Be a Doll(6)

Fiancée. It still sounded odd to me. I rubbed my temple when a headache started pounding. “Lila Hodge.’’

“Pretty name,’’ Lucas commented before silence fell around us again.

Pretty name for a gorgeous woman. I couldn’t remember a time when a woman had intrigued me quite like her. It was undoubtedly due to the circumstances. When I decided to pay Carter Manor to find me a wife, I hadn’t expected to find someone who wouldn’t be polished until nothing else was left, but I had been wrong.

My phone buzzed in the inside pocket of my jacket. I sighed and fished it out, glancing quickly at the screen and wasn’t surprised to find my mother’s name on it.

“Hello, Mother.’’

“Mathis,’’ she said warmly and I heard the smile in her voice. “Mon gar?on,’’ she said in French, the lilting accent warm in my ear. “Tell me you found someone.’’

“Her name is Lila Hodge. Expect a wedding in two months.’’

“C’est vrai?’’ Her voice went higher with the excitement. For all of my mother’s concerns when I told her and my father of my intentions to contact Carter Manor for a wife, it seemed like the prospect of marrying her son was tramping the rest. “I thought you’d never get married. This morning I was just telling your father that I was sure you’d find something wrong with any woman they would present you.’’

“It’s only a business transaction, Mother,’’ I said and distractedly checked my watch to make sure I’d be on time back in New York City for the business dinner with the new client I signed last week after long and drawn out negotiations that played with my very limited patience. “Hold on, Mother.’’ I leaned forward and tapped on Lucas’ shoulder to get his attention.

“Sir?’’

“I’m running late, Lucas. Make sure you get us to the airport under thirty minutes.’’

“Yes, sir.’’

He floored the accelerator and the car lurched, gaining speed on the country roads, the view outside turning a greener blur as I focused on my mother again. “Mother, the wedding organization is taken care of, I hope you remember that.’’

She sighed in the receiver and I grimaced when the parasites echoed in my ear. “You are my only son and you take away the fun from me of planning your wedding. It may be a marriage of convenience, but it’s a marriage nonetheless. You can’t treat it or your fiancée as if it’s not important.’’

Fiancée. I wondered when that word would become familiar to me. Not anytime soon I bet. That word distracted me enough to numb some of the bite when she said I was her only son. “Listen, I’ll get you the contact information of the person in charge of the wedding organization. You can do whatever you like then, as long as you respect the demands I made. The rest is of no importance to me.’’

“Mathis…’’

“No, Mother. I think you need to forget your romantic notions here. It’s time. After all, I basically picked my fiancée out of a catalogue.’’ I shook my head and took a deep breath trying to calm down when it became obvious I was letting the situation get to me. It was ridiculous. “Listen, I have work to do. I already ditched enough to get this done. I’ll see you for your Sunday brunch like usual.’’

“All right, mon gar?on, but remember that no matter how you see this, this is real. Marriage shouldn’t be taken lightly and some traditions shouldn’t be overlooked or forgotten.’’

With a few parting words I hung up and placed my phone back in my jacket without checking my emails, something I should be doing. The problem was that I was rattled by her words.

For all the issues I had had over the years and the conflicts I had with my father, my mother raised me with a certain notion regarding love, marriage and traditions. I didn’t believe in love and marriage as much as I believed in people settling once the passion and lust extinguished, but traditions were another story.

I was engaged.

I would be a married man in two months.

I sighed and took my phone out again and called my assistant, Jonatan. He answered on the second ring. “Mr. Grimes, what can I do for you?’’

“Jonatan, I need you to look for the best jeweler in Manhattan and get me an appointment with their director for tomorrow at the latest.’’

A beat of silence greeted my words, something I wasn’t used to with my ever-efficient assistant. “A jeweler, sir?’’

“Yes.’’

He cleared his throat at my snapped words and quickly went to work when I heard him typing away on his keyboard. “Tiffany & Co. on Fifth Avenue is the best as far as I can see, sir. I’ll contact them immediately.’’

“Do that.’’ I hung up and placed my phone back in my pocket and sighed.

I was used to being in my element, having things done and usually my way, but being engaged was so very new that in a way I had a hard time believing it. When I graduated from Harvard and instead of joining the family business to work alongside my father, I used the trust fund I had to buy off a start-up and made it grow until it far exceeded my father’s company. During that time building my empire and becoming one of the most important businessmen in the country, not once did I feel quite as unsettled as I was at that moment.