Marriage by Mistake

was truly feeling: liking, interest, the desire to make a connection. She'd grown up learning that every human being had something unique and worthwhile to offer. She had a feeling Robby hadn't discovered this was true of himself yet.
    But he did appear to conclude she wasn't angry at him. "Oh, we don't eat in the kitchen," he said.
    "No?"
    "There should be a meal laid out in the morning room." Robby started on all fours toward her. "I'll show you."
    Feeling awfully pleased with the situation, Kelly moved aside for the boy, but Robby waited for her to precede him down the ladder. High-bred manners. And breakfast in the 'morning room.' Excuse me. She smiled to herself as she moved out the canvas door.
    Dean's eyes hit her as she emerged first. They narrowed. Then he saw Robby come out of the tree house behind her. He couldn't hide his surprise. Surprise and, Kelly saw, relief.
    But of course he was relieved. He'd been worried. He cared.
    He was human.
    She felt a little light-headed as she hopped to the ground. This was stupid. So, Dean was human. Most people were. Nothing to get excited about. Then she turned and found him looking straight at her.
    "Thank you," he said.
    That was when, for an instant, just a split-second, Kelly saw something she'd never expected to see.
    Her Dean.
    As if alarmed he could have been anything of the sort, he threw the mask back up. Abruptly, he turned to Robby. Scanning the boy, and apparently finding him undamaged, he declared, "You're filthy."
    "I'm hungry," was Robby's retort.
    Kelly started shivering. Her Dean! Not any more, but he had been there; in the eyes, the tone of voice...the vulnerability.
    "You'll bathe before you get anything to eat," Dean told his half-brother sternly. "And then we'll talk about this habit of running away."
    Robby's brown-eyed gaze went to Kelly. "I promised her I'd show her where the morning room is. I have to do that first."
    Dean stilled. He seemed transfixed by something Robby had just done. Kelly, meanwhile, was transfixed by a startling, new idea. Had her husband been telling the truth back in that conference room in Las Vegas? Was at least a part of him 'her' Dean?
    Could it be true ?
    "Ahem, well." Dean seemed to come out of his brief distraction. He went stern again. "Fine. If you promised, then you have to fulfill your word. But then you bathe." Dean made this very clear. "No eating anything yourself until you're presentable."
    "Okay." Robby sounded like he would have agreed to anything right then. Completely trusting now, he grabbed Kelly's hand. "Come on, this way."
    "Wait. My shoes." Kelly leaned the other way to slip into her sandals. Furtively, she glanced toward Dean as Robby pulled her in the other direction.
    Dean was not furtive at all about the way he was looking at Kelly. He wasn't a rock now, but a glacier, cold enough to freeze lava. His eyes focused on her like twin lasers of ice. If Kelly hadn't just retrieved Robby for him—and he hadn't admitted gratitude—she'd have said he was angry.
    Enraged, even.
    "Enjoy your meal," he told Kelly, in tones of frost. Before she could reply, he turned and stalked swiftly away.
    "Well, I'll be a monkey's..." Kelly murmured. It was as if that other man, the human one, had never been.

    CHAPTER FIVE

    Dean swept through the open French doors and into his study. He paced the Aubusson rug, his hands clenched into fists. If only an expenditure of energy would release some of the fury he felt.
    Being nice, ingratiating herself. To Robby! Who did she think she was? Who the hell did that Kelly female think she was?
    Dean whirled toward a rustling sound by the French doors. Troy halted on the threshold, his hands raised. "Hey," he mock-begged, "don't shoot."
    Dean exhaled slowly. "What?" He made it cool. "Not joining the happy party?"
    "Oh, why do that when I can enjoy your cheery company?" Troy sauntered into the room.
    Dean tried to even out his breathing and stalked over to his desk. He made a show of looking for something on its surface. "Pardon me very much if I don't believe you. You want something, I presume?" His cousin, like every other male of the family, had no visible means of support. He had plenty of invisible means, however. Not that Troy didn't run into financial trouble every couple of months, anyway.
    And, indeed, Troy now heaved a deep sigh. "I do want something."
    Dean resigned himself to a beg for a couple thousand dollars as Troy ambled toward the desk.
    "I want somebody to