Semiautomatic Marriage (7 page)

“The first thing you’ll want to do is buy yourself a car, a good one.”

“I suppose so. Before I told Rosie about my inheritance, her brother called me and told me to junk my old one. He wanted me to look at a couple of used models he had for sale that were in better shape. I told him I’d think about it.”

“That’s all?” He raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t tell him you were in a position to buy the latest, most expensive model on the road?”

She shook her head. “I wanted Rosie to know first.”

He nodded. “I can understand that, but you need to feel free to spend the money that is rightfully yours, Carolyn. I imagine that you’ll be needing a whole new wardrobe, won’t you?”

Shopping? Whole new wardrobe? She was used to buying only clothes she absolutely needed. Even with her new ample bank account, she had only
made a few inexpensive purchases. In fact, the thrift stores had been a common target for Rosie and her when they needed something. She realized that all that was going to change. Expensive trappings and a make-believe marriage would make demands she’d never even dreamed about. That scared her. She’d always been her own person, making her own way, and now she was about to turn that control over to people she didn’t even know in order to play a role.

Adam saw the color drain from her lovely face. What was she thinking? Had he been honest enough with her about the situation? If only there was another way not to involve her—but there wasn’t. She was the cover he needed. His hands tightened on the wheel.

As they drove through the iron gates of the Stanford mansion, Carolyn gasped in disbelief. A three-story gray-stone mansion rose in palatial grandeur, its setting one of velvet green lawns and beautifully landscaped gardens. She could see a five-car garage, a greenhouse and beyond these structures, a modern boathouse hugging one of the numerous waterways around Seattle. Her mind utterly refused to accept that a few signed papers had made all of this hers. This had to be a mistake. A monstrous mistake.

Adam stopped the car in front of a line of long, shallow steps framed by marble pillars. Two wings of the mansion spread on either side of a pair of carved doors, flanked by tall, beveled-glass windows.

As they sat there looking at the structure, the shadow of the huge house engulfed the car. Neither
Carolyn nor Adam moved for a long moment. Then Adam asked quietly, “Are you ready?”

The question hung in the air between them. As if the moment of truth had come, Carolyn drew a steadying breath. “Yes, I’m ready.”

“Good.” He smiled at her. “Let’s do it then.”

After helping her from the car, he set his matched traveling suitcases on the sidewalk beside her single bag. “Someone will bring them in.”

She nodded, as if she wasn’t used to toting her own bags everywhere she went. Even when she’d attended a couple of medical conferences, she’d always avoided the eyes of bellhops as she carried her own suitcase. The memory brought a hint of a smile.

Adam put a guiding hand on her arm as they climbed the steps. He rang the doorbell, and as she stood nervously at his side, he winked at her. “Would you like to have me carry you across the threshold for show?”

“It might make a grand entrance,” she agreed with false levity, and they were both smiling when the door open.

A tall, angular woman in a housekeeper’s uniform stood there, glaring at them. Carolyn would have taken a step backward and apologized for the interruption, but Adam just nodded and said, “Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence. We’re expected.”

“There’s no one at home at present,” the woman informed them tartly.

“I see,” Adam replied as he guided Carolyn past the housekeeper and into the house. “And your name is?”

“Morna. I’ve been housekeeper for Arthur Stanford for nigh on twenty years.” Her eyes centered
on Carolyn as her mouth tightened. “And my husband, Mack, he’s the groundskeeper.”

“I’m sure my grandfather was very fortunate to have you in his service,” Carolyn heard herself saying, as if accustomed to handling servants who obviously disliked her on sight.

“Do you know when Mr. Stanford is expected home?” Adam asked.

“He and Ms. Denison are out for the day,” Morna answered crisply. “I understand that you are to occupy the master suite, is that correct?”

Carolyn nodded as if this had been previously arranged. She could tell from the housekeeper’s turned-down mouth that the arrangement did not sit well with her.

“This way. Mack will bring your luggage.” She gave a pointed glance at the unimpressive suitcases and then led the way across the wide marble foyer to a staircase that curved up and out of sight.

