Marriage by Mistake

He couldn't afford to lose control when Robby's welfare was on the line. Quietly, he asked, "And how, pray, does flying Robby off to Greece and your mistress help anybody, Kirk?"
    Dean's father was giving him the strange look again. "Well, it'll take Robby off your hands, won't it?"
    "Ye-us?"
    "Give you one less problem to deal with?"
    "A-und?"
    "A-und you have enough of a problem dealing with your wife," Kirk claimed.
    Dean went dead still.
    Kirk leaned forward in his chair. "You're in trouble here, son. As soon as I heard about it, I hightailed it off the yacht and got myself a ticket home."
    The wound-up anger inside Dean nearly sprang free. But he kept his voice soft. "What are you talking about?"
    Kirk laughed. "I'm talking about you married. Tell me that isn't a hoot!"
    Dean evened his breathing with an effort. It was not uncommon for his father to make fun of him. It didn't need to affect him more today than on any other occasion. "I'm afraid you've made a long trip for nothing." Dean spoke very, very softly. "You see, I have absolutely no need of your help."
    Kirk raised his eyebrows. "Don't you, though?"
    "No."
    The two men looked at each other. Dean waited for Kirk to back down, for his cowardly, ineffective father to break. Instead, one side of Kirk's mouth quirked. "Coulda fooled me."
    Dean said nothing. He knew what Kirk was doing. His father often wanted to get his goat. He couldn't stand the fact Dean had grown out of him—despite Dean having grown out of him thirty-odd years before. Dean knew he shouldn't feel angry, and he wouldn't have felt angry if the little worm of panic, the one he'd been fighting off for weeks now, hadn't used this opportunity to crawl its way to the surface.
    Kirk scratched the side of his mouth. "She's...quite an eyeful."
    Dean forced his voice to calm. "And why shouldn't she be?"
    Kirk shrugged. "No reason. Just, uh, something that might have hurried you down the aisle."
    Dean clenched his jaw. "I was in no more of a hurry than you have been in, on occasion."
    Kirk flashed a grin. "See, that's what I'm talking about. Like father, like son."
    Dean had to make himself breathe. No, I wouldn't say that. I wouldn't say that at all . He wanted to declare it. But his mouth wouldn't open to say the words.
    Kirk laughed. "Who'da guessed?"
    Dean glared at him, but his heart was pounding madly. Indeed, who would have guessed? Dean hadn't—until that moment. No wonder he'd been so unreasonably disturbed that his father had come home. The man was like a—a symbol. A living announcement of Dean's folly. Oh, how very like his father he had acted—and was still acting!
    Kirk clasped his hands over one knee. "Can't say I blame you. The girl's something else. Hard to think straight around a female like that."
    Dean was starting to feel sick. "I can think clearly enough." But it wasn't true. He hadn't been thinking clearly at all.
    Kirk seemed to know it, too. He laughed. "Who'd have thought you could be impulsive?"
    He hadn't been impulsive. Dean wanted to say that. But impulsive precisely described his marriage to Kelly. Hell, he'd been hypnotized . How much more impulsive could a man get? And since then...well, since then there'd been the fantasy.
    Kirk gave him a patronizing look. Meanwhile Dean tried to remain logical. So, he'd acted impulsive. It had worked out. Kelly had even said she was staying.
    But the panic was rising, climbing up his gorge. So what if Kelly said she was staying. What did that signify?
    Kirk hooked his elbows over the back of his chair. "I tell you it was worth the trip to see this: you actually acting human."
    Dean glared at him. "I have always been human. I've just never wanted to—"
    Kirk raised his eyebrows when Dean stopped. "You've just never wanted to...what? Make a mistake? Admit you had needs?"
    Dean stood up from his chair. The fear was like an animal inside him, clawing through his gut, fighting up his throat. He hadn't made a mistake. Nor did he have needs. He wanted Kelly, that was all. He was independent. He was in control. He didn't count on fantasies.
    I'm not like you . Dean wanted to say that. He wanted to shout it at Kirk. But he didn't.
    Kirk stood up, too. He'd stopped smiling. "All right, fine. You don't need me. You never have. But I'm here, all the same. And I've already told Robby about the trip and he's thrilled, so I'm taking him."
    No you're not . Dean wanted to say that. He wanted to keep Robby with him, keep him on track toward a