Married In The Morning

He could handle that. He might have been head over heels in love with her for the past few months, but he recognized all this was new for her because until this weekend she had been at the very end of getting over her last romance. In fact, his feelings for her began with his worry over her upset about the man who had thrown her over for a co-ed with whom he was having an affair. That caused Gerrick to make time to talk to her every morning, eat lunch with her at least once a week and walk her to her office after meetings. Ultimately, concern grew into genuine affection, and before he knew it he found himself absolutely crazy about her. But he didn’t think Gina had noticed him as anything other than a co-worker at Hilton-Cooper-Martin Foods until Friday night. Still, once she had begun the process of seeing him as a person, a man, she seemed to catch up to his level of feelings with leaps and bounds.

And besides, she was the one who proposed to him.

Plus, he was leaving Atlanta in two weeks. Unless he married her he had no way of coercing her into moving with him, and no reason really to even keep in touch, except that they had had a fun time gambling in Vegas. That wasn’t much of a foot in the door and in his mind the marriage was a necessity.

On the flight home, the time difference worked against them, and it was already late afternoon when they arrived. They took a taxi to the bar where they had met on Friday night and each drove his or her car to her father’s mansion. She got there first, punched in the security codes that opened the big black gate and left it open. He drove through, then punched in the codes that locked the gate again. He wound his way up the long, tree-lined lane, taking his time, rehearsing in his head the speech he would give to his boss, searching for a way to describe their weekend without using the words tipsy or aroused. As he approached the house, he watched Gina pull her imported sports car behind the black sedan Gerrick recognized as belonging to Ethan McKenzie, head of the Legal Department of Hilton-Cooper-Martin Foods and family friend of Hilton Martin.

Great. That meant they might have to wait hours before they actually told Hilton they were married.

Gerrick groaned. No, they wouldn’t. He had bought Gina a platinum band with three one-karat marquise diamonds. Nobody was going to miss that. Especially not eagle-eyed Ethan. They weren’t going to get to announce this to Hilton privately unless Gerrick did something fast.

He jumped out of his car and rushed toward the front entrance attempting to get to Gina before she walked in and flashed her ring, but he was too late. As if he had been waiting for Gina, Ethan opened the door and plowed forward before she reached for the knob. He took her by the shoulders and, if the look on his face was anything to go by, said something very serious to her.

Gerrick saw Gina gasp and crumple in Ethan’s arms, then both Gina and Ethan scrambled from the doorway to Ethan’s car.

Approaching from the other side, Gerrick was almost to the doorstep when they dashed away, ignoring him as if he wasn’t there.

He stopped.

Ethan drove up beside him, and lowered his car window. “Gerrick, I’m sorry. Hilton’s had a heart attack. He was in Pennsylvania promoting a golf tournament he’s helping to sponsor this summer. I’ve got Gina booked on the next flight out. Josh Anderson is already in Pennsylvania,” he said, referring to Hilton-Cooper-Martin Food’s PR director and Gina’s cousin. Undoubtedly, Josh had been pressed into service as next of kin, since no one had known where Gina was. “Right now, we need somebody to hold down the fort. I think that should be you.”

“Actually, Ethan,” Gerrick said, glancing at Gina who was dabbing her eyes with a white tissue. “I think I should go with Gina to the hospital.” He noticed the ring he had given her was conveniently hidden by her paper hanky and though that struck him as coincidentally lucky, he didn’t question it.

Only now realizing they had been away together for the weekend, Ethan looked from one to the other then said, “Oh.” He faced Gina again. “The second seat is booked in my name. Gerrick might not have time to get it changed and make the flight. We’re late as it is.”

“Then let’s go,” Gina said, urgency evident in her voice. “Gerrick, you’re going to have to come up on a later flight.”

“And I’ll return home and hold the fort,” Ethan said as he began to drive away.

Gerrick felt as if a truck had hit him. He had been employed by Hilton Martin his entire career. In some ways he loved Hilton like a father. That might even have been part of the reason he had been so casual about getting involved with Gina. But he also loved Gina. And he wanted to be with her. As her husband he should be the one with her. But Gina very clearly didn’t want him. Or didn’t care…

He was worried about Hilton. Fearful for Gina. Upset for himself. And insulted. But he ignored the stab of offense recognizing that Gina’s first impulse was to get rid of him, not lean on him, because being offended had no place in a situation where a man’s life hung in the balance.

