Marriage by Mistake (15 page)

When Felicia heard the slam of their car
door, she moved. If her mother saw her light on under the door she
would surely come in and submit Felicia to her interrogation this
evening, instead of waiting for morning.

Her mother wanted to know
everything
that Felicia did, everything she thought and felt. It was a
constant challenge to satisfy her mother's curiosity and maternal
concern, even while telling her nothing of genuine intimacy.
Sometimes...sometimes Felicia considered moving out of her
childhood home    even if it would mean leaving her
mother all alone.

But for now Felicia stole on experienced feet
to the switch beside her bedroom door. With a flick of her hand,
she plunged the room into darkness. Later, after her mother had
walked past and gone into her own room Felicia could turn the
lights back on.

Meanwhile, waiting with hushed breath in the
darkness, Felicia could see the red light on her answering machine
blinking. Someone had called on her personal phone line while she'd
been at the opera.

Dean
? Felicia thought, with a stupid
leap of hope. Stupid, because Dean wasn't about to call her, even
if he hadn't been married. She barely crossed his mind. The message
was probably from a fellow member of one of the many boards to
which Felicia belonged. There was the problem of finding a
professional fundraiser for the Boston Family Aid Foundation, a
problem that was becoming more urgent as the purely volunteer
efforts to raise money fell short.

Felicia bit her lower lip. The Family Aid
Foundation was close to her heart. She wanted to give families
   mostly single mothers    a chance to get
their lives together, to become independent and
self-sufficient.

So once she heard her mother's bedroom door
close at the end of the hall, she moved across the room to her
bedside table. There she switched on the small lamp and then hit
the button for the answering machine.

But it wasn't one of her contacts at the
Family Aid Foundation. No, of all things it was Troy's voice that
came out of the pretty white answering machine which sat on her
night table.

"Guess this is kind of a shock," Troy
muttered.

He could say that again. Felicia stared at
her answering machine, which had suddenly become an alien creature,
allowing
Troy's
voice to be stored inside, and now letting
it drawl forth, right into Felicia's most private space.

Troy was everything Dean was not. Troy
exuded
sexuality. He was like    a big tom cat,
physically expert and deeply sensual. Even now, his mere voice was
making Felicia's hair stand on end.

"Don't know if I've ever called you about
anything at all," Troy went on. "But    that's not the
point. The point is    " And here Troy sighed, deeply.
"The point is I wanted to ask you out...to lunch, I guess. Yeah,
lunch." Here Troy cleared his throat. "I, uh, believe I owe you an
apology."

An apology! Felicia didn't know whether to
fall over in a dead faint or scream. Troy wanted to
apologize
? To
her
? Good God, did he feel
sorry
for her?

"So please call me back," Troy said. He
rattled off a phone number and ended by saying, "You may think I've
already taken care of my obligation by calling and leaving a phone
message to say I'm sorry about the way I dumped Dean's marriage
news on you." Then Troy's voice got weird, almost stern. "But you
and I both know that an apology recorded on an answering machine
doesn't cut it. I have to
take
you somewhere, and you have
to
come
. That is...if you intend to accept my apology."
There was a pause before he said, "So that's it."

The answering machine beeped and a computer
voice announced, "End of messages."

Great
, Felicia thought, glaring at the
miserable machine.
Just great
. Troy was right. If he was
going to apologize, properly, and if she intended to accept that
apology    which she was bound to do    then
they had to meet, in person.

As if losing Dean hadn't been bad enough.

Felicia crushed her teeth together, because
the urge to open her mouth and scream was strong. Oh, how she hated
Troy. She hated him, hated him,
hated
him!

CHAPTER TEN

It took until the next morning for Kelly to
regret her kissing impulse of the night before. In her baby-doll,
she sat on the edge of her bed and rubbed her forehead. What had
she been thinking? No. That was the trouble. She hadn't been
thinking.

Kelly sighed, pushed off the bed, and dragged
herself into the shower. What she'd done last night was try to
rationalize what she'd wanted to do all along: kiss Dean. She'd let
her physical attraction for the man overrule her senses.

