by Robyn Thomas
While I had my mother it didn’t seem so bad, but now Brad’s the only person I have a lasting connection with, and I feel as if our friendship will change drastically once he and Skyla are married.”
A long length of her hair dangled between them. Taking a chance, he tugged on it. “Aren’t weddings supposed to bring families together?”
The smallest twitch of her lips was his reward. Then she made a production out of groaning and dropping her face into her hands. “Ugh, if my wannabe-brother is marrying your half-sister, does that mean we’re related?”
He threw his head back and laughed. He stepped into the center of the bath and turned the spa on before reaching for Beth’s hands. Drawing her to her feet, he hugged her close, continuing to chuckle as the warm sudsy water frothed around their ankles. “I think we’ll be in-laws when Skyla and Brad get married.”
A sharp knock sounded on the bathroom door and Liam’s voice wafted through. “Heads up, Christophe’s having a breakdown over some computer searches.”
“Okay. Thanks, Liam,” she said.
Jake shook his head at Beth’s ability to tell her new houseguests apart by voice alone. He stepped out of the bath and decided to forgo the range of hot-pink towels. “I’ll stall Christophe while you shower. I guess I forgot to warn you that the media will have been monitoring your internet searches.” He grinned as color rushed to her face. “Spill. What have you searched since I got here?”
Green eyes full of defiance clashed with his. “You.”
“You’re kidding.” The barely there shake of her head assured him she wasn’t. A weird combination of amusement and dread washed over him. Christophe would be purple in the face and so full of bluster there’d be no placating him, but whether that was funny or dire remained to be seen. He propped his hip and shoulder against the candy-striped wall and folded his arms. “We’ll face the music together. Go ahead and shower.”
“Turn around.”
Intrigued despite himself, he did as she asked, damn near jumping out of his skin when her balled up nightgown hit the back of his head. He grabbed one of the cotton-candy-inspired towels and unfolded it to the tune of hasty splashing. Was she sitting down, squatting, standing and splashing haphazard bits of water over herself? Could he help? The need to look ate him alive but he kept his eyes on the wall, his gaze straying to the shaving mirror, which was angled all wrong yet wouldn’t need a huge adjustment to net fabulous results.
“Thanks.” The towel was yanked out of his hands, and when he turned Beth was swathed in it, a wide smile on her face. “It’s possible I looked up some wedding stuff, too.”
He handed her some underwear and grinned. “Nude pics, life insurance, and sprawling estates in the south of France would be easier to explain, but Christophe can use a challenge.”
…
Beth emerged from the bathroom two minutes ahead of Jake, as planned, and found Christophe pacing in the hall. He approached her and jutted his pointed chin forward.
“Your little engagement is temporary, so the wedding plans you made were a waste of time and effort.”
“It’s not what you think.”
“You didn’t contact a limo service, a cruise line, a florist, and a bridal boutique?”
“Well, yes, I did, but not for myself. My friend is crazy-busy and I’m not working full-time at the moment, so I’ve been organizing her wedding.”
“You’re out of work? No marketable skills?”
“I’m a fully qualified chef!”
Liam somehow managed to insinuate himself between her and Christophe. “That apple cake in the kitchen?” He put his hand over his heart the way she’d seen Jake do. “It’s amazing. We’ve finished it already.”
She smiled at Liam, wondering if he was the smartest among them despite his blasé manner. “At least it didn’t go to waste.” She glanced back at Christophe and stifled a sigh. “You don’t need to worry about the wedding stuff. I’m moonlighting as a wedding planner.”
Christophe’s eyes narrowed. “Is that code?”
For what? “It doesn’t require any pole dancing or gunrunning if that’s what you’re getting at.”
Apparently it wasn’t, and his next question was even more cynical. “Do any suppliers you’ve contacted in the past few days specialize in nontraditional items or services?”
Her head spun in confusion as Jake stepped out of the bathroom and hustled them all into the sitting room, his large body looming over Christophe as they came to a standstill.
