Married By Mistake

back in alarm, but he wouldn’t let her move more than a couple of inches.
    “I lost the keys,” he said. “What else could I do?” He’d maneuvered her to the doorway that led to the back porch, and they stepped out into the cool evening air. He guided her to a seat on the edge of the porch, where he pulled off his mask and, without speaking, helped Casey remove hers.
    “So I want you to keep the Aston Martin,” he continued.
    She gaped. “But you love that car.”
    “It’s not a car, it’s the sublimation of my boyhood dreams.” He smiled, took both her hands loosely in his own. “I have different dreams now.”
    “Which are?”
    “I’ll get to those in a moment. Besides, I wasn’t happy at the thought of my wife driving around in that heap of rust you call a car.”
    “I’m not your wife.”
    “Ah, yes. That’s the other piece of bad news. We’re still married.”
    Her heart stopped for a moment. “What? How?”
    “All my fault, I’m afraid.” He didn’t look the least bit apologetic. In fact, she’d bet he was enjoying her outrage. “I couldn’t live a lie any longer.”
    “What lie? Adam, what is this?”
    “Sam gave me a copy of the judgment from our annulment hearing. Turns out the judge considered two key factors in deciding to grant it. First, we hadn’t intended to get married. And second, we hadn’t—”
    “Consummated the marriage,” she finished for him. “Oh, no.”
    “That’s not a particularly flattering reference to our consummation,” he said.
    “So this is about your ego? You didn’t want it on public record that you hadn’t slept with your wife?”
    He tightened his grip on her hands. “It wasn’t public record,” he said. “The judgment was sealed. I petitioned the court to revoke the annulment because I couldn’t bring myself to deny the best night of my life.”
    “The best?” Casey swallowed.
    He nodded. “Sam argued the case at the county court, and he called me earlier tonight to say the judge revoked the annulment.”
    “So now what? We get divorced?”
    “Now, I tell you my new dream. Which is to spend the rest of my life being distracted, provoked and seduced by you.”
    “You asked me to marry you once before, Adam, and I told you no.”
    “But this time I’m laying down some strict conditions,” he said.
    “Oh, are you?” Indignation colored her tone.
    “You might think it’s okay to be fond of your husband, but I’m settling for nothing less than mutual adoration.” He lifted her fingers to his lips and kissed them.
    The reminder of the day they’d first met, when he’d told her she might never find a man who adored her, brought a lump to her throat. Casey gazed into his eyes, and saw all she needed to know about how he felt toward her.
    “Adoration? That’s a lot to ask,” she said thoughtfully. “You could wait a long time for a woman who adores you, Adam. You might never find one.”
    “I’ll wait,” he said.
    “But what about your father’s will? What about that baby you want to have, to secure the business?”
    “That’s all over,” he said. “Soon after you left, Anna May backed down from her lawsuit. Turned out Henry didn’t really want to run the company. He wants to coach high school tennis and still pick up a fat dividend from the business every so often. I said that can be arranged.”
    “That’s great.”
    “Anna May figured all this out after you gave her a lecture about wanting what’s best for the people you love,” Adam told her. “She asked Henry and he finally got up the guts to tell her what he did want.”
    He broke off as another couple stepped out on the porch. A loaded stare from Adam soon had them retreating back into the ballroom. “Once Anna May dropped her opposition, Sam was able to get the marriage clause struck from Dad’s will.”
    “So you don’t need a wife,” Casey said. “Or a baby.”
    Adam squeezed her fingers. “But I do need you. I need your company, your love, your faith in me, the way you inspire me to be a better person.”
    “What about a baby?” Casey asked. “Because if you need one of those...”
    “We’ll figure something out,” he said carelessly.
    “No!” She stood and stepped back.
    He rose to join her, his face pale. “No, you won’t stay with me?”
    “Adam, I love you—I adore you—and I want to us to be married. But I can’t promise you a baby.”
    “We’ll figure something out,” he told her again. “Maybe, if you want a