More than a Convenient Bride

Looking exasperated, Drew said, “Dude, it doesn’t matter. You would be married in name only. Consider the alternative.”

He had, a million times since she’d hit him with the bad news. Although the term bad news didn’t quite measure the depth of his feelings when he imagined her leaving. Living thousands of miles away. Who would he talk to? Who would remind him to pick up his dry cleaning, or share late-night Indian takeout with him in the break room on those evenings when they were both too jammed to leave the hospital?

There had been nights like that for weeks after the storm, performing surgery after surgery. Some successful, some not. While volunteering for Doctors Without Borders, he had seen his share of heartbreaking situations and managed to stay detached and objective for the most part. A disaster in his hometown was a completely different story. Without Julie to lean on, to keep him grounded, he would have been a wreck. She was his anchor, his voice of reason.

Did he love her? Absolutely. But that was very different from being in love. And finding a new research assistant would be a nightmare. Julie knew his work inside and out. Training someone new would take more time and energy than he cared to expend.

“I obviously don’t want her to leave,” Luc said. “But if we were caught and something happened to her, I would never forgive myself.”

After she was gone they could keep in touch through email and social media. They could even video chat on their computers or phones, though it wouldn’t be the same as having her there. But was defrauding the government and risking both her freedom and his the answer?

“I’m telling you, no one is ever going to know,” Drew insisted. “Even if the truth comes out, you’re a local hero. Can you name one person in town who would turn you in?”

He made a good point. And even if there was an investigation, he and Julie knew each other as well as any married couple. He had no doubt they would pass any test with flying colors. The question was: How would Julie feel about it? She was the one with the most to lose.

“I guess it couldn’t hurt to bring it up and see what she thinks,” he told Drew.

“Great. I suggest a small-to moderate-sized ceremony and reception at the club and a long relaxing honeymoon somewhere tropical.”

A wedding was one thing, but leaving Royal? That was out of the question. “I wouldn’t have time for a honeymoon. I’m needed here.”

Drew laughed and slapped him on the back. “Dude, you’re a brilliant and devoted physician and, yes, this town needs you, but everyone needs a break now and then. No one will blame you for wanting a honeymoon. When was the last time you took time off? And I mean real time.”

Luc tried to recall, and came up blank. It had definitely been before the storm. And probably quite some time before that. A year, maybe two. Or three. He’d traveled all over the world volunteering with Doctors Without Borders. That was how he’d met Julie. Their duties had taken them to many exotic and unfamiliar destinations, but it had been no vacation. Maybe they could use a break...

Luc shook his head. He and Julie married and taking a honeymoon? Until today the thought had never even crossed his mind. And it wasn’t that he didn’t find her appealing, both mentally and physically. Any man would be lucky to win her heart. He’d found her so appealing when they first met, it had been a little difficult to be objective. Practicing medicine in a developing country, the accommodations weren’t exactly lavish. It wasn’t uncommon for all the volunteers, male and female alike, to share living quarters, where modesty took a backseat to practicality. He was used to seeing his colleagues in various stages of undress. But in the case of Julie, he would often find his gaze lingering just a little longer than most would consider appropriate. But if she’d noticed, or cared, she’d never called him out on it. The issue was exacerbated by the fact that Julie didn’t have a bashful bone in her body. In his first week working with her he’d seen more skin than the first two months he’d been dating Amelia, his college sweetheart and ex-fiancée. She’d had enough body hang-ups for half a dozen women.

But he would never forget the day he’d met Julie. He had just arrived at the camp and was directed to the tent where he would sleep and store his gear. He stepped inside and there she was, sitting on her cot, wearing only panties and her bra, a sheen of sweat glistening on her golden skin, her long, reddish-brown hair pulled into a ponytail. He froze, unsure of what to do or say, thinking that his presence there would offend her. But Julie hadn’t batted an eyelash.

“You must be Lucas,” she said, unfazed, rising from her cot to shake his hand while he stood there, caught somewhere between embarrassment and arousal. It was the first of many times he’d seen her without her clothes on, but that particular memory stood out in his mind.