Unfortunately, that still left him with intense worry, fear over Gina’s pain and his own upset about Hilton. He didn’t know which emotion to deal with first. So he got into his car and pulled out his cell phone to make reservations on the next available flight to Pittsburgh. Then he phoned Hilton’s secretary to get directions to the hospital where Hilton was being treated. As he expected, Joanna had the information he needed.

Gerrick went home, packed a small suitcase, and drove back to the airport. Though his concern for Hilton was overwhelming, he couldn’t help but remember the things he and Gina had done in this airport less than two hours ago. He saw the place where they had kissed. He saw the gate at which they had arrived laughing, full of happiness and hope. But when he walked down the tunnel to enter the plane, he also remembered that she had been having serious second thoughts during their flight home. It had taken hours to get her accustomed to the fact that they were married. And in seconds, in one announcement, they were back to square one.

He knew there was a very good possibility he would lose her tonight, if he didn’t get to Johnstown, Pennsylvania before she completely changed her mind, succumbed to grief and fear and decided their marriage had been a mistake.

Chapter Two

Gina didn’t know who the woman in Vegas had been, but she did know it wasn’t her. She was Gina Martin, daughter of Hilton Cooper Martin. She was destined to become CEO and chairman of the board of her family’s grocery store conglomerate because she was the only child of the widower who had started the company and owned controlling interest in the stock. She didn’t gamble. She didn’t wear red bras and red lace thongs. She didn’t marry a man on a whim, no matter how gorgeous. And her relatively young, very strong father did not have heart attacks.

As far as she was concerned, the entire universe had gone awry over the weekend and now she had to fix it.

Getting off the bone-jarring commuter flight she had taken to Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Gina slipped her three-karat diamond wedding ring into her trouser pocket, glad she had bought this pantsuit while shopping in Vegas. She not only had warm slacks and a blazer, but also a blouse. It wasn’t much protection against the freezing temperatures of February in the Appalachian Mountains, but she was dressed warmer than Ethan was.

“The hospital is a short drive from here,” Ethan said as they entered the rental car he had acquired at the one-man counter in the nothing-but-the-basics terminal. Wearing jeans and a T-shirt, dark-haired, dark-eyed Ethan looked like a man who had been unexpectedly yanked from enjoying a sunny Sunday afternoon with his wife and new son. He didn’t even have a jacket. But worry about her father seemed to take precedence, because he made no comment about how cold it was. He simply started the car and turned on the heater.

“I got directions from the pilot.”

Gina grimaced. “Small cities are awfully casual.”

“But convenient.” It was already close to eight, and it was dark. Ethan flicked on the headlights. “You probably couldn’t get directions this good from anybody in Atlanta.”

As if taking off her wedding ring had magically transformed her, Gina stopped agonizing over her foolish weekend. She knew she couldn’t dwell on how stupid she had been or even how sick her father was. She had to get her mind in gear to make sure their company didn’t fall apart in her dad’s absence.

“So when Gerrick gets here you’ll be going back?” she asked Ethan as he drove down a nearly empty four-lane highway.

“Yes, I think one of us has to be there.”

She sighed. “No offense, Ethan, but you’re in the Legal Department. You’re not really up on the day-today business dealings.”

“Then Josh Anderson’s not a good choice to go home either, because he’s our PR man,” Ethan said, referring to Gina’s cousin, the third person of the trio of Josh, Ethan and Gina, who were slated to take over the company when her father retired. Though Gina would be CEO and chairman of the board, it was already common knowledge that Josh would head Operations and Ethan would continue to lead the Legal Department. Because Hilton Martin was only in his fifties, and no one knew what role Gerrick would have played had he not left the company, her father had not begun transferring responsibilities or even training them for their future roles. Though Ethan could completely handle his own area of expertise, none of them could step into Hilton’s shoes.

Particularly not Gina. It was her father’s idea to put her in Human Resources so she could get to know all the employees and become familiar with their strengths and weaknesses. After that, she assumed he would begin showing her the ins and outs of the business in general. She even guessed that eventually she would move into an office by her dad, serve as his assistant and ultimately get the reins. But as of this time, all she had done was manage the employees.

