Free Can't Buy Me Love by Amy Lillard

eye. Those things by themselves weren’t out of the ordinary, but still she knew. Something was up, and it was bad.
    Fortunately Dancy entered and poured their coffee and filled the silence with her presence and Bruno ’s growls. With a caustic look in Paige’s direction, Dancy left the tray and slid from the room.
    Blake took a drink of the hot brew, then another. His eyes were fixed somewhere near her ear as he took yet another sip of his coffee. “This is really very good,” he said obviously doing his best to melt the ice forming between them. “Is it a new blend?”
    “ You didn’t ask me in here to discuss coffee. What’s on your mind, Blake?” Paige tried to make her tone casual, but her heart raced. Suppose he had reconsidered and now thought that a marriage to someone like her was not worth a large fortune.
    “ No, I didn’t.” Blake sat his cup down and clasped his hands together between his bent knees. “I need a favor from you,” he said with a confidence that suggested he knew she would comply.
    “ A favor?” It was the last thing she had expected to hear.
    “ Yes.”
    “ What kind of favor?” She wasn’t going to like this.
    He took a deep breath, and Paige could almost see him mulling over the exact words to use. It was probably a class he took at college. Exact Wording 101. “I need you to go to an opera fund raiser with me and play the part of my wife.”
    “ What?” she squeaked, then managed to recover. “This wasn’t part of our deal.”
    “ Our deal has changed.” His voice held a note of finality.
    “ What’s that supposed to mean?” Paige stood and crossed her arms cover her middle as if to protect herself for what was to come next.
    “ It means that the news of this marriage was supposed to get no farther than the two of us. Now the entire country knows. Everyone in the greater Chicago area is chomping at the bit hoping to get a glimpse of us together.”
    “ I hope they don’t chew it in half while they wait.”
    “ Paige, you’re not looking at this at all logically.”
    “ Logically? What’s logical about any of this? I became your wife in a business deal, nothing more.” She turned to look at the empty fireplace. Anything was better than looking at him and knowing he didn’t think enough of her to meet her gaze when he spoke.
    “ True. However, now your name is linked with mine. For better or worse.”
    She whirled around to face him, hating the fact that he still sat , legs crossed, and he hadn’t moved once during the whole conversation. He was making her crazy and flustered with his words and his presence, and she had no effect on him what so ever. “Would you mind explaining that remark?”
    “ I wanted to keep the terms of this marriage a secret....” He spread his hands expressively. “Now one of two things can happen. We can go out together, pretend we’re a happily married couple, and no one need ever know differently. In six months we pretend to have an argument—in public. It snowballs, and six months later we get the divorce, as planned. Or I can come clean in the papers, tell them all about the will and how I married you to get my inheritance. Everyone will think I’m a greedy bastard, but they’ll pity you.”
    “ You’d do that to me?” Her voice was a whisper.
    “ I don’t have much choice, and neither do you. You see, Paige, our names are linked together no matter what either of us do. Your only choice now is how your name will be linked with mine.”
    Paige sank to the couch. “What about Anna Rivera? How does she fit into all of this?”
    “ Anna? How did you—”Blake shook his head. “Anna won’t play a part at all. As long as we’re married, I’ll remain faithful to you. You don’t have to worry about other women making you a fool.”
    No, Paige thought, I just have to worry about you making me a fool .
    “ This is a little like blackmail,” she said shakily.
    Blake sighed. “Life’s a little like blackmail. I