Irene cleared her throat, which made them both jump. "You two are adorable." She took a rag and a bottle of window cleaner over to the sliding gla.s.s door and began to scrub.
For some unknown reason, Jared began to feel self-conscious with Irene in the room. When the doorbell rang, he stood. "I"ll get it."
He opened the door and took a step back. "Veronica?"
"h.e.l.lo, sweetie. I don"t mean to be a bother, but can I come in?" She had one hand on the door jam, one hand on her hip, and she was smacking on a piece of gum. Her hair was pinned up in the back in some kind of fancy do, and she smelled of expensive perfume.
He frowned. "What do you want?"
She tapped her long nails on the wood. "You"re not going to invite me in?"
"I already told you. There"s nothing we have to say to each other."
She slid her gaze over him. "All right. If you want to do this here, fine. I know about you and Madison. I know she"s not really your fiancee."
The blood rushed from his face. He stepped outside and closed the door behind him. He grabbed her arm and tugged her around the side of the house. The morning sun created a shadowed area, where no one would see them. "What"s this about?"
She jerked her arm out of his grasp. "I know Madison"s an actress you hired, that you"re not really engaged, and you"ve hired an actor to pretend to marry you. And I can prove it." Her eyes narrowed into slits. "And I"m prepared to tell your family everything."
He stepped back, his head reeling and his stomach clenching. "Why would you do that?"
She smirked and folded her arms across her chest. "So it"s true."
Jared stared at her. He didn"t want to admit such a thing to her. But she obviously found out somehow. No use in denying it.
The words wouldn"t come out. Instead, he ran his fingers through his hair. "Listen, Aunt Sh.e.l.ly is very ill. She may be dying. She wanted to see us happily married."
Veronica"s lips curled down. "Awe, so sorry to hear that, darling." She reached out to touch his chest, but he took another step back. Her frown turned into a sneer. "No reason to be rude."
"Stop it. I told you there"s nothing between us, Veronica."
She looked at him, like she might look at a bug on her fine table cloth. "I see how it"s going to be, then. We can do this in a more business-like fashion. I want fifty thousand dollars for my silence."
Jared laughed, taking a page in Madison"s book, and letting it loose. "You want what?" He laughed again. "If you think I"m going to do anything of the sort, you"re crazy."
For the first time, Veronica appeared to have no words. She blinked and her mouth hung open a bit, like someone had slapped her in the face.
Jared continued to chuckle.
She scowled. "Fine. Have it your way." She pulled out her phone. "Is your aunt at home, or is she in the hospital?"
His heart skipped a beat. "You wouldn"t."
She raised an eyebrow and swiped her finger over her phone. "Wouldn"t I?"
He s.n.a.t.c.hed her phone. "Don"t even joke about that. She"s very sick."
"Then pay me the fifty thousand dollars."
His stomach soured and bile rose in his throat. "You disgust me."
A smug smile appeared on her face. "I don"t care. You never were worth the time I spent on you." She plucked her phone from his hand and turned on her heel. She picked her way through the gra.s.s toward her car, wobbling on her heels as they pierced into the earth. "I"ll expect your first payment check tomorrow. Ten thousand. Get it together by then, or I"m calling your dear aunt Sh.e.l.ly."
Maxwell scrubbed his hand over his face and peered out the window. He"d only opened it to let in the morning breeze. He never meant to eavesdrop.
Chapter 14.
Maxwell slid the window shut. Jared and Madison...not really a couple? The news shocked him. He knew Jared had commitment issues, but never thought he"d do something like this.
He sat back down at his computer, not seeing the screen. Why would Jared hire a girlfriend? And why would he pretend they were engaged? It didn"t make a lot of sense. Sure, he"d put some pressure on Jared to find someone. Maybe too much pressure, he admitted reluctantly. But he only wanted him to be happy.
He thought back to when Jared first told him he was seriously dating. It was Easter. They were gathered around the table, trying to choke down Irene"s dry ham and cold scalloped potatoes. Maxwell asked if Jared had anyone in his life. Before he could answer, Sh.e.l.ly said something about how worried she was about him being alone. Then Mark made a comment about his s.e.xual orientation. That"s when he announced he had met someone.
