When Levi walked into the bedroom from the balcony, he saw that the bed where his new bride had been sleeping in when he left to answer a phone call was sitting tousled and empty.
A light entered his green eyes as he remembered the events of the previous night. When he stepped into that bar, he had not the foggiest idea what sort of rollercoaster ride he was about to get on.
He had noticed the pretty girl just a couple of seats away from him at the bar and he had watched from the corner of his eye as she poured drink after drink down her throat. He had been doing the same too but he could not help wondering what worries would plague someone so angelic looking.
When her friend had left her at the bar he immediately thought that was not a very bright idea and sure enough, she soon attracted a loser and he had been forced to get involved.
Somehow that had led to them slow dancing until she declared that she was bored and when he asked what she wanted to do, her answer had quite literally shocked him.
"Let's get married."
He had been sure it was the drunkenness speaking but there had been a deep sadness in her chocolate brown eyes that he wanted to wipe away forever and like an idiot he said, "why not, let's get married."
Ethan his assistant had been able to procure a marriage license and a judge and some random witness no questions asked and they got married.
And now that the actions of the night were hit by the light of the morning, he was wondering what the hell had gotten into him.
He could not for the life of him say exactly why he had done what he did, he could not even entirely blame drunkenness because even then he had still been aware that getting married to a stranger was crazy.
And even though he would never admit it openly, under the veneer of success, his good looks and pedigree, he was lonely and craved true connection.
Which was thigh slapping hilarious because the whole world believed that he was a playboy who was having the time of his life with a multitude of the most beautiful women but the truth was that he was a forty two year old man who was realizing that he really had no one.
Still, that was not enough reason to marry a stranger. And one who looked as young as his own son.
He was going to have to get their marriage annulled immediately. He felt a headache come on when he imagined the headlines if the press got wind of it. He would have to arrange a nice settlement for the girl and hope that she would go away quietly.
Chris, his lawyer and best friend was not going to be very amused.
He went to the bathroom and frowned when he realized that the door was not locked, he had expected to find her in there brushing her teeth or something. If she was not in the bathroom then where could she be?
His eyes darkened and he grabbed his phone and called his assistant.
"Ethan," he said, his voice urgent. "I need you to find everything that you can about Lyse Spade."
Ethan kept quiet for a moment, then he answered. "Yes sir, I will get right to it."
Levi hung up the phone while his mind raced as he wondered how he had gotten into this mess.
*
"How did this happen?" James asked shrilly as he paced about the bedroom while Lyse sat with her head in her hands.
Now he was wishing that he had insisted on taking Lyse away with him when he left the bar, if he had done that then none of this would be happening.
"Do we at least know who he is?"
"I have no idea." Lyse said and refused to raise her head up, "When I woke up there was no one else in the room and I could not bear seeing him so I just snuck out."
"What if he is just some grifter who is trying to take advantage of a young girl like yourself." James moaned and Lyse looked up and raised an eyebrow and with sarcasm dripping from her voice said.
"Oh my, he will probably be able to take half of my flea bargain Manolo's in the divorce."
"That is not funny." James said with a straight face and Lyse rolled her eyes.
She had nothing to give someone who was scamming her, it was not like she had any notable family ties to offe.
As far as she could tell, the person she had married was probably just another stupid drunk, who in their right senses would marry someone they just met at a bar?
She closed her eyes and wished that this problem would just disappear but when she opened her eyes the nondescript gold ring was staring accusingly at her from on top the dresser.
She had gone from standing at the altar with the man she had loved since she was a teenager to having a night stand and getting a ring from heaven knew where.
"Maybe it was just a fake marriage? I mean surely marriages don't just happen at the drop of a hat." She said with a hopeful smile then added wryly, "I should know."
James sighed deeply and sat beside her before wrapping his arm around her.
In the confusion of the moment he had almost forgotten that Lyse had gone through a really rough time with the wedding that did not happen.
"You know what." He said and she raised her head and looked at him, "You are probably right, it's not like one can casually get a marriage license and a minister of peace last notice at midnight."
"It was probably just some harmless joke and no one is going to come looking for you."
Lyse looked at him with hope shining in her eyes. She was already dealing with the fact that she was going to have to return to work.
She was regretting the fact that she had not asked for time off for her honeymoon because they were in the middle of planning the fashion collections that would be showing at fashion week. So she was going to have to go back to all of the questioning looks and mocking glares.
"I still can't believe that your first time was with a one night stand." James sounded incredulous and she groaned.
"Please stop reminding me about how stupid I was, I swear I will never drink again!"