And she wouldn’t have pushed for that option even if it had been. She’d sworn never to marry for the sake of a child. She wouldn’t make the same mistake her mother had made, she’d promised herself years ago. Megan would not grow up in a hostile household like Lana had. There was nothing as bad as a husband who felt trapped. It brought out the worst in a man.
She shuddered. Her own mother had been pregnant with her when she’d married Lana’s father. Valerie Jensen had loved her husband and she’d prayed he would come to love her in return, only he hadn’t. He’d used that love against her every day of their married live.
Would Matt do the same?
Somehow Lana managed a strangled, “This is ludicrous. You can acknowledge Megan as your daughter without marrying me.”
“No. I want this official. I already have the license for this Friday at three o’clock.” She gasped but he ignored it. “Believe me, Lana, if you try to run I’ll find you and I’ll make sure the judge at the custody hearing learns all about how you stole money, about how you always put yourself first, how you were unwilling to give your daughter the best in life, and how you put Megan’s life at risk by running. I’ll get full custody of my daughter. And that’s not a threat, that’s a promise.”
“You wouldn’t,” she muttered. It was her worst nightmare.
The line of his mouth flattened. “Try me.”
“She’s my daughter, Matt. I carried her and I gave birth to her while you were out sleeping around with other women. You have very little right to her.”
A nerve pulsed near his temple. “I’m her father. But don’t worry. I don’t plan on sleeping with you. We’ll have separate bedrooms.”
“For all your comings and goings?” She shook her head. “I won’t have you parading your girlfriends in front of Megan.”
“I’ll take no lovers for the next year. And that’s out of respect for my child, not you.”
Defeat weighed heavily on her shoulders, but she was determined not to let him see it. She tried to think and could only come up with one thing that might help her.
“Okay, but I’ll only marry you if I can come back to work for you. I want to find the real thief.” She would prove her innocence without bringing Dan into it.
“Do you really think that’s going to happen?” he scoffed.
“I mean it, Matt,” she said, remaining firm but knowing she didn’t have a leg to stand on if he refused her request.
He shrugged. “As you wish. But just don’t plan on stealing any more money from us.”
His comment offended her. “If I wanted to do that I’d steal it from my current job, wouldn’t I?”
He looked surprised. “You work?”
The question would have amused her at any other time. “I have to earn a living somehow.”
“Not anymore,” he dismissed arrogantly. “I’ll support you and Megan. There’s no need for you to work at all.”
He was unbelievable!
“I like working. It’s part of who I am.” She saw his eyes narrow and realized she was giving away too much about herself. She didn’t want that.
Nor did she want to be supported by him, she decided, getting back to the point. It would only be for Megan’s sake if she accepted a little help from him.
And come to think of it, this would actually work out well. The one thing she regretted as a single mum was not having as much time to spend with her daughter as she’d like.
“I’ll work a couple days with you and the other days I plan on staying home with Megan. Agreed?”
He paused, then, “Agreed.”
“But after the year’s up, I get my divorce, right?” She couldn’t imagine being connected to this Valente for longer than that. “Promise me, Matt.”
“I can guarantee it.”
Two
“I f any person can show just cause why these two people may not be joined together, let him speak now or forever hold their peace.”
Lana’s heart fluttered with anxiety in the ensuing silence, wishing that someone…anyone…would put a stop to this lunacy. If only Megan would cry, she might have the confidence to say no to this marriage.
The registrar continued with the ceremony.
And suddenly it was too late.
“You may now kiss each other.”
Oh Lord.
As if Matt knew that she couldn’t look at him to save her life right now, he put his hand on her arm and turned her toward him, a solemn look in his eyes.
He lowered his head and she repressed a shiver; in the mere few days since he’d come back into her life she could not ignore his compelling presence.
And then his lips touched hers in a precise kiss that said he was cool and in control and in no way did he want a response from her.
She was glad to oblige.
It would be her secret that his touch still made her tingle. She’d take that secret to the grave, she knew, as he moved back, his eyes dark and inscrutable.
The registrar smiled at the small gathering. “I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Valente.”
Her heart dipped, but Matt’s family—their only guests—started congratulating them, giving Lana time to compose herself. She’d told them she had no family to invite, except an aunt and uncle who were off on a jaunt to South Africa. Of course, it was the truth, but she played it low-key. And she hadn’t wanted to invite the few single friends she’d drifted away from since having Megan.
The Valentes were it.
Yet she couldn’t complain about their treatment of her. They were just so delighted to have a new addition in Megan, and they even seemed genuinely pleased she was joining them. She’d thought they might think she’d tried to trap Matt, but Cesare and Isabel had been kindness itself.
She could even set aside her resentment with Cesare for his breach of privacy over the birth certificate, after he’d handed her a gorgeous posy of flowers on arrival today, the bright colors a perfect foil against the soft femininity of her cream suit.
And Isabel had put one of the flowers from the posy in Megan’s dark hair. Both gestures had been a little “family” touch that had overwhelmed Lana and she’d had to blink rapidly to hold back the tears.
“We need a photograph of the bride and groom, and then one of the whole family,” Isabel said, pulling Lana from her thoughts.