FIANCÉ FOR HIRE

by Pamela Burford

  Nick nodded, his dark gaze troubled. "I was waiting for you in my taxi that day, parked near your office building with my off-duty light on. As soon as I saw you come out, I went on duty and pulled up."

  She recalled how ridiculously easy it had been to hail a cab that day. And how preoccupied she'd been with working out the details of the plan she'd just hatched—the most important detail of which was finding a suitable man to pose as her boyfriend.

  Her Wedding Ring pals had outmaneuvered her! They knew her so well, they were able to anticipate the scheme she would come up with. That had been their strategy all along, to use her own phony-boyfriend ploy to their advantage!

  And it had worked like a charm. They'd cornered her in her office that day, tried to bully her into cooperating with their matchmaking plans, and she'd responded just the way they'd known she would, with a devious scheme to get around the rules of the pact they'd made twelve years earlier.

  They'd deceived her. Raven. Sunny. Charli.

  Nick.

  She pulled the jacket on with jerky motions as she headed for the door.

  "Amanda, don't leave. Listen to me."

  She turned toward him, her hand on the doorknob. "I trusted you, Nick. I—I laid myself open for you, shared things I've never told anyone." Her chest felt painfully tight. "I loved you. How could you keep this from me?"

  "I didn't want to. I wish it hadn't been necessary."

  "Want to know the funny part?" Tears burned her eyelids. "I felt guilty for deceiving all of them!"

  "Amanda—"

  "They were constantly throwing us together, with all those double dates, and I'd laugh to myself, thinking it seemed like some kind of conspiracy! I guess the joke's on me, huh?" She opened the door. "You're wrong, Nick. I'm no better a judge of character than I was before. But at least my ex-husbands never plotted against me."

  Nick watched the door slam closed behind Amanda. He listened to her hurried footfalls on the stairs. Crossing to the window, he watched her exit the building under the glare of a streetlamp and stride swiftly down the sidewalk and out of view.

  It was about nine at night. They'd taken his car into the city and then here to Astoria. He'd been planning to drive her home in the morning. He assumed she now intended to hail a cab. It wouldn't be easy. This wasn't Manhattan; there just weren't that many taxis cruising for fares out here.

  He pulled himself away from the window. His gaze landed on the coffee table and the mugs of hot chocolate sitting there, rapidly cooling.

  She needed time. Fighting back the overwhelming impulse to run after her, to make her listen to reason, he carried the mugs to the kitchen and emptied them into the sink.

  He braced his arms on the countertop. Closed his eyes. Struggled to shut off the inner voice that screamed at him to go after her. She wasn't receptive to what he had to say right now. She was too upset. She needed time to calm down, to think about all this. Time to convince herself that he was no better than those worthless SOBs she'd married, time to shore up the walls of the emotional prison she'd just begun to crawl out of.

  "The hell with it," he growled, and took off running.

  Nick caught up to her two blocks away, in front of a small grocery store. She was walking stiffly, with her hands jammed in her pockets. He grabbed her arm, only to have her spin angrily around and pull away from him.

  "Leave me alone!" she cried, her breath smoking in the cold.

  "Don't you want to know why they chose me?" He stabbed his chest with a finger. "Aren't you even curious?"

  Amanda tried to pass him; he blocked her path. She scowled as she took in his sweater. "You aren't even wearing a jacket. You're crazy. It's below freezing out here."

  He said, "I fell in love with you the day I first set eyes on you."

  "Right." Her tone was scathing. "The day you picked me up in your cab and manipulated me into choosing you for the role of phony boyfriend."

  "No. Five and a half years ago. The day I brought that cedar chest to Jared's house."

  Amanda went still.

  "Your brother introduced us that day." Nick hugged himself against the cold. "I watched you examine that chest that I'd put so much effort into. I saw the way you looked at it, the way you touched it, with this kind of reverent appreciation. You asked me a lot of questions about it, what type of joints I used, how I finished it, that sort of thing."

  "But I didn't recognize you, that day you picked me up in the cab."

