Page 9 of The Playboy's Most Unexpected Baby

“You will?”

“I think I must be losing my mind, but… yes.”

“I’ll draw up papers,” Charlie said. “You’ll have to sign a few things.”

“I figured there would be a prenup. I’m not in this for your money. I should have plenty of my own by the time we’re finished here.”

Charlie raised a glass. “I’ll drink to that,” he said.

CHAPTER4

CHARLIE

“Ican’t believe your family is all here,” Olivia murmured as she smoothed her hands over the simple white shift she’d worn for the occasion. “And I can’t believe you made me wear this dress.”

“I didn’t,” Charlie protested. “You picked the dress out.”

“You said I had to wear white. That I should try to lookbridal.” She made it sound like a dirty word.

“Well, itisour wedding day,” he pointed out. “We want my siblings to believe this is real. And that’s why they had to be here, incidentally — we need to make sure they see the ceremony happen.”

“You really think they would accuse you of forging a marriage license just to get the house?”

“That wouldn’t be crazy of them,” Charlie said. “I would have done that if I’d thought I would get away with it.”

“What the hell am I marrying into?”

Charlie chuckled. “You’re going to like it,” he said. “My family is crazy, but in the best possible way, I assure you.”

“What’s the best possible way of being crazy?” Olivia shook her head. “You can’t stand them and you know it. You’re actually marrying a stranger to prevent them from inheriting their own aunt’s money.”

“Well, I’m crazy too,” he told her with a grin. “Come on, you should meet them.”

“Oh, God. I wish I could have brought my own family along to this.”

“We agreed it was for the best to keep people from knowing, as much as we could,” he reminded her.

“And they’re not going to find it suspicious that no one from my side is here?”

“Trust me, they don’t think about anyone besides themselves. They’re not even thinking about what today might mean for you,” he said. “Come meet my sister Cait.”

He led Olivia over to her. Cait, he noticed, was dressed in a black dress with lace across the bodice. It had long sleeves and a long skirt and looked more like the sort of thing a person might wear to a funeral than a wedding. He was sure she was trying to make a point.

Olivia clung nervously to his arm. Charlie had to admit, though, that he was proud of her in that moment. If he had to show someone off to his siblings in this context, he was glad to have someone as beautiful as she was. She wore her dark hair loose around her shoulders, and it set off the white dress perfectly. Her green eyes sparkled in the sunlight. She did look like someone who was happy about an impending marriage, even though Charlie knew things weren’t anywhere near that simple for her.

“Cait,” he said, “This is Olivia. My bride.”

Cait narrowed her eyes. “See, we didn’t even know that Charlie was dating anybody,” she said to Olivia. “This is a surprise.”

“We weren’t being very public about it,” Olivia said, parroting the story the two of them had agreed on. “It’s pretty early days, to be honest with you, but it did feel like the real thing. I was looking forward to meeting all of you — but maybe not for a few months yet! And then I heard that Charlie had gotten this directive to get married in thirty days…”

“And you decided you’d better jump on that?” Cait asked. “Wanted to make sure you got hold of his money while you had the chance, is that it?”

“Cait, knock it off,” Charlie said.

“It’s just that he’s such a good man,” Olivia said earnestly. “If I didn’t marry him, someone else would. The stipulations of your aunt’s will are a little inconvenient, but I don’t want to lose the best thing I’ve ever had because of it. It’s a little scary, but we decided to take a chance on each other. To be honest, I think I would have wanted to marry him someday anyway, and if we have to hurry down the aisle because of this, it seems like a small price to pay.”

Charlie was impressed. She sounded like she really meant it.

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