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side. Perhaps even better than Jen
would have. People would always have assumed that he’d married Jen for sex and
she’d married him for money. With Emma, people wouldn’t be sure. There would be
gossip, questions, rumors, and lots of speculation, and Mason found that it
amused him to think about that. Because nobody would ever guess the truth.
    Watching
as Emma at last drove away from the curb in front of his house, he tackled the
one last issue that was bothering him. Emma drew him in a way that Jen hadn’t.
Physically, yes, but it was more than that. Something about her was attracting
him - something deeper than what was on the surface. Mason took a long pull on
his drink. He prided himself on his lack of emotion. So despite her appeal to
him, he needed to be sure that Emma never ever got close. Because he had no
intention of getting emotionally involved with anyone.
     
     
     

 
     
     
     
     
    Three
     
    Chaos
looked at Emma suspiciously. She had spent the entire night ranting and raving.
And while she had remembered to feed him, and take him for his walk, and let
him out to take care of business, she was distracted. So he had hopped up on the
bed with her last night, put his head on her pillow, and snored into her ear.
He figured it was the least he could do.
    Emma
woke up to a paw in her ear, dog breath on her face, and fur up her nose.
Flipping over on the bed and rubbing her nose vigorously, she hugged one end of
the pillow closer to her and sighed deeply. She had looked more carefully at
the contract Jen had signed last night, and she saw no loopholes. Yeah, she
could refuse to do anything here, and she could probably protect her own interests,
but Jen would be toast. She would lose everything. And as mad as Emma was at
her sister, she just couldn’t bring herself to sell Jen out.
    So
she could either go find some stranger to marry Mason Parker, or she could go
through with it herself. And given the strict confidentiality clause in the
contract, she was surprised he hadn’t already threatened to sue Jen for
confiding in her. So she was slowly coming to terms with her fate, after a lot
of venting last night at Chaos. The dog had taken it well though, she thought.
But then, she had made it up to him with a handful of Snausages.
    She
had a busy day today. She had a full day at work, but also needed to find some
sort of outfit that would suit, and then get ready for her business trip next
week. She needed to draw up a contract to send to Mason’s lawyer, so he could
clear it before Mason signed it. This weekend, she would need to drop Chaos off
with her parents, and probably explain to her family why she had gotten married
to a man they had never heard of, all without implicating her sister. But
today, she still needed to reschedule a couple of hours worth of work so she
had time to go over to Mason’s home tomorrow to sign papers and complete a
legal joining of their lives. Geez, she couldn’t even say the word, she
thought. Marriage. She needed to make sure she had time to go and get married tomorrow, for heaven’s sake.
    She
stayed in bed a few minutes longer, hoping that by refusing to get up, time
would stop. But Chaos knew she was awake, and hopped off the bed, rounding the
corner to plop himself down in front of her and stare. Emma opened one eye,
seeing her dog sitting hopefully in front of her. Sighing, she rolled onto her back,
wiped her hand across her face, and slowly got up.
    “OK,
OK. I’m coming. Geez, dog. You ate like a million dog treats last night. You
can’t be hungry.”
    Chaos
looked up at her with a combination of impatience and adoration. Patting the
dog on the head, she padded over to the sliding glass door in her bedroom and
opened it up to let Chaos out into the yard.
    Coffee
got made, breakfast got eaten, and somehow Emma got herself ready for work. Her
stomach was in knots. Her hands shook as she fixed her hair, but when she
looked in the mirror on the way out the door, she