The Wedding Wager. Sara Orwig

      He looked annoyed, and then he seemed to visibly relax. “You’re cutting yourself out of some good moments,” Jared said.

      “I’ll manage.”

      “Dinner is served,” Lupita announced, her voice cutting through the tense moment.

      “Thanks, Lupita,” Jared said, standing to take Megan’s arm to stroll to another section of the veranda where it curved around a wing of the house. Tall palms lined their patio, and potted palms and banana trees gave the appearance of being in a garden by the sea.

      With candles burning despite the daylight, the glass-and-iron table set with colorful china and sparkling crystal was ready for a photo shoot. On the table was an appetizer of escargot, while steaming, covered dishes waited next to it. Jared held her chair, his hand drifting lightly to her nape and then he sat himself across from her, smiling at her.

      “I don’t know how you ever leave this and go back to Texas.”

      “It’s too quiet except for a few days at a time. I’m too active and like to work. I imagine you’d feel the same if you were here for weeks. The first visit, I stayed a month. I haven’t lasted that long since.”

      She could well imagine that he always brought a woman with him. Just as he had with her. Trying to avoid the subject burning inside her, she chatted with him over dinner of jambalaya, fluffy golden asiago biscuits and melons, mango and kiwi with Gorgonzola cheese. Dessert was thin slices of cheesecake flown in from Miami. Pale slices were drizzled with chocolate and raspberry sauce. Dinner was delectable, their conversation innocuous, but his gaze clearly conveyed smoldering desire.

      “Dinner is delicious. Are you trying to soften me up in all possible ways?”

      “You’re soft and warm now, each luscious inch,” he said, smiling at her.

      “I walked into that one. Thank you, Jared. Those compliments come so easily to you, you must not even think about what you’re saying.”

      “Not so, Meg,” he said, caressing her hand. “Being together is good. I see great hope for the future.”

      As the sun vanished and darkness enveloped them, lanterns and outdoor lighting automatically came on over the veranda and along the beach. The flickering light highlighted the planes of Jared’s face, his straight nose and prominent cheekbones.

      “Let’s move where it’s comfortable,” he suggested, and she nodded.

      While she chatted with Jared, Lupita and Adan cleared and said good night.

      “It’s difficult to imagine that you require a bodyguard.”

      “I think I should hire one for you, and I know Ethan is going to have to have one.” Jared leaned forward. “His life is going to change and you can’t stop it. There are things that go along with my wealth. Paparazzi, the possibility of kidnapping.”

      She flinched and looked away, hating everything that was happening to her life and to Ethan’s. “If only I had sold the ranch to you. You would never have known about Ethan,” she said bitterly.

      “It’s too late for that now.”

      “Jared, try to understand. I’ve told you before and I’ll say it again—you have an extravagant lifestyle that doesn’t make you good daddy material.”

      “I won’t be that way with Ethan. Give me some credit here,” he replied with a stubborn just of his chin.

      “You do wild things like mountain climbing. I know you used to do bronc riding in rodeos,” she said, eliciting a brief smile from him.

      “I haven’t ridden in years. I gave that up when I graduated from college. And I won’t take him mountain climbing.”

      “I don’t want him jet-setting all over the world with you.”

      “I’ll be reasonable about travel, too, but there are places I’ll want to take him, like where I’m taking you now.”

      “Some places I can get used to,” she said, locking her fingers together. “Jared, I’ve been so close with Ethan. I guess I hover, and I may be overprotective, but I love him with all my heart. Except for my pottery, he’s my whole world. And he comes first. It just hurts to think I have to share him. As much as I hate to admit it, I feel I’m losing him.”

      Jared nodded. “I understand, Megan. That’s why I’ve suggested things like the marriage of convenience. And remember, you willingly shared him with your aunt and uncle.”

      “That’s part of the problem. I share him with them, and now I’ll have to divide my time with you. I’ll lose being with him a lot.”

      “Yes, you will, but let’s try to find the most workable way—and I’m not averse to having you around when I’m with him.”

      “It’s just incredibly difficult to give up my child,” she said.

      “You won’t have to give him up if you’ll work with me. There are some things that come with the territory, though, and I know you want to keep him safe. How you’ve managed to hide his paternity from the world all these years, I’ll never know. Whose name is on the birth certificate? It can’t be that ex-husband of yours, because he never adopted Ethan.”

      “It is Mike’s name. My dad paid to get that taken care of by some doctor in Chicago. It may be illegal, but I have a birth certificate claiming Mike as Ethan’s father.”

      “Well, we’ll get that straightened out, but the minute word gets out about his tie to me—and you become part of my life again, even if we’re not on the best of terms—you both will be vulnerable. You might as well have a chauffeur—”

      She laughed in this first truly humorous moment since Jared came back into her life. “A chauffeur! In Santa Fe!”

      He grinned. “I finally got a laugh out of you, and that’s great, Meg. It’s good to hear you laugh again.”

      “I’ll become the town oddity.”

      “No, you won’t. There are more people chauffeured around Santa Fe than you think. Famous and wealthy people live there. You don’t pay attention to things like that.”

      “He’ll want to tell his best friend.”

      “Tell away. His friends will meet the guy. Give a thought to schools, too. I can afford whatever you want.”

      “I’m not sending my six-year-old away to school. He’s in private school now, and I do schoolwork with him.”

      “I can afford tutors, too, if you want them. Same with lessons. I’ll pay for all that. As for the bodyguard, you’ll be on the ranch part of the year, so you’re incredibly vulnerable there because of the isolation. I’ll get someone who’ll be discreet. You should also have a guard on the premises.”

      “You’re being generous,” she said. Every suggestion tore at her. Even if it was best for Ethan, it would change his life.

      “Now, what can we work out about his visitation?” Jared asked.

      She glanced at him. “What about if you get him Saturdays and Sundays and we alternate holidays,” she finally suggested, hating the thought of losing Ethan on weekends. “Though I don’t know how he can play on the soccer team or basketball or baseball or anything else if he goes out of state with you,” she added.

      “Of course I don’t want to destroy Ethan getting to play soccer or any other sport. But he’s surely not into all those yet.”

      “No, but he will be soon. He played soccer and T-ball this year.”

      “You can give me schedules and we’ll work it out so he can play. But Saturdays and Sundays and alternate holidays won’t be enough time. That’s not sharing him equally.”

      His words were quiet but held that same note of steel. She looked