Linda Varner - Make-Believe Husband

Jessi groaned and pressed her fingertips to her temples. “Oh please stop. You’re giving me a headache.”

“The point is moot anyway.... We’ve tied the knot.” For a heartbeat, he looked as if that knot might be part of a noose that now choked him. Then he gave her a half smile that could have meant anything. “You haven’t said how you like the ring.”

At a loss, Jessi frowned. “What ring?”

“The one on your finger. The one I bought for you today.”

“Oh, of course. I’m sorry.” For the first time, Jessi took a good look at her third finger, left hand. She saw a wide gold band as expected, but mounted on it was an exquisite, rectangular-cut amethyst. Stunned, she raised her gaze to Gabe. “I can’t believe you bought this.”

“I know a diamond is traditional, but when I saw that stone and realized it matched your eyes, I had to have it.”

“My God, Gabe. We’re only going to be married for a few weeks. What will you do with it after that?”

“What will you do with mine?” he countered, raising his left hand and spreading his fingers as if to remind her of the band she’d bought for him. It looked too plain now. Embarrassingly cheap.

“It doesn’t matter. It didn’t cost one fourth of what this one did.” Jessi eyed her ring, which sparkled even in the poor lighting. She’d never had anything so gorgeous—she already dreaded giving it back.

Gabe frowned, obviously picking up on her heartfelt distress. “I put it on my plastic, okay? A delayed payment plan that was part of some early Christmas promotion or something. The first charge won’t even come through until February, next year. I’ll return the ring long before that.”

“You think?”

“Sure, and if it doesn’t work out that way...what the heck?

Call it a birthday present—I know you have one coming up shortly—” he held up his hands to ward off her immediate protest ”—or consider it payment for putting up with my shenanigans. You’ll probably more than earn that ring before this is over, you know. Marriage to me—even this fake one—won’t be easy.”

Jessi opened her mouth to argue but never got the chance since Gabe touched his forefinger to her lips to halt the tumbling words.

“It’s done, Jessi. Can we just let it rest?”

“If that’s what you really want...”

“It’s what I want.”

She shrugged her shoulders in reluctant cooperation.

Visibly relieved, Gabe flashed that full-fledged, killer smile of his. “Good. Now can we please go eat the dinner Elaina graciously arranged for us? I’m so hungry, I’m weak.”

Weak, did he say?

Well, so was Jessi...but not with hunger.

It was the man who made her weak—every golden-tanned, muscled-and-toned, just-too-gorgeous inch of him. And when he reached out his hand to tug her to her feet, Jessi’s heart thumped hard once, then settled into an erratic rhythm she suspected might haunt her for the duration of their brief marriage.

Chapter Two

The European-style restaurant, replica of a medieval Spanish castle, was one that Jessi had read about in a gourmet cooking magazine. She knew it had a four-star rating and that the price of even the simplest fare would set her back a week’s salary, had she been footing the bill.

But she wasn’t. Elaina Rivera, whom August Taylor had first contacted two weeks ago about his special employment needs, was treating tonight. Not for the first time, Jessi wished Elaina were there. Chitchat wasn’t Jessi’s forte.

Luckily Gabe appeared to have the gift of gab, a fact proved several times during the moments following their being seated at a table for two located in a glassed-in balcony that overlooked the city. The waiter brought champagne, complimentary for newlyweds, and a menu. Although her jittery stomach murmured mild protest at the idea of food, Jessi perused the list of the culinary delights from which she could choose.

“I’m a little out of my league here,” Gabe said after a cursory glance at the elaborate menu. “Why don’t you order for both of us?”

Jessi did.

Once alone with Gabe again, she raised her stemmed glass. “To our, um, lucrative partnership.”

“I’ll certainly drink to that.” They sipped, set down their glasses and stared at one another. “Feeling better now?”

“Oh, I never felt bad, exactly. More nervous. I’ve been divorced for longer than three years now and once swore I’d never marry again unless I found the perfect man. That’s the only kind that might be worth another promise of forever to my way of thinking.”

Gabe winced. “I have to tell you that I’m far from perfect.”

“Since forever is not in question here—wedding vows or not—that really doesn’t matter,” Jessi told him, adding, “I wouldn’t mind hearing your faults, though. Just so I’m prepared.”

Gabe nodded at the sense of that. “For starters, I can be very intense. Though tonight I may sound flippant about our expedition, the moment we join August Taylor on Monday, I’ll be a different man.”

“Are you saying that you actually believe there’s a chance we’ll find buried treasure?”

“No. I’m saying I’m being paid a hell of a lot of money to keep an open mind. Besides, I’ve been a tracker and guide for too many years to think I’ve seen it all. You just never know what’s waiting around the next bend or over the next hill.”

Jessi sipped her champagne while she digested his words. “So you’re dedicated to duty, huh? Well, I’ve just enough experience with men who aren’t—my ex-husband, to name one—to consider that a plus instead of a minus. What are your other so-called character flaws?”

“I’m a grump before my morning coffee. I’m a slob around the house. I talk too much and listen too little... or so my ex always told me.”

“You’re divorced? Somehow I missed that little detail.”

“That’s because it wasn’t on my fact sheet. I didn’t think it would make any difference to anyone. I’ve been single ten years now.”

“Any children?”

“No, thank goodness.”

Jessi frowned. “You don’t like them?” August Taylor had graciously agreed to let Anna Kate go along on the expedition, probably because it would be little more than an extended camping trip for the women. If Gabe didn’t like children, their “home life” might be less than ideal and a source of stress for Jessi’s daughter.

“I love kids, and I think they’re the innocent victims of any divorce. I’m personally glad I didn’t father any because my ex-wife would almost certainly have gotten custody, thanks to my gypsy lifestyle at the time and in the ten years since. All that’s going to change now, of course.”

“In what way?”

“Elaina didn’t share my motives for agreeing to this expedition?”

“Actually, I never asked. I assumed you must have creditors breathing down your neck, just as I do.”

“No past expenditures, just future ones. First, the purchase of some acres on the Snake River in Washington. They now belong to a friend named Jerry Clark who has a canoe rental, café and sporting goods store on them. When he told me he was ready to retire, I scraped together enough earnest money for him to hold the land. What I get from August plus a loan from the bank will cinch the deal and put me in business. As for the second expenditure, well, it’s of a whole different nature so I can’t really predict how much money I’ll need. God only knows what it costs to adopt and raise a kid these days.”

“You’re going to adopt a child?”

“I’m going to try. He’s my nephew. Son of my adopted sister, who was shot during a convenience store robbery three months ago in L.A.”

“Oh, Gabe, I’m so sorry,” Jessi murmured, noting how a flush stained his cheeks and how his eyes brimmed. Clearly this was a wound that had not healed. “How old is the boy?”