As they climbed the steps to the second floor, Carolyn’s eyes were drawn to a series of impressive portraits hanging on the wall. Were these her ancestors? Which one of the staid gentlemen was her grandfather? Could the older woman with white hair be her grandmother? Carolyn’s heartbeat quickened. Was there a portrait of her mother hanging somewhere in the house?

Adam could tell that Carolyn was taken more with the portraits than with the opulence of the house, but his trained eye registered wealth everywhere he looked. He wondered why her uncle had chosen not to be present when they arrived. Bancroft had assured them that he had passed along their plans to arrive before noon.

On the second floor Morna turned down a wide hall that led to the east wing of the house and a suite of rooms that opened in a crescent shape around a large sitting area.

“This is the master bedroom,” Morna said in clipped tones as she led the way into a spacious chamber with a monstrous bed at one end and a huge fireplace at the other. “We cleared out everything of a personal nature from the closets and drawers. I think you’ll find all the rooms turned out in good order.”

“I’m sure we will,” Carolyn answered in the same impersonal tone. She was used to dealing with officious nurses and certainly wasn’t going to let the housekeeper get the upper hand this early in the game.

Carolyn surveyed the bedroom, which was beautifully furnished in antique furniture that must have been in the family for years. Rich brocaded drapes framed tall windows, and the carpeting was scattered with Oriental rugs. One thought was uppermost in Carolyn’s mind as her gaze passed over the one bed with its massive carved headboard.

Where is Adam going to sleep?

She was relieved when she saw him disappear through a door at the far end of the room. There must be an adjoining room of some kind.

“Will there be anything else?” Morna asked.

Carolyn turned to the housekeeper. “No, thank you, Morna. We’ll manage just fine.”

“None of the household will be home for lunch. Buddy is out in his boat, and Lisa is attending some doings at the country club.” Her tone made it clear that preparing lunch was not on her agenda.

“Well, then, I guess there’ll just be the two of us for lunch,” Adam said, overhearing her as he quickly came back into the room. “We’ll wander around for a bit and then find our way downstairs.”

An angry flush mounted Morna’s throat, but she managed a nod. Her hazel eyes gave both of them an unappreciative once-over, then she turned on her heel and left.

“Brrr,” Carolyn whispered with a mock shiver. “That icy look went bone-deep. Don’t you think we should have gone easier on her? Given her the day off or something?”

“Household staff can be bullies if you let them,” he warned. “If you don’t watch out, you’ll be waiting on them. Stand your ground, honey.”

Honey.
The endearment caught her off guard.
Get a grip,
she told herself. A lot of people threw that word around. It didn’t mean anything.

“I wish they’d left some of my grandfather’s things. Everything looks so…so impersonal.” She looked at the huge bed and frowned. “It’s almost high enough to need a footstool and wide enough for four people.”

“How about two?”

She swung around to see if he was kidding. He wasn’t. Her mouth suddenly went dry.

“What are you saying? We’re not sleeping together,” she said flatly.

“I’m afraid we are,” he replied just as firmly. “But only in the literal sense.”

“You’re serious,” she said in disbelief.

“The quickest way for someone to tumble to the truth about our marriage is telltale signs of separate sleeping arrangements. Of course, both of us will
have to be on the honor system,” he added with a grin. “And you’ll have to promise to stay on your side of the bed.”

How could he make light of such an impossible situation? Just the prospect of his virile body lying warmly next to hers fired her hormones in a way she’d never felt before. Did he sleep naked? What if she turned over and felt his inviting body pressed against hers?

“What about the adjoining room?” she asked. It wasn’t that she’d ever had the luxury of a lot of space for herself. She lived in crowded foster homes growing up, and at the hospital, she was used to both male and female interns bedding down on cots in the same room whenever they could snatch some rest. But that was different from sharing a bed with a stranger who happened to be pretending to be her husband.

“That room’s a small study,” Adam told her.

“Well, if there’s a couch, I can sleep on it,” Carolyn informed him. “The bed in my apartment is narrow and most of the springs are broken.”

