The Wedding Planners

Planning perfect weddings…

finding happy endings!

It’s the biggest and most important day of a woman’s life—and it has to be perfect.

At least that’s what the Wedding Belles believe, and that’s why they’re Boston’s top wedding-planner agency. But amidst the beautiful bouquets, divine dresses and rose-petal confetti, these six wedding planners long to be planning their own big day!

But first they have to find Mr. Right….

This month:

The Heir’s Convenient Wife

by Myrna Mackenzie

Photographer: Regina’s wedding album is perfect.

Now she needs her husband to say I love you!

And don’t miss the exciting wedding-planner tips and author reminiscences that accompany each book!

Myrna remembers her own wedding through the photos that mean so much to her:

“When I realized that I would be writing a story about a wedding photographer, I felt a special connection, not because I’m a photographer, but because wedding photographers record stories much as writers do.

Of course, I had to pull out my own wedding photos and live the story over again. There we were, my friends and I, getting ready for our walk down the aisle, pulling out cans of hair spray and fastening each other into our dresses. There’s my husband with his brothers, clowning around for the photographer. There he is playing tennis that morning. It’s a day that’s frozen in time, caught on film forever, the beginning of a story. There we are, my husband and I, smiling as we begin our new adventure together.

Not everyone in those photos is still in my life, of course. Lives change, people move and sometimes we just forget to stay in touch. But during the course of writing this book, an old friend I hadn’t seen in a long time, who had been my maid of honor (and I hers), called me out of the blue. It was coincidence, but it made me think about my wedding and the turns our lives had taken since that day (my husband and I happily continue the adventure, but I don’t use hair spray anymore. He still plays tennis.).

Wedding photos do tell stories, and now and then it’s good to look at them and remember how a fairy tale begins. Once upon a time there was a man and a woman who met, not realizing they would get married, but did….

Or…in the case of Regina and Dell, the hero and heroine of my story: Once upon a time there was a man and a woman who never thought they would stay married….”

For Myrna’s latest news, visit www.myrnamackenzie.com.

And don’t miss http://harlequin-theweddingplanners.blogspot.com for more wedding fun!

The Heir’s Convenient Wife
Myrna Mackenzie

TORONTO • NEW YORK • LONDON

AMSTERDAM • PARIS • SYDNEY • HAMBURG

STOCKHOLM • ATHENS • TOKYO • MILAN • MADRID

PRAGUE • WARSAW • BUDAPEST • AUCKLAND

Planning perfect weddings…finding happy endings!

In April: Sweetheart Lost and Found

by Shirley Jump

Florist: Will Callie catch a bouquet and reunite with her childhood sweetheart?

In May: The Heir’s Convenient Wife

by Myrna Mackenzie

Photographer: Regina’s wedding album is perfect. Now she needs her husband to say I love you!

In June: SOS Marry Me!

by Melissa McClone

Designer: Serena’s already made her dress, but a rebel has won her heart….

In July: Winning the Single Mom’s Heart

by Linda Goodnight

Chef: Who will Natalie cut her own wedding cake with?

In August: Millionaire Dad, Nanny Needed!

by Susan Meier

Accountant: Will Audra’s budget for the big day include a millionaire groom?

In September: The Bridegroom’s Secret

by Melissa James

Planner: Julie’s always been the wedding planner—will she ever be the bride?

Regina is the photographer at the Wedding Belles.
Here are her tips on how to get picture-perfect
memories from your big day:

  Shop around. Photographs are more than a simple record of an event. Different photographers have different styles, so visit several and examine their work to make sure that your wedding day images will be all you want them to be.

  Plan ahead. Photographs are the story of your wedding. Where do you want that story to begin? The shower? The rehearsal dinner? A wedding breakfast? Be clear and make your needs known.

  Your photographer will probably have ideas for places to take shots of the wedding party, but consider scouting out areas on your own. Think of places that have special significance to you and your groom, especially places you might want to return to on subsequent anniversaries for an annual photo to chronicle your special relationship.

  In this digital age, it’s possible to choose only perfect photos, but consider the fact that some of the less-than-perfect moments may be the most precious. So don’t discard a photo just because it’s not a flawless moment. Look for the real and heartfelt shots, not just the pretty ones. This is the story of your day, and you’ll want to cherish every tear and every smile.

  Take lots of photos, even more than you think you’ll want. If you can’t afford all professional shots, enlist friends. There is so much that you, as the bride, will miss, that you’ll want tons of pictures to record those special times that may slip your notice. A wedding day is a one-time opportunity, so this is a case of more is better than less.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER ONE

IT WAS a hot day in Boston when the curtain finally lifted from Regina Landers O’Ryan’s eyes and she realized that she had made the biggest mistake of her life nearly a year ago. Now, because of her mistake, marrying the wrong man—or rather allowing him to marry her—her husband was paying the price. That had become clear this past week.

“Well, no more,” she whispered to herself as she watched the clock hands move forward. Dell would be home soon. Normally she wasn’t here when he arrived. She usually stayed in the darkroom developing photos for The Wedding Belles, the business where she and her friends worked making wedding dreams for other people come true.

The irony of the situation didn’t escape Regina. Her business dealt in the kind of romantic dreams she no longer believed in. Still, she wasn’t the one at issue.

Dell might still find the woman he would have chosen had he been given a choice. It was long past time to free her husband from his bonds.

Regina sat down to wait.

The minute Dell walked through the door of the tasteful mansion where he’d lived his whole life, he knew that something was different. And it wasn’t the ghosts of old O’Ryan aristocrats that were raising the hair on the back of his neck.

Regina was perched in the hallway on a Victorian settee that had been in his family for generations and was just as uncomfortable as it looked. That in itself set off warning bells. Regina was never waiting for him when he got home. She rose to meet him now.

He looked into her concerned brown eyes. She was holding a sheath of papers.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“We need to talk.” Her soft voice came out unevenly.

“We need to talk now,” she repeated, clearing her throat and managing to sound firm and determined though she was clearly on edge.

“I see.”

She shook her head. “No, you don’t, but I do. Finally.”

Regina held out her hand and he saw that the top sheet was a page torn out of a local magazine. “Have you seen this?” she asked.

He hadn’t. The publication masqueraded as an event guide for the city of Boston, but the real draw was the bits of gossip sprinkled throughout its pages.

Dell lifted a brow. “Not my usual cup of tea.”

