He noticed that Alison’s hand trembled as she held it out to him. He slipped the ring on slowly, his eyes on hers. “There, I now pronounce us make-believe husband and wife.”
Alison stared at the ring, remembering other words, vows that turned out to be just as hollow, just as make-believe. “I’ll see if I can get used to it by Monday,” she mumbled, darting inside.
Luc stood looking at the shut door for a long moment before he finally turned and walked back to his vehicle. He had no idea what to make of the look he’d seen in her eyes.
“So, are you nervous?” Alison whispered the question to Luc as they stood before his house, waiting for his friends to join them.
She’d taken her first tour of his home yesterday after leaving the clinic, trying to orient herself so that she knew where everything was. As far as houses went, it wasn’t a very large one, but then she’d come to see that Luc required very little and this suited his needs just fine. Standing on a plot of land his father had left him, not far from the general store, it was a single story, with a wide, friendly kitchen and two bedrooms.
That was the hurdle that was making her nervous, though she tried not to show it.
He kept his eyes on the approaching couple.
“Nothing to be nervous about. He’s an old friend. So is she.”
Understatements, huge understatements, he thought. Jacob wasn’t just an old friend, he was a friend he had lied to. And Janice had never been a friend, she had been an obsession, a feast for a fantasy, and he had loved her as much as a man could. Blindly.
And now they both were walking toward him, arm in arm. Was he ready to live out his lie?
Chapter Twelve
Alison sat across the table from Janice, pretending to eat, trying to keep her thoughts from registering on her face.
She’d taken an instant dislike to Janice.
Admittedly, it wasn’t very fair of her. Under ordinary circumstances, she wasn’t the type to make snap judgments. But over the last three weeks, busy though she’d been, the bond that had formed between her and Luc in the alley in Seattle had strengthened. She’d gotten to genuinely like Luc. And to respect him for what he was and what he was trying to do within the community.
There was no doubt that he was a selfless man rather than a selfish one. It was a rare quality in a person. She didn’t like seeing that kind of person hurt.
Ike had told her in passing that it was precisely that rare quality that had pushed Janice away from Luc and into the arms of another man. A man who wanted to do great things and make huge piles of money while he was at it. A man who was going places while Luc was content to remain at home.
Her eyes slanted toward Jacob, before looking back at her plate. Sensing that he was looking her way, she forced herself to smile.
She couldn’t fault Jacob for a trait that was alive and well within the older of her two older brothers. There was nothing wrong with drive and ambition; she’d always admired it herself. But what she could fault Jacob for was hurting Luc.
Funny how protective she’d gotten of a man who looked as if protecting was the last thing in the world he needed.
But then, she wasn’t alone in that feeling. Otherwise, why would the people in the town have all conspired to play along with this charade? It was to help someone they liked save face. The very fact was a credit to the kind of man Luc was.
Picking up her glass of wine, wine that Jacob and Janice had brought with them as a gift from Los Angeles, Alison took a sip and dwelled on what the townspeople were doing for Luc.
A person could do a lot worse than live in a place like this. She was beginning to see why Luc had such an affinity for Hades.
The tension of maintaining the pretense while appearing at ease danced over her. It had been far from a walk in the park. She was feeling her way around blindly, trying to remember to answer to “Suzanne” and to keep all the details she and Luc had created straight in her mind.
This last hour she’d done her best to act the genial hostess, a role that ill suited her, given how poorly she knew her way around a kitchen. Whatever success she’d had she attributed to pretending to be Lily, with a pinch or two of Sydney thrown in. Lily was never at a loss when it came to throwing a party, no matter how large or small. She would have found a way to materialize candles and tablecloths for everyone to go along with the five fishes and two loaves of bread that had fed the masses during the Sermon on the Mount. Sydney would have provided the homey warmth.
But warmth was a difficult thing to force whenever she looked at Janice. The woman was striking, no doubt about it. She was a willowy blonde with a killer figure, long, straight hair and eyes the color of a blue jay’s wings spread in flight.
And she had broken Luc’s heart.
Still listening to the three other people at the table relive past episodes, Alison excused herself and began gathering the plates, all empty save hers.
She caught the pointed look Jacob gave his wife. Caught, too, that Janice looked away.
“Need help?” Jacob finally asked.
She shook her head. “I’m just putting them in the sink for now.”
Luc picked up the plates on his side of the table and brought them in for her. Though he seemed to be enjoying the company of his friends and catching up with them, he looked slightly preoccupied. It was probably because the pretense was weighing heavily on his mind.
He made her think of someone who would have pledged his honor to Arthur at the Round Table.
“The prime rib was excellent,” Jacob enthused as they all retired from the table and took the five short steps into the rustic-looking living room. “I’ve eaten in some of the finest restaurants in this country and I can honestly say I’ve never had any better.”
For a second she grappled with accepting the compliment, but they were dealing with enough fabrication already. She didn’t want to compound it even more. Not that there was the danger of Janice asking her for the recipe. The woman looked even less inclined to find her way around a kitchen than she was.
