Married By Midnight. Mollie Molay

wants Sean to be more like Damon and Patrick, to go into the military or law enforcement. Or almost any career that requires a uniform. Dad insists public service is character-building. Poor Sean, he’s not the type. He’d rather study computer animation when he gets out of high school. He’ll do it, too. He’s a born rebel.”

      “Like you?”

      “I guess so.” She laughed again. “But he’s quicker on his feet and in his head than I ever was. With three controlling males in my life, I couldn’t get away with anything.” She disappeared through the bathroom door, but not before she shot him a dazzling smile. “Maybe now that I’m married, things will be different.”

      Married? Was she kidding—or did she honestly believe they were married? Max was totally bewildered. About the only thing he was certain of was how impossible it would be to share a bed with her and still keep his hands to himself.

      Through the closed bathroom door, he heard Kelly muttering her frustration.

      “Need some help?”

      “Not unless you can undo buttons with your eyes closed.”

      Max swallowed his grin. “Come on, Kelly, we shared a great deal more than buttons last night. So, what would be the problem if I saw your back now?”

      “The problem is, Maxwell Taylor,” she called, “I don’t think either of us was responsible for what we did last night. But if you hadn’t started flirting, or if the champagne punch hadn’t been so strong, I would have made it through the night okay. What was your excuse?”

      Max thought for a long moment. How could he tell her he’d been so taken by her saucy smile, he’d deliberately flirted with her? Or that he’d worked until nine o’clock the Friday night before the wedding and had caught a red-eye into Las Vegas. The end result had been to leave him half-awake and vulnerable to the same champagne punch she’d complained about. “I’m afraid I don’t have a good excuse, unless you’re willing to accept I was suffering from jet lag.”

      “Yeah, sure. Ouch!”

      Max swung around. “What’s wrong?”

      “Darn. I’ve caught my hair in one of the buttons.”

      “Come on out here,” Max coaxed, turning his thoughts to a more platonic problem than his growing attraction for Kelly. “This sounds like a real emergency.”

      “It sure is.” Her hair caught on a button, Kelly slowly backed her way out of the bathroom.

      Under Honey’s watchful eyes, Max gingerly untangled the tangled lock of red hair. Her scent, the silken feel of her soft skin, turned his thoughts back to the moment he’d awakened that afternoon and found her sleeping beside him.

      Buttons be damned. What he wanted was to taste her lips again, fold her in his arms again, and bring last night’s memories to life. And maybe even to consider the possibility of a future with her.

      Where are these thoughts coming from? he asked himself. He didn’t know, but suddenly he didn’t feel the need to examine their origin anymore.

      He slowly undid the remaining velvet buttons on Kelly’s dress, lingering longer than he should have.

      “Max?”

      Max took a deep breath to clear his head. “In a minute.” With Kelly’s strong appeal, her winning smile and yes, even her flashes of Irish temper, he was afraid he was in deeper than he’d intended to be. If this kept up, he was going to wind up being married to Kelly for real. Damn! He had to find that license or certificate soon or he’d go out of his mind.

      Out of the corner of his eye he noted Honey’s watchful eyes. With Kelly’s lock of hair finally untangled, he stepped back. “Maybe I ought to wait outside while you finish changing. We can make our plans later.”

      Kelly blinked. “What plans?”

      “For our honeymoon.”

      Holding her dress to keep it from falling, Kelly stopped in midstride on her way back to the bathroom. “What honeymoon?” she said over her shoulder as she entered the bathroom and shut the door.

      “The one I told your father we planned on taking.”

      “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

      “Of course I am. I told you, talking to your father about a honeymoon is the only way I can think of for us to get out of this mess. Once we’re out of here, you can go your way and I’ll go mine. That is, if you still want out.” He was beginning to hope she didn’t.

      “You may be right,” Kelly agreed, but Max could tell he was on the right track. This might be Kelly’s only chance to go off on her own, but she didn’t sound as convinced she wanted to cut loose as she had earlier. “But what about the wedding Dad’s planning?”

      “I’ll speak to him about our wedding, as one man to another. I’ll try to make him understand any legal wedding makes a marriage. Even if it isn’t the kind he would have chosen for you. The important thing is to get him to back off and leave us alone so we can make our own decisions.”

      “Without a wedding license or a marriage certificate, good luck on proving ours was a legal marriage,” Kelly muttered. “And the way Patrick was looking at us, that’s the next thing he’s going to ask for. Whatever you thought happened last night, I’d be surprised if you find one.”

      “Maybe you’ll be surprised,” Max answered. As Honey scratched at her collar, he ran his finger around his neckline to loosen his own collar that had suddenly grown uncomfortably tight. “I’ve heard getting married in Las Vegas is easy, so I don’t expect your brothers will give us a lot of static about the way we went about ours.”

      “You don’t know my brothers,” Kelly said soundly as she entered the bedroom, fully dressed.

      “Maybe not, but I haven’t given up looking for proof we were married. I intend to keep at it. In the meantime, I suggest we insist on a honeymoon. Like I said, once we’re out of sight, you can go your way and I can go mine.”

      Kelly blinked at the sudden change in Max’s voice. She’d sensed his earlier physical reaction to her when she’d come out of the bathroom with one shoulder bare. She’d felt his desire radiate over her when he’d stood behind her to loosen her hair. She’d felt it so strongly, her own body had caught fire. What had caused the change in him? Was the charade almost over?

      The problem was she remembered too much about last night. His searching hands, his warm breath against her breasts, the taste of his lips on hers. She remembered only too well his hard strong body finally joining hers and the burst of pleasure that had claimed her. She could have left anytime after Max had fallen asleep, but there had been something about him that had called her to stay. By the time she’d awakened again, it had been too late to leave.

      Still, Max was probably more right about their situation than she cared to admit. She’d told her father she and Max were married, not only to forestall an argument, but to gain her freedom. She had to let the memories go, to look forward to making a new life for herself.

      Honey jumped off the bed, scampered over to Max and started to growl.

      Max backed away. “What’s wrong with the mutt?”

      Kelly picked up the dog and crooned reassuringly in its ear. “The tone of your voice must have spooked her. Or maybe she thinks I’m going to leave her again.”

      Max regarded Honey, quiet now but still wary. “Does she understand human speech?”

      Kelly giggled at the incredulous look on Max’s face. “Dogs are more human than most people realize. It was probably your body language that spooked her.”

      “That’s all I need, another watchdog,” Max muttered. “Patrick is enough. I hope you don’t intend to take her with you on our honeymoon.”

      “If there is a honeymoon,” Kelly replied.