He and Julie had seen each other at their best, inventing surgical tools and techniques that they knew would change the face of modern surgery, and at their worst, unwashed and unshaven for weeks on end covered in bug bites from every critter imaginable. They had been to hell and back together, and they always, under any circumstance, had each other’s back. Was this situation any different? Didn’t he owe it to her?

It was becoming less of a question of why, and more of a question of why not. “You really think this could work?” he asked Drew, feeling a glimmer of hope.

“You would have to make it convincing,” Drew said.

“Convincing how?”

“Well, she would have to move in with you.”

Of course as a married couple they would have to live together. He and his mother had more than enough space, and four spare bedrooms for her to choose from. “What else?”

“In public you would have to look as if you’re in love. You know, hold hands, kiss...stuff like that.”

There was a time when he’d wondered what it would be like to kiss Julie. A real kiss, not her usual peck on the cheek when she hugged him goodbye. How would her lips feel pressed against his? How would she taste?

The tug of lust in his boxers caught him completely off guard. What the hell was wrong with him?

He cleared his throat and took a deep swallow of Scotch. “I could do that.”

“No one else can know it’s not real. We keep it right here, between us,” Drew said. “You know you can trust me.”

Trusting Drew wasn’t the issue. He knew that any one of his club brothers would lay down their life for him. The whole idea hinged on Julie’s willingness to break the law and play house with him for heaven only knew how long. And her willingness to play the part convincingly.

It was something he would have to investigate thoroughly on his own before bringing it up to her. Talk to his attorney about the legalities. Make a list of the pros and cons.

“I’ll talk to her,” he told Drew.

“Who knows,” Drew said with a sly grin, “you two might actually fall in love.”

That’s where Drew was wrong. If Luc and Julie were meant to fall in love, meant to be a couple, it would have happened a long time ago.

* * *

Julie sat in her office the next day, eyes darting nervously from the work on her desk to the clock on the wall. She was due to meet Luc in the atrium for a late lunch in fifteen minutes. Seeing her best friend had never been cause for a case of the jitters, but this was different: this had her heart thumping, her hands trembling and her stomach tied in knots. She was planning to ask Luc a favor, the biggest and most important favor she had ever asked him. Ever asked anyone. But if there was a single person on the planet she could count on to come through for her, it was Luc. More so than her own sister, who could be flighty at best. It sometimes took her days or even a week to answer a text or email. Sometimes she didn’t answer at all.

Luc was truly the only person in her life who she could count on unconditionally. And if everything went as she hoped, she would be able to stay in the country indefinitely. Worst case, Luc would laugh in her face, and she would be on her way back to her native home, where she had only distant family left and no friends to speak of.

In the event that Luc said no, she would spend the rest of her time in the US tying up loose ends regarding the research on Luc’s latest invention. She had reports to file and interviews to transcribe so that the switch to his new assistant would be a smooth one. Though the idea of someone else finishing her work left an empty feeling in the pit of her stomach.

The sudden rap on her office door startled her out of her musings. She looked up and was surprised to see Luc standing there. She checked the clock. She still had ten minutes to spare.

“Can I come in?” he asked. He wore scrubs under his lab coat, meaning he must have had a surgery scheduled that morning.

“Of course,” she said, gesturing him in. “I thought we were meeting in the atrium. Did I get the time wrong?”

“Nope.” He stepped into her office, which wasn’t much larger than a small walk-in closet, and as he did, she felt as if all the breathable air disappeared from the room. It would explain the dizzy feeling in her head, the frantic beat of her heart.

What was wrong with her? She’d never been nervous around Luc. The truth is, she never got nervous about much of anything. Especially Luc. Everything about him, from his slow, easy grin and low, patient voice to his dark, compassionate eyes, naturally put people at ease. He could be intimidating as hell when he wanted to be. She’d seen it. But unless the situation warranted it, he chose not to be.