“He might understand the stores,” Ethan continued still talking about Josh. “But I don’t think he can run them.”

“So what we’re saying is Gerrick needs to go home.”

“He is vice president of Operations.” Ethan sighed. “It’s too bad we can’t call him and tell him not to come up at all.”

“He has to come up.”

“Oh?” Ethan said, stealing a peek at her.

“Don’t make a bigger deal out of this than it is,” she said. Her business tone of voice came back so quickly and naturally that Gina was shocked she could have forgotten who she was for a second let alone an entire weekend.

Neither Gina nor Ethan said anything for the rest of the trip. He dropped her off at the sliding door entrance of the hospital, then drove away to find parking. She ran to the information desk, was given directions to the cardiac care floor, and proceeded to find her father. She knew Ethan would get the same information she had, the same way she had gotten it and wouldn’t expect her to wait for him.

By the time Ethan arrived, Gina had been greeted by Josh and Olivia Brady—Josh’s fiancée and one of Gina’s best friends—had spoken to the doctor and was by her father’s bed, where he lay sleeping. Because Ethan wasn’t family, he wasn’t allowed to come into the room. After her short visit was over, she joined Josh, Olivia and Ethan in the waiting room.

“Everything’s going to be fine,” Josh said immediately, while Olivia slid her arm around Gina’s shoulders and helped her to a chair. Like Ethan, Olivia and Josh were dressed in jeans and simple T-shirts. Olivia’s long blond hair was pulled into a bobbing ponytail. Josh’s black hair was rumpled, as if he’d combed his fingers through it in frustration.

“Yeah, I know.”

“And Ethan explained your plan about sending Gerrick home to run the company while you’re up here.”

“I think you all should go home.”

“But…”

“No buts,” Gina said, shaking her head. “I’m fine. But Dad’s recovery will take weeks, and with all of us up here, the company will not be fine.”

“The company will be fine without me,” Olivia disagreed. “I quit last week, remember?”

“You quit to plan your wedding.”

“Which is next month. Besides, everything’s under control. I can spare some time away. Before you got here the doctor told us your dad could be transferred to a hospital in Atlanta as soon as he’s able to travel. So it’s not like you’ll be here forever.” She paused, caught Gina’s gaze. “I’m staying.”

Gina nodded. “Okay.”

“Good,” Olivia said, then removed her arm from around Gina’s shoulders. “Now, when was the last time you ate?”

“Breakfast.”

“You haven’t eaten since breakfast!”

“Well, breakfast in Vegas was your lunchtime. So it wasn’t that long ago.”

“Vegas?” Ethan and Josh said simultaneously, before they exchanged a speculative look.

“Let’s leave that alone,” Gina said, then bit her quivering lip. For all her toughness about making sure the company would run smoothly, she suddenly wished Gerrick were here. But as quickly as she had the thought she stopped it. What they had done was wrong. Leaning on him was wrong. Leaning on anybody was wrong. She had to depend on people for business things, but that was simply letting them do their jobs. But she would not, could not, depend on anybody personally. She might not be in a position to take over this company today, or even next year, but by God she had to be someday and that meant she had to start being strong now.

Because there wasn’t another direct flight to Pittsburgh, Gerrick had to endure a layover, then rent a car and drive from Pittsburgh to Johnstown. He didn’t arrive at the hospital until almost midnight that night. When he stepped off the elevator onto the cardiac care floor, Gerrick didn’t see Ethan McKenzie or Josh Anderson and assumed they were already on their way back to Atlanta. Olivia Brady, dressed in blue jeans and an old shirt, as if she’d dropped everything when she got the call about Hilton, was sleeping on a blue plastic sofa. Gina stood by a floor-to-ceiling window, gazing out at the lights of the city.

“I got here as soon as I could,” Gerrick said, rushing over to Gina. He took her shoulders so he could turn her around and pull her into his arms. She accepted his comfort, but stiffly.

“Thank you, Gerrick, but I’ve thought this through…and talked about it with Josh and Ethan and you’re actually the person who should be home, running the company.”

“But I…”

“You’re the only one of us who’s in Operations. Actually, you’re the only one of us who is a vice president. Josh and Ethan aren’t that high on the corporate ladder yet, plus Ethan’s in Legal and Josh is in Public Relations.” She looked up at him, her pale-blue eyes blank and distant. “You’re the only one who knows how to run the business.”