She blushed slightly, and Dell realized that he’d rarely seen her blush. But then, he didn’t really know Regina all that well. Their brief marriage had been entered into hastily for the sake of convenience, and they had spent very little time together. Like his parents had, they occupied this house as virtual strangers. But the delicate pink that tinted Regina’s cheeks and dipped into the shadows at the vee of her pale yellow blouse definitely made him aware of her in ways he hadn’t been when he’d entered the room. That was a surprise. It was also obviously bad timing.

Regina nodded, and for a moment Dell wondered if she had read his mind. “No, I suppose this wouldn’t be the kind of thing a man like you might read,” she said, “but I’ve verified the facts. They’re true.”

She turned away, her voice muffled, but she held her head high, her straight brown hair brushing her shoulders. Regina was a woman with generous curves, but she seemed thinner than he remembered her being when she’d fallen into his world just over a year ago. Was it any wonder? She’d been through a lot these past few months.

Dell rubbed a hand over his jaw. If Regina had suffered unhappiness, the blame was partly because of events that he had unintentionally set in motion. “You’ve verified the facts? So, tell me what they are, Regina.” His voice came out too rough, and she turned to face him again.

“You were well on your way to marrying Elise Allenby when you—when we—”

“When we wed,” he offered.

“Yes, but you did that to help me. You were supposed to marry Elise. Everyone was expecting an engagement announcement from the two of you. I didn’t know. If I had, I wouldn’t have—at least I hope I wouldn’t have said yes.” Distress filled her voice.

“Don’t do that, Regina,” he commanded. “You didn’t destroy my love life if that’s what you’re thinking, and Elise and I hadn’t even discussed marriage. I’m not a heartbroken man.” But she was right in a way. Before the events of the past year had changed everything, he had wondered if he should deepen his relationship with Elise. It had been a purely practical consideration. Dell had never been a romantic man. His life revolved around the O’Ryan empire, and Elise came from a highly respected family and was an intelligent and beautiful woman. She knew how to conduct herself at events and would have graced his table admirably when he had to entertain. He hadn’t done any entertaining since his marriage to Regina.

But that had been his choice and not Regina’s fault. He hadn’t wanted to make demands given the circumstances. He hadn’t felt he’d had the right to demand anything of her.

“Is she a heartbroken woman?” Regina asked, lifting her chin.

He blinked. “I don’t know.” What he didn’t tell her was that Elise had come to his office the day after he’d married Regina in a private ceremony. It was the most emotional he had ever seen Elise. It was, in fact, the only time he’d seen Elise give vent to her emotions. But that had been almost a year ago. Still, it rankled that in trying to keep from hurting one woman he might have inadvertently hurt another.

Dell grimaced. “Why is this rag writing that kind of story now?” he demanded, taking a different tack. “It’s old news.”

“It’s not old news to me. I don’t want to think that I might have been the cause of another woman’s pain.”

“You weren’t. It wasn’t like that.” Dell took a step toward her. “Elise might have thought we would eventually marry—others might have thought that as well—but I never suggested that to her. And if there had been reason…if I had made promises or if she’d been pregnant, I would have done what was right, Regina.”

Regina sank back down on the hard mahogany of the settee, her breath whooshing out on an audible sigh. “I know you would have. You’re…you believe in duty. You rescued me.”

But it hadn’t helped, Dell realized. Regina was no longer a woman in sudden desperate need, as she had been when they had wed. She had security and work that she enjoyed. But her eyes didn’t light up the way they had when she’d shown up on his doorstep with some of his mail that had mistakenly been delivered to her house almost eighteen months ago. Unfortunate things had happened to her since that day, and he had been the unwitting author of some of those things.

“You know I haven’t always done the right thing where you’re concerned.”

Regina’s soft brown hair slid against the pale yellow of her blouse as she shook her head. “I haven’t always done the right thing where you’re concerned, either. Last week—” She frowned and began to pace.

Dell walked toward her, blocking her progress. He tilted his head, trying to see her expression, hidden as she refused to look at him. “What happened last week?” he asked.

Crossing her arms, Regina blew out a deep breath. “I was shooting a wedding when one of the guests, an older woman named Adele Tidings, noticed my name tag. She wanted to know if I was related to you, and once she knew that we were married, she wondered why she hadn’t seen me around when she’d been at several functions lately which you had attended, alone. I realized how awful the truth would sound, and I didn’t know what to say, so I just…lied. I told her that I’d been horribly ill for a long time.”

“Regina, Adele is nice but nosy. She had no business asking you personal questions. Don’t worry about it.” But Regina shook her head.

“No, you and I both know that I wasn’t sick. You helped me out when we wed, but I never even considered accompanying you to any of your social functions, even though I knew they were a part of your business. I didn’t hold up my end of the bargain.”

“We didn’t make a bargain, Regina. We got married for good if unconventional reasons, and this year hasn’t been your happiest. You have nothing to apologize for.”

But the look in her eyes told him that she wasn’t buying his argument.

“You never mentioned anything,” she said, “but this article was written because there’s a rumor that you’ve been approached to open a new store in Chicago. I assume it’s true that one of your wealthiest customers is petitioning you to expand into her area and that she’s started a campaign with her friends to entice you into moving. They’re willing to wine you and dine you, to provide you with free advertising and do whatever it takes, but you’ve resisted even though it’s a great opportunity. The city of Chicago would consider it a coup to get you, and the article says that people at the highest levels are wondering why you haven’t at least looked into the matter.”

Dell blew out a breath. “People often wonder about things that don’t concern them.”

“They’re saying it’s because your wife has a business in Boston and you don’t want to upset her with a move.”

She looked so deliciously miffed that Dell almost wanted to laugh.

“Maybe I should remind them that I have a business headquartered in Boston and a fine old family home. Perhaps I simply don’t want to expand to the Midwest.”

She frowned, her nose wrinkling in that cute way it had. “Is that why?”

It wasn’t. He loved Chicago and he had been thinking of expanding there for a while, but it would have been unconscionable to desert his new and fragile bride in her hour of need while he left town for the long periods of time that would be necessary to embark on such a venture. The gossips were right, at least partly right. No matter the circumstances, O’Ryans took care of their families and they took care of the family name. Leaving a wife alone so soon after they had wed would have stirred up more gossip than breaking it off with Elise had.

“I’m just pointing out that there’s often more than one reason for doing or not doing something,” he said, evading the question. “And I don’t want you to worry about this. I’ll handle it.”

