“How did you know?”
“Constance told me all about you.”
“What’s this?” Norm demanded. “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
“Big brothers don’t need to know everything,” Judy answered, winking at Audra. “Your mom mentioned that you were seeing someone. I got the impression it was serious.”
She didn’t know whether to be amused or annoyed. She should have known her mother wouldn’t have remained silent about meeting Sam this morning.
“I knew you’d change your mind about marriage eventually,” Judy went on. “You have too much love inside you to stay single forever. You’re a lucky man, Sam Tucker,” she said. “Audra’s quite a catch.”
“Absolutely.” He reached for Audra’s hand and twined his fingers with hers. “You have no idea how happy she made me when she said yes.”
Only Audra was aware of the real meaning behind Sam’s words. “Sam can be very convincing,” she said. “Until a few minutes ago, I hadn’t decided one way or the other.”
“Hey Mom, when are we going to eat? Oh hi, Aunt Audra.”
She glanced down the hall. Jimmy was walking toward them, his gangling height curved into a characteristic teenage slouch. His eyebrows drew together as he squinted suspiciously at Sam—he was resembling his father more every day.
Judy ruffled her son’s hair. She grinned at his pained expression and repeated the gesture. “Aunt Audra has just become engaged,” she said.
“Yeah?” he muttered, crossing his arms.
“Ignore him, it’s in the genes,” Judy said, rolling her eyes. “When’s the wedding going to be?”
“We haven’t set a date yet,” Sam replied, lifting Audra’s hand to press a soft kiss to her knuckles. “Soon, I hope.”
“Where’s that crate of champagne, Norm?” Judy asked. “This certainly calls for a toast or two.”
“It’s for tomorrow’s job. We can’t open it for ourselves.”
“Oh, pooh. I’ll replace it in the morning.” She scooped up the decoration she’d been working on and started down the hall in the direction she’d come from. “There are already some glasses set out in the conference room. Oh, I can’t wait to tell the rest of the family.”
Jimmy shoved his hands into his pockets and slouched after his mother. Pausing long enough to give Sam a cool, assessing look, Norm followed.
Sam brought his mouth close to Audra’s ear. “Your sister-in-law’s no problem, but I don’t think your brother buys it.”
“My brothers are all a bit overprotective. Judy will bring him around eventually.”
“Who does the hiring?”
“Hiring? Oh, of course. The hiring. My father and Norm.”
“Then we’ll have to put some more effort into convincing Norm we’re for real. Hang on,” he said, leaning over.
“What—” She gasped when she felt Sam’s hand slide behind her knees. “Sam!”
Without any warning, he scooped her up in his arms.
She gave a startled shriek. “Sam! What are you doing?”
He grinned. “Demonstrating how I swept you off your feet.”
“For heaven’s sake, put me down. You don’t have to—”
“Put your arm around my neck,” he said through his smile. “And try to pretend you’re enjoying this.”
Norm and Judy had stopped at the doorway of the conference room. While her sister-in-law’s face was all smiles, her brother was still regarding them with a look of wary appraisal.
Audra clasped her hands behind Sam’s neck, leaned her head against his shoulder and forced her body to relax into his arms as he started to move forward. With each step he took, she felt the muscles of his arms flex behind her back and under her thighs, felt the side of her breast rub against his chest and felt his warmth and the clean tang of his aftershave tease her senses.
Pretend you’re enjoying this.
She summoned up a smile for the sake of their audience and hoped she had the acting ability to make it look genuine. Because although the smile might be fake, the enjoyment she felt at being carried in Sam’s arms was all too real.
Sam gave the waitress their orders, then leaned back against the cushioned booth, rubbed his hand over his face and watched Audra continue to shred her paper napkin.
She’d been uncharacteristically silent on the drive to the restaurant. And apart from her quick cooperation with that kiss in the elevator, she was more distant now than she’d been before she’d agreed to help him.
Concern tightened his gut. Damn, had he been wrong to trust her? Was she thinking of backing out? “Having second thoughts?”
She glanced up quickly. “No, I agreed to this. I’ll see it through.”
He breathed a silent sigh of relief. “It seems to be working out fine so far.”
“So far.”
“Your sister-in-law really took to the idea.”
“Yes, Judy would. She’s been doing her best to match me up with people for years.”
He stretched his arm out to pick up the cup in front of him and took a long swallow of coffee, hoping to drown out the aftertaste of champagne. He’d never liked the stuff, but it had seemed like an appropriate suggestion at the time. Cracking open a bottle of the champagne that had been meant for that retirement party had worked exactly as he’d hoped it would, focusing Audra’s family’s attention on celebrating the engagement instead of questioning it.
For this cover to work, there were two major goals he had to achieve. First, he had to get the McPhersons to accept the engagement. Second, and most important, he still had to join the company. “Your brother didn’t seem to share his wife’s enthusiasm.”
“No. Norm’s not exactly what I’d call a romantic. He’s the oldest, and he’s always had a strong sense of responsibility. Of all my brothers, he’s the one who’s most like my father.”
