Married By Mistake

the lawyer should leave. “I surely do appreciate your dropping in, Sam, but I’m fine and so are my roses.”
    He looked so downcast, Eloise gave him a reprieve. “Just one moment while I fetch you a jar of my pear preserves. I still do them myself every year.”
    That she hurried out of the room was interesting in itself, Casey reflected. Eloise considered hurrying unladylike.
    Casey decided she didn’t have time to pull any punches. “You’re going about it the wrong way,” she told Sam. “Eloise thinks you’re interfering.”
    “I only want to help,” he protested, once he got over his initial shock at her direct approach. “She’s on her own and must need the occasional piece of advice. But every time I open my mouth...”
    “You mess up because you’re trying too hard,” Casey said.
    He moved over to the mantelpiece, stared down at the empty grate. “I just want to do something for her. To earn her...respect.”
    They both knew he wanted a whole lot more than respect. Casey recognized the problem. Sam figured Eloise had to need him before she would fall for him.
    “What Eloise needs is company, someone to share the ups and downs with,” she said. “Then maybe, eventually, someone to love.”
    Sam looked doubtful.
    “It’s worth a try,” Casey said awkwardly.
    He harrumphed in a way that might have meant he would give it some thought, or that he didn’t want to talk about it. His eyes met Casey’s in the mirror above the fireplace. “While we’re on the subject of who likes whom,” he said, “you and Adam appear to be getting along.”
    She nodded.
    “If you want to do something for him—” Sam turned to face her “—stay married to him.”
    Her heart raced. “Why do you say that?”
    “If you two stay together, Adam won’t need to challenge his father’s will.”
    Casey licked her suddenly dry lips. “I don’t think Adam wants to stay married to me.” But that didn’t stop her pulse from jumping, her breath going shallow. She heard the click of Eloise’s heels out in the foyer and exhaled slowly.
    Sam had heard Eloise, too, and he added in a rush, “He didn’t sound opposed to it.”
    “You...you suggested this to Adam?”
    Sam nodded.
    “When was that?” Please, let it be after lunch today.
    “This morning, right after we met with Anna May.”
    Eloise arrived with a large jar of pears, which Sam accepted with effusive thanks. He clutched it to his chest as if it were the key to Fort Knox. Eloise escorted him to the front door, giving Casey precious seconds to pull herself together.
    Giving her time to face the cold, hard truth.
    When Adam had started his seduction today, it had been with Sam’s suggestion in mind.
    She closed her eyes, sick to her stomach. Whatever that kiss had been about, it hadn’t been as simple as him wanting her.
    It never was.
    * * *
    A DAM LEFT THE OFFICE at five o’clock for the first time in years. Combined with his extended lunch hour, that made it the shortest working day he could remember.
    Not short enough.
    All afternoon he’d been able to think of nothing except Casey. He’d never been so preoccupied by a woman that his chief accountant had had to ask him a question three times.
    It was worryingly reminiscent of his father and Eloise. But Adam figured he’d take the edge off his distraction as soon as he went to bed with Casey.
    She wasn’t home when he got there, and the place felt empty. He called Eloise, who told him Casey had just left. That meant another ten minutes. He busied himself setting the table for dinner, pouring wine, serving the meal the housekeeper had left.
    When Casey finally arrived, he wanted to haul her into his arms and get started right then.
    But this was supposed to be a date, and she’d made it clear she didn’t want to be rushed. So instead, he kissed her briefly and said, “Dinner’s ready.”
    At first, when she didn’t say much through the meal, he figured it was because she was as distracted as he was. But gradually he noticed little details—the dip at the corners of her mouth, the shadow in her eyes.
    Adam got a sinking feeling.
    He didn’t want to get into one of those emotional discussions. For what felt like the umpteenth time recently, he did something he didn’t want to do. He ignored the warning bell in his head. “Is something wrong?” he asked.
    She dropped her gaze, apparently intensely interested in her baked fish and scalloped potatoes. “I’ve been thinking about