The Arrangement (6 page)

And then there was Asher.
For a second, she’d been tempted to accept his offer of sex. Which was
crazy
! The man had been an annoyance to her almost since the moment she met him. Even as a teen, he’d been a privileged, arrogant, irritating man slut. Drama seemed to follow wherever he led. He was constantly getting into trouble. He smoked. He always had a different girl hanging on his arm. Simply put, he was a bad boy. And she wasn’t the clichéd good girl looking for a bad boy.

Her opinion of him hadn’t changed much over the years, but then, she’d actively avoided him. This past week was the first time she’d spent more than a few minutes in his company since high school.

She was still struggling to fall asleep a half an hour later when a knock sounded at her door. She was almost relieved for the interruption. She sat up in bed. Before she could ask them to enter, the door opened and she knew it was Ash even before she saw his dark head pop around the frame. She’d thought it might be Erika, but then she would have waited to be invited.

Arranging the sheet so that it covered her collar bone, Ariadne drew her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around them. She wore a thin white tank top with no bra and pair of shorts. Given Asher’s tendency to turn her on with a laugh, she thought it best to conceal her breasts.

“Can I come in?”

She rolled her eyes. “Aren’t you already in?”

He shrugged bare shoulders and closed the door behind himself. He wore jeans that hung low on his lean hips and nothing else. She hoped he wasn’t here to offer himself up
on some sort of sex platter again.

Ash sat on the end of her bed and drew the ankle of one leg beneath the knee of the other. “We should discuss where we go from here. Naturally, we both need to return home, but it would be best that I move in with you as soon as possible. It will seem strange if I don’t.”

Her hands clenched at the thought of him invading her personal space. But there was no helping it. He was right. They couldn’t very well claim to have had a whirlwind romance so intense that they got married and then blissfully go back to living separate lives. So she nodded. “That’s fine.”

“Do you have family over often?”

“Just my mother
and my cousin Sierra.” And her mother would be trouble enough. Aurora tended to drop by when the mood struck her. Ariadne had given her a spare set of keys as a security measure, but her mother had no qualms using it anytime she so desired.

“Is she likely to notice anything amiss
between us? Like us sleeping in separate bedrooms?”

She shrugged. As much as she loved her mother, she was weird and just plain flighty. “Maybe,” she admitted, “but you’re still not sleeping in my bed.”

He grinned. “Then I’ll store my belongings in your room and sleep in the guestroom. If anyone notices, we can say that you snore.”

“I don’t snore.”

“How would you know? You’re sleeping.”

“Could we stay on topic
, please?”

“Where is this family reunion taking place?”

“This year we’re all going to a lodge in Virginia. There will be a picnic
in the park the first day. It’ll be a casual get together. That will more than likely go on all day. The second night, there’s a ball and catered dinner. After that, we’ll board a yacht to view fireworks.”

“We’ll be staying at this lodge?”

“No. My Aunt Rebecca offered to let some of us stay with her. My mom, a few of my cousins, and I-” She broke off, realizing that if she took Asher with her to the reunion, she couldn’t very well ask for a separate bedroom for her husband. “Oh, crap.”

Asher laughed that husky laugh of his, putting her on edge. She clenched her knees tighter together. “Ash,
nothing
is going to happen between us. Get that through that thick skull of yours right now. I didn’t agree to this to become your latest bed buddy.”

“What? I didn’t say a word.” He stood and stretched, putting on such a fine display that she swallowed. He had just the right amount of hair on his chest. Not so much that he reminded of an ape, but enough to let her know that he was a man.
His grin was too self-satisfied for her liking. “See you in the morning.”

Chapter Five

The three story brick mansion his father lived in with his wife Terri was not the same house that Asher had grown up in with his parents. David Hollister had sold the house in Greenville during Asher’s senior year in college. Asher hadn’t been thrilled, but after all the shit he’d put his father through, he couldn’t object. His father was finally trying to move on with his life, having lived in a state of mourning since the passing of Ash’s mother, Joanna. Not that Ash had recognized his father’s mourning for what it was. He’d been a selfish and very angry teen. While he chose to display his grief by spiraling into increasingly bad behavior, his father had withdrawn into himself. That had only made Asher angrier. It had seemed to him that his father hadn’t cared. But no matter how much he acted out or lashed out at his father in anger, his father had responded with nothing but patience.

It wasn’t until the night of the car accident he’d finally pushed his father over the edge. He could still remember his father yelling at him while he lay in a hospital bed with
a broken arm. Tears had filled his eyes as his father finally read him the riot act. David hadn’t said a word about the brand new BMW that was beyond salvaging. “We both lost your mother. We can’t lose each other, too. I couldn’t survive that, Ash. It’s time for you to stop acting like a damn child and grow up. Your mother wouldn’t want this for you.”

Ash had been twenty-one. That was when he finally realized how much his father had been hurting. But he’d held himself together because his focus had been on helping Ash to cope. After Ash was released from the hospital, he tried to quit smoking for the first time. He’d started smoking at sixteen in an act of defiance. He was angry at his mother for dying of cancer, at his father for not falling apart, and at God for taking his mother. Their family money came from tobacco. His mother had hated smoking. Her own father had been a smoker and died from lung cancer. Joanna had made sure that they no longer had any ties to the cash crop. She
had never smoked a day in her life, but she had died of breast cancer.

He had tried to quit smoking again and again only to fail. It was only until Ariadne’s offhand comment about his car that he’d finally been able to kick the habit.

Terri greeted him at the door with a warm smile and a welcoming hug.
Terri wasn’t anything like his mother. His mother had been fair with light green eyes the same shade as his own. Tall and slender, she had done some modeling in her teens. Terri was short and rounded in a way that made her appear younger than her fifty plus years of age. She kept her dark brown curls clipped close to her ears whereas his mother’s hair had never been shorter than waist length. Sometimes Asher wondered if his father had chosen Terri because she was so very different.

