A Fine Mess Read Online Free PDF

you would. However, you won’t be sleeping with anyone else for the duration of the marriage either.”
    “Does that stipulation apply to you, too?”
    “It does. As far as the world will be concerned, we’ll be a happy, domesticated couple. So you’ll have to brush up on your acting skills.” His brows rose. “I do remember you being in a few plays in high school, don’t I?” Annie nodded reluctantly. Unfortunately she‘d only been one of the many extras in the background. She never had any lines .“ I’m assuming you’ll want your mother to believe we’re happily married, and I know for a fact that I want my father to believe that. Then there’s the lawyers . They must believe it.”
    “Oh, God, help me!” Annie prayed silently. “I don’t know what to do.”
    “Make up your mind, Annie. We haven’t got all night. This is the only way I could figure out. And the only way to get everything back in order before the auditor comes is to get your father into the office yet this weekend to fix the books so I can ‘find’ the error on Tuesday. After I’ve seen the lawyers and gotten the money.”
    “There- There doesn’t seem to be any choice,” she whispered.
    “Sure there is. You can always hope you get a sympathetic judge.”
    “Yeah,” she said sarcastically. “Not likely.”
    “That’s what I thought, too. So what‘s it going to be, Miss Blake? Will you marry me?”
    “You know I have to accept your offer.” She took a deep breath and looked up at him. “So yes. Thank you. I know I don’t seem terribly grateful but I do appreciate your sacrifice. And we will pay you back. You have my word on that.” Ian nodded.
    “We’ll hash that out later. Now your folks are waiting. Remember, we love each other madly, and we’re getting married tomorrow. Oh. And my name is Ian. I suggest you don’t forget it.”
    “Okay. I’m Annie.”  
    “I know. Time to face the music.”
    Ian slung his arm around her shoulders, then shot her a warning glance as she stiffened. It had only been a reflexive action, but she knew she’d have to get control over it soon.
    All the way back to the living room she kept repeating silently, ‘God calleth those things which be not as though they were .‘ It was the only way that she could justify the story that Ian was about to feed her mother.
    “Lord,” she prayed, “please let this be the way You want it to be! And please forgive me if I‘m doing the wrong thing. I just don‘t know what else to do. He‘s my dad.”
     
    ~~~~
     
    “So you’re positive that this will make you happy?” her mother wanted to know when they returned to the living room.
    “Yes, Mom. It will.”
    And Ian knew that it would make her happy. If only because it would keep her father out of prison.
    “But it’s so sudden.”
    “It really isn’t,” Ian lied smoothly. “Annie and I met some time ago.” That much was the truth. He’d first met her years ago when her parents brought her to one of the company parties. She was still in school at the time. “Things happened and, well, we want to get married.”
    “But Las Vegas? Tomorrow?”
    “A big wedding right now seemed ill-timed. But we plan to have a big reception when you’re feeling better, Mrs. McCann.”
    “Well we can’t have that, now,” Maddie said firmly. “If I’m going to be your mother-in-law, you have to call me Maddie.”
    “All right then, Maddie. You’re okay with our plans then?” She chuckled again.
    “Well, not especially, no. But I understand why you want to do it this way. The biggest problem I have is knowing that my daughter will be going to Las Vegas. I don’t like all that gambling and all the other sinful things that go on there.”
    “Neither do I, Ma’am. And I can assure you that I’ll keep your daughter safe from harm. And that we’ll be married by an honest to goodness minister, and not an Elvis impersonator.” Maddie laughed outright at that and Ian noted that both Paul and