her money he had loved more than her.
“Caroline…you’ve barely said anything at all,” Kate observed, not without a note of caring and compassion.
She knew it must be hard for her granddaughter to be placed in such a difficult, seemingly unpalatable position. Nevertheless, Kate intended to continue to apply pressure upon her to accept the proposed marriage. It had not escaped the older woman’s keen notice how her granddaughter had withdrawn socially after her broken engagement with Paul Andersen, how she had, with a fierce, determined vengeance, thrown herself into her work, cutting herself off from all men.
Caroline was twenty-nine now—and not getting any younger, Kate thought wryly, both anxious and exasperated at the idea that her granddaughter was missing out on all life had to offer. It was not that the older woman wanted to meddle in the younger’s business, but she felt that Caroline could use a push in the right direction—as could Nick Valkov, for that matter. He was in his prime and ought to be thinking about a wife and children.
Kate wanted everyone around her to be as happy as she was—and in her book, happiness included having a partner with whom to share all of life’s ups and downs. “Caroline?” she said again, expectantly.
“Forgive me Grandmother.” Caroline started nervously from her reverie. She wished she could speak to her mother, but Erika Fortune was out of town for the rest of the week. “I guess I haven’t said very much because, quite frankly, I’m at a complete loss as to know what to say. I’m sorry for Nick’s difficulties with the INS, of course. But I just can’t believe there isn’t some other solution to his problem.”
“The trouble is that there really isn’t, Caroline.” Her father, Jake, spoke soberly. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t have gone along with this marriage notion of Mother’s and Sterling’s, because it’s as wild an idea as any I’ve ever heard. But surely you can see how Nick’s being deported would affect Fortune Cosmetics at this point in time, Caro. We’ve invested both years and millions of dollars in the research and development of the secret youth formula. To lose Nick now, when we’re so close to completion of the product, would be a devastating blow. And of course, we’re talking about a marriage in name only. Once enough time has passed and the INS has lost interest in Nick, you and he can quietly divorce, and that will be the end of it.”
Not for the first time, as she felt the red creeping into her cheeks, Caroline silently cursed the fact that she blushed so easily. Her father’s words about her marriage to Nick being in name only had inadvertently conjured up images of the exact opposite in her mind. She had pictured her and Nick together, naked and making love. She hoped he couldn’t see into her brain. But from the sudden, speculative gleam in his eyes, she suspected that he knew what she had thought. Worse, she suspected that he had thought it, too.
Because now, as though he had, indeed, read her mind, Nick asked, “Well, Ms. Fortune, what do you say? Are you going to be responsible for my being packed off to Russia or not? All I need is a simple answer. Will you marry me? Yes or no? And then we can all get back to work—which, since I may not have as much time remaining as I had thought to finish Fabulous Face, would seem expedient under the circumstances.”
Caroline swallowed hard, her heart racing, her palms sweating. Plainly, everyone expected her to agree to wed Nick. “Sterling, isn’t there really any other way?” she inquired tentatively, unconsciously licking her dry lips to moisten them.
“No, not that I can see,” the attorney replied, shaking his head sympathetically, his eyes understanding.
“Well, then, I suppose that given what’s at stake, I don’t have any choice but to say yes to this crazy scheme,” Caroline said slowly. “I know how much the secret youth formula means to you and Dad both, Grandmother, and to Fortune Cosmetics. I certainly don’t want to see all your hard work wasted. And after all, it’s not as though it’ll be a real marriage…I mean, not in any true sense of the word….” Her voice trailed away awkwardly.
“Thank you so much, Caroline. I knew I could count on you.” Kate smiled and hugged her granddaughter warmly before turning to the others in the room. “Sterling, Jake, why don’t the three of us go someplace else to discuss all the necessary arrangements?” she suggested tactfully. “Give Caroline and Nick some time alone together. I know they must have things they want to talk over between themselves at the moment.” She glanced thoughtfully at the now officially engaged couple. “We’ll see the two of you later.”
Shortly afterward, Caroline and Nick were alone in the office, she fidgeting nervously with her skirt, unable to meet his eyes, unable even now to believe this was all happening, that it was actually real.
This man was going to become her husband. She thought she must be mad to have consented to such a plan. Unbidden, visions of her wedding night suddenly rose in her mind, and doubt gnawed at her. After all, what did she really know about Nick Valkov, other than that he was a brilliant chemist?
Even though Fortune Cosmetics ran extensive background checks on its executive personnel, what if the IRS were right and he truly were a former KGB agent? What if once he got his ring on her finger and his bonus money in his bank account, he decided not to keep his part of the bargain, decided he wanted to exercise his husbandly rights?
Caroline’s imagination ran wild, wreaking havoc on her emotions and senses.
“I…ah…know this can’t be easy for you, Ms. Fortune.” Nick spoke at last, breaking the silence that lay heavily between them. “And I want to take this opportunity to thank you so much for agreeing to help me out of my difficulties this way.”
“Caroline…my name is Caroline,” she reminded him softly. “If we’re going to be married, you can’t keep on calling me Ms. Fortune. Otherwise, the INS will know something is wrong, that our marriage is a sham—and then it will all be for nothing, won’t it?”
“Yes, of course, you’re absolutely right. Caroline it is, then. And I’m Nick.” He paused for a moment, as though gathering his thoughts. Then he continued. “Look, let’s be perfectly honest with each other. This is not what either of us might have wished for and a very awkward situation for us both. But there are things we can do to make it easier.”
“Such as?”
“Well, for one, we can spend a little time getting to know each other better. We’re going to be husband and wife, and although we’re not lovers, I’d like to think we can at least be friends during the duration of our marriage. Second, there are some matters we’ll have to attend to right away. I’d like us to be wed sometime this week, as for obvious reasons, I’m in a hurry and so can’t really afford to wait around while we plan a huge wedding that will be publicized in all the newspapers and will wind up attracting the INS’s notice, besides. I’m sure a quick trip to the courthouse wasn’t what you imagined for your wedding day, but under the circumstances, I know you’ll agree it’s for the best. We also need to figure out where we’re going to live, whether you should move in with me or I should move in with you.”
“This has all been so sudden, so unexpected and unsettling that I—I really hadn’t given any of that any thought,” Caroline confessed, abruptly rising from her chair and striding to the bank of windows that overlooked the city below. She stared out of them blindly, still beset by a sense of unreality. “Of course I think we should at least try to be friends, and yes, the courthouse and this—this weekend will be…fine, I guess. I hadn’t—I hadn’t realized we’d be married so soon, but I suppose it’s for the best to secure your position against the INS. As for—for living together, I have an apartment in the city, not far from Fortune Cosmetics. It’s not large, but it is convenient.”
“For
