Free The M Word by Beverly Farr Page B

great
happiness and satisfaction, and he wished that she felt the same.
But from the serious expression in her beautiful eyes, he knew she
was unhappy.
    Was she thinking about Steven?
    Was she having second thoughts?
    They walked up to the front desk to check in.
“Jaworski,” Marius said, and spelled it.
    The clerk smiled. “Yes, the honeymoon suite”
and handed him an envelope with two electronic key cards.
    “I didn’t request the honeymoon suite,” he
said clearly.
    “No, sir,” the clerk agreed, glancing at her
computer screen. “But a Michael Williamson paid for the
upgrade.”
    Brenda gasped. “You told my father?”
    Marius said, “I thought it was wise to have
at least one person know where we were in case there was an
emergency.”
    Brenda sighed. “Every time I turn around,
someone is trying to upgrade our wedding.”
    The clerk looked concerned. “Is there a
problem? Do you want to have a regular room?”
    “No, it doesn’t matter,” Brenda said flatly.
“Thank you.”
    Marius declined the bell boy’s offer of help,
choosing to carry their luggage by himself. Together he and Brenda
walked into the elevator. Her high heeled pumps clicked on the
smooth tile floors.
    After the doors closed, he said, “I’m sorry.
Should I have asked you before I told your father?”
    “No, it was reasonable.”
    “Then why are you troubled?”
    She looked at him sharply. “One bed.”
    “I beg your pardon?”
    “A honeymoon suite only has one bed.”
    He should have thought of that. “I can sleep
on the floor,” he offered.
    She looked him incredulously. “You’d do
that?”
    “Yes.” It was a small sacrifice if it made
her happy.
    She considered his answer and seemed to relax
a little. “Thanks, but it probably won’t be necessary.”
    He opened the hotel room door. “Do you wish
to be carried through the doorway?”
    “No thank you,” she said crisply. “I’m not
superstitious.” She walked into the large suite, and Marius
followed.
    The room was luxuriously decorated with a
large king-sized bed as the focal point.
    Marius placed the suitcases in the corner of
the room. He saw that there was a sitting area with a couch. It
looked as if would be long enough to sleep on. It wouldn’t be
comfortable, but it might be better than the floor.
    “I can sleep there,” he said.
    “Thanks,” Brenda said coolly. She walked
through the suite, glanced at the bathroom, then sat in an arm
chair. She crossed her long beautiful legs. “So, what do we do
now?”
    That was a good question. He knew what he’d
like to do, but after her distress about “one bed,” he wasn’t going
to broach the subject. “Are you hungry?” he asked. “Would you like
to order room service?”
    She shook her head. “No. I had two pieces of
cake. Did you have any?”
    “It was good,” he said. They stared at each
other for a few moments. We are strangers, he thought. Most of
their conversations in the past two and a half weeks had been to
make the wedding go smoothly. Now they would have to work on the
marriage.
    He took off his tuxedo jacket and draped it
on the back of another arm chair. He removed his cufflinks and saw
that Brenda was watching him warily.
    “It’s late,” he said. “And since we have to
get up early in the morning, I’m going to go to sleep.”
    She frowned. “Why do we have to get up early
in the morning?”
    “Our flight is at eleven, but they like us to
be at the airport two hours earlier.”
    “Flight?” she repeated. “I thought we were
going camping.”
    “We are. In Colorado.”
    She was stunned. “What?”
    “One of my professors offered us his
timeshare at a ski resort. People camp there in the summers.”
    “I thought we were going somewhere in
Texas.”
    “In this heat?” Marius smiled. “No wonder you
weren’t looking forward to it.”
    “Was I so transparent?”
    “A little,” he said. “But you didn’t
complain, which I appreciate.”
    She didn’t say anything,