A mixture of anger and disappointment settled in the pit of Haley’s stomach. Luke wasn’t acting
possessive because he cared for her, he was just concerned that she might find a reason to renege on
their agreement.
Thankful the ride to her place was short, when the driver parked the car in front of her apartment, she
gathered her evening bag and readied herself to escape Luke’s presence. If she didn’t, she wasn’t
entirely certain she wouldn’t bop him on top of his thick head with her sequined clutch.
Unfortunately, he had other ideas. When the chauffer opened the door and Luke got out to help her to
her feet, he wrapped his arm around her waist and started up the walk to her door.
“There’s no need to see me inside. I’m perfectly capable of finding my own way.”
“I’m sure you can,” he said as he continued to escort her to the front step. Taking her key from her, he fit
it into the lock and opened her door. “But I always make sure my date gets inside safely.”
“Your date? I wasn’t aware that’s what I was tonight,” she retorted, unable to stop herself.
“Of course you were.”
She shook her head. “Let me see. You didn’t ask me to go to the event with you, you told me that we
were going. Then this evening, I was introduced as your executive assistant and immediately dismissed
in favor of a potential client. And at no time during the evening do I remember you referring to me as
your date or being treated like one, unless you want to count that little display of macho possessiveness
with Chet Parker.”
He looked at her like he didn’t have a clue what she was talking about. “You are my assistant and I’m
sure you recognized the client I was talking with. I don’t need to tell you how profitable his business
could be for Garnier Construction. And as far as Parker was concerned, he needed to get the message
that you’re unavailable.”
Suddenly too tired to explain what he was obviously missing, she reached for her key. “On second
thought, just forget it. You probably wouldn’t understand if I drew you a picture.”
“Oh, I get it.” He held her key just out of reach. “You feel that I neglected you this evening.”
“No,” she lied. That was exactly the way she’d felt, but for one thing, he had no idea that she had
romantic feelings for him. And for another, he didn’t see her as anything more than his executive
assistant, who had obviously lost her mind and agreed to help him with his cockamamy scheme to have
a baby.
“Please, give me my key. I’ll see you tomorrow morning when you pick me up to go to Pigeon Forge,”
she responded, holding out her hand.
To her surprise, he shook his head and wrapped his arms around her waist to draw her to him. “I can’t let
you think that I was ignoring you.” He smiled as he ran his index finger over the scooped neckline of her
dress. “Or that I didn’t notice how sexy you look in this little black number.”
Haley felt as if her heart bounced down to the pit of her stomach, then rebounded to lodge in her throat.
His strong arms holding her securely to his tall, solid frame and the intention in his dark blue gaze sent a
shiver of sheer delight through her. How many times in the past several years had she imagined him
looking at her that way? Or what it would feel like to be in his arms and have him kiss her?
But when he lowered his head to cover her mouth with his, reality far exceeded any of her fantasies.
Light and tender, his firm lips moved over hers with such care it robbed her of breath and sent a
delicious warmth flowing in her body.
Tingles of excitement rushed through her when he used his tongue to coax her mouth to open for him.
Haley couldn’t have denied him access to her inner recesses if her life depended on it. She wanted to
experience every nuance of Luke’s kiss, wanted to taste him and have him taste her in return.
As his tongue mated with hers, her knees gave way and she raised her arms to his shoulders to keep from
falling. Never had a kiss left her feeling as if every bone in her body had been turned to soft, malleable
putty.
But all too soon Luke eased the pressure of his mouth on hers and nibbled tiny kisses from her lips to her
ear, then down to the hollow below. “I’ll be by around seven in the morning to get you,” he whispered,
sending a wave of heat coursing through her.
sensitive skin.
“I want to get the wedding out of the way before I meet with the Laurel employees,” he stated, releasing
her to step back.
Being doused with a bucket of ice water couldn’t have been more effective in ending the sensual
feelings he’d created within her. Of course he’d think of their wedding as an inconvenience to be
dispensed with as quickly as possible in order to get back to business as usual.
“Don’t bother,” she said, plucking her key from his fingers. “I’ll meet you at the airfield.”
Walking into her apartment and closing the door before he could argue the point further, Haley barely
suppressed the urge to scream. She hadn’t expected him to feel the same about their wedding as she did.
After all, she might love him, but he barely knew she existed beyond the office. Yet, it certainly would
have been nice for him to view the ceremony as more than just fulfilling one of the details of their
agreement.
She shook her head as she entered her bedroom to change into her nightgown. Her father’s housekeeper
used to warn her to be careful what she wished for because she just might get it.
