Marriage by Mistake by Alyssa Kress Read Free Book Online Page B

He was
careful to keep his hands off, though those hands longed to touch
and lay claim. Thank God, Jackson and the car were already waiting
at the curb. The porter was there as well, loading their luggage
into the trunk. Dean only had to spend the time it would take to
drive home with the woman. He could manage that.
    "Oh, my word," Kelly muttered.
    She was staring. Dean saw nothing but Jackson
and the car, with the porter loading the trunk. "What is it?" he
asked.
    She shot him a glance. "That doesn't look
unusual to you?"
    "Doesn't what look unusual?"
    She merely raised her brows.
    Dean didn't get it. Hadn't she seen
limousines in Las Vegas? Indeed, she must have viewed outfits far
more ostentatious than his. Meanwhile, Kelly pulled from the shadow
of his control and approached Jackson, hand outstretched. "Hi! I'm
Kelly. How do you do?"
    Jackson flashed a quizzical glance in Dean's
direction, then turned to accept the lady's handshake. "Uh, how do
you do?" He released Kelly's hand to open the back door. "Sir," he
said to Dean.
    "Jackson." Dean ushered his wife into the
car, still wondering how she'd expected them to get home.
    In the car, Kelly settled onto the seat and
turned to face Dean. He immediately forgot his limo question in
view of her obvious intent to converse. His hand jumped to his
inside jacket pocket. "Excuse me." He withdrew his cell phone. "I
have some calls to make."
    The way she stared made him fear she was
going to have the moxie to object. But she only pressed her lips
together and turned to look out the window.
    Dean managed to busy himself with the phone
all the way out past the suburbs. But when they arrived at the
wrought iron gates of the family estate, he found himself
perversely curious about her reaction. What would she think of the
home he was providing her? He pocketed his cell phone as they drove
through. Fortunately, she was too intent on the twisting drive to
notice his attention. He could see her strain to see the lines of
the house in the distance.
    When the place finally appeared through a
break in the trees, her brows shot way up. She turned to him.
" This is your house?"
    Dean stared at her. He could swear she was
implying the place was deficient. With fifteen bedrooms, twenty
bathrooms, and thirty thousand square feet of premium interior
decoration, the house was hardly deficient in any way. At least,
that's what Kirk's third wife had said, the one who'd needled
Dean's father into tearing down the ancestral manse to build the
place. "It's supposed to resemble a Roman villa," Dean informed
Kelly stiffly.
    "Well, it doesn't."
    Dean was at a loss. Every one of his father's
brides had gushed over the house. But Kelly looked at him with a
trace of...pity?
    Dean's brows dove. Oh no, he wasn't going to
take pity from the likes of her    Then a glance
out the window told him it didn't matter what Kelly thought.
Jackson was pulling into the circular drive before the front
entrance. Dean was about to see the back of her, at least for the
time being. Yes, in just a few minutes, with some well-placed
commands to his staff, he would be quit of her.
    Dean was sure he'd regain his customary
equilibrium once out of her presence.
    But as soon as he stepped out of the car,
Dean knew it wasn't going to happen the way he'd planned. He
squinted. "Where is everybody?"
    Jackson cleared his throat. Dean turned
around, still squinting.
    "Ahem," Jackson said. "I was instructed not
to alarm you, sir, before you got back home, but the child is
missing. Again."
    Dean said nothing. He was too completely
dismayed. It wasn't that Robby had taken off; the kid did that too
often for panic. But he wasn't going to be able to deliver his set
of well-thought-out orders. He wasn't going to be able to sink back
into the car and depart from the woman now standing by his side,
her hands on her hips.
    "Who?" she asked. "Who's missing?"
    Dean kept his gaze on Jackson. "Troy," he
snapped. "Where is he?"
    Jackson coughed into