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"Mmm," she mumbled, as if stirred from a dream. It was so easy to forget that she had to still find a way to pay for her mom's medical bills. "I'll need to find a job soon, those cancer treatments won't pay for themselves. I was hoping that perhaps you had a business that I could work for ..."

"No, there are no business ventures here. But if you want, we could always start one. What would we do?" Mark smiled broadly when he played with the gold medal that she still had wrapped around her wrist. "We could start a brewery of our own."

She smiled back. "I don't think I'll ever be that fond of beer. Maybe ... oh, we could run a food truck, or maybe a restaurant. Ah, but that would involve leaving the confines ofour forest vacation home, wouldn't it? Mmm, I'll have to think about it. We'll come up with something, at the very least."

Before Mark could respond, his phone started ringing. He kissed her cheek before rolling over to answer. "Yeah? Okay. Okay. Yeah, I'll be right there."

He hung up, kissed her again, and then rolled out of bed. When he looked at her again, he had a huge grin on his face, as large and happy as he'd been when they got married. Jennifer had to admit, she was curious what had him so excited.

"What's got you beaming like the sun?" Jennifer said, flopping onto her stomach so she could watch the show as he got dressed.

"You'll see. I've got to head out, but I'll be back in a few hours."

She arched a brow. "You? Leaving the mansion? Mark, we just went to the city," she teased. "What happened to being a hermit?"

"I know, it's strange, leaving twice in the span of days after being stuck here for a decade, but this is worth it. Trust me, you'll understand when I get back."

She bit her lip as he turned around, showing off his hard ass while he buttoned up his shirt. "Mhm, yeah. It's a surprise, then?"

He finished getting dressed, much to Jennifer's disappointment, and returned to kiss her again. "Two hours," he said. "Maybe three."

She forgot all about what she was curious about when his mouth touched hers. She melted against him, sighing against his mouth. Their days had been filled with incredible sex throughout the house ever since they were married. They hadn'tbeen able to get enough of each other. Even now, she wanted him to take her again instead of running off without her ... but she knew he would make it up to her later.

"Okay," she breathed against his mouth when he finally let her go. "I—" She bit her lip again. "I'll see you soon."

He gave her a knowing smile, his bright green eyes showing her that he knew what she meant to say, and then disappeared from the bedroom.

She'd almost saidI love you, but she'd stopped herself. It'd been a spur-of-the-moment feeling. Mark was amazing, and he'd been wonderful to her ever since she arrived at his place ... it was hard not to fall for him as quickly as she had. But she wasn't ready to say the words out loud yet.

Once Mark had been gone for a few minutes, she rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. It was so strange, being without him now after spending the last three days with him at her side every minute of every day. It wasn't a feeling she wanted to get used to ... but she also knew that one day, they would have to find other things to do besides spending all day pleasuring each other.

As fun as it was, Jennifer would eventually need something more to occupy her brain with.

In part, she asked Mark if he had a business because she was curious where he got his fortune. If he wasn't a young business owner, then the only real answer was inheritance. But of all the talking they'd done since they met, he spoke very little about his past, and when he did, only in broad strokes.

It really wasn't her business, but the longer they spent together, the more inclined she became to accept his offer of helping out her mother. Mark had a lot of money, and he was generous with it—he told her about his donations to variouslocal charities and such. But it would just make her feel a bit better knowing where the money came from, especially since they were now married and, legally, his money was hers, too ... even if she would never really see it as hers.

But she trusted Mark, so she didn't think it was worth pushing the issue yet. Wherever he got his money, she didn't think it was from anything illegal or immoral. Mark seemed like a straightforward kind of guy, not someone to mess around in something potentially dangerous or harmful to others. In the end, that was really what mattered to her.

Before she accepted any money from him, to pay for Arabelle's medical expense or otherwise, though, she wanted to secure a way to make sure she could pay him back. Maybe the amount she needed wasn't something she could ever really offer him back, and he might not want her to, but the principle mattered to her.

After lying down for another half hour, caught up in her thoughts, Jennifer finally got dressed and ventured from the bedroom. The grand hallways and bright chandeliers still startled her every time she came out of the room. It was incredible to think that this was her home now, that she wasn't just a guest here.

She imagined that it would take several more months before the truth really sunk in.

Not that just this home was hers, but so was Mark. Mark, the sexiest, most incredible man in the world, was her husband.

She rolled her wrist, the one that had the blue band with the beer mug-shaped medal attached to it. It wasn't a ring, but honestly, she thought this was better. A fond memory came with the medal, one she would treasure forever.

When he went down on one knee and proposed to her, as if their marriage wasn't already set in stone, that was the first time she realized she was actually falling for him already. Now, days later, he'd completely done her in.

He was just so thoughtful and caring, tender and loving ... it was easy to imagine spending the rest of her life with him, locked away in their woodland palace.

If only it wasn't for her mother.

For now, she pushed those thoughts aside. Tonight, she would tell Mark that she decided to accept his offer, for her mother's sake. He would be pleased to hear the news, and then she could finally explain what was going on to her mother, too. They'd talked every day since she left Portland, but she still kept the details of her arrangement obscured ... but she wouldn't be able to much longer.

Ever since she married Mark, she'd been dying to scream the truth out to the world. Right now, the two of them, Jake, and the two staff members that did the cooking and cleaning were the only ones who knew where she really was.