by Vivi Holt
She glanced at the price tags and almost gagged on the glass of water the saleswoman had brought her. But hey, Heath was paying. She wore the burnt orange dress out of the store, along with a pair of nude pumps the saleswoman helped her pick out. It should do nicely for the family dinner.
When she stepped outside the store, Heath was on the phone. He saw her and his jaw dropped. “Sorry, Adam, got to go.” He hung up the phone and put it in his pocket. “Wow.”
She grinned shyly. “Do you like it?” She swished from side to side, feeling the silk play around her legs.
“It’s stunning.” He walked toward her, eyes still wide. “You look amazing.”
When he offered her his arm, she could’ve been a princess. She held onto it as he walked her back up to her room. “Thank you for the dresses.”
He shook his head. “My pleasure. That one was made for you. I’m going to go get dressed myself and I’ll pick you up in half an hour. Does that sound okay?”
She nodded. “Perfect.”
As he walked away, Gwen watched him go, appreciating just how well his jeans fit to his muscular thighs and the way his dark hair curled a little over his collar. She smiled as she waltzed back into her room. Time to do her hair and makeup. She couldn’t wait to see the look on his face in thirty minutes.
When he came by her room to collect her, he was dressed in a suit with no tie. His white shirt had the top button undone and his brown hair looked freshly washed, falling softly over his forehead. “I’m afraid you’ll outshine the bride,” he whispered in her ear as she put her hand into the crook of his arm.
She grinned and shivers ran up and down her body.
Downstairs, he introduced her one by one to his family, all seated around a long trestle table in the center of the restaurant. The bride and groom were glowing happily and welcomed her warmly. When she’d made the rounds, she finally sat between Heath’s Nana and his sister Samantha, with Heath directly across from her. He studied her with concern, his gaze flitting between the three women. What was he worried about? Everything would be fine.
“So you’re the young lady who’s captured my Heath’s heart,” said Nana, her bright blue eyes fixed on Gwen.
Gwen nodded and swallowed the piece of bread she’d been chewing. “Yes, ma’am.” She shook Nana’s hand with a smile.
“I hope the two of you will be just as happy as my Herb and I were. He died fifteen years ago, you know. Don’t let that happen – don’t let him die first. It’s terrible to be all alone in your twilight years.”
Gwen chewed her lower lip and nodded solemnly. “Yes, ma’am, I imagine it is.”
“What do you do for a living, dear?”
“I’m a teacher.”
“A teacher, did you say?” chimed in Samantha.
“Yes, third grade.”
“Oh, that sounds like fun. I’m a doctor – nothing fun about that.” She made a face.
“I’m sure it must be fun sometimes …”
“Not with what I do. I’m a GP. I should’ve been a surgeon – at least then I’d get to cut people open. But no, instead I decided to be a GP, so I get to wipe snotty noses all day long.” She grimaced and reached for a roll.
“It can’t be all bad.” Gwen wanted to make a good impression, but she could tell Samantha wasn’t going to make it easy.
“I’m being facetious.” Samantha sighed. “I do that sometimes. Brett, my boyfriend, says I use it as a coping mechanism. But he’s a psychiatrist, so he would say something like that, wouldn’t he?”
Gwen arched an eyebrow and nodded. “I guess so.” She was so out of her depth she was treading water. She looked for Heath. He seemed to have disappeared.
“And do you plan to stay home once you have children, dear?” asked Nana, taking a sip of iced tea.
Gwen’s eyes widened. “Um … I don’t know yet. I hadn’t thought much about it …”
“She’ll want to work,” Sam insisted. “But it wouldn’t make sense. Heath’s job keeps him out all hours and you know the way things are, Nana. It’s the women who end up having to hold down the home front, no matter what the feminists try to tell us.”
Gwen took a sip of her iced tea, her heart pounding. Where was Heath when she needed him? He was on the other side of the room, deep in conversation with one of his uncles – Steve, Andrew, Phil? She couldn’t remember. And she was beginning to sweat – what if she stained her new dress with her armpit sweat? She lifted her arms slightly and tried to blow air beneath them.