Regina stood suddenly and took a step toward him. “When I was ten and you were six, we didn’t know each other, but like everyone else in the area, I knew who you were. One day I was walking past this house and your father was explaining to you why an O’Ryan couldn’t run around barefoot in the summer the way the rest of us did. You had this longing look in your eyes and, not realizing that we lived in vastly different worlds, I felt sorry for you. I think I just saw a fleeting glimpse of that same look. The gossips are right. You’d like to pursue the Chicago connection, but you feel responsible for me. Well, no more. I don’t want to continue our marriage, Dell.”

Dell had been opening his mouth to dismiss her arguments, but that last sentence caught him by surprise. As if someone had unexpectedly punched him square in the chest with a jab that was sharp and surprisingly painful. He blinked. “Excuse me?”

Then her words caught up to him. “Why?” he asked.

A sad smile lifted her lips. Her brown eyes looked equally sad as she held out her hands, then let them fall to her sides. “We married for the wrong reasons, ones that seemed important at the time. Partly it was because you wanted to protect me. And I—” She shook her head. “I was scared and lost and it was too easy to say yes, to want to be protected. I appreciate all you’ve done for me, all you’ve given up. You can’t know how grateful I am. But I’m not lost anymore, and I’m not the type of woman who was made to be protected. Dell, we don’t have a thing in common.”

“We have a marriage in common.” He didn’t know why he was arguing. They were completely different kinds of people.

Regina laughed, a soft, pretty sound. “You know that’s not enough. You’re old money, good family, following the rules, doing what’s required, what’s right, while I’m a bit of a wild and fluffy mess and always have been.”

He opened his mouth. She put up her palm to stop him.

“You don’t need to defend me. I spent a lifetime trying to be what my parents expected and then finally realized that I was different. What’s more, I’m good at being different, and I like the fact that I’ve finally accepted my creativity and my tendency to be unpredictable, but I don’t fit into your world at all. I may be four years older than you, but you’ve always been the grown-up while I’ll always be…I don’t know. Me.”

“There’s nothing wrong with you.”

“You’re right. There isn’t, but I’m not right for you, and—”

“I’m not right for you,” he said, completing her sentence.

Dismay crept into her expression. “I didn’t mean it that way. I’m not looking for romance. I don’t even want it anymore, so you’re not interfering with my love life.”

“I’m just interfering with your life?”

“No!” Her voice was a bit too vehement, Dell couldn’t help thinking, and he did smile then, even though he didn’t feel at all like smiling.

“Liar. Being an O’Ryan probably isn’t fun if you’re not used to it.”

She looked down at the magazine she still held. “People judge you, and I’m not helping your standing.”

“Regina, I’m not worried.” At least not about that. There had been good reasons why Regina hadn’t appeared at his side this year. But theirs had not been an ordinary marriage. It certainly hadn’t been what either of them would have chosen. And it hadn’t been rewarding.

A pained look came into her eyes. “Every day women come into the shop. They’re happy. They’re marrying because it’s what they want above all else, and that’s as it should be, but it’s not us. Admit it, Dell. This isn’t working out. We’re not a real couple. We don’t even touch.”

She muttered the last part, and Dell’s senses began to sizzle. “We could touch,” he told her, even though he had touched her only as a friend before their wedding night and never since. She had cried that night—long silent sobs she had tried to hold back. He had stopped. Since then he’d concentrated on just being a provider. He’d been willing to wait and be patient.

“No, we can’t,” Regina said softly. “It would be a lie. It wouldn’t work.”

He studied her. She’d obviously thought this through. “How do you know it wouldn’t work?” he asked.

She blinked, clearly startled.

“The marriage, I mean,” he continued. “Not the touching. How do you know the marriage wouldn’t work?”

Regina’s gaze met his. “It hasn’t,” she said softly, and he was pretty sure she was remembering the past months.

So was he, and what he was remembering was that Regina had been happy until she fell into his life and things had gone awry. He’d spent a lifetime learning to be a proper O’Ryan and protecting the O’Ryan reputation from any hint of scandal. But after he had married Regina and scandal had been averted, he had abdicated his responsibility as if his duty had been done. There had been no satisfaction in this marriage and yet…

“We haven’t really tried to make our marriage work, have we?” he asked. “You mentioned that Adele wondered why she hadn’t seen you around, but very few people have seen us together. Our marriage has been solely on paper, hasn’t it?”

“There were reasons for that. You were practically forced to marry me.”

Somehow Dell kept from reacting to that. “I chose to marry you, Regina.” But he knew deep down that he was lying, at least partially. There had been numerous reasons why he had married Regina, but guilt, duty, honor and the need to protect the family name—and her—had been supreme.

But had he really protected her? Had he done anything right where she was concerned?

Maybe. After she had delivered his mail that day, they had become distant friends of a sort. She was nothing like the women he saw socially, nothing like the women he bedded and nothing like the women he considered as the ones who might produce the next O’Ryan heir. But he had liked her. She had been warm and refreshing. They hadn’t known each other well, but they might have become friends if he hadn’t made a single wrong and hasty decision that had turned the world upside down and had, ultimately, led to them becoming man and wife.

And now here they were, on the verge of another hasty, reckless decision. But he had never been a reckless man. Reckless actions were usually the result of messy emotions and he had spent years learning the ways emotional slips could ruin lives. Haste and recklessness fostered failure, and he didn’t like failure.

“I chose to marry you,” he said again. “But I’ve been a poor excuse for a husband, Regina. And I think that before we give up on this marriage, we should give ourselves a chance to turn this thing around.”

Regina took a deep, audible breath. She paced a few steps, clearly agitated.

He followed her. When she turned suddenly, they were closer than they had been since their disastrous wedding night. Dell breathed in her light honeysuckle scent, and felt a small rush of attraction. Carefully he controlled his reaction.

“You don’t love me,” she said. “Elise—”

“No,” he said. “I don’t love you, but I don’t love Elise, either. I’m not interested in love and would never have chosen that as a rationale for marrying. You just said that you didn’t want love, either, so there are no impediments. I think we should begin again. Why shouldn’t we stay married since we’re already here?”

“Because now that I’ve had a chance to think rationally, I realize that I’m not O’Ryan material.”

“Too late. You’re already an O’Ryan.”

“Only because of a few words in a ceremony I don’t even remember.”

“That counts.”

She gave a cute little grimace, and Dell fought some primal male instinct to lean closer.

“Dell, this hasn’t been a good year, but I’m—finally—regaining my sense of independence and balance. Help me out here. I’m trying to do the right thing.”

