The Temporary Wife - By Jeannie Moon Page 0,66

she want to make sure we had an ample supply of small children for her to consume?”

That stopped him right in his tracks. He closed his eyes and shook his head, but couldn’t help grinning. “Don’t say that when people get here, okay?”

“Whatever you say.”

“Okay, well . . . Harper told me she ran into my mother at the club and, ah, she extended an invitation to them.”

Meg stopped this time, right before she entered the living room. “I’m confused. You can’t possibly mean that she extended an invitation to them to come here without checking with you first, do you?”

“I do. I’m sorry to drop this on you. I know it’s not right, and I gave her hell for it, but this is an opportunity to show my parents and Harper that we can’t be pulled apart.”

Meg tried to wrap her head around the bombshell and took three deep breaths before responding. This was going to be fine. She had to have faith. Another deep breath. “Okay. Is there anything else?”

“My brother’s coming. With Harper.”

The burn in Meg’s stomach was her blind hatred of Harper Poole. “Of course he is. What a perfect couple.” Meg didn’t like Josh Campbell. She never had. He was a bully, just like his father. This whole night had suddenly gotten more complicated.

The caterer was set up in the gourmet kitchen, preparing an array of elegant finger food. Meg, suddenly hungry, surveyed the choices. “This is quite a spread. Do you entertain a lot?”

“No, but I wanted people to meet you.”

“What?” He wanted what?

“This party is for you, Meg. No more hiding.”

Those few words, telling her the party was for her, that he wanted to show her off, took away the ache from past wounds, took away the fear that she wouldn’t be accepted. His simple gesture helped her see that nothing was like it was before. He wanted to be with her, and Meg had no idea that being wanted could make her feel so powerful.

***

Jason watched Meg circulate among his friends, and if he was worried, he shouldn’t have been. Owen’s and Nate’s dates had taken her in, and she seemed to be having a good time. Seeing her like this, in the elegant space with New York in the background, made him think about the years behind them, the years when he’d hidden her because he thought she wouldn’t fit in.

For someone so smart, he was a fucking idiot.

If she was the least bit uncomfortable, you couldn’t see it. Everything about her was poised and confident, and she was so beautiful, with her long, loose curls and goddess face. Jason wasn’t focusing on anything but her.

Nate came up next to him and handed Jason a neat Glenlivet. “Catherine likes Meg. It’s nice for her to have someone to talk to at these things. She said something about all of us going out to dinner. You in?”

Jason nodded. “As long as Meg’s there, so am I.”

Nate sipped his drink. “I know you guys were having a rough time of it, but it seems better. Is it?”

“It’s getting there. It has to. I know I’m not what she needs, but the thought of losing her makes my stomach knot.”

“Leaving out the obvious—that she’s hot and an absolute doll—she seems to understand you.”

“She sees right inside me, Nate. She’s always been able to see everything.”

The door buzzed, and when his housekeeper opened it, his mother swept in, followed by his father, brother, and Harper. He glanced at Meg, who looked like she’d just been thrown to the wolves. The second she made eye contact with him, they moved toward each other. Strength in numbers, he thought. Once they came together in the middle of the room, he took her hand.

“Stick close and don’t let anything they say get to you. Smile. Just smile.”

“Okay.”

“You’re better than them, keep that in your head.”

He heard Meg choke on a nervous laugh. “Right.”

Pulling her to the side of the room, out of the crowd of people, Jason took her face in his hands, more certain of what he was saying than ever before. “You have always been better than them. Don’t let my family scare it out of you.”

Meg dropped her eyes, unsure around his family, and he could see that she was still letting all the old intimidation play on her confidence.

“Meg, don’t let them make you feel like you don’t belong. They are in our home. I’m right here with you.”

She looked up, her eyes hard,