As she started toward the door of the study, he reached out and stopped her. “I’m sorry, Carolyn, but we can’t take a chance of someone coming in and finding us sleeping separately. There’s too much at stake here.” He put his hands on her shoulders. “I promise you that the sleeping arrangement will be strictly platonic, nothing more.”

She wanted to believe him, but common sense mocked the sleeping arrangement. How could they maintain a business relationship in such intimate closeness as sleeping together? Still, what choice did she have? None. Again she admonished herself to
get a grip. She’d agreed to do everything she could to make this marriage pretense a success. After all, she’d known that there would be demands that would challenge her determination to hold firm until Adam succeeded in his investigation.

“Okay,” she agreed, and forced a smile. “But no swiping of covers.”

“I promise.”

He was about to drop his hands from her shoulders when there was the sound of muffled footsteps in the hall. He let his hands slip to her back and draw her close, so they appeared to be in a loving embrace when Mack knocked hesitantly on the open door. A short, squarely built man, he had a ruddy complexion and round face.

“Sorry,” he mumbled. “Morna told me to bring these things up.”

“Yes, thank you,” Adam said, keeping his arm around Carolyn’s waist as they faced the man. “Your wife told us you’re the groundskeeper.”

“The landscaping is beautiful,” Carolyn offered. “I glimpsed some lovely gardens as we drove up. I can hardly wait to take a walk around. I’m afraid I don’t know all the names of flowers and trees that you’ve planted, but I can tell you have a green thumb.”

A pleased flush stole up his cheek. “Thank you, ma’am.” Then he nodded his balding head and lumbered out of the room without saying more.

“Nice going, Carolyn. I think you may have gained a supporter there.”

“I meant what I said.” She didn’t like Adam’s inference that her remarks had been calculated.

“I know. That’s what worries me a little. You
have a tendency to always say what you mean. And in this situation it could be dangerous. Don’t take anything at face value,” he warned. “Don’t trust anyone.”

She glanced at the bed. “I won’t.”

He laughed then, fully and deeply.

L
UNCH WAS SERVED ON A
flagstone terrace outside large French doors at the back of the house. A shy Asian girl quietly brought them a delicious mandarin salad, hot potato rolls and a whipped fruit dessert. They learned that her name was Seika and that her father, Mr. Lei, had been recently hired as a cook; his two daughters were housemaids. The three were new on staff apparently, and Adam wondered if this change of staff had been Della’s decision, and why.

As soon as dessert and coffee were served, Adam leaned closer to Carolyn across the small round table. “Request a second cup of coffee and linger at the table as long as you can. It’s time for me to take a look around.”

Carolyn bit back a demand to know what he was going to do. She knew she’d have to get used to his acting without her knowledge and approval, but it wasn’t easy to accept the fact that he would probably keep her in the dark about a lot of things. Still, it made sense not to trust her with any information that she might, inadvertently, blurt out.

Adam quickly left the table and slipped through one of the open French doors. As he followed a hall that led to the front of the house, he passed several open doors, revealing a beautifully furnished room within. When he passed a dining room with a high
ceiling and crystal chandeliers, he saw Morna at the far end of the room, by the butler’s pantry.

Grateful that she had her back to the door, he slipped by the open door without being seen and hurried up the main staircase. From an earlier report, he knew that Jasper, Della, Lisa and Buddy occupied the wing opposite the one that contained the master suite he and Carolyn had been given. It was pure luck that they were all out for the day. He wanted to get a feeling about these people, and giving their living quarters a quick scrutiny might prove helpful.

As he entered the rooms occupied by Jasper and Della, it was obvious they were cohabitating. Her stuff was mingled with his in the style of a married couple. They each had their own walk-in closet, and judging from the clothes hanging there, both seemed fairly conservative, if quality conscious, in their choice of attire.

Adam was much more interested in an adjoining study, which was obviously a home office and had its own exit into the hall. A large executive desk held the latest and most advanced computer system. Everything needed to transact business was right there in this room, and it appeared from notes and memorandums lying on the desk that Della spent many hours sitting there.

Speculation instantly filled Adam’s mind. What programs did she have running? Would they help in his investigation of Horizon? Was there time to log on— These questions came to an abrupt halt as muffled voices floated down the hall.