Staring into Molly’s teary gaze, Devil felt about an inch tall.  Reducing a woman to tears…even if they were enraged tears… had never been his style.  He was known for being a smooth operator, but with this woman he’d done everything wrong.

Where the hell was his much vaunted charm now? 

“I’m sorry, Molly,” he apologized softly, lifting a hand to caress her damp cheek.  “I never meant to make you cr-… angry,” he amended quickly when her green eyes narrowed on his face.  “That was never my intention.”

Sniffling, Molly lifted a hand to wipe her nose.  “I’m not sure I want to know what your intentions were, Devil.  The only thing I know is that you need to get that money out of my account and tell me how much I owe you so that we can work out some sort of payment plan.”

“Molly, there isn’t much that I wouldn’t do for you, but I’m not going to change anything I’ve already done.  You’re going to be my wife.  You’ll be entitled to half of everything I have.  In that vein, I’m just getting a head start on sharing my worth with you.”

“I’m going to be a pretend wife in a fake marriage,” Molly clarified sharply, needing to find some balance in her world that was obviously teetering on the edge of disaster.  “That doesn’t entitle me to jackshit as far as I’m concerned.  Just hand me a ring from a bubblegum machine and we’ll get this Greek tragedy underway,” she ordered, reaching for another napkin from the table and mopping her face with it.

Devil tamped down on his urge to shake her until her teeth rattled.  It wouldn’t curry favor and her still-wet cheeks were enough to dampen the momentary need to yell.  But, Jesus, she was testing him.  If he didn’t act fast, he was going to go down on his knees and beg her to believe in him.

Just a fucking little bit.

Breathing deeply as she dabbed at her nose with another crumpled napkin, he forced himself to silently count to ten.  Blowing up and getting angry wouldn’t work with Molly.  She responded to reason and logic.  She needed order and discipline. 

And he needed to get them back on track before he tackled her to the floor of his kitchen and showed her exactly how he felt about her – condom or no condom.

Grabbing her wrist, he dragged her toward the door.  “Come with me,” he demanded when she began to protest, hauling her through the formal dining room and back into the living room.  Pushing her none too gently onto the couch, he pointed one long finger at her.  “Sit and stay,” he ordered imperiously.

“Should I heel and fetch on command as well?” she yelled to his retreating back as he walked toward the picture hanging on the wall opposite the sofa.

Ignoring her as Molly continued to mumble under her breath about self-righteous men and their arbitrary commands, Devil removed the framed Monet that hung on the wall and quickly punched a security code into the safe that the painting had hidden.  Easily finding the black velvet box he sought, he heaved a relieved breath as he wrapped his hand around the ring box and extracted it from the safe.  Quickly closing the door and replacing the painting, he returned to stand in front of the still-ranting woman he was going to marry.  He had intended on talking to her father first, but desperate situations called for desperate measures.

“Sweetheart, you realize that you’re talking to yourself, right?” he asked, kneeling to squat in front of her.

“Maybe that’s because I’m the only one that listens to me anymore,” Molly snapped, glaring at him.  “And if you give me dog commands again, I’m going to train Coco and Chanel to be my little pet assassins and then, I’ll buy a Great Dane and train him to eat your worthless hide.  No body, no murder, right?”

Devil choked on a laugh.  He could see by the look in her eyes that she was completely serious, and he definitely wouldn’t put it past her.  “Sorry about that.  Consider me suitably warned,” he murmured.  “I needed to grab something out of the safe and didn’t want to take the chance that you’d bolt while I was occupied.  The neighbors might not understand if they watched me tackling a woman to the ground in my driveway in the dead of night.  I do have a reputation as a serious businessman to maintain.”

“Trust me, Devil, a businessman is the least of what you’re known for in Atlanta,” Molly grumbled as she shoved her hair behind her ears. 

“Well, I happen to know that marrying you will improve my reputation tremendously.  At the very least, it will put me in a better mood,” he offered with a wink at her. 

“Don’t bet on it,” Molly replied with a snort of derision.  “You’ve never been married to me, Dev.”

