The Wedding Pact Box Set - Denise Grover Swank Page 0,20

his tie at the base of his throat?

She finished her task and appraised him. “I guess you’ll do.”

“You guess?”

She turned her attention to her suitcase and started digging around for something.

“We need a story,” he forced out.

“What?”

“People are going to ask questions. We need to tell them the same thing. Does your family know how you met your fiancé?”

She turned her head and gave him a wry grin. “So you acknowledge his existence now?”

He almost laughed out loud. How he’d enjoyed riling her up about her fake fiancé.

“You showed me his blurry picture, right? But I still question his existence, if only based on the fact that the man has to be an idiot of epic proportions.” Why did he admit that? Focus, Josh. Focus. There was only a week left until everything was lost. He needed to do what he’d come here to do and that was it.

She glanced down. “No. They hardly know anything.”

“So how did we meet?”

“Friends set us up.”

“Where was our first date?”

“At Six Seven Restaurant, overlooking the sound.”

“Classy and romantic. And how did our first date go?”

She stood, holding a pair of sandals in her hand. She flashed him a teasing grin. “You were smitten with me. I found you barely tolerable.”

He stared into her twinkling eyes as she looked up at him. “And did any of that really happen on your first date with your fiancé?”

Her smile faded, making him regret the question. “No. We met at a bar downtown for drinks. He declared us compatible. We each paid for our own tab and agreed to try dinner the next week.”

“Sounds very . . . calculated.”

“That’s Jay for you.”

He wasn’t sure how to respond. Based on what little he knew of her, he couldn’t imagine her happy with someone like that. “When did you guys move in together?”

“We didn’t.” He expected her to sound bitter. She only sounded resigned.

Rather than commenting, he moved on to the next question. “What do you do?”

She sat on the bed and slipped on her shoes. “I’m a fundraiser for an environmental nonprofit.” She glanced up, blowing away a strand of hair that fell in her face. “My mother finds it tacky that I’m paid to beg people for money. She says I could at least have chosen a well-respected cause. Suffice it to say, she wishes I would do something else.”

“I bet.”

“They know Jay’s an investment banker . . . that he works long hours.”

“What else did you tell them about Jay . . . ahem . . . I mean me?”

She smiled slightly as she stood, brushing out her skirt. “That you bought a condo in downtown Seattle overlooking the Sound because it was a good investment. I was going to move in after the wedding. You’re from Seattle. You have one brother and two parents . . . Oh, and they aren’t coming to the wedding.”

“Why not?” he asked, astounded.

“They booked a cruise and got the wedding date mixed up. They would have lost nearly ten thousand dollars.”

He whistled. “Damn, it must be some cruise . . .”

“It’s a private yacht in the Mediterranean. And Mom had already booked the botanical garden, so she couldn’t change the date since we’re getting married in June. She was lucky she got the date at all.” Noticing his blank stare, she added, “That’s where the wedding and reception are. The Powell Gardens.”

“And my brother?”

“He’s not coming either. He couldn’t get away from work.”

“Wow. Was anyone from this jerk’s side coming to the wedding?”

She cringed. “A couple of friends. But obviously they aren’t coming now.”

From what Josh had heard, he wasn’t surprised. What an ass. “Let’s try to stick together tonight. That way there’s less of a chance we’ll get our stories mixed up.”

She lifted her eyebrows. “Don’t you worry. I have no intention of leaving you alone. I have no idea what you are up to, but I’m going to keep an eye on you.”

He flashed her his charming smile and held his hands out from his sides. “I already told you; I’m trying to avoid my family drama.”

“By jumping into mine?” She sounded even more skeptical than before.

“Hey, anybody else’s family drama is preferable to your own. Besides—” he flashed her what he hoped was a beguiling grin, “—I told you that this is mutually beneficial.”

“Part of me wants to believe you, but nobody goes to this much trouble for someone they hardly know.”

“Megan!” Her mother’s muffled voice called up the stairs and through the closed door, louder