Chapter 4
FOUR
His what ?
The cinnamon bun in Amelia’s mouth turned to glue. It stuck to the roof of her mouth and coated her tongue, an immovable substance that in no way resembled Camilla’s creation. Concrete cured to something softer than the dough currently filling Amelia’s gob. She stared at the couple looming above their table, then turned her startled gaze to Leo, waiting for him to correct the man’s obviously bonkers assumption.
His fiancée. Right.
Amelia began chewing again, but still Leo said nothing. He met her eyes, like he was trying to communicate something important to her. What, she had no idea. Her cheek still tingled where he’d touched her, which was another thing she’d have to address once the obstruction in her mouth was cleared.
Gnashing her teeth, she gave Leo a death glare. Her best, most aggressive death glare. Leo would do well to scurry and hide, her gaze was so potent.
But he didn’t scurry. He didn’t hide.
Instead, Leo painted a wide, attractive smile on his face, and reached over to put his palm over hers. He squeezed her fingers when she would’ve pulled back, then brought her fingers to his lips. Then he kissed her hand . What—how—who?
What the hell was wrong with him?
“Caught us,” Leo said, that stupid, fake smile still stretched over his lips. “Fred, this is Amelia. Amelia, Fred.”
Still looking like she was a squirrel storing nuts for winter, Amelia chewed like her life depended on it and finally swallowed, but?—
“Amelia!” Fred put his meaty paws on her shoulders and gave her a loud kiss on each cheek. “You have no idea how good it is to meet you.” He smiled genially and tilted his head toward Leo. “This one has kept you hidden away for so long, I was worried you didn’t exist!” He frowned. “But I thought your name was Cat—Kitty—um?—”
“Stage name,” Leo smoothly provided.
Stage name? What world was Amelia living in? What the hell was going on?
Fred nodded, apparently accepting that idiotic explanation.
She opened her mouth to answer, but all that came out was an outraged squeak. Her squirrel transformation had gone so far, now she sounded like one too.
“We like to keep my personal life and professional life separate,” Leo interrupted before Amelia could find her tongue. “So it works for us.”
She glared at him. “Wait. No. I’m not?—”
“I hope you’re here for the retreat,” Fred interrupted, his dark-brown eyes intent on hers. His gaze skimmed her outfit, then Leo’s, and he snapped his fingers. “The wedding. Of course. But you’ll stay in town for our company retreat, correct?”
Amelia would throw herself off the Stirling clock tower before she went to a company retreat posing as Leo St. James’s fake fiancée.
“Where are my manners?” Fred curled an arm around the woman beside him, his expression softening. “I have a fiancée of my own now. Leo, Amelia, this is the love of my life, Nadia. Although getting her to accept my proposal was a mission.”
Nadia laughed. “Through no fault of my own!” She shifted her purse, and a tiny dog’s golden head poked out. Cooing softly, Nadia scratched behind the pup’s ears. “It was this little monster’s doing, wasn’t it?”
“Butter made his feelings about me very clear,” Fred added wryly. “At least the cast comes off in a couple weeks.”
Amelia watched them, mind whirling with ways to extricate herself from this situation. But she couldn’t do that without getting Maggie’s cake.
Leo was no help. He just smiled at the couple and asked, “The cast?”
“Oh, when Fred proposed, Butter was with us, of course,” Nadia explained. “Fred got down on one knee, and the sun was setting, and everything was so perfect.”
“Until the squirrel,” Fred answered darkly.
Nadia clicked her tongue. “You have to admit, Fred, it was good to see Butter moving so well! Ever since his surgery, he hasn’t been as active.”
“The leash broke two of your fingers, baby.”
“Well, yes, but Butter was so speedy. Weren’t you, honey? Your leg isn’t bothering you at all anymore, is it?”
“Then you fell and broke your arm,” Fred continued. “I had to finish the proposal in the ER.”
Nadia laughed. “I said yes, didn’t I?”
Fred swept his hand down Nadia’s back and kissed her temple. “Made me the happiest man in the world. Show them the ring, baby.”
