Married in Name Only

These rings Lucas had presented her with were anything but.

“Lucas Ford,” Paisley stated. “We dated a long time ago and recently...reconnected.”

Reconnected? Paisley inwardly groaned. She made it sound like they’d bumped buggies at the grocery and struck up a conversation about old times, when in fact, she’d turned to him for help and he’d blackmailed her and now she couldn’t keep her clothes on around him.

But best to stick to the basics here, considering the real story was a mess and one that made her sound like a helpless female.

“I’m so happy for you,” Melinda announced. “I hadn’t heard about a wedding. Did you do something small?”

Of course a bridal shop owner would likely make the gossip fodder, but not this wedding. There was no press, no invitations or bridal showers. Paisley had been robbed of all of that, but every step of this was of her own making. She’d had to decide between her dream wedding to a man she loved or a quick ceremony with a man she could never love again.

“Actually, we flew to Vegas.” There was no way to un-tacky their nuptials. “We didn’t want to wait and since we’re both nearly alone in the family department, we just didn’t see a need for something large.”

Thankfully the waitress brought their drinks and food and cut off any more wedding talk. The last thing Paisley wanted was to be asked about the gown or have to try to romanticize the day. She could just imagine Melinda’s face were she to know about the tawdry lace jumpsuit.

“I’m just thrilled you found happiness,” her friend said. “Hey, I’m having a cocktail party next week. I’d love for you to come.”

A party sounded fun and she should try to incorporate more good times in her life considering she’d been in a whirlwind nightmare.

“I’d love that,” Paisley stated. “Should I bring Lucas or leave him home?”

“Oh, bring him if you like. I’d love to see the newlyweds together.”

“We’ll be there,” Paisley declared.

She made sure to keep the conversation steered toward Melinda because not only did Paisley not want to talk about the wedding, she also didn’t want to talk about the husband. There may be no hiding the fact that she was indeed falling for him all over again.

Eight

It was about damn time.

Sterling stepped into his country estate and breathed in the familiar scent of his home. Much better than that hellhole he’d been locked in.

Granted he was under house arrest, even after he’d paid millions to be released on bond. But he’d take house arrest over a cell any day. At least from home he had more power; he could control the strings of people around him and the outcome of his future.

First of all, he needed to get back in the saddle, so to speak, and make sure he was named president of TCC’s Houston location. There was no way he’d lose to Ryder Currin. The man had had an affair with Sterling’s wife, Tamara, years ago and Sterling was damn near positive Roarke was their love child. Sterling always claimed Roarke as his son, but never believed he truly was.

Roarke never agreed with how his father did business and Sterling wouldn’t be a bit surprised if Roarke was the one feeding the lies to the media and the police about the whole financial debacle people were pinning on Sterling. Not to mention the damn murder.

He sure as hell never killed anyone.

Sterling just needed to get some rumors going about Roarke being Ryder’s son. Sterling needed the upper hand to sabotage Ryder’s bid for TCC President. There was only one person who could spread lies and gossip like wildfire and kerosene to help discredit Roarke.

Lavinia Cardwell.

Which was why his first order of business had been to invite his long-standing family friend over for a visit. Nothing like a catch-up session to kill two birds with one stone.

The first thing Sterling did while waiting on his guest to arrive was take a real shower with his thick towels and oversized walk-in shower with a rain head. There wasn’t enough soap to wash off the grime from these past few weeks.

He’d just dressed and felt halfway normal when the doorbell chimed through the house. He’d made sure his staff was gone for the day, but he’d told his gate guard to let Lavinia up.