“If you enjoy your current position you’ll censor what you say to Beth. She’s not involved in anything dubious and if you’d let her speak, she’d clear this up for you inside of ten seconds.”
Three or four of those seconds were taken up by blood rushing to her face and the realization that all the members of
Five Awesome Emperors were present in the room. Battle lines had been drawn and she was in a little circle all by herself. If it was girls against boys they definitely had the numbers for victory, but she wasn’t going down without a fight.
“My best friend’s getting married next weekend.”
“Why would you get engaged right before the wedding? What were you thinking?” Riley asked.
“I didn’t expect any of this to happen. The timing’s really bad, and yet here we are. I’m hoping things will settle down before the wedding because I’m in the bridal party, and I’m also the wedding planner.”
Expectation crackled around the edges of the room and she felt like she was at the center of a plasma ball that was set to shatter any moment. Jake’s head tilted, the tiny movement prompting her to clarify whose wedding it was.
“I planned the groom’s last wedding too, but this time I thought I’d skip the big white dress and walk down the aisle as the maid of honor instead.”
The tension in the room exploded with everyone talking at once, and yet it was the sly look Liam gave Jake that caught her attention. She didn’t know him well enough to decipher its meaning and there were too many questions being fired at her to dwell on it.
“My ex-husband is my best friend. Has been since we were eight.” She rubbed her temple as a dull ache made itself known.
Did this inquisition come with breakfast or was that too much to ask? “Yes, we lived here when we were married.” One at a time, she wanted to say. “It’s been a year and a half since the divorce came through. Married? Two years, but we never made a good couple. We tried to be friends with benefits, but we didn’t like the benefits.” TMI? Well, what did they expect when she didn’t have time to think before answering? Her eyes locked with Jake’s and she felt a ridiculous urge to apologize for sharing so much of her life with Brad. “We were inseperable from day one, instant enemies yet the best of friends as well.” She shrugged. “It’s been that way for sixteen years.” Why were dull facts so difficult to share? And what was with the guilt scraping across her nerve endings?
Christophe’s questions were pointed, a marked contrast to the boundless curiosity of the band members. “There hasn’t been anyone since the divorce,” she said and wanted to crawl behind the couch and hide. “Yes, I’m sure. Oh c’mon! Dates, single dates, lots of them. I don’t know.” She waved her hands, unconciously imitating his actions. “I guess I’ve been busy. Maybe I’m fussy or not ready to commit?
“Why does it matter?” she asked Christophe in exasperation as he continued to ask her questions. “You’d have to look long and hard to find someone with a cleaner slate: single white female with skeleton-free closet owns a sprawling home ideal for housing a rock band and their entourage under seige conditions. You should be glad Jake chose my door to knock on.”
“Jake chose?” The horrified chorus ricocheted off the ceiling as one of the Kens parted the group surrounding her and encouraged her to sit before pressing a frothy cappucino into her hands. “Two sugars.”
She nodded in grateful silence, her unsteady hands rattling the cup on its saucer as she registered the change in t
he room.
Everyone’s attention had shifted to Jake, and with dawning horror, she realized they’d viewed her as a threat. With only media reports to go on they’d assumed she’d trapped Jake into a very public engagement and they’d come to rescue him. From her.
The cup slid from her hands and clattered to the floor, the scalding liquid drenching her left foot as she stared in a daze at Jake’s familiar profile and wondered what his game was.
Sam knelt down and slipped her socks off, stuffing something beneath her feet and pouring a glass of iced water over them. That got her attention.
“What are you…? Ouch!”
He laughed. “It burns? It’s cold? You served your coffee on your feet. I figured it was a Down Under custom and did the same with my water.”
Nervous laughter climbed her throat and a splutter of disbelief emerged as she got up to speed in a mad rush. Famous men were all around her and one was teasing her, having already used the shirt off his back to protect her carpet from spillage while he tended her burned foot. “Proof that chivalry’s not dead,” she said.