He shook his head. “You’re trying to do me a favor by setting me free to continue on my previous course, but divorce is the wrong thing if we haven’t even tried to succeed. We’re married, Regina, even if we didn’t get here via the path your clients take. We should at least give ourselves a true trial run and get to know each other before we decide to divorce. There’s a chance we might make a success of this situation, after all. We could save ourselves a lot of trouble and the kind of unpleasant publicity that comes to those in the spotlight who marry and then divorce too quickly. Does that make sense?”

She looked a bit unhappy but she nodded. “I guess so. Yes.” Why did Dell feel that it was Regina doing him the favor now?

“How long a trial period?” she asked.

He considered. “How about two months? Long enough to get to know each other and become a couple.”

“I don’t know,” she began. “This still seems unfair to you.”

But Dell was warming to the idea. O’Ryans never did things impulsively. In fact, marrying Regina had been his only true impulse. His failure there was proof enough that slow and steady was best. For months she had been a silent stranger in his house, and he had accepted that. Now time was healing her, and there was renewed life in her eyes, vibrancy and spunk in her attitude and a woman emerging from the ashes. Yet he barely knew who she was. If they were going to end things, then he darn well wanted to know who he was divorcing. And if they were going to stay married, well…it was time to backtrack and uncover what had been covered. Methodically.

“If you’re still worrying because we’re not an ordinary couple, don’t,” he told her. “Not being in love is the best way. Love would only introduce complications and lead to possible rash mistakes. Emotional attachments would make it more difficult to end this later if that’s where we finish up.”

She had blanched when he had used the words rash mistakes and he cursed himself. She was probably thinking about her own past mistakes. He reached out and tucked a finger beneath her chin to distract her. “Let’s give our marriage a fair chance,” he urged.

Slowly she nodded, her soft skin sliding against his finger in a way that made him want to curve his palm against her jaw. “If that’s what you want,” she whispered.

He had no idea what he wanted, but he knew that when he decided, he wanted that decision to be based on logic.

Still, when he looked down at Regina rational thought slipped a bit. She had lifted her chin, and his finger had slid slightly down her throat, over silken skin that was made for a man’s caress.

“How about the touching part?” she asked in a choked voice, as if she’d read his mind. His body tightened. But her deep brown eyes were genuinely concerned.

He cleared his throat. “We’ll wait on that,” he assured her, hoping his voice sounded normal. “At the moment we’re just taking some time to make an effort and see if we’re going to stay together.”

“Or if we’re going to part,” she added, but he had the feeling that she had already decided that she wanted their marriage to end.

Maybe it would. They might be too different to make things work. But never let it be said that an O’Ryan walked away from a challenge or left a marriage before it was time.

Or left a bride unkissed. The phrase seemed to come out of nowhere. Just as Regina’s newfound spirit had. Now that he acknowledged that he was attracted to this reborn Regina with the soft skin and berry lips, he was going to have to stay more in control of himself. This time they would do things right, by the book. Letting his impulses run away from him where his wife was concerned was not a good idea.

Especially since neither of them was certain if they would still be husband and wife by the end of the year.

But a vision of those full lips still lingered after she had gone.

CHAPTER TWO

REGINA was at her desk at The Wedding Belles late the next day pretending to review her week’s schedule while she tried not to think about her future or the fact that it would soon be time to go home. The conversation with Dell yesterday had made her jumpy. Tall and dignified with that chestnut hair always in place and those unreadable amber eyes that seemed to measure everything, he was the picture of the elite male. Once again she had felt how ridiculous it was that a man like him should have been forced into marriage with a train wreck of a woman completely unsuited for him.

And that deep aristocratic voice of his always messed with her respiration and reasoning and made her feel as if she were babbling. She hated that. It reminded her too much of how her parents had always admonished her to be more normal and take the time for logic to kick in before she reacted to situations.

“If it were only that easy,” she muttered. She wanted to be the type of sophisticated woman who knew how to talk sensibly to a man like Dell without feeling dizzy, but that didn’t seem to be possible. Yesterday’s meeting with him hadn’t turned out at all the way she’d planned.

Suddenly she remembered that moment when he had suggested that they resume their role as man and wife and try touching each other…

Regina jerked at the thought and the pencil she was holding slipped out of her fingers. She lunged for it and knocked a photo album off the desk. It landed with a loud thud.

“Are you all right?” Julie’s voice called from the reception area.

Not even close. Two days ago she would have honestly been able to say that she felt fine, but this new situation with Dell made her heart positively race.

“I’m great,” Regina called, her voice muffled as she bent to pick up the album.

“Good. Could you come out here?” Julie’s slightly tense voice had Regina hurrying past a cabinet filled with frame and matting samples and rushing into the reception area.

Late afternoon sunlight spilled through the tall windows, onto the golden-yellow walls and oak flooring, turning everything bright. It was closing time and most of the customers had gone, so the usual bustle of the shop was missing. Other than that, however, things looked pretty normal. Except for the dozens of containers of yellow daisies just inside the door.

“Where did those come from?” Serena asked, coming out of her own space, carrying a length of satin ribbon from the dress she had been working on. “Callie, did you order daisies for a wedding? I don’t have any dresses on my list that would go well with that particular shade.”

“Don’t look at me. They’re not mine,” Callie said, her green eyes widening as she came out of the area where she created floral masterpieces and saw the mysterious display. “No orders for daisies lately.”

“Nope. They’re all for Belle.” Natalie slipped some sample pictures of her cakes into her pocket as she bent down to look at the cards.

“You should have seen what it looked like when the delivery guy showed up with his arms full.” Julie’s reddish-brown curls bounced as she spoke. “I felt guilty sitting at the reception desk, it took him so many trips. Where should we put them?”

“I don’t know, but Mr. Right must have been trying to create an impression.” Audra gave a low whistle.

“I’ve never heard Belle express a weakness for daisies, but as an accountant, I suppose I should admire the man’s thrifty ways.”

“So, the date went well, I take it,” Regina offered. Belle had been introduced to the man through a mutual friend over the weekend and all of them had been hopeful that she might fall in love again.

“Maybe he is her Mr. Right,” Callie said. The subject of whether there was a Mr. Right for every woman had come up lately at their weekly poker games. They’d all been friends for a long time, much longer than they’d worked together, and men were often a topic of conversation. And not always a comfortable one, Regina admitted. The friends were divided on their opinions, and some of them, herself included, had engaged in disastrous relationships. Was there a Mr. Right? It was possible. It was also possible that he might live on another planet and never show up, she conceded.