Sam remembered what Xavier had told him about John McPherson, the upstanding citizen who supported his widowed mother-in-law and donated his services to a homeless shelter. “Terrific.”
Her lips twitched into a quick smile. “Judy will bring him around eventually.”
“We don’t have a lot of time here. The Fitzpatrick wedding’s next month. My cover has to be solid enough for me to join the company before that.”
“That’s right,” she said, her smile faltering.
“We were lucky today that your family was too surprised to ask for many details, but we’re going to have to get our story straight.”
“I hate deceiving them.”
“It’s only temporary.”
“I know. It’s just that—” She paused. “I guess I hadn’t thought we would start so quickly. I wasn’t really prepared for...having to act.”
“All the more reason to get things straight before we go any further.” He leaned forward, crossing his arms on the edge of the table. “Okay. What will your family want to know?”
“Oh, God. Are you serious? Everything. How we met, how long we’ve been dating, when the wedding’s going to be.”
“We’ll keep it simple. We met two months ago when I was moving in and we struck up a conversation in the elevator. Like Judy said, it was love at first sight. We don’t need to set a date for the wedding, just say you’re too busy to plan it right now. What else would they ask?”
She hesitated, toying with her water glass. “They’ll want to know about you. What you’re like, what you do for a living.”
“I can’t be currently employed, or I wouldn’t be wanting a job with McPherson Catering. You can say I’m a computer programmer who just got downsized.”
“Do you know anything about computers?”
“Enough so I won’t have to fake my expertise. Why? Would you prefer me to be something else?”
“No, that should be all right.” She ran her finger down the side of her glass, leaving a trail in the condensation. “They’ll also expect me to know where you come from and what your family’s like.”
His shoulders
tensed. This was a cover, the same as countless others that he’d made up. The whole idea was to get her family to accept him, and there was no way they’d do that if they knew the truth.
So why did he have this desire not to lie?
“We’ll keep that simple, too,” he said. “I’m from Cleveland. Never been married. No close relatives, parents died in a car accident when I was a kid.”
Her face softened. “Oh, Sam. I’m sorry.”
Even though her sympathy was misplaced, it felt unexpectedly good. “It’s only a cover story, Audra.”
“Oh.”
“What else would they need to know?”
“Well, if you and I are supposed to be engaged, we’d be expected to know...personal things about each other.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “Such as?”
“Your taste in music, your hobbies, what kind of movies you like, your favorite color, things like that.”
“Garth Brooks, no time for hobbies, and action movies.” His gaze dropped to the delicate blue shades that patterned the dress she was wearing. “And if I had to choose, I’d say I like blue.”
“Is that only a cover story, too?”
“Not this time. I only lie when it’s absolutely necessary.” He fell silent as the waitress reappeared with the food they’d ordered. When she’d left them alone again, he drew Audra’s attention to the plate in front of him. “We’ll straighten out more details as we go along, but you already know a fair amount. For instance, you can see I like my steak rare. And you know I like your coffee and those cinnamon Danishes you make.”
She looked at his steak, then glanced at her own order of sole almondine with steamed rice. “Yes, I guessed that you have a good appetite.”
“So what about you? Besides knitting, reading crime novels, cooking up new recipes and spending time with your family, is there anything else I should know?”
“Well, I suppose that pretty well sums it up.”
“Fine.” He sliced into his steak. “If a situation comes up that we can’t fake our way through, we can always imply that we were too busy making love to do much talking.”
Her fork clattered against her plate. “Sam!”
“What’s wrong? We’re engaged.”
“I’m not about to start telling anyone about our love life. I mean, our supposed love life.”
“Hey, you wouldn’t be lying if you said you’d been in bed with me.”
Her cheeks turned scarlet.
“If pressed, I’d even be able to testify to that tiny mole you have on the inside of your left thigh.”
“Sam!”
“Engaged couples are expected to be hot for each other. It would seem suspicious if we weren’t, especially considering how fast we fell in love.”
“But we’re not—” She pressed her lips together for a moment. “Of course. We have to put on a good act.”
“You played along just fine in front of Norm and Judy this afternoon. All you have to do is keep it up, and no one’s going to doubt our story.”
“About this afternoon, I don’t think it’s necessary for you to be so...demonstrative, is it?”
He probably had been more demonstrative than necessary. At the time, he’d told himself it was just for show. The light kisses, the lingering touches, all those gestures of affection were merely part of the groundwork, right? It had felt so natural, and it had come so easily, that he hadn’t wanted to think about it too deeply.
He should have thought about it. How many times did he have to remind himself that she wasn’t the type of woman who would be interested in a man like him? Her shy response to his first kiss in the elevator, her sighs, the way she’d leaned against him and let her softness mold to his body...it was all for show. If it had seemed real, it was probably because he’d spent so much time thinking about it since he’d held her in his arms last night.
“I mean, I know we’re supposed to be engaged,” she continued. “But this is only a...a business arrangement. We’re working together to get what we each want, but we’re not going to get personally involved.”
“I thought I made that clear at the start.”
She nodded. “You did. And I agree with you. I just want to make sure you understand that I’m not looking for any kind of relationship.”
