Marriage To A Stranger. Kay David

the hell was he trying to kid? He didn’t want Lara involved with this mess, yeah, but the truth was, he didn’t think she’d even want to be involved.

      Their marriage had been on the skids for a very long time. At some indeterminable point, they’d started drifting apart and neither of them had had the energy or time to do anything about it. Like so many couples everyone knew, they’d stopped listening to each other, stopped giving each other the time that every marriage needed.

      They were both guilty, but he was the primary offender; he put everything before their marriage. His work. His company. His self. The painful realization stung, but he had to admit it.

      He was almost on the other side of the street, and another burning gust of wind brought his head up—or maybe it was something else, he thought later—some kind of sixth sense, a warning he didn’t consciously consider. Whatever it was that made him look, it didn’t really matter.

      The car was coming too fast.

      Before he could react, Conley realized he didn’t have a chance. The front bumper of the speeding coupe caught him at the knee and pitched him sideways, into the air. It took forever for him to come down and hit the drift of snow.

      He thought of Lara as the whole world went quiet.

      CHAPTER TWO

      DESPITE HER throbbing foot, Lara was on the StairMaster when the doorbell rang. She’d halfheartedly swept the kitchen then jumped on the machine to try to clear her mind with some hard physical activity. The plan had been a good one, but it wasn’t working.

      The bell sounded again, and she ignored it again. By the time she got downstairs, whoever was waiting would be gone. She didn’t even care anyway. She didn’t want to see anyone right now. She was too upset.

      Lifting a hand to wipe her forehead, she closed her eyes and tried to block out the chimes, but the noise persisted. With a curse, she finally gave up and made her way to the front door. When she reached the entry, Lara could see her neighbor and friend, Sandy Oakley staring inside, her hands cupped around her eyes to peer through one of the sidelights.

      Lara moaned out loud. How could she have forgotten? She and Sandy had made a date last week to have breakfast this morning. She’d promised to pick Sandy up more than an hour ago! She hurried to the front door and threw it open, apologizing before Sandy could even get inside and shake off the snow.

      “God, Sandy! I’m sorry! I completely forgot about our breakfast—”

      “No problem, it’s okay. Really. My car’s in the shop again so I just trudged up the sidewalk in a snowstorm, that’s all. I’m up to it.”

      She waved toward the street, and Lara followed her movement. Footsteps proved Sandy’s point. She looked back at her friend. “Why did you walk, for heaven’s sake? Couldn’t Matthew have given you a ride?”

      Sandy’s husband, Matthew Oakley, was Conley’s right-hand man and former college roommate. Conley depended a lot on the brilliant hardware designer.

      “He had to go in early. Something about some chip or something…” Sandy patted her bulging stomach. “The baby didn’t mind. He likes cold weather. Really…”

      Lara rolled her eyes at Sandy’s elaborate exaggeration. Friendly and outgoing, Sandy was the exact opposite of her quiet and intense husband, although just as smart. She and Lara had developed a close friendship over the years, mainly because Sandy was one of those people who never missed an opportunity to announce how she felt about anything. She kept Lara honest.

      Shaking out of her coat, Sandy turned around to add to her litany of woes, then she saw Lara’s face. “Oh, my God. You told him, didn’t you?”

      Lara nodded, her eyes filling. Sandy enveloped her in a hug; then, with her arm around Lara’s shoulder, she guided them both back to Lara’s kitchen. “Sit down,” she said. “I’ll fix us some tea.” Sandy got out the mugs and tea bags, and within seconds, the smell of lemon and honey filled the kitchen.

      “Tell me.” She placed the steaming cups on the kitchen table and sat down in the chair Conley had vacated a scarce half hour before. “What’d he say?”

      Lara shook her head. “It didn’t go well. He…he wasn’t thrilled.”

      “Did you expect him to be?”

      “I thought he was ready.”

      “But he’s not.”

      Lara sipped her tea and grimaced. Sandy always made it too sweet. “He threw a mug into the sink, then stormed out. It wasn’t like him at all.” She looked up. “You know how he is. Mr. Strong and Silent.”

      Sandy waited a heartbeat, then she said just what Lara expected, her reaction sharp and to the point. “You’re an idiot, Lara. A total, complete idiot.”

      Outside the back door, the wind suddenly picked up. Snow swirled and the fir tree beside the window tapped a staccato beat against the glass as if it agreed with Sandy’s pronouncement.

      “I had to do it,” Lara said stubbornly, not meeting her friend’s eyes. “And you know why.”

      “I know why you think you had to do it, but I refuse to believe your suspicions. Conley isn’t that kind of man. You don’t really think that anyway. It’s an excuse, that’s all.”

      “It doesn’t matter anymore.” Lara spoke quietly, sadness coloring her words. “There’s an emptiness between us that I can’t fill by myself. We aren’t the couple we used to be. We aren’t close. We aren’t a family. We don’t even seem to care. And it hurts too much to keep trying.” Her eyes went to her friend’s swelling stomach. “Maybe if we’d had children…”

      “Having a baby doesn’t make you a family. Love makes you a family. You could get it back if you tried.”

      “I did try, Sandy. But it takes two.”

      “You and Conley just got on the wrong track, that’s all. If you’d both—”

      “There’s nothing either of us can do now.” Lara interrupted her friend. “It’s over. Believe me, it’s over.”

      The wind continued to howl, the gusts growing stronger. Sandy waited a beat. “I’m well aware that’s what you think. But what if it isn’t what Conley believes?”

      Looking up at her friend, Lara gripped her tea mug a little too tightly. “I don’t see—”

      “Throwing dishes isn’t a typical sign of consensus, is it? Did he say straight out that he’d agree to a divorce?”

      “He stormed out the door, Sandy. It was obvious—”

      Sandy cocked her head to one side and raised her right eyebrow. It was a familiar move; Lara had seen her do it a thousand times…usually right before she made some horrendous point Lara hadn’t considered. “Did he or did he not actually say to you that he would give you a divorce?”

      Lara felt her heart thump. “He—he didn’t actually say the words but…”

      “Lara, Lara, Lara…” Sandy shook her head slowly. “Colorado’s a no-fault state and Conley’s got plenty of money. You and I both know money makes the impossible…possible. And vice versa. If he doesn’t want a divorce, it could get nasty.” She put her teacup down carefully. The deliberate movement reminded Lara of Conley. Instead of mere hours, she felt as if a lifetime had passed since they’d talked.

      “If he wants to fight you, he can.” Sandy raised both eyebrows this time. “If I were you, I’d be worried about that possibility.”

      SANDY STAYED a little while longer, then Lara took her home. The streets were completely empty, the snow coming down in sheets of solid white. When they pulled into Sandy’s driveway, she turned to Lara and paused, her fingers on the door handle.

      One last question,