The click of a door sounded just then, and Belle came down from the apartment she kept upstairs, probably drawn by the chatter. The hard-to-ignore daisies and last night’s big date in everyone’s mind, the women couldn’t help but look up. Not that that was unusual. Belle, an ample and gorgeous curvy woman with shining silver beautifully coiffed hair was a presence. She commanded attention without even trying. She was also the most generous, kind person Regina knew. She had inherited this building, she owned the shop and she cared for the Belles as if they were her daughters. They loved her, and it was only natural for them to wonder about the flowers.

“So…he’s Mr. Right?” Audra asked, her blond hair sliding across her cheek as she tilted her head.

Belle gave a big sigh. “Hon, I’m afraid I’ve had my Mr. Right, and when my Matthew died that was it for me. I’m just looking for Mr. Maybe-We-Could-Keep-Each-Other-Company, but not with this man. He seemed nice at first, but then he got too grabby. He almost pulled a button off the sleeve of my best rose silk blouse.”

“Well then, he’s history,” Regina said, giving her friend a hug. Belle loved nice things, especially clothes.

“I take it he didn’t ask first.”

Belle returned the hug, her comforting scent surrounding Regina. “I almost had to damage him for other women,” she said. “But I let him off easy by showing him the door and just giving him a quick wallop with my bag.”

Julie chuckled. Belle’s bag, a work of art, was huge.

“Looks like he’s sorry.” Natalie gestured toward the flowers. “Or maybe not. Those are some pathetic daisies.”

“Sweetie, it doesn’t matter.” Belle’s delicious Southern drawl stretched out the syllables. “That was the last straw. It wasn’t even fun and it was downright embarrassing. Imagine a woman of my years having to wrestle with a man! Despite the fact that my friend Rae Anne keeps calling me to encourage me to hop back in the marriage market, I’m through dating, and I’m just going to sit back with those of you who are married or almost married and let the rest of the world look for love.”

A chorus of objections echoed through the room. Regina and her friends might each have her own love or lost-love stories, but all of them wanted Belle to find a man who would appreciate her.

“I’ve got the shop, a good life and all of you girls for family,” Belle insisted. “That’s all I need. So, stop worrying about me. We’ve got weddings to plan and you have your own happily-ever-afters.” She cast a maternal glance around, letting her gaze rest on each woman. When she came to Regina, Regina wanted to squirm. Everyone had been so worried about her this past year, and these were her best friends in the whole world. They cared about her. But revealing the details of her personal discussions with Dell would feel too much like betrayal of a man who had bent over backward to help her when she had desperately needed help.

“Dell might be opening a store in Chicago,” she said instead. What was that surprised look on everyone’s faces? “What?” she asked.

Audra shook her head. “Nothing. It’s just that you tend not to volunteer information about your husband. Not without a lot of prodding.”

“I know. I guess I’m just…” Not myself after the way that conversation went yesterday.

“I’m just excited,” she finished, somewhat lamely.

“Dell is very good at what he does, and it’s—it’s nice that his business is going so well.”

Heavens, why was she babbling so much? Probably because she had just agreed to try to be something resembling a real wife to Dell, and she didn’t have the vaguest idea how to go about that. Trying to transform herself into a genuine wife meant seeing him a lot more than she was used to, being near him all the time and considering the possibility that they might actually touch now and then.

The mere thought of that made her feel much warmer than the day merited. The memory of Dell’s finger brushing her chin slid right into her mind. Where was a fan when a girl needed one?

“Regina, you’re trembling,” Natalie said.

“You must be really excited about Dell’s new business venture,” Callie added, one eyebrow raised.

“Yes, and Dell must be really excited, too,” Serena said.

“What do you mean?” Regina asked, but her friend was staring out the window.

Startled, Regina looked out the window to see Dell, a stern, handsome figure in his black suit, headed toward the shop. Her heart began to trip in a ridiculous fashion.

“I—maybe he has some business with the shop,” Regina offered, realizing how ridiculous that sounded. She knew why he was here. Their trial marriage was beginning in earnest.

“Hmm, powerful as he is, you don’t exactly think of business when you look at the man,” Belle offered.

Definitely not. Even wearing that serious expression, Dell was gorgeous, and several passing women stared at him as if they were about to melt right on the spot.

Regina frowned, even though she couldn’t quite figure out why. “Well, yes, Dell is attractive.”

Natalie raised an eyebrow. “You say that as if you’ve never noticed it before.”

“Of course I’ve noticed.” Even though that wasn’t strictly true. She had done her best not to notice, probably because their marriage hadn’t seemed real.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you say anything like that about Dell before,” Audra said.

“Well, I should have. He’s my husband and he does have a great body. I’ve thought it.” The words came out so stilted and unnatural sounding that Regina half expected the ceiling to crash in on her.

For almost a year she had avoided even thinking of Dell as a husband. When they had wed, she’d been pregnant by his cousin who had deserted her, leaving Dell to save the day. He had, of course. After all, family honor and a baby’s future had been at stake. Given the circumstances, it had been easy to think of Dell as a savior rather than a husband. Marriage had simply made them housemates, not more. And after her miscarriage—Regina struggled to breathe—she had ceased to think at all for a long time. But now…

“He’s my husband,” she said again. At least for two more months.

“Yes, we know that, sweetie,” Belle said. “Apparently he does, too, since he’s here.”

Regina took a deep breath and looked down at her feet clad in eye-popping, chili-pepper-red espadrilles. Even after their talk about trying to have a real marriage, she had expected things to simply fall back into their former distant pattern. She would wait out the two months, living mostly in the shop where she felt free to be herself, and Dell would occupy his mansion and downtown office.

Obviously she’d miscalculated. Here he was in all his masculine glory, tall and powerful, the picture of a man of consequence. And here she was, slightly plump, less than willowy, a very ordinary woman who only exuded confidence behind a camera. They were so mismatched. This arrangement could have such dire consequences for her. But she had agreed to the plan.

“Regina? You’re looking a bit dazed. Are you all right?” Julie asked, moving closer as if to protect her.

Regina nodded. “Oh, yes, I’m great. Just caught a bit off guard.”

But there was no more time to prepare herself. Here he was, pushing through the door, causing the little bell to tinkle brightly as if to say, “Dell’s here! Every woman in sight, start acting like an utter fool!”

Not me, not me, Regina told herself. She pasted on a smile, remembering their plan.

“Dell! How very nice to see you!” she said a bit too forcefully. Purposely she avoided looking in her friends’ direction. She tried not to think about the fact that they would surely wonder why she had gone from a never-comment-on-your-husband woman to an idiotically smiling wife.

