Chapter 8
James wondered if he’d finally lost his mind as he showered and got dressed for his first outing with Rose in their fake engagement.
It was a ridiculous plan. Maybe it was the kind of plan an eccentric, old-fashioned grandmother might come up with, but it certainly wasn’t a plan that two sensible people should entertain for more than a few seconds.
But yesterday, as he’d been sitting on the back porch of the Beaufort house and listening to Rose talk to her sister and brother-in-law, it had seemed like the only possible answer for their situation.
It had made perfect sense and would work out with minimal consequences.
And after it was over, everyone could return to their proper slots in his life, with Genevieve’s slot removed completely.
After all, people ended engagements all the time. So he would have ended two engagements in one year. Surely men had done that before. People would just say he still wasn’t over the death of his wife.
Maybe they were right.
He’d been planning to marry Genevieve since she’d seemed like the best fit for the image of the wife he had in mind—an image that was based entirely on Melissa. He could see now that he’d latched onto her for the same reasons Marta and William had—she’d been a substitute for what they’d lost.
But he could see clearly now. And maybe a fake engagement with Rose wasn’t any stranger or more artificial than his first engagement with Genevieve.
After this, he might just give up on romantic relationships completely. He clearly wasn’t any good at them, and they just seemed to lead him into trouble.
He’d spent his life following his gut, but his gut was clearly failing him where women were concerned.
It would be easier if he didn’t want Rose so much. Maybe then he could make a rational decision. But the truth was his body and heart had heard the idea of Rose being his fiancée and jumped at the chance—as if all of him were desperate for her.
Maybe he was. Maybe everything but his brain was desperate. But he still needed his brain to make his decisions since he had two little girls who would be affected by any decision he made.
It was too late to back out of the engagement now.
They’d announced it in the local paper this morning, and his phone had been buzzing with curious inquirers.
He and Rose needed to go out tonight and act like a couple in love, and then the deal would really be sealed, no matter what Genevieve tried to do to stop it.
Hopefully she wouldn’t do anything, although he was afraid that was too much to hope for.
He dressed in khakis and a black dress shirt, hoping he looked decent and Rose wouldn’t think he was too sloppy or unimpressive. Then he headed downstairs to where the girls were waiting, grinning at the idea of this new plan that they didn’t fully understand.
“Where are you and Rose going to, Daddy?” Jill asked.
“We’re going to dinner and then maybe somewhere for dessert.”
“What will you get for dessert?” Julie asked, following up on the most interesting part of his answer—to her, at least.
“I’m not sure. Maybe ice cream. Or cupcakes.”
“Cupcakes!” Julie cried. “Bring us back one!”
“You’ll be in bed by the time we get back.”
“Oh.” Julie looked crestfallen.
“We can eat it tomorrow,” Jill said soberly, causing Julie to perk up again.
“We’ll see,” James said, smiling down at his girls and hoping that nothing stupid he did would end up hurting them. “I make no promises.”
“Please!”
“Please what?” Rose asked curiously as she came down the stairs.
James glanced up automatically and then froze as his eyes landed on her, dressed in a sleek black skirt and clingy green top that hugged all her curves.
He wanted her. Every part of him seemed to want her so much. And no matter how wrong he kept telling himself it was, the feeling just wouldn’t go away.
“Oooh, Rosie, you look beautiful!” Jill cried.
“Beautiful!” Julie echoed.
“Thank you, girls,” Rose said with a smile. She looked poised and not nearly as self-conscious as James would have expected given the situation. “You all are going to be good for Kelly, aren’t you? You’re going to play nicely and not fight.”
“We’ll be good,” the girls promised.
“Kelly is going to give me a full report when we get back, so I expect you to keep that promise,” James said, leaning down to kiss them both.
Kelly was already here, starting to put together some things for the girls’ dinner, so James said good-bye and told them to run help Kelly. They did so willingly, laughing about how surprised their daddy would be when he came home and got a perfect report on their behavior.
“They seem okay,” James murmured, watching them disappear into the kitchen.
“They seem to think it’s a game, which is good because it means they won’t take it so seriously.” Rose’s eyes lingered on his face for a minute before she dropped them. “You look really nice.”
