Just Pretending

by Myrna Mackenzie

  He looked down at the paper she was holding out to him.

  Long seconds ticked by as he read what was written there. And then read it again.

  “Excuse me,” he finally said. “Maybe I misunderstood this directive. We’re giving a talk at the school? You and me?”

  “I know,” she said with a teasing whisper. “Kind of makes you shiver with anticipation, doesn’t it?”

  He laughed out loud. “I’m not so sure about that.”

  She chuckled right back. “Well, I’m looking forward to watching you charm the hearts of a squirming roomful of ten-year-olds, David. I’ve watched you turn women into melted butter, coax cats out of trees, and make grown men rethink their position on crime. I can’t wait to see you interact with the peanut-butter-and-jelly crowd.”

  David raised both brows. “Somehow I have the feeling you’ve done this before.”

  She nodded slowly, her eyes wide.

  “So you know what I’m in for?”

  Gretchen shrugged. “Every year is different. Different crop of kids, different situations.”

  He studied her carefully. “You know what I told you about just following my lead this weekend?”

  She nodded. “Yes. Why?”

  “Just remember that when we get to that school. You lead. I’ll follow.”

  A slow smile formed on her face. “That’s the sexiest thing you’ve ever said to me, Hannon.”

  He gave her another wink. “Just wait until we get to this wedding. I intend to say a few more sexy things to you. Get ready.”

  Celeste sat in her car on the shoulder of the highway after her meeting with David and Gretchen. In a minute she would get going. She couldn’t sit here much longer. If she did, someone would come along and ask her if she needed help.

  She did need help, but she’d learned long ago that the only kind of help that would ever save her was the divine kind. In time, someday, maybe someday soon, there would be a spiritual reckoning for her, a day when she could finally, really, find out what had happened that long-ago night and what was in store for her for eternity. In the meantime, all she could do was try her best to go on and to look out for those she loved.

  “David is trying to open up the past, figure out what happened? And what did happen? What is he going to dig up? And how is that going to affect all of us?” she whispered out loud.

  “I just wish I could do something. I wish I could somehow protect all of them.”

  She had the horrid, sinking feeling that her children, Cleo and Jasmine, were going to be hurt by whatever news was found. And David, too. If he found anything that would damage his family, what would it do to him? Jeremiah was being blamed and Jeremiah had been a miserable human being, but had he really been a murderer?

  She was afraid to find out the answer to that question and afraid not to.

  Her niece, Summer, had lived a life without a father because of what had happened so long ago. Storm Hunter had lost a brother, and someone should have to pay for that. The killer should be discovered and revealed to the world.

  But the thought of that nearly made Celeste double over with pain.

  Someone had a lot to answer for. And somewhere in the darkness of those dreams that haunted her, the answers to who that someone was waited.

  But those answers were closed to her. She had to keep searching. In the meantime, all she could do was try to shield those closest to her from the truth and to pray that Storm Hunter found some happiness in his life someday.

  “Gretchen!” The curvy brunette standing in the hotel lobby came running across the floor not five minutes after David and Gretchen had arrived. She held out her arms and Gretchen gave her a big hug.

  “Karen. It’s so good to see you. We’ve had so little time to talk lately, between your job and mine.” Gretchen turned to David, inviting him into the circle with her friend. “David, this is Karen Warren, my very good friend from Miami and another one of Pamela’s bridesmaids. Karen, this is David Hannon, my—my fiancé.”

  Karen let out a scream that could probably be heard all the way back in White horn. “Gretchen, you’re engaged! Finally? Why didn’t you tell anyone? You didn’t tell anyone, did you? I’m not the last to know?”

  Gretchen shook her head as David chuckled and took Karen’s hand. “It’s very nice to meet someone from Gretchen’s other life. I suppose you’re the journalist?”

  The woman nodded with a huge smile. “She told you about me? Oh, Gretchen, that’s sweet.”

