Kate Hoffmann - Sean

She turned off the ignition and grabbed her purse from the passenger seat, slipping the deposit slip from the bank inside. Sean had been right. A quarter of a million dollars was nothing to sniff at She could buy a lot of nails and boards and duct work with that kind of money. Once the check cleared the bank, the money was all hers and Sinclair couldn't take it back. Laurel smiled. For once, she'd pulled Sinclair's strings! But she wasn't trying to delude herself. This might be the one and only string she ever got to pull.

If she and Sean made it through a year of their pretend marriage, it would be a major miracle. So many things could go wrong. Sinclair could get suspicious… she might slip up and call Sean by his real name… or- Laurel groaned. Sean might meet another woman and decide he didn't want to be "married" to her anymore.

"This will never work." Every time he left the house, she'd be holding her breath, waiting for the day that he decided not to return. After all, he'd offered to stay out of the goodness of his heart. But what if that heart found another woman to be good to?

Laurel pressed her fingers to her temples and cursed softly. "One day at a time," she muttered. The next step was to make sure her presentation to the Aldrich-Sloane Family Foundation went well. After that, she'd worry about her marriage-or lack of one.

She stepped out of the car and hurried to the front door. She'd dropped Sean off at his apartment so he could pick up his car and his messages and he'd promised to return before lunch. A nervous knot twisted in her stomach.

Now that she'd decided to carry on with the marriage, it was time to get a few things straight between them. Laurel was not about to spend the next year guessing at his feelings. Either he told her exactly how he felt about her or the deal was off. She'd confront him over chicken salad sandwiches and iced tea.

It was a risk, she mused. But better to know the truth than to spend another minute fantasizing about a man who might never love her. She'd certainly made her feelings crystal clear-or had she? Though she'd never said the words out loud, they'd been implied more than once. And surely her actions revealed what she felt in her heart.

But like Sean, she'd been holding a piece of her heart in reserve. She'd never wanted to fall in love, never wanted to risk losing someone she cared about. Yet that's what love was one big gamble, one throw of the dice, one chance at the lottery. She sighed. If she didn't get in the game, she'd never win. But if she did, she risked losing it all.

Laurel punched in the code for the front door and reached for the knob. But the door swung open in front of her. She froze, the figure that emerged catching her by complete surprise. "Edward?"

Eddie the Cruiser sent her a charming smile, a smile she'd once found so magnetic but now found too smarmy. "Hello, Laurel." His hand came to rest on her arm and he leaned closer to kiss her cheek, but Laurel danced out of his reach.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to visit. Aren't you glad to see me?"

"I don't want to see you. After what you did to me, I'm surprised you'd show your face here."

"Oh, but I think you do want to see me." He grabbed her arm, his fingers pinching into her flesh, and pulled her away from the door and into the driveway. "After my unfortunate arrest and brief incarceration, I was concerned about you. The minute I got out, I came for a visit. Imagine my surprise when I was greeted by the man who had me arrested. Now, what was his name? I think it was Quinn?"

"Get out of here before I call the police," Laurel warned, yanking her arm from his grasp.

"That got me a little curious, so I went back to the church. The minister told me you got married that day. And he described your groom. Now, I may have made a few mistakes along the way, but at least when I got married, it was for real."

"Don't you dare talk to me about marriage. I trusted you. And you betrayed me."

"And how do you think I feel? You never mentioned the real reason why you wanted to marry me. Or should I say, the five million reasons why. I thought you loved me."

"I never loved you," Laurel said. "Maybe subconsciously I knew all along what a bastard you were and I wouldn't let myself love you."

"But you love this guy who's pretending to be your husband?"

Laurel tilted her chin defiantly. "Maybe I do."

"Or maybe you just want your five million dollars and you're willing to use any sap to get it."

"How do you know about the money?"

Eddie grinned and crossed his arms over his chest, gloating. "Your uncle told me. We had a very nice little talk. I must say, he was surprised to find out the man sleeping in your bed wasn't really Edward Garland Wilson of Palm Beach, Florida, but some lowlife P.I. you picked up on the street."

Without thinking, she balled her fingers into a fist and bent her knees, gathering all the energy and strength she possessed. Then she took a swing at him, punching as hard as she could. But she completely missed his stomach and hit him squarely in the groin. The breath left Eddie's lungs in a big whoosh and he groaned, stumbling backward until he fell to the brick pavement.

Laurel was still standing over him, her fingers clenched, when Sean pulled up behind Eddie's car. He jumped out and ran to her side. "What the hell happened here?"

Laurel rubbed her fist. "I hit him. He's been lying there for about a minute."

"You knocked him down? Did he hit his head?" Sean asked.

"No. He just kind of rolled over and started moaning."

Eddie groaned and rolled over again, still curled up in a ball. A grin slowly curled Sean's lips. "Oh. You hit him there."

Laurel stepped up to Eddie. "Maybe I should kick him."

Eddie held up his hand in surrender and Sean grabbed Laurel around the waist and pulled her back. When he'd finally convinced her to stay put, he bent and hauled Eddie to his feet. "I told you to stay away from Laurel." He shoved him toward his car. "Now get the hell out of here before I let her beat the crap out of you."

"That's for me and all the women you scammed," Laurel shouted. "I hope you rot in jail." She picked up a clod of dirt from the flower bed and threw it at Eddie's car as he squealed out of the driveway. As he made the turn onto the street, Laurel sat on the front step and covered her face with her hands.

It was all over. Sinclair knew everything. He'd call the bank and stop payment on her check. He'd probably throw her out on the street for tricking him. And he might even decide she was too irresponsible to handle her money ever.

"Are you all right?" Sean asked.

"Sinclair knows," she said. "Eddie talked to him and he knows everything." Laurel stared up at him and laughed ruefully. "The funny thing is, now that it's over, I don't feel so bad. It makes everything a lot simpler." She pushed to her feet. "I guess I better go face Sinclair. Or maybe I should just pack my bags and leave before he can say anything."

"I could talk to him for you," Sean offered.

Pushing up on her toes, she kissed his cheek. "I think I've dragged you through my family problems enough for now." She punched in the code for the door. "Stick around. I'll let you know how it goes."

Laurel walked inside and headed straight for the library. If Sinclair wasn't eating in the dining room or sleeping in his bedroom, he'd be in the library pouring over auction catalogs and reference books. It was time to stand up for herself, time to give Sinclair an ultimatum. What did she have to lose?

She didn't bother to knock, instead she just walked in. "All right. I'm not married. There, I said it. I pretended to get married because I wanted my trust fund."

Sinclair looked up from his magazine. He glanced at her hands. "Your fingernails are dirty."