Nadia thrust her right hand at them, making mooneyes at Fred. The ring slid down her finger to nudge slightly against her knuckle, and Nadia repositioned it with reverent fingers. “It’s a vivid pink diamond that Fred chose to match my favorite Birkin.” She lifted her Hermès purse for emphasis, then smiled at Amelia. “I decided to wear it on my right hand until the cast comes off. I just couldn’t bear to not wear it until then. Don’t you think Fred chose perfectly?”
Amelia shifted her gaze from the honkingly large pink stone on Nadia’s finger to the bag slung carelessly over her arm. Both were bright pink. That bag, she knew, was worth more than her car. Probably more than ten of her cars, and Nadia was using it to carry her dog.
“He chose perfectly,” she repeated robotically, while her brain scrambled for a way out of this.
The truth. The truth was all that was needed to extricate herself from this situation. Leo would be humiliated, of course, but what did she care about that? Leo was the one who dumped her in this mess in the first place. He deserved to be humiliated! Who did he think he was?
She took a deep breath. “Listen. I’m not sure why?—”
“But where’s your ring?” Nadia cried, grabbing Amelia’s left hand. She tugged, thrusting the hand toward Leo. “Explain, mister.”
“Yes,” Amelia bit off. “Explain, mister.”
“It’s being cleaned,” Leo lied smoothly, taking Amelia’s hand from Nadia’s grasp and pressing his lips to her knuckles once more.
Despite everything that had happened since his blasted thumb had stroked her mouth—every lie he’d told in the last few minutes—the touch of Leo’s lips on her skin still made her go utterly still. Heat swamped her middle as he brushed his lips over and back across her knuckles as his eyes held hers, as if he knew precisely the effect his touch had on her brain.
Anger detonated somewhere deep below the surface of Amelia’s consciousness, but her body still remained frozen as he pressed a kiss to the back of her hand, then tucked her fingers against his palm and gave her a soft smile.
This man—this man was out of control! What the hell was his problem? Amelia glared at him, but the only reaction he gave her was a twinkling in his brilliant green eyes.
“Well, we have a wonderful four days planned,” Fred said, “and the whole team will be glad to finally meet St. James’s mysterious fiancée. You’ll be there, of course.”
“Of course,” Leo cut in smoothly, just as Amelia said, “No.”
Fred patted Leo’s shoulder, then curled an arm around his own fiancée’s waist. “We’ll leave you two lovebirds to it,” he said, then headed for the counter. Amelia spun around and met Camilla’s wide-eyed stare, but the baker had to paint a professional smile on her lips to take Fred and Nadia’s order. How much of that had Camilla witnessed? All of it, probably, which meant an inquisition was incoming as soon as Amelia was done with her sister’s wedding.
“What the hell was that ?” Amelia hissed.
“Oh, there’s the cake,” Leo said smoothly, and he stood up to grab the tall cardboard box holding Maggie and Emory’s wedding cake.
“Drive carefully!” Camilla called out, then gave Amelia a look that said, We will speak of this soon.
And they would. Amelia would tell her everything, right after she skewered Leo through the guts with one of the dowels supporting the cake’s upper tiers.
“We’ll see you on Wednesday!” Nadia called out, waving her fingers. “The retreat is going to be so much fun.” She gazed at her ring, tilting it under the bakery’s bright lights, then wiggled her finger at Amelia again. “We can compare rings!”
The dog yipped for emphasis, then disappeared back into the bag.
“Ha,” Amelia managed past the mounting fury tightening her throat.
Oblivious to the gory death in his near future, Leo held the big cardboard box with tender hands and asked, “Grab the door, will you, hun?”
Hun . Amelia reminded herself that she shouldn’t upend Maggie’s wedding cake on Leo St. James’s head, even if he deserved it. She opened the door and held it for him, then headed for the back seat of her car. She secured the box with a seatbelt, then gently closed the door and whirled on Leo.
“Not here,” he said, tilting his head toward the bakery windows. “They’ll see.”
“Oh, we wouldn’t want them to see, would we?” Amelia snarked. “But wait. I don’t care!” She thrust her arm toward the bakery. “What the hell was that ?”
“We should really be getting back to the wedding. Maggie and Emory are probably at the reception by now.”
