**Edited by krisgee**

“The Rented Husband”


2011 Copyright All Rights Reserved

Chapter 15


                Seth stepped off the elevator, looking for some place to maybe get a drink and relax a little since his wife and kids were napping and paused when he spotted his in-laws, facing each other off.  In the six years that he had known his wife, he had never seen the two of them glower at each other like that.

                He stood there for a long minute and silently debated on what he should do. 

                If he was smart, he would just quietly walk away but then he would have no idea why the two were looking at each other like that.  If he was itching for trouble then he would approach them and take it from there.

                The problem was that now his curiosity was peaked and as a creature of habit he was finding it hard to ignore that nagging curiosity.

                “Ah hell,” he muttered, already knowing what his decision would be.  I must be a glutton for punishment, he thought to himself, approaching his wife’s parents.

                He put on his biggest smile.  “Ted….Erica, fancy running into you two down here.  I thought you would have been at the pool by now.”

                Ted Murray glanced over at Seth and shoved his hands in his pockets.  "Have you heard the latest news?” he all but growled out.

                “Now, Ted- it’s not all that bad,” his wife rebuffed him.  “You’re just mad because she didn’t consult with you first.”  She straightened her spine and with one look the older woman dared her husband to argue with her.  She was at least two heads smaller than her husband but she wasn’t scared of him in the least.   

                “She’s our daughter,” he argued.  “She should have told us about something as big as that.  Not drop it like a bomb at Caley’s wedding.”

                Erica smacked her lips.  “Did you see the two of them Ted?  Did you see the sparks igniting off them?  They are perfect for each other and you’re just mad because you didn’t have a hand in picking out who her husband was going to be.”

                Seth was slowly starting to put the pieces together as he watched the two converse, his head going back and forth between them like a ball during a tennis match.  He concluded that this had to do with Olivia considering she was the only unmarried daughter and evidently she had gone off and gotten herself hitched without telling her parents about it first.

                That would most definitely be a recipe for disaster.  He knew how protective Ted was over his children, especially his daughters.  He even remembered the arduous interrogations he went through while courting Ashley.

                Ted turned to Seth once again.  “What do you think?”

                His eyes widened.  “Um,” he started, his gaze flitting between the two knowing all too well that this was the part where he usually stuck his foot in his mouth.  Hoping to divert the attention back off of him, he turned the question back on them.  “Think about what exactly?”

                Ted blew out a heavy breath.  “Olivia getting married to that gigolo,” he said, as if Seth should have already known that.

                “He is not a gigolo Ted, he is an attorney that works with her,” his wife pointed out.  

                “Then he’s a pansy ass.”

                Erica rolled her eyes.  Forty two years she has shared with this man and she had never wanted to ring his neck as much as she did right now.  Olivia was happy, why couldn’t he see that and just be happy for her?  

                “You shouldn’t talk about your son-in-law like that,” she chided.  “Seth, you’re a bright guy, talk some sense into the ornery man.  I‘m going to enjoy the sun…alone.”

                With that being said, Erica Murray whirled around and stalked off just as pretty as she pleased.  Ted could only stand there, rooted to the floor and scowl some more.  “It isn’t right,” he said aloud, watching his wife disappear through the lobby doors.  “A daughter should have included her parents in on something like that.  There has to be a reason that she just up and did something like this Seth.  If he didn’t get her drunk and drag her to the altar, then he did something and I want to know what that something is.”

                Ted shifted and stared back at Seth, a calculating hint of a smile curling up at the corners of his lips.  “I want you to dig up everything that you can on the bastard.  I want to know everything about him; every single skeleton that you can pull out of his closet.  I want it all.  Can you do that for me?”

                Seth didn’t dare tell his father in law no.  He was a persistent man if nothing else.  If Seth refused then Mr. Murray would find someone else to get him the information that he wanted.  After all, they were both Seals and finding someone with that kind of capability wasn’t exactly that hard to do.  

                Besides, he was curious himself as to why Ashley‘s baby sister suddenly did something so impulsive.  The Olivia that he knew was always predictable and did nothing without analyzing all the angles.  He too, felt like there was something not quite right about this but he would hold his judgment until he did the research and met the man himself.  “Yeah,” he agreed.  “I can do that.”  

                Satisfied with his answer, Ted slapped his son-in-law on the shoulder.  “We Seals have to look out for our own, son.  I will not have some slacker moving in on my daughter and taking advantage of her.”

                Seth nodded.  “I understand sir.  I’ll get what you need and get back to you.”

                “I bet you will,” Ted grinned.  “I bet you will.”  He had every confidence in his abilities, especially coming from the Seal background.  He had no doubt that if that tally whacker had any dirt on him, Seth would find it.  And when he did, Ted would bury him with it.   

********************************************************

                “I’m sorry,” Olivia said for the umpteenth time since they had walked into the room.  She really didn’t expect her father to act like that.  She thought maybe he would yell, make a few snide remarks but she never imagined him punching Brody in the face.

                She stood outside of the bathroom door and frowned when he ignored her yet again.  “Will you please say something?”

                Olivia leaned her forehead against the door.  She didn’t particularly care for Brody but they were stuck here for a week together, for better or worse, and she really didn’t want to spend it fighting the whole time.