Gerrick licked his dry lips. “Yes. You’re right,” he said, remembering that Olivia was in the room, remembering that they hadn’t yet told anyone they had gotten married, and realizing that as they had never dated, the marriage would be as much of a shock to Olivia as Hilton’s heart attack.

“How is your dad?”

“Resting.”

Frustrated that they couldn’t really talk, Gerrick glanced around. With the exception of sleeping Olivia, Gina and Gerrick had the huge waiting area, which was actually a wide corridor banked with chairs and fronted by little alcoves that also held chairs, all to themselves. He directed Gina to one of the cubbyholes and helped her sit. Continuing to hold her cold hands in his, he took the chair beside her.

“So, what’s up?”

“Gerrick, I can’t deal with this right now.” She pulled her hands out of his, fished into her trouser pocket and retrieved his ring. She handed it to him.

Pain flooded Gerrick, but he ignored it. “I know,” he said, taking the ring and sliding it into the pocket of his jeans. He didn’t think she was breaking up with him, but giving him the ring for safekeeping. With three one-karat diamonds, it had been very expensive and it wasn’t wise to have the ring rolling around in her pocket.

“So, I guess we’ll talk when you get home.”

Looking at her entwined fingers, she nodded. “The doctors say it will be at least a week before he can travel. I’ve made arrangements for a cardiologist friend of his to fly up from Atlanta tomorrow. He’ll check Dad out and make a decision.” She peeked up at him. “I won’t know anything concrete until tomorrow.”

He nodded.

“So there’s no point in you hanging around.”

“I can stay until…”

She shook her head. “I wish you wouldn’t. Olivia’s getting a hotel room and has agreed to keep me company. Josh and Ethan have already gone home.” She paused, drew a quick breath. “It looks better this way.”

“Your father and I are friends, Gina,” Gerrick argued desperately. “Won’t it look odd if I…?”

“Josh is my father’s nephew and he’s gone. It won’t look odd if you return to Atlanta, but it will look odd if you insist on staying.”

“Especially since I’m the one who should be at home minding the store,” Gerrick conceded quietly because it was clear she wasn’t going to budge, and he knew he had to let her handle things in the way that was easiest for her.

“Exactly.”

“Okay,” Gerrick said, rising. “Can I see him?”

She shook her head. “Only family can…”

“Gina, I am family.”

Gina swallowed and nodded, then glanced over at Olivia, Gerrick guessed, to make sure she was still sleeping. Then she led him down the hall to the nurses’ station and whispered that he was her husband and he would like to see her father. They were given orders to be out of the room in five minutes. When they slipped in, Gerrick got a full dose of seeing his idol, his mentor, his friend, attached to life support and breathing through tubes. Then he pressed his lips together and motioned to Gina to leave.

She nodded and followed him to the door.

“Walk me to the elevator?”

The relieved look on her face sent another shaft of pain through Gerrick, but again he ignored it. Seeing Hilton had impressed upon him that Gina had plenty to deal with handling the situation with her father. She shouldn’t be sorting through the complications of an unexpected marriage, too. Yes, he knew that leaving her was risky. That she could talk herself out of their marriage in the few days they were apart. But if he didn’t leave, if he insisted on staying, if he insisted they announce this marriage, he would not only be an insensitive clod, he knew with almost absolute certainty, the marriage would be over.

He held Gina’s hand as they walked to the elevator. To an onlooker it was simply a friendly gesture, but Gerrick realized how quickly, how easily he had fallen into the role of her lover, her husband. They had been romantically involved less than forty-eight hours, yet he knew if he lost her it would kill him.

He pushed the elevator button and pulled her into his arms. She came willingly, resting her head on his shoulder. So, he pressed his luck and gave her a soft kiss before he stepped inside the car. She smiled briefly and waved as the doors closed.

But Gerrick wasn’t happy with the smile, or the wave. Just like in their hotel room that morning in Vegas, she hadn’t kissed him back.

