Free Binder Full of Women by Kathleen Miles

Chapter 1
     
    Trent couldn’t have even dreamed up this predicament. Setting down the phone receiver and inhaling deeply, he expelled the air and tried to think of a solution that would still provide the guaranteed results that he needed. This was deep trouble and he knew it.
    For not the first time in his life, he found himself in a situation where there was no easy way out. Perhaps there was no way out at all. His legacy depended on it.
    Tapping his fingers on his mahogany desk, Trent pushed back his leather office chair. There was no satisfying answer that his mind could comprehend. He had to have a wife within the next month and that was it.
    A swarm of energy entered the room and immediately he knew that Rachel must be there. If the energy didn’t give her away the smell of fresh oranges would have.
    “Afternoon delivery,” Rachel said her straight, long brown hair bouncing as she plunked a plate of peeled oranges on the desk. It was their afternoon ritual. A mid-afternoon orange and a debrief of the day with each covering their highs and lows.
    It was when he did his best thinking and his best ideas always came to him then. For some people it was the morning shower, for him it was the scent of oranges and Rachel.
    Today he was going to concentrate on a solution for his life sized problem. This was just what he needed. She would know what to do.
    She offered the plate to him and noticed his front tooth tugging at his lip.
    “What’s wrong?” Rachel asked. “I could hear your sigh from all of the way down the hall.”
    Count on her to always know when something wasn’t right.
    Before she entered the office, Rachel immediately knew that something was wrong. Trent only tapped his fingers when there was something bothering him. That noise had developed into a heightened sense of urgency whenever she heard it anywhere. Now that she was in his office she saw the tension in his muscular frame. He was leaning forward in his chair and the hard lines on his face looked even harder - if that was possible.
    “I need a wife,” Trent said.
    Rachel’s boisterous laugh filled the room. After regaining her composure she asked, “seriously, what is it Trent?”
    Ever since they met in college he vowed that he would never marry and never be in a serious relationship. Every woman he ever dated was made aware of this and his motto had never changed. It had never been a problem finding women that agreed to this. Sure some thought that they could change him, but many were still attracted to him simply for his money and David Beckham looks.
    A pregnant pause filled the air. Seeing the tension rise even higher in Trent’s body, Rachel knew that whatever his issue was it was huge.
    His brown eyes looked across at her. “Rachel, I have never been more serious in my life. Everything that I have worked for, everything that I have ever stood for depends on this.” Looking up to the ceiling he added, “The jobs and each and every one of my employees depends on this.”
    Walking across the room, Rachel gently placed a comforting hand on his upper arm. “Trent, start from the beginning.”
    How could he admit to her what a fool he had been? Rachel of all people. His best friend. She was practically family to him. Really the only resemblance of family that he had left. There were no secrets though. With Rachel never secrets.
    “Don’t judge.”
    Raising her perfectly arched eyebrow in question, she asked “Do I ever?”
    “No Rach, you don’t. This is brutal though. I was a fool. I told the CEO at Xeron that I was married.”
    Continuing on he told her the story of his phone call and how his impulsive answer brought him to this dilemma. Rachel knew that Xeron was the company that he was partnering Pearson Chemicals with to ensure that he kept the business in the black.
    With their primary market, manufacturers of paper, dwindling in size so was his company’s revenue. Knowing that the company and its promise of continuous