  "I didn't expect you to. It was a long time ago, and we only spoke for a few minutes. There was no reason for you to make the connection five and a half years later. But I never forgot you." He stamped his feet and tried to rub warmth into his hands. "You were so sweet and open when I met you that day at Jared's. Also sophisticated and smart as a whip, of course, but unpretentious, too. I liked that. And you were wearing a wedding ring." He blew warm air on his hands. "That, I didn't like."

  Though it was late, the store they were standing in front of was still doing a brisk business. Nick steered Amanda away from the busy doorway.

  "I was still married to Roger back then," she said. "That was, what, June or July?"

  "Early August."

  "Our marriage was on the skids by then, but I was trying to hang on, trying to…"

  Trying to be a better wife. Trying to make him love me. She didn't say it. She didn't have to.

  "I didn't know any of that," Nick said. "All I knew was that you were a married woman. Tough luck for me. After you left, I told Jared that if you happened to find yourself single, I was interested."

  "I found myself single a little over a year later."

  "And promptly ran into the arms of husband number two."

  She grimaced. "It was too soon. I should've given myself more time."

  "Then when you and Ben called it quits, your brother chose not to alert me, even though he thinks I'm a swell guy and would make a great brother-in-law. He knew you needed to get your head together. He knew you'd gone through hell and he didn't want to see you make the same mistake you did with Ben—hooking up with the wrong guy on the rebound."

  "He didn't have to worry. I'd sworn off marriage for good. The last thing I wanted was a serious relationship."

  "Which is where the Wedding Ring comes in."

  "Which the prospective groom isn't supposed to know about. Or my brother, for that matter."

  Nick's face was stiff with cold, but he managed a lopsided smile. "Let's just say this particular case presented its own set of challenges. Your friends decided to bend the rules."

  "What did they do, ask Jared for help in finding a husband for me?"

  Nick nodded. "Can we go back to my place? I can't feel my feet."

  "Didn't it seem strange to you, being asked by virtual strangers to participate in such a bizarre, convoluted scheme?"

  He shrugged. "Jared said those three women knew you better than anyone. And according to them, this bizarre, convoluted scheme was the only way I was going to get close to you in this lifetime, seeing as how you'd decided all boys have the cooties." He was trembling so hard from the cold, his teeth chattered. "Can we go back to the apartment now? Please?"

  Distractedly Amanda began to retrace her steps. Nick put his arm around her back and hurried her along.

  "How do you know Jared?" she asked.

  "We met at a party about eight years ago. We go fishing once in a while, play a little poker. When he wanted a cedar chest built, he knew the guy to call."

  "I saw you two having a little tête-à-tête at Hunter and Raven's Halloween party. The two of you made quite a striking pair, you in your Samson getup and Jared done up as Pinocchio with a glandular disorder. I wondered what you guys were chaffing about."

  "We were discussing my progress toward attaining my goal."

  "Your goal?"

  "You." He glanced at her as they crossed an intersection. "Your brother was afraid I'd blow my cover and get us both in hot water with your Wedding Ring pals. I assured him you d
idn't suspect a thing."

  "I didn't," she grumbled.

  "Believe me, I wasn't thrilled about having to engage in subterfuge to get you, but I figured if that was what it took, then that was what I'd do."

  Her expression remained implacable.

  "Amanda, think about it. Your friends didn't do anything you didn't try yourself. Both you and they resorted to devious manipulation. Only they did it better. Is that what burns you about this?"

  No response.

  "Or is it the fact that they took control away from you, by forcing you to honor the matchmaking pact you entered into in good faith?"

  She sighed disgustedly. "There it is again, the old control-freak issue."

  Nick produced his keys from his pocket. "The bottom line is they did this for you, Amanda. If you could get past the 'control-freak issue,' you'd see that." He sensed her gaze on him as he unlocked the outer door between Benny's Clubhouse Tavern and the party supply store next to it. He turned to see the hint of a smile.

  She said, "I almost burst a blood vessel when Charli's brother Paul recognized you. I thought the jig was up for sure."

  "I managed to explain it away."

  "Right. A cabbie who looks and sounds just like you! That separated-at-birth nonsense."

