“What if I choose Jack to be my husband?”If he’ll even have me.“What kind of blowback do you think I’d be looking at?”
“I have no idea what the level of blowback will be, but if he is your choice, marry him quickly. Be aware, he must meet a specific criterion. Jack can pilot a ship, can’t he?”
“What? Yes. I believe so.” He’d known how to pilot back in high school. She hoped he hadn’t forgotten how. “Why?”
“My understanding is that you have a deadline to meet and you cannot fly alone into the atmosphere of the planet where the next package is located.”
Right. How could she have forgotten? The tick-tock of the unknown time limit she had to complete this many-stepped errand pushed her to get going, along with the verbiage in the parchment she’d just read.
“Whatever decision you make regarding your husband-to-be, you need to get married today and move on to the next task. Isthatclearly understood?”
“Yes. You’re right. I need to move forward with a purpose.” Madelaine expected the phone to disintegrate in her hand the moment she hung up. Just in case, she quickly asked, “May I hold on to this phone and call you if I need more guidance in the future?”
“You may, but I would not let anyone, not even your groom-to-be, know that you have it.”
“Right. Yes. I’ll keep it hidden. I may not even need it.”
“I’m available day or night if you need me, Madelaine.”
“Thank you, Secret Keeper.”
The call ended and the phone stayed intact, not disappearing in a puff of smoke as she’d imagined it would. She tucked the phone in a pocket hidden in her waistband, patting it once for luck.
She shoved the small unopened envelope with the cabal’s spouse suggestion next to the phone. She didn’t expect to ever need that, either, but she wasn’t destroying anything as she went along on this mission.
Once the box she’d gotten from the Secret Keeper and both keys were stowed in her backpack, along with the parchment, Madelaine left the bedroom to join Jack in the front room.
Here goes nothing.She wasn’t going to waver or procrastinate. Best to rip the Band-Aid right off to alleviate the possible pain of the situation. Would he turn her down? Would he be angry, pitch a fit andthenturn her down?
Time to find out.
“Jack,” Madelaine said as she approached him. “Would you be willing to marry me?”
Chapter Eleven
Jack stared at Madelaine. The only part of her disguise she’d removed was the oversized sunglasses. He could see her eyes. He could see that she was serious. And then the meaning of her words soaked in.
“Would I be willing tomarryyou? Is that a trick question?” Honestly, he didn’t know the immediate answer.
Had he always wanted to marry Madelaine? Yes.
Had she broken his heart into one thousand pieces when she left him five years ago? Yes.
Did he want to marry her anyway? Yes.
Should he tell her that? Maybe.
Madelaine shook her head and a small smile appeared. “No. Not a trick question. I need a husband I can trust, and the truth is, you are the only husband I would ever trust.” She flashed a wider smile, making her look like the Madelaine he’d known. A jubilant smile that he’d missed seeing. The one that said it was the two of them against the world and that there wasn’t anything they couldn’t accomplish, as long as they did it together.
But that had been over five long years ago.
He glanced at the backpack she carried. “The message said you need a husband? Why?”
She paused, looked up at the ceiling as if framing her words carefully. He hated that she had to be careful with what she said around him. “Well, there’s going to be more than asingle location I’ll have to visit and retrieve packages for this important errand and not all of them are friendly to women. I will need a husband to speak for me because I must remain silent in at least one location. He needs to be able to pilot a ship, which I know you can do. And, as I said, you are the only husband I would ever trust.”
Jack rocked back on his heels once before planting his feet firmly beneath him. Madelaine was not someone who easily capitulated in favor of what she would consider an unreasonable task.
Especially if she had to have a man—or rather, a husband—speak for her.
