Last Resort: Marriage

Aaron slowed the steps to a sway and placed his hand on her hip, moving her with him. Other couples joined them on the dance floor and he held Charlie close. He could act the part of the adoring groom as well as the next guy. “Trust me. You show interest in anyone except me during this marriage, I’ll make it my business. Making a fool of me wasn’t part of the bargain.”

“Oh, and you’re going to stay celibate for the next six months?” Her eyebrows drew together and she eased out of his arms. “We should mingle with our guests.” She grabbed a flute of champagne from a passing waiter and left him alone in the center of dancing couples.

Charlie gulped down the gold liquid as Perry moved in her direction. He touched her shoulder and without hesitation, she set her glass down and moved into the slime-bag’s arms.

Aaron willed his fist to unclench.

He hadn’t counted on Thurman breathing down their necks. He narrowed his eyes as Thurman’s hand snaked up Charlie’s side and his thumb rubbed the underside of her breast. Before Aaron could react, she took Don Juan’s hand and placed it back on her waist. Okay, he couldn’t very well stop her from dancing with the snake, but he didn’t have to stand here and watch.

The last brilliant shades of sunset were fading from the sky when Aaron stepped outside. One smoke and a couple minutes to get his head straight, then he’d go back in and decide whether to deck Thurman or drag his bride out of his clutches. He lit a cigarette and leaned against the building. What had possessed him to agree to this?

As he took a drag and watched a kid on the beach feeding a flock of seagulls, he caught a glimpse of someone stepping onto the deck. He remained in the shadows and watched old man Harrington stop and take a couple of deep breaths. Edward pressed a hand to his chest, leaned against the rail, and dug something out of his pocket. The man looked pale as he tilted his head back and placed a pill in his mouth.

Should he ask if Harrington needed help or would that embarrass him? He waited until the older man was breathing easier before stepping out of the shadows. “Nice evening.”

Harrington straightened and glanced casually over the ocean as if he hadn’t just been clutching his chest. “Why aren’t you inside with your bride?”

Holding up his cigarette, Aaron shrugged. “Just needed fresh air and a quick smoke.”

“How do you exist in this humidity?”

A fine sheen of sweat covered the guy’s ashen face. Taking another drag, Aaron snubbed his cigarette out in a concrete ashtray. “I could use a drink. How about you?”

“Something cold does sound good.”

“Thought I’d try the punch.” He stood back and allowed Edward to precede him inside. “Somebody has to drink it.”

Aaron handed Harrington a glass of pink punch and spotted Charlie standing beside a leafy palm. Before he could make his way across the room, Thurman appeared at her side, removed the glass from her hand, and guided her onto the dance floor. That made twice.

As Perry slid his arm around her waist, Charlotte noticed Aaron standing beside a table of caviar. She tried to focus on her dance partner and ignore the threatening glower on her husband’s face.

Aaron Brody was legally her husband. She missed a step at the realization. Was he serious about demanding fidelity? Was he planning to “cleave only unto her”? Right! And the colorful tropical sun would set in the east tomorrow.

She couldn’t complain about Perry’s dancing, but the hand slithering down her back was another matter. He gently squeezed her hip. “You look wonderful tonight.”

She grabbed his hand and guided it back to her waist, grinding her heel into his foot. “Don’t start this.”

He moved his foot back. “I’ve never loved another woman like I love you. I always thought…” Perry’s breath stirred her hair and his tone sounded wistful, but all she felt was disgust.

Why the sudden interest after six years? Perry didn’t do anything without a self-serving motive.

Edward tapped Perry’s shoulder and she gratefully moved into her grandfather’s arms.

Edward scrutinized her face, as if her debauchery was tattooed on her forehead. “Are you happy?”

Smiling took a concerted effort. “Of course.”

He patted her back. “You look a bit nervous.”

“You know me. I worry about everything. As fast as we threw this together, I keep thinking I’ve forgotten something.”

“Everything you do is done to perfection.”

Tears stung her eyes, and that made twice today. Her grandparents had taken care of her most of her life. Even before her parents died, she and Don had lived with them. Her mother and father had always been jetting off to a party at some villa or mountain resort.

He pressed her face against his shoulder. “Promise that if that groom of yours hurts you in any way, you’ll let me know.”

“Aaron would never hurt me.” If he did, she wouldn’t need Edward’s help. She’d kill him herself.

“Well, I’ll have to take your word for that. I just hope you know more about him than the size of his…”

“Edward!”

He spun her around. “I wasn’t born yesterday, my dear.”

Charlotte tried to relax and enjoy the reception, but every time she looked up, Aaron was whisking some other woman around the dance floor. He had all the right moves. Probably from all those bars he frequented. When he wasn’t dancing, he was drinking with his buddies.

She turned and found Perry at the other end of the table watching her watch Aaron. He sidled up to Edward and she shuddered at what he was undoubtedly whispering in the older man’s ear.

If she and Aaron intended to fool anyone, they needed to appear to enjoy each other’s company.

She gritted her teeth and pushed through the crowd of men gathered around her husband. “Hi, darling. Come dance with me.” She grinned at the group of laughing, half-drunk males. “Sorry, fellows, but I’m stealing my groom.”

Aaron’s arm slid around her waist as if it was the most natural position in the world, holding her close as he delivered the punch line of the joke he’d been telling. His hand dropped lower to caress her backside.

Resisting the urge to yank his hand away, she put her arm around his waist and tugged him away from his rowdy friends.

She placed her other arm around his neck, leaned close, and waltzed him onto the dance floor. “You aren’t very convincing as the adoring groom.”

Aaron rubbed his nose against hers and spoke into her mouth. “Then try this. Stay away from Percy or you’ll find out how well I play the role of jealous husband.”

“You have the nerve to worry about Percy? I mean Perry. You’ve danced with every woman in the room.”

“If you were dancing with different men, I wouldn’t mind. But how does it look that you’ve danced with Percy three times?”

He was counting? “And I’ll dance with him again, if I want.”

Aaron spun her in his arms and kissed her hard on the mouth. “Go ahead. I’m not too high-class to make a scene. You’re mine, sweetheart. At least for the next few months.”

Her temper wanted to fight, but her common sense warned her not to argue in front of the guests. “I don’t belong to you or anybody else.” Backing away, she tugged him toward the table where the wedding cake waited. “Shall we cut the cake, darling?”

The photographer snapped pictures as Aaron placed his hand over hers on the knife and they cut the first slice out of the towering white-and-pink creation. She smelled the alcohol on his breath, but at least he didn’t mush the cake in her face.

Her relief was short-lived however, when to everyone’s delight, he licked a crumb from the corner of her mouth. Her face heated as the room erupted into applause.

Then guests toasted them to everything from good luck to advice on how to maintain a long and fruitful marriage. She tried to keep from spitting champagne when the inebriated ship’s captain toasted to a wild and passionate wedding bed.

Aaron didn’t seem to mind the fellow’s bad taste. He held up his glass and downed the contents. Every time she’d looked at him tonight, he’d been drinking.