Mistaken Engagement
www.escapepublishing.com.au
Mistaken Engagement
Jenny Schwartz
Saul knows he crossed the line when he claimed a surprise engagement with Grace. But her hysterical denial – and the way she’s avoided him ever since – has made things awkward, but it can all be worked out. The Australia Day long weekend down at her family’s beach house is the perfect time to show everyone that they’re friends, with not a broken heart between them. But can a fake engagement become life-changingly real?
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
About the Author
Excerpt from Rescue Heat
Excerpt from What Love Sounds Like
Excerpt from Unforgettable
Happy Australia Day, everyone!
Chapter 1
“Go away.” Grace Nguyen tried to push the door shut, but her five foot nothing frame was no match for the six foot surfer god pushing from the other side. Her bare feet slid on the old wooden floor.
Saul Wharton let himself into her home. Then he politely closed the door behind him.
“I hate you.” She glared up at him.
“I’m not feeling too fond of you at the moment, either.” He strolled down the hallway and into the sunny modern kitchen. “Coffee? Good.” He poured himself a mug.
She folded her arms, but retreated step by step as he strolled around the island bench and into the casual living area. She sat abruptly on the arm of a large leather sofa.
It wasn’t that he was menacing or she was afraid of him. It was just that he overwhelmed a person. She’d seen it happen time and again. What Saul wanted, he got. She studied his back resentfully as he stood at the French doors and stared out into the courtyard with its green, leafy jacaranda tree.
He stood with his legs apart, balanced, ready even at rest to spring into action. One hand was hooked in the pocket of his jeans. The faded denim pulled taut across his muscled butt and thighs.
Guiltily, she jerked her gaze away.
As a med student, she’d seen enough male anatomy that one sexy package shouldn’t have the effect of iron filings to a magnet. Besides, she was angry with him. He had no right to meddle in her life or make her look ridiculous. “Why are you here?”
He turned back to her. With his sun lightened blond hair, you expected he’d have blue eyes. But Saul’s eyes were a rich, dark brown. They’d lured more than one woman to foolishness. Just now, though, his eyes were cross. A frown marred his forehead and drew his eyebrows together.
“You’ve made me the bad guy.”
“Me?” she squeaked, and stopped to draw a steadying breath. Anger wasn’t nearly as impressive when your voice went shrill. “You’re the one who claimed we were engaged.”
One eyebrow lifted and his mouth twisted in ironic observation.
It infuriated her. “And don’t say you were saving me. I didn’t ask you to play Galahad.” All the hurt fury of two months ago surged up, as raw as ever. “I don’t believe you even did it for me. You were worried about Carrie. You didn’t want me and my feelings to spoil her day.”
“Carrie can look after herself,” said Carrie’s loving cousin.
The fact that he was right only annoyed Grace more. Carrie was her stepsister, one year older, tall, ash blonde, a friendly socialite princess who dabbled in public relations. She shared a family trait with Saul; what she wanted, she got.
Last December, she’d wanted Ryan Holland.
Grace pushed a strand of black hair out of her eyes. Usually she wore it coiled tightly in a bun, a severe style that she hoped made her seem older and more professional, more worthy of being entrusted with other people’s health. Life as a student doctor was frantic. She didn’t need to waste time assuring patients that no, she wasn’t some visitor’s teenage daughter, and yes, she was qualified to treat them.
Tiredness weighed down her muscles. The hours of a student doctor were long. She’d worked through Christmas and New Year. Other people had families; whereas she wanted to avoid hers. Now with the Australia Day public holiday falling on a Monday, her supervisor had insisted she take the Friday off, too. She’d earned a four day weekend, he said.
She planned to use it to sleep. She grimaced. Yeah, that was her. A real party girl. No wonder Ryan had preferred Carrie. She cut off the thought.
“Believe it or not, I thought I was helping you,” Saul said. “You looked…defenceless.”
She shuddered. The whole evening had been a nightmare. She’d arrived late to her mum and stepfather’s tenth wedding anniversary. She hadn’t told anyone that a patient had died or that she was late because of the time she’d spent with the boy’s family. She’d been feeling vulnerable though.
It had been the best surprise to see Ryan across the room. He was a recently qualified architect, newly arrived in Perth. She’d met him at a local coffee shop, falling into conversation because, well because he looked nice. She’d invited him to one of Carrie’s parties as a way for him to meet new people. He had a quiet way of talking and an easy friendliness that helped her conquer her shyness.
Then she’d barely seen him for a couple of months. Her shifts had changed and they didn’t run into one another at the coffee shop.
Across the crowded patio of her parents’ riverside house, she’d smiled when she saw him. But she’d done her duty first. Found her mum, gave her a hug and a kiss and a small gift. Hugged Stuart, her step-father, who made her mum happy.
“There you are.” Carrie had pounced on her as their parents were claimed by other guests. The music went up a notch. Through the hidden speakers came old favourites her parents enjoyed and that everyone could hum along to, or dance to.
Ryan stood beside Carrie.
“Hi.” Grace smiled. He really was nice. It would be heaven to relax with a nice man like Ryan and let the stresses of the day just float down the river.