“Then the compliment should go to Luc,” Alison told him. She deliberately wove her arm through Luc’s, getting a kick out of the mild surprise that rose in his eyes. “Luc made the meal. I was just the kitchen help.”
“Why is it we can’t find help like that, Janice?” Jacob joked. Taking a seat on the sofa, he moved to one side, making room for his wife.
She chose to sit down on the love seat instead. She also chose to ignore the good-humored question. Janice watched as the other couple sat down beside Jacob. With exaggerated movements, she laced and folded her hands together, her attention on Alison.
“So you’re a nurse?” Janice asked. Alison nodded, but before she could say anything, Janice’s eyes had shifted to Luc. “You never mentioned Suzanne was a nurse.”
He found it difficult to think of the woman beside him as anything else than Alison. Not after he’d just spent the last three weeks referring to her by that name.
Thinking of her by that name.
“The subject never came up,” Jacob told his wife, coming to his friend’s rescue.
Making himself comfortable by loosening his belt, he raised the glass he’d brought over with him from the dining room, in a toast to Luc. Alison saw the look of barely veiled annoyance pass over Janice’s face. She didn’t know if it was because of the toast Jacob was about to propose, or the belt he had unnotched. Probably both.
“Looks like you’ve done really well for yourself.” His eyes swept over Alison. “Luc doesn’t talk a lot, so I had to pump Shayne for information on the way over here.” Jacob looked at his old friend. “Shayne said you own the general store now and are thinking of going in on the theater.”
Luc shrugged vaguely. He didn’t care for discussing business matters, especially when things weren’t solidified. “Thought it might not be a bad idea. Wayne’s strapped for cash.”
Jacob laughed, taking another sip. “Wayne Hard-grove.” He shook his head, remem
bering things as they had once been. “Never thought he’d stick around. Now you, you I knew always would.” It somehow figured that Luc would come to the other man’s rescue, whether financial or otherwise. That was the kind of person he was. “Your husband’s the stablest man I ever met,” he confided to Alison. “He likes something, he sticks by it come hell or high water.”
If it seemed like praise to Jacob when he said it, it wasn’t to his wife. Janice toyed with her glass. The contents didn’t hold her attention the way Luc could. She began to think of opportunities lost and the road not taken. Why was it that the other side of the fence always seemed so much more tempting?
“Don’t you sometimes regret staying here?” she prodded, leaning forward over the massive coffee table.
It sounded to Alison like the tail end of an ongoing debate they’d carried on not all that long ago. “Why should he regret it?” she interjected. “He’s got good friends and the good feeling of building up a place he’s always loved. All the big cities of the world were once nothing more than a collection of a few houses.”
The look in Janice’s eyes was incredulous. Though she had gone on to someone else, she hadn’t made her peace with the fact that Luc had, too. That he had stung her pride more than a little, even though she knew it was being unreasonable. “Are you telling me you think Hades is going to be a big city?”
Alison couldn’t tell if the other woman was ridiculing her, or just being argumentative. “No, I’m saying that underneath it all, the foundation that goes into making a place is pretty similar.” Her defensiveness rose higher. She didn’t care what the woman thought of her, but she resented that she was looking down her nose at Luc and the path he’d chosen to take. “And there’s nothing wrong in putting your faith and your time into a place rather than a thing.”
Jacob appeared mildly amused. “By thing I take it you mean a company?”
She hadn’t meant to insult him. She had a tendency to get carried away and Luc wasn’t saying anything in his own defense. Because she didn’t want to make the situation uncomfortable, Alison retreated slightly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for it to sound as if I’m denigrating what you’ve done—”
Jacob held up a hand to stop the apology before it got rolling. “No offense taken. Like I said, Luc’s done very well for himself.” He avoided looking at Janice, knowing this would rankle her. But it was the truth. “And maybe I envy him a little.”
“Envy?” Janice echoed, stunned. “In heaven’s name, why?”
Janice had never been one to see the beauty in simplicity. But then, Jacob hadn’t loved her for that. He loved her for her support, her ambition, her enthusiasm. For the most part, he needed someone like that at his side. But right now he was just a little tired of his world and its demands.
“Because there’s no treadmill running at top speed under Luc’s feet, no threat of being caught by that same treadmill and dragged through the machinery.” Realizing that he sounded as if he was getting on a soapbox, Jacob stopped himself and laughed. “Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t come here to live and give everything up I’ve worked for. It’s just that, sometimes…”
Luc understood. “You need a place to get away. To hear yourself think.”
Jacob inclined his head. “You always did know me better than I knew myself.”
Luc glanced at Janice and remembered the hurt. The hurt that time had muted and placed under glass. “No, not always.”
They talked for a while longer. Then, at Jacob’s insistence, since the movie theater was a new addition and hadn’t been in Hades while he’d lived in the town, they went to see the building. Once there, because the timing was right, they decided to take in the movie.
By the time they returned home, the hour was late and jet lag was catching up to them. They had flown here from New York.
