you?”
“Tears,” he said with a frown. “Now that I will keep track of. Because for every tear, I’m going to make certain you have reason to laugh at least a hundred times.”
“At this rate I’m going to spend all day laughing.”
“See how easy that was? We already have our first marital rule. A hundred laughs for every tear.” The humor in his gaze eased, replaced by undisguised warmth. “I know you planned to tell me today that you’re leaving and putting an end to our marriage. But will you agree to stay and give it a try? We can set a time frame if that makes you more comfortable.”
“A negotiation, Marco?”
“I could, if I considered marriage a business deal. I could use The Snitch as an excuse or the Romano account.”
She stirred uneasily. “Will our marriage have an adverse impact on that?”
“No. But our divorce would.” He let that settle for a minute before continuing. “I could explain how much more beneficial it would be to your career to remain with me, or how it would look if we divorced after a single day of marriage. But this isn’t about business, as I’ve already explained. There’s only one real reason to stay together.”
“Which is…what?” She hazarded a guess. “To get to point Z?”
He smiled, a gorgeous, sexy smile that she’d never ever seen on Lazz Dante’s face. Only Marco could smile like that. “Why would I want to jump straight to Z when there are so many fun points to explore in between? The point of a dance is not to rush to the end, but to enjoy each step along the way.” He pulled her up from her chair and swung her into his arms, causing her to melt helplessly against him. “Come, my beautiful wife. What do you say? Let’s dance.”
Seven
O ver the next few days, Caitlyn discovered that Marco meant just what he said. He didn’t seem to care about the business ramifications should she walk out on him. He only cared about her. For some reason, that realization left her shaken. All the while a small voice whispered insistently in her ear that it had to be a lie. How could she possibly be more important than winning an account that would guarantee the meteoric success of Dantes in the European market?
Marriage should be more complicated than Marco was making it out to be. It certainly had been for her grandmother. Thanks to her disastrous union, there’d been exhaustive instructions on how to build a proper foundation and which qualities to look for in a husband, an endless list to be detailed, considered and checked off long before marriage should ever be contemplated. She and Marco hadn’t done any of that, and Caitlyn couldn’t help but believe that lack would bring a fast end to a short marriage.
Fortunately, she didn’t have long to dwell on her worries. The minute she returned to work, she was assigned a huge, complex project to oversee that involved transferring decades worth of old financial records from paper to computer.
“With the expansion into the international market, we need to have this information available at the touch of a button,” Caitlyn’s supervisor explained. “And we need someone with your background in finance and attention to detail to sort the wheat from the chaff. Determine what’s important to computerize and what can be safely discarded.”
“But what about my current duties?”
“We’re assigning you temporary help with that while you concentrate on getting this other project in hand. I’ll be honest with you, Caitlyn. We’re hoping you can succeed where every other person who’s attempted this assignment has failed.”
It was like waving a red flag in front of a bull, Caitlyn realized with a touch of Marco’s sense of humor. The idea that she could accomplish what no one else had appealed immensely and she threw herself into the project with unfettered enthusiasm. Unfortunately, it meant a temporary move from the Dantes main office to their warehouse where most of the records were
“Tears,” he said with a frown. “Now that I will keep track of. Because for every tear, I’m going to make certain you have reason to laugh at least a hundred times.”
“At this rate I’m going to spend all day laughing.”
“See how easy that was? We already have our first marital rule. A hundred laughs for every tear.” The humor in his gaze eased, replaced by undisguised warmth. “I know you planned to tell me today that you’re leaving and putting an end to our marriage. But will you agree to stay and give it a try? We can set a time frame if that makes you more comfortable.”
“A negotiation, Marco?”
“I could, if I considered marriage a business deal. I could use The Snitch as an excuse or the Romano account.”
She stirred uneasily. “Will our marriage have an adverse impact on that?”
“No. But our divorce would.” He let that settle for a minute before continuing. “I could explain how much more beneficial it would be to your career to remain with me, or how it would look if we divorced after a single day of marriage. But this isn’t about business, as I’ve already explained. There’s only one real reason to stay together.”
“Which is…what?” She hazarded a guess. “To get to point Z?”
He smiled, a gorgeous, sexy smile that she’d never ever seen on Lazz Dante’s face. Only Marco could smile like that. “Why would I want to jump straight to Z when there are so many fun points to explore in between? The point of a dance is not to rush to the end, but to enjoy each step along the way.” He pulled her up from her chair and swung her into his arms, causing her to melt helplessly against him. “Come, my beautiful wife. What do you say? Let’s dance.”
Seven
O ver the next few days, Caitlyn discovered that Marco meant just what he said. He didn’t seem to care about the business ramifications should she walk out on him. He only cared about her. For some reason, that realization left her shaken. All the while a small voice whispered insistently in her ear that it had to be a lie. How could she possibly be more important than winning an account that would guarantee the meteoric success of Dantes in the European market?
Marriage should be more complicated than Marco was making it out to be. It certainly had been for her grandmother. Thanks to her disastrous union, there’d been exhaustive instructions on how to build a proper foundation and which qualities to look for in a husband, an endless list to be detailed, considered and checked off long before marriage should ever be contemplated. She and Marco hadn’t done any of that, and Caitlyn couldn’t help but believe that lack would bring a fast end to a short marriage.
Fortunately, she didn’t have long to dwell on her worries. The minute she returned to work, she was assigned a huge, complex project to oversee that involved transferring decades worth of old financial records from paper to computer.
“With the expansion into the international market, we need to have this information available at the touch of a button,” Caitlyn’s supervisor explained. “And we need someone with your background in finance and attention to detail to sort the wheat from the chaff. Determine what’s important to computerize and what can be safely discarded.”
“But what about my current duties?”
“We’re assigning you temporary help with that while you concentrate on getting this other project in hand. I’ll be honest with you, Caitlyn. We’re hoping you can succeed where every other person who’s attempted this assignment has failed.”
It was like waving a red flag in front of a bull, Caitlyn realized with a touch of Marco’s sense of humor. The idea that she could accomplish what no one else had appealed immensely and she threw herself into the project with unfettered enthusiasm. Unfortunately, it meant a temporary move from the Dantes main office to their warehouse where most of the records were
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