Married By Mistake

attack.”
    The self-recrimination in his eyes gave Casey the urge to comfort her husband, to wrap her arms around him and tell him it would be all right. Instead, she said, “Did you mean it?”
    Adam shook his head, then nodded. “In a heat-of-the-moment way. I’d just found out Carmichael Broadcasting’s accountant had been embezzling funds. It seemed Dad had lost touch with reality when he married Eloise. The business was on the brink of disaster, and I vented to John Hanson. Big mistake.”
    “No judge will accept a one-off remark as evidence your father was insane,” Casey said.
    Adam grimaced. “There was one other occasion. At the reading of Dad’s will, when I heard about that marriage clause, I did say something along the lines of, ‘He must have been nuts.’ Eloise didn’t take it well at the time. Anna May was there, too. I’m sure she’ll remember.”
    “But still,” Casey persisted, “it’s not exactly expert psychiatric testimony.”
    “Which we can’t get, now that Dad’s dead,” he pointed out. “Maybe what I said isn’t enough. But maybe we’ll get a judge who agrees that what Dad did was crazy, and he’ll order a full hearing.”
    Adam stopped at a red light. To think his own careless remark had fueled Anna May’s case. His foot tapped the brake.
    “You made a mistake,” Casey said. “But you’ll get past it.”
    He turned to face her, found her expression full of sympathy. Casey was on his side, without reservation. She reached across to squeeze his hand on the steering wheel—only it felt more as if she’d squeezed all the air out of his lungs. She snatched her hand back, but not before Adam had seen the flare of desire in her eyes—one that matched his own.
    “It might hurt Eloise less if you call to apologize,” she said.
    Damn if she hadn’t tapped into the vein of guilt he tried to pretend didn’t exist. Adam didn’t need this. “What are you, my wife?”
    She snickered, her cheek dimpling, and Adam found himself saying, “I’ll think about it.”
    * * *
    I T WAS UNUSUAL for Brodie-Ann to take a day off work just so she could drive up to Memphis and have lunch with Casey.
    When Casey got to the downtown bistro where they’d agreed to meet on Tuesday, the woman who would spill the contents of her soul at the slightest urging shied away from Casey’s questions, deflecting the conversation at their courtyard table to news of what was going on in Parkvale.
    “I saw your sister out with the baby last week,” Brodie-Ann said.
    “How were they?” Casey asked over a lump in her throat. She missed her family, even if she didn’t want to be back with them.
    “We chatted for a few minutes, then Karen got teary.”
    Casey chewed her lip. “Maybe I should call her tonight.”
    “She didn’t seem too bad,” Brodie-Ann assured her. “It might have just been new-mom hormones.”
    It wasn’t until the waiter had set their chicken Caesars in front of them that Brodie-Ann got to what might have been the point of this get-together.
    “Is marriage what you expected?” she asked.
    Casey took a sip of her ice water. “I can’t say I ever thought about what it might be like to be married to a complete stranger who happens to be the cutest guy I ever met, even if he is a little set in his ways.” She put her glass down and turned the question back on Brodie-Ann. “Is marriage what you expected?”
    Her friend ducked the issue. “So you think Adam’s cute, huh?”
    Was Brodie-Ann blind? Could she not see he was gorgeous? Casey bit back the suggestion that her friend have her eyes tested. “Sure I do. He’s a great guy, too.” No point denying it.
    “Does he have you ironing his shirts yet? Taking meals to his dying grandmother? Hosting soirees for important clients?”
    Casey shook her head. “None of the above. He doesn’t need me at all.” Somehow that came out sounding pathetic.
    “That’s great,” Brodie-Ann said uncertainly. “I’ll bet you’re enjoying the break.”
    “Absolutely.” Then why did Casey suddenly feel lost?
    Brodie-Ann glanced at her watch, then said with a strange urgency, “Casey, sweetie, does Adam like you back?”
    “I don’t think so.” Why would he want a woman who had nothing to offer him? This is stupid. For years I’ve wanted to get away from people who only want me for what I can do for them. What was she, a dependence junkie? “Like I told you,” she said, “we’re sticking together until the