Page 36 of Wed to You

“And you in trouble with Mitch?”

“I can handle Mitch.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Then why’d you ditch me?”

He sighed. “At the time, I was respecting his wishes. I know he’s like a big brother to you and he takes that role seriously. Now it’s different. We’re getting married. I may not be what he wanted for you, but you could have done worse.”

Chelsea couldn’t imagine how she could do better, except, of course, by marrying someone who loved her and whom she loved back.

“What about your family?”

“What about them?”

There was a marked change in his tone, from light to dark.

“Well, what are they like? What was your childhood like?”

“People aren’t going to ask you twenty questions. Besides, I think I’ve already told you all you need to know.” He walked several steps away.

“My friends might test me as a way to make sure I know what I’m getting into.” She stood where she was, knowing Mitch, in particular, would push to find out how it was possible she was marrying Jagger when it seemed they hardly knew each other. Especially when just days before she’d denied anything was going on between then.

He turned his blazing blue eyes on her. “You’ll let them?”

“What’s the big deal, Jagger?”

“You want my family history?” He glanced back at Kaden then closed the steps between him and Chelsea again. He leaned closer and talked in a low voice filled with bitterness. “I come from a long line of playboys. Tanya was the last in a series of Mrs. G.W. Talbots. My father is working his way through several more Mrs. Talbots. Right now he’s on his fourth. I was an unplanned baby, which is why my father married my mother, at the threat of disinheritance by my grandfather, who wouldn’t have any bastard children in his family.”

Chelsea winced and wondered if that was why Jagger’s grandfather married Tanya; to legitimize Kaden.

“My mother took off a week after I was born with some rich baron or something. She’s working her way through men as fast as my father works through women. My father was relieved my mother left. He got a vasectomy and resumed his womanizing. Neither of my parents wanted me and each tried to pawn me off on the other.”

Chelsea’s heart lurched in her chest and then broke for the little boy unwanted by his parents. “Who raised you?”

“Mrs. Stanton.”

Jagger stared at her with hard eyes and then turned away as if he couldn’t look at her. She suspected her face shone with pity and shock. Having been on the receiving end of such expressions, she knew it wasn’t a good feeling. She adjusted her expression and stepped up next to him.

“How’d you end up being Kaden’s guardian?”

He sighed, as he watched Kaden swing a stick and wield it like a sword. “I told you about how she got involved in drugs and left. By that time, my grandfather was sick. That’s when I went to him and made the arrangements for Kaden’s trust, guardianship…all of it. He’s worth a lot of money and I didn’t want Tanya and my father fighting over him and his money.”

“So you got both?”

He nodded. “I’m just the executer of the trust. It’s separate from the guardianship. If she’s planning on getting at his money, she’ll be sorely surprised.”

He’d said Tanya initially had married for love, but eventually took money from Jagger’s father to leave the Talbot family. Maybe she’d spent that money and after living without it, she saw Kaden as a source of income. Chelsea’s first thought was how wrong it was. Then she felt sick as she realized she wasn’t much different. After all, she was marrying Jagger for money.

Wanting to lighten the mood a little, she moved on to a new series of questions. “So, where does the name Jagger come from?”

He shook his head and rolled his eyes. “My mother liked soap operas. I was named after some biker character.” He stared at her, as if he was daring her to laugh in response.

She bit her lip to stop the laugh. “And Kaden?”

“Who the hell knows?” He scanned the area again.

“Are you looking for something?”

“I’m watching for Tanya. I wouldn’t put it past her to show up here to try to see him.”

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