Outside, a touch of twilight was sneaking in, determined to make an appearance before dawn came to chase it away. The night would be less than a few hours long.
Jacob shrugged out of the jacket he’d worn all evening, making himself comfortable. “I think we’d better call it a night.” He looked at his wife. “I feel tired enough to actually sleep for a change.”
Janice looked through her purse, producing the small bottle of pills she made sure she carried with her on trips. “Just take one of these, honey.”
Alison noticed the prescription label. It was for sleeping pills. The dosage was a large one. How long had Jacob been taking those, she wondered.
“You’re having trouble sleeping?” Luc asked.
“Too much on my mind.” Jacob didn’t feel like going into details at this hour. Maybe tomorrow, when they were alone. Luc had always been easy to talk to. “Business doesn’t run itself.”
Saying something to the effect that maybe it was time Jacob delegated a little of his responsibilities, Luc showed Jacob and Janice to their room.
He then moved toward his own room, a sense of wonder filling him. Beneath the trappings, Jacob hadn’t really changed all that much; he was still Jacob. And beneath her trappings, Luc discovered, Janice was a woman he really hadn’t known at all. Seeing her had momentarily stirred up old feelings. But listening to her this evening had quickly squelched them.
Things always did turn out for the best, he mused. He was lucky that Janice had recognized how incompatible they actually were and had gone after someone who was far more in tune to her own wants and needs. Had Luc and Janice gotten married, they would have made each other miserable within a month.
The door to his bedroom was partially open. He pushed it open all the way, knocking first. Alison swung around to look at him. She was wearing pajamas one size too large for her. He’d never seen anything so hopelessly sexy in his life.
She told herself that she was being stupid, that there was no reason to feel this way. As if she was about to walk over a floor carpeted with spiders. This was Luc, after all, and he hadn’t given her any reason not to trust him. But she couldn’t seem to bank down the feeling.
“Um…we never discussed—accommodations.” Trying not to sound utterly adolescent, Alison nodded toward the bed.
Unbuttoning his shirt, he pulled the ends out of his jeans, then shed it. “Nothing to discuss. I figured you’d get the bed, I’d get the floor.” Crossing to the closet, he took out the extra comforter and tossed it beside the four-poster.
She looked away as he pulled his belt out of the loops. He debated putting on the pajama bottoms he slept in, then decided that she would feel better if he just stayed in his jeans.
Not hearing anything, she ventured a look and saw that he had stopped undressing. Because he’d offered to do the gallant thing without any fanfare or any request on her part, Alison felt compelled to make her own counteroffer. This was, after all, his room. “The bed’s large enough for two.”
The innocent observation made him grin. “That was the thought my father was going with when he bought it for himself and my mother.”
He probably thought she was some virginal novice.
Well, for all intents and purposes, aren’t you?
Alison tried again. “What I mean is that we’re both adults and there’s no reason we can’t be adult about sharing a bed.” She gestured toward it, nerves making her sound impatient. “You take one side, I’ll take the other.” Her eyes met his with stony resolve. “Nothing has to happen.”
No, nothing has to, he thought, but there was a little uneasiness that it might. That was what she was thinking. He could sense it even if there hadn’t been that fleeting look in her eyes when he’d walked in.
“All right.” He gathered up the comforter and tossed it on top of the bed. She might feel better if they each had their own blanket. “But just remember this is your idea.” He pretended to scrutinize her closely. “You’re not planning to have your way with me, are you?”
“No, not planning on it.” Despite her feelings, he’d managed to coax a smile out of her.
“All right then, let’s
get some sleep.” He lay down on the bed and, wrapping the comforter around himself, he shut his eyes.
Like someone testing the waters to see if they were too cold, Alison slowly slipped into the bed beside him. The fact that they had separate comforters didn’t help. He was a heartbeat away from her and she was lying right there next to him, listening to him breathe. Each breath seemed to vibrate inside her chest.
It had been two years since she’d shared a bed with a man. And back then, toward the end, it had been a nest of hostility and recriminations.
She tried to sleep.
She couldn’t.
“Luc?”
“Hmm?” He sounded as if he was more than half-asleep.
“What did you ever see in Janice?”
The question roused him. He turned on his side to give her a quizzical look. His face was only a few inches away from hers. She could feel his breath on her cheek when he exhaled. Something tightened sharply in the pit of her stomach.
And in her loins.
She could feel her pulse accelerating.
Nervous, she ran the tip of her tongue along her bottom lip before biting it. “I mean, other than the obvious. I mean, she is beautiful and all that, but she seems so, I don’t know, mercenary.” Her voice was accelerating with each word. “Like everything has to be about money, and that’s not what everything should be about. It should be about feelings and—”
She was babbling and she knew it, but there was this sudden need for words, for rhetoric to fill up the space between them. To be packed in so tightly that he didn’t hear how loud her heart was pounding. That he didn’t notice that she wanted his arms around her. His lips on hers.
Raising himself up on his elbow, Luc peered into her face. And felt those same needs slamming into him again, this time with the force of a football player plowing into the opposition. “Alison?”
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