Remember When

a fiancé I loved but who didn't love me for a husband I don't love and who doesn't love me either.'

'That's what makes it so perfect!' Cole said, putting his hand on her arm as he pressed his point. 'Our marriage won't be complicated by messy emotions.'

She put down her glass and wrapped her arms around herself as if she were chilled by his attitude, dislodging his hand in the process. 'Are you really as cold and unfeeling as you sound?'

Gazing into her beautiful, upturned face with her breasts only inches from him, Cole felt anything but cold. For the first time since he'd conceived his hasty plan tonight, it occurred to him that sexual desire for her could actually become a complication. He circumvented the obstacle by silently vowing to avoid all serious intimacy with her. 'I'm not cold,' he said aloud. 'I'm being practical. I have a pressing problem that acquiring a spouse would solve for me, and you're in exactly the same predicament. Our marriage won't be complicated by messy emotions; it will be a friendly business arrangement, terminated at the end of a year by a quiet, congenial divorce. We're the perfect solution for each other. If you were superstitious, you could say this was fate.'

'I don't trust fate. I used to believe Dan and I were fated for each other.'

'There's a major difference between Penworth and me.' Cole said with a bite in his voice. 'I don't break my word when I give it.'

It was at that moment, with his steely eyes boring into hers and his deep voice resounding with conviction, that Diana truly accepted that he was in absolute, dead earnest about all this. She was still reeling from the shock of that when he took her chin between his thumb and forefinger; he forced her to meet his compelling gaze. 'During the year we're married,' he stated, 'I give you my word that I will conduct myself publicly as if I were the most devoted and faithful of husbands. I will not knowingly do anything to cause you even a moment of the humiliation or anger that Penworth has brought you. In fact, I will do everything in my power to ensure you never regret our bargain in any way,' he finished and then set down his champagne glass.

There is no bargain, Diana's mind warned her in a whisper, but the silent argument was being overturned by the effect of a somber handsome face, a deep, hypnotic voice, and a powerful male body that loomed before her, tall and strong—a man who was offering to shield her from the world with a pair of broad shoulders that looked as if they could shoulder all her burdens. The combination of all that was becoming dangerously, sweetly appealing, particularly because he wasn't talking about love or even affection.

'In the eyes of everyone,' he continued, his low voice gaining force, 'you will appear to be my cherished wife, and during the year we're married, you will be that.'

Cherished... An antiquated word. sensitive and sentimental. unlike anything Dan had ever said to her. And totally unlike anything she'd have expected Cole to say.

His hands slid up her arms then down, velvet manacles pulling her closer to him, deeper into the sensual spell he was weaving with the help of a great deal of French champagne and wine laced with romantic Texas moonlight. 'Naturally,' he continued with gentle firmness, 'I will expect the same promises from you. Is that agreeable?'

Diana couldn't believe she was seriously considering going through with this, not even when she felt herself nod slightly.

'I haven't agreed to the whole plan,' she warned shakily, 'only to the conditions.'

His right hand left her arm and came to rest lightly against the side of her face, tipping it up to his. 'Yes, Diana,' he said with a knowing smile, his fingers spreading over her cheek, 'you have. You just haven't said the words yet.' His eyes and his voice were casting a spell. 'By tomorrow, all your worries and all of mine can be over. All you have to do is say you agree, and I'll have my plane ready to take off for Nevada in an hour.'

If he'd kissed her then, she would have bolted; if he'd released her from the gentle hold of his hands, she'd have run for her life. But when he slid his hand around the back of her nape and pressed her face against his chest in a strangely paternal gesture, Diana's remaining resistance suddenly collapsed. He was offering her, personally and professionally, a safe haven for a year. He was offering her his protection. He was offering to rescue her from humiliation, anxiety, and stress.

He was offering all that to Diana, who had been exhausted, disillusioned, and angry earlier, but who was now beginning to enjoy the increasingly delicious mindless languor induced by more alcohol than she normally consumed in an average month and by a man who made everything seem simple and easy. Cole was offering to rescue her and cherish her this very night. All she had to do was nod her head and it would be over.

Above her, his voice was a whisper lightly stirring her hair. 'We can leave in an hour and be back here in time for breakfast.'

Diana swallowed and closed her eyes, blinking back sudden tears that turned the small gold studs on his shirt into blurry little knots. She tried to say something, but the words lodged in her throat behind a huge lump of fear and hope and relief.

'All you have to do is give me your word that for a period of one year, you will do exactly what I'm offering to do— which is to give a convincing performance for all the world to see that we are truly and happily married.'

Diana finally dragged sound through the giant constriction that seemed to start in the pit of her stomach and reach to her chin. 'We don't even live in the same city,' she protested weakly.

'Which makes our pretense that much easier to maintain. Our separate business interests require me to maintain a Dallas residence, while yours require you to keep your residence in Houston. Since the two cities are only a forty-five minute commute by plane, people will simply assume we're commuting.'

Diana smiled a little, her cheek pressed against the starched pleats of his shirt. 'You make everything sound so simple.'

'Because it is simple. All we have to do is maintain a spirit of friendly collaboration. During the year we're married, you'll occasionally need me to escort you to some function or another, and I'll arrange my schedule to be there for you. Just give me as much notice as you can.'

Diana thought that over as best she could; then she leaned her head back and studied him with a hazy smile. 'No matter where it is, and even if it involves the press? I know you hate reporters, but the media is important to our business.'

Despite her unsteady condition and the bizarre offer he was coercing her into accepting, Cole noted with amused admiration that his intelligent future wife was warily trying to close up loopholes before she agreed. He nodded. 'No matter where it is,' he agreed, 'and I'll expect the same from you. Fair enough?' Cole waited expectantly for her to agree.

Instead she lifted her head and peered hard at his face, obviously trying to compensate for the poor light and the dulling effect of the champagne on her senses. 'Do you have any other terms?'

The last thing Cole wanted to do was get mired down in details and lose the forward momentum he'd been steadily gaining. 'We can talk about all the little details tomorrow. Do we have a deal?' Again he waited for her to agree.

His future wife bit her lip, considered that for a moment, and ruefully shook her head. 'I think now would be better.' she stated; then she gave him a tiny smile, as if to apologize for putting him to so much trouble. 'That way, we won't have any miscon—misunderstandings,' she amended when the right word eluded her.

Cole couldn't suppress his admiring grin. Even when she was under extraordinary pressure, Diana Foster was neither a fool nor incautious. He was beginning to understand how she had become such a formidable force within her own industry. 'All right,' he conceded, 'here are the only major terms we need to agree upon: First, at the end of one year, we will obtain a quick, quiet divorce with neither of us making any sort of financial claims against the other. Agreed?'

She winced at the word 'divorce,' and Cole felt a tiny pang of guilt for making her first marriage one that was a sham. On the other hand, she had as much to gain from this marriage as he did, and far less to lose. Since Texas was a community-property state, and since Cole was far wealthier than she, he had much more to lose if she tried to renege on the postnuptial agreement that would have to be drawn up immediately after their marriage.

'Agreed,' she whispered solemnly.

Cole's voice gained force and his mind shifted to travel arrangements. 'Beyond that, I'll only ask for two other concessions. First, neither of us will ever reveal to anyone that this marriage was merely a convenient business arrangement. Second—'

'No.'