The Marriage Ultimatum Read online

  “He said he didn’t have anything to do with Cathie’s death, that it was an accident.”

  “I bet he also said he didn’t take the money.”

  She didn’t smile. She couldn’t. The phrase “I know you,” brought her feelings of betrayal rushing back full force. When he moved to take her in his arms, she stepped back a pace without really thinking about it. “When were you going to tell me about your bank balance?” she asked. “I thought I knew you, too, but it turns out I was wrong.”

  His face changed, and her last hope that perhaps it was a mistake and he hadn’t really deceived her died. His gaze flicked sideways at the cop standing nearby. “Could you excuse us for a few minutes, please?”

  “Sure,” the officer said. “But don’t leave yet. The detectives are going to want to hear what you know about this guy.” He hooked a thumb over his shoulder to where Rusty sat in the squad car in handcuffs.

  Derek indicated a small room just beyond the office, an employee lounge where Kristin had come before for short meetings on sanctuary business. She hesitated a moment. The last thing she wanted to do was go into that little room with him.

  Derek must have read her refusal in her face. “Kris,” he said in an implacable tone. “In here. Now.”

  Her temper flared and she welcomed it. Anything was better than the dull hurt that gnawed at her insides. “I don’t want to talk to you.” It felt childish but she was too close to tears to think of something more sophisticated to say.

  “You don’t have to talk. All you have to do is listen.” Derek took her arm in an unbreakable grip. He wasn’t hurting her but he didn’t release her until he had towed her into the small room off Rusty’s office and shut the door. “Now,” he said. “Get it off your chest. You’re mad because you think I hid my wealth from you on purpose.”

  “You did,” she said. “All these years…” She shook her head. “I can’t marry you now.”

  “What?” If she’d set a match to a dynamite stick, she couldn’t have gotten much more of a reaction. It wasn’t a shout, it wasn’t a demand. It was a roar. “Why the hell not?”

  “Because,” she said. “I’d feel funny marrying a man for his money.”

  “I didn’t think you would,” he said. “I thought you were marrying me because you love me.”

  She flinched, and didn’t speak. What response could she make to that?

  “Kris.” Derek dropped his voice to a low, intimate register. “Honey, will you give me a chance to explain? All you have to do is listen. Then, I promise, if you want to leave you can.”

  She couldn’t look at him. It hurt too much. She was incredibly humiliated that she’d been so wrong all these years about him. She thought she knew him. Ha! He was a multimillionaire.

  “I grew up in a regular middle-class family just like you,” he said. “My mom was a teacher, my dad was an electrician who owned his own company. When I was a junior in high school, they celebrated their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary by taking a trip to the Caribbean. They never came home.”

  “What happened?” There was remembered anguish in his tone and she wasn’t hard-hearted enough to resist that.

  “They were snorkeling when a boat came roaring around a rocky outcropping and plowed right into them. They were side by side and they both died instantly.” He took a deep breath. “The young man who killed them was a Saudi playboy, a prince in line for his father’s sheikdom.”

  Her eyes widened. She supposed she’d thought he was going to say something about insurance money.

  “The sheik was furious with his son, but he still managed to avoid having that damned killer face prosecution.”

  She drew in a sharp breath. “But that’s wrong!”

  “Yeah.” His laugh was slightly bitter. “The sheik gave my brother and me each ten million dollars—like that’s supposed to make me feel better that Mollie will never know how terrific her grandparents were. He also kicked his son out of line to inherit, which was personally a lot more satisfying to me than getting any money.” He drew a breath. “Anyway, my brother’s a Wall Street whiz and he manages the money for me. I honestly don’t think much about the fact that I’m…”

  “Rich?”

  “Well, yeah.” He tried a tentative smile.

  “You were the anonymous donor to the sanctuary.”

  “Guilty.”

  She felt the tears well. “You made my dad very happy.”

  “It made me happy,” he said. “Your father had great vision. Without him, there would be no sanctuary. I just helped him realize his dream a little sooner than later.”

  There was a brief moment of silence.

  “So,” Derek said. “Are you ready to go home now? I’m sure we can talk to the police later.”

  “I guess,” she said slowly.

  “And the other?” A note of uncertainty entered his voice. “Will you stay?”

  She couldn’t prevent the involuntary, brief shake of her head.

  “Why not?” he demanded. “I explained about the money. Kris, you know me better than I know myself in all the important ways. I should have told you before but I honestly didn’t think about it. We love each other. How can you walk away from that?” There was a note of naked desperation in his voice now.

  It was a moment before the sense of what he’d said jelled. “We…love each other?” she said faintly.

  “Don’t we?” Uncertainty shone in his eyes. “You told me you loved me.”

  “I do,” she said softly, “but you never said you loved me.”

  He looked sheepish. “Of course I love you. It just took me a while to admit it to myself. I never would have asked you to marry me if I hadn’t fallen in love with you.” He paused. “Do you believe me?”

  She shrugged. “You want a mother for Mollie. And companionship. And we share a lot of history. We’ve been friends for a long time.”

  “I’ve been friends with Faye for a long time, too, and I didn’t ask her to marry me,” he pointed out.

  “A month ago you thought I was nuts for suggesting marriage. I know you want me now, but I’m not stupid enough to think that sex and love are the same thing.”

  “They are for this guy,” he said, his eyes very blue and incredibly warm as he took her into his arms. “I love you, Kris. I didn’t want to admit how empty my life was, but you dragged me out of my cave and loved me until I couldn’t help loving you back. Please say you’ll stay and marry me.”

  She smiled up at him as she wound her arms around his neck. “All right,” she said. “I’ll marry you.”

  “And love me forever.”

  “And love you forever.”

  And as he sought her mouth, she lifted her face to his, all doubt erased. Derek loved her. She’d waited patiently for him to grieve and begin to live again. And all the while she’d quietly loved him, so quietly that she hadn’t even realized it when he’d begun to love her in return. But now, now she knew.

  And the future had never looked brighter.

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-8299-9

  THE MARRIAGE ULTIMATUM

  Copyright © 2004 by Anne Marie Rodgers

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