious when she found me and Sabrina together in the hotel room two days after our breakup. I guess she figured for me to find somebody so quickly, she would have to be a call girl.”
    Daniel huffed. “Hell, it’s not the first time that she’s tried to sabotage my relationship with Sabrina. Audrey is an insanely jealous woman and she can’t accept the fact that I’m going to marry Sabrina. Audrey knows I’d never come back to her, so she’s out for revenge. I don’t know how she managed to convince the reporter of her lies, but she must have fabricated something. And I’m going to find out what it is.”
    “How are you going to do that?” his mother asked.
    “I went to Audrey’s apartment to confront her, but her housekeeper told me that Audrey left a couple of days ago, and she doesn’t know where to or when she’ll be back. But I’m going to find her.”
    “Even if you find Audrey, do you really think she’ll just confess to lying?” his father asked.
    “Of course not, but I’ll find a way to force her to admit to her lies. In the meantime I’m going to threatened to sue the paper for libel. I’ve already spoken to my attorney on the drive home. He’s contacting legal counsel at the New York Times and will be threatening them with a lawsuit.”
    “You realize that this