Married By Midnight. Mollie Molay

smile on her face.

      She looked so sweet, so natural, it was hard to imagine this was the same feisty woman who had taken on his wordless challenge last night. Impulsively, he gently brushed an auburn eyelash from her cheek.

      Never one to run away from a problem he’d helped to create, Max cleared his throat.

      Kelly stirred at the sound. It was a few moments before she opened her eyes. “You!”

      “I’m afraid so,” Max agreed, inching sideways at the edge in her voice. If there was going to be a disagreement, he intended to stay out of arm’s reach.

      Clutching the sheet, Kelly pulled herself up against the satin pillows. “What are you doing here?”

      Max heaved a sigh of relief. She was taking things more calmly than he’d expected. “If you’re talking about the room, I believe it’s mine. As to why I’m here in bed with you, I’m not sure. I just woke up myself.” When she looked confused, he added, “By the way, under the circumstances, you can call me Max.”

      “I’m Kelly,” she replied, biting her lip. Her mind whirled with questions, questions she was too embarrassed to ask. One thing was clear, she was in bed with Troy’s best man. A twenty-six-year-old businessman DeeDee had urged on her before the wedding ceremony. At first, she hadn’t been interested—but things had obviously changed.

      Kelly gazed at his rumpled brown hair, the dark shadows on his cheeks and his broad, tanned shoulders. In spite of her embarrassment, her gaze slowly moved down his bare shoulders, to the golden brown curls on his chest and down to his lithe waist. Warm memories flooded her mind.

      She remembered taking him up on his unspoken sensual challenge, intending to put him in his place. Instead, she’d wound up falling for his sexy smile.

      In spite of her dismay at finding herself in bed with Max, the warm glow lingering in her middle brought back memories of his sensuous glances and dynamite kisses.

      Those same glances were warming her now.

      Max’s eyes suddenly widened. She was just in time to grab the satin sheet and keep it from sliding to her waist. “I’m not sure how things got started last night,” she muttered as she pulled the sheet to her chin, “but it seems you won. I never planned on going this far. I sure didn’t start out intending to spend the night with you.”

      Max rubbed his forehead. “Frankly, this is as big a surprise to me as it is to you.” He gazed at the silk stockings hanging on the lamp and grinned sheepishly. “I honestly don’t seem to remember much about last night, either. Maybe it was because I was pretty exhausted after we—”

      “Stop! Stop right there!” Kelly warned as memories of a killer smile, tangled limbs and heated kisses filled her mind. “I don’t think I care to hear the details. It must have been the champagne punch,” she muttered. “I’ve never done anything like this before.”

      “Me neither. My behavior last night was totally unlike me, too.” He’d had his share of relationships, but until now he’d always been awake to enjoy them. What had possessed him to play erotic games with the bride’s best friend? Mentally cursing himself for his stupidity, he forced a feeble smile. “In spite of how this looks, the last thing I remember was offering to sleep on the couch last night.”

      Kelly glanced from the undisturbed couch to the tousled bed, to the clothing strewn around the room. She frowned. “I can’t believe I did this.”

      “It was all just a game we were playing, right?” Max said hastily.

      Kelly decided to play it safe. “Maybe.”

      “Maybe? Does that mean you remember what happened last night?”

      “Just enough,” she answered, turning a deeper shade of pink at how much she actually did remember.

      She had intended to take him up on his dare, flirt a bit and then walk away. Instead, before she’d realized what was happening, his tempting smile had gotten to her. Like Cinderella, she should have walked away from him at midnight.

      Just when had the game turned into something more serious? And more to the point, what had she gotten herself into?

      Eyeing Kelly’s flushed face and her obvious dismay, Max swallowed the light remark he had been about to make. As he mentally reviewed the last twelve hours, a lightbulb turned on in his head. Maybe the one important detail he did remember would mitigate some of the more obvious evidence of what had taken place last night.

      He took a deep breath. “I think we may have gotten married last night.”

      “Married! That’s ridiculous. Why would I have married you? I don’t even know you!” She pulled the sheet closer around her and inched to the edge of the bed.

      “Maybe so,” Max agreed. “But during the hotel’s unexpected celebration of Troy and DeeDee’s marriage, I think something happened. Something that involved us.”

      “That’s enough,” Kelly said hurriedly, putting up a hand to stop him. “Try to remember. It was all a game. I’d rather forget last night, and all of this, too.” She glanced down at the bed.

      “Maybe so,” Max went on doggedly. “But I swear I remember a wedding ceremony.”

      “Not ours,” Kelly replied firmly. “I couldn’t have gotten that carried away, not even by you. I’m not ready to be married.”

      Max decided maybe it wasn’t the right time or place to tell Kelly he’d dreamed of making love to the woman he thought was his wife. But the dream had felt so real. “Maybe you’re right, but I can’t shake the memory of our marriage ceremony.”

      “Impossible! If we’d gotten married, I’d remember. I told you, I’m not ready to be married and I meant it.”

      “Okay, have it your way,” he said. “But I want to go on record.” He raised his right hand. “I swear that the one thing I do remember clearly is offering to sleep on the couch. You do remember that much, don’t you?”

      The look in his deep brown eyes was sincere, but something told her he hadn’t remained on the couch for long. Or, considering the way her body was still tingling, maybe he hadn’t gone to sleep there at all.

      Under the covers, Kelly was investigating her thigh. The bridal garter that seemed to have started the whole mess was still in place. But to her dismay, the garter was all she had on!

      She groaned as she envisioned her father, her three brothers and assorted members of her family accusing her of conduct unbecoming an O’Rourke. Not that they would be entirely wrong. Awakening to find herself in a strange hotel room, completely unclothed and in bed with a man she’d only met last night was definitely an O’Rourke no-no.

      “Are you sure you remember the details about…um…last night?” She felt herself flush as she spoke.

      “Not enough,” Max muttered, “but I’m sure there’s an explanation somewhere.” He slowly edged away from Kelly before she could realize he didn’t have any clothing on under the covers either. Not even his socks.

      The growing look of dismay Kelly was giving him spelled big trouble. He wished he could offer some kind of explanation that would give them both a graceful way out of the obvious, but he couldn’t. The indisputable fact remained, they’d wound up in bed together. And the only answer he could come up with was one she didn’t want to hear: Kelly was his wife, and they’d consummated their wedding night.

      “Max, what are we going to do about this? We have to talk.”

      “I couldn’t agree more.” He wasn’t looking forward to trying to explain the unexplainable, but trying to would at least be a step in the right direction. He could apologize, but that was closing the proverbial barn door after the horse was gone. Besides, Kelly didn’t look in the mood to try to understand, forgive and forget the impulse that may have sent them before a preacher.

      He