by Leslie Kelly
“I need to talk to you, Maddy,” he murmured, his eyes on the road. “Before we get there, you have to know a few things.”
She stiffened in her seat. He didn’t have to see to know it, the air in the car changed with her sudden tension. God love the woman, she was so used to having the rug yanked out from under her, she’d probably been steeling herself for something to happen. Something bad.
He tried to keep things light at first. “I hope you have money in your account, because your check is going to clear your bank any day.”
She let out her breath in an audible whoosh, which, considering she’d just gone through a whole lot of money, said a lot about how dark her expectations had been. “Okay.” Laughing lightly, she added, “It’s certainly not going to bounce.”
As if. “Be sure you hold on to the canceled check. You’re going to need it come tax time.”
“Why?” Her hand moved to his leg. “Do they allow deductions for, uh, this, now?”
He covered her fingers with his, lifting them to his mouth to press a kiss there. “No. Because I signed it over to the Give A Kid A Christmas people.”
Her fingers tensed against his mouth, but she didn’t pull away. Oh, sweet Maddy. He knew what she was thinking, what she was wondering. Should she be angry? Should she be hopeful?
“I told you to do whatever you wanted with it.” She didn’t sound cold, merely alert, knowing, already, that there was more.
“There’s no way in hell I’d take money to be with you.”
“Jake…”
He cut her off. “Let me clarify. There’s no way I’d ever take money to be with any woman. But especially not you.”
At that, she did pull her hand away. They’d reached a stop-light a few blocks from the hotel, and he chanced a glance at her. Maddy was watching, her brow furrowed in confusion, her body tense. “I’m not following you.”
So he told her. “I’m not who you think I am. I don’t know how it happened, but somebody messed up at that auction. I’m not bachelor nineteen, I’m number twenty.”
“What?”
“I mean, I know I was nineteenth. But it wasn’t my bio that was printed beneath my picture in the program. It wasn’t my life. I’m not the man you went there that night to find.” Ignoring the fact that the light had turned green, he urged her to understand. “It wasn’t me, Maddy.”
It took her a few seconds. When understanding did wash over her, it did so instantaneously, and she gasped out loud, her jaw falling open. “Oh, my God.”
“Yeah.”
“You’re not…”
“No.”
“I mistook you for…”
“Uh-huh.”
“Is your name Jake Wallace?” She still sounded dazed.
“Of course. I am the man you’ve gotten to know since that night. The only thing you don’t know is that I’m a paramedic for the city of Chicago…not an ‘international playboy and lover of women.’” Or a hooker.
Behind them, someone honked a horn, and he finally acknowledged that he’d been holding up traffic. He eased forward, spying the tall, high-rise hotel just ahead of them. Maddy remained silent, slumped back in her seat as he pulled into the parking garage rather than heading for the valet stand.
They weren’t finished. They’d been late to the rehearsal, they could be late to dinner, as well.
Maddy waited until they were tucked into a small-car spot in the basement garage before she came back at him with the accusation he’d been expecting. “You lied to me.”
“I know.” He had no defense.
“You let me believe it. Let me make a fool of myself and assume horrible things about you.”
He reached for her, but she jerked away. “I know. But not from the very beginning. Call me dense, but it wasn’t until I went to meet you at the boat, and you explained how you ‘knew’ everything about me that I realized what the hell was going on.”
Finally appearing more anguished than angry, she murmured, “I’m so sorry. God, how horribly offensive. How demanding and spoiled I must have sounded.”
“Believe me, that first morning, those things you said…I was about as mad as I’ve ever been in my life. Not to mention stunned when you put forth your proposal that day on the boat. Right up until you told me who you assumed I was, and why.”
“And then? What happened then?” she asked, coming to the most important part. The part where he’d have to make her understand why he’d done it, and make her believe in his genuine feelings now.
But before he could open his mouth to say a single word, someone tapped on the passenger side window. Surprised, Jake and Maddy both looked out and saw the bride herself, nibbling the corner of her mouth, looking unsure and unhappy and utterly unlike a woman about to marry the man of her dreams.
“Damn,” he said. “We need to finish this conversation.”
“I know.”
“Can you tell her we need a few more minutes?”
Maddy pushed the button and lowered her window. “Hi, Tabby. Can you give us—”
“I need to talk to you.”
Oh, boy. He sensed the bride was about to confess something. She looked jittery and nervous, obviously upset, more on edge than she’d been at the church.
“I am so sorry, Maddy, but there are two people upstairs who you are not going to want to see.” She glanced across the car, saw Jake, gave him a brief smile, then focused on her sister again. “I could wring my future father-in-law’s neck. I’ve been watching for your car so I could give you a heads-up. I’m really glad you guys decided to park down here so we have a minute.”
“What’s wrong? Who is upstairs?”
“Bitsy.”
“Ick.”
“I know. She was having dinner in the restaurant. I guess she knows Bradley’s family. Anyway, Mr. Kent spotted her, and invited her to join the party, which, of course, delighted Deborah.”
Maddy glanced at Jake. “Bitsy is one of my stepmother’s cronies. She, uh, was there. That night.”
