Summer Nights (Fool's Gold #8)(50)
Lewis looked at her and smiled. “No, Annabelle. That’s what I came to talk to you about. We’re still married.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
ANNABELLE FELT THE EARTH shift off its axis. Married? Still married?
“That’s not possible,” she said. “We’re divorced. We worked out a settlement.”
He hadn’t wanted to. For a long time he’d refused. But in the end, she threatened to take him to court. He’d realized that any judge would give her a percentage of his earnings for the time they’d been married. While he’d always found fault with her, the truth was, their marriage had been good for his career. He’d written two of his bestselling books while they’d been together.
Rather than give her a piece of that, he’d agreed to the divorce. Her lawyer had tried to talk her out of the deal, but she’d explained she would rather be free than rich. After all, they didn’t have kids and she was perfectly capable of supporting herself. Let Lewis keep it all. Being away from him had been worth any price to her.
“Apparently there was a bit of trouble with the law firm,” Lewis said cheerfully. “We’re still married.” He turned to Shane. “I’m a writer. You might have heard of me. Lewis—”
“No. Sorry.”
Annabelle risked glancing at Shane, but there was no way to tell what he was thinking. Still, she doubted it would be good. After all, this moment would qualify as drama by anyone’s standards.
His dark gaze moved from Lewis to her and back. “You two probably want to talk about this,” he said, edging back toward the barn.
“No!” Annabelle said quickly. “It’s fine. I’m leaving. I have to go…” She stopped, realizing she didn’t know what to do next. Panic had seized her brain, making it impossible to think.
Lewis, here. In Fool’s Gold. The one place she’d always felt safe.
The back door of the house opened and Heidi stepped out.
“There you are,” she said. “Annabelle, I really need to talk to you. Can you give me a second?”
Annabelle nodded and started toward her.
“We have to talk, as well,” Lewis said urgently.
No, they didn’t. They’d given up the need to talk the day they’d agreed to the divorce.
“I have to help Heidi,” she said, already moving toward the house.
Lewis sighed heavily. “I can see you’re as difficult as ever. That’s fine, Annabelle. I know how to win you over. I’m staying in town at Ronan’s Lodge. I’ll be in touch.”
She hoped he was lying, but didn’t think her luck was that good. She looked at her friend and let Heidi’s supportive gaze guide her to safety. When she reached the back porch, Heidi took her arm and led her inside.
“How long has he been here?” Annabelle asked.
“Nearly an hour. Were you really married to him?”
“Unfortunately.”
“Don’t get mad, but he’s kind of a pompous jerk.”
“It took me a while to figure that out.”
“At least you did.” Her friend hugged her. “Poor you. He thinks you’re still married.”
“I got that part. He has to be wrong. We signed papers. We had lawyers. That’s the only thing I took from him, the legal fees to get out of the marriage. I liked the irony of it.”
Her head spun and she couldn’t seem to catch any of the thoughts zipping by. She figured she would go her whole life and never see Lewis again. How could he be in Fool’s Gold? And why now?
Married? He had to be playing some kind of game, but why?
She stared at Heidi. “I don’t know what to do.”
“You have a legal problem, then you get legal advice.” She pulled a business card out of her jeans back pocket. “I hope it’s okay, but I called ahead. Trisha is expecting you in her office right now.”
“Trisha Wynn? The lawyer who helped you with the ranch?”
“Yup. She’s great. You’ll like her.” Heidi hugged her again. “This is all fixable. You were divorced before, you can be again.”
“Shane is not going to understand this,” Annabelle murmured, accepting the comfort.
“What do you mean?”
Annabelle straightened. “He was just saying he likes the lack of drama in my life. Finding out I might still be married doesn’t exactly qualify me for calm person of the week. If Lewis is right and we’re not divorced, Shane is going to think the worst. That I’m a liar or an attention-seeker.”
Heidi’s eyebrows rose. “I see. And this concerns you?”
“Of course. I don’t want Shane to hate me.”
“Or think badly of you. Because you’re friends.”
“Yes, we’re friends.”
Heidi bit her lower lip. “Be careful. It sounds like you’ve crossed the friendship line.”
“No. I’m fine. I like Shane, nothing more. I’m not in love with him.”
Heidi didn’t look convinced, but she smiled and said, “I’m sure you’re right. Besides, you have enough to deal with right now. Let’s get rid of Lewis before we take on any other problems.”
* * *
ANNABELLE HAD SEEN TRISHA Wynn in court when the other woman had been helping Heidi, so she was prepared for the tight-fitting, low-cut, sexy clothes. Despite the fact that Trisha was probably in her sixties, she barely looked forty-five. Why she dressed like a woman in her twenties, Annabelle didn’t know, but she wasn’t in a position to be picky. Not when her marital freedom was on the line.