“We’re not making the announcement yet,” Carrie lowered her voice, but the joy bubbled through it. “It’s a total secret till Dad and Kylie have been toasted, but … Ryan and I are engaged.”
Grace couldn’t forgive herself that she’d physically flinched. Sure, she’d been tired. It was no excuse for such a self-betrayal. No one needed to know that she’d woven dreams around — her stomach roiled — Carrie’s fiancé.
In the whirling universe, a hard arm slid around her waist. She looked up blindly and saw Saul. Watchful, powerful Saul who’d been like an older brother to Carrie. But he was beside Grace now, holding her up. She leaned into his strength, unable to trust her own. There was concern in his eyes and she felt protected. For once, despite everything, she felt as if she belonged in the loud, gregarious Wharton clan.
“Now, there’s a coincidence,” Saul drawled. “Grace and I are engaged, too.”
“What?”
But she barely heard Ryan’s exclamation. Her eyes were on Saul, stunned. She searched his expression and the final blow fell. The floor under her feet opened with agonising shame.
The expression on Saul’s face was pity.
She tore herself out of his arms. “We’re not engaged.” Her voice rang out. Heads turned. “There’s no way we could ever be.”
And though she didn’t run, no one had stopped her determined exit.
A giggling teenage Wharton cousin later told her that Saul and her drama had definitely upstaged Carrie’s announcement.
“Everyone thinks we broke up and I’ve driven you out of the family,” Saul said now. He lowered his voice till it stroked over her skin like a caress. “I never thought you were a coward, Grace.”
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Nor had she. But she’d faced the truth that night and every day since. Not only was she not engaged, she wasn’t in love, had never been in love, and couldn’t bear the kindly meant intrusion of her family.
She’d been an A-grade focussed student and was a dedicated doctor, but being a woman seemed to have eluded her. Where Carrie flirted and beguiled, Grace withdrew to focus on her own goals: education, independence and career ambition. Since high school she’d striven to become a GP. Now she was nearly there — and it wasn’t enough.
She wanted to be the centre of someone’s world, and she wanted to give them that same gift. She wanted to build a life with a man who would laugh with her in the good times and hold her in the bad.
“The family missed you at Christmas and New Year,” Saul said.
The Wharton clan gathered at Eagle Bay every summer holiday. They’d been going there for years, before it became fashionable. When her mum married Stuart, she’d joined them. She’d gotten used to the lazy summer idleness, a short break in her determined study schedule.
“I was busy at work,” she said. “Christmas and New Year are peak times for the Emergency Department.”
“Yes, your mum repeated your excuses.”
“They’re not excuses.” Her temper flared up. “I’m not Carrie,” she said nastily. “I don’t flit around like a butterfly doing pointless make-work. I have responsibilities.”
The scorn in Saul’s eyes stopped her.
She dropped her gaze, ashamed. Carrie had never been anything but kind to her. Her kindness had been of the careless variety, but it had been genuine. She’d done nothing to justify this attack on her. Nothing except…
“Carrie didn’t steal your precious Ryan,” Saul said. “He fell in love with her.”
“I know.” Grace slipped off the arm of the leather sofa and curled into its seat. She didn’t need Saul telling her she wasn’t loveable.
“You’ve got to face them some time.” He sat beside her on the sofa.
“Why do you care?”
He stretched his long legs in front of him. “Like I said, everyone thinks I’ve driven you away. If you come down to Eagle Bay with me this weekend, they’ll see there’s no strain between us. You’ll make Gran and your mum happy. They both worry about you.”
Her guilt became tinged with suspicion. “Why do they worry about me?”
“All work and no play make Gracie a workaholic.” He tugged at her hair.
She flicked it away. “I planned to stay here and … do laundry.”
He laughed. “The laundry can wait. What’s the good of a long weekend if you use it to be sensible?”
“Spoken like a playboy.”
“I’ve never been that.”
But she ignored his sudden seriousness. She frowned, recalling his assumption that she had the whole long weekend off. How had he even known she’d be home this morning?
“You pack your bags and I’ll pick you up early tomorrow morning. I’ll fly us both down to the bay.”
“Saul, why are you assuming I have the whole weekend off work?”
“Because I checked with your supervisor.”
Her eyes widened at his gall. “You didn’t.”
“You bet I did. Gran’s donating a whole wing to that hospital, in Pop’s memory. The least they can do is tell me your schedule.”
She bounced up from the sofa. Her hands went to her hips. The old yoga pants she wore had slid down. She angrily hitched them up. “You arrogant, manipulative … You didn’t just ask for my schedule, did you? You made sure I had the whole weekend off.”
Infuriatingly, he relaxed into a grin, holding his palms up in a gesture of innocent, misunderstood goodwill.
“Ooh.” She picked up a cushion and threw it at him. She’d spent years proving that she was herself, and not Stuart Wharton’s stepdaughter. She’d worked for everything she had. But with Saul throwing his weight around the hospital, they would all look at her differently.
