didn’t explain the money he’d given her to buy a dress, or the bouquet of flowers he’d brought her, or that he’d remembered a wedding ring. Much less how he’d wound up being such a champion kisser—
Without warning, he pulled away. Caught off guard, her eyes flew open. She stared up at him, her instinctive cry of protest silenced by the chilly glitter in his gray eyes.
Susan had seen pictures of icebergs that looked warmer. Except of course for that odd flush high on his cheekbones...
“Woowee!” the judge exclaimed happily. “I surely do love a wedding! Don’t you, Jimmy Lee?” he asked his clerk.
“Yes, I do, Judge,” the young man agreed. “However—” he glanced pointedly at his watch “—I’m afraid that we’re running shy on time. The noon recess will be over in a few minutes.”
The judge sighed good-naturedly. “Then I suppose it’s time I get back to work,” he agreed. “Although I can’t say I’m looking forward to it. That dadburn fool Rooster Roberts is back on the docket, causing trouble again...” Shaking his head, he reached out, shook Sterling’s hand, then winked at Susan. “You make sure this ole boy takes good care of you, okay, darlin’? And if he doesn’t, you just haul him back in here and I’ll slap his butt in jail, I promise.”
Clasping her hands to keep from pressing her fingers to her tingling lips, Susan managed a tremulous smile. “Thank you, Your Honor.”
The clerk waited as they signed the marriage certificate, handed it to Sterling, then efficiently hustled the two of them toward the door.
The next thing Susan knew, she and Sterling were alone in the hall. There was an awkward silence. For a moment she felt an attack of shyness coming on, but she forced it away. After all, she reminded herself, this was the start of a whole new life. If nothing else, she had to try. She forced herself to look squarely up at Sterling’s handsome face. “Well,” she said lightly. “That didn’t take long.”
“Nope.” He abruptly settled his hat on his head and nodded at the elevator. “Come on. I’m parked out front.”
Okay, so he wasn’t big on small talk. That was okay. She obviously wasn’t, either. Things would get better as they got to know each other.
Still, she couldn’t help but notice the care he took not to touch her as they stepped into the enclosed space of the elevator. And even though she knew she wasn’t being fair, as the doors slid shut and the car began to drop, she couldn’t deny she felt an undeniable twinge of disappointment.
Arms crossed, Sterling stood looking out Susan’s screen door, his back to her small living room.
Outside, the day had turned still and hot, the sort of hazy, lazy afternoon that felt like summer except for an indefinable hint of fall in the air.
Inside, he could hear Susan moving around in the other room, putting the finishing touches on her packing. In no time at all, she was going to be done. And then she was going to walk in here and expect to go home with him.
And why not? He’d given her that right when he’d said “I do.” In return, he now had exactly what he wanted—a chance to be a full-time father, to make sure that when the time came his kid would have the complete benefit of his protection.
It was a fair exchange. So why didn’t he feel better?
Well, hell, that was easy. It was her. Susan. In the course of twenty-four hours, she’d gone from being so unassuming she was practically invisible, to being the sort of woman who could get under your skin if you let her.
Not that he was going to let her. Sure, the kiss they’d shared earlier in the judge’s chambers may have gotten a little out of hand. But then, she’d caught him totally off guard. The last thing he’d expected was for her to respond to an obligatory buss on the cheek by twining herself around him like some fragrant clinging vine. Much less that she’d practically melt with pleasure from something as basic as an everyday, elementary, closedmouth kiss.
But she had. And he’d been so nonplussed that for a few seconds there he’d had an inexplicable urge to clear off the judge’s desk, lay her down on top of it and see what happened next
Dammit.
Sterling shoved a hand through his hair, frustrated and a little embarrassed at the memory of his heated response. Okay. So maybe she had gotten to him just a little. It didn’t mean a darned thing. He’d simply been knocked temporarily off balance by the startling change in her appearance and things had gone downhill from there.
But that was over. Done. In the past. He now had himself well in hand and he wasn’t about to let a brief lapse in judgment ruin a perfectly good marriage of convenience. All he wanted out of this union was the right to his child. He did not want to be attracted to that child’s mother. And the sooner the new Mrs. Churchill understood that, the better off they’d both be.
“Sterling?”
He turned. Susan stood just inside the interior doorway, awkwardly clutching a large Cachet box under one arm, while she held an old, mismatched suitcase in each hand. Her cheeks were flushed, her hair slightly mussed, her skin glowing from her recent exertion. It was a damn good thing he wasn’t letting her get to him, he thought sourly. Because if he was he’d be forced to admit she looked good. Real good.
He indicated the bags. “That it?”
“Yes. Except for my books. And some household items, towels, linens, knickknacks, that sort of thing.”
“Like I told you,” he said as he closed the distance between them, took the suitcases from her and set them by the door. “I’ll send one of my men over with a pickup tomorrow to get the rest of your stuff. Once you’ve seen my place, you’ll have a better idea what you want to keep.”
She nodded. “Yes. I know. Thank you.”
There was a brief pause as Sterling gathered his thoughts. “There’s something we need to discuss,” he began.
“Oh! I almost forgot—” Susan said simultaneously.
They both fell silent. Sterling managed a terse smile. “Ladies first.”
“It’s nothing really,” she said quickly. “That is, it is to me, but it may not be to you. It’s just...about my job...”
He frowned. “I thought we agreed you were going to quit.”
Inexplicably the faintest flicker of disbelief came and went on her face before she said, “Well... yes. But you see, it’ll take some time for them to replace me, and I can’t just leave them in the lurch that way, so I’ve agreed to work part-time. It’ll just be for a while,” she was quick to assure him. “And I did arrange to take the rest of this week off.”
He supposed he couldn’t fault her for being conscientious. “Okay. Is that it?”
“Actually, there is one other thing...” Her voice trailed off as she walked over and picked up her purse off the sofa. She opened it and pulled out a roll of bills. “Here.” She offered the money to him.
He frowned. “What’s that for?”
“It’s