A look of mild amusement crossed Dell’s face. “How very nice to see you, too,” he agreed.

“I—is there something you needed?” she asked.

“That is, I—what a surprise to have you show up here!”

Again, that look of barely concealed amusement flashed over his features. “We’re married,” he reminded her.

Regina looked up into his eyes even though she knew the danger of that. “I know.” Actually she felt a bit like a newlywed today, a bride who barely knew her husband.

His gaze met hers, direct and unflinching and intense. “I thought we might go out to dinner together,” he said.

His voice dipped low, and despite the fact that she knew that this was just Dell’s way of making a concerted effort towards their trial marriage, Regina felt a little queasy at the thought of people watching her with Dell. What if she looked as besotted as every other woman and someone caught that look on film? How utterly embarrassing and humiliating would that be?

She tamped down her reservations and nodded. “Dinner together? That sounds…nice.”

He laughed. “You needn’t make it sound as if I’m forcing you to watch ten years of home movies.”

Regina couldn’t help it. She laughed, too. “Dinner would be nice,” she agreed. It wasn’t Dell’s fault that he had such presence. “Let me get my purse and camera and we’ll go.”

As she passed her friends, they gave her questioning looks. Regina knew she’d been acting flustered, but to their credit they didn’t appear to have interrogated Dell when she returned and were simply quietly chatting about Chicago. The Belles were protective of each other, but they also respected each other’s boundaries. She loved that about them. They obviously realized she didn’t want to discuss the details of her marriage.

Which was good, since there wasn’t anything to discuss.

Until now.

Trying not to think about that, Regina headed for the door, calling goodbye. Dell slipped around her and held the door. He followed her outside into the fading sunshine, then handed her into a limo that seemed to appear by magic. But then, Dell had always been a man in control of every situation. Unlike herself.

“Thank you for taking me to dinner,” she managed to say. “I have to say, though, that it was unlike you to just show up.” Dell was a man who always lived on a schedule.

He nodded. “Yes, but then we’re in somewhat uncharted territory right now, aren’t we?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve never been a real husband,” he said in that deep, low voice that made her think about what real husbands did. All the things real husbands did. Like sleeping naked with their wives.

Okay, she was definitely going to have to stop those kinds of thoughts. “Well, I’ve never been a real wife.”

“That’s why we’re going to talk. We left things rather open-ended last night. We need a plan.”

Dell’s deep voice rolled over her and Regina’s palms began to tingle. She had never been good at plans. That was part of the reason she had done stupid things and Dell had been forced into marriage with her. Dell was very good at plans. He was the one who had proposed that they marry.

Unable to stop herself, Regina folded both palms across her heart, trying to calm herself down.

“Regina?” he asked, his voice filled with concern.

“We’ll make a plan,” she agreed.

“Good,” he said with a smile that did awful, wonderful things to her insides. “I’m going to do my best to be the perfect husband.”

Oh, no, don’t do that, she wanted to say. This is a marriage of convenience. I don’t even want to risk feeling more, a move that could be disastrous. But…

“I’ll try to be a model wife, too,” she said weakly. If only she could figure out how to do that while keeping this marriage risk-free. “Dell?”

“Yes?”

“What exactly is a model wife in the O’Ryan world?”

A look of dark amusement filled his eyes and he took her hand, running his thumb over the gold and diamond band that circled her ring finger. “Let’s go to dinner,” he said.

But he hadn’t answered her question, had he? Maybe her answer wasn’t important. He probably knew she wasn’t capable of being a true O’Ryan. He had wed her out of pity and duty and honor and now he was stuck with her, a poor substitute for Elise Allenby who really would have been a model O’Ryan wife.

A slim and unfamiliar thread of pain ran through Regina followed immediately by a very familiar sense of indignation. She had spent her life trying to please and falling short, and had promised herself never to go that route again. Yet she hadn’t said no to this marriage or this plan.

Well, Dell was the one who had opted to extend their wedding. He knew what he had for a wife.

Or did he?

Maybe I can be the perfect O’Ryan bride, Regina thought. But she didn’t pursue that thought any further. Some things couldn’t bear up under too much scrutiny, could they?

Sometimes a woman just had to fly on faith and hope for a miracle.

CHAPTER THREE

DELL watched Regina pick at her food. Had he been bullying her? Probably. He’d spent a lifetime learning to be an O’Ryan and sometimes it was difficult to remember that he didn’t have to be that way with his wife.

His wife. How had that happened?

“Regina, before we begin, I want to say that I’m sorry for everything that’s happened.”

She stopped toying with her food and looked up, those deep caramel eyes studying him carefully. Regina had the most amazing eyes, clear and utterly transparent. He had startled her and now she was nervous. “I shouldn’t have thrown you together with Lee,” he clarified, then realized that it was the first time his cousin’s name had been mentioned in a long time.

She shook her head. “What happened wasn’t your fault.”

“And if I insist it was?”

“You don’t get to say.” Regina speared a piece of asparagus. “What happened with Lee is on my head.”

But she was wrong. That day when Regina had shown up with his mail had happened at a time when he was worrying about Lee, because Lee, orphaned young and raised with Dell, had been like a brother, a wild and socially awkward brother who had not been a hit with women. Regina’s unexpected appearance and cheerful disposition had seemed like a gift, a woman who could give Lee the confidence he needed to take his place in the O’Ryan empire. So Dell had sacrificed her to his cousin, and everything that had happened afterward was on his conscience.

He opened his mouth to tell her so.

Instantly she leaned closer. “Don’t do that O’Ryan thing,” she told him.

Dell blinked. “Excuse me?”

Regina placed her palms on the burgundy tablecloth. “Dell, I know how much responsibility you have. The O’Ryan Gemstone Gallery is only one arm of O’Ryan Enterprises and it must take an amazing amount of work to manage something like that. You don’t have to take responsibility for my problems, too. What happened to me this year wasn’t your doing.”

He drew his brows together, preparing to object.

“I need to get past it myself,” she continued, not allowing him to cut in.

“All right, we’ll drop that subject.” Dell blew out a breath and sat back in his chair. Not that he was agreeing with her, but if she needed to claim responsibility, he would allow her to do that. This time.

Silence set in. Regina looked around her, surveying the elegant surroundings, the tapestries on the walls, the string quartet playing softly, the tuxedoed waiters. She fidgeted with her spoon and squirmed on her chair. “This is nice,” she said.

Dell noted that she still hadn’t eaten much. He smiled. “Not your style?”

“It doesn’t have to be my style. It’s your style. I don’t really have a style, so at least one of us should have one,” she said.

