Marriage by Mistake by Alyssa Kress Read Free Book Online

wanted. He didn't
have to dwell on the unexpectedly crude side of his nature. She
hadn't called, she wasn't coming. He didn't like the idea of
divorce. It was a sin Dean had promised himself he would never
commit, but in this case it was for the best.
    Quick and clean. Before things got too
embarrassing.
    Dean gathered the papers on the table. He'd
waited until the last minute to leave for the airport, afraid his
eagerness to escape his fate might interfere with his duty. Now
he'd have to rush if he wanted to make his flight.
    He stuffed his papers in his briefcase,
jerked into his jacket, and hoisted his carry-on over his shoulder.
Before he could reach the door, however, there was a knock.
    Dean froze. No. It was just...room service,
yes room service, with that coffee they'd never delivered.
Breathing again, he put his hand on the knob and swung the door
wide.
    It was not room service. His wife stood in
the hall, her nose in the air and an array of mismatched suitcases
laid around her feet.
    Dean's heart did a staggered double-beat.
    "Two months," she said crisply. "We'll give
it a two month trial period. I keep my apartment and take a leave
of absence from my job. I can manage that    barely."
    Dean could hardly hear her for the blood
rushing through his ears. Black pants hugged her hips like a second
skin. A stretchy top did the same for her ripe, perky breasts. "Two
months," he croaked.
    "You were right," she said. "A promise is a
promise." She rolled her shoulders. "At least, it's a promise if
you're the man I made it to."
    The words brought Dean's gaze up from her
body. "Who else would I be?"
    "I don't know." She shrugged again.
" That fellow loved me."
    The blood, so hot, went cold in Dean's veins.
"Pardon me?"
    "You don't." Her eyes averted. "So I'll give
it two months, two months to figure out who you are, to see if
there could be love."
    Dean felt a growl, low in his throat. "I
never said I loved you."
    She looked over at him, surprised. "Sure you
did."
    "When?" Dean challenged.
    She looked down her lashes. "Well, for one
time, right there in our wedding vows."
    He stared at her.
    "So what do you say?" She hitched her purse
higher over her shoulder. "Two months, that's my offer. Take it or
leave it."
    Dean was still staring. She was right. He had
uttered the words. He must have, but    he couldn't have meant them.
    "So?" She narrowed her eyes. "Are you taking
or leaving?"
    Just looking at her, even now, Dean could
feel the lust pull, low down in his gut. Lust, not love. It was
never going to be love , not in a million years.
    The fierceness of her expression began to
wilt. "You could say something."
    He looked at her. Yes, he could say
something. I lied to you. I would have said anything to get you
into bed. To get what I wanted.
    "I'll call a bellhop." Dean turned. "We'll
need help if we hope to make that flight."
     
     
    CHAPTER FOUR
     
    As Kelly walked up the jetway, faux
tiger-skin purse clutched in one hand, she reminded herself this
was only going to be two short months of her life. She'd fly to
Boston with the guy, cohabit with him in some safe fashion, and
then be done with the whole moral quagmire. She started down the
aisle of the plane.
    A dark voice rumbled behind her. "We're
here."
    Kelly suppressed a shiver at the timbre of
that voice, and its false familiarity. "Here? Oh, you mean the
row." She stopped to glance at the number above the seats. "Four?"
They were barely inside the plane.
    "That's right," Dean said. "Would you like
the window or the aisle seat?"
    Kelly looked down at the spacious upholstered
seats and the little table between them. Oh, she realized, first
class.
    "Um, I like to look out the window," she
answered. Hugging her purse to her chest, Kelly shouldered her way
to the seat. She didn't check to see what Dean was doing. So far
she'd managed to get by without looking him square in the face
since their conversation outside his hotel room door. It was all
too bizarre. He shared