Alex sat in the truck beside the airstrip waiting for the damned plane to land, telling himself over and over that it didn’t matter what she looked like. This would be a marriage in name only and would only last until he could satisfy his brother that he wasn’t lonely or unhappy. After that they would quietly divorce. He would settle her with enough money to keep her from having to do this again. What kind of woman was desperate enough to agree to marry a total stranger anyway?

He’d been having second, and third, and fourth thoughts since he got the letter. Maybe he shouldn’t have done this. Maybe this was a mistake. Maybe he’d been too hasty. Alex shook his head. It didn’t matter now. She was almost here. The only option left was to try to scare her away. Giving her a good look at his face ought to do that.

Finally, the plane landed and it seemed like an eternity before a slender brunette dragging a wheeled suitcase walked around the tail of the aircraft. Damn. This had definitely been a mistake. She was still too far away for him to be able to make out her features, but the jeans she wore hugged her body and the breeze pushed the light, gauzy shirt against her breasts and even just that made his jean feel too tight. She was slender but full of curves. The way her hips moved as she walked made his dick harden in an instant. Dreading her reaction when she saw his face he pulled the hood of his sweatshirt over his head. Damn. He’d really screwed the pooch this time. She was almost to the truck when he realized it was do or die time and opened the door.

“Janine Hamilton?” He had to be sure this was the woman they’d intended for him to marry. He didn’t want to go through the shock and pain of revealing his face more than once. She said she was and they discussed her baggage for a moment. It was time. He had to do it.

“Can you live looking at this every day?” Alex steeled himself for the look of horror he knew was coming as he flipped back his hood letting her see the scars that covered the right side of his face. The remnants of the wounds that had nearly taken his eye and had taken almost everything, including his fiancée, and some days, his will to live. But he’d come back, he’d survived, and he was doing just fine, as long as people left him alone.

Alex was shocked when neither horror nor pity crossed her face. Instead he saw something that looked oddly like interest. Damn. Maybe there was more to her than he’d given her credit for.

“All I see is someone strong enough to survive.” She didn’t look away for several long moments and when she did, it still didn’t seem like pity or fear. Hm. The only person who looked at him like that was Mrs. Barrett. But she was almost sixty and married to a Vietnam vet who had lost an arm. She was used to battle scars. Even Dave couldn’t keep the pity out of his eyes when he looked at Alex. Alex hated it and it never got any easier. If Janine didn’t cringe every time she saw him, maybe this could work. Maybe they could fool his brother.

He loaded her one bag and got in.

“Let’s get this over with, shall we?” He put the truck in gear and pointed the truck down the dirt trail that led back to the house.

“Over with?” she said after a moment. “Do you not want to do this?” Her voice shook slightly, almost as if she was afraid. He glanced over and found her sitting with her hands folded in her lap, but no outward signs of fear or anything else.

“Want to? No. But I need to.”

“I can be the wife you need. I can cook and clean, take care of children so you’re not bothered. Whatever you need, I can do it.”

“You seem awfully sure.” He glanced over at her.

“I was trained to be a good wife.” She looked away, facing the far window. “It’s about all I know how to do.”

“And what if what I require is complete obedience. I say kneel, you fall to your knees. I say jump you ask how high? What if I want to tie you down and whip you until you scream?”

“I can do that.”

He stomped on the break. The truck skidded to a stop kicking up clouds of dust around them.

“What the fuck did you just say?”

She flinched as the curse word tumbled unhindered from his lips.

“I said I can do that.”

“Just where the fuck do you come from that you don’t even blink at the idea of me whipping you until you scream, but you flinch at a word?”

“Let’s just say I had an odd childhood.” Her gaze fell to her lap. She was hiding something, and he was curious to know what. “One where profanity was strictly forbidden, but men were expected to ensure the proper behavior of their wives.” Her gaze lifted, pain filled eyes met his. “I’ve been beaten more times than I can count. If you want to do it, I’m sure I can take it. Though, I hope to learn your rules quickly, so I don’t have to endure it too frequently.”

“Frequently?” Alex clenched his jaw. The idea that someone had whipped the woman beside him, the beautiful being who was willing to do whatever he wanted, made him so angry he wanted to hit something, but he didn’t let her see that. He didn’t want her to think it was aimed at her or that he would take it out on her. He might be an asshole, but he’d never hit a woman and he wasn’t planning to start now. Though he might make an exception for the woman who’d taught Janine that it was right. Just the idea left a sour taste in his mouth.

“I’d like a chance for any marks to fade before having to go through it again, though.”

Alex closed his eyes and silently counted to ten. If he ever encountered the shithead who had made Janine like this, he’d beat him to a bloody pulp. When he opened his eyes, he found her staring at him, waiting calmly for his answer. Son of a bitch. He wasn’t planning on keeping her, but something about the way she sat there, calmly waiting for him to tell her how frequently he would beat her. Something about this woman triggered every protective instinct he had.

“I will never raise a hand against you in anger. I might slap your ass once a while playing, but I would never hurt you. I will never leave a mark on you that you don’t enjoy.”

Confusion clouded her face for a moment and he wondered what that was about. He didn’t intend to leave a mark on her either way because he didn’t intend to sleep with her. This is a marriage in name only, he reminded himself. No matter how much he wanted to wrap his arms around her and protect her from anything that came her way, it wasn’t his place. He wasn’t going to keep her, and sleeping with her would only hurt her when it was over.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me for that. That’s just being a decent human.” He turned back to the road and they started moving again. The silence between them stretched until he couldn’t take it, odd for him. “Tell me about yourself. I want to know a little more than your name before we get married Janine.”

“Janie.”

“Excuse me?”

“Please, call me Janie. I don’t care much for Janine.”

He glanced over in time to see her shiver.

“Cold?” He didn’t see how she could be — it was the middle of summer for Christ’s sake — but who knew what the summers were like where she was from. It was 85 here and he was sweating in this hoodie, but he’d wanted to be able to hide his face and this was the best for that.

“No. It’s nice.” She looked out the far window again.

“You were telling me about yourself, Janie.” He used the name she preferred while reminding her of what she was doing on purpose. He wanted her to know he was listening.

“I grew up in Texas.” She fell silent.

“Any brothers or sisters?” He felt like he was interrogating her. Alex wondered again what she was hiding. He was going to have to run a search once they got back to the house. See if she had any kind of record. He couldn’t imagine she did. He’d been very clear to the agency that he needed someone whose background was clean, someone who wouldn’t endanger his security clearance. He glanced over at her again as they bumped along the rough track of a road and made a mental note to have something done about the lane. Was she going to answer him?