Her Accidental Husband (12 page)

“No. Not really,” she answered truthfully. “We focused on getting here.”

Kate snorted. “That must have been some ride back. Well, now that you’ve had some time to process it all, how are you feeling? Do…do you like him?”

Man, she knew confiding as much as she had with Kate was going to be trouble. “Do I still think he’s a complete Neanderthal with no redeeming qualities other than his silence? Probably not.”

Kate laughed and pushed Payton’s shoulder. “Come on, tell me the truth. You like him. You did when you first saw him, no matter how much you talked yourself out of it. And now that you’ve dumped Brad and have nothing stopping you from getting to know him better…”

“Actually, I do have something stopping us. Or someone. You know this huge deal Cruz has been putting together? Did you know that it’s with Eastman Motors?”

Kate’s brows furrowed for a moment. “Eastman Motors? As in… Oh. But you’re not engaged to Brad anymore. I’m not sure if this is as big as you think it—”

“Did I tell you that Dick already had a nice chat with Cruz yesterday? About trying to bring me around to resolving things with Brad?”

“What a slimeball. But Cruz didn’t do it. He was upfront with you…” She trailed off when Payton shook her head.

“He wasn’t initially. But you’re right; he did own up to it and apologize when I caught onto him. But it just goes to show you how important this deal is to him. So whether I have any feelings for him or not, that isn’t what’s relevant here. Not when I can’t see Cruz running the risk of jeopardizing this deal by ticking off Dick Eastman. This is the only thing that that matters to him right now.”

Kate’s eyes softened. “So maybe you might have feelings for him?”

She was relentless. And Payton couldn’t help but laugh.

She took a deep breath in and thought about the man who she’d spent the past two days getting to know. Thought of that hard, stern face that sometimes looked like it didn’t know how to smile, those eyes that sometimes glared at her in exasperation and anger. “He’s definitely moody,” she started. “And he makes me crazy enough that I want to throw something at him or tease him until he stomps out of the room.”

But other moments were beginning to eclipse those more tense times, when his eyes softened as they looked at her, like warm, melted dark chocolate and his lips curled up into that sensuous smile that made her heart feel like it was going to pound right out of her chest. “Sometimes I think that’s just a front to hide his true emotions. He has a great smile if he’d relax once in a while and not worry himself to death.”

She remembered the easy way he’d guided her on the dance floor, the way he had wrapped her in his arms, bringing his lips to hers, watching her so intensely she was ready to melt. “When he does loosen up, he’s actually quite…charming.”

She covered her eyes with her hands as other images of Cruz played in her memory, a generous and sensuous Cruz who for all his stoicism and reserve…was actually an incredible lover. But she wasn’t going to share
that
just yet with Kate. He was going to be her brother-in-law after all.

“By the blush on your face I would bet there are a few more attributes about the man that are definitely on the plus side.”

Payton smiled. A few.

A few attributes that made her lose all sense of reason and sanity and throw caution to the wind and actually say…I do.

Attributes that made her think whether it was such a mistake after all.

Chapter Twelve

C
ruz got off the phone with his assistant and stared straight ahead into the mirror above the dresser of his hotel room. Finding yourself married in a foreign country on a bright Saturday afternoon certainly posed challenges to finding any legal counsel available to offer some guidance. He’d told his assistant to keep trying, wanting to know as soon as possible what exactly he and Payton had gotten themselves into.

For a fraction of a second, he thought about asking Kate for her opinion. But sanity returned. That was
not ever
going to happen. He’d never hear the end of it from his brother or the rest of his family when they found out he, Cruz Sorensen, whose longest commitment to anyone was his hairstylist, had gone and tied the knot.

Best to keep it quiet, as he and Payton had agreed, and wait. First thing Monday, they’d find someone to get them out of this mess.

He glanced at his watch. Ten minutes before brunch. With a suitcase filled with actual clean and unworn clothes waiting for him, he was itching to get out of the pants he’d worn the past three days. He could squeeze in a shower and maybe even a quick shave.

Other emotions seemed to keep pushing up at him, wanting to battle him for attention, demanding to be analyzed, considered, pondered, but he pushed it all to the back of his mind. Today was his brother’s wedding day. Whatever other emotions he might be feeling would have to wait.

Fifteen minutes later, and with some help from the front desk, Cruz found the Garden Room where the pre-wedding lunch was scheduled. The room itself, though bright and airy thanks to the natural light that filtered through the full ocean-facing windows, wasn’t very big and he doubted at first he was in the right place. Then he heard the laughing and shouts from the open patio door and looked out to see several tables already filled with food and people.

The moment he stepped outside, his boisterous Mexican family, who he probably hadn’t seen for five years, besieged him, swarming him with kisses and hugs and demands as to when he was going to be the next Sorensen to walk down the aisle. His sisters sat back at the main table with their mother, wide satisfied smiles on their faces, probably having something to do with the fact he was now the center of the aunties’ attention instead of them. Even his Aunt Glenda, Kate’s neighbor, was smiling a little too smugly at the comments.