“Oh, no. No, no, no. You’re explaining yourself to me right now.”
But Leo was circling the car and opening the driver’s side, which mean?—
“How did you get my keys?”
He flashed her a smile and got behind the wheel. Amelia gaped, and the boiling magma of her temper finally erupted. She ripped the passenger door open, and its hinges squealed in protest. She fell into her seat and glared at him, her breath whistling as she inhaled through her teeth. There were so many words fighting to come out that none of them did. She looked at his stupid purple bow tie and wished she’d strangled him when she had the chance.
“You—”
Leo met her gaze, then let his eyes roam over all of her face. “You’re beautiful when you’re furious,” he said softly, then cleared his throat like he hadn’t meant to say that out loud.
And—well?—
Ugh!
“I am not .”
A brow arched, and Leo’s gaze met hers once more. “That’s what you want to argue about? That you’re not beautiful when you’re angry?”
“I want to argue about a lot of things,” she gritted out through clenched teeth. “Like, for example, what the hell just happened in there.”
“We should really get back. The cake?—”
“Oh, spare me.” Amelia turned in her seat and clamped her hands on her knees, then brought them up to slap against her face. She felt like a giant had grabbed her by the ankles and shook her like a piggy bank, hoping her brain would fall out of her ears in fat gold coins. She couldn’t make sense of her thoughts.
But they really did need to get the cake to the hotel. Leo waited until her seatbelt was clipped to gently ease himself into the street.
“Keep an eye on the cake,” he commanded, like this was his car and his cake. The arrogant turd of a man. Argh!
Amelia ground her teeth and glanced at the back seat, because despite everything, she didn’t want to ruin Maggie’s wedding cake. It was secure and survived the first turn that took them onto the bridge that linked this side of Stirling to the town’s central district.
Reaching back to put a hand on top of the cardboard box, Amelia took a few deep breaths. She didn’t want to upset Leo while they were carrying such precious cargo, so she forced herself to stay silent until they pulled into the hotel parking lot and Leo turned off the engine.
Then, Amelia removed her hand from the cardboard box in the back seat and knotted her fingers together on her lap. She took a long, deep breath.
“I can explain,” Leo said quietly.
She blinked and took another breath, lest her anger take over and she use his seatbelt as a garrote, which was exactly what he deserved. “Please,” she finally answered pleasantly. “That would be wonderful. In your own time.” She made a careless flick of her hand, for emphasis, hoping he could smell the sarcasm and bitterness pouring off her skin.
Leo’s shoulders fell as he combed a hand through his perfect haircut, but Amelia didn’t feel a twinge of pity. Oh, no. She wasn’t letting him off the hook that easily. This man had just pretended to be betrothed to her! He’d lied to his boss!
The worst part of it all was Amelia felt oddly humiliated. Was it a joke? A prank? A man like Leo would never stoop so low as to be with Amelia. She had no game. She spent her days behind a computer screen, sorting through data for hours on end. She had it on good authority that she was terrible in bed, and it wasn’t like any other man had ever disproved that theory by begging her for sex after the first time or two.
Her ex had been very clear. Her skills between the sheets were abysmal, and nothing she had tried had ever been an improvement. She was sitting beside a man who had allegedly given his entire college chlamydia because he had so many women dying to sleep with him, and she knew for a fact that her own skills ranked somewhere far below terrible.
But she wouldn’t cry. No way. She wouldn’t give Leo the satisfaction. If this was some sick joke, it would bounce right off her.
“I’ve been telling everyone at work I’m engaged for the better part of a year,” Leo admitted quietly. The car’s engine clicked and rattled as it cooled down, filling the silence that followed his words. He let out a huff and turned to meet Amelia’s gaze. “It turned into this whole… thing . Everyone became obsessed with it, and the more I tried to deflect, the more they tried to figure out who she was. Fred and my coworkers would try to convince me to bring my fiancée to work events, and I’d dodge the invitations. This week is the annual work retreat, and Fred was really putting the pressure on me. Partners are always invited, so he said I had no excuse.”
“So your solution was to lie to him? What happens when I don’t show up on Wednesday?”
