“Then we won’t tell them until they’re home.” If Lesley was looking for solutions, he’d willingly supply them.

“I’d like to try calling them. And I want to invite a few friends and have a small reception.”

“Fine with me. The hotel can arrange whatever you want with twenty-four hours’ notice. We’ll talk to them on Monday.” Chase didn’t intend to give her any more time than that or she might well talk herself out of it.

“What about the invitations?”

“Well, there’s always email.”

“No, I want real invitations.”

“I’ll have a messenger service hand-deliver them.”

“But they’ll need to be printed, and…oh, Chase, there are so many things to do. I have a dress, but I don’t know if you’d want me to wear it since I bought it for another man, but it’s so beautiful and—no, I couldn’t possibly wear it, and that means I’ll have to buy another one. But it took me weeks to find the first one.”

Chase held his breath until his chest ached with the effort. “It seems to me you’re looking for excuses.”

“I’m not! I swear I’m not. It’s just that…”

“Be very sure, Lesley, because once we say those vows we’re married, and I take that very seriously. I assume you do, too.”

She nodded slowly. “What about all my things? What will I do with them? I can’t cram everything I own in a couple of suitcases.”

“Pack what you want and I’ll have the rest shipped. You won’t need the furniture, so either sell it or give it away—whatever you want.”

She took a deep breath. “Okay.”

“We’ll need to apply for the wedding license tomorrow morning. I’ll be here by ten to pick you up,” he said.

She nodded again and he started for the door.

“Chase.”

He turned around, impatient now and not understanding why. Lesley had agreed to marry him, which was more than he’d expected. “Yes?”

“Would you mind kissing me?” Her voice was small and uncertain. He purposely hadn’t made this easy on her for the simple reason that he wanted her to know her own mind. To be satisfied that marriage to him was the right decision. He would’ve liked to kiss her, and use their mutual attraction to convince her, but he couldn’t. That would have felt unethical to him.

He saw that Lesley had taken several steps toward him; the least he could do was meet her halfway. She needed reassurance and he should have given it to her long before now.

He walked back to her, held her face in his hands and kissed her. The kiss deepened and deepened until Chase’s control teetered precariously.

He’d forgotten exactly how good she felt in his arms. It shouldn’t be like this. His experience might not have been as extensive as that of some men, but with other women he’d always been composed and in control. His response to Lesley worried him. The fact that he found her so desirable was important, but that he could so easily lose his head over her was a negative.

Lesley exhaled, that soft womanly sigh that drove him to distraction. He lifted his mouth from hers and concentrated on the nape of her neck, scattering kisses there while struggling with his own composure.

“Thank you,” she whispered. The beauty of her words and the sweetness of her mouth were fatal to his control.

“This will be a real marriage, Lesley,” he warned.

“I realize that.” She sounded slightly offended, but Chase refused to leave any room for doubt.

“Good. I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning, then.”

Lesley nodded and Chase felt a sense of victory, hollow though it was. She’d agreed to marry him, but for none of the reasons he would’ve liked. She was running away from a painful situation that could only bring her heartache.

He was the lesser of two evils.

Not the most solid foundation for a marriage. But time and patience and love were the mortar that would strengthen it.

“You’re getting married!” Lori and Jo Ann repeated together in stunned disbelief.

“I didn’t offer to buy you lunch in a fancy restaurant for nothing,” Lesley commented brightly, forking up a slice of chicken in her chicken-and-spinach salad. “What are you two doing Wednesday evening?”

“Ah…nothing,” Lori murmured.

“Not a thing,” Jo Ann said.

“Great, I’d like you both to stand up for me at my wedding. Chase and I are—”

“Chase?” Jo Ann broke in. “Who on earth is Chase?”

“I didn’t know you were dating anyone,” Lori said, sounding more surprised than upset.

Neither of her friends had touched their seafood salads. They sat like mannequins, staring at Lesley as if she’d announced she was an escaped convict.

“Chase Goodman,” Lesley repeated casually between bites. “That’s the man I’m marrying.”

Lori, small and fawnlike, with large dark eyes, gnawed on her lower lip. “Why does that name sound familiar? Do I know him?”

“I doubt it. Chase’s from Alaska.”

“Alaska.” Jo Ann said the name of the state in a low voice, as if trying to remember something. She picked up her fork. “Speaking of Alaska… Did either of you see the news story last week about this guy who came down from Alaska and advertised for a—” She stopped, her eyes widening. She made a few odd sounds, but nothing that resembled intelligible words.

“You’re marrying the guy who advertised for a wife?” Lori looked from Lesley to Jo Ann and back again.

