Page 13 of Hot Commodity (Banks/Kincaid Family 1)

Cameron Banks loathed the very idea. Okay, he didn't care if others partook. His sister was settled and living out her happily-ever-after. But not Cameron. He was never looping that noose around his neck again.

Obviously, though, he had. There was a marriage certificate in his hand and a babbling, sexy blonde on his bed.

She pressed a hand to her temple and shook her head, looking confused, as if she were making a grocery run and suddenly couldn't remember what she'd come all the way to the store to buy. "No, no, no. This isn't right," she insisted. "I covered all the bases. I looked in a damn bar all the way across town, didn't I? I made sure he was plowed. And hopefully single."

Then she lifted her face and pinned him with an accusing look. "You're really Cameron Banks? Cameron Orville Banks?" she asked as if maybe there were more than one of him out there.

He winced, hating it whenever someone used his middle name. "How'd you know my middle name?" Then he glanced down at the paper to see if he'd actually put it there when he spotted her name next to his. "Olivia," he murmured on a frown.

Olivia ripped the license from his hand and jerked it to her face.

Her cheeks immediately drained of color. "Oh my God," she whispered. "This can't be real."

Her eyes closed but she opened them a split moment later and once again read the document as if the names on the sheet might've changed in the last second.

"This isn't happening," she muttered, her face pulling tight into a horrified grimace.

Cameron knew that look. He'd grown up with an emotional mother, sister, and handful of female cousins. His new bride was about to throw a major sob fest. He was sure of it. It panicked him as much as it insulted.

Well, hell. He hadn't thought he was that bad a catch. Yet his bride's chin quivered at the realization she'd married the one and only Cameron Orville Banks.

"Of course, it's happening. This would only happen to me." And yep, here they came. The tears started, gushing from the first drop. "I'm such a moron," she moaned, clutching her hands in her mussed hair as she lifted her eyes to him.

Cameron realized Leah was still standing at his side. He looked up at her, hoping she'd step in and soothe the girl, or, you know, woman bond. But she looked about as taken aback as he felt.

"What's wrong with her?" she asked.

Cameron shook his head. "How the hell should I know? I've never met her before in my life."

His sister set her hands on her hips and glowered. "Maybe you shouldn't have married her then, you think?"

Cameron sent her a dirty look. "Oh, shut up." He whirled back to his bawling wife.

"Hey," he said softly and reached out for the lump in the sheet he suspected was a knee. He'd merely been attempting to offer some kind of comfort.

But she skittered away from his hand, making him stop his pursuit. Her face was blotchy with tears.

"Maybe you're not the Cameron Orville Banks I'm thinking of," she said and sent him a hopeful nod of encouragement. "Of course you can't be," she added and wiped at the black mascara trail running down her cheek. "I mean, the man I'm thinking of must be a crusty old drunk, because he's a mega rich businessman whose wife killed herself ten years ago. And if you had a wife ten years ago, you would've only been, like, fifteen when you got married."

Cameron yanked his hand off the mattress and away from her. His mouth fell open.

What the hell? How did this complete stranger know about Sienna? His suspicious gaze bore a hole through her.

Finally, he swallowed. "I was nineteen."

The blonde gasped. "What?"

"I was nineteen when I got married," he repeated, his eyes still hard as they swept over her. "Twenty when she died. Now, how do you know about that? Who are you?"

Olivia shook her head and the tears started to fall faster. "Noooo," she moaned. "This is all wrong. You...you were supposed to be at a...a big conference dinner last night."

Cameron closed his eyes and muttered a curse. "Damn it. I knew I'd forgotten something."

Leah nudged him in the rib with her toe. "Isn't that conference the only reason you came to town?"

"No. I went to a meeting yesterday morning too. But, God, I really should've made it to that dinner."

"It really is you, then," Olivia whispered and inched back even further as if she was certain he was the anti-Christ.

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