Kelly stood under the shower with her head
lifted toward the spray. Unfortunately, she'd made a promise down
there in the garage. She wasn't leaving.

But that didn't mean she had to proceed with
this insane idea of 'releasing' Dean. Why, every women's magazine
in the country, every self-help book on the shelves would say as
much. It was impossible to change a man. You had to accept him the
way he was.

Kelly wasn't ready to accept Dean the way he
was.

She stepped out of the shower, drew on a pair
of shorts, and then wiggled into one of her colorful tops. She was
stuck here then, she thought. Seven-and-a-half more weeks. But she
wasn't going to try to help, change, or improve Dean during that
time.

Hungry for breakfast now, Kelly went down the
stairs. At the archway into the morning room, she stopped short.
Dean sat at the table with Troy and Robby.

Dean? Kelly blinked. She'd been sure he'd
skedaddle after that kiss in the garage. She'd been certain he'd
avoid her now more than ever. He wouldn't want to have anything to
do with her or her proposed mission.

But there he sat, reading a newspaper. He
looked up, caught Kelly's eye, and nodded a greeting. As if there
was nothing unusual about the situation, kiss included.

Suspicious, Kelly stepped into the room. She
squinted and took a seat across from him. Pride aside, she knew
Dean couldn't possibly consider that kiss ignorable.

"'Morning, Kelly," Robby called from behind a
bowl of cereal. "How was the opera?"

"Yes." Troy looked haggard, as if he'd woken
much earlier than his wont. "How did you two enjoy yourselves?"

They were obviously checking up on their bet.
Considering Troy's evident exhaustion, Kelly wondered just how high
the stakes were in this wager. She gave them both a big,
noncommittal smile. "The opera was fantastic."

"You were home later than we expected."
Troy's eyes narrowed as he fingered the edge of the unused plate in
front of him.

"You waited up?" Kelly felt an instant of
embarrassment, then realized Troy couldn't have witnessed what had
happened in the garage, even if he had waited up.

"I was...on the Internet," Troy explained.
"You know how you can lose track of time."

"Oh, yes," Kelly agreed sweetly, only mildly
annoyed now. "All those adult websites."

Dean snorted    the first hint he
was even following the conversation    and Troy turned
red.

"It's a legitimate user group," Troy claimed.
"Besides,
Dean's
the one who needs adult websites."

Robby snickered, though Kelly couldn't
imagine he knew what they were talking about. Meanwhile, Dean
merely smiled and folded over a page in his newspaper.

Troy turned to him. "What's going on with
you, Dean? I'm about to lose my bet here."

"Yes, I'm afraid you may lose that bet." Dean
lowered his newspaper. "You see, Kelly thinks she's going to
'release' me. It's a project that may take some time."

Troy shot Kelly a confused look, while Kelly
stared at Dean. So, he knew about the bet. And he casually told the
others what she'd said last night in the garage, in his arms...as
if it were some big joke.

Well, it had certainly been stupid, but it
hadn't been a joke. At the time she'd been serious and sincere.

Now she felt her face go hot.

Over his newspaper, Dean gave Kelly a
patronizing smile. "Where were you going to start this morning,
Kelly? I'm planning on going to the office, yes, even on a sunny
Sunday morning. What ploy will you use to try to stop me, to...save
me from myself?"

The room went so quiet you could hear a pin
drop. Kelly felt the heat in her face spread to the rest of her
body. He was deliberately mocking her. It made no difference that
Kelly had been mocking herself just a few minutes before.

"You think I can't do it?" Her voice come out
low.

Dean didn't appear to realize that her
question was genuine. He continued his smug smile.

A part of Kelly realized she was being
goaded. Maybe Dean even thought he was going to scare her off.
Well! He was having the opposite effect. She was making a complete
about-face regarding his reformation. In fact, her opinion of the
odds of success just leaped upward.

Not only could she reform him, she would.
She'd wrestle 'her' Dean out of the guy if she had to pin him to
the mat. She smiled very slowly. "All right, then. You're on."

"Excuse me?"

"You just issued a challenge. I'm taking you
up on it."

