His Marriage Bonus. Cathy Thacker Gillen

      “Especially in cases like yours, where you are both from wealthy families and are both unmarried as you reach your thirties,” Payton continued.

      “I’m only twenty-eight,” Lauren said, trying to ignore the delicious scent of sandalwood and spice teasing her senses. Now was not the time for her to be thinking how incredibly virile and sexy Mitch Deveraux looked. Or consider how his solid six-foot-six-inch frame would match up with her slender five-foot-ten-inch body. Sometimes men as tall as Mitch seemed awkward and ill at ease in their own skin. Not Mitch Deveraux. He moved with a calm deliberateness that radiated both strength and control. And probably, Lauren thought recklessly, made love the very same way.

      “Mitch is thirty,” Payton retorted, giving Lauren a steady look that insisted she and Mitch would hear Payton out, whether they wanted to or not. “And twenty-eight is close enough,” her father added firmly.

      “I’ve also been married and divorced,” Mitch pointed out.

      Everyone in Charleston knew that, Lauren thought as she took in Mitch’s short, dark brown hair and arresting deep blue eyes. Mitch’s divorce from Jeannette Wycliffe had been both sudden and mysterious—to the point people were still speculating about the possible reasons for it, two years after it had become final.

      “You’re free now, and so is Lauren, and that’s what matters,” Payton countered. “Especially given the fact neither of you is getting any younger.”

      Lauren set her jaw and glared at her father. She had been under increasing pressure from him to do something about her single state before he did, and she resented it. “I’m not a spinster,” she said. And felt Mitch’s hot gaze slide over her from head to toe before returning with heart-stopping accuracy to her face.

      “No, but you very well could be if you don’t settle down and marry and have a family soon,” Payton told her.

      “I think we’re jumping the gun here a bit,” Mitch broke in peaceably.

      Lauren would have been grateful to Mitch for that, had he not been hand-selected as her beau. Ignoring the unsettling way her senses stirred at his nearness, she said, “I agree.”

      Payton frowned. “I had a feeling you wouldn’t have an open mind about this,” he said.

      Her father’s feeling had been right. “Look, I’ve no doubt Mitch is a very nice person,” Lauren said.

      Reportedly, all the Deveraux were. Although she didn’t know them that well, since she had gone to Charleston’s all-girls schools from kindergarten on up, and they had entered the city’s most renowned coed establishments.

      “Not to mention he is very knowledgeable in the shipping business, too, since he is set to one day take over the Deveraux Shipping Company,” Payton interjected.

      “Then I’m sure Mitch has a lot in common with you, Dad, since you run our family shipping company,” Lauren said patiently. “But Mitch doesn’t have a lot in common with me. I work in the real estate business.”

      “Which makes it even more important that you marry someone capable of running Heyward Shipping when I’m no longer around,” Payton countered.

      “That won’t be for years. And if and when it comes to that, I’m sure one of your vice presidents will be able to step into your shoes admirably,” Lauren replied passionately.

      “I want family running this company, Lauren. Family protecting your interests. And since there is no one else…” Payton leaned back in his chair and let his voice drift off.

      Lauren could see that Mitch Deveraux was beginning to look interested in whatever her father was about to propose, but as far as she was concerned, this travesty had gone far enough. She vaulted out of her chair and began to pace her father’s luxuriously appointed office restlessly. “I don’t care how much sense it makes on paper. Or how the family business might stand to benefit from a relationship between Mitch and me. I’m still not going to date him.” Lauren pointed at Mitch. Not even if you think he’s perfect for me.

      “Not even for one week, if at the end of the week you get the historic property you’ve been wanting ever since you were a kid?” Payton asked, smiling magnanimously. Ignoring her look of stunned amazement, her father continued bartering with her smoothly. “I bought 10 Gathering Street this morning, lock, stock and barrel. You do what I want, Lauren, and it’s yours.”

      LAUREN’S HEART POUNDED as the news of what her father had done sank in. The two-story redbrick Victorian mansion at 10 Gathering Street had white trim and green shutters. With sixteen thousand square feet and twenty-four rooms, it was one of the largest homes in the historic district. Sadly, it had fallen into disrepair in recent years. Lauren had lamented the neglect, and wanted to take it on and restore it to its former glory for as long as she could recall. Two things had stopped her. It was way out of her price range, and it had not been on the market.

      She regarded her father cautiously. “You own that property?” she repeated slowly.

      “Yes. And I’m prepared to give it to you outright if you agree to spend every evening for one week dating Mitch Deveraux. Marry him at the end of that time, and I’ll give you an unlimited budget to renovate and furnish it, too. Think of it, Lauren,” Payton continued as he leaned toward her eagerly. “You’ll be able to take that sad, neglected house and turn it into the showplace of your dreams.”

      Lauren wanted to do that. She wasn’t prepared to sell her soul, her body and her hand in marriage to accomplish it. She regarded her father grimly, almost afraid to ask for fear of what the answer might be. “And what does Mitch get out of all this?”

      To Lauren’s chagrin, Mitch looked every bit as interested in the prize as she had been. “I’d like to know that myself,” Mitch said.

      Payton shot Mitch a man-to-man glance before turning back to Lauren and speaking to both of them. “If he agrees to spend every evening with you for one week, he’ll get what he’s been wanting. A merger between the Heyward and Deveraux shipping companies. The two of you have until 6:00 p.m. this evening to agree to my terms. Or there will be no deal.”

      Although Mitch looked quite calm, Lauren had to struggle to keep control of her emotions as she regarded her father. “I can’t believe you are doing this to me!” she fumed, folding her arms in front of her.

      “I predicted you would feel that way,” Payton countered as he stood and walked over to the minibar to pour himself a glass of springwater. But to Lauren’s dismay, her outrage didn’t change what her father was doing, or how he was doing it, one iota.

      The hurts of the past came slamming back at Lauren. “It’s always business with you, above everyone and everything else, isn’t it?” she said to her father. She was so furious she was shaking.

      “That’s not true,” Payton said, abruptly looking just as stricken and upset as Lauren felt.

      “Isn’t it?” Lauren challenged bitterly. Tired of keeping her feelings to herself, she plunged on emotionally, “The bottom line is you’ve always paid more attention to your business than you ever have to Mom and me, even when she was dying. Well, I can’t forgive you for always putting your company’s interests ahead of your family, Dad,” she told him, her throat aching with the effort it took to speak at a normal level. “And I sure as hell can’t forgive you for this!”

      Ignoring the hurt look on her father’s face, and the stunned look on Mitch’s, she grabbed her handbag, turned on her heel and stormed out.

      “SHE’S NOT THE ONLY ONE who is shocked by this proposal of yours,” Mitch said in the silence that fell. He was damn near flabbergasted.

      “I want my daughter to marry well,” Payton Heyward said.

      “But to a Deveraux?” Mitch countered, filled with the uneasy feeling that Heyward was withholding every bit as much information from Mitch and Lauren as he was telling. “As you pointed out to me six months ago when I first