Jake’s hand clasped over Sam’s shoulder and the two men exchanged places.
Confusion rolled through her along with an odd sense of panic that a welcome source of chivalry was leaving. “Thanks, Sam.”
“Sure.” Sam frowned. His concern told her she looked awful, no doubt white as a sheet. “I’ll have Teddy make you something to eat.”
“Teddy?”
Her estimation of Jake shot up as he silenced Sam with a look and answered for him. “Teddy travels with us.” He closed his eyes for a brief moment and her imagination exploded with possibilities. He’s a sniper patrolling your roof as we speak, he’s a stalker we’re almost sure is harmless, he’s my illegitimate son and he makes a mean grilled cheese. Solemn hazel eyes met hers and her breath caught. “He’s our chef.”
She leapt to her feet and made a beeline for the door. “I was going for sniper or stalker, and trust me, either would’ve been better. FYI, I’m giving your chef the day off.”
Ignoring the warnings and suggestions that erupted behind her, she stalked to the kitchen ready to give Teddy his marching orders. The sight of a bald, heavily tattooed man roughly the size of a semi truck stopped her cold. Her kitchen, her sanctuary, her refuge had been invaded by an enemy force of one. Cooking, her favorite coping mechanism, had been snatched out of reach when she needed it most. An embarrassing rush of tears filled her eyes as she stared at the enormous man who’d usurped her place.
Before Jake arrived, three seconds later, she’d been swept into Teddy’s arms. His hands, easily the size of baseball gloves, patted her awkwardly on the back. Teddy stepped back with surprising grace and Jake hugged her close.
“It’s not as bad as you think,” Jake murmured for her ears only.
She might’ve believed him if not for the clearing of Teddy’s throat. Much to her horror, and Jake’s amusement, Teddy had put several of her mother’s tablecloths on the counter and was encouraging her to grab a seat there. Hygiene be damned therewas no way she’d—
“Hey!” The threat of tears gave way to reluctant laughter as Jake lifted her to sit on the bench. “Sent to test me,” she said. She pushed at his shoulders when he would’ve kissed her. They weren’t here alone anymore, and she still needed to process what had gone down in the sitting room. She understood that his connection to Skyla was private, but why had he allowed everyone to believe she’d instigated their engagement? Being cast in the role of villain was a completely new experience for her and so far it had little to recommend it.
Jake stroked his fingertips over the sleeve of her angora sweater, his eyes shadowed and difficult to read. Reaching her wrist, he circled it and settled his thumb over her pulse, which picked up pace right on cue.
Teddy gave them each a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice before offering her a choice of three core ingredients: eggs, fruit and vegetables. The smell of freshly baked bread made her mouth water and she pointed to the oven instead. He shook his head, but less than a minute later she had a warm spinach and feta cheese scone on her plate.
Christophe breezed in. “Ah, how appropriate that you’re hiding out in the kitchen like a common serving girl.” He put his hand up to ward off Jake’s retort, and Beth watched warily as Jake’s jaw clenched.
She blew out a frustrated breath. “I’m going to regret asking this, but why is it appropriate?”
“That’s the angle we’re going with for the interview.” He made a grand gesture above his head as if he was unfurling a banner for royalty. “An exclusive insight into the impending nuptials of Cinderella and Prince Charming.”
Beth glared at Jake as the house of cards she’d stupidly begun
to rebuild collapsed around her ankles again. “Who are you?” she whispered. “I thought I knew, but you planned this from the start.”
Chapter Nine
“Don’t start,” Jake said a short time later. All four band members had joined him in the bedroom he’d slept in for a few hours the first night he’d arrived.
Riley took careful note of the decor, then pinned him with a look. “Familiar surroundings. We could almost be back in Cambridge.”
“If we were, Beth would have her life back and I’d be in advertising.”
Silence prevailed as they all imagined a life without Five
Awesome Emperors, and then Liam spoke. “Would it be worth it?”