“Oh, this just gets better and better,” he mumbled.
“No, it gets worse,” Tabitha snapped. “Because Bitsy wasn’t alone. She was with a date, the old skank. None of us realized who it was until they’d sat down. I told Bradley to get rid of them.” She shook her head. “But he said Bitsy’s family and his had been friends for years and he wouldn’t do something so rude.” She looked away. “Not even when I begged him to.”
Jake sensed Tabby was hurt by her fiancé’s refusal to back her up—which made him actually start to like her, maybe a little. At least for looking out for Maddy. The one thing he didn’t get yet was who this unwanted second person was.
“I bet the witch did it on purpose,” Tabitha muttered. “I can’t imagine she didn’t know our rehearsal dinner was being held here. And there is absolutely nothing she likes better than stirring up trouble and sitting back to watch the explosion.”
Maddy was obviously losing patience. “Did what? Who is she with, Tabby? Would you just spit it out?”
“It’s Oliver, Maddy. He and Bitsy are sitting right upstairs in the restaurant, where everyone is waiting for you—both of you—to join us.”
AS JAKE LED HER toward the elevator a few minutes later, after Tabitha’s shocking announcement, Maddy felt him silently offering support, even though he, himself, was tense and angry, obviously ready for trouble and spoiling for a fight.
“I know you probably don’t want me around right now,” he said, his tone gravelly, his jaw stiff. “But I’m not letting you walk into the lion’s den alone. We’ll finish our conversation the minute it’s over.”
He’d been keeping his voice low, to prevent Tabby, who walked a few feet ahead of them, from overhearing.
“I do want you around, Jake.” So much it scares me.
She admitted it to herself—but not yet to him. She couldn’t give him that much power, not yet, not until they had finished their conversation. Though she suspected he’d assume she wante
d him there for support, tonight, that wasn’t it.
She just wanted him in her life. Despite everything.
Maybe, even because of everything. Because Maddy could not deny that, while mortified and angry, she was also more than a little relieved that Jake hadn’t stuck around for money. He had never, in fact, taken money from any woman. And falling hard for a great guy who saved people was a whole lot easier on her heart than falling for one who had sex for cash.
Maybe he really could be the man of her dreams.
But he’s also a man who lied. So don’t get your hopes up.
“I can hardly wait to see this bastard.”
“I don’t give a damn about Oliver. He’s nothing.” Frowning, she added, “And don’t for one minute think you need to ‘protect me.’ The man is not worth the breath it would take to tell him off.”
“We’ll see,” he muttered.
Caveman. The act was still kind of cute, if entirely unnecessary. Maddy could handle her ex. She could handle just about anything.
Except Jake walking away from her. Especially before she’d found out everything she needed to know.
“You doing okay?”
He wasn’t referring to Oliver and they both knew it.
“I still want an explanation,” she whispered. “And we will have that conversation. But I can’t hate you when the whole thing started because of my stupid family dramas and a complete misunderstanding.”
It was true. She was humiliated that he’d let her believe she’d “bought” him for a month. She definitely wanted to know why. But how could she stay angry when he’d made her happier in the past two weeks than she’d ever been in her life?
Seeing her sister reach the elevator and impatiently punch the up button, Maddy put a hand on Jake’s sleeve, stopping him, and turned to look up at him. He watched her with tender eyes, a loving expression. Loving.
He hadn’t said it. He hadn’t claimed that’s what had driven him to pose as—oh, God, she still couldn’t believe the whole nightmarish mix-up had happened—a gigolo. This wonderful, funny, thoughtful, laid-back all-American family guy. What in the hell had she been smoking to believe his supposed vocation for one minute once she’d gotten to know him?
Once she’d started to love him.
“Thank you for telling me the truth. For not waiting until the end of the thirty days.”
“I’m sorry I waited thirteen,” he admitted. Jake lifted a hand to her face. He touched her cheek, brushed his fingers through her hair, even rubbed the side of his thumb along her eyebrow, as if wanting to memorize it. “Thank you for not kicking me out of your life. I…”
“Are you two going to stand there and make out or are you coming?”
Maddy sighed heavily, saw her impatient sister peering at them from inside the elevator, holding the door open with one slim hand, and forced a smile. “Tonight,” she told him as they resumed walking. “Tonight, everything comes out. No more secrets. Then we see what we’re going to do about it.”
For the first time since he’d started talking in the car, Jake appeared relaxed. Maybe even hopeful. “That’s a date.”
Then they walked into the elevator. Tabby’s frown said she was still furious. Suspecting Tabby was hurt that Bradley hadn’t backed her up, on this, of all nights, Maddy acknowledged exactly what they were facing upstairs.
Her sneaky, cheating, lying ex wasn’t such a big deal, at least not for her. But there were also a few women who thought the man holding her arm was a hot body for sale.
“What a night,” she said as the elevator rose.
“Yeah,” he agreed.
“I don’t suppose you’d forgive me if I bailed, huh?” she asked Tabby.
To her surprise, her sister’s expression wasn’t immediately indignant. Instead, Tabitha said, “I want you there. But I will understand if you’re not able to handle the drama. I’d bolt, in your shoes.”