He scrubbed his face then let his hands drop on top of the steering wheel, which reminded Amelia that she was angry that he’d somehow hijacked her car keys and was driving her car. Although, she had to admit, the cake probably had a better chance of survival with him behind the wheel. She wasn’t a bad driver, but the ride had definitely been smoother with him at the helm.
But that wasn’t the point!
The point was, he was an arrogant, lying bastard, and she wanted nothing to do with him.
“I panicked,” Leo said. “He was right there, and I’d just been touching your face, and if you weren’t my mysterious fiancée, it would look like I was cheating on her. And everyone already thinks I’m some kind of manwhore?—”
“Pestilence,” Amelia said, then clamped her lips shut.
The bitter laugh that fell from Leo’s lips was an awful sound. He leaned his head back against the headrest. It hit with a soft thump. “Yeah. I wondered if you’d heard about that.”
“So it’s true?”
Leo’s gaze turned shuttered, and his lips curled into a flirtatious smile. “It’s all true, sweetheart. I’m as bad as they come.”
Amelia rolled her eyes and reached for the door. She wasn’t going to sit there and listen to that. It sounded a hell of a lot like self-pity. Whatever reputation Leo had in college, it was none of her business. They were both in their thirties now, and plus, they should be inside the hotel celebrating Maggie and Emory’s wedding. This whole situation was ridiculous, and it had nothing to do with her. So there. The end.
But before she could slip out of the car, Leo’s hand dropped onto her thigh. She froze at the warmth of it, the soft squeeze he gave her flesh. “Amelia—” He pulled in a ragged breath then let it out, finally meeting her gaze. His eyes held an edge of hurt, or panic, or something deeper and older that she couldn’t read. “Come to the retreat with me.”
His voice came out as a whisper, but it might as well have been a shout for how badly it made Amelia jump. She flung his hand off her thigh and slipped out of the car. “Absolutely not,” she said into the open door, then slammed it shut.
Another door opened, and Leo’s stupidly beautiful head popped up on the other side. “Please.”
“Are you kidding me? No!”
“I’ll pay you.”
“I don’t need your money.” Her business was finally generating enough income to live on, and she’d endured countless sleepless nights over the past months and years to get it to that point. She didn’t need to rely on anyone else for anything, and that’s how she liked it. She’d only ever relied on one man, and he’d torn her to pieces. She wasn’t going to let that happen again—financially, emotionally, or otherwise.
“I’ll… I’ll…” Leo cast around him, like he could find the right offer written somewhere in the parking lot. He dropped his shoulders and met her gaze again.
“Grab the cake,” Amelia said before he could say anything else. “And give me my car keys.”
Leo held her gaze for a long moment, determination hardening the line of his jaw. He actually meant to convince her about this stupid scheme. Well—he’d have a long way to go. Amelia wasn’t going to pretend to be anyone’s fiancée. No amount of money would ever convince her. No glittering green eyes. No attractive hands. No knuckle kisses.
No way, no how.
They headed inside and left the cake in the hotel’s kitchen. Guests were still gathered in the lobby bar, and Amelia checked her messages. Her sister was on the way back, so it was time to move everyone to the ballroom for Maggie and Emory’s grand entrance.
Thank goodness. That gave her an excuse to act busy and forget about whatever the hell had just happened. She found the bridesmaids gathered together at one of the high-top tables, and the four of them began gently guiding everyone to move to the ballroom.
Leo watched her for a moment, and she felt his gaze as intensely as she’d felt the touch of his thumb on her lip. A tiny, rebellious part of her wondered what she could get out of him in exchange for her attendance at the work retreat. That part of her whispered that maybe there was something between them. Maybe he felt the sparks as much as she did. Maybe…
She clamped down on the whirling thoughts, banishing them to the void. A man as attractive and irresistible as Leo St. James had his pick of women. He wouldn’t pick some sexless harpy who happened to be a little too independent and opinionated to be attractive. She was patently incapable of stroking men’s egos, and Leo’s ego looked like it required endless attention.
He wouldn’t get it from her.
But as Amelia entered the ballroom, she glanced over the shoulder and met his jade-colored gaze. She knew one thing: Leo hadn’t given up on the prospect of bringing her to his company retreat. Not even a little bit.