Whatever his reasoning, Asher didn’t think his father could have found a more perfect wife. Terri had lost her husband to cancer as well. The two had met in a grief support group
and had become good friends. Terri was a genuinely kind woman and she made his dad happy.

“You’re just in time for dinner,” Terri said as she drew back. “I didn’t know you were home.” She took a moment to look him over as she closed the door. “Your tan is fantastic. How are your friends? Everyone is well?”

“They’re great. Ted and Erika are talking about starting a family.”

“That’s wonderful. Your father is going to be so jealous. You know how he wants grandkids.”

He followed her through the house. “He has
Lizzy and Abby.”

Terri smiled. “It’s nice of you to say so, but you know it’s not the same.”

Lizzy and Abby were her daughter Tara’s children
by her ex-husband. Though they weren’t his father’s biological grandchildren he treated them as though they were. “Where is Dad?”

“He’
s in the family room with Tara and the kids.”

That gave him momentary pause, but he supposed it was for the best.
He could tell everyone at once. The family room was the most casually decorated room in the house. It had comfortable sofas, a large screen television, and an area off to the side that they had filled with toys for the kids. When they walked in the girls were playing with dolls while Tara and his dad were discussing his political rivals.

“It’s Sunday,” Terri interrupted them. “Give it a rest. The two of you can talk shop tomorrow.”

His dad looked up. “Ash,” he said
, standing to greet him, “I didn’t know you were back.”

“Just last night,” he answered, moving into his father’
s embrace. As soon as his father stepped back, his legs were attacked by two tiny girls chanting his name. They were five and four. He scooped them both up and gave them a twirl before setting them back down. They giggled. He demanded kisses from them each before they returned to their dolls.

“Ash,” Tara said softly, greeting him with a kiss on the cheek. Whereas her mother was plump, Tara was very skinny.
The two women actually bore very little resemblance. Tara had dyed and straightened her hair so that the one thing that they had in common was gone. Ash thought it was a shame since Terri exuded a natural softness and kindness that drew people in. Tara had a fragile kind of beauty that she liked to emphasize by acting ultra-feminine, but beneath the act, he knew lay pure steel. She was a scheming, conniving bitch, but she disguised it well until one got to know her better. That made her a perfect campaign manager for his father, but Asher had no intention of becoming romantically involved with her.

He knew that at one point that she had set her sights on him as a potential husband. It didn’t take her long to realize though that he didn’t have the ambition or the drive that she wanted in a husband. Simply put, he was a slacker
as far as she was concerned. He couldn’t have been happier when she’d moved on. Since her divorce a year ago though, he’d noticed that she’d become interested in him again. He still wasn’t ambitious or driven, but he was at least mature enough now that no one had had to bail him out of jail in the last few years. Oh, and he was rich. One could not underestimate the appeal of money.

“The sun agrees with you,” she went on, her hand on his chest.

He removed it and took a seat in one of the lone wing chairs to ensure that she couldn’t join him. “Thanks.”

“How are Ted and Erika?”

“They’re doing well.” He paused. “As is Ari. I asked her to marry me.”

“
What?
” came the incredulous question from the three adults in the room. They stared at him with openmouthed astonishment. Ash couldn’t help it. He laughed until he was doubled over with mirth.

“You’re kidding right?” Tara asked.

“No.”

“What did she say?” David asked.

“We got married.”

“What? Already? No wedding? Why didn’t you call me?”

“Dad, she said yes. I wasn’t going to give her time to change her mind.” Which was the absolute truth. Given even a day, he was terrified that she might back out on him.
Especially since Ted and Erika had been determined to talk them out of getting married. He still could hardly believe that she was his wife. “We can have a wedding later.”

“Wait,” Tara said, “Is this because of what I told you?”

“It played a part in it, but no, not really.”

David frowned. “What are you talking about?”

Ash gestured to Tara. “She thought it would be best if I were married and settled before your run for office. There’s nothing even slightly shady about your past. Your one weak spot is me.”

He shook his head. “I don’t consider you a weak spot. You didn’t have to do this for me.”

“Dad, if there was even a chance that my past foolish behavior would hinder your chances, then I had to do it.”

“But marriage, Ash? I wouldn’t ask that of you.” His father’s handsome face twisted in pain.
His hair was thick and full but all grey. Ash thought that his mother’s death and his subsequent bad behavior were the likely cause.

“Dad, I wanted to marry her.”

“But she hates you,” Tara sputtered.

“
Hate is a bit harsh.” He grinned. “At any rate, that’s in the past.”

Tara eyed him with suspicion. “A sham marriage would be worse for your father than no marriage.”

“Then there’s nothing to worry about. It’s a real marriage.” Asher told the lie with a straight face. He didn’t blink or look away. His father was a good man. Their law firm had a larger load of pro bono work than any other that Ash knew of. Ash didn’t consider himself to be a good man. His greatest talents were picking up women, drinking to excess, and being able to lie without anyone being the wiser.
So maybe he didn’t deserve Ariadne, but she was his for the moment and he intended do everything in his power to keep her. In that sense, he supposed their marriage was very real and he wasn’t lying.

His father gave him a slow smile. “Congratulations, son. This calls for champagne.”

“I’ll get it,” Terri volunteered.

“You should have consulted me before doing this,” Tara said.
“Now I have to perform a background check on her.”

“No, you don’t,” he stated firmly. “Nothing you find is going to change my mind about Ari.”

She pursed her lips. “That may be so, but I need to do it so that I’ll have that information before any possible opponents do.”

He shrugged. “Do what you need to
but know this, I am going to stay married to Ari. I’m not giving her up.”