Million Dollar Christmas Bride - Holly Rayner Page 0,55

ceremony? She didn’t want to find out, so she spoke.

The words tumbled out quickly. “I can’t help how I feel about you,” she said. “I thought that I could keep my emotions in check, but it turns out that I can’t, okay? I have feelings for you. Deep feelings.”

She couldn’t bear to use the word love. She rushed on. “You’re a catch, Jackson. You must know that. I wish I could be the woman for you, but apparently I’m not. I have to be okay with that. Someday, you’re going to fall in love with someone for real, and you’re going to open up to her. You’re going to trust her. But if we go through with this fake wedding, that could prevent both of us from finding real love one day. We both deserve better, Jackson.”

She shook her head. Her vision blurred as tears gathered in her eyes. “I thought that the payment was incentive enough to go through with this, but it’s not. Deceiving all those people out there is bad enough. Now I see that we’re not even being honest with ourselves.”

She lifted a finger and dragged the back of it along her lower lid. It didn’t matter now whether she ruined her makeup or not; she was certain she wasn’t going to go through with the wedding.

“If I’m honest with myself, I see that being with you under false pretenses is just going to crush me. I won’t be able to handle it. I want to be in love, Jackson. I want a real marriage. A real family. I can’t go through with this charade any longer.”

“Bianca, I—” Jackson began.

He was cut off by the sound of a female voice that made a lightning bolt of shock travel through Bianca’s core.

“Wow.” Danielle’s clear, frosty tone rang throughout the cozy alcove. “You two are unbelievable.”

Chapter 18

Bianca

Bianca whirled around, her eyes wide.

Danielle stood in the hallway, her cell phone in one hand. She smelled like cigarette smoke. One hand was propped on her hip, which was jutted out to the side. With the cell-carrying hand, she gestured at Bianca, and then at Jackson. “You… and you! So selfish! Are you serious?”

“Danielle, calm down,” Jackson said.

She ignored him. “Did you seriously have the nerve to invite all of these people here to Memphis, to this hotel, on Christmas Day, for a fake wedding?” She shook her head.

“Unbelievable. Really. I can’t even comprehend—the nerve of you! I left LA for this! I took a red-eye flight! You’re not getting away with this.” She turned and began storming down the hallway, toward the lobby.

Jackson cursed under his breath. Then he hurried down the hallway and called out after his sister. “Danielle, wait!”

Bianca followed the two of them and caught up as they turned a corner and entered the final stretch of hallway.

Danielle’s voice sounded loud as it echoed off of the walls.

“You lied to us, Jackson,” she said. “I’m not going to stand for that. I’m going to tell everyone what you’re up to. The nerve… I seriously can’t—”

“Danielle, let us explain,” Jackson said. “Don’t go flying off the handle. You—”

“Oh, I’ll do whatever I please, Jackson! I’ve had it with you. Don’t tell me—”

Jackson cut in again. “Hear us out. We’re—”

“Don’t even!” Danielle burst out. She sped up, her heels clicking as she crossed the lobby.

Jackson rushed after her, and Bianca followed.

Danielle was making a beeline for the double doors that led to the ballroom. Since the lobby was now empty, Bianca realized that everyone must have already been called to take seats in the space that had been prepared for the ceremony.

Danielle reached for one of the double doors, but before she made contact with the brass handle, both sides of the door burst open.

Jackson’s personal assistant stepped out into the lobby. A look of pure horror contorted her usually pretty features. “Help!” she shouted out. “Help! We need a doctor in here!”

There was a commotion at the front desk as several of the hotel’s concierges sprang into action. One picked up a phone and punched numbers on a keypad, while another hurried out from behind the desk. At the same time, another guest emerged from the ballroom. This time, it was a nurse that Bianca had seen earlier, assisting her mother.

For a moment, ice-cold fear gripped Bianca’s heart. Had something happened to her mother?

The nurse shouted out. “She’s having chest pain! Is there an AED out here? Someone get the AED!”

Bianca ran forward. She could think of nothing