Something Borrowed (Borrowed Brides 3)

"All right," Mary admitted. "Maybe I am jealous. But what do you expect? You've brought me here to live in her house."

"So?" Lee didn't understand.

"What was she to you? Why would a bachelor like you agree to take on the responsibility of a two-and-a-half-year-old child?"

"Tabby was my partner," Lee answered. "She made me the executor of her will and guardian of her child."

"Why?" Mary persisted.

"Why? Why what?" Lee was beginning to lose his temper.

"Why did she make you Madeline's guardian? Why not someone else? Why not a relative? Where's Maddy's father?"

"Tabby Gray didn't have anyone else. She was married once, before the war, then widowed. She wasn't married to Maddy's father. And according to her letter, if I refused to take her, Maddy would've grown up in a St. Louis foundling home—just like her mother."

"And you couldn't let that happen."

"No, I couldn't let that happen," he replied. "Could you?"

"Of course, I could," Mary replied. "Unless I knew I that by fulfilling the terms of a will and agreeing to adopt a little girl, I could get my hands on a mansion and a silver mine."

Lee couldn't believe what he was hearing. "That's not why I agreed to adopt her and you know it! Or you should know it! I don't give a damn about owning a mansion or a silver mine!" Unable to sit still any longer, he flipped back the covers, got up from the bed, and began to pace the confines of the room—in all his naked male glory. "And if that's the kind of man you think I am, then why the hell did you marry me?" He stopped pacing and turned to face her.

Mar)' swallowed the lump in her throat. Her imagination hadn't done him justice. Goodness, but he was handsome. "I could ask you the same question." She swung her legs off the bed, stood up beside it, and slipped her feet into her moccasins. The sight of Lee Kincaid standing in front of her, as naked as the day he was born, practically took her breath away. It was all she could do to keep from flinging herself at him. "If all you wanted was someone to cook and clean and care for Judah and Maddy, you could have hired a maid. You didn't need a wife. You didn't need me. Unless…" She grabbed hold of the top quilt and took a step toward him, dragging the quilt along on the floor behind her. "Unless I was part of the deal, too. Was I, Lee? Was I one of the terms of Tabby's will?" Mary stopped just inches away from her husband and boldly placed her palm flat against his broad chest before she trailed her index finger down over his stomach.

Lee shivered in response, then reached out and caught hold of Mary's wrist, preventing further exploration. "Why do you want to know?"

Mary shrugged. "Maybe I'm wondering just how far you went to meet the terms of your partner's will. And how much farther you're prepared to go. Or maybe I just want to know if you'll feel compelled to lie to me again like you did when you told me why you planned to adopt Madeline and if I'll believe you this time, too. But most of all, I'm wondering if I'll ever know whether you wanted to become my husband or simply do a job."

Lee stared at her. Her doe-brown eyes softened as she met his gaze. He leaned forward slightly, then reached out and lifted her chin with the tip of his finger. "Trust me," he said, bending down to kiss her. "When the time is right, you'll know." He gently touched his lips to hers.

Mary tried to push her doubts aside. She had put her trust in Lee Kincaid when she agreed to marry him and she wasn't going to back away now that she had him.

She had known from the beginning that Lee didn't love her, and suspected that he was using her for his conveniences, but still it hurt to have her suspicions confirmed.

It hurt to know Lee had deliberately misled her by allowing her to believe his former partner was a man when all the time he was planning to bring her to Tabitha's house to live. Mary understood that Lee had had a life before he married her. And secrets. But somehow, she had expected him to confide those secrets and to pretend to love her even though he didn't.

Somewhere along the line, she had confused the real Lee Kincaid with her idea of Prince Charming and expected the two to be the same. Just as she expected her one-sided marriage to be filled with love and warmth and sharing like the marriages of her parents, and grandparents, Reese and Faith's, and Tessa and David's.

She had thought herself mature and sophisticated. She thought she was old enough to resign herself to a loveless marriage to Pelham Cosgrove or to Lee Kincaid. But she was wrong. She'd made a mistake when she married Lee. Pelham had been safe—she didn't love him and knew she never would. But she'd fallen for Lee Kincaid. And once she realized she loved Lee, Mary knew she hadn't really grown up at all. She couldn't settle for a loveless marriage to him, not when she still believed in fairy tales—especially in happy endings.

She wanted to live happily ever after. Desperately so. She needed to believe it was possible. So she pushed her nagging fears aside and told herself over and over again that Lee's reasons for marrying her didn't matter as much as the fact that he had. And then Mary prayed she could make it be true. She was his wife, bound to him for better or for worse and it was up to her to prove that having her as his wife was better than letting her go.

Lee had ended the kiss quickly. Too quickly for Mary's satisfaction. It was over almost as soon as it began. He released her and stepped away.

Not knowing what else to say or do, Mary handed Lee the quilt. "Supper will be ready in half an hour."

Realizing he was standing before her without a stitch on, Lee gratefully accepted the covering.

Mary turned and headed toward the bedroom door. She opened it as Lee called out.

"Hey, Two-shot."

"Yes?"

"Thanks for listening."

Mary smiled. "You're welcome," she whispered.