Chapter 13
Thirteen
Jared
For the first time in five years, I sat in my grandfather’s old office at the back of the house without feeling a familiar churning in my gut.
Three days ago, after providing Allegra with an estimate of what the farm needed, as well as a very rough estimate of cost for the glamping pods, the funds she’d promised had cleared the farm’s bank account.
I wasn’t going to lose the farm, and the figures that stared back at me from spreadsheets on the computer screen no longer scared the shit out of me.
For the last hour, I’d been on the phone to different contacts, ordering equipment or booking appointments to go look at equipment I was interested in purchasing.
Two minutes ago, I’d gotten off the phone with a recommended company who designed and built glamping pods. We had a meeting in a few days. If I liked them, they’d draw up plans for six pods so we could submit them to the council for planning permission.
A flicker of movement outside the window drew my attention from the computer screen. The flash of dark hair in the back garden made me stand to get a better look.
Allegra stood between the house and the chicken run, her phone pressed to her ear. Whoever she was talking to made her laugh loudly. My skin prickled with sudden warmth at the sight.
It had been a week since I’d taken her to Caledonia Sky and then the inland loch in the woodlands beyond.
Something about her excitement over partnering with me in the glamping pod business had caused some panic.
Just because we were teaming up to make this work didn’t mean we were a team.
This whole fake marriage thing meant lines had to be clearly drawn between us.
This was nothing more than a business deal. We were not friends.
So why hadn’t I told the pod architects I needed plans drawn up for two lochside pods as well? Why couldn’t I get the fucking yearning on Allegra’s face out of my mind as she’d told me it was the perfect spot for her studio?
She nodded vehemently as she talked to the other person on the end of the line and pulled her dark hair off her neck. My gut tightened at the way it made her back arch, her T-shirt stretching over tits that would fill my palms perfectly.
For over a week, Allegra Howard had been on the other side of my bedroom wall. Testing my willpower and determination to stay away from her.
“Your wife does make quite the view.”
“Fuck!” I hissed, startled as I whipped my head to the left. Sarah stood at my side.
She grinned mischievously. “You were somewhere else entirely, Jared. A stampede of elephants could have run right through the house and you wouldn’t have heard them.”
Confused, I blinked stupidly at my cousin for a second or two. “What—”
“But I can see why.” Sarah gestured to the window, a thoughtful expression on her face. “I’ve always thought Ally was lovely. In every way. I’d like to think the way you were looking at her means I’m wrong and this isn’t a sham of a marriage?”
At her quirked eyebrow, I evaded her silent questions by pulling her into a hug. “You’re home early.”
Sarah returned the embrace. “I told you Theo and I were leaving London.” She stepped out of my hold but only to take my bearded face in her hands. Her green eyes, the same shade as my own, filled with concern. “What have you done, Jar?”
I gently extricated myself from her hold. “Where’s your husband? I’d like to talk to him about gossiping and how it’s bad for his balls.”
Sarah snorted. “Theo stayed at the club. I told him I wanted to see you alone first. Also, you’re going nowhere near my husband’s balls. I’m quite protective of them.”
I grimaced. “You know you sound more like Theo every day.”
She laughed again. “He tends to rub off on a person.”
“Or rub them the wrong way.”
“Och, you love him really. Right?”
Leaning against my desk, I crossed my arms over my chest. “I would like it if he wouldn’t spread my business around. He told North about Sorcha. And that he thought the farm might be in trouble.”
Nibbling on her lip, she nodded. “I understand why you’re upset.
But please know Theo isn’t running around telling everyone your business.
He told North. Whom he trusts not to gossip.
And anyway, Theo is as worried about you as I am.
” She gestured toward Allegra, who’d hung up the phone and was now over chatting to the chickens.
As good as her word, she’d taken over their care and was growing attached to them.
“You married Allegra Howard, Jared. You. Mr. ‘I Will Never Marry Ever, Ever, Ever.’ You’re not seriously going to stand there and repeat the nonsense you spewed last week on the video call?
I talked to Aria. She said Allegra was warned she wouldn’t be allowed back into the country next time she visited.
And you … well, you’ve denied it, but I can tell you’ve been worried about the farm.
