Married By Mistake

agreed. “But I find it not so much gobbledygook as—”
    “Intriguing,” said Sam Magill from behind her, once again startling Eloise. The women willingly widened their circle to include this unattached male. “I can’t say I get what Mallory’s trying to do, but you look at those colors—the depth—and it takes your breath away.”
    Sam had the women’s rapt attention. He did look rather dashing, Eloise conceded, in a tuxedo that emphasized that he’d kept his shape. Really, some of those ladies were too silly, fluttering their eyelashes, flashing coy smiles that would have been more appropriate at a high school prom.
    Eloise inched closer to him, in case the women were making him uncomfortable. But Sam didn’t seem to mind the attention. He gave his views politely, allowed others to express theirs uninterrupted. That look of intelligent interest in his gray eyes was rather appealing....
    Sam turned and caught her staring at him. His eyebrows rose a fraction. Eloise stepped away, and the movement drew his gaze to her new, high-heeled black sandals, which she knew flattered her ankles.
    Sam’s eyes lingered there a moment, then he said, “As always, you have excellent taste in shoes, Eloise.”
    She put her hands to her cheeks to cool the heat she could feel there, then turned to Casey. “My dear, you must let me introduce you to one of my dearest friends. Just over there...”
    Casey managed to suppress a smile, but couldn’t help shooting a look of encouragement at Sam as she was led away.
    They hadn’t gone far when Eloise stopped and gazed around the room.
    “One of your dearest friends?” Casey prompted her.
    Eloise blushed. “Perhaps I was mistaken. I don’t see her now.”
    “We could go back to the others,” Casey
teased her.
    “There’s Adam’s friend Dave Dubois, let’s go and chat with him.”
    It was the first time Casey had seen Dave since he’d officiated at her wedding. She knew Adam had confided in him about the true state of their marriage, but he greeted her like an old friend, with an enthusiastic kiss on the cheek. Eloise got the same treatment. The older woman laughed, patted his hand, then had to excuse herself when someone summoned her.
    “You look radiant,” Dave told Casey, all extravagant charm.
    “That sounded almost as convincing as your marriage celebrant impersonation.”
    He wagged a finger at her. “That was no impersonation, Mrs. Carmichael, and you have the husband to prove it.”
    “Thanks,” she said dryly.
    Dave inclined his head toward Adam, talking with the mayor of Memphis on the other side of the room. “He’s more relaxed than I’ve seen him in a long time. I’d say marriage agrees with him.”
    Casey assessed Adam as objectively as she could. Dave was right. He smiled more these days, and he seemed less unyielding. “Maybe,” she said.
    “Does it suit you equally well?”
    She laughed at his blatant nosiness. “It suits both of us for a time.”
    “I don’t know that you should be too hasty about ending it,” he said. “Marrying you two...I couldn’t have done better if I’d planned the whole thing.”
    “You didn’t know that ceremony was for real, did you?” she demanded.
    “No idea,” he said. “But I’ve looked into it since—turns out, as an ex-commissioner, I can do all kinds of weird things.”
    Casey sipped her wine. “Can you issue annulments?”
    “Uh, no.” He shrugged in apology. “But if you want a permit to keep an alligator in your backyard...”
    “Really?” She shuddered.
    “Maybe I read that one wrong.” Dave grinned. “It’s mainly pretty boring stuff.”
    “Are you talking about a conversation with you?” Adam found the small of Casey’s back, applied a pressure with his hand that moved her closer to him.
    “I’m talking about what it must be like being married to you.” Dave punched him lightly on the shoulder.
    “Is marriage to me boring stuff?” Adam asked Casey.
    The heat of his palm branded her back through the thin fabric of her dress. Somehow she’d moved even closer to him. If she stood on tiptoe her lips would brush his chin.
    “Actually,” she said, “it’s kind of interesting.”
    For a moment, everything seemed suspended...her breathing, the chatter around them, the music...everything except the deepening intensity in Adam’s eyes.
    “If you guys don’t quit ogling each other, I’m going to think there’s more to this marriage than you both claim,” Dave