Page 27 of Marriage Masquerade

The warmth of his hand against her waist spread. Her breathing caught and for a moment she felt light-headed. Her blood pounded through her veins and echoed in her ears.

Smiling, turning this way and that, she made it through the battery of pictures both Susan and Elise insisted upon. But she felt disjointed, out of control. Nikos Petropoulos was her husband. She was no longer Gemma Green, but Gemma Petropoulos.

Lunch was a blur. She hoped she talked coherently, but couldn’t remember a single sentence.

Settled after lunch in the extravagant limousine Nikos had hired, Gemma suddenly longed for her freedom. She’d had it made when she was single. She could go where she wanted, do what she wanted.

Now she had agreed to a marriage to provide Nikos a way to remain in the U.S. and save her own pride when the pregnancy became obvious. She had to play her part of a loving devoted wife well to allay any suspicion of the INS—or the gossips at work.

Could she do that? Pretend to feel strongly for her husband while all the while trying to keep her distance? She couldn’t let herself fall for him, as Susan had suggested. She already knew she wasn’t his type. If a worldly beauty like Katrina couldn’t hold him, how could a woman from a small town in Ohio?

“Tired?” Nikos asked as the limousine slid quietly through the Manhattan traffic.

“No. Still keyed up a bit.”

“Despite your interruption, the ceremony went well. I liked it better than the elaborate affair Katrina dreamed up.”

Ignoring the reference to his first wife, Gemma gazed out the window. They were heading uptown—toward his apartment. Their apartment.

“Are you planning to return to work today?” she asked.

“No. If we are to give the impression this is a genuine marriage, I don’t see a doting husband deserting his wife on their wedding day.”

“I guess not.”

“In fact, I think we should take the rest of the week off.”

She looked at him in surprise.

“While I like the idea, you need to work on your husband skills. You don’t just announce things. We need to discuss them and decide mutually what we’ll do.”

His eyes danced with amusement.

“I see I have created a different person in Gemma, the wife from Gemma, the personal assistant.”

“I start as I mean to go on,” she said defensively.

“And for how long will we go on? I wonder,” he said.

“What do you mean?”

“We agreed to marry for expediency. But I’ve been thinking that it might work out well enough to continue even after your baby is born and I have the green card. Unless, of course, you have other plans.”

She shook her head. Had she heard him correctly? He’d be interested in continuing this marriage of convenience indefinitely?

“Only time will tell, I think,” he said.

Hal greeted them when they arrived at the apartment.

“I’ve put your bags in your room, madam. If you wish for me to unpack, please tell me.”

“No, that’s all right, I can manage,” Gemma said quickly. She needed something to keep her busy for the afternoon.

“Change into something you find comfortable and join me in the living room when you feel like it,” Nikos suggested.

Gemma took her time changing and sorting and putting away her clothes. The closet was huge and her few skirts, business suits and dresses looked lost. The built-in shelves would hold twice as many clothes as she had brought.

She gazed at the view from her window. If she angled her head just right, she could get a view of Central Park. But the living room was the place to be for that view.

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