a stranger. “But where’s the sense in letting it mess up our futures? I’m offering you and your son a chance at a better life, Cal. What will it take to get you to say yes?”
What would it take?
Money, schooling, security—no question that these things might tempt her, but if she couldn’t get them herself, she could learn to do without. In truth, there was only one thing she craved, only one thing beyond her reach, and that was the house she’d grown up in. Generations of Magruders, laughing and loving and working together—that was the legacy she wanted so desperately to pass down to her son.
“All I want,” she answered without hesitation, “is my family’s farm.”
He stared at her a long moment, then shook his head. “What you’re asking is close to impossible. There are two things Ben never does. One is to give in to my requests, and the other is to back down from a fight with a Magruder.”
She pulled her hand free. “Then I guess we’ve got nothing more to talk about.”
“I didn’t say I wouldn’t do it.” This time he took her by the shoulders, forcing her to look at him. He seemed tense and grim, a far cry from the grinning youth who always used charm to get what he wanted. “Marry me, Callie, and I promise I’ll find some way to get your farm for you.”
For an instant she could almost believe him. He seemed so sure of himself, so sincere, but then, so much of what he’d seemed in the past had proved to be mere illusion. She’d be a fool to trust in his good intentions.
Still, in the long run, did it matter? If she considered this—and insanely enough, she was considering this—Luke’s motives needn’t concern her at all, not as long as she got what she needed out of the bargain, the wherewithal to buy the farm back herself. This would be a business arrangement—nothing less, nothing more. As he’d pointed out, she wouldn’t be taking his money, she’d be earning it. On her terms.
“If I agree to this,” she started slowly, “I’d have certain conditions.”
He released her arms, eyeing her warily. “And those would be?”
“Well, for one thing, I want to make it clear that this will be a marriage in name only. No honeymoon, no sharing a bed.”
He raised a brow, but didn’t comment.
“Even so,” she went on, warming to the subject, “I’d still expect you to honor our vows as if they were real. No carousing with the boys and no sleeping around with other women. Not here in town. I won’t have me and my boy being the subject of Monday morning’s gossip.”
“Dammit Callie, you can’t expect me to be a monk for the rest of my life.”
“You’re right. I don’t expect any such thing from you. I’ve read the papers, Luke. And I’ve seen firsthand how you are with the ladies. Actually, what I was thinking is that it would be to both our advantage to set a time limit on this marriage.”
He stiffened. “A time limit?”
She could feel a slight breeze, stirring the warm air around them. It didn’t cool her down any, but it helped steel her resolve. “Yes, I think next August should be more than sufficient time.”
He narrowed his gaze, his expression far from pleased. “A year?”
“Let’s face it, Luke. If you can’t convince Ben to leave you alone by then, you’re not likely to ever convince him.”
“But I had in mind that—”
“Doesn’t really matter what you had in mind, Luke. If we do this, for once we’ll be doing things my way, not yours.”
Overhead Callie could hear the sighs as the Spanish moss stirred in the breeze. Could be a storm brewing, she thought inanely—both in the air and in the stranger glaring back at her. If it were at all physically possible, his eyes looked ready to spit.
She felt a sudden, strong need to stand her ground. “Those are my terms,” she told him, crossing her arms over her chest. “Take them or leave them.”
For a moment she thought he might just do that, take his ridiculous proposal and stomp away, but with disarming abruptness, he shook his head and laughed softly. “You drive a hard bargain, lady.”
“Not at all. I’m just looking out for me and mine.”
He nodded, sobering instantly. “Okay, then, I agree to your terms. Do we have a deal?”
He held out a hand, no doubt expecting her to shake it, but she couldn’t bring herself to reach out and make contact. Some might call it fear, but she preferred to call it practicality. It was such a big step, after all, such a major decision.
“You won’t regret it,” he said softly. “I’ll make certain of that.”
The words set off a rage in her. How like Luke to think he could come back here and wrap her around his little finger. “No, I’ll be the one making certain,” she told him, making it plain that she was no longer the trusting teenager she’d been back then. “Play false with me again, Luke Parker, and this time, you can live with the regrets.”
He stared at her for a long moment, his hand still extended between them. The fact that he didn’t flinch, that he met her gaze and held it, had her tentatively reaching out to meet his grip halfway. It was an unsettling sensation, shaking hands with him. She felt suddenly as if she’d had the rug yanked out from under her feet, the walls containing her life pushed back in all directions. She could make all the vows and stipulations she wanted, but in that instant she knew that where she and Luke were concerned, virtually anything could happen.
“C’mon,” he said, his voice and expression solemn. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
Following Luke back to Mamie’s, she was left wondering if she had indeed made a pact with the devil.
Chapter Four
“Till death do us part.”
A dazed Callie repeated the words because it was expected of her, not out of any real conviction. Until one year do we part, she corrected in her mind, as if it could make up for lying to the well-meaning justice of the peace. An elderly version of The Wizard of Oz’s scarecrow, Malcolm Fry beamed down at her, tightening her sense of guilt. You’d think he’d be bored, having conducted this ceremony countless times for countless others, but Mr. Fry actually seemed eager to bind them together. His kindliness, his obvious happiness for them, left Callie feeling an utter fraud.
Standing close beside her, Luke betrayed no such difficulty with mouthing the vows. Then again, hard to imagine a Parker battling any last-minute attacks of conscience.
At least she could be grateful that no one she knew was here to watch them enact this parody of a wedding. The only witnesses were two female clerks, a pair of senior citizens in faded gingham shirtwaists, pressed into service for the brief ten minutes the deception would last. Tittering as if they were the bride instead of Callie, the women seemed perfectly happy to overlook the fact that she carried no flowers, wore no veil or special outfit. Even the ring was a loaner. Luke had taken the friendship ring once sent by a fan off his finger, but she supposed the semigold band was a close enough imitation
