Page 1 of Leo

Chapter 1

“Darling, you’re making me dizzy.”

“I do not know what in the hell I am supposed to do. She is insisting that I find a husband as if I can just pick one out of a hat.” Fisting her hands in her hair, Sherrian stopped short of just screaming.

The only thing that gave her pause was the fact that it would not solve anything. “You can always marry me!” Michael suggested helpfully as he watched her pace in a tight circle, the energy positively vibrating off her.

“Aunt Gloria already knows you are as gay as the day is long.” She flopped down on the silk sofa next him and rested her head on his shoulder.

She was exhausted. The pastry shop had been unusually busy today and she had been summoned to her aunt’s place. A phone call in the middle of the busy period with the woman telling her imperiously that her presence was needed.

“I expect you for supper, Sherrian and you know how I despise tardiness.”

So, she had to pass on everything to her partner, Ingrid, which included paperwork and some accounting and hightailed it an hour away to her aunt’s dusty old house. Just to be told in the middle of the unappetizing meal of barely cooked veal and raw vegetables that she had two weeks to find a husband.

“During that time, I will be going on a cruise. I am wrapping up my business and meeting with the lawyers. The money is there for you to take possession of, but you have to find a husband.”

She had looked over her glasses and tutted in disapproval at her niece’s appearance. Sherrian had not bothered to mention that she was coming straight from work. It would not have made a hell of a difference. The woman was impossible.

“I have two weeks,” she murmured mournfully.

“And after what happened two years ago, the last thing you need is a husband,” Michael commiserated with her. He was her best friend and who better to know that she had suffered tragically and had decided to put the brake on relationships.

She had even stopped dating, which he privately thought was a damn shame. Sherrian was a beautiful woman who deserved to have a man catering to her.

“Ingrid is retiring in a month. She wants me to buy her out and frankly, I do not relish someone else coming in. I have plans for the place.”

“Big ones?”

“Yes. I was thinking it does not have to be a real marriage, just something to satisfy the old bat. All that money, just gathering dust in the bank. There is so much I could do with it.” Shoving off the sofa, she started pacing again. Michael leaned back and watched in fascination as she made the rounds, her slender body vibrating with tension and energy.

Her thick dark brown hair was piled on top of her head, with tendrils escaping down her face and the back of her neck. She was wearing faded jeans and her pastry shop t-shirt and managed to look elegant and classy in what should have been a casual outfit.

Her face was small, with pointed chin, eyes large and a dark chocolate brown, very expressive eyes indeed. Her lips were wide and at the mouth, without a stitch of enhancement. In fact, she was not wearing any makeup at all. Her skin was a flawless caramel, her nose small with flaring nostrils.

She was petite, barely topping five feet, but her energy level made up for it. Charles was definitely gay but could admire the very lovely and appealing package. He had no doubt that she could have any number of men dying to put a ring on that long and elegant finger of hers.

But because of what had happened in the past, Sherrian was understandably cautious.

“What about Greg?”

She stopped her pacing to consider and then shook her head. “It has to be someone who knows I am not interested in an actual relationship. This would be for show. No sex, no touching or sharing the same bedroom.”

He snorted and had her narrowing her eyes at him.

“What?”

“Then you’re looking for either a gay man or one who’s over ninety.”

“Why?”

He gave her an incredulous stare. “Sweetie, take a look in the mirror. You might not take the time and effort to doll yourself up, but you are a gorgeous woman.

Any man you choose will absolutely want to touch and more.” He plucked their wine glasses off his cherry wood table and checked for moisture. Satisfied that it was still its glossy best, he headed towards his pristine kitchen.

“I am switching to tea, unless you plan on spending the night.”

“I am.” She followed him into the pristine black and white kitchen and sat around the counter. “It amazes me how you have all this beautiful space and barely use it.”

---