Ellen’s. The doorman allowed her through and she found Ellen waiting for her in the hall.
“I need to find Ethan.”
Ellen crossed her arms. “I thought you were brave enough for him.”
“I’m not.”
“Then what are you doing looking for him?”
She shrugged. “I’m maybe not brave enough for him, but I might just be stupid enough.”
His grandmother puckered her lips. Then she laughed. “Stupid. Brave. There’s not much difference between the two, is there?”
“It’s a very thin line.”
Ellen pulled her inside the door. “I for one am glad you’ve finally crossed to the other side.”
“I think you’re going to be the only one.”
Ellen chuckled. “Christine will come around. Eventually.”
“I won’t hold my breath.”
“I wouldn’t either. Christine thinks her son needs someone who will follow his lead. Who will stay home to care for the kids and hostess his parties. That’s what she had with Michael and it worked well for both of them.”
Ellen laughed at the expression on Mackenzie’s face. “But despite how much Ethan looks like his father, he’s not him. And what Christine really wants is her son to be happy. He’s happy with you. She’ll take the blinders off one of these days.”
Ellen flipped through her address book, writing down a name and a phone number, and handed it to her. “You’ll need this.”
Mackenzie looked at it, noting the name and number of a reporter, then made a face. “So I can make a fool of myself?”
“No. So you can show Ethan you know the game. And are going to play it.”
Mackenzie took a deep breath. “I’ll play it. By my own rules.”
Ellen cackled. “Good. I’m betting on you.”
The reporter met Mackenzie at a restaurant early the next morning. She squinted at Mackenzie, then said, “Mackenzie Wyatt?”
When Mackenzie nodded, the woman sat down. “I almost didn’t recognize you. The hair.”
Mackenzie pushed her back-to-brown hair behind her ear self-consciously. “The blond was just temporary. I’m back to my natural color.” Or near enough. She’d thought if she was going to do this, she needed to do it as herself. Recognizable and all.
The reporter pulled out a recorder, turned it on, then took out a pad of paper. She said, “Is it true Ethan Howell O’Connor paid you a million dollars to marry him?”
Mackenzie smiled slightly. “Yes. Because any woman would need to be bribed to marry Ethan O’Connor.”
The reporter laughed. “Is there a pre-nup?”
“There will be. It should be illegal for a man of his wealth to marry without one.”
The reporter raised her eyebrows and Mackenzie said, “And of course, there will have to be a no-cheating clause. Maybe something about cutting off his balls if he does.”
Mackenzie pointed to the reporter’s pad of paper. “Make sure you put that in.”
“Er, okay.”
The reporter scribbled quickly, then looked back up. “When is the wedding?”
Mackenzie shrugged. “We haven’t set a date yet.”
“And you’re not worried about that? Ethan doesn’t have a good track record with commitment.”
“Ethan has a great track record with commitment. He’s a one-woman man, remember?”
“But not a forever man.”
Mackenzie smiled. “I guess he was just waiting for the woman who scares the bejesus out of him.”
The reporter blinked and said, “Well, I’ll be rooting for you.”
Mackenzie nodded her head, thinking she’d be the only one. The whole world would be waiting for Ethan to drop her. If only so they could have their chance with him.
The reporter looked down at her notes. “One of his exes said he isn’t so pretty in the morning. Is that true?”
Mackenzie shook her head. “He’s horrifyingly gorgeous. It’s enough to give any woman a complex.”
The reporter looked as if she’d never thought about what it actually meant to wake up next to all that gorgeousness before.
“Just one more question. There have been so many rumors about him paying you to be his wife that I have to ask. Are you marrying him for his money?”
Mackenzie took a deep breath and said, “I’m marrying him because I love him.” She smiled and shrugged. “Every woman does.”
Ellen called her two days later, congratulating her on the interview, and telling her where Ethan could be found. He’d run to a lake house in Vermont after following her to Los Angeles.
Mackenzie had rented a car and drove north. It was a long drive and it gave her lots of time to think. To worry. To get mad about having to chase him. To remember that he’d chased her, and then left her alone to figure it out without him hovering over her.
She pulled down the long, dirt