Proposal For The Wedding Planner
Sophie Pembroke
From one proposal…to another!Laurel Sommers’s world crumbled when she discovered her father’s other family. She’s lived in their shadow ever since, something that’s only too obvious now she’s organizing her famous half-sister’s wedding…To top things off, Laurel’s ex-fiancé is invited. So when the groom’s gorgeous brother proposes he play her convenient boyfriend, she agrees! Stunt man Dan Black’s relationships are like the roles he steps into—temporary. But it’s soon clear his and Laurel’s chemistry is here to stay, and Dan starts considering a much more permanent proposal…!
From one proposal...to another!
Laurel Sommers’s world crumbled when she discovered her father’s other family. Now she’s been roped into organizing her famous half sister’s wedding...
Plus, Laurel’s ex-fiancé is invited. So when the groom’s gorgeous brother proposes he play her convenient boyfriend, she agrees! Stuntman Dan Black’s relationships are like the roles he steps into—temporary. But it’s soon clear his and Laurel’s chemistry is here to stay, and Dan starts considering a more permanent proposal...
Wedding of the Year
Saying ‘I do’ in the spotlight!
Eloise Miller and Laurel Sommers have their lives turned upside down by Melissa Sommers’s celebrity wedding.
With Eloise promoted to maid of honour, and Laurel’s wedding planning skills pushed to their very limits, the last thing these two need is for the best man and the groom’s brother to intervene…
But as the media descends the headlines get more scandalous. Can Eloise and Laurel pull off the wedding of the year without a hitch?
Find out in...
Slow Dance with the Best Man
Proposal for the Wedding Planner
You won’t want to miss this sparkling duet
from Sophie Pembroke!
Proposal for the Wedding Planner
Sophie Pembroke
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
SOPHIE PEMBROKE has been reading and writing romance ever since she read her first Mills & Boon at university, so getting to write them for a living is a dream come true! Sophie lives in a little Hertfordshire market town in the UK with her scientist husband and her incredibly imaginative six-year-old daughter. She writes stories about friends, family and falling in love—usually while drinking too much tea and eating homemade cakes. She also keeps a blog at www.sophiepembroke.com (http://www.sophiepembroke.com).
For Ali, Ally and Ann Marie
Contents
Cover (#ub356ff5e-9e72-5dab-9ac5-0d07fe93c969)
Back Cover Text (#u2bfb5904-9568-502b-b5fe-f86b57a5f191)
Introduction (#u2befe2d0-aff4-5625-84e2-ffd4b94e48f6)
Title Page (#u2807a813-4605-5666-86dd-ef05695fba45)
About the Author (#u93b4897d-6b8d-59b2-bd7e-fa3ae1a0abc1)
Dedication (#u6e67d7b8-7f94-54b1-9312-b6b8f0aabe36)
CHAPTER ONE (#ub23839fd-dd88-5855-921f-6ca01b3f4bc8)
CHAPTER TWO (#u3f810e3a-53db-5946-8bfd-438f7a31dfc1)
CHAPTER THREE (#u10bb5ccd-d358-549d-a944-4e66adb85c32)
CHAPTER FOUR (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE (#u141bb61d-2242-5b16-8ec0-885b0fe8e029)
LAUREL SOMMERS STEPPED back from the road as a London taxi sped past through the puddle at the edge of the kerb, splashing icy water over her feet, and decided this was all her father’s fault, really.
Well, the fact that she was stuck in London, waiting in the freezing cold for a car to take her back to where she should be—Morwen Hall, the gothic stately home turned five-star hotel in the countryside an hour and a half’s drive out of the city—was clearly Melissa’s fault. But if their father hadn’t wanted to have his cake and eat it for their entire childhoods then her half-sister probably wouldn’t hate her enough to make her life this miserable.
Sighing, Laurel clasped the bag holding the last-minute replacement wedding favours that Melissa had insisted she collect that afternoon closer to her body as a stream of cars continued to rush past. It was three days after Christmas and the sales were in full swing. London was caught in that strange sense of anticipation that filled the space between December the twenty-fifth and New Year’s Eve—full of possibilities for the year ahead and the lives that might be lived in it.
Any other year Laurel would be as caught up in that sense of opportunity as anyone. She usually used these last few days of the year to reflect on the year just gone and plan her year ahead. Plan how to be better, to achieve more, how to succeed at last. To be enough.
Just last year she’d plotted out her schedule for starting her own business organising weddings. She’d been a wedding planner at a popular company for five years, and had felt with quiet optimism that it was time to go it alone—especially since she’d been expecting to be organising her own wedding, and Benjamin had always said he liked a woman with ambition.
