Lawful Wife (Eternal Bachelors Club) (2 page)

Knowing he should really go over the lengthy to-do list for the wedding, he folded the various sections which he’d browsed, when his gaze fell onto a photo. He pulled out the section—the weddings and announcements pages—and took a closer look. Why were they running his and Sabrina’s picture again when the engagement announcement had been published weeks ago?

When his eyes zeroed in on the headline just above the picture, his heart stuttered to a halt.

Business Tycoon Daniel Sinclair to Marry High-class Call Girl
, it read.

His blood turned to ice, while his breath deserted his lungs and his hands gripped the edge of the paper, nearly tearing it.

A little birdie tells me that successful entrepreneur and millionaire Daniel Sinclair, whose equally wealthy family lives in Montauk, NY, has decided to marry outside his class. According to a reliable source, his fiancée, Sabrina Palmer, worked as a high-class escort in San Francisco, where she met Mr. Sinclair, who was a client of the escort service which employed Ms. Palmer. Neither Mr. Sinclair nor Ms. Palmer could be reached for comment.

“Fuck!” Daniel hissed.

Marry outside his class? Sabrina wasn’t a call girl! She was as decent a woman as his own mother!

Who the fuck had written these lies? He glanced at the byline:
By Claire Heart – News from the Heart.

Bullshit! More like news from the gutter! Lies from the gutter!

Fury charged through him. How could this reporter know about how he and Sabrina had met and then twist it into something distasteful? Yes, Sabrina had pretended to be an escort that night, but it hadn’t all been like it looked from the outside. It was complicated. And it was certainly not true that Sabrina was a call girl! Despite the circumstances that had brought them together. Were those events going to haunt them forever?

If Sabrina found out about this article, she would be devastated. Wasn’t it enough that she’d been embarrassed when he, Daniel, had found out about her initial deception? Now the entire world would find out about what she’d done. And they would judge her. It would destroy her. Not to speak of the wedding which was only days away: knowing Sabrina, she would cancel it, not wanting to endure the judgmental stares of the community where everybody knew him and his parents, where everybody knew her now, too.

He had to keep this from her and from his parents. Otherwise, the perfect wedding they were planning would turn into utter chaos. And he couldn’t allow that. Sabrina deserved a fairytale wedding, and he would do everything to fulfill her wish. Even if that meant keeping this newspaper article from her.

“Good morning, Daniel,” his mother’s voice suddenly came from the door.

“Uh, morning, Mom!” Daniel jerked his head up and saw his mother enter the kitchen, lifting two shopping bags onto the counter. He used the short time her back was turned to him to hastily fold the remainder of the paper and slide it under the seat cushion of his chair, while he kept talking to drown out any suspicious sounds. “You were already shopping this morning? That’s early, even for you. You should have let me know if you needed anything. I would have driven into the village for you later.”

His mother looked over her shoulder, while she continued unpacking. She was a short woman, a little over five feet tall, with olive skin and the fiery temperament Italian women were famous for.

“I realized that we were out of coffee creamer. So I went down to the shop quickly. And then I got us some fresh rolls and bread from the bakery while I was down there. Are you the only one up?”

Daniel pasted a smile on his lips, suppressing a sigh of relief that his mother hadn’t noticed his clandestine action to hide the newspaper. Now he just had to figure out how to get the newspaper out from its hiding place later, before his mother discovered it after breakfast.

“Sabrina is taking a shower. She’ll be down soon. But I haven’t heard anybody else up yet. Is Dad still sleeping?”

His mother chuckled. “Are you kidding? He’s already gone for a swim. He’s in the shower right now.” She placed an assortment of rolls and slices of fresh bread into a basket, grabbed the coffee creamer and carried both to the table. “Here! Try these rolls.”

“Thanks, Mom! They look delicious.” If only he were hungry, but that damned newspaper article had ruined his appetite. All he could do was sip more of his black coffee. And even that tasted bitter this morning, though he was sure it wasn’t his mother’s fault. She always made excellent coffee and insisted on buying only an Italian brand, Illy.

“Did you see the newspaper?” she suddenly asked, craning her neck to look around the kitchen.

“No, why?” Daniel hoped he didn’t sound phony. He hated lying to his mother, but he couldn’t help it. It was paramount that nobody read the paper this morning, or all hell would break loose.

