Marriage To A Stranger

Marriage To A Stranger
Kay David

You're going to have to act like his wife, whether you want to or not.After seven years, the marriage of Conley and Lara Harrison is over. Lara still cares for Conley, but he's hurt her once too often. She wants nothing more than to get her divorce and move on. But that's not going to be easy. Not once she learns there's a stalker pursuing Conley.Lara's a bodyguard and, according to everyone from her father to Conley, the perfect agent for the job. After all, no one's in a better position to protect a husband than his wife.

A stalker had taken over Conley’s life. And Lara hadn’t even known.

Her father’s voice broke into her thoughts. “I need you to work this case, Lara, and so does Conley.”

Lara swung her head around, her hands clenched at her sides. “You can fire me if you like, but I’m not taking this on. Conley doesn’t need a bodyguard so much as he needs a baby-sitter. When he goes out, when he’s in the office…someone has to be with him 24/7. And whoever it is has to be good. Someone no one will notice.”

“That’s right.”

“You’re going to have to find the perfect person.”

“That’s right.”

His repetition registered, and Lara finally understood. She held up her hands as if she could ward off his suggestion. “No way. I am not—”

“You have to. You’re the only one who can be around him that much and not raise any suspicions. No one will give your presence any thought. The setup’s too great to ignore.” Her father stared at her, his fingers tapping the steering wheel. “You’re his wife,” he said quietly. “And you’re going to have to act like it whether you want to or not.”

Dear Reader,

I married my husband when I was nineteen years old. He was five years older than I. He came from a small town in West Texas, and I grew up in a large metropolitan area. He was an engineer, and I wrote. He was intense, I wasn’t. My parents were married, his were divorced. I’m Anglo, he’s not.

When we walked down the aisle, money had to be changing hands. The odds were probably a thousand to one on the marriage lasting. We were too young and too different. But very much in love.

Twenty-seven years later, we’re still together—and still much in love. We’ve moved fourteen times, from one end of the world to the other (literally). We’ve lost dreams and replaced them with new ones. We’ve lost hope and found it again. Like everyone else’s, our marriage has had good times and bad.

And that’s why I wanted to write Marriage to a Stranger. Sometimes, no matter how long you’ve been together, you wake up one morning and realize you don’t really know the person next to you. Your partner’s changed. Or most likely, you both have.

In this book, Conley Harrison knows he doesn’t want a divorce. He hasn’t been the best mate in the world, but he has his reasons and believes they’re good ones. He decides he’s not going to let Lara go, at least not before he tries to make things right one last time.

His success—or failure—depends not only on himself but on Lara, as well. Is their love strong enough to survive?

Sincerely,

Kay David

P.S. Visit my Web site at www.kaydavid.com.

Marriage to a Stranger

Kay David

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

Marriage is one of the trickiest relationships.

You have to be lucky to have a good one, but you have to be smart to make it last. This book is dedicated to everyone who has been brave enough to walk down the aisle and also to those who are contemplating taking the plunge. How do you know you’re doing the right thing? You don’t. You only know you can’t do anything else!

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER ONE

“I WANT A DIVORCE.”

Standing in the doorway of her kitchen, Lara Harrison spoke in a calm and deliberate manner. Last night, she had practiced saying the words over and over. Looking into her bathroom mirror, her face straight and her voice quiet, she had repeated herself until the fateful sentence had come out sounding both dignified and determined. At least until she’d started to cry.

By dawn, she’d run out of tears. Now, in the painful morning light, all she had left was the awful realization that her marriage was over.

From across the room where he sat at the breakfast table, Conley Harrison, her husband of seven years, put down his coffee mug and looked at Lara. Conley was always collected and composed, and her pronouncement did nothing to change this.

His reaction—or lack thereof—was exactly what she’d expected.