“Now, dear Samantha, don’t get going with all that feminist nonsense. When I was a young woman, we knew what our roles were. We stayed home and raised the children and our husbands went to work to make the dough. It worked for us, and I don’t see why it wouldn’t work the same way for you younguns.”
Sam sighed and rolled her eyes. “Oh, Nana, you don’t understand. I make just as much money as Brett does.”
“I’m sure when the time comes, we’ll make the decision together,” Gwen said, hoping to change the subject. “Do you ride, Sam?”
“Ride?”
“Horses. Heath said you grew up on a ranch.”
Sam smiled, the tension seeming to slip away as she leaned forward. “Yes, I love to ride. Do you?”
Gwen took a quick breath. “Uh, no. I’ve never gotten the chance to learn.”
Nana piped up again. “Tell me, dear. How did you and Heath meet? I want to hear all about it.”
Just then she felt Heath’s hands on her shoulders. She looked up to see him standing behind her chair. He winked and she felt a rush of warmth. “Actually, it’s kind of a funny story …”
“Oh?” Sam leaned in.
“Did I hear something about a story?” asked Arlene, rushing over and taking Heath’s seat at the table. She set her wine glass down, her eyes eager.
“I was going to tell Nana about how Heath and I met,” said Gwen, her thoughts swirling. She had to come up with something at least vaguely interesting, something that would make it seem as though they’d genuinely fallen head over heels in love so quickly they’d forgotten the engagement ring. “I mentioned I’m a teacher, but I haven’t started my new job yet. So for the summer, I’ve been waitressing at a diner downtown.”
Nana nodded, still smiling. “That sounds nice, dear.”
“One day Heath came in with some of his friends and ordered breakfast. He ordered waffles, and when I brought him his order I slipped on some spilled juice and dumped the whole thing in his lap.”
Arlene’s eyebrows arched high. “Oh! Now that’s an interesting way to make an impression.”
Heath squeezed her shoulders, and she glanced up to see his eyes narrow. She frowned, then continued.
“He jumped up, squealing …”
“I don’t know that it was quite a squeal …” he interrupted with an uncomfortable chuckle.
But she was on a roll. “Pumpkin, your voice was so high I thought the windows might shatter.”
The women around her erupted in fits of laughter. “Oh dear,” sputtered Nana when she could catch her breath again. “Then what happened?”
Gwen caught Heath’s eye and read his exasperation. She resisted a smile and reached for his hand as she stood to face the group. “I apologized, of course – I was mortified. I grabbed a dish cloth from the kitchen and hurried to help. But when I tried to wipe the syrup from his pants, he leaped away with a yelp. I knew right away I’d done something inappropriate. But as he jumped, he slipped on the wet end of a mop one of the other waitresses had left propped up against the counter. The mop stick popped him right in the nose …”
Heath squeezed her hand a little tighter, and he cocked his head to one side, frowning as if to try and shut her up.
She patted his hand. “Don’t worry, pumpkin, I’m not going to tell them about that poor woman.”
By now the ladies were gasping for breath as their laughter echoed throughout the restaurant. “What …woman …?” cried Arlene, a hand to her sid
e.
Gwen pursed her lips as though she didn’t wish to say, then shook her head. “This woman was having breakfast with her colleagues in another booth. She was wearing the prettiest red suit with matching pumps, wasn’t she, pumpkin?”
Heath’s nostrils flared. “I couldn’t say …” She could tell he wasn’t pleased with her story, but if he was going to engage her in a complicated lie to his family, he could at least let her have some fun with it. And they were eating it up.
“Well, when the mop hit him, he stumbled backward and tripped on the woman’s pumps He fell, flapping his arms like a bird taking off, and knocked her pancakes, scrambled eggs and coffee all over her. She was covered from head to toe in her breakfast, and she was not happy, let me tell you. My manager came out, breathing fire, and I had to comp her meal.”