“I wanted a minute to talk in private,” he said, snapping the door closed behind him. He crossed the two steps to her desk and sat on the edge. She could be mistaken, but he looked a little uneasy, which wasn’t like him at all.

“There’s something I need to ask you,” he said.

What a coincidence. “There’s something I need to ask you, too.”

“Why don’t I go first,” he said.

Now that she’d worked up the nerve, she couldn’t back down. “I think I should go first.”

“What I have to say might impact what you have to say.”

All the more reason to say it right now. The last thing she wanted was to make a huge deal about this. If she made a fool of herself, so be it.

It sure wouldn’t be the first time.

Three

Luc was watching her expectantly, and she knew that the longer she dragged this out, the harder it would be. What she was about to ask him was no small favor. She wouldn’t blame him at all if he said no.

Okay, Jules, you can do this.

Hoping he didn’t hear the slight quiver in her voice, notice her unsteady hands or the erratic flutter of her pulse, she said, “I may have come up with a way to stay in the country. But I need your help.”

His brow rose expectantly. “What kind of help?”

Her heart lodged in her throat, so when she opened her mouth to speak, nothing came out. For several seconds she sat there like a fool, the words frozen in her vocal cords.

Wearing a quirky smile, Luc asked, “Are you okay?”

Yes and no.

She was being silly. He was her best friend. Even if he said no, it wouldn’t change anything. Hopefully it would only be slightly humiliating.

Come on, Jules, just say it.

Gathering her courage, she said, “You know that I really don’t want to leave the US.”

“And I don’t want you to leave,” he said.

“Royal has become my home. I feel like I belong here.”

“You do belong here.” He said it as if there were no question in his mind. “And you know that I’ll do anything I can to help. As a matter of fact—”

“Please, let me finish.” Earnest as he appeared, he might want to take that back when she told him her plan. “I’ve looked into every possible avenue, but there’s only one way I’ve come up with that will assure I can stay.”

She paused taking a deep, empowering breath. Then another.

“Are you going to tell me,” he asked, looking mildly amused. “Or do you want me to guess?”

Oh, for Pete’s sake, just say it, Jules. “We could get married. Temporarily of course,” she added swiftly. “Just until I can earn my citizenship. Then we can get a quickie divorce and pretend it never happened. I’ll sign a contract or a prenup. Whatever makes you most comfortable.”

Luc blinked, then blinked again, and then he burst out laughing.

Wow. There it was. Her worst nightmare realized.

“You’re right,” she said, quickly backtracking. “It was a ridiculous idea. I don’t know what I was thinking.” She shot to her feet, when what she really wanted to do was curl up in the fetal position and wallow in shame. “Let’s forget I said anything and go have lunch.”

She tried to duck past him, and he wrapped a very large but gentle hand around the upper part of her left arm.

“Just hold on a minute,” he said in that firm but patient way of his. From anyone else it would have come off as condescending. “It is not ridiculous. Not at all. I’m laughing because I came here to suggest the exact same thing.”

It was her turn to blink in surprise. Did he mean that, or was he just trying to make her feel less stupid. “Seriously?”

“But it is a legally and morally gray area. I wasn’t sure if you would be willing to risk breaking the law.”

Desperate times required desperate measures. “I’m willing if you are.”

“We can’t risk anyone else knowing the truth.”

“I won’t tell if you don’t.”

“Drew knows. He’s the one who suggested it. But we can trust him. And I won’t lie to my mother.”

Julie had never known Drew to be anything but a stand-up guy. If Luc trusted him, so would she. And she would never expect Luc to lie to Elizabeth, nor would she want him to.

Julie had no one else to tell, except her sister, Jennifer, who probably wouldn’t care anyway. When she married her husband, an older, wealthy man she’d met on a trip to New York, he became the center of her life. She quit college and set her sights on being the perfect trophy wife. Between charity balls and country club brunches with the other trophy wives in her elite social circle, she had little time for her nomadic, unsophisticated sister.