Jake’s hands fisted on the arms of his swivel chair, but Liam didn’t back down.
“What’s the deal with Beth? Why are you messing with her life? She’s tough, I’ll give you that, but there’s pain beneath the bravado.”
“I didn’t come here to hurt her.”
“You’ve failed,” Liam said.
“What did you come here for?” Sam asked.
Jake looked between Sam and Liam, his attention settling on Liam because he’d rather be abused than spill his guts. “How’d I fail?”
“She’s hiding out in her own home, trying to avoid contact with anyone. She and Teddy — Teddy,” he repeated, “have bonded like father and daughter. He’s working alongside her in the kitchen and the rest of us are barred from entering.”
Jake swore, certain he could reassure Beth if he could get her alone for two minutes, and equally certain he wouldn’t get the chance. She’d won Teddy over. That anomaly was enough to bring a smile to his face. No one but Beth could manage such a feat.
Riley picked up a thick rubber band off the desk and flicked it across the room at him, much the same as he’d done in grade school. With pinpoint accuracy it struck his jaw just below his ear and made him curse again.
“Now that I’ve got your attention,” Riley said. “We all know you live like a frustrated monk, despite the constant headlines to the contrary, but that doesn’t entitle you to hold a random bridal lottery and choose some poor woman to sacrifice to the wolves.”
Leaving that image in the air, Riley added something dark and incomprehensible under his breath before glaring at him again.
“Did Beth actually enter, or is the whole thing as bogus as it sounds?”
“There was never a lottery.” No one spoke and the silence was unnerving. “It was meant to play out differently.” Four slow nods encouraged him to continue. He picked through the various possibilities open to him before settling on a version of the truth.
“It was a setup.”
“You set it up.”
A murmur of agreement sounded, Jessie’s statement being universally backed.
“Yeah, I set it up. I used it to isolate Beth from her ex-husband.
He’s about to marry Skyla.”
“Our Skyla?” all four men asked in unison.
Skyla, my half-sister. “Yeah, our Skyla. They’re getting married next week and I thought he was still hung up on Beth.”
He didn’t give them time to comment. “It was a hunch, okay? I saw a problem and I was in a unique position to help.”
/>
Riley cleared his throat. “This is helping?”
“It was a foolproof plan—in theory anyway. The engagement story was supposed to make Skyla’s groom let go of his past with Beth. I expected to find him living here. When I arrived and saw that Beth wasn’t having a pre-wedding affair with her ex, I offered to move in with her because she was distraught over her mother’s death.” Matching frowns met his admission and although no one moved he had the odd sensation of everyone backing away.
“What aren’t you telling us—?”
When he didn’t answer they started to speculate, so he dove back in. “I’d heard so much about Beth that I had to meet her. The idea of being engaged to such an amazing woman for a couple of days appealed to me. I took my shot.” He spread his hands wide, every error he’d made compounding until the weight of them threatened to crush him. “There was no need to run it past you, or Christophe, because I thought the engagement story would get lost in the sea of rumors that are printed about me.”
Ken joined them and Jake tried not to take offense at his scowl. “You asked for a jeweler?”
Everyone took issue with that. Levering to his feet, he said, “It’s a prop for the exclusive Christophe arranged.” He squeezed his eyes closed for a moment, mentally preparing for the uproar he was about to create. “Leanna’s crew will arrive before dawn tomorrow, so Beth needs a killer dress and an impressive rock before then.”
“Leanna Lexington?” everyone asked at once.
“Christophe’s choice,” he said. “It’ll be okay.” When was it ever okay if Leanna was involved? Families were ripped apart when she was involved. Dreams died, wounds were inflicted, and that conniving woman would have access to Beth. No one looked convinced. “The deal’s been made. She has a list of questions to stick to and Christophe’s going to prepare our answers.”
He scribbled a message and passed it to Riley. He thinks I owe her for breaking up her marriage.