Haley had never understood what the woman meant more than she did at that very moment. Tomorrow
she would have everything she’d wished for. She would become Luke Garnier’s wife—albeit temporarily
—and quite possibly within the next year, the mother of his child.
So why wasn’t she happier about it? And why did she feel like she was embarking on a journey that
could very well end up destroying her?
Four
T he following morning, barely an hour after they were picked up by a limousine at the Knoxville
airport, Haley walked down the aisle of a little log wedding chapel in Pigeon Forge toward Luke and the
rotund minister waiting to unite them in holy matrimony. Dressed in a black pin-striped suit, pearl gray
shirt and burgundy tie, Luke looked as handsome and confident as she had ever remembered seeing him.
And within a few short minutes, they would be husband and wife.
Unbelievable.
After all these years, the man of her dreams had finally seen her as more than his glorified secretary. The
only problem was, when he finally did take a second glance in her direction, all he’d been able to see
was a fertile egg and an incubator.
When she reached the end of the aisle and stopped beside Luke, the grandfatherly minister smiled.
“Please turn to face one another and join hands.”
Haley was sure she stopped breathing when Luke captured her hands in his and smiled down at her. His
encouraging expression and the feel of his solid palms against hers sent tingles rippling up her spine and
reminded her that later on that evening, she’d feel those same strong hands elsewhere on her body,
exploring, caressing, teasing.
“Are you ready to put the final touch on this deal?” he asked, completely un
aware of the direction her
thoughts had taken her.
“I…um, suppose I am,” she murmured, not at all surprised that he refused to acknowledge their marriage
as anything more than one of his business agreements.
“Good. The meeting with the Laurel people is due to start in…” he glanced at his watch “…a little less
than forty-five minutes.”
“Of course.” She glared at him and before she could stop herself, added, “I couldn’t possibly expect you
to keep them waiting for something as trivial as your own wedding.”
Frowning, Luke looked at her like she’d sprouted another head. “You knew that I’d scheduled the
meeting for today.”
Didn’t he realize that no matter the reason for a marriage, a woman’s wedding day was special to her?
That having the groom rush off to a business meeting immediately following the ceremony wasn’t
exactly the stuff a woman’s dreams were made of?
“It doesn’t matter,” she said, resigned that he would never understand.
His smile faded and clearing his throat, the minister interrupted their verbal sparring to ask “Are y’all
real sure you folks want to go through with this wedding?”
“Yes,” Luke declared, his tone leaving no doubt he meant it.
When the man turned his attention her way, she glanced up at Luke. Even though she was keenly
disappointed over his insensitivity, the time for backing out of this fiasco had come and gone. She’d
given her word and that was something she tried never to go back on. Besides, she wanted a baby—his
baby—more than she’d ever wanted anything and she wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity for the
child she wanted to be that of the man of her dreams.
“Yes, I want to marry him,” she admitted, surprised by the surety in her own voice.
“All right, I guess if you’re both agreeable, we’ll get started then,” the minister indicated, sounding more
than a little doubtful as he opened his book of wedding vows. “We are gathered here today to join this
man and this woman in the bonds of—”
Staring at Luke, she heard very little of the blessedly brief ceremony and was surprised when the
minister asked, “Do you have a wedding ring for your bride, son?”
Luke frowned. “No.”
“It’s really not that important anyway,” she said, hoping her voice didn’t reflect her disillusionment.
She didn’t know if Luke had forgotten about a ring for her or if he purposely hadn’t bought one. But
either way, it was one more detail about her wedding day that she’d just as soon forget.
The man raised one bushy gray eyebrow, then shaking his head turned to the groom. “Luke, do you take
Haley to be your lawful wedded wife, to have and to hold, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health,
as long as you both shall live?”
There wasn’t even the slightest hesitation in his rich baritone when Luke gazed into her eyes and
answered, “I do.”
The minister nodded, then turned to her. “And Haley, do you take Luke to be your lawful wedded
husband, to have and to hold, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall
live?”
“I…uh…yes. Yes, I do.” Knowing their marriage was only a temporary arrangement, she hated making
a vow she knew for certain wouldn’t be kept.
As if he couldn’t quite believe what he was about to say, the minister shook his head as he announced,
“Then by the power vested in me by Sevier County and the great state of Tennessee, I now pronounce
you husband and wife.” He gave Luke a questioning look. “Son, if you want to kiss your bride, now
would be the time to give it a try.”
For the briefest of moments, as she watched Luke lower his head, she thought he was going to brush her
lips with his and that would be the end of it. But the light of challenge she detected in his intense gaze a
split second before he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him, warned her that the kiss was
going to be anything but casual or brief.
