Chapter 9
Hayes
“How’s she settling in?”
I jumped at the sound of Mason’s rough timbre. He chuckled and slapped me on the back.
“Didn’t even hear you sneak up,” I said as I leaned against the outside wall of the stables. I wasn’t hiding in the shadows, per se. I had simply found a nice spot to enjoy the breeze. The fact that it allowed me to see Catherine standing on her balcony…Well, that was convenient.
I had brought the rest of her things up to her room, then left her to settle in. What I hadn’t expected was for Catherine’s presence to distract me from everything I needed to be doing.
I still had work to do today for an account I had landed.
I had brought in an accountant to audit the estate’s finances so I was up to speed on what was going on.
Inheritance taxes needed to be paid, and I needed to get the ball rolling on the legalities of parceling a section of the land to fulfill the will requirements and so Catherine could hit the ground running with her charitable initiative.
But all I had done today was carry her bags inside, pace my own room, then pace my office. When I couldn’t stop thinking about what she was doing, I took a walk down to the stables.
I thought it would clear my head so I could get back to work. But I was wrong.
Mason took up the spot beside me and mimicked my position, crossing his arms and watching Catherine’s distant silhouette. “You know, I bet Walt’s getting a kick out of this,” he said with a chuckle.
“That makes one of us.”
“It could’ve been worse,” Mason said. “Could’ve been a lot worse.”
“If the bright side is still morally gray, I don’t think it counts as the bright side.”
“So, what now?” Mason asked.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” I said as Catherine pushed off the balcony railing and disappeared through the double doors.
“Stop acting like you’re scared of her,” Mason said. “It’s Cath.”
That’s exactly what I was afraid of.
This was too easy. She was too natural at playing the role. I was already too comfortable with her. Relationships were never this easy—not that this was a relationship. It wasn’t. It was a business deal. Maybe that’s why it was comfortable.
Business deals were familiar. I liked terms and conditions. I liked knowing exactly what the parameters were.
“It’s just business,” I said.
Mason chuckled. “Right. Keep telling yourself that.” He sauntered off to get back to work, reminding me that I should do the same.
No matter how much the mountains called to me with a siren song to saddle up one of the horses and ride away from it all, I stuffed my hands into my pockets and dutifully walked back to the house.
Before I could make it into my granddad’s study—though I supposed it was my study now—voices in the kitchen caught my attention.
I poked my head in and found Hallie and Catherine in cahoots over cutting boards. “Ladies,” I said, making myself known.
Lewis lurking around was bad enough. I didn’t want them to feel like they were being spied on by me too.
Hallie glanced up from the carrots she was chopping. “Well, if it isn’t the man of the hour.” She smiled. “We were just talking about you.”
I sidled up to Catherine and peered down at her. “Oh really?”
“About how we should probably pick a date,” Catherine said. “You know, since the summer calendar is nearly full.”
“And I need a picture of you two for an engagement announcement,” Hallie said. “You know how old-school the town is. If it’s not in the paper, it didn’t happen.”
Catherine looked up. “Are you okay with that?”
I could hear Lewis thumping around upstairs.
His presence was a constant reminder of why this was happening.
That, and the notice I had gotten from my attorney that Lewis’s petition to contest the will would leave me only a few weeks to say “I do” before a judge would review it to see if his complaint had any grounds.
“The sooner the better,” I said.
“I like the sound of that,” Hallie said with a smile. She gave my button-up and slacks a quick glance. “Hayes, you look fine. Cath, why don’t you go throw on a dress or something? We can take the picture out in the garden. I’ll send it in to the paper to get the rumor mill going.”
Catherine looked down at her sporty tank top, shorts, and sneakers.
“I guess this isn’t engagement appropriate.
” She wore a sheepish smile as she set down her knife and headed to the sink to wash her hands.
“I’ll just be a sec,” she said, brushing past me as she slipped up the back staircase to get up to her room.
Hallie wore a knowing smile. “You look like you’re about to have an aneurysm.”
“It’s a lot,” I said as I pinched the bridge of my nose. “What’s all this?”
“I figured it might be nice to make dinner for everyone since it’s Catherine’s first day here. Mason and Levi will be up if I crack a window and let the smell from the oven get down to the stables.”
The kitchen door opened, and a floppy-haired teen snuck in.
“Hey, sweetie,” Hallie said as she glanced over her shoulder at Zach. “How was school?”
Zach glanced at me, then hunched farther into his hoodie and stared at the floor as he turned for the stairs. “Fine.”