  Nick ushered her into the building and up the stairs. "Honey, I could've announced that a taxi-driving alien had inhabited my body and your pals would've gone right along with it, because—"

  "I know. Because everyone was in on it but me. I wondered why no one challenged you. And how you'd become such a slick liar."

  "Didn't I tell you I'm a man of many talents?" He held the apartment door open for her.

  "This is what you wanted to talk to me about tonight, isn't it?"

  "Yes." He sighed. "This morning, when you agreed to marry me, it just wasn't the right time. And today, running around the city… I wanted to wait until we had some quiet time together."

  "I think it would've been a shock no matter when I found out." Amanda unzipped her jacket.

  Nick was still shivering with cold. Slowly she approached him, wrapped her arms around him. Gratefully he hauled her close, drowning in her warmth, her sweetness, her forgiveness.

  She looked up at him. "Remember on New Year's Eve when you said you were a typical unromantic male?"

  "Mm-hmm…" He nuzzled her cold, fragrant hair.

  "You were wrong. I can't think of anything more romantic than waiting five and a half years for a woman, and then willingly entering into an insane conspiracy like this just for the chance to get close to her." Her eyes glistened. "If I live to be a hundred, I'll never find a man more devoted, more steadfast." Her voice cracked as she said, "I love you so much, Nick."

  He smiled down at her. "Does this mean the wedding's back on?"

  "The wedding's back on." She gave a watery chuckle. "But I'm warning you right now, our grandchildren are never going to believe this story."

  * * *

  Chapter 14

  «^»

  Amanda couldn't say how they ended up on the boldly patterned Asian rug, with the coffee table shoved out of the way. Her jacket came off as they writhed in a tangle, their mouths locked in a deep, hard, hungry kiss.

  Nick's cable-knit sweater was cold to the touch. She thrust her hands under it, yanked up his undershirt, eager for the feel of his smooth, hot skin. She found herself beneath him, luxuriating in the raw eroticism of his weight pressing her into the firm, nubbly carpet. The most intimate parts of her thrummed with sensual anticipation.

  He held himself over her, staring into her eyes, his own alight with wonder and love. His fingers threaded through her hair, making her scalp tingle. "You look very exotic like this, lying on an Oriental carpet with your blond hair spread out around you. Kind of like a harem slave."

  She laughed. "Complete with turtleneck and jeans."

  "Well, we can do something about that."

  "That was what I was hoping you'd say."

  Rising to his knees, straddling her hips, Nick unfastened her belt buckle and unzipped her black jeans. He pulled her pink cashmere turtleneck up and worked it over her head. "I was wrong," he said, with an appreciate smile. "Didn't I say your bra would be satin?" His hands molded the cups of her demi bra. His thumbs stroked her nipples, clearly visible through the sheer taupe lace. "Not that I'm complaining."

  He swung off of Amanda and pulled off her half boots and socks as she wriggled out of her jeans. He smoothed his hand over her belly, tickling her navel with a fingertip. "I was right about the bikini panties, though." They were abbreviated string bikinis in matching taupe lace.

  "You know what you should be wearing right now?" he asked, caressing her all over, causing a shiver of carnal awareness everywhere he touched. "That Delilah outfit. I fantasized about stripping that thing off of you during the whole Halloween party."

  She raised one eyebrow. "You sure it wasn't Madame Hertz and her studded leather corset that had you all hot and bothered?"

  "What can I tell you? I like a little something left to the imagination. And what I imagined doing to you after I got that thing off you…" His touch became bolder. Nick stroked a fingertip along the top of her low-cut bra. He undid the front fastening and spread it open, exposing her to his smoky gaze.

  Nick pulled the bra off and tossed it aside. He hooked his fingers in her panties and slowly worked them down her hips and legs. Lying before him completely naked on that striking Asian rug, with him fully clothed, Amanda almost felt like the harem slave he'd compared her to, a pale and trembling concubine at the mercy of her swarthy captor.

  She smiled, and his dimple showed in response. "What's so funny?" he demanded.

  "I was just thinking that sex with you isn't likely to ever get boring."