Though she had never actually met Jennifer’s husband—nor did she care to—her sister’s description of him gave Julie a bad feeling. He sounded very controlling, like their father. But now was not the time to dredge up those old memories. She had promised herself a long time ago that she would never look back in regret, but instead learn from her past and always move forward. Always strive to better herself. Marrying Luc, though completely unexpected, would be just another leg of her journey.

“Having second thoughts already?” Luc asked, and she realized she was frowning.

“No, of course not. Just wondering what happens next.”

“Drew suggested we have the ceremony and reception at the club and we have to do it soon.”

“How soon?”

“How’s this Saturday afternoon looking for you?”

This Saturday? That was only five days away. She knew absolutely zero about planning a wedding, but less than a week sounded ridiculously fast. “Is it even possible to put a wedding together that quickly? And what about immigration? Don’t we have to have an interview or something?”

“My attorney is taking care of all of that. And as for the wedding, we’ll keep it simple. Close friends only. Very informal.”

“I don’t even know where to start.”

“All you need to do is find a dress. And a maid of honor. I’ll take care of the rest.”

Of all her friends in Royal, Lark Taylor was the closest. They’d met during the first few weeks of the cleanup efforts and became fast friends. She was a nurse in the intensive care unit at the hospital. They often took coffee breaks together, and sometimes went out for drinks after work. She was planning her own wedding to Keaton Holt, a longtime Cattleman’s Club member, so perhaps she could give Julie a few pointers.

“We’ll have to kiss,” she heard Luc say, and it took her brain a second to catch up with her ears.

“Kiss?”

“During the ceremony,” he said.

“Oh...right.” She hadn’t considered that. She thought about kissing Luc and a peculiar little shiver cascaded down the length of her spine. Back when she first met him, she used to think about the two of them doing a lot more than just kissing, but he had been too hung up on Amelia and their recently broken engagement to even think about another woman. So hung up that he left his life in Royal behind and traveled halfway around the world with Doctors Without Borders.

A recent dumpee herself, she’d been just as confused and vulnerable at the time, and she knew there was nothing worse for the ego than a rebound relationship. They were, and always would be, better off as friends. In her experience, it was usually one or the other. Mixing sex and friendship would only end in disaster.

“Is that a problem?” Luc asked.

She blinked. “Problem?”

“Us kissing. You got an odd look on your face.”

Had she? “It’s no problem at all,” she assured him, but if that was true, why did her stomach bottom out when she imagined his lips on hers. It had been a long time since she’d been kissed by anyone. Maybe too long.

“We’ll have to start acting like a married couple,” he said.

“In what way?”

“You’ll have to move in with me.”

She hadn’t really considered that, but of course a married couple would live together. Having separate residences would raise a very bright red flag. Since Julie left home, when she wasn’t volunteering abroad, she’d lived alone. She liked the freedom of answering to no one but herself, of doing what she wanted to do, when she wanted to do it. That would be hard to give up.

As if Luc read her mind, he added, “Nothing in our relationship is going to change. We only have to make it look as if it has.”

But by pretending that it changed, by making it look that way to everyone else, wasn’t that in itself a change?

Ugh. She never realized how complicated this could be. She could already feel the walls closing in on her.

“Look,” he said, and this time he was the one frowning. “If any of this makes you uncomfortable, we don’t have to do it. I want you to stay in the US, and I’ll do whatever I can to help make that happen, but if it’s going to cause a rift in our friendship, maybe it’s not worth it.”

“I’m just used to living on my own. The idea of changing that is a little intimidating. But it is worth it. And I don’t want you to think that I’m not grateful. I am.”

“I know you are.” He smiled and laid a hand on her forearm, and the feel of his skin against hers gave her that little shiver again. What the heck was going on? She never used to shiver like that when he touched her. She was sure it was due only to the stress of her situation.

What else could it possibly be?

* * *

“It’s bad, isn’t it?” Julie looked up at Lark, her maid of honor, in the dressing room mirror at the Cattleman’s Club. Julie was on her third attempt of giving herself “smoky eyes.” But she looked more like a cheap street walker than a bride.

