Free A Case for Calamity by Mackenzie Crowne Page B

man who threatened to sue me for custody of the baby I’m carrying unless I agreed to marry him.”
    “Maybe he was bluffing.”
    Snatching up her favorite lipstick tube, she turned to face the mirror. A deep breath helped rid her face of the sadness wrinkling her brow. She leaned close and slashed color across her lips. “If you’d seen his face when he made the threat, you’d know he wasn’t.”
    “Okay, but why the rush? You have months before the baby is born. Why not take some time to get to know one another first?”
    Jane rubbed her lips together, capping the tube of deep red lipstick before shrugging. She’d agreed to Gabe’s demand they marry. Whatever happened after today happened. “Who knows? He doesn’t trust me. Considering how we met, can you blame him? Maybe he thinks if I have the time to think, I’ll come up with some other solution. Or maybe he wants me close so he can keep an eye on me. Mother made it sound like I was working myself into an early grave. He’s concerned for the health of the baby.”
    She replaced the tube of lipstick on the vanity and spun around on the stool. “Whatever his reasons, marrying him gives me an ace in the hole. After today, I’ll have access to grandmother’s inheritance. I’ll have the funds to fight him.” Sadness washed through her and she pressed a hand to her belly above where their baby grew. Maybe it was just a case of the power of suggestion, but over the past week she’d begun to consider the possibilities he suggested. Could they recapture the passion and friendship they’d discovered that night in Paris? Could they build on the overwhelming pleasure they found in each other’s company that night and form a lasting relationship? The happiness of their child demanded she try.
    If they couldn’t, Gabe would become her enemy in truth. The possibility sent a lash of pain through her heart.
    “You make it sound so clinical, but I know you better than that. You’re a romantic who believes in possibilities. What happens to your happily-ever-after in a few minutes, when you marry a man you don’t love?”
    She shook off the gloom of her thoughts and rested her other hand on her still-flat belly. “My happily-ever-after is growing inside me as we speak.” Shae’s guilty groan made her smile. “Seriously. It’s not that bad. As strange as it sounds, I went to Gabe’s room that night because I’d fallen halfway in love with him as we walked the streets of Paris. By the time I left his hotel the next morning, I’d slipped the rest of the way.”
    “Oh, Jane.” Shae’s eyes shimmered with moisture.
    Tears stung the back of Jane’s throat. She blinked them away. “You’re right. I am a romantic. I’m marrying a gorgeous guy who obviously finds me attractive. Attraction can grow to caring, and caring to love.”
    And if she was fooling herself, if Gabe’s reasons for marrying her were simply a ruse designed to gain him his victory? Her heart vehemently denied that outcome. If all he was after was the baby, with the side benefit of convenient sex, she’d have to learn to live with a broken heart.
    She sighed and pasted on what she hoped was a bright smile. “Besides, it’s Christmas. It’s a day for miracles. All I have to do is remain open to the possibility.”
    Shae leaned forward and squeezed her hand. “Are you sure?”
    She squeezed back, picked up her bouquet of blood red amaryllis blooms accented with sprigs of holly, and stood. “Of course not, but I’m doing it anyway.”
    ****
    Jane waited for her father in the foyer while Shae slipped into the living room where the service would be held. Eyeing the front door, nerves urged her to make a run for it while no one was around, but those possibilities she’d mentioned kept her where she was.
    Her right palm tingled at the memory of the kiss Gabe left there yesterday. Sitting across from her in the swanky Manhattan office where they’d met to sign the prenuptial agreements, his