Married By Mistake

nervously. “Actually, I always thought I’d like to—”
    “I don’t know what this new tactic of yours is, Adam, but it won’t work,” Anna May said. “We’ll be asking the court to overturn your father’s will on the grounds that he was mentally unstable when he signed it.”
    So much for the friendly approach. Adam slipped back into his more familiar, driven mode. “The court will find my father was in his right mind when he wrote his last will,” he said, aware of the absurdity of defending a document that he himself planned to challenge, on the basis that his dad couldn’t legally insist Adam get married in order to inherit.
    He saw Eloise watching him, biting her lip, blinking. He wished she wasn’t here, so he could tell Anna May to do her worst. But he figured his aunt had invited Eloise for that very reason. Emotional blackmail. His family was so good at it. Even Dad... When Anna May revealed the contents of the earlier will, Eloise had suggested James had changed it because he’d realized how important his son was to him. Adam would have liked to believe it. But more likely, Dad had seen how much effort Adam was putting into the company, and he’d wanted to be sure that continued.
    Adam wished, as he often did, that his dad hadn’t asked him to take care of Eloise. It meant he couldn’t ignore that his stepmother would be heartbroken to hear her beloved husband labeled crazy in public. But Adam was damned if he was going to cave in a moment before he had to. He turned to his stepmother. “What do you think, Eloise?”
    She swallowed, looked over at Anna May, then back at him. “I never give in to blackmail, Adam dear, and nor should you.”
    What? Adam stared at her, and she inclined her head. He didn’t give her a chance to change her mind. “You heard Eloise.”
    Not the least bit flustered, Anna May got to her feet, and Henry did the same. “We’ll see you in court,” she said over her shoulder as she stalked out.
    Eloise left a minute later. Sam watched her go with a kind of hopeless despair. “Such a brave woman,” he murmured.
    For once, Adam had no argument. He pushed the dish of cornbread toward Sam. “Why don’t you take this?”
    “She made it for you.” But the lawyer looked at it hungrily.
    “Take it,” Adam insisted, and Sam didn’t need any further encouragement to drag the dish to his side of the desk.
    “How do you rate Anna May’s chances with the insanity thing?” Adam asked.
    “Less than fifty percent.”
    Not as low as Adam would have liked. “Surely she can’t win on the basis of a couple of stupid remarks I made?”
    “I’m betting she’ll make a big deal out of your father’s failure to notice his accountant stealing money from under his nose,” Sam said. “She’ll try to link that to a loss of mental competence.”
    Which would be even more upsetting for Eloise. Adam rubbed his temples.
    “This marriage of yours...” Sam said thoughtfully.
    “What about it?”
    “Is it going well?”
    “You tell me. You’re the one working on the annulment.”
    Sam waved that away. “I’m asking if you and Casey get along. It seems to me that you do.”
    Adam shifted in his seat. If burning up every time he touched his wife, if craving the feel of her lips under his and being aware of every movement of her legs, her hips, counted as getting along, then Sam was right. Adam suspected dating her definitely counted as getting along.
    “I’m thinking,” Sam said, “that once we beat this insanity thing, the simplest way to deal with Anna May and Henry might be to remove the grounds for their complaint, and drop your challenge to the will.”
    “How do I do that?” Adam asked.
    “You make this marriage for real.”
    He dropped his pen. “You can’t be serious.”
    Sam nodded, every bit as somber as he always was. “I’m saying this as your friend, not as your lawyer. In the strictly legal sense, I think we’ll probably win the battle to have that clause struck out of your father’s will. But if you want to do this the easy way...the fact is, you are married, and as the will stands you need to be married to inherit. There’s a certain synergy.”
    “There’s a certain craziness,” Adam retorted. He winced. He’d sworn never to use the words crazy or insane lightly again.
    “Think about it,” Sam advised. “If there’s any way you and Casey can make a go of it...”
    “Not a chance.” Adam had to quash the thought before it could