By this time most of the table had stopped what they were doing to listen to and laugh at the story. Heath took a quick breath, now squeezing her hand so hard she thought it might lose feeling.
She pulled herself from his grasp and patted his arm lovingly. “Now, Heath didn’t have to say a word – he could’ve let me take the heat. But instead, he smoothed things over with my manager and promised to cover the woman’s dry cleaning bill. And that’s when I thought he might be the man for me. Good-looking, generous and humble – well, it’s hard to find a man like that. I didn’t know his name or anything else about him, but I knew he was something else. Then after he helped me clean up the mess, he asked me out. And the rest is history.”
That seemed to mollify Heath – his smile looked genuine. And the rest of the group’s mirth subsided. Graham extracted a handkerchief from his pants pocket and wiped his eyes dry. He hadn’t laughed as much as the rest of the group, but enough that his eyes were filled with tears. “I can’t say I’ve ever heard a story quite like that – or anything remotely similar about my son before. Perhaps there’s more to Heath than any of us knows. But I’m glad he met you, Gwen. And I’m certain the two of you will be happy together.”
Just then, Gwen noticed the perturbed look on the bride’s face and cleared her throat. “But enough about us – tonight we’re here to celebrate Newton and Heather’s impending nuptials. So let’s drink a toast to the happy couple!”
Everyone obediently reached for a glass and raised it high, echoing her words. “To the happy couple!”
Heather smiled and her cheeks flushed pink. She nodded thanks and spun around to kiss her intended on the lips.
Heath studied Gwen as she sipped champagne and chatted quietly with several members of his family. He frowned – she got along with his kin better than he did. Apart from the story of how they met, which he fully intended to talk to her about, she’d been polite, friendly, everything he could’ve asked. She was living up to her promise to be his fake fiancée. So why wasn’t he feeling better about it?
Likely it was because he hated lying to his family. Especially Nana, who’d been so excited when he told her he was engaged. He hadn’t thought it through enough before he made his plans, hadn’t fully considered how his lie might hurt hers or his parents’ feelings. He wished he’d never come up with the cockeyed plan, and now that it was in place he couldn’t back out. He wasn’t sure his family would forgive him if they discovered what he’d done, at least not for a long time.
He shook his head and chugged the last of the sweet tea in his glass. He had to stop worrying about it – there was a method to his madness. He wanted to be CEO of Montgomery Ranches. He’d earned it, working hard for years … well, working there for years, hard over the past two. His father handing over the reins was what everyone at the company expected, and what he’d promised, so many times he’d lost count. Yet now that the time had come, Dad was holding back.
He’d wondered often over recent months if his father lacked faith in his ability, or if his offhand comments about settling down and getting married were the one thing standing in the way. Well, at least now he’d find out. If Dad retired and handed Heath the position, he’d know it was because of his relationship with Gwen, not a lack of faith in his eldest son’s abilities.
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair as Gwen trotted unsteadily to his side. “A little too much champagne?” he asked, with one eyebrow raised.
She shook her head. “No, it’s these heels. I never wear anything this high.”
He chuckled. “Well, at least we don’t have far to go – just to the elevators and down the hall to your room. You should be able to make it, right?”
She nodded and set her glass on the table. “I’m ready if you are.”
He offered her his arm and she slid her hand through the crook, resting it against his sleeve. It felt natural, good, and his heart melted in his chest. “Let’s go.”
They waved goodnight to the rest of the family and headed for the small bank of elevators near the reception desk. Every few steps, he felt her lean more heavily on his arm. She really couldn’t manage those shoes. “Thank you for tonight,” he began.
She interrupted with a chortle. “Did I do okay, boss?”
He rolled his eyes. “You did fine. Though I could’ve done without the theatrical stories.”
She stifled a laugh. “Yes, sir.”
His eyes narrowed. “Don’t call me ‘sir’.”
