Christine Rimmer - The Millionaire She Married

“Thanks, Doc,” Lacey replied. “But I think I’d rather enter a convent. Or maybe hire myself out to a medical research lab somewhere. You know, as a human guinea pig for important experiments that could mean the end of cancer in our lifetime.”

Logan let out a weary sigh. “Lacey, I’m not joking. It might turn out to be a good thing for you.”

Lacey opened her mouth to utter more wisecracks, but Jenna caught her eye. Lacey smiled sweetly. “No, thanks, Doc. Really.” A moment later she slipped from the room.

She reappeared as soon as Logan left.

“You didn’t tell him, did you?” She was shaking her head.

“I just couldn’t bear to.”

“You’ll have to. Eventually.”

“I know. And I will. Eventually.”

But not right now.

For right now, Jenna waited. Though she couldn’t sleep at night and she was distracted in the daytime, she waited. And felt frustration and misery and a kind of righteous fury that Mack had put her in this untenable position in the first place.

She waited, hoping against hope that Mack would see how unreasonable and outlandish his ultimatum was. That she’d check the mailbox one evening and find the signed papers there—along with a short note of apology from Mack saying he regretted any pain he’d caused her and he was headed back to Key West.

She waited.

And she thought too much about Mack—so much that she found herself wishing more than anything that she could make herself stop thinking about him. She wished she could stop thinking about the ways he was the same as he used to be—and the ways he was different. Wished she could stop wondering about what he might be doing with himself, hanging out at the Northern Empire Inn with nothing to do but wait for her to call. She wished she could stop thinking about how she shouldn’t be thinking about him and she was going to stop thinking about him—which only led her to think about him some more.

On Wednesday she and Logan met for lunch. He frowned at her across the table and said she seemed distracted lately. He wanted to know what was wrong.

She evaded. She thought, this will all blow over. Mack will come to his senses and send me the papers and then Logan and I can laugh about how silly the whole thing was.

Logan said, “Those papers haven’t come from Florida yet, have they? Is that what’s been on your mind?”

She gulped and admitted that the divorce papers had been on her mind, and that no, she didn’t have them yet.

“Maybe you should call Mack McGarrity again.”

Before she was forced to come up with a reply to that suggestion, the waiter miraculously appeared with their food. Once the waiter left, she exercised great care to move the conversation onto safer ground.

On Wednesday evening, as she was closing up the shop, Jenna thought she saw Mack across the street, just going into a store called Furniture By Hand. She stood at her own shop window for several minutes, waiting to see him come out of the other shop’s door. He never emerged, at least not while she watched for him.

She wondered, was it really Mack? Or just someone who looked like him? Or worse, could it be her imagination working scarily overtime? It occurred to her that she couldn’t even be sure that he was still in town.

That night she called the Northern Empire Inn for the second time. She asked for Mack McGarrity’s room. And the clerk put her through.

He answered on the second ring that time. “McGarrity here.”

She said, “I was hoping you might have come to your senses and gone home.”

“No. I’m still here.”

“This isn’t right, Mack. It isn’t fair.”

She heard him draw in a breath. “It’s only two weeks, Jenna.”

“Give me those papers and go back to Florida where you belong.”

“Not until you come with me.”

She knew that the next thing she said would be shouted. So she hung up the phone, her nerves disgustingly aflutter.

She thought of those words her sister had used. Lukewarm. And tepid.

There was certainly nothing tepid about her response to Mack McGarrity.

But what about Logan? Was she lukewarm and tepid when it came to him?

Well, what if she was—just a little?

Maybe she liked it that way. Maybe she was mature enough now to appreciate a kinder, gentler sort of love.

Except…

Well, it had been beautiful with Mack. In bed. Beautiful and astonishing and utterly right.

And the truth was, she and Logan had never actually made love. Not in the complete sense of the word. Not in the consummated sense.

They’d agreed to wait until after the wedding.

And waiting had seemed good and right, up till now.

Up till Mack McGarrity had appeared in town.

Up until those dreams Jenna kept having now about the way it used to be with Mack. How Mack couldn’t keep his hands off her and how she couldn’t stay away from him.

How they didn’t wait.

Maybe, she thought Wednesday night, after she hung up on Mack for the second time that week, she and Logan needed not to wait. Maybe she and Logan needed a night in each other’s arms. A night to seal their bond in the most elemental of ways.

Yes. That might just be it. She needed to make love with Logan in order to wipe out the memory of Mack’s touch.

She shared her insight with Lacey on Thursday night.

Lacey blinked those big blue eyes. “Wait a minute. You’re saying you and Dr. Do-Right have never…?”

“We were waiting.” Jenna hated how prim she sounded. “Until the wedding. And stop calling him Dr. Do-Right.”

Lacey nodded, a very unconvinced sort of nod. “Waiting. Right.”

“People do wait, you know.”

“I know.”

“You’re not acting as if you know.”

“Well, I mean, it just took me by surprise, that’s all. The thought of it, of you and—”

“Do not call him—”

“I won’t. The thought of you and Logan…” Lacey’s face was red.

“The thought of Logan and me what?”

“Well, you know. In bed. Making love. I never thought about that. But I guess that makes sense—that it would be hard for me to picture.” Lacey laughed, a thoroughly irritating little titter of a laugh. “Because you’ve never done it, right?”

Jenna felt vaguely insulted. “You are not helping me out one bit here.”

“I’m trying.”

“Try harder.”

“I will.”

“Good. So?”

“So, in my humble opinion, if you really want to seal your bond with Logan, the first thing you ought to do is to tell him the truth. That Mack’s taken a room at the Northern Empire Inn and he intends to stay there until you agree to go away with him.”

“I am not going to go away with Mack.”

“Don’t tell me that, tell Logan.”

“I will.”

“When?”

“Tomorrow night, all right? Is that good enough for you?”

“Now is better. And don’t look at me like that. You asked.”

“Well, fine. All right. I’ll call him right now, tell him I need to talk with him.”

Lacey turned around and snared the phone off the breakfast nook wall. “Here you go.”

Jenna took it—and then just sat there, holding it.

“What?” Lacey groaned. “All of a sudden you’ve forgotten his number?”

“Of course I haven’t forgotten his number. I know his number.”

“Hey. Look here. You’ve got him on autodial.”

“Lacey—”

But it was too late. Lacey had punched the button and Logan’s phone was ringing.

“This is Dr. Severance.”

“Uh. Hello.”

“Jenna. Hello.” As always, he sounded so happy to hear her voice. “What’s up?”

“I wonder…” She hesitated.

Lacey mouthed the words, “Do it!”

Jenna made a face at her sister and then forced herself to go on. “Do you think you could come over here? There are a few things I need to talk to you about.” Lacey gave her the high sign and a big, congratulatory grin.