Chapter 6
Ionly returned to the beach house when I knew my sister would be at work. Even then it was for a quick shower and a change of clothes. I packed a few things in a duffel bag in case my plan went according to … well … plan.
Aria had responded to my text with a forlorn one of her own.
Please come home. We need to talk about this. xx
Home.
Didn’t she realize it wouldn’t be that for me anymore if I didn’t do something to stop being kicked out of the country? I felt like she didn’t understand my urgency, my desperation.
Before I could talk myself out of it, I jumped back into the rental SUV and drove off the estate, heading out of Ardnoch toward the McCulloch farm. I’d never been to Jared’s farmhouse, but I knew it was signposted.
A narrow country road only wide enough for one vehicle at a time cut through lush green fields up toward the farmhouse. It appeared among a ramshackle collection of buildings that housed what I assumed were farm vehicles and equipment. The farmhouse itself was an attractive two-story sandstone brick home with slate roof tiles. Dormer windows suggested the attic space had been turned into a room or two as well.
The yard around the house was mostly a gravel drive. It was muddy and unkempt compared to the house and exactly what a person might expect on a farm.
Jared’s Defender, however, was nowhere in sight.
Damn it.
I wanted to do this before I lost my nerve.
Turning around, I drove back down to the main road and made my way slowly (much to the aggravation of any traffic that found me) along it, searching the fields on my left. Another unmarked road appeared and I took it on the off chance it led me to Jared.
Sure enough, a minute later I spotted his Defender parked beside a gate to a field. Jared waited at the gate as a tractor, driven by Georgie, I assumed, worked the land.
At the sound of my engine, Jared turned and stiffened.
Butterflies erupted in a riot inside my belly. I considered myself a pretty confident person. Yes, I got nervous about things that mattered to me or situations that were out of my comfort zone, but I tended to march into them head-on. In fact, I kind of got off on the fluttery nerves of anticipation.
This was different. I felt like I might upchuck.
It’s a good plan, a voice inside insisted. Get out of the car.
With trembling limbs, I pushed open the car door and jumped out. Jared crossed the space between us to meet me. I was a jumbled mess of “Oh my God, I can’t believe what I’m about to propose to this guy” and “Maybe proposing to a guy this hot is a bad idea.”
And he was hot.
So freaking hot.
Even in a dirty long-sleeved tee, old jeans, and mud-splattered work boots.
The sun glinted in those startling jade-green eyes. I could drown in them.
This is a bad idea.
A frown marred Jared’s brow as we stopped before each other. He wasn’t overly tall, about five eleven. But he was so broad of shoulder it gave him the sense of being taller. I hadn’t inherited my mother’s height, but I was five foot eight, which wasn’t exactly short.
Somehow I felt dainty standing before Jared, looking into that handsome, scowling face.
“You all right?” he demanded. “What’s happened?”
Those butterflies suddenly swarmed up into my throat, making my pulse throb. I squeezed my hands against the nerves. Whoa, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt like this.
Jared ducked his head slightly to look me directly in the eyes. “Allegra? What’s going on?”
At the note of genuine concern in his voice, I shrugged my shoulders back and took a deep breath and slow exhale.
Jared straightened as he watched me, his gaze unreadable.
“I have a proposal to make to you. About the farm.”
Something about my words put him visibly on the defense. Jared crossed his arms over his broad chest and widened his stance. “What do you want with the farm?”
Prickly, prickly. So far this was not going well and I’d barely said a word. The tractor growled in the distance, distracting me. “Can we go somewhere to talk?”
He gestured around us impatiently. “This is as private as it gets.”
“Right.” I licked my lips nervously, and Jared’s gaze dipped to my mouth.
His expression tightened, a muscle in his jaw flexing as he looked away.
What happened at the airport with Immigration abruptly spilled out of me. Jared studied me with that same unreadable expression as I told him about my fight with Aria too. “So you see, when I leave Scotland, they’re not going to let me back in. For who knows how long.” I shrugged helplessly, hating that I was here, putting my fate in the hands of a mere acquaintance, being vulnerable with him, but doing it, anyway. “This is my home now, Jared. I … if I’m forced back to the US … I was never happy there. I’m afraid what will happen to me if I go back there permanently. Anyway, I need time to figure out how to get a business visa. More time than I currently have. And you …” I gestured to him and then the surrounding land. “You need someone to invest in this place.”
