The Sometime Bride

dabbed his dampened brow.
    “I agree,” Jack said. “Two weeks is no time at all. Besides,” he said, looking very pointedly at Mike, “she asked me, not you, young man. So, stay out of it!”
    Jack returned his affectionate gaze to Carrie. Though his hair had gone completely gray, Carrie could definitely see where Mike had gotten the gorgeous green eyes from. “So, young lady, tell me a bit about yourself. You from these parts?”
    “Yes, sir, grew up in Mill Creek, right around the bend. And Mike and I, as it turns out, both went to the university.”
    “Not together, I would guess? You seem a good bit younger than Mike.”
    Carrie grinned. “Only a few years, sir. But, you’re right, we’re far enough apart that we weren’t in school at the same time.”
    “Ships passing in the night,” Jack commented with a rather melancholy smile.
    “More like swimmers,” Mike mumbled under his breath.
    “What’s that?” Jack asked when Carrie burst out laughing.
    “He’s just being silly,” Carrie said, kicking Mike under the table.
    “Won’t be the first time,” Jack said. “Well, at least it’s good to see his taste in women has improved. Are you working in the area?” he asked Carrie.
    “Yes, I’m an investor.”
    Jack whistled. “Big money in that, hear tell.”
    “Dad…” Mike cautioned in a low vibrato.
    Not here, not now, Carrie told herself. “Uh, yes, sir. Yes, sir, there is.”
    Carrie glanced down at her styled gold watch, the one she reserved just for evening wear. “Oh my gosh, will you look at that! Seven fifteen. How far a drive did you say it was?” she asked, turning to Mike.
    “Hey, yeah, we’d better get going,” he said, standing from his chair. “Dad,” he said, giving his father’s shoulder a pat. “You take care, now. And no more flirting with those nurses. If I get one more call from Dr. Shafer’s office about your hitting on the staff…”

    Carrie laughed all the way to the car.
    “Does your dad really hit on the nurses?” Carrie asked once she’d adjusted her seat belt.
    “Only the pretty ones.”
    Carrie smiled and shook her head as Mike started the ignition. “Now I definitely see where you get it from.” But what Carrie secretly found herself wondering was if any of her and Mike’s children would be half as bad.

Chapter Fourteen

    The parade of oaks leading up to Ashton Hall was magnificent. Though Carrie had heard of the all-boys boarding school, she’d never once been there. Likely because the high school circles she’d run with didn’t exactly involve a “moneyed” crowd.
    Carrie had plans to discuss her financial “predicament,” meaning the fact that she was exceedingly wealthy, with Mike tonight. The time for pretense was over. He’d proven well enough, in a million different ways, that the woman he cared for had nothing to do with her bank account. Of course, he’d seen her car and knew she worked in finance. What he didn’t know was that her title in New York was Venture Capitalist and that her account balance registered in the seven digits.
    Carrie prayed inwardly that it wouldn’t make too much difference. Mike certainly didn’t strike her as the sort of man who would feel emasculated by a wife who made more money. The impression he’d given her was that Alexia had been well-off, and that, in and of itself, apparently hadn’t fazed him in the least. “Thank you for doing this,” Mike said, shutting off the engine and pulling his keys from the ignition. “You don’t know what it means to me to have you on my arm tonight.”
    Oh yes, she did. Because whether or not he suspected it, it meant just as much to her. And not simply because she planned to pose as his fiancée for the night. But, more importantly, because she hoped to soon make that role a legitimate position.
    Mike walked around the car and opened her door. “You ready to be my bride-to-be?” he asked with a grin that sent her stomach all aflutter.
    More than he knew. But she just said, “Yes.”

    Ashton Hall was an impressive two-hundred-year-old red-brick building, elegant, high white columns flanking the tall main entrance. The striking Georgian architecture reminded Carrie of parts of the college campus where she and Mike had both studied.
    “Wow,” Carrie said as Mike ushered her in the door.
    The domed central ceiling, in and of itself, must have reached over forty feet. Elegant crystal chandeliers dripped light like sparkling teardrops onto the