  “Of course I told him about you, Karen. You’re one of my very closest friends and David is, as I said, my…”

  “Fiancé, love,” David supplied when she faltered. “I’m afraid our engagement has taken Gretchen a bit by surprise,” he said apologetically. “It’s pretty new to both of us. In fact, you’re probably the first to know.”

  “Oh, David, allow me to congratulate you for doing what no man has ever done before,” Karen said, rising on her toes to kiss his cheek. “You’ve managed to win our Gretchen’s heart. I hope you appreciate the magnitude of what you’ve accomplished and the gift that she’s given you.”

  “She’s an absolute treasure,” he said, pulling Gretchen’s hand beneath his arm. “I thank the heavens every day for dropping me into her life and giving me this rare opportunity.”

  He smiled down at Gretchen and her breath caught in her throat. Horrid man. If only Karen knew that this rare opportunity referred to his chance to play this charade with her and not to the fact that they were engaged. She was grateful, of course. It was already obvious that this wedding was going to be more fun and much less tension-filled than those in recent memory, but she really shouldn’t let David carry this too far.

  Karen almost sighed and Gretchen felt a small moment’s irritation at the dream like way her friend was looking at David.

  “How did he propose? Come on now, you can tell me,” Karen prompted.

  David opened his mouth to speak, but Gretchen placed her hand gently on his cheek. “Let me relive it, darling,” she coaxed.

  He raised one brow. “You don’t know how much I’d love that,” he whispered back.

  Gretchen looked around to see if anyone else was listening even though she knew that the story would be retold many times. Karen was a hopeless romantic and an equally hopeless gossip.

  She looked up at him and hoped she wasn’t blushing. Then she lifted one shoulder and plunged ahead.

  “David knows how much I love white roses. He filled my room with them when I was away and then, when we went back to my apartment later, he went down on one knee and presented me with another rose. Red. He kissed it and gave it to me. My ring was enclosed in the petals.”

  Looking up at David, Gretchen saw that he was grinning broadly. Had she taken this too far? She knew she had agreed to let him lead. Indeed, she’d even wanted him to a few days ago, but there was just something about this strange relationship they had, this constant tussle to figure out who was leading and who was following, that made it impossible for her to simply remain a spectator at her own pretend engagement. It was generous of David to offer to help her, but darn it, she was no coward. She had to jump right into the thick of the action, just as she always had. She couldn’t let someone else call all the shots.

  “Isn’t that the way you remember it, David?” she asked tentatively.

  “Mmm. I remember it just like that,” he said in that low, sexy voice. “Except in my memory you were wearing nothing but rose petals and I kissed you deeply just before I gave you the ring.”

  She gave him a laser-eyed look that said, “Freeze, buddy.”

  “David, you’re wicked. You’ll embarrass Karen,” she said in reality.

  But Karen was beyond being embarrassed. The lady closed her eyes and let out such a long sigh that for a moment Gretchen was afraid she was going to faint. Then her friend looked down.

  “That’s so-oo-o romantic, Gretchen. But where’s your ring?”

  Oh, darn it. She’d gotten so
caught up in trying to one-up David that she had embellished this tale just a bit too much. Gretchen looked at her hand as if it belonged to another woman. “I—”

  “I have it right here, love,” David said, reaching into his pocket. “Gretchen doesn’t wear her ring at work. It might get caught on something and be a danger to her.”

  “Of course,” Karen agreed immediately, “but you’re not on duty now, Gretchen.”

  Gretchen smiled wanly at her friend. Oh, no, now what was David going to say? He didn’t really have a ring in his pocket.

  But the darn man came up from the depths of his pocket with a slender, diamond-and-emerald-studded band. Taking her cold hand in his own, he slipped the ring possessively on her finger, then kissed her palm.

  Hot flames shot up through her body.

  “So nice to meet you, Karen,” he said softly, “We’ll see you later, after Gretchen and I have time to settle in and get comfortable. Shall we?”

