“Ruby.” Yvonne gestured to a chair in the corner. “Why don’t you have a seat?”

“I’ll stand.” She might have to run to the bathroom again.

Silence hung between them. Yvonne continued to study Ruby, her demeanor calm and inscrutable. Why wasn’t she freaking out about the situation like Ruby was?

Finally, Yvonne spoke. “You don’t remember last night, do you?”

Ruby shook her head. “Not a thing.”

“That makes two of us.”

Ruby frowned. If Yvonne didn’t remember anything, why was she so calm? She didn’t seem at all flustered by the fact that she was now married to a stranger. What was going on?

“The last thing I remember is pouring us both another round of scotch,” Yvonne said. “Then I woke up to find a ring on my finger and you in my bed. I found this on the table.” She held up a piece of paper. It was a marriage certificate with both their names on it. “Apparently, we thought this was a good solution to my inheritance issue.”

Fractured snippets of the night came back to Ruby. They’d left the hotel bar, to go god knew where. They’d drunk some more. Eventually, they’d ended up in a little ‘chapel’ standing before a celebrant dressed as Elvis. Ruby didn’t remember anything in between, like when and why they’d decided to get married.

Ruby shook her head. “We need to undo this.”

“If that’s what you want,” Yvonne said. “We can get an annulment on the basis that we were unable to consent to the marriage because of our inebriated states. We fill out some forms, and it will be like this never happened.”

Ruby breathed a sigh of relief.

“Of course, there’s another option.”

Ruby froze. “What do you mean?”

“We can take advantage of the situation. We can remain married. Come to some kind of agreement.”

“You want to stay married?”

“Only until I can get my inheritance. Of course, I’ll make it worth your while.”

Ruby shook her head. It was a crazy idea. Besides, Ruby knew better than to get into an arrangement with a client, especially after the last time she’d done so.

Nothing could possibly make this worthwhile. Right?

“How would you make it worth my while?” Ruby asked.

“It’s simple. Once I get the inheritance, you get a share of the money,” Yvonne said. “How does one million sound?”

Ruby’s eyes widened. “A million dollars?”

“Of course, there are additional perks to being my wife. I’m sure a woman like you is accustomed to luxury, but the luxury I can provide you with goes beyond the gaudy glitz of Vegas.” She waved her hand around the room. “You’ll have everything you could possibly want.”

Ruby twisted the ring around her finger absently. That did sound tempting.

“One of the conditions of the inheritance is that I need to stay married for a year in order to get the full amount. But once the year is up and the money is in my hands, you’ll get your share, and we can get a divorce and go our separate ways.”