He couldn’t help but be pleased by the words.
He’d never really cared about his appearance much in the past—except always trying to straighten up his clothes because Melissa liked him to look put together—but for some reason he wanted to look good for Rose.
He wanted her to want him as much as he wanted her.
That made him think of something else.
He stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out the ring he’d bought on his way home from work.
He hadn’t had time to commission a ring, so he had to pick one that was already made.
He knew he couldn’t choose a diamond. Rose would never have accepted an expensive ring from him—not for a fake engagement—so he’d chosen an amethyst on white gold, the glinting purple stone beautifully set in a graceful, simple band.
It reminded him of Rose—lovely and mild, full of rich beauty that wasn’t obvious on the surface.
“You better put this on,” he said a little gruffly, suddenly feeling awkward about the whole ridiculous scheme. “No one will believe we’re engaged if you don’t have a ring.”
She stared at the ring with a mingling of awe and confusion. “It’s… it’s beautiful. But… but you shouldn’t have… I mean, where did it come from?”
Feeling like an idiot now and not about to admit he’d made a point of finding a ring that was exactly like her, he mumbled, “It was just around. You need something. Just put it on.”
He saw her fingers tremble as she slipped the ring on her left hand, and he was relieved to see that it fit. He’d had to guess about her size.
“Okay,” she said, not meeting his eyes. “Good thinking.”
Something had changed about her—something inexplicable—and it worried him. “Are you ready for this?” he asked, doing his best to sound natural.
“Sure. Maybe if we treat it as a game too, we can get through it.”
Something about her words spurred a flicker of worry. “You’re okay with this, aren’t you?”
“It’s a little too late to pull back if I’m not,” she said, amusement in her voice.
He’d been opening the door for her but he paused, holding her gaze.
“You need to tell me right now if this isn’t all right for you.
You know you don’t have to do this to keep your job or anything.
” He felt an intense stab of guilt and cursed under his breath.
“Shit, I never should have agreed to this. We can just call it off and say it was a practical joke or something.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, James,” she said, reaching up to put a hand on his chest. “I didn’t feel any pressure. I wanted to do it. I want this situation resolved as much as you do. My grandmother got us into it after all.”
“No, she didn’t. Me and my baggage got the ball rolling, so you shouldn’t take any blame on yourself. Don’t do it out of guilt or anything.”
“It’s not out of guilt. It’s really fine.”
“You’re sure?” He reached up to cup her face so he could see every emotion in her expression.
“I’m sure,” she said, her eyes unwavering. “So stop stalling and let’s get going.”
She looked like she was telling the truth, and James had no choice but to believe her. She was going to be his fiancée—at least for tonight.
Rose had been really nervous about the evening out with James, but the whole thing ended up going fine.
They went to one of the most popular restaurants in the city—where they could be sure to be seen by the most people—and then they walked around some downtown streets until they found a cupcake place.
They ate cupcakes and bought two to take home for the girls.
They had wine with dinner and champagne with the cupcakes, so both of them were a little tipsy on the way home as they sat in the backseat and laughed about a couple of James’s acquaintances whom they’d seen tonight.
Both men seemed very impressed with his “score,” a fact that Rose couldn’t help but be flattered by.
She’d never in her life considered herself a “score” before.
The only bad moment was when James had given her a ring that must have belonged to his wife.
It obviously wasn’t an engagement ring. It was beautiful and Rose would have loved it, but she didn’t want one of his wife’s leftovers, something he’d just grabbed to meet a need.
She didn’t want to be some sort of substitute or replacement filling a gap left in his life by his wife, and the ring made her feel that way.
She’d stopped thinking about it now though, and the rest of the evening had been just fine.
When the car felt like it was spinning around her, she realized she’d probably drank a little too much. Her brain was buzzing pleasantly, and James seemed particularly relaxed and sexy, sitting beside her with his collar unbuttoned and the front of his shirt wrinkled.
She wanted to brush out the wrinkles. After several moments of pondering, she decided the best thing to do was to reach over and do just that.
James stared down at her hand as she pressed it against his shirt.
She stared down at it too, startled by the sight of her pale skin and neat, unpolished fingernails against the fabric.
His body beneath the shirt felt firm, hard, really nice.