“It wasn’t on the table in the foyer anymore when I got home.”

“Hmm. I didn’t see anything when I came down. Maybe you didn’t bring it in.”

She shook her head. “No, I’m sure I brought it in when I went out this morning.”

He shrugged and reached for a roll to give his hands something to do and look relaxed. “If you were on your way out, why would you have come back in to put the newspaper on the table?”

“Daniel, I remember what I did! Don’t make it sound like I’m having a senior moment!”

He bent to her and pressed a kiss on her cheek. “Sorry, Mom. I’m sure it’ll turn up. Maybe the paperboy missed our house. You know how kids are these days. No sense of responsibility anymore.”

He sent a silent apology to the falsely-accused paperboy who’d done nothing wrong other than deliver an edition of the
New York Times
that nobody in Daniel’s family could be allowed to read.

Then he cut the roll in half and spread butter on it. “Thanks for preparing breakfast for all of us. I know you’re busy. I really appreciate everything you’re doing for us.”

Instantly, his mother’s face lit up. “It’s so exciting to plan a wedding!”

“I think your mother means exhausting, not exciting,” Tim’s voice came from the door, as he entered the kitchen, Holly on his heels.

“You haven’t even done anything yet, Tim!” Holly rolled her eyes and tossed a strand of her long blonde hair over her shoulder.

“I know, but I can totally imagine it, and the thought alone exhausts me.” Tim grinned unashamedly. His old college friend from Princeton was partially responsible for Daniel meeting Sabrina. The other half of the responsibility fell on Holly, Sabrina’s old roommate from San Francisco. Together the two had hatched a plot to set him and Sabrina up on a blind date. It had worked in the end, albeit with a few hitches.

Tim bent down to Daniel’s mother and kissed her on the cheek. “Good morning, Raffaela. Sorry, we didn’t get to say hello last night when we got in.”

She hugged him back, then stood to embrace Holly. “It’s such a hassle these days with delayed flights. At least you flew into JFK, so you weren’t as far as if you’d flown into Newark.”

“Morning, Raffaela,” Holly greeted her, then took a seat at the breakfast table next to Tim. “Well, at least we made it.” She reached for the coffee pot and poured herself a cup. “And the guestroom is just lovely. I slept like a baby.”

A ravishing smile spread over his mother’s lips at Holly’s compliment. Holly always knew how to charm Daniel’s mother. Holly was a true beauty with sparkling blue eyes and could have had any man she wanted. Why she wasted her life as a professional escort—a fact Daniel’s parents weren’t aware of—Daniel couldn’t quite figure out. Wasn’t she sick of sleeping with strangers?

“Oh, thank you, dear. And, Tim, did you sleep all right?”

“I slept great! And now I could eat a whole cow!”

His mother chuckled. “How about part of a pig? I have sausages and bacon being kept warm in the oven.”

“Perfect!”

When his mother was about to leap from her chair, Tim put a hand on her forearm. “Sit, sit. I’ll get it. It’s not like I don’t know my way around here.”

As Tim walked to the oven and opened it to take out the pan, Daniel’s father and Sabrina entered the kitchen. His father didn’t look all that different from Daniel—though his hair was the color of salt and pepper now. But his body was still as athletic as it had been in his thirties.

Within moments, everybody was sitting at the breakfast table, eating and chatting. Sabrina had taken a seat next to him, and Daniel looked at her from the side. Yes, he would make sure she would get her fairytale wedding. No matter what.

He reached up with his hand, brushing a strand of her long dark hair behind her shoulder. Sabrina turned to meet his gaze.

“What?” she murmured.

“Nothing, baby. I just can’t stop looking at you,” he responded just as quietly.

“You’re not on your honeymoon yet,” Tim said in a teasing voice.

Holly jabbed her elbow into Tim’s side. “I think it’s sweet. If only every girl were as lucky as Sabrina.”

Sabrina smiled at her friend. “Thank you, Holly.”

“So, what’s on the agenda today?” Tim asked as he scooped more food onto his plate.

Before anybody could answer, Daniel’s father asked, “Where’s the paper, honey? Didn’t you bring it in?”

Daniel tried not to cringe. He’d hoped his father wouldn’t notice the absence of the newspaper since the conversation over breakfast was even more lively than usual, considering they had two out-of-town houseguests.

