“In case you haven’t noticed, we’ve been a little busy lately. It can wait. Got to prioritize.” He needed to provide more logic, a good rationale for why he could not leave her at the side of the road. “As far as I’m concerned, the risk of marrying you is worth it because it’s the best way for us to work together to achieve our mutual goal.”
“In other words, you need me and I need you.”
His reasoning was working. He was on a roll.
“Like I said, we’re stuck with each other,” he added for good measure.
She gave that some thought. “Okay.”
He got a psychic ping. His intuition was calling with the message that there was something disturbing about her calm, coolokay. He wasn’t sure why it bothered him, but it did.
“Okay?” he said to make sure he had heard her correctly. “That’s it? That’s all you’ve got to say?”
“Okay, I’ll enter a Marriage of Convenience with you for purposes of, well, mutual convenience. Thank you.”
He took a moment to process that. “Okay. You’re welcome.”
Now he was doing theokaything.
“If you change your mind, don’t hesitate to say so,” she added quickly.
“Okay.”
He did some more processing, trying to figure out why herokaywasn’t particularly satisfying. Maybe it was because she sounded resigned. She was making it clear that she was accepting his offer because there was no good alternative to marrying him. That was true. Her decision was rational. Logical. Still.
Probably time to move on to another topic.
“Curiosity compels me to ask, did you murder your first husband?” he asked.
She reached up to pat Sebastian as if he was a talisman. The dust bunny muttered in what sounded like a reassuring way.
“I don’t think so,” she said. “But I can’t be positive.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously. I can’t recall much about that night. I remember very little about meeting Travis Poole and even less about marrying him. Lately I’ve been getting flashes of what I think are genuine memories, but I can’t be sure if they are real.” She shot him a challenging look. “Still want to enter into a Marriage of Convenience with me?”
“Are you kidding? I’ve lived a quiet, one could even say monastic life for six months now. You are the most exciting thing that’s come along since my fiancée dumped me.”
“You were engaged?”
“We met through an agency. Seemed like a great match. We were planning a CM. But she changed her mind.”
“Are you still with the agency?” Alice asked, wary again. “Because we can’t possibly do a Marriage of Convenience if you’re registered. It wouldn’t be right.”
“No,” he said. “I am no longer registered. I’m taking a break.” This was not a good time to explain why he had closed his account at the agency.
She coughed to clear her throat. “To be clear, the monastic aspect of your life isn’t going to change just because of an MC with me.”
“Right. So my life won’t be quite as exciting as one might hope after we’re married, but it will still be way ahead of where it was two weeks ago.”
“You have a very odd sense of humor, Owen March.”
“Others have mentioned that. Moving right along, you don’t think you murdered your husband but you can’t be certain. What about the dead man in the shower?”
“He was there when I got to the room. I have no idea who he is, but I am very sure I did not kill him.”
Chapter Seven
