Paper Husband. Diana Palmer

never seemed to waver, because he traded his in every other year—for another black one.

      “Don’t you get tired of the color?” she’d asked him once.

      “Why?” he’d replied laconically. “Black goes with everything.”

      He came up onto the porch, and the expression on his face was one she hadn’t seen before. He looked as he always did, neatly dressed and clean-shaven, devastatingly handsome, but there was still a difference. After their brief interlude out in the pasture, the atmosphere between them was just a little strained.

      He had his hands in his pockets as he glanced down at her body in the pretty ruffled blue sundress.

      “Is that for my benefit?” he asked.

      She blushed. She usually kicked around in jeans or cutoffs and tank tops. She almost never wore dresses around the ranch. And her hair was long and loose around her shoulders instead of in its usual braid.

      She shrugged in defeat. “Yes, I guess it is,” she said, meeting his eyes with a rueful smile. “Sorry.”

      He shook his head. “There’s no need to apologize. None at all. In fact, what happened this afternoon gave me some ideas that I want to talk to you about.”

      Her heart jumped into her chest. Was he going to propose? Oh, glory, if only he would, and then he’d never even have to know about that silly clause in her father’s will!

      CHAPTER TWO

      SHE LED THE WAY into the kitchen and set out a platter of salad and cold cuts and dressing in the center of the table, on which she’d already put two place settings. She poured coffee into two mugs, gave him one and sat down. She didn’t have to ask what he took in his coffee, because she already knew that he had it black, just as she did. It was one of many things they had in common.

      “What did you want to ask me, Hank?” she ventured after he’d worked his way through a huge salad and two cups of coffee. Her nerves were screaming with suspense and anticipation.

      “Oh. That.” He leaned back with his half-drained coffee cup in his hand. “I wondered if you might be willing to help me out with a little playacting for my ex-wife’s benefit.”

      All her hopes fell at her feet. “What sort of acting?” she asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

      “I want you to pretend to be involved with me,” he said frankly, staring at her. “On this morning’s showing, it shouldn’t be too difficult to look as if we can’t keep our hands off each other. Should it?” he asked with a mocking smile.

      Everything fell into place; his odd remarks, his “experiment” out there in the pasture, his curious behavior. His beloved ex-wife was coming to town and he didn’t want everyone to know how badly she’d hurt him or how he’d grieved at her loss. So Dana had been cast as his new love. He didn’t want a new wife, he wanted an actress.

      She stared into her coffee. “I don’t guess you ever want to get married again, do you?” she asked with studied carelessness.

      He saw right through that devious little question. “No, I don’t,” he said bluntly. “Once was enough.”

      She grimaced. Her father had placed her in an intolerable position. Somehow, he must have suspected that his time was limited. Otherwise why should he have gone to such lengths in his will to make sure that his daughter was provided for after his death?

      “You’ve been acting funny since your father died,” he said suddenly, and his eyes narrowed. “Is there something you haven’t told me?”

      She made an awkward motion with one shoulder.

      “Did he go into debt and leave you with nothing, is that it?”

      “Well …”

      “Because if that’s the case, I can take care of the problem,” he continued, unabashed. “You help me out while Betty’s here, and I’ll pay off any outstanding debts. You can think of it as a job.”

      She wanted to throw herself down on the floor and scream. Nothing was working out. She looked at him in anguish. “Oh, Hank,” she groaned.

      He scowled. “Come on. It can’t be that bad. Spit it out.”

      She took a steadying breath and got to her feet. “There’s a simpler way. I think … you’d better read Dad’s will. I’ll get it.”

      She went into the living room and pulled out the desk drawer that contained her father’s will. She took it into the kitchen and handed it to a puzzled Hank, watching his lean, elegant hands unfasten the closure on the document.

      “And before you start screaming, I didn’t know anything about that clause,” she added through her teeth. “It was as much a shock to me as it’s going to be to you.”

      “Clause?” he murmured as he scanned over the will. “What clause … Oh, my God!”

      “Now, Hank,” she began in an effort to thwart the threatened explosion she saw growing in his lean face.

      “God in heaven!” He got to his feet, slamming the will back on the table. His face had gone from ruddy to white in the space of seconds. “What a hell of a choice I’ve got! I marry you or I end up with a stock car racetrack on the edge of my barn where my mares foal! Moving the damned thing would cost half a million dollars!”

      “If you’ll just give me a chance to speak,” she said heavily. “Hank, there may be a way to break the will—”

      “Oh, sure, we can say he was crazy!” His black eyes were glittering like diamonds.

      She flushed. He was flagrantly insulting her. She might love him, but she wasn’t taking that kind of treatment, even from him. She got to her own feet and glared up at him. “He must have been, to want me to marry you!” she shouted. “What makes you think you’re such a prize, Hank? You’re years too old for me in the first place, and in the second, what sane woman would want to marry a man who’s still in love with his ex-wife?”

      He was barely breathing. His anger was so apparent that Dana felt her knees go wobbly, despite her spunky words.

      His black eyes slewed over her with contempt. “I might like looking at your body, but a couple of kisses and a little fondling don’t warrant a marriage proposal in my book.”

      “Nor in mine,” she said with scalded pride. “Why don’t you go home?”

      His fists clenched at his side. He still couldn’t believe what he’d read in that will. It was beyond belief that her father, his friend, would have stabbed him in the back this way.