Haley caught her breath and when his mouth settled over hers, every cell in her body seemed to zing to
life. At first, his firm, warm lips moved over hers with such tender care, such thoughtfulness, she felt as
if she might just melt into a puddle right there on the chapel floor. But when he tightened his arms and
pressed her even closer, her heart began an erratic cadence and a current of electrified heat coursed from
the top of her head all the way to the tips of her toes.
The feel of his solid body against her much softer one as he coaxed her mouth to open for him caused an
interesting little swirl in the most feminine part of her and Haley didn’t have the presence of mind to put
up so much as a token protest. Allowing him access, she leaned into him as he stroked and teased. But
when he engaged her tongue in a game of advance and retreat, she felt as if her knees had turned to
rubber and she wrapped her arms around his trim waist to keep from falling in an undignified heap at his
feet.
She’d been kissed many times before, but never like this, never with such tenderness and purpose. Not
even their first kiss had affected her as profoundly, and by the time Luke eased away from the caress,
Haley felt completely and irrevocably claimed.
She silently stood by Luke’s side as the chapel’s photographer snapped several pictures, then handed
him the disk of still shots and a DVD of the ceremony, along with their newly signed marriage
certificate.
“Thank you,” Haley murmured as Luke took her hand in his and led her up the aisle and out of the
chapel door to their waiting limo.
“I’ve got to hurry to make the meeting with the Laurel employees on time,” he said, helping her into the
backseat of the long black car. When he slid in beside her on the plush leather seat, he checked his
watch, then tapped on the window separating them from the driver. “Take me directly to the Laurel
Enterprises office in Gatlinburg, then drive Ms. Rollins up to the Mountain Crest Lodge.”
“You don’t want me to attend the meeting with you?” Since she was his executive assistant, she’d been
included in several employee meetings in the past and she’d assumed that would be the case this time.
He shook his head. “Besides meeting with the office staff, I’ll be touring a couple of job sites and talking
to the work crews. But I plan to be back in time for dinner this evening.”
“Will I need to go shopping for food?” At least buying a few groceries and preparing a meal would give
her something to fill the empty hours of the long day ahead.
“No. I’ve arranged for a caterer to make dinner for us. And the housekeeper will oversee the clean-up in
the kitchen before she leaves for the evening.”
After college, Haley had done her own cooking and cleaning and she liked it that way. Having someone
perform those duties for her again was going to take some getting used to.
It took a moment for her to realize that the car had stopped in the parking lot of Laurel Enterprises on the
outskirts of Gatlinburg. As with most of the other buildings in the area, it was a log structure that
complimented the surrounding environment, instead of detracting from it.
“What am I supposed to do for the rest of the day?” Being abandoned by her new husband right after
they exchanged vows, then sequestered in a mountaintop lodge with n
othing to do wasn’t exactly the
way she’d dreamed her wedding day would unfold.
“It’s a nice spring day. You could sit on one of the decks and enjoy the view of Mount LeConte,” he
said, waiting for their driver to open his door. “Or you could spend the afternoon relaxing in the hot
tub.” He started to get out of the car, then turned back. “But whatever else you decide to do, make sure
that you get plenty of rest.” Giving her a quick kiss and a smile that spoke volumes, he winked. “If
you’ll remember, we’re going to start making a baby tonight.”
All the way up the mountain to the lodge where they would be staying, Haley tried to remind herself that
her marriage to Luke was one of convenience. He viewed their union as the means to an end—a way to
get the heir he wanted.
But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t help but resent the fact that he wasn’t even willing to take
their wedding day off from work. Nor could she stop a keen sense of sadness from filling her. She’d
always envisioned having a baby with a man who loved her and was as devoted to her and their child as
she intended to be.
And although she’d known and accepted that theirs was a one-sided relationship, that knowledge did
very little to help her stifle an almost uncontrollable urge to let the flood gates open and have herself a
good cleansing cry. Nor did it keep her from wanting to tell the driver to turn around and take her back
to Nashville and the safe haven of her comfortable little apartment.
Long after the limousine driver let him out in front of the Mountain Crest Lodge and drove back down
the mountain, Luke stood staring at the dark windows of the huge three-story log structure. Haley hadn’t
bothered leaving a light on for him and he couldn’t say that he blamed her. Hurrying off immediately
after the wedding ceremony to meet with the Laurel people, he’d left her to fend for herself on their
wedding day. That was probably more than enough to get him nominated for jerk of the year.
He checked his watch. It was well past midnight and he’d missed most of his own wedding night as
well. He didn’t pretend to be an expert on the subject by any means, but even he knew that kind of