Working on a Full House (10 page)

On the other hand, the idea seemed to make Valerie think. Frowning, she said, "Wouldn't we be employing a lawyer, then, anyway?"

"True." Roy nodded. "But my rights over the child, as your former husband, would be...considerably less in dispute than if we'd never married."

"Oh." Her lower lip went under her front teeth.

Yes
, Roy thought. She was thinking about it now, actually considering his rationale. What she owed him. What she owed the baby.

He called on his instincts for one last argument. "Ask yourself, Valerie," he said quietly. "What's the right thing to do?"

Her eyes flashed up at him. The power of her gaze stunned Roy, and for a moment he felt as if he were back at that night, in her hotel room.

What was the right thing to do?
Had it been right to seduce her? Had it been right to get seduced, himself, falling under the spell of her wholesome decency? Had that been right?

Meanwhile, Valerie averted her gaze. Putting a hand to her forehead, she said, "I — I just don't know, Roy."

Push. One more little push and he'd have her, but suddenly Roy didn't want to push. He wanted — no, he
needed
— her to come up with the last reason. "You're tired," he said, gentling his tone.

"Yes." Her hand still shaded her eyes.

"Too tired to make a decision right now." Though Roy knew she was within inches. "Why don't you sleep on it?"

"Yes." She sounded like a drowning swimmer who'd just been offered a lifeline. "I need to sleep on it."

Roy wondered if he was handing her an oar instead of a line, an option to row away from him. But his intuition warned him to let her provide the final buy-in to this scheme. "Where are you staying?"

"Here. Mandalay Bay."

Oh, boy. This was so convenient Roy couldn't help smiling. He gentled his tone yet further. "Listen, everything's going to be okay."

She stilled.

It only then occurred to Roy she'd been living with this anxiety all alone. She hadn't told anyone about the baby before tonight. He felt a surge of protectiveness. "Let me walk you to your room. We can talk more in the morning."

As she lowered her hand from her forehead, the look in her eyes was pathetically grateful. "All right," she said softly.

Desire for her was like a baseball bat to the gut. Surprising, unwanted, but undeniable. He longed to take her in his arms, to put his mouth over hers, and to slide into the place he'd been so happy that one night. He took a deep breath and struggled to regain control. This wasn't about 'that night' any more. Letting out his breath, he said, "I guarantee you, a good night's sleep will make everything much clearer."

She managed a wobbly smile. "You know, except for the getting married part, you've been super about this, really above and beyond, Roy." She paused. "Thanks."

Not desire this time, but something far less definable stopped his heart in its tracks. His face warmed as his heart started up again. "Don't thank me yet, Valerie. I'm extremely serious about the getting married part of things."

Her smile twisted into a grimace. "But we're not going to talk about that until tomorrow, right?"