“I will be shortly.” Taking a deep breath, he smiled with confidence that he wasn’t exactly sure he felt.  “This will make it official.” He cracked open the velvet box in his hand and pulled out the diamond ring inside.  “In the kitchen, you said you were going to be a fake wife in a pretend marriage, Molly.  Those were your words.”

“I know what I said, Devil.”  Molly crossed her arms over his chest and eyed him suspiciously.  “Everything I said is true.”

Holding the ring between his thumb and index finger, he lifted it in front of her nose.  “No, Molly, it isn’t.  This is very, very real,” he confided quietly.  “Three generations of Delancy women wore this ring.  You’ll be the fourth.”  He reached for her hand and frowned when she snatched it out of his grip.

Jerking backward, Molly’s rigid shoulders met the couch cushions as her eyes widened and she shook her head.  “Is that the…the Delancy Diamond?” she asked tightly.  “The ring Nana always talks about?”

“One and the same.”  Devil nodded, reaching for her hand again and frowning when she moved her arm to avoid him.  “Now, it’s Molly’s diamond,” he explained while he made a third attempt to snag her hand, capturing her cold wrist in his and drawing her hand toward him. 

“No, Devil.  No, no, no, no, NOOOOO!”  Molly shook her head furiously, quickly extracting her arm from his grip and shoving both her hands behind her back.

Staring into her frightened eyes, Devil’s heart softened as he realized that she wasn’t being deliberately obstinate.  That was honest-to-God fear he saw shining in her expressive, green eyes.  “Honey, it’s just a ring,” Devil soothed, rubbing her leg with the hand not holding her engagement ring.

“Bullshit,” Molly charged tersely.  “I’ve been in this family my whole life, Devil.  I know all the stories about that ring.  From how it was smuggled out of Ireland to how your mother refused to hand it over when she got mugged outside the grocery store… I’ve heard them all,” she panted, nodding at the sparkling gem in his hand.  “Nana told me that once that ring goes on a woman’s finger, it only comes off when somebody’s ass hits a pine box.  I have no intention of dying anytime soon, and as much as the idea of murdering you had appealed to me, I don’t really think killin’ you is an appropriate way to get out of a marriage.  I’d probably end up having to serve time and orange just isn’t my color!”

“Molly, it’s a ring,” Devil stated calmly, squeezing her calf muscle gently.  Sweet Lord in heaven, he had to find a way to get this very ring on her finger...and quickly.

“Nuh uh.  That’s an heirloom steeped in Delancy family history.  It deserves to be on the finger of the woman you’ll eventually find to love… if such a lady even exists,” she denied, her thoughts running rampant as she tried to take control of the situation.  “Pick another ring.  You’ve got a jeweler on speed dial.  Call him up.  I’m sure the guy that sells all those pretty necklaces to you would love a tidy commission on a small engagement ring.”

“I’m not going to a jeweler, Molly.”  Devil shook his head gravely as he watched Molly chew on her bottom lip.

“Fine!  A pawn shop then.  Plenty of divorced women hock their rings once the ink is dry on the divorce decree.  Hell, I don’t care if you fish one out of a Cracker Jack box!  I’m just not wearing the Delancy diamond,” she refused adamantly.  Wearing the Delancy diamond would make this entire farce just a bit too real for her...would make her too connected to him.  And as much as she might actually want that very thing, she just couldn’t allow it to happen.  The consequences were too great.  Weren’t they?

“This is the ring that Nana wants to see you wearing, babe,” Devil reminded her softly.  “It’s the ring that I want you to wear.  Besides a gold band, it’s the only ring I’m going to put on your finger in the near future.  So, do us both a favor and simply offer me your hand so I can slide this where it belongs,” he coaxed gently.  He’d never imagined giving this family heirloom to a woman before, but in that moment he decided that he wanted Molly Ramsey to wear his ring more than he wanted to draw his next breath.

