Wife by Wednesday Read Free Page A

something wrong?” Worry wiggled around in her stomach, producing a familiar sense of panic.
    “Nothing urgent. Jordan isn’t eating as much as they’d like. They thought you should stop by and talk to her.”
    Samantha blew out a long-suffering breath and forced her shoulders to relax. “Okay.” Her plans for the afternoon would now be complicated with a side trip to the long care facility that took care of her younger sister. The last time she’d stopped eating she ended up in the hospital suffering from an infection that spread throughout her whole bloodstream. Sam hoped her sister was depressed and not ill. Sad that those were the top choices as to why Jordan wasn’t eating.
    But what else was there? Depression had led to Jordan ’s attempted suicide, which resulted in a stroke instead of death. “I’ll be late, but if you can wait, I’ll bring lunch.”
    “Let me know if you get tied up.”
    “I will. Thanks.”
    Sam hung up and started her car before pointing it toward Moonlight Assisted Living. The exclusive home cost over a hundred grand a year and was the reason Samantha needed the income that Blake Harrison would bring. She was a month behind on her personal bills and always cutting the checks to Moonlight a week or two late. The last thing Sam wanted was to crumble under the financial pressure and end up having to put Jordan in a state run facility, homes where she’d be ignored and likely end up with bedsores and untreatable infections within a month. No, she’d live out of her car before she let that happen.
    Picturing the Duke, Sam knew things wouldn’t end up so dire. He stood to lose close to three hundred million from his father’s estate if he didn’t marry by the end of the month. Blake would likely pay the woman walking down the aisle a nice chunk and therefore pay Alliance enough to float for some time. All Sam had to do was fluff up the women in line and make sure none of them hit any panic buttons.
    Easy squeezy… or so she hoped.

Chapter Two
     
     
     
    Blake fingered the photographs and files of the three women Samantha sent his way. Each one was perfect. They were educated, cultured, and beautiful. So why the hell were they registered with a dating service to find a temporary husband? There had to be a link between them and Miss Matchmaker herself, but Blake wasn’t seeing it.
    Candidate one, Candice… no last name. According to the portfolio, she was a second year law student with typical educational loans. She loved the arts and spent her off time running marathons. Blake glanced at her picture again. Her resemblance to Jacqueline was scary. Samantha thought of everything, she’d even put the ladies’ measurements and weight at the bottom of the page. In captions, Sam wrote a note about how dating services often use old, photo-shopped high school pictures but Alliance updated their photos every six months.
    Candidate two, Rita… again, no last name. A physician’s assistant taking classes for pre-med. She loved boating and spending time in exotic locations. She’d done her share of traveling, but Sam’s papers didn’t say how she afforded her hobby.
    Candidate three, Karen… Blake didn’t bother looking for a last name, he knew it wouldn’t be there. Karen should have been a model. Stunning blue eyes and snow blonde hair knocked a man’s breath out of his lungs. Karen wasn’t in school and didn’t have any student loans. She managed some type of nursing home and mentored kids at a boys’ and girls’ club.
    The women were perfect, so why did Blake have a sinking feeling that they were all wrong?
    Blake pushed forward in his chair and picked up his phone. When his assistant picked up, Blake said, “Well, Mitch?”
    “I still have a couple of calls unanswered, but I’ve found some interesting things about Miss Elliot.”
    “Great, bring them over.”
    Blake walked over to the floor-to-ceiling windows of his office and looked down at the city below. Running his