“Oh, she can handle it. We can both handle it,” Jake said. He dropped an arm across Maddy’s shoulders and tugged her close, asserting his claim and announcing his protection. He smiled down at her. “We’d just rather not expend the energy dealing with people who mean absolutely nothing to us.”
“I like him,” Tabby said, smiling what looked like her first real smile all evening.
Considering her sister had been her partner in crime, Maddy figured she should know the truth, too. “By the way…Jake is not who we—the world, the women at that auction—thought he was.”
Her sister smirked, not believing it.
“Doesn’t matter, babe,” Jake said.
“Yes, it does.” Maddy continued, her no-nonsense tone finally getting her sister’s attention. “There was a printing error in the programs. I think the ‘international playboy’ was the man who came last. Jake’s a paramedic. A completely not-for-sale-at-any-price rescue worker.” She smiled up at him, shocked at how wonderful it felt to say the words out loud. To acknowledge the truth, and indulge in the feelings it engendered.
“Oh, my God,” Tabby said, “you’re serious.” Her blue eyes grew wide as saucers. “You mean…you offered…he’s not a…”
“No,” Jake said. “Definitely not.”
“I am so sorry.” Then she gave him a once-over. “You could be, though. You have to admit that.”
Laughing, he brushed off the assessment. “Forget it, no apology necessary. I suspect being mistaken for some male hooker might have been the best thing that ever happened to me.”
And to her.
She’d fallen in love with him when she’d thought he had a string of rich women following him around. Knowing he was a good-natured hero, well, just about every doubt she’d had about him had disappeared from her mind.
Just about. There was, of course, still that tiny whisper in the back of her brain, reminding her that she knew better than to believe in true love or happily ever after. Despite the fact that, right now at least, she felt surrounded by it.
Tabby loved her fiancé and he loved her. Dad loved his wife—okay, she didn’t quite fit in the example because, as far as Maddy was concerned, Deborah was a bitch who didn’t deserve him. But hopefully the woman had now been “scared straight” by her close call at the auction.
She hoped so. Her father certainly seemed to love the woman. He’d shown no signs that his attention was waning, even though they’d been married for a year and had dated for four years before that.
So maybe all the Turners were changing. Every one of them. Maybe even her.
They’d reached the lobby floor, and as Tabby led them out of the elevator, Maddy saw into the arched opening of the private room in the restaurant, and stiffened. Oliver was a rotten jerk to be here, when he knew she’d be coming. And she could not even fathom what her father must be feeling, knowing how utterly furious he became at even the mention of her ex’s name.
“It’ll be fine,” Jake reminded her in a whisper.
“Stay close.”
“I won’t let him bother you.”
“I don’t give a damn about him,” she muttered. “But if Bitsy Wellington puts a hand on you I might chop it off with a steak knife.”
He threw his head back and laughed, all good humor and masculine sexiness, as they entered the restaurant.
Everyone stopped talking. Every older person—her father, her aunts, family friends—smiled, probably thinking Maddy had found the right man at last. And every single woman in the place almost certainly envied her.
She kept her arm wrapped tightly in his, silently staking her claim.
They were welcomed with a round of introductions, then quickly seated just before the dinner began. Breathing a sigh of relief that things had gone smoothly so far, Maddy took note of every detail, especially the layout of the room.
She strongly suspected there’d been some rearranging going on before they’d arrived. She and Jake were not seated with the bridal party, but rather at a side table with a few family friends. One of her cousins and her husband sat
near Maddy’s father, in the direct line of sight of Bitsy and Oliver’s table.
Oh, yes. Somebody had switched the name cards. Thank goodness.
Unfortunately, there had been no way out for Tabby, who cast such obvious glares at Oliver that it was amazing he hadn’t had the sense—not to mention courtesy—to get up and leave. Then again, he certainly hadn’t displayed either of those traits before tonight…why start now?
“I wonder how Dad’s holding up,” she whispered, her gaze continuing to return to the older man. He appeared fine on the surface, smiling and exchanging small talk with the parents of the groom. But Maddy had seen him cast more than a few hard stares in her ex’s direction, and every time he did, his face went a shade redder.
“He doesn’t look great,” Jake replied. Then, his eyes narrowing, he craned his neck to peer around the small sea of people separating them from the head table. “The blonde, beside him, is that your stepmother?”
“In the flesh.” Did that sound too sour?
“She looks familiar.”
“She tried to buy you, remember?”
“It’s something else…. Oh, God, now I remember.” Jake leaned closer, obviously realizing his loud pronouncement had caught the attention of a few people around them. “She’s the one who told me how to find you.”
Maddy didn’t understand.
“That night, after you left, I was trying to track you down. I told you a woman told me your name and where you worked.”
“Deborah? Are you kidding? I figured it was Tabby!”
“It was Deborah, definitely.”
How unexpected. Maybe pure embarrassment had led to the older woman’s actions. It was the only explanation Maddy could come up with.
Glancing at the head table, she noted the stiff way her stepmother sat at her father’s side. Deborah lifted her glass, stared into the ruby red-wine within it, then tossed it back, gesturing to the waiter for another.