” Her expression was full of knowing. “You two made a deal, didn’t you?
You marry her so she can stay in the country, and you’ll benefit from her wealth as her husband. ”
Feeling like an enormous prick, I lied. “No.”
“Jared—”
“We married because we wanted to. End of story.”
“And what about Sorcha?”
I scowled. “What about her?”
“Wasn’t she upset?”
“Why do you care? You never met her.”
“I care if you’re going around breaking hearts, Jared.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Sarah, I’m not some twenty-year-old sowing my wild oats anymore. Sorcha knew the score. No one got hurt. We’re still friends.” I shrugged. “We texted last night.”
“You’re still friends with the woman you were sleeping with only last month? Does Allegra know?”
Discomfort thrummed through me. “Why would she care? There’s nothing going on between me and Sorcha. There never will be again.”
“Your wife would care.” Sarah narrowed her eyes. “Unless she’s a wife in name only.”
“Och, sweetheart, let’s not go over this again.” I gave her a hard look. “Allegra and I are married because we want to be married to each other. Nothing you say will change my response. Do you understand?”
My cousin exhaled slowly and heavily. Then, “I do understand. I wish … I wish you hadn’t done it this way, but I understand.
Just …” She stared out the window, and I followed Sarah’s gaze to find Allegra heading back to the house.
Her slender, gently curved hips swayed from side to side.
The woman’s sensuality exuded from every inch of her without her even trying. “Don’t hurt her, Jared.”
My head snapped back to Sarah. “How could I hurt her?”
“Because no matter what is really going on between you, I’ve watched Allegra Howard watch you from the sidelines for five years. You most definitely have the power to hurt her.”
Stunned, I stared after Sarah as she left the office to greet Allegra.
I knew there had been a mutual attraction between me and Allegra when we first met.
We’d been ready to leave the pub for a hookup until I found out who she was.
But I’d assumed that attraction had dissipated on her side.
That I was a fleeting flirtation for her.
Sarah couldn’t be right.
Allegra could have anyone.
And she was too smart and savvy to marry a man she had a crush on for a business deal.
“Nah,” I muttered, shaking off Sarah’s suspicions. Allegra had said herself that after two months of marriage, she would start seeing other people.
We were on the same page. This was just an arrangement. No real feelings were involved.
No one was going to get hurt.
“So what did your parents say about the marriage?” Sarah asked Allegra as we ate lunch in the kitchen together fifteen minutes later.
Allegra tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear, showing off the row of piercings.
I’d noted she had four piercings on her left and three on her right, but she wore tiny studs that you only really noticed when they winked in the light.
“Um …” She shot me a quick look before lowering her gaze to her sandwich. “I haven’t told them yet.”
Irritation flared in my gut, but I ignored it.
Sarah, however, put my thoughts into blunt words. “Has this got something to do with the ridiculous story you told Aria? That you were hiding your relationship for a year because you didn’t think your parents would approve of you dating a farmer? Whose idea was that?”
Over the last few years, my cousin had gained confidence. She’d always been fiery beneath that shy exterior, but now she took no shit from no one. Being married to someone as blunt as Theo was definitely rubbing off on her. I was proud to see her come into her own like she had.
But I wanted to defend Allegra against the accusatory glare in Sarah’s eyes.
It was me who’d come up with the idea to tell everyone that we kept our relationship a secret because we didn’t think her parents would approve.
Unfortunately, that meant it had to look like Allegra agreed with me.
I hadn’t really considered that she might actually suspect her parents wouldn’t approve, though.
I suppose it made sense. If I knew I was out of her league, of course her parents would too.
Allegra lifted her gaze to meet Sarah’s and flinched.
She shifted in agitation. “Look, I am not ashamed of Jared. Of course I’m not.
But Aria has a very different relationship with our parents than I do.
I’m not close to them. I don’t …” She looked away, pain etching itself in her features.
“I don’t really tell them much about my life at all anymore. ”
At the hollowness in her eyes, I had a sudden urge to pull her into my arms. To protect her from whatever was causing that awful expression. I remembered her words from last week. About how she’d nearly died, shot someone, and been to rehab before she was eighteen.