He was well aware that Payton wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Same with her mother, and he felt a pang of guilt at the battle of a different kind she was going through now.

Kate and Dominic sat together at another table, already packed full with their relatives. They had blissful and glowing looks on their faces as their hands twined together. But he saw a certain something in Kate’s eyes as she sipped her drink and stared at him a minute too long for his comfort before returning her attention to his Aunt Essie.

It was with relief that he sank into the chair next to his youngest sister, Benny.

“Glad you could finally make the show, bro,” she said and bit into a buttery-looking croissant. “If one more of our well-meaning aunties asked why I was here all by my lonesome and that they had several young men they’d be happy to make my introduction to if I was that hard up, I’d have drowned myself in the ocean. They didn’t seem to hear me explain that a pediatric residency at a premier children’s hospital doesn’t really allow for much of a social life—or that I’m not looking for one.”

He grabbed the bottled beer he’d had the forethought to snag from the refreshment table and took a long pull, enjoying the cool taste as it went down—a different experience from the almost burning tequila of last night. “Yeah, but it wouldn’t hurt you to occasionally put your toes in the water. Get out there once in a while.”

“Said the pot to the kettle. That’s rich coming from Mr. I-Don’t-Do-Commitment, working probably as much if not more hours a week than I do.”

Which was all true. Except for the part where less than twenty-four hours before he’d made the biggest commitment a man could make to another person. He looked across the table to his other sister, Daisy, who had a slight smile on her face as she watched her three kids run around with their cousins. She looked amazing for a woman who’d been through so much these past few months. Her weasel of a husband had taken off with their money and some girl half his age, leaving her to pick up the pieces.

Benny followed his gaze, dropping her tone to more of a conspiratorial whisper. “At least the aunts were a little kinder to her, mostly muttering curses at her waste of an ex-husband, intermixed with prayers that he get what’s coming to him. That got her actually laughing. I’m just glad he signed the divorce papers and didn’t fight her on custody of the kids.”

Him too. Not that anyone thought the weasel really wanted to be tied down to three kids—no matter how awesome his two nieces and nephew were. No, it was more the kind of thing Daisy’s ex would have done just to add a little salt to the wound. The guy was lucky he didn’t have two broken legs. Kate had swooped in and made sure that Daisy got what she was owed and then some. Something Cruz would be eternally grateful for.

A wisp of long dark hair flew across Daisy’s eyes and she brushed it back and caught them both staring at her. “You guys don’t have to look so tragic,” she said and laughed. “I’m doing great. Better than great. Did Benny tell you I was promoted at the bakery? Gina’s even giving me artistic license to create a few of my own recipes that we’re going to add to the daily specials.”

“Not even surprised, sis. When you set out to do something, you always kick ass.”

A hand slapped him on the shoulder. “Language,” his mother said before leaning over to give him a hug and kiss on the head.

He looked around for his dad, finding him in conversation with the uncles, the barest smile on his mouth. A big Nordic man with quick discerning blue eyes and blond hair slowly turning to gray, he carried authority despite his age and the heart condition that necessitated surgery a few months ago.

His mother took a seat next to Daisy and stared at him with her sly brown eyes that usually knew more than he liked. “Glad to see you survived your trip. I haven’t seen Kate’s friend though. I hope you didn’t leave her behind at a gas station or try to sell her to the gypsies.”

“Tempting, but no,” he said, a smile tugging at his mouth. The gypsy thing was an old joke his mother used to say when they were kids as a threat when they got out of line. Until he was eight, he’d actually expected they would arrive for him one day and take him away, since he and Dominic made being naughty an art. “We managed to get here just fine. You can even ask Dominic. He saw her. She’s probably cornered somewhere by that mother of hers.”

At this the women all visibly shuddered. “She’s definitely something to get used to,” Daisy said with some restraint.

“Get used to? I’d sooner have an enema every day than be subjected to that woman,” Benny said. “She’s only been here a couple of hours, but I’ve already seen the hotel staff run and hide, crossing themselves whenever they spot her. Kate at least managed to get her isolated out at the pool—under proper shade, she insisted—and out of the staff’s hair for a little while.”

“Yeah. I hear she’s a pill.” Cruz took another drink and considered the possibility of hunting down Payton himself. Just to make sure she was okay.

No. That wasn’t necessary. Payton was a grown woman. She had to decide what she did and didn’t want. If she didn’t want Brad, then she had to be strong enough to resist her mother’s threats. In fact, after the spirit and spunk Payton had shown the last few days, maybe it was her mother he should be worried about.

Then he thought about the restrictive diet the woman imposed on her already beautiful daughter. The way she’d manipulated Payton into giving up her dreams of practicing environmental law for a position as part-time party planner. How the woman thought Payton’s only value was in being the trophy wife to a dipshit like Brad Eastman.

He got to his feet, ignoring his sisters’ curious stares. Maybe he’d just make a quick appearance after all.