“Lesley, have you lost your mind?” Jo Ann finally sputtered.

“Maybe.” She wasn’t going to argue with her two best friends. A week earlier she’d thought the whole idea of marrying a stranger was crazy. She’d said as much to Chase, belittled the women who’d applied, even made derogatory remarks about the type of man who’d defy convention in such an outlandish manner.

One week later, she’d agreed to be his bride.

“You will be my bridesmaids, won’t you?”

“Of course, but—”

“No buts. The wedding’s on Wednesday. I don’t have time for arguments, and please, don’t try to talk me out of this because you can’t. Chase and I are leaving for our honeymoon after the wedding.” She smiled. “The location’s a surprise. After that, we’re heading to Twin Creeks where Chase lives. He has to be on the job in eight days and that doesn’t leave us much time.”

“Pinch me,” Lori said to Jo Ann, “because this doesn’t seem real. We’re not actually hearing this, are we? Lesley, this isn’t like you.”

Jo Ann shook her head and added, “It’s because of Tony, isn’t it? You’re far too sensible to do something like this otherwise.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything.” Lori looked down, rearranging the salt and pepper shakers on the cream-colored tablecloth. “But…Tony phoned me. He’s worried about you, Les. He said he’s been trying to get in touch with you, but you weren’t returning his calls.”

“Tony’s been calling you?” Jo Ann sounded outraged. “Does April know about this?”

“She’s out of town.”

“That creep!”

“I knew when he married April that it wouldn’t last,” Lori said with a hint of self-righteousness.

Lesley laughed, grateful for her friends’ loyalty. “You suspected it wouldn’t last because Tony wasn’t marrying me. If he had, you would both have been singing his praises.”

“I’m beginning to think Daisy might be right about him,” Jo Ann said, stabbing her fork into some crabmeat. “How could she see through him so quickly? The three of us work with the guy nine months out of the year and we have to be hit over the head before it dawns on us that Tony isn’t playing fair.”

“What did you tell Tony about me?” Lesley inquired casually, although her interest was anything but casual.

“Nothing much, just that I’d talked to you recently and you sounded happy.

“He seemed surprised to hear that and said he was afraid you were depressed and avoiding people. He acted concerned and guilty about the way he’d hurt you. I…”

“Yes?” Lesley prompted.

“I felt sorry for him by the time we hung up.”

“Sorry for him?” Jo Ann asked, incredulous. “Why would you feel sorry for Tony? He’s the one who broke Lesley’s heart and married someone else.”

Lori shrugged, looking mildly guilty herself. “He didn’t actually say so, but I had the feeling he regrets marrying April.” Lori paused, frowning. “She’s never been very friendly toward the three of us, has she?”

“Who can blame her for being unfriendly?” Lesley was the first one to defend April.

“Tony made her situation impossible at school,” Lori agreed. “We did our best to make her feel welcome, but we’d all worked with Lesley and April knew that. She attended hardly any faculty functions after the wedding. I’ll bet she’s really a nice person, and we’d find that out if she ever gave anyone the chance to know her.”

“She gave Tony plenty of chances,” Jo Ann muttered, unwilling even now to forget the upheaval the new first-grade teacher had brought into their lives.

“You haven’t talked to Tony yourself?” Lori asked, ignoring Jo Ann’s pettiness. For that, Lesley was grateful.

“Not since school got out.” She felt good about resisting the temptation to phone him, but it had exacted a high emotional price. “I won’t, either,” she said, her resolve growing stronger.

Jo Ann nodded vigorously. Lori looked uncertain.

“Aren’t you curious about what he wants?”

“Come on, Lori. What do you think Tony wants?” Jo Ann asked.

Lori studied her for a disbelieving moment. “You don’t really believe that, do you?”

“Lori, wake up!” Jo Ann said sarcastically and snapped her fingers. “When a married man phones another woman—his ex-fiancée, no less—while his wife’s out of town, there’s only one reason.”

“I hate to think Tony would do that.”

Lesley felt the same way, but she couldn’t allow her tenderness for Tony to mislead her.

“Stop.” Jo Ann raised both hands. “We’ve strayed from the real subject here and that’s Lesley’s wedding.”

“‘Lesley’s wedding,’” Lori echoed, sending a dismayed glance at Jo Ann. “Are you in love with Chase?” she asked.

“No.” Lesley refused to be anything but honest with her friends. When she’d told her mother and Ken she’d stretched the truth, subtly of course, but she’d never be able to fool her friends. Her mother was another story; she believed Lesley was in love because that was what she wanted to believe.

Lori’s jaw fell open. “You don’t even love him.”