  Karen smiled knowingly. “By all means, you two just go on up to your rooms. I’ll see you at the rehearsal dinner and at the wedding. And don’t worry, Gretchen. You know me. I won’t tell a soul about your engagement.”

  Gretchen gave her friend another hug and watched her walk away. “I feel rather guilty. Karen’s always loved romance. She’s been engaged and had her heart broken several times. How’s she going to feel when she finds out I’m not really engaged? She’s my friend.”

  “Yes, she’s your friend and she wants you to be happy,” David said gently. “And it’s obvious that to Karen, being happy means being in love. So she’ll understand that you just wanted to experience that glow for a short time, even if you tell her that it wasn’t real. She may not believe that it’s pretend, even if you tell her the truth. Some people just want to see what makes them happy. Your friends want to see you happy. So be happy. Let them enjoy this brief time. We are engaged, as far as I’m concerned. We’re simply engaged for the duration of this trip.”

  She chuckled. “That sounds devious, but I like it. It works for me. If I could have gotten engaged for a mere weekend before, I might have already done so.”

  He widened his eyes and tilted his head. “Gretchen, are you telling me you would agree to marry another man when I’ve just now slipped my ring on your finger?” He took her hand into his own and slowly kissed the pads of each finger.

  Gretchen dragged in a long breath, curving her fingers closed lightly. She hazarded a hesitant smile his way. “No, David,” she said softly. “I can guarantee that this weekend is all there’ll ever be. You’re the only man whose ring I’ll ever wear.”

  He nodded, a slight frown forming between his eyes. “Come on, love.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “To your room.”

  He tugged on her hand, but she pulled back. If she allowed David to come to her room, a regular hotel room with not much more than a bed in it, she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to keep from letting the inevitable happen this time.

  “Why my room?” She still hadn’t moved.

  He gave a harder tug and she came up against his chest. He kissed her gently. “Because Karen has already told a large group of people that we’re engaged and some of them are looking somewhat skeptical,” he whispered against her mouth, tensing a shoulder in the direction her friend had wandered off to. “No, don’t look unless you want them to realize we’re putting on a show.”

  She kissed him back. “So we’re running away to hide in my room, David?”

  He laughed against her lips, his breath a warm caress. “We’re going to let them wonder what we’re doing up there.”

  “I don’t think they’ll be doing much wondering. All of them will be sure we’re making love.”

  He raised one brow. “Do you really think so? How shocking.”

  “Yes, isn’t it?” she said, placing her hands on his chest and smiling up at him.

  “You wouldn’t be in the mood to add a little shocking fuel to the fire, would you? To seal our fate, to make everyone truly believe that the elusive Gretchen Neal has finally been captured?”

  She rose up on her toes and kissed his lips. “You want to go to our room, David?” she said loudly enough for those nearby to hear. “That’s a wonderful idea, my love.”

  Allowing him to lead her toward the elevators, she pretended she didn’t know that the mother of the bride was on the way over to talk to her. The idea had been to enjoy themselves, to let everyone think that this time it would be a mistake for anyone to try to fix her up with a man.

  But moving ever closer to her room with David, Gretchen wondered if she wasn’t making an even bigger mistake.

  Chapter Nine

  He had to be certifiably insane to think he could get away with this, David thought, entering Gretchen’s room. The masquerade had been his idea, simply a way to give Gretchen a break from all the matchmaking her well-meaning family and friends would have provided had she come alone.

  But that wasn’t exactly the complete truth, he admitted for the first time. The truth was that he wasn’t sure he could have dealt with sitting back in White horn while good-looking men were marched out for Gretchen’s perusal. He’d had her in his sights for weeks now. He wanted her in his bed before he went back to Atlanta, and now that he was alone with her in a room with a king-size bed there was no denying the fact that he wanted very badly to touch her in the most intimate of ways. Immediately.

