Read Improperly Wed for Free Online Page B

problem.”
    â€œOh? Only one?” She was helpless to stop the sarcasm.
    Colin nodded. “Yes. A no-fault divorce can still be contested, starting with the service of divorce papers.”
    She stared at him dumbly. What was he saying?
    She narrowed her eyes. “So you’re saying…”
    â€œI’m not granting you an easy divorce, in New York or anywhere else.”
    â€œYou ruined my wedding, and now you’re going to ruinmy divorce?” she asked, unable to keep disbelief from her voice.
    â€œYour wedding was already ruined because we were still married,” Colin countered. “Even if I hadn’t interrupted the ceremony, your marriage to Dillingham would have been considered void ab initio due to bigamy. It would have been as if the marriage ceremony had never occurred.”
    Belinda pressed her lips together.
    Colin raised an eyebrow. “I know. It’s rather inconvenient that your marriage to Dillingham would have been the one to have been declared legally nonexistent.”
    â€œYou ruined my wedding,” she accused. “You chose the precise wrong moment to make your big announcement. Why crash the ceremony?”
    â€œShouldn’t you be thanking me for preventing a crime from being committed?”
    She ignored his riposte. “And to top it off, you ruined my marriage by not making sure the annulment was properly finalized.”
    â€œYour marriage to whom? The one to Tod that never existed? Or ours? Most people would say that not finalizing an annulment is the way to avoid ruining a marriage.”
    She wasn’t amused by his recalcitrance. She’d come here to get him to agree to a quiet dissolution of their union.
    Colin rubbed his chin. “I can’t understand how you managed to keep our Las Vegas wedding a secret. Did Dillingham even know?”
    Belinda reddened. “Tod is standing by me.”
    â€œThat means no.” Colin let his gaze slide over her hand. “Also, you’re not wearing his ring. Just how… closely is he standing by? Or does his support amount to waiting in the wings until this whole messy divorce business is taken care of? But just how long is he willing to wait?”
    â€œAs long as it takes,” she shot back.
    They stared at each other, and Belinda forced herself not to blink. The truth was she had no idea how long or how short Tod would wait. The wedding fiasco had been quite a blow.
    Colin tilted his head and contemplated her. “You didn’t even tell him that you already had one wedding behind you. Were you afraid of what an Old Etonian like Dillingham would think of the quick Vegas elopement in your past?”
    â€œI’m sure he would have been bothered only by the fact that the groom had been you,” she retorted.
    â€œRight, competitive,” Colin said, nodding even as he twisted her meaning. “But then there’s the fact that you lied on your marriage license.”
    Belinda’s flush deepened.
    It was true that she had omitted to list the Las Vegas ceremony when applying for a marriage license in New York. Her union with Colin had been a marriage of brief duration that had been contracted in another state and, she believed, had ended in an annulment.
    Didn’t an annulment usually mean that a marriage had never existed?
    Belinda rallied her reserves.
    â€œYou know quite a bit about dissolving a marriage even if you haven’t accomplished it successfully yourself,” she retorted. “Have you talked to a lawyer already?”
    â€œYou have. Why shouldn’t I?” he returned rather cryptically.
    â€œThat’s the difference between you and Tod. He hasn’t spoken with an attorney.” The last thing she needed was for the Dillinghams to resort to legal means to recoup their costs for the wedding fiasco.
    Colin twisted his lips. “Pity. Because if he had, his lawyer would have told him just what my lawyer told me.If I