Judith Stacy by The One Month Marriage Page B

there also, helping her.”
    “At first, perhaps. But do you think your wife didn’t learn to handle things alone?” Leona proposed. “Has she seemed meek and mild-mannered since her return? Lost and unsure of herself?”
    “No,” Brandon said. “Not at all. In fact, she’s rather surprised me by the way she’s grabbed hold of things at home, taken charge.”
    “Then she doesn’t need your guidance,” Leona concluded.
    “Oh, God… Then she doesn’t really need me for anything, does she?” Brandon crossed the room and collapsed into the chair once more.
    “No,” Leona said softly. “She doesn’t need you for anything. But, I suspect, she wants you—or did at one time. I suspect, also, that she would like you to need her.”
    Brandon rubbed his forehead, fighting off another tide of rising emotion. “No…”
    Leona touched his arm. “You take risks in business every day. You’re going to have to risk your feelings—”
    “No.” He pulled his arm away and shook his head.
    A moment passed before Leona spoke again. “If you open your heart to Jana, expose your feelings and she still turns you down, wouldn’t you want to know that about her?”
    Brandon didn’t answer.
    “Wouldn’t you want to take the risk that it might rekindle her feelings for you? That it might save your marriage?” Leona asked.
    “I wouldn’t know where to start,” Brandon whispered.
    “Start by telling her how you feel.”
    Brandon’s gaze came up quickly. “Do you think it will make a difference?”
    “I think you have to give it a try.”
    Leona rose from the settee. Brandon gazed up at her as she spoke again. “If, that is, you truly want your wife to stay.”
    Leona left the office.
    Brandon remained in the chair, a witches’ brew of emotion churning in him. Usually, he valued Leona’s opinions. She was wise and informed. Little got past her. She’d proved herself a trusted confidante many times.
    Dare he hope that this time, in these particular circumstances, she was wrong?
    More than anything he wanted to settle back into his comfortable life with Jana. Fourteen months ago, marriage had been easy. Having a wife had been the simplest—and most wonderful thing—in his life. But everything had changed now.
    Could Leona be right? Could Jana really be planning to leave him once more?
    A quick rap sounded on his office door and Noah Carmichael strode inside.
    “Invitation,” he called as he dropped an envelope on Brandon’s desk. “Beth said it’s high time you brought your wife over for supper.”
    He turned to leave, but stopped in the doorway and looked back. “Are you all right?”
    He considered confiding in Noah, asking for his advice. After all, Noah’s marriage must be working out, since they had a baby on the way.
    But Brandon couldn’t bring himself to do it.
    “Fine,” Brandon replied, trying to put some enthusiasm into his voice so his friend wouldn’t question him further. “I’m fine. Everything’s fine.”
    “Don’t forget to give Jana this invitation. I’ll never hear the end of it if you don’t,” Noah said, then left the office.
    Brandon rose from the chair and drew in a heavy breath. He had to admit that there was merit to the things Leona had just told him. And he knew what he had to do, if he wanted Jana to stay.
    But could he bring himself to do it?
     
    As plans went, this one was a good one. And it was proceeding perfectly.
    Yet Jana wasn’t happy.
    Seated at the small writing desk in the sitting room, Jana sorted the stack of invitations into three piles, dealing them with a flick of her wrist as if they were playing cards. Everyone in the city, it seemed, had learned of her return and was anxious to draw her and Brandon into their social circle once more.
    Jana eyed the three stacks before her. One held invitations from people she remembered from the earlydays of her marriage, people whose company she was certain she and Brandon would enjoy. The next contained