Jack faced Kelly again. He was once again fully back in his element. He took control of the negotiations now that he had made the decision to run with this. He didn’t really have any other option, and she didn’t appear to be a lunatic.
In fact, as he watched her quietly come to grips with what she had done and get her confidence back, he marveled at her. It had really taken guts to walk into the room and pull off what she had. And she’d done it with such grace and confidence. She owned his office as if it were hers, and there weren’t many people who could pull that off.
He found himself a little in awe of the gorgeous creature who now sat quietly on his couch.
“One year of marriage. Prenuptial agreement. You get your law school tuition, and you’ll have a credit card for expenses while we’re married. You’ll have to attend occasional dinner parties and fundraising events, that sort of thing, so you’ll need appropriate clothes. Some of them will be black tie. You’ll put anything you need on my card. After the divorce, I’ll get you a condo in New Haven and spending money while you’re in school, plus your tuition. After graduation, you’ll be on your own. You’ll move into my house in Fairfield while we’re married. At the end of the year, we cite irreconcilable differences and end the marriage.”
“I hadn’t really thought I’d need to move in with you. I-I thought this would only be on paper,” Kelly stammered while Andrew watched the scene play out, with a look of shock on his face. It was more than obvious Andrew didn’t know who this woman was or how Jack had found her.
Jack could see Andrew tensing. His friend had his own reasons to be doubly suspicious when it came to women, but Jack was going with his gut here, and his gut told him this woman wasn’t a threat to him.
Jack shook his head. “My Aunt and board of directors will need to be utterly convinced this is a real marriage. We need to live together. There are nine bedrooms so we won’t need to sleep together. The house is on the water so you can spend the summer relaxing and hanging out before school. I have a housekeeper who lives in an apartment over the garage, but she’s very loyal and discreet. She won’t say a word if we aren’t sharing a bed.”
Kelly blushed at his mention of sharing a bed and Jack found himself intrigued as he watched her cheeks flame red. She was gutsy and courageous one minute and sweet and innocent the next. It was a captivating combination.
Wait.
Jack shook his head to clear his thoughts.
Focus on the big picture, Jack. She’s a means to an end. Nothing more.
Andrew piped back in. “I left you alone for three hours and you found a wife?”
“She found me,” Jack answered in a distracted manner, not bothering to elaborate.
Andrew raised his eyes to the ceiling and muttered to no one in particular. “Whole industries are built on helping men and women try to find someone, and Jack has women walking in off the street to marry him. Wait, why did she walk in off the street?” Andrew asked as he directed his eyes back to Jack. “She just happened to know you were in the market for a wife? This is like an episode of I Dream of Jeannie.”
Jack ignored the questions and kept his focus on hammering out the details with Kelly. “We’ll have to go out to dinner and things occasionally, maybe kiss once or twice in front of the right people,” Jack continued.
Now Jack could really see the heat climbing its way up Kelly’s cheeks. He was almost enjoying this and wondered how pink he could make those cheeks burn. Her eyes had gone big and round at the mention of a kiss. What would those doe eyes do if he told her what else he was thinking of doing as he watched her now?
Jack glanced over at Andrew and saw Andrew had one eyebrow raised as he regarded the couple.
He leaned a shoulder on the wall, crossed his arms, and watched the scene unfolding before him. Jack knew he was going to catch a lot of flak about this from Andrew, but he needed to focus on Kelly for now.
Andrew shook his head and muttered something about a bottle and Jeannie and Captain Nelson. Andrew looked amused now, but Jack knew once he heard the full story, he was going to catch hell for what he was planning to do. Andrew didn’t have very much faith in women’s motives.