Read Online A Family Circle 1 - A Very Convenient Marriage by Dallas Schulze - Free Book Online Page B

the wheels turning in Keefe's head, adding things up and coming to the obvious conclusion. "Does this have something to do with you getting married in such a hurry?"
    "It has everything to do with it." Sam's grin was crooked. "I have just made what is called a marriage of convenience, Keefe. And considering the circumstances, it's a very convenient marriage. I'll have the money for Mary's surgery by Thanksgiving."
    There was a long moment of silence, and then Keefe pushed aside his half-eaten meal and gave all his attention to his brother. "You want to rim that by me again?"
    "You heard me the first time."
    "I heard you, but I don't believe what I heard. You married some woman to get the money for the surgery?"
    "That's right."
    There was another long silence and then: "Are you nuts?"
    "Just desperate. It was Max's idea."
    "Max knows about this?" Keefe asked, surprised.
    "He set it up. Nikki is a friend of his."
    "Nikki? Is that your wife?"
    "Yeah." Sam frowned over the description. The word wife didn't sound right. Sara was his wife, the only wife he'd had, the only one he'd wanted.
    "Maybe you'd better explain this whole thing to me from the beginning," Keefe said. He reached for his cigarettes as if they were a lifeline.
    Sam was surprised at how little time it took to tell the whole story. Keefe's cigarette was burned only halfway down when he finished talking. It seemed as if something that had such a cataclysmic effect on two lives should take more than a couple of minutes to describe.
    "So she gets her inheritance and you get the money for Mary's surgery," Keefe summed up when Sam was done. "And all you've got to do is stay married for the next year."
    "There's only eleven and a half months left now," Sam corrected him.
    Keefe's brows rose and one corner of his mouth twisted in humor. "You sound like a prisoner marking off the days to parole on the cell wall."
    "That's about how I feel."
    "Is she that bad?"
    Sam started to say yes but caught himself and shook his head instead. "It's not Nikki. We barely see each other. Which is just as well, because we get along about as well as oil and water."
    "She hard to get along with?"
    "Yes." Sam's mouth twisted in a self-deprecating smile and he shrugged. "But I probably haven't been much better. On the way home from the wedding, I threatened to dump her out on the freeway and make her walk the rest of the way. She damn near did it, too."
    Keefe's eyes narrowed speculatively at the reluctant admiration in his brother's tone. He wondered if Sam was even aware of it.
    "She's stubborn as hell," Sam was saying.
    "And you're a picture of sweet reason." Keefe's tone was dry as dust.
    "That's me." Sam grinned. "Not a stubborn bone in my body."
    "Tell that to someone who didn't grow up with you." Keefe shook his head as he stubbed out his cigarette. "I can't believe you actually did this—got married like this, I mean."
    "You'd have done the same thing."
    "Probably." Keefe reached for his cigarettes, caught Sam's eye and dropped them back in his pocket without taking one. "You're as bad as Mom," he complained without heat. "What does this new wife of yours look like?"
    There was that word again. Wife. It was technically correct but it made him uneasy to hear it said out loud. He shook off his uneasiness and considered the best way to answer Keefe's question. What did Nikki look like?
    An image of her, more vivid than he would have liked, sprang to mind. She was exquisite, like a fine china figurine or a painting by one of the masters. She was golden hair and porcelain pale skin and eyes the color of jade. She made him think of cold winter nights and soft rugs in front of a fireplace. Or hot summer days and cool green grass and the feel of her skin beneath his hands.'
    "You do know what she looks like, don't you?" Keefe's quizzical question made Sam realize that he'd been staring into space as if struck dumb by the question about Nikki's looks.
    "Of course I do." He lifted one shoulder