LITMIR.BIZ

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listened. “No need for sarcasm. She’s worth more than her weight in gold. Oh, and Felix? Call Simon as soon as you get my fax.” There was a long pause as he listened. “All right,” he agreed with some reluctance. “Take the Lear and meet us at the courthouse in Reno at nine. You can hand deliver the marriage certificate to my uncle.”

      He folded the compact phone and stuffed it into his pocket.

      “I don’t have a cat.”

      “I beg your pardon?”

      “I said I don’t—”

      “That was rhetorical. Get your coat,” he said, impatiently buttoning his own. He tossed a twenty on the table.

      “I don’t have a coat, either.”

      “You don’t have a coat?”

      “Gee, is there an echo in here?”

      Scowling, he removed his coat and tossed it to her. “Put this on and let’s get this over with.”

      “Wow, you certainly know how to bowl a girl over with sweet talk.” The wool coat smelled of him. It was thick and dark, and held the scent of potent male and fresh citrusy cologne. Jessie’s insides turned to mush. She had that standing-on-the-highest-diving-board feeling. Exhilarating, thrilling terror.

      “Christ.” He watched as she turned off lights. “I must be more tired and desperate than I thought.”

      Jessie froze with the keys in her hand. “Listen, bub, I didn’t come in here on my knees begging you, did I? Make up your mind.” The keys dug into her soft palm. “Well?” She glared at him. “Do you want to marry me or not?”

      He looked down at her. “God help me. Yes.”

      AT 9:45, Joshua slapped the marriage certificate into the hands of his lawyer, Felix Montgomery.

      At 9:46, he walked out of the courthouse.

      He did not look at Jessie once.

      Prince Charming didn’t even kiss the bride.

      1

      December

       Seven Years Later

      PARTY GUESTS, dressed in holiday finery, ebbed and flowed through Simon Falcon’s home. From a safe distance, Jessie watched her husband scan the festive throng with pale, bored eyes. Born to wear the stark black tux and crisp pleated shirt, every immaculate inch of him screamed wealth and bone-deep self-confidence. With his aristocratic features and go-to-hell eyes, he was like a king surveying his kingdom. And the dangerous edge of his sex appeal was universal enough to make every female head turn.

      Seven years hadn’t changed him. But she’d changed considerably. No way would Joshua recognize the woman he only knew as his absentee waitress-wife, Vera. And only she knew her sophistication was nothing more than a thin patina. Her standards were now extremely, and friends told her, unreasonably, high. So be it. She was perfectly content with her life just the way it was, thank you very much. There was only one thing she wanted from Joshua Falcon.

      Their marriage had given him control of Falcon International. Now it was her turn to get something she desperately wanted from their marriage.

      More than anything on earth, Jessie wanted a child.

      And Joshua was going to make that dream come true.

      He’d promised to give her whatever she wanted more than anything else in the world.

      Now she was collecting.

      A couple of months ago Jessie had instructed her lawyer to inform her husband she was ready to make her request. Joshua had complied immediately. He’d offered to pay for the insemination process at the in-vitro fertilization clinic of Vera’s choosing.

      Jessie wasn’t sure what she’d expected him to do. But sending her off to a clinic to accept some stranger’s donation wasn’t it! The whole point here was that she wanted her husband’s baby.

      The good news was he obviously had no interest in children, nor did he want anything to do with any progeny. Which was fine and dandy with Jessie. What he didn’t want, he wouldn’t take away.

      She squared her shoulders and took a fortifying sip of wine. Exhilaration made her heart pump harder. She resisted the urge to run her hands over her hips to make sure the silk jersey wasn’t bunched anywhere, then righted the circlet of holly she’d woven into a wreath for her hair. Feeling like a gunslinger checking his holster, she choked back a laugh.

      The smile died on her lips as she caught Joshua’s gaze, holding it, although it took every ounce of her newfound sophistication to do so. Her chin lifted a notch and she saw his lips twitch. Their eyes locked as he started across the room toward her. Blood pounded in her ears. Forty feet…thirty feet…don’t talk to him, lady!…eighteen feet…

      Joshua was taller, fitter, better looking than any other man in the room. Her heart pounded so hard she barely felt the individual beats. Everything about him assaulted her senses as he moved inexorably toward her. Adrenaline raced in effervescent bubbles through her bloodstream. The wine was tasteless as she took a gulp then held the cool glass against her hot cheek. Sixteen feet…

      Simon almost gave her heart failure as he came up beside her and circled his arms around her waist. She hadn’t noticed his approach. He kissed her cheek. “You look like a Christmas angel in that red dress, honey. What are you staring at so intently— Oh, Joshua’s here.”

      “Stay, Simon.” Jessie held on to his arm like a life-line. “Just long enough to introduce us, okay?”

      “Are you sure you know what you’re doing, Jessie?”

      She’d fibbed to Joshua’s uncle, only telling him half her plan. Her laugh sounded strained even to her own ears. “No.”

      For seven years she’d imagined making love with Joshua. She’d dreamed about it. Longed for it. Ached for it. Every time she read about him, either in the business section of the newspaper or a sleazy tabloid, Jessie had wished she were the woman on Joshua’s arm. In his bed.

      She’d tried unsuccessfully to banish her husband from her mind and heart while putting her nose to the grindstone in the intervening years. She’d finished high school, gone to college, all the while carefully managing to avoid him. Until tonight.

      Now there was method to her madness.

      The physical attraction she was experiencing was as powerful, as terrifying now as it had been all those years ago in the diner. Lust made her mission easier. And if the feelings were reciprocated…

      It had taken forever, yet, in a second, he was right there within touching distance. His cologne was more subtle, more sophisticated, than she remembered, but the base scent, the essence of the man, remained. She’d never felt more female in her life as Joshua’s hot gaze burned through the thin silk of her dress to the pulsing skin beneath.

      “Simon.” Joshua greeted his uncle, his voice low and husky, his eyes on Jessie.

      “Joshua.” Simon sounded atypically jovial as he clasped his nephew’s hand. “How’re you doing, son?”

      “Introduce me to the lady.” Joshua watched the sunrise of a blush paint her cheeks as he allowed the heat of his gaze to travel slowly from her lush mouth to her eyes and back to her mouth. A cloud of dark, Raphaelite curls framed her face and drifted about her shoulders as she looked up at him. Her brows, dark and silky, formed a gentle arch above eyes of sparkling chocolate brown.

      Joshua had reluctantly accepted Simon’s heavy-handed invitation to the Christmas party. He didn’t do Christmas. For a second when he’d spotted the dark-haired beauty beside his uncle, he’d imagined she was Simon’s surprise. Considering every surprise he’d ever had at this time of year was a bad one, and familiar with his uncle’s wily manipulations, he’d almost turned around and driven up to his cabin in Tahoe

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