"Right." Although tomorrow Roy wasn't going to let anything stop him from getting his way. She was having his baby. They were getting married. And that was that.

~~~

"You want me to do
what
?" Kenny's voice snapped over Roy's cell phone.

"Be my best man," Roy repeated. An hour-and-a-half after his conversation with Valerie, he lay atop his king size bed, smiling at the Mandalay Bay ceiling. "I'm getting married tomorrow instead of going to Atlantic City." Satisfaction coursed through him. "I've set the ceremony for ten-thirty."

"You're getting marr — ? Look, Roy, I'm in the middle of a really big game. They're bleeding blinds off my stack as we speak. I don't have time for jokes."

"Kenny." Roy grinned at the ceiling. "Have you ever known me to make a joke?"

There was a short pause over the phone connection. "Good point." Kenny paused again. "Let me get this straight. You're getting
married
?"

"I am." Though Valerie had yet to agree. Indeed, officially, she was still thinking about it. That hadn't stopped Roy from haranguing the concierge into renting him a nice meeting room for the ceremony, nor from ordering flowers, a pair of wedding rings, and arranging for a minister who'd be squeezing them in between previously scheduled weddings in the traditional chapels. He'd also used a little of the influence that could be bought with money to arrange a clerk from the county office to come issue a license. Details.

No, Valerie's hesitancy hadn't stopped Roy at all.

"Okay, okay," Kenny said. "I'm not sure which is the more pertinent question: who? Or why?"

"You'll meet her tomorrow," Roy told Kenny. "And as for why, well you could say 'the usual reasons.'"

"Like you've fallen madly in love? Ha!" Suddenly Kenny got enthusiastic. "Wait a minute, it's the brunette, right? Oh, man, I
knew
there was something going on there."

Roy sighed. "It's the brunette." Kenny would find out, anyway.

There was smug laughter from the other side of the phone. "So she didn't mean anything, huh?"

Kenny sounded so insufferably self-satisfied that Roy couldn't help himself. "I'm not in love with her. She's pregnant."

"Oh," Kenny said. "Whoa."

"So," Roy asked, "will you be there?"

"I — of course. But Roy, are you sure about this?" Kenny had switched from gloating to an almost endearing protectiveness. "I mean, making a woman pregnant doesn't have to lead to marriage these days." His voice got hard. "She's not forcing you, is she? Threatening?"

"Actually, she's downright leery about tying the knot." Roy was quick to defend Valerie, but hesitated before adding, "And she doesn't know about my money."

"Huh." Kenny was silent a minute. "She doesn't know about your money."

"No." And that was fine. Roy didn't want the money to be a factor in her decision.

"So-o-o-o. You really are in love with her."

Roy's eyes widened. "No." Would Kenny let it go already? "I...got carried away that one night. Admittedly. But that's over. This is just about the baby."

"Just about the baby."

"That's right."

"Huh," Kenny said.

"Ten-thirty," Roy reminded him. "I couldn't get one of the chapels on such short notice, but they promised to fix up a meeting room, with flowers and so forth. They'll let you know at the desk the exact room number. Oh, and I guess it would be good if you could get there a little early."

"Uh
huh
," Kenny said. "Just about the baby." He laughed, muffled. "Who else is coming?"

"Who else needs to? I only need one witness."

"The Prof," Kenny demanded. "Invite him."

Roy scowled. "You keep wanting to sic Isaac on me. Anyway, he usually works on Sunday."

"He'll come." Kenny was laughing again. "If you're getting married, he'll damn well show up."

"And will probably talk our ears off." This was a blatantly unfair characterization. Though Isaac Franck was way over-educated, with degrees in psychology, law, and religion, he was sparse with his tongue. The problem was that what he did say usually cut deep.

"I'm willing to take that chance," Kenny proclaimed. "You want me to call him?"

Roy hesitated, then shook away his cowardice. He was marrying the mother of his child. It was the right thing to do. He wasn't afraid of the Prof. "Nah, I'll call Isaac. Just remember. Ten-thirty, or earlier."

"I'll be bloodshot, but I'll be there."

Roy hung up the phone and smiled wryly. He was sure Kenny would show up. Isaac Franck would find a way to attend, too.

The only person left to convince was the bride.

CHAPTER EIGHT

"I'm going to marry him." The next morning, Valerie gazed at herself in the bathroom mirror of her suite at Mandalay Bay and grimaced.

Just how badly was she determined to screw up her life here? She was going to
marry
the wolf, a man she didn't even know? Indeed, the only solid fact she had about him was he played poker for a living!

"I'm not screwing up anything." In the mirror, Valerie made an effort to look dignified. "It's a legal convenience, that's all." Roy was right. It would make everything clear with regard to custody. Not easier, necessarily, but definitely clearer.

Such clarity might prevent the ugly legal battle Valerie was now certain would occur if they didn't get married. Her stomach squeezed into a knot. Who would have guessed Roy'd even be interested in custody?

He'd not only been interested, but adamant.

His determination to be involved was inconvenient, to be sure, but also...admirable. She couldn't work herself up to oppose him on it.

"He
is
the father." She let out a deep breath, trying to unknot her stomach. "He has every right to be involved. He
should
be involved." This was true. As for marriage, it would validate Roy's involvement in the most straightforward way possible, one least liable to dispute by either side.

She took a step back from the mirror. "After that, I can get divorced. I can get divorced any time I want."

This wasn't really
marriage
so much as a legal maneuver.

Valerie rubbed her hands down her face and turned from the mirror. "I ought to call him, tell him." It was almost ten.

She glanced toward the telephone on the night table, but made no move toward it. The problem was that Roy — Well, he was so terribly beautiful. She was still very affected by him.

It didn't help when he acted all sweet, like he had last night. Outside her hotel room door, he'd taken both her hands and his gaze had been gentle — almost tender.

That gaze had made a dangerous warmth spark to life in her chest.

"Listen, we're on the same side here." His hands had squeezed hers. "I want you to know that. The same side."

Idiotic tears had sprung to her eyes. She'd closed them, quick, before he could see. But that had been
so
what she'd needed to hear. That she wasn't alone. That everything
would
be all right. For a minute, she'd nearly believed he had some concern about her, personally.

Then she'd opened her eyes to see him giving her a cool, distant smile.

"Let's talk again before ten, all right, Valerie? I don't want this issue...lingering." His smile turned somewhat stern.

Because their potential marriage was an "issue." Of course it was. He didn't care about her, personally. He saw her as a...prospective business associate.

But this was exactly what one would have expected of him, what one would actually
want
of him, Valerie assured herself.

In her hotel room, Valerie stared at the burnt-gold covers of the bed and tamped down a peculiar tightness in her chest. Right, she didn't want personal caring from Roy. That would be very foolish. She barely knew him.

Releasing a deep, quivering sigh, she took a step back and wondered where she'd put her shoes. It was time to go see that business associate, and admit she was ready to marry him.

