Page 49 of The Billionaire's Wife

“That is completely no help.”

“Sorry.” I glanced down at my slacks. “Do you think if I wear my suit it’ll intimidate them? Or will I just look like I’m trying too hard?”

“You do look good in a suit.”

She said it under her breath, so I tried not to take it too much to heart, but I couldn’t deny that it warmed me.

“So wear the suit? Jacket or no jacket?” I brushed a hand down my tie. I wouldn’t mind ditching the tie and wearing the jacket, but most people seemed to feel that a shirt and tie was more formal than a jacket and no tie. Even though my parents had drummed Miss Manners into me as a teenager and she said the opposite.

“Might as well wear the jacket. I have a skirt suit, I’m pretty sure. Then we can both be fancy and businesslike. Let them know we’re serious.” Faith frowned. “Though I’m not sure how much that’ll matter. It bothers me that they want you there. And that they think you’re my boyfriend.”

“Ouch.”

Faith shook her head. “Not because you wouldn’t be a great boyfriend, but if they’ve been digging on me to track me down, shouldn’t they know we’re married? I don’t know what it means, but I feel like it has to mean something.”

“It could just mean that they tracked you down some other way and not through me.” I pulled out my phone and glanced at the time. “We should leave in about an hour. It doesn’t take long to get there from here, but we wouldn’t want to be late.”

“No. We wouldn’t.” She sighed. “I’m going to go rest for thirty minutes before I get ready, if that’s okay?”

“Yeah, of course.” I’d been about to suggest we could watch something on TV together, but maybe this was better. I shouldn’t get used to having her around. She wasn’t permanent.

What I ought to do was get a dog.

I watched Faith go down the hall to her bedroom. She closed the door behind herself without looking back. I sighed and resumed my spot on the couch, flipping back to the animal shelter website.

I’d narrowed my choices to two by the time I heard the door down the hall open and shut again. I listened as her soft footsteps traveled to the bathroom, and that door clicked shut, followed by the snap of the lock. Then running water.

With a sigh, I turned my attention back to the web page and filled out the contact form. It didn’t hurt to get information, right? Maybe this wasn’t the perfect situation to bring a dog into, but when was life ever perfect? It felt like having something better to focus on than the nebulous state of my marriage was a good thing.

When I’d submitted the form, I stood, and crossed to stare down at the river from my big window. There weren’t any boats out. Not surprising, seeing as we were in the final days of September, and evenings were cooling off. There was still plenty of activity during the day though. And the dinner cruises ran all year long.

I rested my forehead on the cool glass.

“Ready?”

I turned. The shoes dangling from straps in her hand explained why I hadn’t heard her come in. The combination of bare feet, bright red toenails, and that dress did something crazy to my insides—like they froze and turned to molten lava all at the same time.

“What’s wrong? Is this not okay?” Faith brushed self-consciously at the dress.

“It’s great. You look great. Amazing.” I winced inwardly as the inanity tumbled out of my mouth. I sounded like a besotted teenager. I cleared my throat. “Let’s go.”

She tipped her head to the side and studied me. My heartbeats ticked off the time. Finally, she nodded and bent to slip her feet into the shoes.

Mmm. Well then. The shoes added something even more to the outfit. And that was a road best not traveled.

I started toward the door, careful not to brush against her as I passed. I didn’t think my haywire system could handle that. Since I had no idea how she’d react to an offer of my elbow or hand, I didn’t.

But I did hold the door for her. Some manners shouldn’t be forgotten.

Her lightly floral scent filled my senses as she walked by much closer than I’d done in the living room.

I swallowed.

Silence marked every stage of our journey to the restaurant. I would have classified it as awkward, but from the way Faith knitted her fingers together, maybe on her end, at least, it was just nerves.

I found a parking spot in the restaurant’s lot. I decided to take it as a sign that God was looking out for us. In fact…I shut off the car and turned slightly to look at Faith. “Can we pray?”

She blinked at me. “Uh. I guess. Sure.”

---