Free Marrying Mona (LOVESTRUCK "Spirited" Comedy Romance) by Mimi Riser Page B

and the wedding was scheduled for Saturday. It was one of the resort’s special package deals. A Babylonian ceremony with drums and panpipes and embarrassing costumes in the outdoor Sun Shrine, followed by a snake-dance procession to the Yin-Yang Pavilion, and topped off by an “Olympian Bacchanal” reception in the Aphrodite Poolroom. Eclectic didn’t even begin to cover it.
    Mona was as mortified as he was. It was the only thing they agreed on. If they had to marry, why couldn’t they do it simply and sanely?
    “Horse hockey,” His grandmother had said. “Weddings should be festive and fun .”
    “For who?” one might have asked, but it wouldn’t have done any good.
    Angelica had handpicked this crackpot place and decided the agenda – of course – and made all the arrangements in a whirlwind week of activity. She was also staying in the Karma Suite with him and Mona until after the knot was tied – like a noose around his neck.
    “As a chaperone,” she’d explained, “for appearances’ sake.”
    Like hell. Considering the reason for this marriage, it was a little late for chaperones. Besides which, from what Danny had seen of the “Love Fields” so far, it was open season on sex here, with open attitudes to match. And in any case, Angelica had never given two hoots for appearances . She was just making sure neither he nor Mona could escape.
    Not that either of them were planning on trying. They might be unhappy, but they weren’t stupid. Angelica had hired a swat team of undercover agents to watch them – and what the agents missed, her blabbermouth spirit guides told her. Danny and Mona might manage to ditch the corporeal guards, but they’d never make it past the dead ones.
    Morbidly resigned to their fate, they sat at opposite ends of the suite’s balcony, as far apart as they could get, watching annoyingly amorous new-agey couples twisting themselves into tantric pretzels in a “Yoga for Lovers” class on the lawn of the Kama Sutra Garden below.
    This was supposed to be sensuous?
    Danny had practiced a lot of positions in his bedroom gymnastics, but these contortions looked painful. And dangerous. A guy could damage his equipment doing—
    “Marriage doesn’t have to be forever,” Mona mused, though whether to herself or him, Danny wasn’t sure. “We can always get divorced, right?”
    Wrong.
    The mere thought made his gut clench – always had – but he’d never told anyone why. It would have ruined his studdly reputation.
    “That’s not an option,” he mumbled.
    “Afraid your grandmother will cut you off if we do?” She gave a contemptuous laugh. “That’s your problem, Romeo, not mine. I don’t need Angelica’s money. I know how to work for a living.”
    Oh, right, that was another black mark against him, the fact he’d been born rich. Mona was blue-collar stock and proud of it. But Danny had some pride, too. He had four years of college, for godssake, with the three summers between them spent in the family construction firm. Not behind a desk either. Angelica had wanted him to learn the business he was due to inherit someday from the ground up. He’d worn a hardhat, climbed girders, and hauled sacks of cement with the best of them. That was how he’d built his muscular physique. But after college it had seemed a shame to waste that physique on girders when girls were so much more appreciative. Yeah, he was rich and handsome. Was that a crime?
    “Hey, babe, I’m perfectly capable of earning my own way.” And he would. Eventually. After dear old dad retired. “I’ve got job site experience and a degree in business administration.”
    “Really?” She sounded surprised.
    Understandable, he supposed. Thanks to that fateful “fling” they knew each other in bed but not out of it. Both of them were marrying what amounted to almost a casual acquaintance. Except the bed part had been anything but casual . It had been pretty damn good, as Danny recalled. That was