“It’s not so bad, Grace.” He put the cushion aside and stood. “The family wants you at the bay, and you look like you need a holiday. Come and celebrate Australia Day with us. I’ll pick you up at six o’clock tomorrow morning.”
She fumed silently.
“And the two of us will show everyone we’re the best of friends,” he continued remorselessly. “Pack your bathing suit.”
“I won’t go surfing with you.”
“Then you can sit on the beach and admire my style.” A finger tapped her nose.
She nearly went cross-eyed watching it approach and retreat.
He grinned and let himself out of the house.
Chapter 2
“Best of friends. Ha.” Grace stalked through the old house, resisting the urge to watch Saul drive away. A moment later, she heard the roar of the engine. The acceleration had all the hallmarks of his style; effortless control. “But not me. He needn’t think this is about him.”
She’d join the family at the bay for her mum and Gran’s sake, her step-grandmother was a lovely person. She didn’t want them worrying about her.
It was infuriating that they all worried that Saul had hurt her. None of them thought it could be the other way around.
“Saul the Invincible.” But that wasn’t fair. She knew he was genuinely kind, though he hid it from most people outside the family. For those he loved, he would do anything — even coax and emotionally blackmail an unattractive workaholic like her into holidaying with him.
The first time she’d visited Eagle Bay, she’d been out of her depth. After her father died, her mum and she had been alone for four years. To be suddenly thrust into the noisy chaos of the Wharton clan had left her bewildered, and as always, when she felt insecure, she withdrew.
Saul had rescued her, had saved her from setting up a dynamic in the family where she’d have been the poor little outsider. Oh, she still felt like that sometimes, but she knew the Whartons considered her one of theirs now.
In that long ago summer, when she’d been a skinny fifteen year old and he’d been the glamorous older man (all of twenty one), he’d organised a game of no rules water polo that had drawn her in despite her shyness. Then he’d hustled everyone to Gran’s house for ice cream and by the end of the afternoon, somehow, she belonged. Quiet, yes, but accepted.
She’d have gotten over her crush a lot faster if he hadn’t been kind.
He would ask after her studies and tell her a bit about whatever the latest technology or emerging industry he was investing in. They’d wrangle in a friendly way about politics and philosophy. But she’d always been aware he was out of her league: wealthy, successful, gorgeous and sexy.
“Enough.” She locked the front door.
She was house-sitting for her godparents. They were actors, as her dad had been. When their latest show had proven wildly successful, they’d gone on tour, leaving her in charge of the cute cottage conveniently close to the hospital.
She was not going to go down to the bay and play the poor little girl discarded by Saul.
“Friends.” She snorted. She’d show him friends.
She walked down the hallway to her room and studied her wardrobe. No inspiration there. Drab. Sensible. The opposite of provocative.
Provocative? Her eyebrows flew up. Was she really thinking of provoking Saul?
It might be possible. She knew how he liked his girlfriends to look. Her dad had been an actor for heaven’s sake. Surely she could fake the other women’s cool sophistication?
Common sense made a grab for her, but she slammed the wardrobe door on it. Every woman was entitled to be wild at some point in her life. The way Grace suddenly saw it, she was long overdue. The next time a man saw her, his gaze wouldn’t skip on to other women. She was going to be all woman: curved, sassy and ready for fun.
Saul didn’t notice when his brain stopped. He wouldn’t have noticed if a tank had thundered over his sports car parked in the street. Grace was wearing a pair of shorts that redefined th
e concept of indecency. They hugged her bottom and showed the hint of curved derriere when she stooped to pick up her weekend bag.
“Here, give me that.” He took it from her. But all that got him was a look straight down the tight shirt she was wearing, mostly unbuttoned. She’d tied the ends of it to expose a bare midriff and a cute bellybutton. Not that he cared about bellybuttons. Grace’s bra was red lace.
“Thanks.” She smiled and turned to lock up the house.
He found himself leaning closer, inhaling a tantalising feminine scent of lemon and lavender and spicy enticement. Abruptly he realised just how asinine he must look, and strode down the path to stow her bag in the car. He held the passenger door open for her and his gaze snagged on her bare legs. He usually dated tall women, but Grace’s legs had him rethinking that decision. They were smooth and toned, a runner’s legs.
“You must work out.”
“At the gym. But I also like to run when work allows it. Um. You can shut the door.” Her smile jolted him into moving.
He gave himself a quick reality check as he walked around to the driver’s side and slid in. This was Grace. The girl he’d saved from embarrassment at her parents’ anniversary party. True, his intervention had only opened up a new avenue of embarrassment, but he’d meant well. It wouldn’t do either of them any favours if he suddenly started noticing how good she looked. This weekend was about convincing the family that Grace and he had both moved on. They were friends again. No hard feelings.
It was important, not just because he hated featuring as the bastard at the family gatherings, but because he genuinely wanted to move on with his life. The feeling had coalesced on New Year’s Eve.
“If we show everyone we’re friends, the family will forget about our supposed broken engagement and we can move on.”
“Move on?”
He could feel Grace staring at him, though he kept his gaze on the road. “Yes. I want to be able to introduce my fiancée to the family without them worrying about your broken heart.”
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