“I thought I did, but apparently my days are running together. I can’t seem to find it anywhere.”

“Did you check outside?” his father pressed.

“Of course I checked outside. Twice, when I left for the bakery and when I got back.”

“I don’t think the paper was delivered today,” Daniel threw in.

“What do you mean it wasn’t delivered? Forty-some-odd years we’ve lived here and that paper has always been delivered.”

“The paperboy probably screwed up. Maybe it’s a new kid,” Daniel offered.

“Why don’t you just read the paper on your iPad?” Tim asked, nodding toward the device on the counter.

Daniel wanted to groan loudly. Sometimes Tim could be a little too helpful.

His father snapped his fingers and smiled doubtfully. “Yeah. I always forget I can do that. But you know, I kind of like the feel of the paper.”

“You mean getting all that black ink on your fingers? I only read the paper online now. All you need to do is get a subscription to the
New York Times
. It’s cheaper than the paper version anyway,” Tim claimed.

Not wanting this conversation to go any further and give Tim another chance to convince Daniel’s father to take out an online subscription, Daniel pasted a smile on his face and said, “Well, I don’t think anybody here has time to read the paper today anyway. We’ve got a full agenda. Don’t we, baby?” He smiled at Sabrina.

“Don’t remind me!” Sabrina sighed. “We have to meet with the pianist to give final approval of the music. And then we have to head over to the florist. She has a sample bouquet ready for us to look at.”

“How exciting!” Holly’s face lit up. “The flowers you chose are absolutely gorgeous.”

“Believe it or not . . . ” Sabrina looked at Daniel and smiled. “ . . . they were Daniel’s choice.”

“It’s nice to know Daniel learned something from me after all these years,” his mother said wistfully.

“I also have to go for a dress fitting, but I think I’ll push that to tomorrow or the day after,” Sabrina added. “Are you coming with me, Holly?”

Holly nodded enthusiastically. “Why do you think I flew in over a week early?”

One of the decisions Daniel and Sabrina had made early on was to keep the ceremony small and intimate. So, other than the bride and groom, the wedding party comprised only two other people: Tim, his best man, and Holly, the maid of honor.

Of course, Daniel’s mother had gone overboard with the guest list. Daniel and Sabrina had agreed to allow her this one indulgence. Over two hundred guests had been invited, the list comprising distant relatives, friends of the family, friends of Daniel, as well as Sabrina’s divorced parents and a few of her friends and relatives from the West Coast.

“I can’t believe the wedding is only ten days away,” Holly said, ripping Daniel from his thoughts. “It seems like yesterday that you two met.”

Daniel groaned mentally. If he didn’t do damage control swiftly, everybody would soon know how he and Sabrina had met. Then the lie they had told his parents would be revealed, and he wasn’t sure how they would take the news. Nor did he think that Sabrina would survive the scrutiny she would suddenly be subjected to. It would devastate her.

“I know.” Sabrina sighed as she reached over and took Daniel’s hand. “I’m excited, but a bit overwhelmed by everything that still needs to be done.”

Daniel squeezed her hand then brought it to his lips, kissing her knuckles. “Don’t worry, baby. Reinforcements are here.” He motioned to Tim and Holly.

Both of them would be a great help with the preparations and take the heat off Sabrina.

Sabrina laughed. “Yes, I’d be lost without my posse,” she teased.

“Well, while the girls are dealing with music and flowers, I thought maybe you and I could discuss the bachelor party,” Tim said, pinning Daniel with a look that he couldn’t avoid.

That was another thing—Daniel didn’t want a bachelor party, at least not a traditional one. For many years he’d been one of New York’s most eligible bachelors, but it was a title he was happy to rid himself of. The idea of celebrating his last night as a single man seemed ironic and unnecessary. He was thrilled to be getting married, to never have to fend off another gold-digging socialite.

But Tim had insisted that there would be a party. Daniel had finally agreed to indulge him, but had made it clear: no strippers and no trips to Las Vegas.

“Actually, can we discuss the party tomorrow?” Daniel said with an apologetic look. “I’m going to have to excuse myself from the wedding planning today.”

“What? Why?” Sabrina’s head snapped in his direction.

He gave her a reassuring smile. “I received an urgent message from work this morning. I have to drive to New York today and deal with it,” he lied.