balanced her chin on her steepled fingers. ‘So how did he take it when you told him?’
Katie took a sip of her tea; her grimace wasn’t because the liquid was hot. ‘Well, actually…’ she began, avoiding eye contact.
Sadie gasped. ‘You did tell him…?’
Katie’s shoulders hunched defensively as Sadie’s shocked response reinforced her guilt. ‘He was so happy and I was waiting for the right moment.’ It sounded a pathetically lame excuse even to her own ears.
Sadie groaned so loudly that half the people in the tea shop turned around to look at them. ‘When would be a better time—at the altar?’ she croaked, gazing at the younger woman incredulously. ‘Listen, I’d be the first to agree that what happened before he came along is none of his business, a girl’s skeletons are her affair, but you’re still married, love. That does sort of make it relevant.’
‘I know…I know!’ Katie closed her eyes and twisted her fingers. ‘I just don’t feel married. I was going to tell him…I will tell him, but I might as well wait now until I hear back from Harvey.’
‘Harvey’s the lawyer who brokered the marriage deal?’
Katie nodded.
‘He sounds a bit shady to me.’
Hearing the very proper and fairly prim Harvey Reynolds, QC described this way made Katie smile; she felt she had to defend his good name.
‘Well, he isn’t, he’s one of the top criminal lawyers in the country. I’ve known him since I was a little girl.’ She caught her full lower lip between her teeth and gnawed gently on the soft pink flesh. ‘I can’t see that there will be any problem getting a quickie divorce…?’
Sadie’s eyebrows lifted to a satirical angle. ‘I’m probably not the best person to be asking about amicable divorces,’ she responded drily.
‘It’s not like it was a real marriage or anything.’ Surely that made a difference.
‘Have you really not seen him since the ceremony?’
Katie shook her head, she wasn’t surprised at the incredulity in her friend’s voice. Who wouldn’t be shocked about someone marrying a total stranger? Heck, she was herself. Sometimes it seemed to her as if it had happened to someone else.
‘No, not for seven years. My only link is Harvey. It always was.’ The assistance of her mother’s patient, but ultimately unsuccessful admirer had only been forthcoming when Katie had convinced him that she would go ahead with her plan with or without his help.
‘If you’re thinking about recruiting someone whose visa is running out and wants to stay in the country, forget it,’ Harvey had told her in the plush surrounding of his City chambers. ‘Unless, that is, you want to expose yourself to criminal prosecution.’ He pushed his metal-framed half-moon glasses up his thin nose and looked at her severely.
‘I hadn’t thought of that,’ Katie admitted with wide-eyed dismay.
‘Seems to me you haven’t thought much at all.’
‘If you’re going to try and stop me…’
‘If I thought I had any chance of succeeding I would,’ the legal brain admitted with engaging candour. ‘For your mother’s sake I want to make sure you think this thing through properly—if such a thing is possible?’
‘She was very fond of you too.’
Poor Harvey; there had only ever been one man for her mother and she had given up everything to be with him. Katie had wondered whether she’d ever find a love like that—one that didn’t think of consequences, one that lasted for ever. She wasn’t actually sure she wanted to. The idea of falling victim to such a blind, relentless passion was actually rather scary.
‘You do appreciate that it’s very unlikely that the sort of man who would marry you for a one-off payment would be satisfied with that?’
‘How do you mean?’
‘I mean there’s a strong possibility that a man like that would have questionable scruples. He’d be back for more,’ Harvey explained bluntly. ‘And then there’s the question of making yourself vulnerable to blackmail.’
‘But there won’t be any money, I’m giving the rest away.’ Katie couldn’t help but think that dealing with hardened criminals had made Harvey a little overly suspicious.
‘That’s another thing—is it really wise to give up your entire inheritance too?’
‘Non-negotiable,’ Kate interrupted abruptly.
‘In that case—’ the lawyer sighed ‘—how do you feel about raising the amount you’d pay the groom?’
‘By how much?’
Harvey told her and she gasped. ‘You’ve got to be kidding…?’
‘It might seem a lot, well, actually it is a lot,’ he conceded. ‘But in the long run I really think this is your safest bet. As it happens I know of a person who needs an injection of cash and for reasons I can’t go into he prefers not to approach the usual sources…’
‘Five hundred thousand pounds is quite a big injection,’ she began doubtfully.
‘True, but the capital left over would still be more than enough to provide a very generous income for the Grahams, and there would be no question of this man ever demanding anything else of you or troubling you in any way. I’d personally guarantee that.’
‘Why does this man need so much money?’ she asked bluntly.
‘I’m really not at liberty to discuss that, the choice is yours. All I can say is that I will personally guarantee this person’s integrity.’
Even if this man was shady, what were her alternatives? She could advertise in a personal column but, Harvey was right, what sort of weirdos would respond to an ad for a husband?
‘All right, then.’
‘Excellent. All I have to do now is persuade N…him…’
‘Persuade him…?’
‘Don’t worry, dear, I’m sure he’ll come around,’ Harvey soothed.
He had come around and up until now Katie had had no reason to regret her decision.
‘So this man you married, he could be anywhere, doing anything…he might even be dead. Oh, that would be convenient.’
Her friend’s joking words jolted Katie back to the present. ‘Sadie!’
Sadie grinned sheepishly. ‘Well, it would. I’m just being practical.’
‘I want to divorce the man, not put out a contract on him!’
Sadie normally respected the younger girl’s reserve but at that moment her