~~~

He answered his door about five seconds after she knocked. Valerie wasn't prepared for that. She wasn't prepared for how unsteady her legs would be or how bowled over she'd feel, once again, by his purely masculine presence.

"Valerie," he said calmly.

"Ahem. Roy." Valerie struggled for some calm of her own. What she was about to do was purely legal. There was no reason to feel nervous.

He was wearing dress slacks, and over his beige shirt a different cashmere sweater, of muted grays, browns and blacks. A tie was visible in the v-neck of his sweater.

A tie?

"Why don't you come in?" Roy stood back from the door.

Telling herself there was no reason to feel nervous, no reason at all, Valerie stepped through. Her brain dimly recognized the room, and saw no significant differences from the night before, except that Roy's laptop had disappeared from the desk. She forced herself to breathe, while the rest of her brain squawked.
What are you doing? There has to be a better, smarter alternative than this
! Unfortunately, she hadn't been able to come up with that better alternative, even though she'd spent the entire night trying to do just that.

When she heard Roy close the door, she turned to face him.

Clasping his hands behind his back, he asked, "So?"

Valerie swallowed. She felt as if she were standing on the edge of a high cliff. Was she really going to
marry
him? No matter what she told herself about putting her fantasies on a shelf, he still was the stuff of fantasies — raw male with a thin veneer of civilization.

He tilted his head. Calm, poised.

Valerie drew in a breath. Dammit, she could be the same: calm, poised...detached. She didn't have to step off any cliffs. "Yes," she heard herself say. It came out amazingly cool, delightfully serene. "Yes, I agree. Marriage does make sense. I'll do it."

Roy went absolutely still. For a moment Valerie worried he hadn't actually wanted her to say yes. Then something strange happened, something even more incomprehensible. He smiled.

This was no polite or social smile. This was a smile of savage conquest, something Alexander the Great or Napoleon Bonaparte must have worn when some recalcitrant enemy fell into a well-laid trap.

He quickly tempered the thing, but Valerie had seen. He'd very much wanted her to say yes. Indeed, he'd been ready to charge into battle over the issue.

"Excellent." Roy's smile was now significantly less bloodthirsty. "I knew you would do the right thing, the decent one."

He had? "Well, uh. I tried to think about what would be best for the baby."

"Yes." His dark lashes descended a fraction. "And our getting married is definitely best for the baby." He looked down at his watch. "The minister should be ready in twenty minutes, so I suppose we ought to go down, see if Kenny and Isaac have arrived."