                “Look, I know I should have told my parents beforehand.  That was a selfish move on my part but you have to admit, you had been begging for it all week with the way that you treated me.”

                The door swung open wide and Brody appeared in front of her.  “You’re damn right you should have said something to your parents.”  He swept past her and went to the bed where his suitcase lay open.  He rifled through it, looking for a clean shirt.  “If you were my daughter and some chump just announced that he had married you, I probably would have done the same thing.” 

                Olivia blinked, trying to decide if she was either crazy or if that punch her dad delivered to Brody knocked a few screws loose.  “What do you have in your nose?” she asked.

                Brody turned to her and peeled off his bloody shirt, throwing in the floor.  

                Olivia’s gaze instantly drifted down to the bare skin and her breath hitched at the sight of his well defined solar plexus.  

                “What, this?” Brody replied pointing to the string hanging out of his nose.

                She shook her head, trying to dispel the image of his impeccable pecks that was probably now forever burned in her memory.  “Yeah,” she swallowed and lifted her gaze back to his face.  “What is that?”

                He shrugged his shoulders and started to pull on the clean shirt that he had just dug out of his suitcase.  “A tampon.”

                “A what?”

                “A tam-pon,” he said again, this time much more slowly for her benefit.

                Olivia stared straight ahead and then threw her head back, dying with laughter.  “You--,” she said pointing at him, “You have a--a…tampon in your….. your nose.”  Her laughter was so rambunctious that she was literally doubled over in complete hysterics.

                Brody did the last button on his shirt and glared at Olivia.  “I don’t see what could possibly be so funny.  Our coach back in high school used to use these all the time when one of us busted our nose.  They work to plug your hole that time of the month, why can’t they work to plug mine?”

                Olivia stopped laughing and glanced up at Brody, her vision swimming with tears.  “You’re serious aren’t you?” she asked, struggling to maintain her composure.

                “Yes,” he said coolly.  “It works.”

                Olivia couldn’t hold it in any longer.  She fell to the floor and rolled on her back, delirious with giddiness.  She tried to stop but every time that she looked up and saw that string hanging out of his nose, she couldn’t help it.  The giggles started all over again.

                Brody grunted and headed back for the bathroom.  "To each his own," he muttered.

*********************************************************

                An hour later, the tampon long gone, Brody and Olivia headed down to the lounge for a drink.  They had a show to put on and they couldn’t very well do it stuck up in the room.

                As soon as they turned the corner, Brody audibly groaned.  Standing at the bar was her father, Ted Murray, and he did not look happy to see them at all.

                “Come on,” Olivia urged.  “Daddy was shocked at first but now he's done gone and got it all out of his system.  All he’ll do is just question you to death and you’ll charm him with that charismatic personality of yours, then it’ll be over.”

                Brody grabbed her hand and pulled her closer to him.  “I highly doubt that it’s going to be as easy as you make it out to be,” he told her as they approached her father.

                “Yes it will, just watch,” she whispered out of the corner of her lips.

                Brody flashed a bright smile.  “Mr. Murray,” he said and held out his hand.  He would take Olivia’s word for it and try to soothe this over the best he could.  That was the plan, right?

                Ted stared at his outstretched hand and then looked to his daughter, completely ignoring it.  Seeing her, his face softened.  “What are you doing with this klutz?” he asked sincerely.  He couldn't believe it and he didn't understand it.

                Why him?

                “Daddy,” she drawled.  “Be nice, please - for me.”

                Brody tensed at the way that Mr. Murray blatantly cut him out of the conversation.  He let the punch slide because he could understand the shock, but enough was enough.  He could even understand some animosity in the man but this?  This was totally uncalled for.

                “No, you listen to me Olivia Murray.  We raised you better than that.  You should have come to us before you ran off and tied yourself to a gigolo like that.”

                Okay, that did it, something in Brody snapped.  He stepped forward, lifting up his chin.  “Now hold on just a damn minute.  You don’t even know me.”

                Ted snorted, stepping up to him so that the two men were now chest to chest.  “I know you well enough.  I know that you took advantage of my daughter and she’s just too smitten to see the real you.”

                “That’s rich.” Brody snapped.  “You really don’t have a clue, do you?”

                “Well, why don’t you enlighten me?” Ted snarled.

                A slow smile spread across his face.  Olivia was going to be pissed at him later but right now, he didn’t rightly care.  He wanted nothing more than to put this man in his place.

                “She’s carrying my baby,” he said with something that sounded like pride.

                Olivia gasped.  Ted took a step back and glanced at his daughter in disbelief.  For a half of a second everything in the room seemed so surreal.

                Then… it happened again.

                For an old man, Mr. Murray could move like lightening.  His fisted hand drew back and came flying forward, pummeling Brody’s eye.  He stumbled backwards holding his head, feeling like a wrecking ball had just smacked him in his face.

                “He’ll just question you, just watch; you told me,” he mimicked and stared in Olivia’s direction. “Damn, you guys are two peas in a pod.  I’m outta here Olivia.  I’m done.”

                Brody then turned on his heel and as calmly as he could possibly be, he exited the room.  Nothing was worth this kind of abuse, not even the beautiful Olivia Murray.