“Can you be polite and say hello to Mr. Wilder?” she pressed.
I gave Hallie a look that said it was unnecessary. If Zach didn’t want to talk to me, that was fine. I knew what it felt like to be the kid in an unfamiliar place with a chip on his shoulder.
“Hi, Mr. Wilder,” Zach muttered without looking at me, then trudged up the steps.
When he was out of earshot, Hallie sighed.
“Two more weeks of school and then I have no idea what I’m going to do with him all summer.
” She blew a piece of hair out of her face.
“You’d think since we live on the estate, he’d have plenty to do to keep him out of trouble, but I swear, I can’t get him out of his room.
” She let one more forlorn glance at the stairs slip, then steeled her expression.
“I’m hoping that, with Catherine around, he’ll come out of his shell. They get along great.”
Saying Catherine’s name must have conjured her. She skipped down the stairs in a pale yellow dress that hugged her breasts and waist, then flared out in a fluttering skirt. A pair of high heels were tucked under her arm as she fastened on an earring. “How’s this?” she asked.
“Perfect,” Hallie said with a nod of approval.
Catherine had put on a little makeup, but the flush on her freckled cheeks was all her.
She was so fucking pretty.
I glanced down at her bare feet as she tiptoed across the kitchen. Catherine held on to the edge of the kitchen island and slipped her heels on, hiding pink-painted toes.
“Let’s do this,” she said when she straightened.
Hallie dried her hands and grabbed her phone.
The engagement ring on Catherine’s hand glinted in the sunlight as we walked to the rose garden.
“Alright, kids,” Hallie said as she mother-henned us down one of the narrowest paths and took her place on the other side of a rosebush. “Scooch close. Show me how much you love each other.”
Catherine laughed.
“Kids? You do realize that you and I are the same age, right?” Hayes said.
“Hush!” Hallie said, flapping her hands together to get us to move in closer. “Cuddle up and smile.”
Catherine turned her body toward mine and placed her hand on my abdomen, showing off the ring to Hallie’s lens.
I glanced down, but she was already smiling at the camera. A breeze drifted by, blowing a lock of hair into her face.
“Hold on,” I murmured as I tenderly tucked it behind her ear.
Catherine looked up, her eyes widening ever so slightly as I cradled the back of her head, keeping her hair from flying all over the place.
Finally, the breeze died down and we silently assumed a stoic pose.
Well, I did. Catherine was a natural.
“You know, Hayes, you’d be prettier if you smiled,” Hallie teased.
I frowned. “Has that ever made anyone want to smile?”
“Not among the female population,” Catherine said.
I glanced down again. She looked so relaxed. “You’re good at this,” I said as I rolled my head back and forth, trying to ease the tension in my neck.
“Posing for pictures is one of my few talents,” she said.
“I doubt that.”
“What? That I’m good at posing?”
“No. That you’re a woman of few talents.”
“Hayes, pull her closer. Y’all look like middle schoolers at your first dance,” Hallie said.
“Smile from your cheeks,” Catherine said without breaking her attention away from Hallie. “Part your teeth just a little bit. It’ll help relax your jaw.”
“I don’t smile for pictures,” I said.
Catherine looked up. “You should try it sometime.”
I couldn’t help but smile at her.
“How do you two feel about kissing?” Hallie asked.
“Uh…” I stammered but couldn’t make sense of my thoughts.
Catherine glanced up at me, then looked back at Hallie. “Let’s just stick with a formal pose. I don’t think a Wilder would be making out in the town paper,” she said calmly.
“Alright then. I think I’ve got a usable one. Dinner’s at seven,” Hallie said before turning and sashaying back into the house.
I let out a sharp breath when it was just the two of us.
Catherine laughed softly. “That was torture for you, wasn’t it?”
It felt like I was suffocating. I tugged at my collar, trying to catch my breath, but it never came, nor would it. Not with the way Catherine was looking at me. Not with the way she looked in that yellow dress. Not with the way the dress cupped her breasts the way I wanted to.
Shit.
There it was.
So, I was attracted to my future fake wife. I just wouldn’t do anything about it.
“It’s not my comfort zone,” I admitted.
“You can say no, you know,” she said, nudging me with her elbow. “It’s not the end of the world to not have your picture taken.”
“Hallie’s right. Putting it in the paper is the easiest way to make it public.”
“Hallie’s always right,” Catherine said. “You like structure, don’t you?”
“What gave it away?”
She shrugged. “Just observing. It’s not a bad thing. I like structure too. I like knowing where I stand with someone.”