best friends in the whole world. They cared about her. But revealing the details of her personal discussions with Dell would feel too much like betrayal of a man who had bent over backward to help her when she had desperately needed help.
“Dell might be opening a store in Chicago,” she said instead. What was that surprised look on everyone’s faces? “What?” she asked.
Audra shook her head. “Nothing. It’s just that you tend not to volunteer information about your husband. Not without a lot of prodding.”
“I know. I guess I’m just…” Not myself after the way that conversation went yesterday.
“I’m just excited,” she finished, somewhat lamely.
“Dell is very good at what he does, and it’s—it’s nice that his business is going so well.”
Heavens, why was she babbling so much? Probably because she had just agreed to try to be something resembling a real wife to Dell, and she didn’t have the vaguest idea how to go about that. Trying to transform herself into a genuine wife meant seeing him a lot more than she was used to, being near him all the time and considering the possibility that they might actually touch now and then.
The mere thought of that made her feel much warmer than the day merited. The memory of Dell’s finger brushing her chin slid right into her mind. Where was a fan when a girl needed one?
“Regina, you’re trembling,” Natalie said.
“You must be really excited about Dell’s new business venture,” Callie added, one eyebrow raised.
“Yes, and Dell must be really excited, too,” Serena said.
“What do you mean?” Regina asked, but her friend was staring out the window.
Startled, Regina looked out the window to see Dell, a stern, handsome figure in his black suit, headed toward the shop. Her heart began to trip in a ridiculous fashion.
“I—maybe he has some business with the shop,” Regina offered, realizing how ridiculous that sounded. She knew why he was here. Their trial marriage was beginning in earnest.
“Hmm, powerful as he is, you don’t exactly think of business when you look at the man,” Belle offered.
Definitely not. Even wearing that serious expression, Dell was gorgeous, and several passing women stared at him as if they were about to melt right on the spot.
Regina frowned, even though she couldn’t quite figure out why. “Well, yes, Dell is attractive.”
Natalie raised an eyebrow. “You say that as if you’ve never noticed it before.”
“Of course I’ve noticed.” Even though that wasn’t strictly true. She had done her best not to notice, probably because their marriage hadn’t seemed real.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you say anything like that about Dell before,” Audra said.
“Well, I should have. He’s my husband and he does have a great body. I’ve thought it.” The words came out so stilted and unnatural sounding that Regina half expected the ceiling to crash in on her.
For almost a year she had avoided even thinking of Dell as a husband. When they had wed, she’d been pregnant by his cousin who had deserted her, leaving Dell to save the day. He had, of course. After all, family honor and a baby’s future had been at stake. Given the circumstances, it had been easy to think of Dell as a savior rather than a husband. Marriage had simply made them housemates, not more. And after her miscarriage—Regina struggled to breathe—she had ceased to think at all for a long time. But now…
“He’s my husband,” she said again. At least for two more months.
“Yes, we know that, sweetie,” Belle said. “Apparently he does, too, since he’s here.”
Regina took a deep breath and looked down at her feet clad in eye-popping, chili-pepper-red espadrilles. Even after their talk about trying to have a real marriage, she had expected things to simply fall back into their former distant pattern. She would wait out the two months, living mostly in the shop where she felt free to be herself, and Dell would occupy his mansion and downtown office.
Obviously she’d miscalculated. Here he was in all his masculine glory, tall and powerful, the picture of a man of consequence. And here she was, slightly plump, less than willowy, a very ordinary woman who only exuded confidence behind a camera. They were so mismatched. This arrangement could have such dire consequences for her. But she had agreed to the plan.
“Regina? You’re looking a bit dazed. Are you all right?” Julie asked, moving closer as if to protect her.
Regina nodded. “Oh, yes, I’m great. Just caught a bit off guard.”
But there was no more time to prepare herself. Here he was, pushing through the door, causing the little bell to tinkle brightly as if to say, “Dell’s here! Every woman in sight, start acting like an utter fool!”
Not me, not me, Regina told herself. She pasted on a smile, remembering their plan.
“Dell! How very nice to see you!” she said a bit too forcefully. Purposely she avoided looking in her friends’ direction. She tried not to think about the fact that they would surely wonder why she had gone from a never-comment-on-your-husband woman to an idiotically smiling wife.
A look of mild amusement crossed Dell’s face. “How very nice to see you, too,” he agreed.
“I—is there something you needed?” she asked.
“That is, I—what a surprise to have you show up here!”
Again, that look of barely concealed amusement flashed over his features. “We’re married,” he reminded her.
Regina looked up into his eyes even though she knew the danger of that. “I know.” Actually she felt a bit like a newlywed today, a bride who barely knew her husband.
His gaze met hers, direct and unflinching and intense. “I thought we might go out to dinner together,” he said.
His voice dipped low, and despite the fact that she knew that this was just Dell’s way of making a concerted effort towards their trial marriage, Regina felt a little queasy at the thought of people watching her with Dell. What if she looked as besotted as every other woman and someone caught that look on film? How utterly embarrassing and humiliating would that be?
She tamped down her reservations and nodded. “Dinner together? That sounds…nice.”
He laughed. “You needn’t make it sound as if I’m forcing you to watch ten years of home movies.”
Regina couldn’t help it. She laughed, too. “Dinner would be nice,” she agreed. It wasn’t Dell’s fault that he had such presence. “Let me get my purse and camera and we’ll go.”
As she passed her friends, they gave her questioning looks. Regina knew she’d been acting flustered, but to their credit they didn’t appear to have interrogated Dell when she returned and were simply quietly chatting about Chicago. The Belles were protective of each other, but they also respected each other’s boundaries.