  “They didn’t have any doubles by the time I booked,” she explained as if he’d asked a question. “I—I didn’t request this.”

  He almost groaned out loud. Just thinking of Gretchen naked and alone in a bed big enough for two to roll around in comfortably was making him a little crazy. He took a step in her direction.

  She stood her ground, but she crossed her arms over her chest. “I can’t believe you bought a ring.”

  “It was nothing.”

  “A diamond engagement ring isn’t nothing.”

  “A necessity then,” he conceded. “Adds a touch of reality.”

  She raised one delicately arched brow. “Just how far are you willing to go to add a touch of reality?”

  “You don’t like pretending, do you, Gretchen?”

  A long sigh slipped through her lips. “It’s not that. This could be fun, but—”

  “But?”

  She leaned back on the long bureau that ran the length of the room. “You and I— There’s clearly…something between us.”

  “Salsa. Steam baths. Molten lava,” he agreed.

  “Things do tend to heat up when I’m with you,” she conceded, “and that’s a problem. It complicates the issues, the case.”

  “You think that maybe Storm is right, that I’m trying to influence you?”

  She shook her head. “Actually, I don’t, but I’m not so positive that I won’t be influenced. I’m very loyal to my friends. That’s why I never mix business and pleasure.”

  He fixed his dark green feral gaze on her. “And yet we’re here. Together.”

  “I know. This probably wasn’t very wise.”

  “You want out? We could tell everyone the truth.”

  A long, slow smile lifted her lips. “Over my dead body, Hannon. I intend to have fun this weekend. This is the first time in a long time I’ll be able to attend a wedding without the vultures circling. If you think I’m going to give that up so easily, you’re wrong.”

  He waited. She clearly had more to say.

  “But this unexpected good fortune of mine was just the result of a simple bet,” she said carefully. “We pretend. We let everyone else believe we’re engaged, but we don’t take it any further than we need to.”

  “You can’t pretend away the mutual attraction, Gretchen.” The darn man’s smile was deep and lazy.

  “I’m not trying to.”

  “What are you trying to do?”

  A slight hesitation. “I’m trying to wait it out.”

  “You’re uncomfortable.”

  “
Of course I’m uncomfortable. It’s bad enough that you and I are collaborating on a murder investigation where your uncle is the prime suspect. Complicating that with sex only makes things that much worse.”

  “Or better.”

  She sucked in a deep breath. Her hands shook slightly. And it was that little detail that made him swear at himself beneath his breath.

  “Sit down, Gretchen. We’ll make it right.” He motioned toward the bed.

  “I don’t think—”

  “I won’t touch you,” he promised. “Unless you ask me to. For now we’ll just talk until enough time has passed and it won’t look strange if I go back to my room alone.”

  “Talk about what?”

  “Not about how I’d like to slowly slip open every tiny button on that dress you’re wearing,” he said. “Or how I’m dying to taste the softest part of your inner thigh.”

  She clenched her hands at her waist as her color rose.

  “What, then?”

  He sat on the bed, at the farthest end, and waited for her to join him there. “For now we’ll just stick to the basics. Tell me about all the places you traveled to as a child. Tell me what you were like and who your friends were and what you did. Tell me what you were like as a teenager.”

  “I was busy.”

  “I’m sure you were. Your parents must have gone mad trying to keep the guys away. Mace. Sledgehammers. I’ll bet your father had a whole arsenal of weapons to make sure your boy friends brought you home on time and untouched.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “I really didn’t get out all that much.”

  Something about the way she said that caught David square in the chest. “Maybe you should clarify that, love. You did get out? Group dates? Movies? Letting the boy next to you steal your popcorn?”

  “David,” she said sternly. “Don’t sound so worried. It wasn’t that my parents kept me locked up or anything like that. Or that I was some sort of prude. There just wasn’t all that much time.”

  “Ah,” he said gently. “All the brothers and sisters. That nurturing side of you.”