Part 13 (1/2)

”Yeah. But he grew up here, and I guess Mandy has tons of friends. She seemed really friendly and social the few times I've met her.”

Deanna grinned when she saw Harrison stunningly handsome and immanently respectable in his tux, walk up the aisle after guiding someone to her seat. His face didn't break a smile when his eyes landed on her, but he gave her a discreet wink.

She hid a laugh and caught a glimpse of Mitch.e.l.l frowning.

”Are you still annoyed with Harrison for helping me out with the contract?”

”I'm not annoyed with him for helping you out,” he muttered. ”I'd be annoyed with any man who winked at my wife that way.”

She tried to repress the laughter. ”Don't be ridiculous. He's evidently like the most devoted husband in the history of the world. That's his wife over there.” She nodded toward a blond woman near the front of the church-as freshly pretty and vibrant as a wildflower-who was holding an infant in a lovely white dress.

”I was talking to Mandy on Thursday at the shower, and she was telling me about how Harrison and Marietta got together. It's so romantic. Harrison climbed a mountain for her. And then they had to try so hard to have a baby.” Deanna sighed. ”He's a great husband.”

She was just being conversational, since the stories Mandy had told her were so interesting, but she felt a little wistful at the end, thinking of what it must be like to have a husband so devoted, so completely in love, that he'd do the hardest things for her.

Mitch.e.l.l was great. He was amazing. But he wasn't devoted to her, and he would always take the easiest road.

”Well, he's not your husband,” Mitch.e.l.l said, sounding even gruffer, ”so maybe you shouldn't swoon over him.”

Deanna stiffened, her mouth dropping open briefly. ”I'm not swooning over him!”

”Aren't you?”

”No. I'm happy for them. I think it's really nice. Just so you know, I'm not in the habit of swooning over other women's husbands.”

”Good.” Mitch.e.l.l narrowed his eyes at her, and his body felt unusually stiff. ”Because you're stuck with me as a husband for three more months.”

She wished he hadn't brought up the three more months. She would have been able to indulge in the notion that he was feeling a little jealous, but the reminder of the end date on their marriage made it all rather superficial.

”I know that,” she murmured, staring down at her hands in her lap.

After a minute, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and leaned down to say in her ear, ”Sorry. I didn't mean to be grouchy.”

She smiled, relieved the tension was over. They normally got along pretty well, and she didn't like when they argued.

When they argued-and when they kissed-things felt out of control.

”I think that's Andrew,” she said, going back to their pleasant conversation. She nodded toward a handsome, grinning man chatting to Marietta at the front of the church. ”I think he's your kind of guy.”

”What do you mean by that?”

”He's one of those charming types who eases through life without many obstacles,” she said, making sure her voice was teasing so he wouldn't take it as an insult. ”That's what Mandy said, anyway. I've never met him.”

”I don't ease through life,” Mitch.e.l.l said. He was frowning in Andrew Damon's direction, as if he wasn't liking what he saw.

”Yes, you do,” she said in surprise. ”You've said so yourself. You don't make things hard on yourself, if you can help it. Didn't you say that?”

He was still frowning as his body relaxed. She could feel it, because his arm remained around her. ”Yeah. I guess I did.” They watched as Andrew threw back his head and laughed, with a kind of good-natured freedom that was impossible to deny. He leaned down to kiss Marietta's cheek before he headed back to the foyer to do his duty as usher.

”I'm not as smarmy as him, though,” Mitch.e.l.l said softly, still sounding a little bad-tempered.

”He's not smarmy,” Deanna objected. ”He looks really nice. He just has that charm thing going on-like you do.” When Mitch.e.l.l wouldn't stop frowning, she asked, ”Why do you think it's a putdown? Surely you know that you can talk people around your little finger, if you try the least, little bit.”

”I guess so.”

”It's not an insult! I wish I was more like that. I can't charm people into doing anything.”

His expression changed as he focused on her again. ”Yes, you can.”

”No, I really can't. I can make a reasoned argument or I can guilt them into doing something, but I can't charm them with the power of my personality.”

”You've got a great personality.”

She shook her head, feeling fond and unusually soft, even though he wasn't displaying any of his characteristic charm. ”Once you get to know me, maybe. But not in general. Did you or did you not think I was boring and vanilla the first time you met me?”

His mouth twisted in amus.e.m.e.nt. ”Well...”

”That's what I thought.”

Mitch.e.l.l tried to pay attention to the wedding, but he honestly didn't care all that much about the wedding of people he didn't even know.

The bride was lovely and had the most genuine smile he'd ever seen, and she and Ben Damon seemed to really be in love, but otherwise Mitch.e.l.l's mind wandered through the ceremony.

He wasn't sure why it bothered him so much that Deanna evidently thought he was shallow and superficial and not inclined to work hard at anything he did.

He'd always admitted to himself he was like that. He'd always a.s.sumed it was the only reasonable way to be. But he found himself wis.h.i.+ng that Deanna had a better impression of him.

She knew him really well by now-maybe better than anyone except his mother and sister. He hoped there was more of him to know than a charming surface.

They went to the reception afterwards, and Mitch.e.l.l smiled and made pleasant small talk with all the people he met. The Damons were big names in the hospitality industry-far bigger than he was. They could be good acquaintances to cultivate. If he was smart, he'd start making inroads now.

But every time he began, he felt Deanna's eyes on him, and he wondered if she thought he was being smarmy.

About an hour into the reception, Deanna hooked her hands in the lapels of his jacket and leaned up to whisper very softly, ”What's the matter with you?” Her eyes scanned his face with what looked like concern.

”Nothing.” He tried to shake himself out of the strange mood, since he didn't want to have to admit it to her. ”I'm fine.”

”No, you're not. You're acting all weird and...I don't know...repressed or something. Don't you feel like socializing? I thought you'd want to make a lot of contacts here for your business.”

”Yeah.” He said the one word as a long sigh. ”I don't know. I do more than schmooze people with an agenda, you know.”

Her eyes widened dramatically. ”I know that. I wasn't putting you down. Why did you think I was putting you down?”

He had no good answer for her, since he was being ridiculous. ”I know you weren't.”