Marriage by Mistake

like he wanted to crawl out of his skin. Definitely not 'her' Dean at all. Yet Kelly felt something puff up enormous in her chest.
    "Here, I'll take the picture," Robby said. He shoved past Dean. "Because both of you guys are lunatics."
    Kelly didn't protest as Robby took the camera out of her hands. She was about to drop it, anyway. What was going on with her?
    Dean, meanwhile, had obviously figured out exactly what was going on with him, and didn't like it one bit. He got a tight look on his face, the kind that said he was so above it all. Before Robby could snap a picture, he took a big step away.
    "Staff report," he claimed. "They're all waiting."
    "Huh?" Robby said.
    Dean didn't bother to explain. His eyes flicked once, worriedly, to Kelly. Then he turned, expression implacable again, and stalked away.
    Though he was clearly trying his best to pretend nothing had happened, Kelly could hear water squishing out of his shoes.
    She wanted to laugh. She might have laughed, if she didn't want to deny it all so badly herself. She'd fallen in love with one man. She just couldn't have gone and become interested in another one.
    ~~~
    Three hours later she was not surprised to learn that Dean had fled the scene altogether.
    "Emergency," Troy announced when she walked into the dining room and looked around. His gaze was close on her. "In Atlanta. Said he'd be out of town 'til Monday."
    Kelly stood in her floor-length gown, the one she'd picked out especially for Dean, and tried to absorb her disappointment. He was gone. Well, that was...good. Yes, good. Because she was having serious doubts about her sanity.
    She'd kissed him, the 'other' Dean—twice now. She'd felt something for him. She'd just spent the entire afternoon primping and dressing for him. And now she was disappointed that he was gone.
    This wasn't right. It wasn't wise or good. It wasn't even loyal .
    "Oh, well then," Kelly said out loud. "Might as well eat." She walked up to a chair and drew it out. But her mouth felt stuffy.
    Robby half climbed, half sat in his chair. Troy seated himself elegantly in his own. With his brows rising, he picked up a linen napkin. "I must say, I can't blame the man for running. Robby told me you were kissing Dean, in the middle of the stream by the north fence." He looked over at Kelly.
    "He was kissing me," she corrected, and tossed open her own folded napkin.
    Troy snorted. "All the more reason to get scared. What have you done to him, Kelly, thrown some kind of magic spell?"
    More like he'd thrown a magic spell on her. She wasn't a fickle person. She'd married a man in Las Vegas. But now, somehow, she was starting to have feelings for this other man in Massachusetts.
    "I have to admit—" Troy picked up the spoon for his soup. "I didn't think you were going to get anywhere."
    "All of you underestimate me."
    "No-o-o." Troy drew out the word. "More like I underestimated Dean. Who'd have guessed he could hold the interest of a decent female this long?" Troy shook his head. "You defy all logic."
    Kelly splashed her spoon in her soup. "Logic has nothing to do with it."
    "Hm," Troy murmured.
    There was a brief silence. Kelly stopped splashing her soup. She regarded the warm, golden color of the butternut squash, then looked up. What had she said? Logic had nothing to do with it .
    "I know who I married," Kelly told Troy, vehemently.
    Troy started. "Um," he said. "Okay."
    Kelly felt heat build beneath her fancy gown, the one she'd picked out just in case Dean had been there for dinner. "I know who I married," she insisted, "and Dean isn't him. He's—he's—a different person altogether."
    "Uh... okay ," Troy agreed.
    Kelly pushed her bowl of soup away. "All right, a part of him is the same, but only a part. And that part keeps coming and going so fast I can't keep track of where it ends and the rest of him begins."
    Both Troy and Robby were staring at her. As her words came back to her, Kelly felt like staring at herself. She had just said, she couldn't keep track of where' her' Dean ended and the other one began . "Why, there is no difference between the two," she whispered.
    There was no schism, no two, distinct personalities. Dean had been telling the truth in that conference room in Las Vegas. A part of him was the man she had married. That part was always there, but it was only one part. He was much more than that. He was—
    Kelly leaned back against the sturdy oak frame of her chair. Who was he?
    Troy frowned at her. "No