Dell couldn’t help chuckling at that.

Regina smiled. He realized then that he hadn’t seen a genuine smile on her face since their whole fiasco of a marriage had begun. And it had been her sunny disposition that had first told him she would be right for Lee.

Dell brushed that thought aside, but his gaze drifted to her lips nonetheless. She had pretty lips, plump but not overly so. The kind of lips a man would like to feel beneath his own. He could see why Lee had let things get out of hand.

But his staring was making her uncomfortable. A trace of delicious pink climbed up her throat.

“You should smile more,” he said, almost without thought.

She gave an almost imperceptible nod. “I’ll try to remember that. Smiling at each other should be part of our plan, shouldn’t it?”

Oh, yes, the plan.

“I suppose we’d better start brainstorming,” he agreed, glad that she had been thinking straight while he had been ogling her mouth. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small black notebook and a pen.

Her eyes widened.

“What?” he said.

“You’re really very good at what you do, aren’t you?” she asked. “I mean, of course, you are. You run an empire, you hire and fire people, you date fabulous women and command the attention of important people. Politicians and lawyers and media types and such.”

“All that because I took out a pen and paper?”

“No. It was more the way you did it. You’re going to make a plan and we’re going to carry it out and you have no doubt that everything will go according to that plan. It comes naturally. You’re an O’Ryan, and controlling the universe is in your genes.” She said that as if it were a new discovery she had just made after having been married to him for many months.

“You seem concerned. Am I pushing you?”

She studied him for a minute, then slowly shook her head. “No, it’s more a matter of you being so sure that things will turn out a certain way and me being nervous that I’ll mess it up. I tend to just let loose and do things and sometimes that doesn’t work so well. Although—” she lifted one shoulder in a shrug “—I’m not sure even I could mess up your game plan once you’ve set the course.”

Ouch. He had worked hard at learning to be organized and in charge. Barreling through with a logical plan had helped his parents’ disaster of a marriage survive, it had enabled him to overcome an early heartbreak and had kept him ahead of his competition in business, but he supposed that to someone like Regina he might appear overbearing.

“You’re frowning. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said…whatever I said.” Regina’s voice was soft.

He held up one hand. “You should say what you think. That’s part of being married.”

“How do you know?”

He smiled and shrugged. “I’m guessing.”

She returned his smile. “Well, you probably are right about us needing a blueprint. And…everything.”

He raised a brow.

“Okay, almost everything. I’m sure you’re not perfect.”

Dell’s smile grew.

“Well, you must have some flaws,” she reasoned.

“Doesn’t everyone?”

She looked so deliciously flustered at her frank words that he couldn’t help chuckling.

“You are amazing,” he said.

Pale pink tinged her cheeks again. Why had he never noticed that she was a blusher before yesterday? There was something wickedly delicious and erotic about a woman who blushed. “Amazing? Maybe your judgment isn’t as good as I thought,” she said, still visibly flustered. “Take your pen. Let’s get to work. How do we go about trying to get started on our marriage plans? What should we do?”

Kiss was the first thought that came into his mind, but he quickly squelched it. This had been a difficult year for Regina, including an unexpected pregnancy, the betrayal of a man she had trusted, a hasty wedding and a devastating miscarriage. The two of them had started married life in a rush. He knew the mailman and the valet at the parking garage better than he knew her. When they finally touched, if they ever touched, he wanted her to know who she was kissing. Trust had to be established, and given her past, that would be impossible if he pushed her too fast. They needed time and more.

“I’d like to visit you at work again,” he said, scribbling that down.

She looked startled. “Why?”

Because she had friends there who cared about her and would protect her even if he did something foolish. “I’ve never seen you at work,” he said, and that was the truth as well.

“I’ve never seen you at work, either.”

Dell thought of his office. Sophisticated, expensive, oppressively dull. He loved his work, but the offices were the same as they had been in his father’s time and his grandfather’s before that. They reeked of the O’Ryan legacy and would be considered stuffy by modern standards. Regina was the epitome of modern with her cute little shockingly gaudy shoes, her digital cameras and her creative spirit.

“You might find it boring,” he said, surprised that it mattered to him what she thought. He’d never cared for people’s opinions before.

She crossed her arms, obviously trying to look firm. Instead she looked like an adorable kitten trying to wield control. “Fair is fair,” she said. “If you visit the Belles, I should visit O’Ryan Enterprises.”

“You’re right,” he conceded.

“What else should we do? I suspect that being a normal, married couple in my world and yours is a bit different. What do normal, married people do in your world?”

They sleep together, he thought. They make love. The thought brought instant heat to his body, and he forced himself to push it aside. “I think we should make our own rules. We’ve both agreed that we don’t have a conventional marriage and what we’re each looking for is…a partner?” he said.

She nodded. “A companion?”

“Of sorts.”

“And you would expect…what?” She looked a bit nervous. His heart ached. Dell was willing to wager that when she had delivered his mail that day she would have never guessed that she would end up here today, in this way, with him, a man she would not have chosen to spend her life with.

“Relax, Regina,” he said, reaching over and covering her hand with his own. “I won’t make you meet the queen.”

Her eyes widened momentarily and then she laughed. “Good. I won’t ask you to come with me to the seamier places I sometimes travel to when taking photos.”

Dell let that sink in. Interesting and alarming. Had has wife been spending time in dark alleys and he didn’t know about it? Was she safe? And could they bridge their gaps and make this marriage work?

He hoped so. It had been difficult enough dodging bad publicity when they had gotten married. Divorcing so soon afterward would only make the gossips and the media gather. They would dig deeper. The O’Ryan name would be smudged and Regina would be gossiped about. Her experience with Lee would no doubt be discovered and made public. Some might accuse her of being a gold digger, and that kind of thing couldn’t help The Wedding Belles, the business that was Regina’s life. So, if they could avoid divorce they should.

“All right,” he said, just as if she hadn’t mentioned the words seamier places. “Now that we’ve set a course, I’ll want to meet the people you spend your time with.” And I’ll want to make sure you’re safe, he thought.

“Dell, the shop isn’t exactly a male kind of place. Are you sure?”

He smiled. “I’ll be brave, and I’ll stay out of your way. Let’s just call this a beginning. Now about those seamy places…”

Frowning, Regina looked up at him. “I don’t go there to embarrass you.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“And I don’t end up there often, but…”

He waited.

