Page 36 of Marriage Masquerade

“Tough day?” she asked.

He looked tired. She had never noticed that before. Was she growing more attuned to the man?

“More so than usual.”

He loosened his tie and shrugged out of his suit jacket.

“Go change, and I’ll get Hal to fix your dinner. I already ate.”

“I hoped you would.”

He hesitated a minute, then nodded. “I won’t be long. I didn’t mean to desert you on our first day together. But the negotiations need to get out of the logjam or we’ll be stalemated when the contract expires.”

“I know that.”

He nodded.

“I missed my personal assistant today.”

“Nice to be appreciated. Maybe I should hit you up for a raise next Monday.”

“Maybe I’ll give you one without being asked.”

Gemma smiled as she listened to him walk down the hallway. One more weekday to play honeymooner, then they’d be back at work on Monday and things would be as close to normal as they'd get for the next few months.

Nikos brought her up-to-date on the situation while eating dinner. She realized she'd worried he would close her out of the loop once they married. But he didn’t.

“Tomorrow morning, we have the interview with the Immigration Department. And the party in the evening,” Nikos said.

“I have an appointment to have my hair done in the afternoon,” she mentioned casually.

Would he like her hair short? Or did he like it long? Doubts assailed her.

They were chased away when it came time to retire. Tonight Gemma was sleeping in Nikos’ bed. With him. Tomorrow could take care of itself. She had tonight to worry about.

When he said he wanted to check his messages in his home office, Gemma took the time to hurry to the bedroom. Clad in a full-length nightgown that tied at the neck and had long lacy sleeves, she slid into the bed and clung to the edge. She wasn’t sure which side she should sleep on, but took a hint from the clock by the far side. Surely it was placed so he could silence the alarm each morning.

Despite the worry about the sleeping arrangement and tomorrow’s pending meeting, Gemma fell asleep long before Nikos joined her.

The next morning the bed showed signs of his occupancy, but Nikos was already up when she awoke.

Stretching, she reached out to touch the pillow he’d used. He had been right, darn him. Nothing had happened, and the bed was plenty large enough for them both. She'd never known he’d joined her last night.

Dressing, she hurried to the dining room. Nikos had finished eating and was sipping coffee as he read the paper.

“Good morning. I hope I’m not late,” Gemma said as she took the chair to his right.

“We have plenty of time. Phil told me yesterday they'd probably interrogate us separately.”

“Oh. Okay, I guess. What are we saying?”

“We’ve worked together for five years. During that time, we’ve grown close. Not realizing how close until it looked as if I was being deported. Then you confessed your love for me and I said—”

“Wait a minute. I confessed my love for you? Try it the other way around.”

“Now's not a time to be contrary.”

“It works just as well the other way. You found out you were being deported and hated to go—not because of work, that would get done with your excellent managers—but because you’d have to leave me.”

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