instead. Then women everywhere would find their skin wrinkling up rather than smoothing out—and that would start World War Three!”
Despite himself, Nick couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s right, Kate,” he agreed. “It’s all a fiendish master plot. That’s why I don’t have a wife or even a steady girlfriend. I plan to be one of the lucky men who survives, who isn’t done in by a thoroughly enraged woman.”
“But of course, that’s precisely what you need, Nick.” Sterling spoke from the extension he had picked up to join in the conversation. “Not an enraged woman, but a wife, I mean. That would be the solution to all your problems.”
“A wife?” Nick exclaimed, dismayed. “Now, why would I want one of those, Sterling?”
“Because even if you were a former KGB agent, if you were married to an American citizen, the INS couldn’t do anything to you. You’d be in this country legally, and you wouldn’t need a green card, so they couldn’t deport you. That’s the law,” the attorney elucidated.
“So…what? I’m supposed to just pick some woman off the street and ask her to marry me?” Nick gibed. “Sterling, you surely can’t imagine that the INS is going to believe that upon receipt of their letter, I just suddenly fell in love and found a wife. They’ll know it’s a setup.”
“I agree,” Kate said, the wheels of her sharp mind churning furiously. “That’s why we’ll need to go about this very carefully and keep it as quiet as possible—keep it all in the family, so to speak.”
“Kate, what are you thinking?” Sterling queried suspiciously. He had known her for so many years that he was well aware of how her mind worked, so even as he asked the question, he had some inkling of where she was headed.
“I’m thinking that I have several beautiful granddaughters, many of whom are single—and that at least two of them, Caroline and Allison, work for Fortune Cosmetics, besides. Now, Allison is extremely high profile, so she isn’t a good choice at all. But Caroline…Caroline has always been very publicity shy. She is, as you both know, one of the movers and shakers behind the scenes of the Fortune empire, vice president of marketing at Fortune Cosmetics—and intimately involved in the development of Fabulous Face. She’s not married. And it didn’t seem to me this morning that you were too averse to her, Nick.”
Nick didn’t know what to say. He felt as though he were dreaming. But shaking his head to clear it didn’t cause him suddenly to wake up in his bed. The idea that he might marry Caroline Fortune—with Kate’s blessing—seemed so fantastic as to be unreal.
Today was by no means the first time he had ever noticed Caroline. But just as she had this morning, she had always rejected the tentative overtures he had made to her in the past, shutting him down cold.
In the corridors of the Fortune Cosmetics building, she was known behind her back as the Ice Queen. She represented a challenge to every man at the company. But since her disastrous affair with Paul Andersen, she had let no man get close to her.
“Nick.” Kate’s voice startled him from his reverie. “You’re not saying anything. Do you find the idea of marrying my granddaughter Caroline so objectionable, then, that you can’t bring yourself to tell me, for fear of offending me?”
He cleared his throat, took another long drag from his cigarette. “No, it’s…ah…not that at all, Kate. Among other things, Caroline is quite lovely, creative and intelligent—and most men would consider themselves lucky to have her. But…well, her past relationship with Paul Andersen is pretty common knowledge at Fortune Cosmetics, as is the fact that ever since then, she’s held men at arm’s length. So I just simply can’t imagine that she would agree to this wild scheme of yours.”
“Well, we won’t know until we ask her. What’s important at the moment is whether you’re willing to consider it, Nick. To paraphrase your own words about Caroline, you’re a handsome, creative, intelligent man—and most women would consider themselves lucky to have you. But from what I hear, you pretty much play the field. And of course, that will no longer be an option for you if you marry my granddaughter.” Kate’s pleasant but firm tone made it plain that she would expect Nick to treat Caroline with every respect and consideration due her as his wife, even though theirs would be a marriage of convenience rather than one born of love.
“Of course, if I agreed to marry Caroline, I would do so with every intention of settling down and doing all that’s right and expected, Kate.” Nick was indignant that his employer might have thought otherwise. “I just don’t know if this is such a good idea, that’s all. Caroline and I hardly even know each other, for pity’s sake.”
“Well, why don’t you give it some thought, Nick. Sleep on it, and let me know your decision tomorrow morning. In the meantime, I’ll have Sterling start checking into the various legalities of the matter. After all, there’s no point in even considering the idea if the INS is going to be able to declare the marriage a sham and deport you, anyway. I’ll also speak to Jake, let him know what’s happening. The first thing I want you to do when you get into the office tomorrow morning, Nick, is to clear your calendar, so you can meet with Sterling and me, and possibly Jake and Caroline, as well.”
“Fine. That sounds good. I’ll plan on that, then,” Nick replied—although, inwardly, he groaned, thinking that this whole thing had “harebrained scheme” stamped all over it. How could he possibly ask Caroline Fortune to marry him, just to save his life here in the United States? He remembered how frostily she had stared at him this morning, how coolly she had attempted to put him in his place. She would never say yes.
Not in a million years.
Three
C aroline simply couldn’t believe the conversation taking place in her grandmother’s luxurious penthouse office at Fortune Cosmetics. She thought she must be imagining the fact that she was sitting here listening to Kate calmly explaining Nick Valkov’s troubles with the INS, as well as what seemed to all to be the only practical solution—all, that was, except for Caroline.
She thought with dismay that her grandmother must finally have slipped into senility, must surely have taken leave of her senses. The idea that she, Caroline Fortune, should marry Nick Valkov was absolutely ludicrous. She was astonished and mortified that her grandmother had even suggested it. That Kate’s expression and tone clearly indicated that she expected her to comply with the proposed plan filled her with panic.
From beneath her long, thick black lashes, Caroline stole a surreptitious glance at Nick. Much to her surprise and relief, she saw that at least he wasn’t sitting there grinning mockingly at her, as he had yesterday morning. Today, in fact, he actually looked as uncomfortable as she herself felt at this moment.
Caroline didn’t know whether to empathize with him or to be indignant at the realization that he obviously wasn’t too enthused at the prospect of becoming her husband. Despite the fact that she certainly did not want to become his wife, she was piqued by the realization that he didn’t want to marry her—although, as an incentive to agree to the scheme, her father had offered to up Nick’s salary handsomely, as well as to pay him a six-figure bonus on the wedding day.
The wedding day, Caroline thought a trifle bitterly. The wedding deal was more like it. Because that’s exactly what this arrangement was: a business deal, pure and simple. Her grandmother and father were paying Nick Valkov to marry her, so he wouldn’t get involved in a protracted legal battle with the INS and wind up being deported, unable to complete the secret youth formula of such vital importance to Fortune Cosmetics.
Why,