Jared shook his head slowly. “Where are you going with this, Allegra?”
I ignored the thrill that coursed through my body at the sound of his voice wrapped around my name. “I came into my trust fund when I turned twenty-one. There is more than enough money to invest whatever you need into the farm. And …” I drew myself up, shrugging on a confidence I did not feel. “As my husband, I would grant you access to those funds.”
The words hung between us for what felt like forever. Then Jared blinked a few times and shook his head almost comically. “Wait a minute … Are you … What the fuck?”
My lips twitched with nervous amusement. “I am proposing a marriage of convenience. As your wife, I get to stay in Scotland. As my husband, you get the capital you need to turn the farm around. To turn your grandfather’s farm around. I know how important it is to you. And I know you want to do it yourself, but this is a solution, Jared. To both our problems.”
He turned away, scrubbing his palms down his face before blowing out a loud whoosh of air.
I fidgeted nervously behind him.
“I think you’ve seen too many of your dad’s movies,” he scoffed.
“My dad doesn’t make rom-coms.”
“You know what I mean.” He stared at me incredulously. “A marriage of convenience?”
“Y-yes.”
“What does that even look like?” he asked, then scowled. “Fuck! Why am I asking? Clearly this is insane.”
“No, it’s not.” I took a few steps toward him and he retreated like I might bite or something. Grimacing, I stopped moving. “Jared, this would solve our problems. I’m not suggesting a real marriage. Of course, it has to look like a real marriage or I think there are fraud implications?—”
“You think? You do realize you are asking me to do something illegal?”
“No one else will know that, though. We’ll get married, I’ll move into the farmhouse, and for a while, we’ll make it look real but, obviously, we’ll just be roommates. I’m not suggesting anything sexy here.” Though I wouldn’t be opposed to it.
“Our friends and family will know the truth.”
“Yeah, but they won’t tell anyone.”
“Allegra,” Jared growled, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.
I took heart in this overwrought response.
It meant he was contemplating it!
“Just marry me and stay married to me for eighteen months. No matter if I get my gallery up and running, I will grant you a divorce in eighteen months.”
He glowered for what felt like forever. Then, “And am I expected to remain a monk for eighteen months?”
A sharp stab of something I didn’t want to call rejection panged in my chest. “No. Men cheat.” I shrugged.
Jared’s nostrils flared. “So, I’m to look like the arsehole who married a wealthy Hollywooder to secure his farm and then cheated on her?”
“Well, I’m not going to be a nun, so they’ll think we’re both assholes. I think we can both agree to not have sex with other people for two months to sell the lie. Then whatever happens after that, happens.”
Something flickered in his eyes before he looked away. He watched Georgie move the tractor up the field before turning back to me. “How much money are we talking about here, Allegra?”
Triumph started to course through me and I struggled to hold back a smile. “Millions.”
His expression tightened. “For eighteen months of marriage?”
“Yes.”
“And we’ll have to live together?”
“To make it believable, yeah. And we’ll have to, you know, get to know each other. I’m sure Immigration might have questions.”
“So, I’ll have to commit fraud and lie?”
I swallowed hard. “In exchange for whatever you need to get the farm back on track, yes.”
“They’ll know we’re lying.”
“No, they won’t. I’ve been staying here for years, Jared. On and off. We could have been secretly seeing each other all that time. You’re hot, I’m hot, shit happens.”
“That shit won’t be happening just because we’ll be living together.”
I tried to focus on the fact that it sounded like he was giving into the idea, and not on his continued rejection of me. It stung too much, considering Jared McCulloch was a flirtatious manwhore with a reputation. Why I was the only woman alive he didn’t want to touch was something I didn’t want to contemplate.
Shrugging nonchalantly, I replied, “Of course not. Like I said earlier, we can both see to our needs elsewhere after two months. Can you go without sex that long?”
He narrowed his eyes. “I’m not a fucking sex fiend.”
“All evidence to the contrary.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means you have a reputation. And the sex thing was the first thing you asked about.”
“Then perhaps you shouldn’t marry me,” he bit out.
“I’ll be marrying you, Jared, not sleeping with you.”
Jared’s eyes darkened as they dropped to my lips for a second too long.
My breath caught as awareness quivered through me. Needing to break the electric moment, I infused boredom into my tone. “Look, do we have a deal or not?”
After a beat or two, he huffed, “I must be out of my goddamn mind.”