At the time, he"d wondered if it were true. Seemed like something Jared said to get everyone off his case. Jared was evasive when questioned. His instinct must have been right. And as they talked on the phone, he"d ask if they were still dating. He had been pushy, looking back.
And he"d practically hounded him to bring her to his birthday celebration. No wonder he felt backed into a corner. But hire an actress? What was Jared thinking?
And there was no need to tell everyone he was engaged. What purpose did that serve? Wait. It hadn"t been Jared who made the announcement. It had been Madison.
Maxwell chuckled, now remembering the look on Jared"s face when Madison informed them of their engagement. He wasn"t sure exactly what happened, but he was positive she"d surprised him.
And then Sh.e.l.ly collapsed, ended up in the hospital, and asked them to move up the wedding. Caught between the lie and disappointing his aunt, Jared must have decided to go through with the charade.
His leather chair squeaked as he shifted. Something was still bugging him. Maxwell saw how Jared looked at Madison. The sidelong glances. The way his lip twitched when he was trying not to smile. Jared was developing feelings for her. Real ones.
And Madison-if she wasn"t in love with Jared, he"d eat Irene"s greasy, two-pound cheese souffle. The way she gazed at him said it all.
Maxwell touched the tips of his fingers together. They were falling in love. They just needed more time together to figure it out.
And Veronica could be dealt with pretty easily. Blackmail only works if the secret is still a secret. He picked up the phone and pressed the speed dial.
"Sh.e.l.ly? It"s Max. You"re never going to believe this."
Jared stomped up the stairs and slammed the bedroom door. How dare she? Fifty thousand dollars! What, did she think he kept that kind of money sitting in the bank? Of all the stupid...
Madison opened the door. "What"s going on? It sounded like an elephant stampeded through the house."
Jared let out an exasperated breath. He didn"t want to tell her. Didn"t want to admit he was being manipulated by the pathetic waste of human flesh named Veronica. It was prideful, but he didn"t care. He was embarra.s.sed to not have seen through her facade before now. "It"s nothing."
"Really?" Madison arched one eyebrow, one hand on her hip. "Nothing? You look like you"re about to breathe fire."
Jared plopped down on the edge of the bed. "It"s something I have to deal with, that"s all."
Madison"s gaze swept over him. Then she sat next to him and rested her hand on his leg. "Honey, if we"re going to make this marriage work, we"re going to have to learn to open up to each other." She batted her eyes at him, and her mouth quirked.
He was too mad to laugh, but his mood lightened considerably. "Funny."
"Just tell me what"s got you all worked up. It can"t be that bad, can it?"
He stared at her big blue eyes, trusting, and suddenly he wanted to tell her. He didn"t know why. He was used to keeping things to himself. But for some reason, the urge overcame him. "Veronica found out about us. She"s threatening to tell if I don"t give her fifty thousand dollars."
Madison sucked in a breath. "What? I can"t believe it. Why would she do that?"
"Because she"s psychotic." Which was a good description of Veronica. She"d been poison from the start. He should have seen it.
Madison bit her lip. "Maybe we can beat her at her own game."
He could see the wheels turning in her head, and apprehension filled him. Her insane ideas never worked the way they were supposed to. "You have that look on your face."
"Hush. I"m thinking."
"That"s what I"m afraid of."
She tossed him a stony expression. "I"m helping. What exactly did she say?"
He sighed. "She knows I hired you to pretend to be my fiancee. If I don"t pay, she"s going to tell Sh.e.l.ly."
"We could call her bluff. She wants money. I"m not convinced she would talk to Sh.e.l.ly if she didn"t get her way. What if you simply didn"t pay?"
"That"s your big plan? Not pay?"
"Well," she said slowly. "She might not tell her. But in case she does say something, we just need to tell Sh.e.l.ly you did hire me to pretend to be your girlfriend...maybe to ward off some chick at the office. And that"s really how we met four months ago. But we fell in love. The engagement is real. Veronica overheard stuff and got it a little wrong."