“In my spare time, I freelance, and I’m doing a pictorial on Boston. I cover a lot of territory and a variety of settings. Businesses, bridges, landmarks, artists, executives, homemakers, museum curators, hot dog vendors, homeless people and yes, sometimes prostitutes or addicts. I interview them. I listen to their stories. They let me take their pictures. It’s my work,” she explained solemnly. “It matters to me.”

“Understood,” he said. “But it’s your safety I’m concerned about. I can hire people.”

She considered that. “I don’t think I’d feel comfortable with that, but I’ll be careful. I always am, and since night photography isn’t my specialty, I’m out in daylight, usually on Sundays. The risk is slight.”

Their gazes met, held. Dell couldn’t help thinking that their ideas of what constituted a risk might be different…

But she was already uncomfortable now, practically squirming from all his questions. He would file the subject away for later.

For now, he made a few more suggestions about things they could do and gatherings they might attend together. He’d make sure there was good publicity surrounding these events. Then, if things fell apart and she still wanted out once these two months were up, at least the world would know her as a real and valuable person, not just as the whirlwind wife of Dell O’Ryan.

“Dell?” Regina suddenly said.

He looked at her. She was clenching her water glass.

“I’m sorry. Have I overdone things? Is there anything we should change or omit?” he asked.

She sat up taller and took a visible breath. “I just want you to know that I’m going to do my best and give this a solid effort, no-holds-barred. In the end…we’ll at least be friends, won’t we?”

Their eyes met. “I hope we will if it comes to that.” Maybe it would. No doubt this marriage had been far less than the salvation he had planned. She had obviously once wanted something with Lee that she had lost, and marriage with Dell O’Ryan hadn’t been it. “You’re sure you’re all right with this plan?” he prodded gently again.

Regina looked slightly shaken but she nodded, her silky hair sliding against her shoulders. “Absolutely.”

“All right then. We’re on,” he agreed.

“What do we do now?” Regina asked, looking around the rapidly emptying restaurant.

“We go home,” Dell said simply, but as he stood to pull out her chair he realized that there was nothing simple about it. Beginning tonight they were moving down a new path, one that would lead them into the spotlight they had avoided thus far. As a prominent Bostonian he was used to having private moments showing up in the newspapers. Now that he and Regina would be spending time together, they would be on display. It wasn’t the first time. When they had first gotten married, there had been photographers hovering, but after the two of them had failed to make public appearances together, the interest in them had tapered off. It would resurface, and there would be questions about why they were a couple again. The fact that Regina had suffered a miscarriage might come up.

Dell tried to block the automatic ache that assaulted him at that memory, but it was difficult. He concentrated on the fact that he would do what was necessary to protect Regina and to distract reporters from that topic. That meant giving them something else to concentrate on. And now was the time to begin setting the stage with the media should there be any gossip miners around.

“I should—” Put my arm around you, he thought, but given their circumstances and the newness of all this, that seemed intrusive. Instead he reached down, his fingertips sliding against her palm as he folded his hand around hers.

She was warm, smooth, soft. His skin tingled. All he was doing was holding her hand, yet it felt like an intimate caress.

Regina looked down to where their hands were linked. “Of course,” she said. “A married couple would do this. We’ll go home.” Where they would not be on display.

Where they could be private, Dell thought, then immediately pushed the vision of Regina in his arms away. She had just asked him for a divorce yesterday. She had agreed to a plan to get to know each other and nothing more. This marriage wasn’t real yet, not in the true sense of the word.

And it might never be.

For the first time in a long while, Regina dreaded seeing her friends. The Belles loved her and knew her so well that they were practically mind readers. And the truth was that when she and Dell had arrived home last night, she had been painfully aware of him as a man in a way she hadn’t been before.

That was risky. She’d been hurt by men who wanted to be friends but not more. And then there had been Lee who had left her pregnant and—given the fact that she’d funneled most of her money into The Wedding Belles business—with almost zero funds to raise a child. The whole scenario had been utterly demeaning and frightening.

“Now, I’m…”

Better, she wanted to say, but the truth was that she was a mess, she admitted, struggling into her jeans and slipping on a pair of electric-blue clogs with silver lightning bolts on the sides. This business with Dell was making her feel weird and uncomfortable. Even physically they were night and day, him being the tall, gorgeous, lean one and her being the ten extra pounds one. Moreover, she was socially not of his class, and their basic life philosophies would appear in two different volumes if there were encyclopedias that tracked such things.

The fact that they were now trying to think of each other as an actual husband and wife was making her crazy. He had held her hand, and her body had tightened in response. They had entered the house together, and all she could think of was what he must have done with other women in bed.

And then she had realized that he had probably been forced to give up sleeping with other women this past year and she hadn’t been sleeping with him, either. It had been impossible not to wonder if he was feeling sexually frustrated or if she even made him think of desire.

“Agh!” she yelped, pulling on a powder-blue bell-sleeved blouse. “Don’t even think such things.”

Instead she should think about today and plan ahead the way Dell would.

“Okay, then,” she said to herself. “When Dell shows up at the shop, the Belles are going to notice a change in the way we’re interacting.”

That was bad. She had been distraught for so long, especially after she’d lost her child. Now that she was coming back to life her friends might think that she would do something foolish, like fall in love with another man who really didn’t want her in the ways that counted. So if Dell brushed against her or took her hand and she trembled, they would definitely notice. That was how well they knew her.

Regina groaned. Her plan crumbled. She had agreed to give them a try, but she didn’t think this new, shaky marriage could hold up under too much scrutiny, especially not the scrutiny of the people who loved and knew her best. Dell had saved her when she’d needed saving. He wanted a real marriage. She couldn’t betray him by telling her friends the truth but she couldn’t lie to her friends, either.

What if they asked him what was going on?

He’s an honorable man. He’ll tell the truth, she thought. He might even mention how practical they were being by pursuing a marriage devoid of love.

Then her friends would hate him. And if her friends hated Dell…

“Things will be beyond uncomfortable,” she muttered. “Even a good marriage would suffer under those circumstances.”

There was only one option. Keep Dell and her friends apart as much as possible until the marriage was either seriously settled or dissolved. But for today…

CHAPTER FOUR

“JUST so you know, Dell’s stopping by today,” Regina told her friends fifteen minutes before the shop was due to open.

Her friends all turned to look at her. “Wow, twice in two days after never having been here before. Anything you want to tell us about?” Julie asked.

Regina struggled for words.

“I mean, besides butt out of my marriage?” Callie asked.

That brought a round of laughter and helped Regina relax a little. “I know you’re just curious because you care about me, but he’s a good man,” she said simply.

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