“Sorry, sir … I mean, boss.” She chuckled.
He sighed. “You’re impossible.”
The elevator opened and they stepped inside, her hand still on his arm. “Then what would you like me to call you? I mean, you are my employer, aren’t you?”
The doors closed behind them and he let his eyes drift shut as well. “You’re giving me a headache.”
“Sorry, boss, I’ll work on that.” She giggled and covered her mouth to muffle the sound.
He studied her a moment. Clearly the heels weren’t the only reason for her unsteadiness. “Do you think you could take things down a notch? I mean, you’re doing a great job, you’ve got everyone convinced we’re engaged – which is exactly what I asked, so I can’t really complain. But I don’t want them all to fall in love with you.”
Her brow furrowed. “You don’t want them to like me? But would they believe you’d be engaged to someone they didn’t like?”
He bit his lip. “I don’t know. This is all new territory to me. But I can’t help thinking that if you make them love you too much, they’ll be devastated when we break up. So perhaps you could be a little less charming, maybe even a bit sullen. That way, when we do break up, they’ll understand – perhaps they won’t even blame me.”
She sighed and tugged her hand away from his arm, letting it hang limp at her side. “Whatever you say, boss.”
“And don’t call me ‘boss’.”
“Yes, sir.”
His eyes rolled. She really was impossible.
The elevator doors dinged open and he walked her to her room. She retrieved her key from her purse and stuck it in the door lock. “Anything else I should know before tomorrow?”
He shook his head and stuffed his hands deep into his pants pockets. “No.”
She faced him, her expression sincere. “And thank you again for the dresses. They’re really beautiful.”
He nodded. “You’re welcome. You make them beautiful.”
Her eyes widened as the door shut behind her.
Heath exhaled slowly, then wandered down the hall to his room. Only a few feet of carpet separated their rooms, but it felt like a galaxy stood between them. The more he got to know her, the more he felt as though he knew nothing about her. And even with the way she irked him, the more he wanted to know.
7
Gwen opened her eyes and glanced around the room. It took a few moments to remember where she was, but when she did she smiled. She breathed deeply and stretched both arms and legs as far across the king-sized mattress as she could, grinning with glee. The bed was so comfortable. And her room was enormous, holding the canopy bed, a small sitting area and a television. There was a Jacuzzi i
n the spacious bathroom, as well as a shower and double vanity. And the patio looked out over the sloping green hills of the golf course.
She stood with a yawn and padded over to the windows, pulling the curtains back and letting the sunshine in. Birds called outside the glass and she flicked on the TV, turning to a morning talk show she never got to watch because she was either teaching, or sleeping after a late shift at the diner.
After a hot shower, she dressed in a turquoise bikini she’d gotten on sale the previous summer and threw a flowing white knee-length dress over it. She grabbed her sunhat, Kindle, purse and beach towel, put on flip-flops and headed for the door. She’d spotted three swimming pools on one side of the resort the day before and she intended to make good use of them just as soon as she’d eaten breakfast.
In the hallway, she spied Arlene and Graham in front of Heath’s door. Graham had one hand poised, ready to knock. “Good morning.”
Both turned to look at her, and Arlene smiled. “Gwen, good morning to you as well. Isn’t it a beautiful day?”
“Are you looking for Heath?” she asked, slipping her room key into her purse.
Arlene nodded and Graham frowned. “Yes, we are. Have you seen him this morning …?”
Just then the door opened and Heath stood there. He arched an eyebrow at the three of them on the threshold. “Hello.”
“Good morning, dear,” Arlene replied. “We came to see if you’d like to join us for breakfast.”
He frowned, and Gwen noticed the cell phone in his hand. “Just a moment,” he said, stepping away from the door. She heard the murmur of his voice as he finished up a phone call before reappearing. “Sorry about that. Work. Sure, I’d love to have some breakfast – I’m starving.”
“Who was that?” asked Graham.
“Adam – he’s checking into something for me.”