  Nick's gaze went from smoky to scorching as he leaned on an elbow and gave her body a leisurely perusal. "I think that's a safe assumption." One fingertip circled the tip of her breast. He watched in fascination as it puckered. "Your nipples are the most beautiful shade of pink. They're irresistible."

  He proved it by lowering his head and lightly touching his lips to it. Amanda's breath hitched. He pressed another soft kiss there, and another. She was astounded at how sensitive she was with Nick. He seemed to know just how to touch her, in stark contrast to her ex-husbands, who'd engaged in just enough clumsy foreplay to ensure their own arousal.

  Nick touched the tip of his tongue to the other stiff, aching peak. She uttered his name on a whimpering sigh, clutched handfuls of his short hair to hold him to her. He took his time, tormenting her with short little licks that seemed to pluck some invisible cord connected to the deepest, hungriest part of her. Restlessly she squirmed beneath him, yearning for him to suckle harder, to roll on top of her and take her. Yet he continued to delicately taste her, tease her, until she had to bite her lip to keep from begging him to end her misery.

  Nick raised his head at last. He studied her expression, and she knew what he saw: her panting mouth, her flared nostrils, the burning flush of arousal on her face and chest. He kissed her, a fleeting brush of his lips on hers. She tried to rise, tried to hold on to his mouth. Gently he pushed her back down, his small smile telling her to trust him.

  His fingers slid into the patch of tawny hair between her legs. It was all Amanda could do to lie still. Her body flexed, her legs fell open, as he found the moist petals. Reaching for him, she grasped his sweater sleeve and held on as he touched a fingertip to her saturated opening. Her breath fled in a ragged sigh. His finger pushed, and entered her, slowly, deeply. Her hips rocked to the thrusting cadence of his caress. A second finger followed, filling her more completely as his thumb lightly brushed her clitoris.

  Amanda's mouth opened on a silent cry as reason and conscious thought deserted her, to be replaced by pure physical sensation. Just when her release began to build, Nick drew his hand away. He slid lower, settled between her legs. Amanda felt his hot breath there. Her entire being tightened with a thrill of expe
ctation.

  She gasped his name as his rough fingers parted her. Then his first searing kiss knocked the breath from her lungs and she could say nothing, do nothing except whip her head from side to side and wonder giddily if she could withstand the startling pleasure of it.

  Nick loved her with his mouth, patiently, slowly, until she was thrashing beneath him in a frenzy of sensual overload, all but wrestling with him as he held her hips in a firm grip. His tongue darted and stabbed, alternating with long, lazy licks. His strong, supple mouth tugged at her most sensitive flesh, until she was practically sobbing with the unadulterated pleasure of it, with the blinding, all-consuming need to join her body with his, to take him deep within herself.

  His tongue flicked rapidly, burning her, forcing her ever closer to the climax steadily building within her. He never ceased the rapid-fire lashing, even as his fingers burrowed and thrust, sending her over the edge. Her orgasm ripped hoarse screams from her throat; it bowed her body and became her world, blocking out all else.

  Before the pulsating pleasure had wound down, Nick was there, on top of her, and she opened to him, to the glorious pressure as he stretched her, filled her, touched the deepest recesses of her. She rose to meet him, the two of them moving as one. He was still dressed, and that excited her. Everything about him excited her—his fierce expression, the vein that pulsed at his temple, the bunching of his muscles as she clawed at his hard waist.

  Kneeling, Nick lifted her onto his lap and wrapped her legs around his hips. He stroked her at a different angle now, raising and lowering her with one hand as he lifted her breast. He drew the erect peak into his mouth, wringing a moan of pleasure from her. He nipped her, and suckled hard, and she felt it there, where they were joined.

  "Nick," Amanda gasped. "Nick … now…" The moment of release was upon her, and she wanted to share it with him.

  "I'm with you, honey." He kissed her mouth. "I'm right with you."

  She watched him as the exquisite pressure built within her, within them both. She watched Nick's expressive face as the pressure mounted, and peaked, and spilled over, seizing them in its jaws, shaking them like rag dolls. All they could do was hold on to each other and ride it out.