10. Lauren #2
“No. They belonged to my parents.” A shadow flickered across James’s face.
Lauren remembered the comment he’d made about how she shouldn’t assume things about his family.
She leaned a little closer. Maybe it was time to ask about his parents.
It felt strange to want to know things about James, but she needed to for their ruse.
And a part of her was actually interested.
Before she could ask, Lauren spotted a familiar figure walking over to them in a tight black dress and stiletto heels. It was Kelly Jennings, James’s client, whom Lauren had tried to poach at the event a few weeks ago.
“Lauren Maddox and James Pembrook.” She stopped in front of their table and cocked a hip to the side. “I heard rumors about the two of you, but I never believed them for a moment.”
“Hi, Kelly. Rumors?” James asked politely.
“Rumors that the two of you were an item.” Kelly swept her gaze over James and Lauren. “I heard something about a courthouse wedding and a secret romance.”
“That’s no rumor,” Lauren said. “We are married. Aren’t we, honey?”
The last word caught in her throat, coming out as two syllables instead of one.
“We sure are. Sweetie.” James reached across the table and took Lauren’s hand. His thumb rubbed against her knuckles, and she shivered slightly from his touch.
“Really?” Kelly’s eyes widened. “How interesting. I always thought you two were mortal enemies. Lauren just tried to poach me from you a few weeks ago, James.”
“Did you?” James raised his eyebrows at Lauren.
“Maybe.” Lauren smiled. “But unsuccessfully, I see.”
“So, how did the two of you go from rivals to married this quickly?” Kelly asked.
Lauren’s heart began to race. This was the beginning.
They had to be convincing right away, because if the immigration officers saw anything fishy in their marriage, they’d interview people close to them to see if the marriage was real.
And if that went poorly, Lauren could end up back in Canada, and both their reputations would be ruined.
“Well,” Lauren said. “We were fighting over a client, as usual, and…” Her mind went as blank as a freshly fallen sheet of Canadian snow.
“And Lauren told me that she’d always had a bit of a crush on me,” James continued. Lauren bristled.
“I did not.”
“You did, sweetie,” James said, narrowing his eyes at her.
“Well, then James admitted that he’d always had a thing for me, too,” Lauren said. “An even bigger thing than I had for him, actually. He was just hopelessly in love.”
“I wouldn’t say hopelessly.”
“I would. And then we… kissed.”
“Yep. And we just haven’t stopped kissing. Right, sweetie?”
“That’s right, honey. We just can’t keep our… hands… off each other. Especially James.”
Kelly looked between the two of them, her brows pinched together. “What an… unusual…story. When did all this happen?”
“A few months ago,” Lauren said.
“Last year,” James said at the same time. They glared at each other as Lauren fumbled to cover up the slip.
“Last year was when James really fell for me,” she said. “But a few months ago was when we actually said we liked each other.”
“And now you’re married,” Kelly said. “How… nice.”
It was clear that she was suspicious, and why wouldn’t she be? Their stories didn’t line up, and they couldn’t stop sniping at each other long enough to pretend to be in love. Lauren’s heart sped up until she was sure both Kelly and James could hear it.
“It really is nice,” James said. “We’re so in love.” He spoke so neutrally that he might as well have been talking about the weather.
“We sure are,” Lauren agreed. “Jamesie.”
“Okay.” Kelly looked between them again with pinched brows. “I’m going to go. Enjoy your dinner. And your marriage.”
As soon as she was out of earshot, Lauren turned a piercing glare on James.
“What was that? You made our relationship sound completely fake!”
“It is fake!” James hissed back. “And you’re the one who acted all offended when I said you had a crush on me.”
“Well, I couldn’t let it look like I was some helpless damsel just trailing after you, could I?” Lauren asked. “And you’re the one who spoke like an underpaid actor who couldn’t quite remember his lines!”
“Oh, because you were so believable,” James sniped back. “Jamesie? What in the world was that about?”
“I have your next course.” The waiter stepped between them and laid plates of fragrant pasta on the table before taking away their salad plates. “Enjoy.”
“Thank you,” James and Lauren chorused, their eyes never leaving each other’s. Once the waiter left, James leaned in.
“I think tonight proved that we need to work a little harder on this. More than a little. Kelly clearly didn’t believe us. We can’t let that happen again.”
“You’re right.” Lauren sighed. “I guess we are underprepared. I’d never go into a business meeting without knowing about my product and my client.”
“Exactly,” James agreed. “We need to get to know each other, and we need to work out a story of how we fell in love.”
“We do.” Lauren looked down at her pasta. “But I suspect there’s going to be a lot of disagreement when we do, so let’s eat our dinners first.”
“Agreed.”
They both dug in. As Lauren ate, she sneaked a few glances at Kelly, who was talking animatedly with the man she was sitting with. Hopefully, she wasn’t telling him that Lauren and James’s marriage was suspicious, to say the least.
After dinner, they headed home.
“Let’s change into something more comfortable and meet in the kitchen,” Lauren said when they entered the house.
“Deal,” James agreed. “See you in a few minutes.”
Lauren went to change, ignoring the sense of dread in her chest. If they couldn’t pull this off and convince people they were married, she’d be in an even worse situation than before. Immigration-wise and personally.
Maybe this fake marriage had been a big mistake.