Dean's expression managed to get more
self-satisfied. "But I thought you were the one who was challenging
me?" he purred.

"Is that how you see it?"

"Yes. You're the one who    " Dean
stopped himself, the smugness suddenly gone and color brightening
his face. Kelly smiled. She knew what he'd been about to say.
You're the one who kissed me
.

Dean cleared his throat and threw his napkin
on the table. "It doesn't matter who's challenging whom. You think
I need to be 'released.' I'm curious. How do you intend to do such
a thing, particularly given there is no hidden personality caged
inside of me?" Dean raised his eyebrows.

Kelly raised her eyebrows back. If that was
true, then why did he bring it up?

Brows still raised, Dean stood from the
table. "Troy's hypnotic suggestion had nothing to do with the 'real
me.'"

"No?" She recalled Dean making the point that
at least a
part
of him had been involved.

Dean huffed a sigh. "I suppose you'll be
dropping in on me today, or providing some other, equivalent
distraction?"

"Mm."

A flicker of worry crossed Dean's face at
this non-reply, but he soon retrieved his obnoxious smile. "Oh,
good," he said. "A surprise."

The unholy condescension    ! Kelly
felt her palm itch. She blinked, astonished at herself. She'd
actually wanted to smack him.

At that moment Dean met her eyes squarely.
Kelly's conquering high tripped on its way up to the clouds. He'd
done that. He'd made her feel that way.

Out of control.

As Dean kept his eyes on Kelly, a gleam rose
up in them. She could swear he'd come to the same realization she
just had: that he had as much effect on her as she had on him.

"Good morning, then," Dean said. Like a man
who'd accomplished his goal, he smiled, inclined his head, and
walked out of the room.

Silence followed his departure, a silence
broken only by the sound of Dean's footsteps receding down the
hall. Robby waited until the footsteps could no longer be heard,
then moved his cereal bowl aside. "So, what're you going to do,
Kelly?"

"Yes." Troy sounded curious, too. "What
now?"

Kelly absently massaged her palm. Huh. Like
she was going to tell the two of them, assuming she had the
foggiest idea. Besides, she was still shook up. This war was not
going to be one-sided. Dean had his defenses; strong, wickedly
intelligent defenses. She was going to have to respect that, to
respect
him
.

"You could win me my bet," Troy
suggested.

"Leave him?" Kelly frowned.

Troy grinned. "I take it that's a 'no'?"

"It would hardly accomplish what I'm
after."

Troy rubbed his chin. "No, I guess not." He
stopped rubbing and looked at Kelly. "For the record, I'm not a fan
of you leaving."

Kelly's attention went from distracted to
arrested. "You aren't?"

Troy's smile quirked. "Like I said before,
you distract Dean. Plus    " His grin went wide. "I
happen to like you."

Kelly's eyebrows shot up. Was that so? She
switched her gaze to Robby. He wore much the same expression as
Troy, restrained hope. Kelly felt a leap of her own hope. Well,
what do you know? She had a pair of allies here. Or at
least...sympathetic bystanders. She smiled. "Okay, then. We're all
on the same page."

"What?" Robby asked.

"She means we all agree," Troy explained, but
squinted at Kelly. "Though I'm not sure we do. I want you to stay,
Kelly, but I don't think you can change Dean."

"Not change him." Kelly tsked. "Release
him."

"Uh huh," Troy said, and squinted even
harder. Robby bent on Kelly a very similar expression, one of
confusion and concern.

"What?" Kelly asked.

"Nothin'," Robby claimed.

"Oh, not a thing," Troy agreed.

But they both kept looking at Kelly in a most
peculiar manner until she got up from the table and, still
wondering how to get at the
real
Dean, left the room.

###

Kelly did not surprise Dean at the office
that Sunday. Alone on the executive floor, he found his
concentration slipping. He kept expecting a call from the guard
downstairs or a knock on the hall door. It never happened.

At the office, he ordered a salad for dinner,
then went home about eleven p.m. He braced himself as he walked the
path from the garage to the house. But no curvy female jumped out
of the bushes. Except for the crickets, all was quiet along the
country path.