Gina took only one of Gerrick’s calls in the days that followed. In that conversation, she explained that because of the severity of her father’s heart attack, Hilton’s cardiologist friend had agreed that a catheterization should be done in the cardiac facility at the Johnstown hospital rather than waiting until Hilton could be moved to Atlanta. Josh and his mother, Hilton’s sister, went to Pennsylvania to be with Gina during the procedure, which went very well. Josh returned to work Friday reporting Hilton’s prognosis was good. He would be transferred to Atlanta in about a week, but he would ultimately need bypass surgery.

With the news that Hilton was stable, Gerrick decided to fly to Johnstown for the weekend. He didn’t expect Gina to announce their marriage, and he didn’t plan to play the role of husband. He just wanted to see her. He wanted to be sure she was okay. He wanted to be sure Hilton was okay. He wanted to do whatever he could because these people were his family. He felt it as surely as if he and Gina had dated for years instead of hours. And he couldn’t stay away.

When he arrived in Hilton’s private room, he found Gina and Hilton’s friend, Dr. Brown, laughing and talking with a tired, but wide-awake Hilton Martin. His white hair was pillow-ruffled but his blue eyes were clear and bright.

“Gerrick, come in!” Hilton called as enthusiastically as an obviously weak man could. “Come in! What the devil possessed you to fly up here?”

“I came to see you,” Gerrick said, smiling broadly with relief at seeing Hilton looking like he was on the road to recovery.

“And I’m fine. How’s the company?”

“Uh-uh-uh…” Dr. Brown said, shaking his finger. “You don’t get to talk business until after the bypass.”

“Spoilsport!” Hilton said, but he laughed.

Gerrick’s gaze drifted to Gina. Wearing blue jeans and a loose-knit hunter-green sweater that intensified the hue of her dark-brown hair, she couldn’t have been prettier if she tried. Yet, something about her was off-kilter. She appeared pleased with her father’s recovery, but she was different.

“Hi, Gina,” Gerrick said, greeting her because he hadn’t done so when he walked in.

“Hi, Gerrick.”

Gerrick accepted her casual reply because of the circumstances and smiled, but Gina shifted her gaze away from him.

“Since Dr. Brown won’t let me talk business,” Hilton said, “I would feel much better, Gina, if you would go out into the hall and get the lowdown from Gerrick. So I’ll know at least one of us is staying on top of things.”

“There’s really nothing pressing happening,” Gerrick said, but Hilton waved him out. “You two go talk.”

Because Hilton hadn’t changed floors, only rooms, Gina and Gerrick returned to the corridor waiting area and the alcoves of chairs. They took seats in the first hideaway. It was private, but Gerrick nonetheless glanced around to see if he could do something as simple as take her hand.

Gina shook her head. “Don’t.”

“Don’t?”

“Don’t. I don’t want you holding my hand.”

“Gina, you don’t have to worry,” Gerrick said soothingly. “I’m not going to do anything to embarrass you or even announce our wedding. You’re safe.”

“I don’t think so,” Gina said, her voice barely a whisper. “Now that the worst is over and now that I’ve had time to think things through, I know I won’t feel safe until we talk about our marriage.”

“Okay. So, let’s talk.”

Gina straightened her shoulders and sat taller in her chair as if she were about to have a business discussion, not a personal one. She drew a long breath then said, “I had too much to drink the night we got married and I don’t remember it. I don’t remember if we consummated the marriage.” Without so much as a blink, she steadily held his gaze. “I assume we did. But whatever happened, I don’t remember and as far as I’m concerned that makes it a mistake.”

“I disagree,” Gerrick said calmly, though inside he was reeling. She didn’t remember. That would explain her hesitation when she awakened, and why she had second thoughts. But it didn’t explain why she kissed him at the airport in Atlanta. Or the fact that she didn’t want out of the marriage Sunday afternoon. Sunday afternoon she wanted to be his wife as much as he wanted to be her husband. Otherwise she wouldn’t have let him come to her house, because she had to know the only reason for them to go to her father’s home together was to tell him they were married.

“Gina, this just happened at a bad time. I’m willing to give you weeks or months to adjust if need be, but I don’t think we made a mistake.” He paused, took her hand. “I love you, Gina.”

“You don’t love me,” Gina said, yanking her hand from his and shifting away from him, though she remained coolly detached. “We had a really great weekend but we do not love each other. Gerrick, I barely know you.”