“When it comes to eyeliner and shadow, especially for someone as naturally pretty as you, I think less is more,” Lark said, which was her kind way of telling Julie to give it up.

“Oh my God, what a mess,” Julie said, swiping at her eyes with a damp cloth. It had looked pretty simple in the instructional video she’d found online, but her technique lacked a certain...finesse. Which is why she never wore the stuff.

Her father had lived by very traditional values and as teens, Julie and her sister had been forbidden to use makeup of any kind. Or wear pants. Dresses and skirts were the only acceptable attire for a female in her father’s home, and Julie had played the role of obedient daughter very well. It was easier not to make waves. She concentrated on her studies and getting into a good college. She never did develop the desire to wear makeup, but after eighteen years of wearing only skirts and dresses, she swore she would never wear anything but pants. Yet here she was now in a newly purchased, off-white, silk shift dress, which she had to admit hung nicely on her athletic frame. But with her raccoon eyes Luc was going to take one look at her and run in the opposite direction.

Her sister, the queen of all things girly and impractical, would have been a big help right about now but she wasn’t answering calls or texts. If it was anyone but Jennifer, Julie might have worried, but that was typical for her sister. She was either completely distant and unreliable, or smothering Julie with her sisterly love. There was no middle ground.

“I suck at this,” she said.

“Maybe just a little mascara and liner,” Lark suggested, with a sympathetic smile. “Would you like me to help?”

Julie looked up at her with pleading, raccoon eyes. “Yes, please.”

Lark worked her magic and she was right. Julie was lucky to have been blessed with smooth, clear skin, and just a touch of liner and mascara and a little clear gloss on her lips subtly enhanced her features.

“You’re a genius,” she told Lark.

“And you look beautiful,” Lark said, smiling and stepping back to admire her work. “Lucas is a lucky man. And forgive me for saying, but it’s about darned time you two tied the knot.”

Julie had heard that same remark from a dozen people since she and Luc made the announcement earlier that week. “It doesn’t seem...sudden?”

“I always suspected you and Luc had something going—I think everyone has—but you’re a very private person, so I didn’t want to ask. I figured that if you wanted me to know, or needed to talk about it, you would tell me.”

If there had been anything to tell, Julie probably would have.

There was a rap on the dressing room door and Lark’s sister Skye stepped into the dressing room. She looked surprisingly healthy for someone still recovering from a near-fatal car crash during the tornado. Luc had performed an emergency cesarean to save her unborn child, and her injuries had been so severe she’d been in a coma for four months. Until Skye was well enough to care for her daughter, Lark had taken responsibility for Baby Grace, who was the sweetest most adorable infant Julie had ever seen.

“It’s time,” Skye said, then sighed wistfully. “You look beautiful. Luc is a lucky guy.”

Julie took a good look at herself in the mirror, spinning in a circle to get every angle. Not half-bad.

Though she usually kept her hair pulled up into a ponytail, she’d worn it down today, in loose, soft curls that tumbled across her shoulders. She’d even put on her mother’s diamond earrings. It was the only thing of her mother’s that she had left. In his grief after she died, Julie’s father had removed every trace of his wife from their home. Photos, personal items, anything that reminded him of her. Julie had only been four at the time, but she remembered sitting on her parents’ bed, crying as she watched their housekeeper clear out her mother’s closet, shoving her clothes into black trash bags.

Between his wife’s death and having a newborn infant to care for, her father seemed to forget that he had another child who was mixed up and lonely and desperate for the unconditional love and affection her mother had always given so freely. Within weeks of her death he’d hired a nanny and began traveling extensively. He had never been what anyone would consider an attentive father, but after her mother’s death he had become virtually nonexistent.

Julie breathed deep to ease the knot of sadness in her chest, the burn of tears behind her eyes. Now was not the time to think about her less than ideal childhood. God forbid she start crying and ruin her makeup.

“How are you doing?” Lark asked. “You nervous?”

Julie shook her head. This wasn’t going to be a real marriage, so what reason did she have to be nervous?