“Maybe not a real wife,” she said slowly, thinking aloud. “What about a business one?”
Turning so she could face him, she warmed to her idea.
“Someone, say, who worked where there was childcare provided for employees. Who’d be glad to help you out in your time of need in exchange for your services in her time of need.”
His eyes narrowed. “Don’t tell me, let me guess. The paragon just happens to be you.”
She nodded. “Yes, but wait before you say no. I know it’s totally off the wall. But think about it for a minute. You have something I need—expertise in tracing lost persons. I have something you can’t seem to get-—day care for your daughter.”
“So you take her into that child-care at your work? Where does the marriage bit come in?”
“That’s the sticky part—only children, or stepchildren, of employees can use the day care center. But there’s no question of it being too crowded or even costing anything. It’s a perk of the company. And it’d eliminate any worry of anyone kicking Penny out if I’m a few minutes late picking her up. It’s set up to accommodate different hours with all the parents. What do you think?”
“I think you’re nuts. Absolutely certifiable.”
But he narrowed his eyes and gazed at her closely. Michelle could almost see the wheels turning in his mind.
She regarded him gravely. “Maybe. But I really, really want this. I’m not sure I can explain it fully. All my life I’ve been curious about my father. Until a short time ago, my sisters and I thought he’d abandoned us when we were babies. But we recently found out differently.”
“Sounds like abandonment to me—if he never got in touch with you in twenty-some years. What makes you think he wants to be found? Or wants to establish any kind of contact?”
“Oh, I don’t need to contact him necessarily. At least I think I don’t. But I do want to know what happened to him. See if he needs anything. I make a good salary at the insurance company. My older sister, Caroline, has a huge house now in the Garden District, with extra bedrooms and all. Between us, we could do something for him if he needs help.”
“He could be dead.”
She nodded.
“I almost wish that were so. It’d make it easier to know he couldn’t have returned than to know he just turned his back on us and kept going,” she said slowly. “But it doesn’t matter, I want to know what happened to him. I really need to know or go crazy.”
“So for the price of finding out, you’re willing to marry a stranger?”
She hesitated a moment, then nodded. “Temporarily. And only as a business marriage that would suit us both. Though to my work, we’d have to pretend it’s real.”
Her heart raced. She’d never proposed anything so crazy before in her life. Yet the thought of that precious little girl going hundreds of miles away from her daddy really hit Michelle hard. She’d have given anything to have had her father be part of her life when she was growing up. For a moment, she remembered that young girl who had so desperately wanted a daddy. The thought of Penny losing hers was too much.
“What I think is that you are crazy,” he said.
Michelle rose and crossed to the sink.
“Actually, maybe you’re right. I can see all the advantages on your side and little on mine. Would you expect me to wash all these dishes?” The sink was piled high.
He stepped beside her and tugged her away. “I don’t need another wife.”
She smiled up at him. “Yes, you do. I could make dinner each night, make sure Penny went to bed on time. And free you from all domestic worries so you could find my father. It’s a perfect business arrangement.”
He stared at her for a long time—as if assessing if she were real. Finally he nodded. “If that’s all it is.”
She scanned him from head to toe, then met his gaze.
“Afraid I want you for some nefarious purpose?”
He laughed at that and shook his head. Walking to his chair he dropped down on it, putting his empty cup on the table. “Not with a face like mine. How long do you propose we stay married?”
“I don’t know, until we no longer have to be I guess.”
She hadn’t thought that far ahead. In fact, she hadn’t given the idea more than a split second consideration. If she did any thinking at all, she’d probably realize this was one of the dumbest ideas in the world. Marriage wasn’t something to jump into and then out of.
Yet, if it enabled her to locate her father, it’d be worth it.
And she liked children. She and Penny would probably get along great. And she’d help keep a little girl with her daddy.
“So you’d be Penny’s step mama for a while?”
“I wouldn’t do anything to worm my way into her affections. I wouldn’t want her to get attached and then miss me when we get the marriage annulled. But for the time being she’d be able to go to the day care at the company.”
And Josh could search for her father.
“Annulled.” He held her gaze. “That’s what you're planning?”
Unexpected heat rose in her cheeks as a totally different image sprang to mind. That of Josh kissing her, holding her. She shook her head to clear the vision. Whoa, she was looking for a way to enable him to take her case, nothing else.
“I’m proposing a marriage of convenience, not the real thing,” she said firmly, wondering
