Free Chayton by Danielle Bourdon

smiled. “All right. Thanks again.”
    “You're welcome. I have some calls to make, so I'll see you in the morning and we can get this show on the road, as they say.” He crossed the room and stood next to her, holding her gaze for a long minute.
    Kate stared into his eyes, then inclined her head. “Sounds perfect. I'll see you in the morning.”
    Chayton stepped on, letting himself into the hallway.
    Kate watched until he was gone. It seemed impossible to her that tomorrow, she would marry that man. Pushing her hair away from her face, she turned back to her bags and walked over to start unpacking. She wanted to contact her friends and a few acquaintances to let them know what was going on. To update them after she'd all but disappeared off the face of the earth. The employees in charge of things should have the situation well under control. After all, they were paid exorbitant amounts of money to manage from the top down. They consulted her for bigger decisions but otherwise, oversaw the day to day running of an empire.
    Then she remembered that the phone lines attached to people she knew might be tapped. Briefly, she mourned the loss of having a friendly face around tomorrow, when she knew her nerves would hit a peak. Fake marriage or not, she had to don a fancy dress and say vows and—Kate paused. She straightened with a few shirts in her hands. Would she have to kiss him? Or did they skip that part? The thought of Chayton's mouth on hers sent a surprising jolt through her.
    Stop being ridiculous. It was just a kiss. A peck, nothing more, nothing less. He might forgo the entire thing, and that was fine by her.
    Taking the shirts into the closet, she snapped the light on. The closet was large, with several racks for clothes and shelves for shoes that could probably house more than a hundred pair. Five white garment bags hung from a rack to the left, clearly the wedding dresses Chayton had mentioned earlier.
    Kate slipped the shirts onto hangers, then went to inspect the dresses. It was one thing to see a dress online; it was another to run her fingertips over the beading and satin. Two of the dresses were full gowns, with large, layered skirts and fitted bodices. The remaining three were more mermaid in style, snug and simple with beading or crystals sewn here or there. She found herself wondering which one Chayton would like, and which one she would feel most confident in tomorrow.
    “It doesn't matter what the thinks,” she whispered to herself. “He won't care one way or another.”
    Yet the question remained.
    Tomorrow was soon enough to choose.
     
    . . .
     
    Chayton entered his downstairs office to find Mattias and Leander waiting for him. Closing the door, he crossed to a side table and poured them all a few fingers of scotch. He walked each glass to his brethren, then went back for his own. He knew what they were here for—and it wasn't to joke around about the 'wedding'.
    “I just want to ask one last time,” Mattias said, after taking a drink. “Are you sure about this?”
    Chayton tipped back a stinging swallow of scotch. He didn't usually drink. “Yes.”
    “On the plane, you referred to this as a 'fake' wedding. But it's really not. No, you're not in love, and no, you're not planning to make it last, but it's as real as real gets. Officially, you'll be her husband and she'll be your wife, which makes you liable to abide by the state's laws and regulations about what you both get when you dissolve the marriage.” Mattias pressed his point home while he paced through the room.
    “She's not interested in my money or my holdings. And I'm not interested in hers. This is just to extract her from a difficult situation without bloodshed or other heartache. If only all our missions could be resolved this easy.” Chayton watched Mattias pace and glanced at Leander, who wore a frown.
    “I still think you should draw up some kind of agreement. Even if it's chicken scratch on a notepad. Anything you can