Skies Over Caledonia: A Small Town Marriage of Convenience Romance (The Highlands Series Book 4)

Chapter 8

It seemed right to me, especially because I’d been avoiding her since our argument, that I should tell Aria about the marriage myself. However, Jared pointed out that a real couple would do it together. So we decided we would tell Aria and Sarah as a couple.

I’d texted my sister to let her know I’d visit that evening. I had to collect my stuff from my parents’ beach house and take it to the farmhouse. Sarah’s old room was now mine. We’d entered Jared’s home, awkward tension hanging over us, as if we’d both just realized the immensity of what we’d done.

As a kid, I’d gotten it into my head I wanted to act, so my parents enrolled me in a prestigious after-school acting class. They’d thrown us into improv a lot. I’d left behind the acting for art, but apparently not the improv. This would be the biggest role I’d ever attempted.

Jared and I hadn’t discussed how this would really work. We’d made the decision and as if afraid one of us would back out, we’d booked the registry office and hightailed it down there the next day.

Now we were stuck together with no real plan.

And the fact that Jared had the power to affect my feelings meant I’d chosen the wrong man for this job. I thought so even as I laid the flowers he’d given me gently down on the dresser in Sarah’s room, already planning to preserve them in an art piece.

As regretful as I was that I’d picked him, I was grateful for Jared’s quiet, solid presence as we pulled up to my sister and her husband’s beach house. I was about to lie to the only person in my life who really cared about me. The only thing that soothed my guilt was the knowledge that it wouldn’t be the first time I’d lied to protect her.

The door to the house opened and Aria stepped out onto the porch in her work clothes. She always looked so chic and put together. Even with worry etched into her beautiful face. A pang of remorse over our last conversation burned in my chest.

“Are you ready?” Jared asked.

I met his gaze, ignoring, as always, the flutter in my belly. It happened every time he looked at me. Fuck my life.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Aria straightened at the sight of Jared getting out of the car with me. Her eyes bounced between us and widened as I reached for his hand.

He squeezed it in reassurance just like he’d done earlier that day, and it bolstered me.

“What is going on?” my sister asked as we reached the wraparound deck.

“Can we come in?”

Her green eyes narrowed on where my hand was enfolded in Jared’s. I’d always envied her those eyes. They were a different shade of green to Jared’s. A mossy green with flecks of gold in them. Warmer than Jared’s cool jade. Usually. Today they were a little chilly with suspicion.

“I guess you better.” She stepped back into the house and held the door for us before strolling ahead into the open-plan living space. Her shoulders were stretched taut, her spine stiff. I tightened my grip on Jared.

To my surprise, North was lounging on the couch in the swanky space. Their beach house was more contemporary than my parents’, with one wall of glass facing the North Sea and the beach below.

“I didn’t know you’d be here,” I said as my brother-in-law got to his feet at the sight of us.

“Apparently, we’re all surprised this evening,” he answered quietly as he took in Jared. North was a tall blond with clear gray eyes and a swimmer’s physique. He was also unbelievably gorgeous and one of the finest actors of his generation. The first time I saw Ari and North interact, they were bickering like an old married couple, and I swear to God I could feel the sexual tension crackling in the air.

Despite their protests, I sensed there was something electric between them. So I’d acted a little immaturely, a little impulsively, to get them together, but it had all worked out. They were madly in love, and I was so thrilled for my sister that she’d found a partner who was so devoted to making her happy.

At Aria’s wary expression, North slipped a comforting arm around her waist. “I got a few days off set to come home to be with my wife.”

It was time to put on the show. I sidled close to Jared. His hard heat felt a little too nice. “That’s good. It means Aria doesn’t have to tell you. I can. Jared and I got married.”

Jared’s fingers flexed against mine as silence fell over the room like a heavy, suffocating blanket of doom.

Then …

“You did what?” Aria yelled.

Aria hardly ever raised her voice. At least not at me.

Panicked, I blurted out, “We’ve secretly been seeing each other for over a year and we’re in love and we decided to get married and we’re sorry for keeping it from you, but we only just realized how we were feeling and we didn’t want to wait any longer to do something about it.”

My sister scoffed in disbelief as she stepped toward us. “Or you found out you might not get back into the country, so you wrangled poor Jared into marrying you for a visa!”

Damn. She knew me too well.

“What’s this about a visa?” Jared frowned with surprising authenticity. If I didn’t know better, I’d believe his confusion.

“Oh, please.” My sister apparently did not.

“Aye, please do tell me this is a joke.” North glowered at Jared. “Because marrying someone so they can stay in the country is illegal.”

“We’re not doing that. God! We’re”—I gestured between us—“like, in love.”

Aria turned back to North. “And that is why she is a way better artist than actress.”

“It’s actor.” Yes, I know, a pathetic response. “And I’m not acting. This is real between Jared and me.”

“Really?” Aria crossed her arms over her chest. “So, what’s his favorite movie?”

“He doesn’t watch movies,” I lied.

“You don’t watch movies?” my sister asked incredulously.

Jared shrugged nonchalantly. He was very good at remaining calm. I was kind of envious of his cool attitude.

“Favorite color?”

“Green,” I guessed, probably incorrectly.

“Favorite meal?”