“Neither am L”
“Especially marriage.”
“Same here.”
“Fine.”
“Good,” he said, his tone harsher than he’d intended. “I’ll be sure to keep my hands off you unless absolutely necessary.”
She lifted her gaze to his. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, Sam. It has nothing to do with you personally. I simply don’t want to get seriously involved with any man again.”
“Again?”
“I was engaged once before.”
He couldn’t miss the sadness in her eyes. For a moment he had an urge to reach out and cover her hand where it rested on the table. He’d actually lifted his hand before he realized what he was doing and changed the movement into picking up his water glass. “Maybe you’d better tell me about it. Your family would expect me to know.”
“His name was Ryan Beresford. We were friends from the time we were kids and planned to marry as soon as I finished college, but he...” She swallowed. “I’m sorry. I should have realized how pretending to be engaged again would stir all of this up.”
“What happened?”
“We had just put a down payment on our house when he had an accident. He was a championship diver all through college and was trying out for a spot on the Olympic team. He struck the edge of the pool on his last dive and broke his neck.”
“I’m sorry. That must have been horrible to lose him that way.”
“The fall didn’t kill him. It left him paralyzed.”
“Oh, God.”
“He cancelled our engagement because he said it wasn’t fair for me to be bound to an invalid. I loved him anyway, so when he was released from the hospital, I moved into the house with him. I stayed with him until he died two years later.”
The pain in her voice was well disguised, buried under the stark, matter-of-fact words. She had revealed a nightmare. And she probably didn’t realize what her words revealed about herself. She’d loved him anyway. She’d stuck by him. What strength that must have taken, what loyalty.
What would it be like to be loved like that?
This time he did touch her. A brief stroke of his- fingertips on the back of her wrist.
She started at the contact, but she didn’t pull away. “It was at his funeral that I promised myself I would never get married. My family knows it. That’s the main reason Norm is having trouble believing I’ve suddenly changed my mind.”
“I can understand that.”
“They were all so worried about me after Ryan died, they practically smothered me with their good intentions. They couldn’t seem to accept the fact that I was handling it in my own way. I didn’t need to be sheltered and protected. I needed to be independent.”
“I can understand that, too,” he murmured. “If you’re on your own, no one can hurt you.”
“That’s right. Love makes a person too vulnerable. It’s better to—” Pausing, she tilted her head as she watched him. “You do understand. What happened to you, Sam? Were you ever married?”
He pulled back, withdrawing his hand. “No.”
“Were you engaged?”
“No. Settling down with one woman isn’t for me, that’s all. With the kind of work I do, I don’t want to be tied down.” Sam turned his attention back to his steak. “How much do I need to know about the catering business to get hired on?”
The abrupt change of topic effectively snuffed out the spark of closeness that had sprung up between them. And that was good, Sam told himself. Hadn’t they both agreed that this relationship was strictly a business arrangement? That they didn’t want to get personally involved?
The only person in Chicago who knew about Sam’s past was Xav
ier, and even then, there were still some things that Sam had kept to himself. But in the space of less than a day, Audra had threatened to slip past the defenses that had served him well for over thirty years. Why? Was it only because he found her attractive?
She wasn’t flashy, and she was too delicately wholesome to be called beautiful. She hid her body’s curves under loose clothes and restrained her sensuously soft hair, so obviously she wasn’t setting out to entice anyone. It must have been because of the circumstances last night—after lying naked on top of a semiclothed woman, any normal man would feel something. Lust. That’s all it was. No need to start analyzing his feelings any further.
If you’re on your own, no one can hurt you.
She was a necessary part of his cover, that was all. If he’d had any other way to get close to Fitzpatrick, he would have used it.
Chapter 5
“If I’d had any other way to get close to Fitzpatrick, I would have used it.”
Xavier gripped the steering wheel and swore under his breath, a sure sign of his mounting anger. Normally nothing ruffled him. He took sleepless nights and cross-departmental raids in stride. But ever since Sam had slipped into the unmarked sedan, the atmosphere had been simmering with tension.
“There was no other choice at the time,” Sam persisted. “If I hadn’t acted immediately, we would have missed the opportunity.”
“Middleton could have done it.”
“Middleton’s a good cop, but he’s about as subtle as a grizzly. He’s twice Audra’s height and three times her weight. And apart from the fact they’d be physically mismatched, you know he’s not the romantic type. He’d never be able to convince anyone their engagement was real.”
“He can play out a cover as well as anyone else on the team.”
“I know, but—” Sam tugged on the knees of his jeans and slumped lower in the passenger seat. “Her brother’s going to be a hard sell. And he’s one of the people in charge of the hiring.”
“Then you should have left it to Bergstrom. He would have been perfectly convincing in the role of fiancé.”
Sam’s jaw hardened as he thought about Bergstrom’s magazine-model good looks. The man’s love ’em and leave ’em reputation was legendary around the station, but the idea of the slick-talking Romeo getting close to Audra... “No. She’s too innocent for him,” he said. “Bergstrom’s way out of her league. He’d eat her alive.”
Engaging Sam Page 7