P
ayton knew from the quick rap on the door, insistent and terrifying, that her mother was on the other side. She smoothed invisible lines on the sundress she’d slipped on moments before, glad she’d had the chance to apply a minimal amount of makeup to meet her mother’s approval, and went and answered the door.

Her mother stood there in a knee-length apricot-colored skirt and matching jacket, her mouth turned down in that perpetual frown she’d perfected, as she stared at her daughter. She took a step closer and Payton got a good waft of her mother’s perfume, something she’d always thought heavy and overbearing. Perfect for her mother.

“Well I can see you didn’t listen to a word I said about applying sunblock and wearing hats. Your face is positively tanned and splotchy. We’ll need a good layer of foundation to cover those freckles along your cheeks,” she said and swept into the room, wheeling her carry-on behind her.

Payton shut the door, gritting her teeth before forcing a smile. Her mother left her luggage by the couch and walked around the suite, looking into the bedroom, the bathroom, and then joining her back in the living area. “It’s a little small but it should do.”

“Should do for what?” Payton asked slowly, already knowing the answer.

“A stage for the New York Rockettes. Really, Payton?” she said in her most exasperated tone. “For our stay here. What else?”

“I wasn’t under the impression this was
our
hotel suite. In fact, I’m not even sure why you thought it was necessary to come down here at all. But now that you’re here and can see I arrived in one piece and in relatively good health, save for a little tan, you might as well head home. I’m sure you can find a taxi to get you to the airport. I’ll see if the front desk can do that right now.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Payton. I’m not about to leave you in Mexico without a proper companion. No, when I leave, it will be with you. I already had my agent book the two of us on a flight tomorrow afternoon.”

Her mother went over to the sliding glass doors and tried to open it, struggling with the latch. “You’d think that Kate could have picked a hotel with more class, though. There was a perfectly lovely five diamond hotel just a little further north.”

“The hotel is fine. Actually, it’s beautiful. It’s a perfect place for Kate and Dominic to share the biggest day of their lives with all the people they care for. A five diamond hotel isn’t something that most people could realistically manage nor would Kate expect it.”

“Yes.” Her mother sniffed and finally thrust the door open. “I’ve met a number of that…brood.”

Payton didn’t want to hear her mother’s litany against Cruz’s family and turned the conversation back to the issue of the room. “Maybe you should contact that other hotel. I’m sure you’d be more comfortable in your own private room at a top resort. There’s only one bed here, and I know how much you hate squirmers,” Payton couldn’t help adding in a more patronizing voice.

When Payton was little and went through a phase of nightmares, no amount of begging her mother to let her sleep with her worked. Her mother claimed Payton just squirmed way too much for anyone to get any rest. It was also the reason she had offered when Payton asked why her father took a room down the hall from her mother’s—she couldn’t tolerate the squirming—although now Payton had her suspicions on the real reason for that arrangement.

Her mother sighed heavily. “I’m not looking forward to sharing a bed with you anymore than you are with me, but I’ve told you, I’m not leaving you to your own devices in a strange country. Not even for a night.” Her mother sat on the edge of a chair and crossed her legs. She stared at her daughter another moment, letting Payton know she was waiting for something.

Payton stared back.

“Oh fine,” her mother said finally. “You know, you haven’t asked me one detail about how things are coming along with the wedding planning. But despite that glaring lack of manners, I’ll share with you anyway. We’ve heard back from nearly everyone and you’ll be happy to know that we have nearly one hundred percent acceptance. I’ve also had a few very heavy-handed hints for invitations, but as I’ve explained, we’re already at capacity.”

Payton nodded. She wasn’t going to yell. Not today. “I might be happy about such a high acceptance rate if there was going to
be
a ceremony. At this point, the only way I could see it happening is if you decide to slip into that too-small designer dress and marry Brad yourself. Because it’s not going to be me.”

“Are we really back to this again, Payton? I would have thought you’d be over this little fit of yours by now. If you’d actually call Brad and hear him out—something
I
did when he called me last night, heartsick and broken up about the misunderstanding from the other day—”

“I didn’t
misunderstand
that there was a naked woman in his bed or Brad’s equally naked body. Are you trying to tell me you don’t think he was screwing her?”

“You don’t have to be vulgar.”

Her mother looked at Payton again and shook her head, her pristine, almost white blonde hair not moving from its sleek French bun. Her mother once heard someone liken her to a young Tippi Hedren from those old Hitchcock movies and had been wearing that signature hairstyle ever since. The only thing missing from her ensemble right now was a pair of white arm length gloves, but that would be too much, even for her mother.

Her cool blue eyes were hard as they pierced her with their intensity. “It’s about time that you grew up. Men have…needs. Because they occasionally have a few indiscretions here and there doesn’t say anything about how they truly feel. Their answering a more basic instinct is something they can’t help—and they always come back to the one they really love. Don’t throw away everything you have with Brad, everything we’ve worked for, because of something that didn’t mean anything to him. He loves you, sweetie. I can see it when he looks at you.”