Marriage by Mistake Read Online Free PDF

free refill coffees for three hours. He'd smiled at her as
they'd talked and talked, a smile all slow and tender. She'd begun
to melt, thinking he really cared. Yeah, right. Just showed how
much she knew.
    Dean's eyes went back down to his sheet. "A
diner. That sounds pedestrian enough. But what about this sailboat?
I rented a sailboat in Las Vegas?"
    "No, that was Lake Mead." Kelly snapped her
mouth shut. What was she doing? He had to know they'd spent the day
on the lake, just lazing and looking up at the blue, blue sky. He
had to remember they'd shared their first kiss in the shadow of a
narrow river canyon. The boat had rocked beneath them. And so,
she'd thought, had her world.
    "Pardon me. Lake Mead. That should have shown
up on the printout." He frowned down at the paper. "We got there
awfully early."
    "We drove through the night."
    He shot her a penetrating look.
"I...see."
    Kelly felt her eyes widen. "We drove," she
said firmly. "Besides, we weren't married yet." But she supposed
he'd 'forgotten' that, too. Forgotten her stammered explanation of
her no-sex-without-marriage policy, forgotten his serene acceptance
of her restriction, followed by his own, incredible proposal.
    Apparently so, for his gaze went back down to
his paper printout and his voice went dry. "Oh, yes. Our wedding,
held at the Little Chapel of the Dawn. My investigator confirms:
all perfectly legal. I even bought you a ring and    "
His implacable face suddenly reddened. "Party favors."
    Kelly found herself blushing, too. On the way
out of the chapel, laughing, he'd bought a pair of handcuffs. "It
was no big deal," she now claimed. They'd been fur-lined and hadn't
even had real locks    nor had they ended up getting
used.
    His face resumed its normal color as he set
his printout to the side. "You're right. Not much of a big deal,
compared to what is conspicuously missing. Miss Williams
   " Slowly, he clasped his hands and set them around one
knee. His dark lashes lowered. "Miss Williams, nowhere on this
credit report is there a record that I bought protection. Condoms.
Anything of that nature."
    Kelly stared at him.
    "I assume we had sexual relations and so I
need to ask." He lifted his lashes enough to give her an amazingly
direct look. "I have to ask: were such relations unprotected?"
    Kelly continued to stare. His eyes were
steady, his mouth flat. "We didn't use protection," she heard
herself admit.
    His stare went into laser-mode. "Then you
could be    "
    "No."
    "But    "
    "I'm not pregnant." Her gaze averted and she
found herself blushing all over again. "I already know."
    "Oh," he said a moment later, and released a
deep breath.
    "God." Kelly jumped from the sofa, stalked to
the nearest wall, and crossed her arms tightly. She glared at a
painting of a beach. "What a thing to have to tell a rank
stranger."
    They both stopped. A heavy silence descended
on the room. As she stared at the beach, Kelly felt a prickling all
over her skin. Slowly, she turned.
    He was watching her, very alert. Waiting.
    Kelly's heart started pounding. Was it
possible    ? Could he actually    ? That is,
she'd considered the scenario for half an instant here and there,
but could it actually be true? Was he a rank stranger,
someone who didn't remember meeting her...or anything?
    Kelly swallowed. She didn't want to believe
it. It was too outrageous. It smelled like getting bamboozled
again. She cleared her throat, intending to tell him she wasn't
fooled when, even as she looked at him, he transformed.
    Not physically. No, physically he was the
Dean she remembered; dark hair, wavy, left a little too long, blue
eyes like a midnight sea, body like a panther. But behind the eyes
  
    Behind the eyes was someone she'd never met
before, herself.
    Kelly had to think in order to breathe. Her
knees felt shaky. "Oh," she said. "Oh."
    The new man, the stranger, got to his feet.
"There is one other document. Would you, please?" He indicated the
sofa with his