Molly lifted a hand to rub her face and scratch her neck frantically.  “Would you please stop!” she begged.  “First, you tell me that you want me to sign a year-and-a-half of my life over to you.  Then, you nearly have sex with me.  Next, I find out that not only have you taken my credit report and wiped it clear of any debt I had, but you also put half a million dollars in my personal bank account.  And now, you’re trying to put a priceless freaking family heirloom that essentially curses us to a life together on my freaking finger!  It’s enough,” she cried almost hysterically, moving the hand at her neck to her arm and clawing the itching skin furiously.  Glancing down at her arm, her jaw dropped.  “And now you’ve given me hives, to boot!” she shrieked, staring in horror at her mottled skin as she took shallow breaths.

“Honey, you need to calm down and try to take some deep breaths,” he ordered, keeping his voice low, but firm as he took her arm gently in his hand and looked down at the angry, red welts that had appeared on her flesh.  By God, if her rash got any worse, he was personally going to call 9-1-1 and order the paramedics to cure her immediately.

“Calm?  I haven’t had a case of hives since I found that asshat cheating on me in my own bed!” Molly railed, growing more unnerved by the second as she raked her nails across her skin.  “If I have to go to the hospital for this nonsense, I swear, Devil, I’m gonna kill you!”

“Molly, you’re panicking.  I want you to calm down,” he demanded deeply, capturing her hands before her nails could draw blood.  Hearing her put him and the cheating dick she’d been involved with a few years ago in the same sentence smarted, but he could understand her frustration.  Both of them had thrown her world into a tailspin.  What she didn’t realize was that only one of them had ever really loved her – and it wasn’t the aforementioned asshat.  Right now, however, he had a greater mission to address than defending himself against being lumped into the same category with the former asshole in her life.  “Deep breaths,” he ordered softly as he rubbed his thumb over the throbbing pulse in her wrist.  He watched her face as she focused on him and inhaled several deep breaths.  “That’s my girl,” he praised, when the flush on her face diminished a bit.  “Feel better?” he asked after a few more seconds.

Nodding wordlessly, Molly leaned her head back against the couch and eyed him.  “Devil, I don’t think this,” she commented, gesturing between them, “I don’t think it’s going to work.”

“We’re working just fine,” he assured her gently, reaching for her hand again.  Sliding the gold band on her finger as she held her breath, he smiled.  “It’s a perfect fit,” he murmured, adjusting the stone on her finger before he laced his hand through hers.  Lifting his eyes, he met her terrified gaze.

“Do you have any idea what you just did?” Molly asked breathlessly.

“I know exactly what I’m doing, Molly,” Devil replied gently, moving from his knees on the hardwood floor in front of her to sit beside her still body on the couch.  She appeared to be barely breathing as she stiffened beside him.  Wrapping his arm around her shoulders, he tugged her against him.  “Just relax and listen to me a minute, please,” he urged her when he felt her body go rigid in his arms. 

Molly stared down at the hefty diamond on the third finger of her left hand and nodded slowly.  “I guess,” she consented huskily.

“I know that marrying me isn’t something that you planned on doing, Molly, but I think we can both recognize the chemistry between us.  For God’s sake, we nearly set the bed on fire upstairs.  We can make things work between us.  I want to make things work between us,” he told her truthfully, watching her face closely as she seemed to relax against him.  “I know I went behind your back and did some things today that made you angry.  I’m sorry for that.”

“So you’ll undo it?” she asked hopefully, glancing up at him.

He’d give her points for stubbornness, he thought with a mental smile as he tightened his arm around her.  Devil knew what he had to say next ran the risk of pissing her off, but he wouldn’t lie to her.  She deserved as much honesty as he could offer her.

“I’m sorry I made you angry, Mols.  I’m not sorry that I did what I did,” he clarified.  “There are some things you need to understand about me… things I doubt that you’ve realized.”

“What things?” she questioned hesitantly, turning her head fully to meet him eye to eye. 

“First, I’m not quite as forward-thinking as some of the guys you know,” Devil began cautiously.

“No!  Say it isn’t so?” Molly replied, feigning dismayed shock as she purposefully gawked at him.