Jared quirked his head. It wasn"t a bad idea. Actually, it was a pretty good idea. It might work. "So, we confess to lying about how we met."
A smile spread across her face. "Yes. We were embarra.s.sed about the whole hiring thing. So we made up the opera story."
He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, because meeting in the women"s bathroom was much less embarra.s.sing."
Madison let out a belly laugh, then clamped her lips together and cleared her throat. "Sorry about that."
She was sure cute when she was trying to put on a straight face. "No you"re not."
"You"re right." A giggle escaped. "Every time I imagine you stumbling around the ladies room, literally b.u.mping into women, it"s hard not to laugh."
He hid a smile. "You"re thinking of it right now, aren"t you?"
She whacked his arm. "Stop trying to make me laugh."
"All right. How about we confess that I didn"t hire you to work at Jameson Technologies, but hired you to be my girlfriend instead. Then we don"t have to change much of our story."
"Perfect." Her smile made her glow. Something about her made him want to be closer to her. Learn all he could about her. She intrigued him like no other woman ever had.
He brushed her cheek with the back of his knuckles and reveled in the feel of her velvety skin. The urge to kiss her flooded him, but he pushed it away. The last thing he wanted to do was take advantage of her. She deserved better.
He pulled his hand away, and she stared down at her lap, her eyelashes brushing her cheeks. "We"d better gather our things. I"d like to visit Sh.e.l.ly, then I need to get to the office before they let Darlene take over."
She nodded, but he thought he saw disappointment flit across her face before it vanished.
Madison put on the clothes she had worn out to Highland Falls. Irene had washed them for her. There wasn"t much to pack. A toothbrush and hairbrush she"d bought at the department store. A pack of Tic Tacs from the gas station. She stuffed them in her purse.
Why did it feel like she was preparing for a funeral? It was ridiculous. No need to be sad about leaving. It wasn"t like they were really engaged. But even as the thought surfaced, she knew the truth. She had deeper feelings for Jared than she wanted to admit.
The way his lip twitched when he was trying not to smile. The sadness in his eyes when he talked about his mother. The way she felt when she was with him. All reasons to get through this fake-wedding, then get as far away from him as possible. He didn"t love her. And the more she allowed herself to fantasize, the more it would hurt when they parted.
Jared stuck his head in the room. "We"ve got a problem."
Her head jerked up. "What?" His face looked so serious, her heart raced to her toes. "Is it Sh.e.l.ly? Is she okay?"
He put his hand up. "No, nothing like that. My father"s giving us an engagement gift."
A gift? How was that a problem? "What"s he giving us?"
"Two tickets to the Henry Doorly Zoo."
What an odd engagement present. She tried to plaster on a smile. "Okay. Tell him thanks."
Jared rubbed the back of his neck. "They"re only good today. I guess he got some kind of deal on them. They include the IMAX theater, and he"s insisting we go...have some alone time."
Several emotions raced through her, grappling with each other to see who would come out on top. Happiness, at the thought of being able to delay their separation by a few hours. Dread, knowing she was walking on the edge of a cliff, about to fall off. And amus.e.m.e.nt, at the thought of Jared at the zoo. The happiness and amus.e.m.e.nt won out, and she smiled. "Sounds like fun."
"Really? Because I could tell him I must get back to work..."
Her chest tightened. "No. Don"t do that. My horoscope today says I should not make waves. I think we should thank him and go."
"When did you check your horoscope?"
"When you were in the shower. I borrowed your phone."
A wary look crossed his face. "How often have you done that?"
She plastered on a sheepish look. "Every day. I...uh, installed an app."
"Is that why I"ve been getting texts from that psychic Madame Geary?"
"Oh, she"s good. You should call her."
He pinched his lips and closed his eyes. When he opened them, she could tell he was trying not to yell. "Just check your horoscope in the paper, okay?"
"Sure. No problem."