The Temporary Wife - By Jeannie Moon Page 0,10

I ask you something?” Her voice had gotten small again. It did that when she was upset or frightened.

“Sure. Anything.”

“Why weren’t you at the funeral? How could you not go?”

It hit Jason that no one would have thought to tell her what had happened to him. His family would have had no reason to even acknowledge Meg’s presence, much less explain anything, which was why, when the will was read, the family was so blindsided.

To them, Meg didn’t matter. She never had, and now he was treating her as a pawn in the war he and his sister had started with his parents.

“I was in Asia, in Taiwan, and I couldn’t get home.”

Her eyes hardened. “Couldn’t get home? You probably have a fleet of jets at your disposal. It’s not like you had to fly standby.”

“Not exactly a fleet, but the day Grace died a typhoon hit, and with the flooding, the power outages, and the damage at the airport, I couldn’t fly out. I couldn’t get out for almost a week.”

“Oh.” She swallowed. “Oh . . . I didn’t . . . There was . . . No one told me.”

“I figured. I was frantic. I couldn’t do anything, and I knew . . .” He looked her square in the eyes. “I knew there were people here who needed me. But I was stranded.”

She dropped her eyes, and he knew Meg’s big, sloppy heart felt his pain. It was who she was. And he could see, when she fixed her eyes back on his, that she was thinking about how much she missed Grace. How much they both missed Grace. “That had to have been horrible for you. I mean, you had no one.”

“I survived.” He kept his gaze on her, didn’t budge. This was too important. “Look, I want Molly to be secure and safe, and I think you’re the best person to raise her. It’s what my sister and Mark wanted. I’m too busy with work, and I wouldn’t know how to deal with a little girl like you do. We’ll get married, and I’ll have everything set up so when we separate you won’t have to worry about anything.”

“If we’re married, I can see there’d be some safety in numbers, but when we separate, what’s to stop your parents from doing this again? What’s the plan?”

This was as good a time as any to drop the second part of his idea on her. “Before we get married, we’re going to put her funds in a blind trust, managed by my brother.”

“A blind trust?”

“My brother will be the trustee, controlling the investments, and neither of us will have access to it. That should deflect the argument that you’re after the money.”

“That’s a nice thought, but I doubt it’s going to change Josh’s or anyone else’s mind about me.”

“True enough, but putting the funds with him is about Molly, and it will shut him up. He’ll do the right thing with the trust.” Jason rubbed a hand on the back of his neck. “He can be an asshole, but I trust him with this.”

“Okay, then what?”

“Then we adopt Molly.”

Chapter 4

The dark wood paneling in the conference room was sort of a cliché. But this whole situation was evolving into just that: a cliché. A struggling woman who needed to be saved by a wealthy man. It nauseated Meg. The lawyer was placing papers in front of her, and Jason, who was trying to be supportive, was right next to her, explaining everything that was happening. He’d already signed everything. Now it was her turn.

“There are a few different contracts,” he began. Jason’s voice, which was normally deep and steady, was shaky. She was surprised to realize he was nervous about this. “This is a standard prenup. It gives you a percentage of my income, a portfolio, the house, and half of anything we acquire during the marriage . . .”

Meg nodded. A house, money, things. The Campbells were always about things.

“The prenup is the document we’ll tell everyone about. No one will think it’s out of the ordinary that one of these was executed, just that it’s so . . .” He stopped midsentence.

“So what?” Meg leaned toward him.

“So generous. You’ll do well in the divorce.”

“Perfect. Just what I’ve always wanted. A fabulous divorce settlement.”

Meg signed or initialed where she saw the little Post-it notes and instructed herself to keep breathing. After the appointment here, there were errands to do, and then they were going to see