Temporary Husband by Day Leclaire Page A

me,” he muttered when he finally released her. “You’ll live to regret it. I guarantee.”
    “The only regrets I’ll have is when it’s time to leave.”
    He closed his eyes. “But you will leave,” he told her in an inflexible voice.
    “Do I have a choice?”
    He hardened himself against the wistful plea tugging at the chip of stone that had once passed for his heart. “No. You don’t,” he said and walked out the door.
    “Uh-oh,” Wynne murmured as she gripped the steering wheel and stared at her feet.
    “What’s wrong?” Buster demanded.
    Chick pointed at the pedals on the floor.
    Buster frowned. “There’s three.” He eyed his aunt, a concerned expression creeping across his face. “You know how to drive a three-pedal car?”
    She sighed. “’Fraid not.”
    “That’s okay. I watched how Uncle Jake did it. And Dad’s car had an extra petal, too.” He stabbed a finger toward the first one. “That there makes it go. The middle makes it stop. And you push in that last one when you move this stick.” He yanked on the gear shift to demonstrate.
    “I had that much figured out.” She gnawed on her lower lip. “Maybe we should wait until Jake gets back. I don’t think I can make it all the way into Two Forks on my own.”
    “I don’t wanna go to Two Forks, anyway,” Buster retorted. “And neither does Chick. Let’s go to that other town. The one with the cowboy statue. We like that town.”
    “Me, too,” Wynne confessed.
    “It’s not far. You can do it.”
    Chick nodded enthusiastically.
    “Okay,” she said with as much optimism as she could scrape together. “Here goes.”
    She pushed in the clutch and turned the key, giving the engine some gas. It roared to life. But the second she lifted her foot off the clutch the car lurched to a stop and stalled.
    “You gotta push hard on the gas and let that other one out real slow,” Buster instructed.
    Wynne shook her head. “I don’t know. I’m not sure about this.”
    Chick patted her on the shoulder, his big blue eyes mirroring his absolute faith in her ability. With a sigh, she tried again and managed to keep the truck going long enough to turn it in a wide half circle. Engine screaming, they bounced down the dirt driveway.
    “Move the stick!” shouted Buster.
    Pushing in the clutch, she jerked the stick into a new setting. The pickup bucked angrily and stalled yet again, rolling to a halt at the end of the driveway.
    “You’re…ah…you’re getting better,” Buster lied unconvincingly.
    “But not good enough to risk going all the way to Two Forks, right?” she said dryly.
    “No way.”
    Chick shook his head emphatically.
    “I guess that narrows our choices down to one. Chesterfield. Agreed?”
    “Agreed,” Buster confirmed.
    Restarting the engine, she ground her way into first and turned to the right. Four stalls later, they reached the outskirts of town. The pickup jerked to a stop in front of the outdoor market and, deciding she’d pushed her luck as far as it would go, she coasted into a parking spot.
    “Made it,” Wynne said with undisguised relief. “But there’s one small problem.”
    “What’s that?” Buster demanded.
    “I don’t know how to do reverse. We may be stuck here a while.” She brightened. “In the meantime, let’s find that general store. We have shopping to take care of.”
    Jake turned his back on the window overlooking the colorful booths of the outdoor market and thrust his hands into his pockets. “It isn’t going to work, Peter. This marriage is a total disaster.”
    Alarm appeared on the lawyer’s face. “What happened? Wouldn’t she sign the prenuptial agreement?”
    “She signed it.”
    “She knows the marriage is temporary? Is she going to create a scene when it’s time for a divorce?”
    “She’s agreed to the divorce, and she won’t kick up a fuss.”
    “What about fulfilling the conditions of the will? You two are…ah…wedded and bedded, right?”
    Jake gritted