“Smartass,” he muttered, pursing his lips.  He couldn’t really complain.  Her quirky sense of humor was one of the qualities he enjoyed most about her.  “I’m being serious.”

“Unfortunately, I know.  You and Grant are throwbacks to a different generation.  A way, way different generation.  I’m still not sure how Karen’s managed not to plant a butter knife between my brother’s eyes.”

“She loves him,” Devil remarked simply. “A person will overlook a lot of faults when they’re in love, Molly.”

Molly bent her head and grunted noncommittally. 

Devil couldn’t help his involuntary smile.  She wasn’t happy with his statement, but she wasn’t objecting to it either.  That was progress.

“At any rate, I’m an old-fashioned guy.  Old-fashioned guys provide for their wives,” he explained patiently.  “That means paying your bills and making sure that you’re adequately provided for in the event that something happens to me.  I can not and will not change who I am, Molly.  This is it.”

Turning, Molly squinted at him.  “You’re not senile, are you?  Because, seriously, those ideas are positively archaic.  A woman is more than capable of providing for herself in the twenty-first century, you Neanderthal.”

“I didn’t say you weren’t,” Devil returned evenly.  “You have.  None of your bills were behind when I paid them.  What I’m saying is that I’m more than equipped to provide for you now.  It’s become my job.”

Molly shook her head and stared at him dumbly for a moment before throwing up a hand.  “Okay, fine.  Let’s for a second say I accept you paying off my creditors.  I haven’t, but let’s, for the sake of argument, say that I did.”

“Okay,” Devil agreed eagerly with a nod of his own, “I like that plan.”

“Don’t get too excited,” Molly warned sharply, planting her elbow in his ribs with excellent accuracy.  “I might be able to accept the paying off the debt thing.  Eventually.  But dropping half a million dollars into my bank account without my knowledge?  I feel dirty with that money sitting there, Devil!”

“That money is a drop in the bucket compared to what you will shortly be entitled to, sweetheart.  I told you, I believe in providing for my wife,” he reiterated, frowning when Molly lifted her hands to rub her temples, the diamond twinkling in the lamplight.

“Okay, but I’m not your wife yet, and even when I become your wife, if I become your wife…”

“Oh, there’s going to be a wedding, Molly,” Devil guaranteed her somberly.  “I’m marrying you.  The sooner, the better.”

“It’s not going to be a real marriage, Devil,” Molly countered a little desperately as she turned to fully look at him.  “Therefore, I wouldn’t be entitled to jack squat.  I don’t want jack squat.  I’m not going to take diddly squat from you.  For crying out loud, you put a half million dollars in my account.  That’s not providing for a wife, real or imagined…it’s purchasing one.”

“The money is staying with you,” Devil stated, his position on the matter completely unaltered by her admittedly persuasive arguments.

Pressing her lips together, Molly’s cheeks reddened.  “Fine,” she finally allowed with a grim nod.  “I’ll give it away.  I will donate every stinking penny of it to charity.”

“If that’s what you feel like you should do,” Devil returned with a bland smile.  “I’ll simply keep transferring funds into your account.  I’m a multimillionaire, Molly.  One that seems to get wealthier every year.  I can outlast you, babe.  And I’ve got staying power.”

“Damn it, Devil” Molly growled, ineffectually smacking her balled fists against the sofa cushions.  “Why are you doing this?”

“Look,” Devil replied slowly, sliding one hand over her small fist, “I know this isn’t the way you imagined having a man propose.  It’s not ideal.  But, Nana’s plight opened my eyes to things I’ve tried to avoid seeing, Molly.  I’m not a young man anymore.  I’m not old by any means, but I have reached that age where I need to settle down… start a family… build a life with someone.  I’ve known you all your life.  I trust you when I trust very, very few people.  My grandmother adores you.  We’re attracted to each other.  We have both chemistry and history.  This could work,” he rationalized calmly. 

“What exactly could work, Devil?” Molly asked nervously.

“Our marriage, Molly.  I want a real one.   I want a real marriage with you.”