Chapter one

“ Do you, Sandra Rakes take this man to be your husband, to live

together in holy matrimony, to love him, to honor him, to comfort him, and to keep

him in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, for as long as you both shall live?"

"I do." Sandra Rakes replied in a shaky voice. Although smiling, Marie rolled her eyes inwardly. Why Sandra kept acting like this was a real marriage was beyond her. God knows that she had tried to help her friend understand that her boss wasn't looking for love. He was looking for a wife for seven weeks.

"Repeat after me," the Notary was saying now as Marie tried to focus on the ceremony before her. Even though she knew the wedding was a sham, she wished desperately it was her in the white dress. That it was her getting married to Steven Kings. She wished she was the one who any moment from now would be kissed by Stevie.

She should be happy for her friend, Sandra. At least now Sandra would be able to get a studio apartment and set up her small business. When Marie has asked her why she was so desperate to marry Steven King, the billionaire in a  super secret marriage, Sandra had laughed and said,

“ Duh, for the money!” And though Marie had laughed with her, she couldn't help feeling bad that her boss was being forced to get married. If she was being honest, she felt sorry for Sandra as well.

Marie didn't think anyone would willingly give up marrying for love.

“Earth to Marie.” Sandra said, coming to stand beside her and smiling.

“ You know, for someone who's married in name only, you look ecstatic.” Marie said, shooting her friend an amused glance.

“ Well, I'm thinking of all the money I've just made. And that little place that's about to become mine!”

“Congratulations, darling.” Marie hugged her friend tightly and stepped aside as Steven King approached.

Steven King was the Chief Executive Officer of Alden Kings Group.

It was one of the biggest advertising agencies operating in New York and had subsidiaries in seven states in the US, London and South Africa.

“Shall we go?” Steven said when he approached and Marie immediately understood and started to move outside the Notary office to the car. She shot an apologetic look at her friend Sandra who had thought her newlywed husband would at least ask her to lunch.

The drive back to the office was long and tensely quiet. Not that Steven ever had anything to say to Marie or that Marie was allowed to chatter in his presence either. Sometimes, Marie looked at Steven and feared that her secret was plastered all over her head.

The truth was that Marie loved working for him. He had high expectations of her, and didn't get in her way. With Steven King, once he paid you to do a job, he got out of the way. No micromanaging but there was no space for slack offs either. Although when Marie had first started to work for him, she had made tons of mistakes.

Ten years later, they had fallen into that easy rhythm of a couple who knew each other’s thoughts and completed each other’s sentences. Except they weren't a couple. No matter how much Marie wished he would look at her, Steven had never. And there was something she was hiding from him worse than the fact that she was in love with him. In fact if he ever found out, he would fire her in an instant.

Marie stole a glance at him now, taking in the gray suit he had chosen for his fake wedding and how well it suited him.

“Errr… Mr King?”

“ Marie… Don't start?” Steven said without even sparing a glance from his laptop.

“Apologies, Steven…” Marie said. He was always insisting that she called him by his first name. It was industry best practices he said, but Marie had never really felt comfortable doing so.  The man had enough money to buy a small country, whereas she was just a girl from South Austin trying to create a life in New York.

“Yes?” Marie came to as she realized that Steven was looking at her.

“Errr, I just wanted to say congratulations on your wedding, Steven. Er, I hope you enjoy it…” Marie petered out at the look on his face and rubbed her arms. Why was he looking at her like that? She wasn't the one who held a gun at his head and forced him to marry anyone.

If anything, she had handled the whole affair well, scouring discreetly for anyone willing to be married in name only for seven weeks.

“Thank you. Would you also congratulate me during my divorce?”

Marie felt her face blow hot before she looked at Steven and found the sides of his mouth twitching. If he was going to be like that, why would she care? The sooner they got back to the office and informed their Japanese prospects of the new marriage development, the sooner her life could get back to normal.

“ So do you think they’ll buy it?” Steven asked her now.

“ I mean it's a stretch, Steven. It was so hushed up. There were no public announcements, no press, no engagement period. Just one day you're single, and the next you’re married.”

“Well, I hear you. But it's not like they said it to me directly. It's what my contacts said that the only thing between me and sealing this account was my being unmarried.”

“ Alright, keeping fingers crossed because this whole thing has been a nightmare.” Marie said before she could stop herself.

“Because?...”

Because I love you. You blockhead. But she dared not say anything. Steven could stand clumsiness, and mistakes but one thing he never pardoned was love. All the other secretaries who had made passes at him had been gone the next day.  Grateful that Steven couldn't read her thoughts, Marie was about to say something when the sound of Steven’s phone ringing interrupted them.

“Steven.” He said and listened for a beat before hanging up.

“ Marie, how did that woman get my cell?”

“What woman?” Marie asked innocently, even though she had a hunch that he was talking about Sandra.

“You know who. Why does she have my cell?”

“Errr, well, she's your wife, Sir. I thought… maybe… anyway…” The objections in Marie's head wilted as she saw his face.

“Rules are rules. Marie…” Marie's face crumpled as she braced herself for more scolding when Steven’s phone rang again.

“Steven.”

“Uh huh. Yes, an intimate ceremony was most befitting as that was my wife's childhood dream. You see she's rather not interested in being in the public eye. Yes. Thank you very much for your kind wishes. Great, I'll be there tomorrow.”

From the large grin on Steven’s face, Marie could guess who had just called.

“Is it that Mr Kaito’s office?”

“Yes, we’ve been called for another meeting tomorrow.”

Marie smiled and then nodded in satisfaction. Their plan had worked! Taking her phone out of her bag, she texted her contact who had been waiting for an update on the deal.