cold. “If we’re going to keep arguing like this, maybe we should forget the whole thing.”
Maggie saw he meant it. Suddenly the answer was clear. She realized with vague irony that she had shoved her attraction to him aside. At that moment, the man’s very coldness made her feel that it would be possible to marry him in the legal sense only. The glimpses of sensitivity she’d seen were enough to make her believe that, with a little bit of time and understanding, perhaps he would see the close relationship he could have with Kate. Without vanity, Maggie believed that she was the one person who could help this come to fruition.
And that was as noble and worthy a cause as she’d ever had. Whether Alex Harrison realized it or not, he had given her much more than an opportunity to finish school or get a good job. He’d given Her a challenge that, if she succeeded, could change all their lives. But for the better? Maggie didn’t know the answer to that. “Let’s not forget about it, Alex,” she said aloud. “I accept the challenge.” She took a deep breath, met his eyes and held out a hand to seal the deal. “You’ve just bought yourself a wife. When’s our wedding?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“I’ll do it,” Maggie said. “It seems best for everyone involved, as you said.” Her eyes were brighter than usual and her face had grown paler. She looked like a porcelain doll, except that there was nothing fragile about her. She was willowy but solidly built. She was beautifully built, as a matter of fact. “But I think we have to have an understanding about this.”
“We’ll have a formal agreement, of course.” It was a lesson he’d learned from bitter experience. “A prenuptial agreement that addresses both of our concerns. What are your yours?”
“Several things.” She drew a breath. “As you know I had an entire hour to think about this. I made some notes.” She took a folded piece of paper out of her pocket. “First, finances. Will I continue to get a weekly check or did you have something else in mind?”
“I could establish an account in your name and arrange for automatic deposits according to your spending.”
She sucked air in through her teeth. “I’d rather take care of my own economics.”
“Fine.” He hesitated, then wrote something down on a piece of paper. “I can’t very well keep my wife on salary but I can call it a monthly stipend for your personal use. Direct deposit would be more subtle.” He slid the paper to her.
Maggie looked at the paper. “But that’s considerably more than I’m earning now,” she said. “If my duties aren’t going to change, I don’t think it’s appropriate for my salary to change.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Are you arguing against a raise?”
Her look hardened slightly. “I have no intention of taking advantage of you. All I want is what’s fair.”
He tapped his pen against the pad. “This is a somewhat more constant occupation. Don’t forget you’ll be my wife as well as Kate’s supervisor.”
She lowered her chin. “That sounds ominous. What does being your wife entail that warrants so much more money? Besides scaring off gold diggers?”
He shrugged. “Regular wifely duty type things. Nothing much.”
She frowned for a moment, then her eyes widened. “Oh, no.” She stood up and shook her head. “No, no.”
“What?”
“Is this about sex?”
He lowered his brows and tried to keep from laughing. “Who mentioned sex?”
She put her hands on her hips. “You increased my salary because I will also have to perform wifely duties. Do you mean you expect me to sleep with you?”
“Did I say ‘perform’?” He pushed away the thought of her shapely legs wrapped around him. “I don’t think I said ‘perform.’”
She threw her hands up. “I don’t know what you said, but it certainly sounded like an improper proposition to me.”
He looked at her calmly. “Maggie, are you prepared to take money for such…services?”
Her face flushed red. “Certainly not!”
“Then why do you assume I’m prepared to pay for them?”
She eyed him for a moment, then her mouth quirked into a smile. “Okay, you have a good point. I leapt to a conclusion. How about if you tell me what you meant by ‘wifely duty’ and I’ll reserve judgment. For a moment.”
He studied his Mont Blanc fountain pen. “When news gets out that I’m married there will be business functions now and then that you’ll be invited to attend with me. Now, I can probably get you out of most of them, but I can’t guarantee you’ll never have to come along.”
“Business functions?”
He nodded and put the pen down.
“Of course.” She met his eyes. “I don’t have any problem with that.”
“Good.” He tapped his fingers on the armrests of his chair, amazed that the conversation was really happening. It wasn’t difficult for him to consider marriage as a business proposition—after all, there were a million legal ways to protect himself. But it was another thing to think of Maggie as his wife and remember that it was strictly business…with only a fraction of the usual marital benefits.
She sat down again and crossed her long legs. Inside, Alex groaned. “So when you talked about my role as your wife and said this was a legal marriage, you meant…?”
“Legal means legal…in the eyes of the state,” Alex said, glancing at her long slender legs. He returned his gaze to her eyes, but not without a momentary pause at her exquisite lips. “You will keep your own room.”
She raised her chin and looked at him for a moment before nodding. “Okay. So we’re agreed. No…marital interaction.”
He didn’t mean to hesitate but suddenly he had to swallow. “Of course not. No sex. Not with one another at any rate.”
She looked up sharply. “Do you have someone in mind?” Her words were unexpectedly crisp.
“Do you?” he countered.
“I’m not sure that’s a question you should be asking me.”
“Why not?”
She shifted in her chair. “Because I’m not sure it’s any of your business.”
“You asked me.”
“Well, yes, but…but I’m not the one who brought it up in the first place.”
There was no one else in her life. That was a relief. If Maggie had been interested in someone, it