Wanting to put an end to this line of questioning, I threw her a wicked smile and replied, “Me.”

Jared made a small choking sound, and I glanced up. His lips twitched as he struggled against laughter.

The sight of him amused for the first time today filled me with unexpected pleasure.

“And it doesn’t matter to you that you aren’t the only meal he’s been partaking in?” North asked with a blandness that belied the anger in his eyes. “He’s fucking some woman from Inverness.”

I tried not to stiffen as Jared narrowed his eyes. “And what the hell do you know about it?”

“Her name is Sorcha, and you’ve been shagging her for six months.” He grinned, but it was all teeth and more menace than I’d ever seen on my brother-in-law’s face. “Theo likes to gossip more than social media.”

“Fucking Theo,” Jared muttered while I tried not to betray my surprise at this new information.

It wasn’t like I didn’t know Jared slept around, but I hadn’t known he was seeing someone monogamously for six months.

“Allegra and I agreed to see other people because we didn’t … we thought it was just going to remain casual between us. So I was seeing Sorcha too,” Jared explained. And even though he owed me nothing, I had to fight the urge to remove my hand from his. He hadn’t told me about Sorcha when we agreed to do this. “When Allegra told me how she felt about me, that was it. End of me and Sorcha.”

“Well, Allegra does come with more money than a high school maths teacher,” North sneered.

Hurt flared across my chest. I knew we were lying to my sister and North and I hated it … but the insinuation that Jared might only want me for my money hit a little too close to home. My family name and wealth were the only things people ever saw when they looked at me. I expected it from most people. I had not expected it from North who had fought so hard to prove to Aria that she was more than that too.

I tried to tug my hand out of Jared’s but he held tight.

“I don’t give a fuck that you just insulted me,” Jared responded in a low, dangerous voice. “I do give a fuck that you just insulted my wife. I don’t care who you are. You watch your mouth when it comes to Allegra.”

My pulse raced at the way my wife sounded on Jared’s lips.

As if realizing what he’d just said, North turned to Aria. Her wounded look said it all. His expression tightened at his mistake, and he gave her a tender grimace of apology before turning it on me. “I did not mean that the way it sounded. Of course, anyone would want you for all that you are, not who you come from. I’m just concerned that it was a nice bonus for McCulloch who runs a farm. And we all know that keeping a profitable farm is not easy.”

Jared cut me a dark look. “I’m going to kill Theo.”

I felt the need to call Sarah so she could warn her husband he was in deep shit.

“Jared is managing fine. It’s nothing to do with the farm,” I hurried to say. “And for your information, I knew about Sorcha. I had relationships as well, you know.”

“Taka Aikawa?” Aria queried curiously, seeming to forget for a moment the bomb I’d just dropped.

How did she know about Taka?

“The actor?” North eyed me curiously.

Taka Aikawa was a Japanese American actor who’d become a member of Ardnoch a few years ago. We might have hooked up a time or ten after being introduced three years ago at an Ardnoch Estate New Year’s Eve party. His dad was a famous director, too, and I always liked that Taka just saw me as an attractive female and not as Wesley Howard’s daughter.

“How did you know about that?”

Aria shrugged. “I have my ways.”

“Security better not have reported it to you.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t make out with men in public places on the estate, then.”

I opened my mouth to argue that a few kisses in the estate gym was not making out when Jared squeezed my hand. “Taka?”

There was something unexpected in his eyes. Not jealousy. Concern, perhaps. Oh. Did he think I’d given up a serious relationship for our marriage?

“So, you knew about Sorcha but Jared didn’t know about Taka?” North’s tone was that of a shit-stirrer. I never knew he was such a stirrer of the shit until this moment.

“He didn’t know because it wasn’t serious,” I promised my new fake husband. “We just hooked up a few times.”

Jared gave me a sharp nod of acceptance.

“And that doesn’t bother you?” My brother-in-law narrowed his eyes. “Because if Aria had been screwing someone else while we were in our ‘no-strings’ phase, I’d have probably killed him.”

“Not true,” my sister threw over her shoulder.

“I’d have at least hit him,” North argued. “And eviscerated him in my mind over and over again.”

Aria’s eyes glinted with amusement as she met my gaze. “That I do believe.”

Her simple warm look gave me hope that maybe she might get on board with this marriage after all.

Until Jared ruined it with, “I guess I’m just more secure. After all, Allegra didn’t marry Taka, did she?”

Why was his arrogance so goddamn hot?

North coughed into his fist. “Arsehole.”

Aria rolled her eyes.

“Hey!” I frowned. “Before I walked in the door and told you we got married, you and Jared were friends.”

“Aye, until he went behind everyone’s back and married my wee sister.”

That North thought of me as his sister warmed me to my soul. “North …” I released Jared’s hand to cross the distance between me and my brother-in-law. When I wrapped my arms around him, tucking my head against his chest, he couldn’t resist. The big softie hugged me tight. “I’m just worried about you,” he murmured in my ear. “So is your sister.”

I pulled back, gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder, and released him to reach for Aria. I hugged her and her arms banded around me.

“I’m going to be okay,” I whispered. “I promise.”

Discomfortingly, I wasn’t sure if I’d just lied to her again or not.