So she’d planned, she’d organised, and she’d done it—she had the business cards to prove it. Laurel’s Weddings was up and running. And, even if she wasn’t planning her own wedding, she did have her first celebrity client on the books...which was why this year that optimism would have to wait until January the first.
All she had to do was make it through her half-sister’s New Year’s Eve wedding without anything going terribly wrong and she would be golden. Melissa was big news in Hollywood right now—presumably because she was a lot nicer to directors than she was to wedding planners—and her wedding was being covered in one of those glossy magazines Laurel only ever had time to read at the hairdresser’s. If this went well her business would boom and she could stop worrying about exactly how she was going to earn enough to pay back the small business loan she’d only just qualified for.
She might not have the husband she’d planned on, and she might not be a Hollywood star like Melissa, but once her business went global no one would be able to say she wasn’t good enough.
But of course that meant rushing around, catering to Melissa’s every whim—even when that whim meant a last-minute trip back to the capital to replace the favours they’d spent two weeks deciding on because they were ‘an embarrassment’ all of a sudden.
And, as much as she’d been avoiding thinking about it, a peaceful wedding also meant dealing with seeing Benjamin again. Which was just the cherry on top of the icing on top of the wedding cake—wasn’t it?
Another car—big and black and shiny—slowed as it reached the kerb beside her. Lauren felt hope rising. She’d asked the last of the cars ferrying wedding guests from Heathrow to swing into the city and pick her up on its way to Morwen Hall, rather than going around the M25. It would mean the passenger inside would have a rather longer journey, but she was sort of hoping he wouldn’t notice. Or mind having company for it.
Since the last guest was the groom Riley’s brother—Dan Black, her soon to be half-brother-in-law, or something—she really hoped he didn’t object. It would be nice at least to start out on good terms with her new family—especially since her existing family was generally on anything but. Her mother still hadn’t forgiven her for agreeing to organise Melissa’s wedding. Or, as she called her, ‘That illegitimate trollop daughter of your father’s mistress.’
Unsurprisingly, her mother wasn’t on the guest list.
Dan Black wasn’t a high-maintenance Hollywood star, at least—as far as Laurel could tell. In fact Melissa hadn’t told her anything about him at all. Probably because if he couldn’t further her career then Melissa wasn’t interested. All Laurel had to go on was the brief couple of lines Melissa and Riley had scribbled next to every name on the guest list, so Laurel would understand why they were important and why they’d been invited, and the address she had sent the invitation to.
Black Ops Stunts. Even the follow-up emails she’d sent to Dan when arranging the journey and his accommodation had been answered by the minimum possible number of words and no extraneous detail.
The man was a mystery. But one Laurel really didn’t have time to solve this week.
The car came to a smooth stop, and the driver hopped out before Laurel could even reach for the door handle.
‘Miss,’ he said with a brief nod, and opened the door to the back seat for her. She slid gratefully into her seat, smiling at the other occupant of the car as she did so.
‘I do hope you don’t mind sharing your car with me, Mr Black,’ she said, trying to sound professional and grateful and like family all at the same time. She was pretty sure the combination didn’t work, but until she had any better ideas she was sticking with it.
‘Dan,’ he said, holding out a hand.
Laurel reached out to take it, and as she looked up into his eyes the words she’d been about to speak caught in her throat.
She’d seen this man’s brother Riley a hundred times—on the screen at the cinema, on movie posters, on her telly, in magazines, on the internet, and even over Skype when they’d been planning the wedding. Melissa hadn’t actually brought him home to meet the family yet, but Laurel couldn’t honestly blame her for that. Still, she knew his face, and his ridiculously handsome, all-American good looks.
Why hadn’t it occurred to her that his older brother might be just as gorgeous?
Dan didn’t have the same clean, wholesome appeal that Riley did, Laurel would admit. But what he did have was a whole lot hotter.
His hair was closer cropped, with a touch of grey at the temples, and his jaw was covered in dark stubble, but his bright blue eyes were just like his brother’s. No, she decided, looking more closely, they weren’t. Riley’s were kind and warm and affable. Dan’s were sharp and piercing, and currently looking a bit amused...
Probably because she still hadn’t said anything.
‘I’m Laurel,’ she said quickly as the driver started the engine again and pulled out. ‘Your half-sister-in-law-to-be.’
‘My...what, now?’ His voice was deeper too, his words slower, more drawling.
‘I’m Melissa’s half-sister.’
‘Ah,’ Dan said, and from that one syllable Laurel was sure he already knew her whole story. Or at least her part in Melissa’s story.
Most people did, she’d found.
Either they’d watched one of Melissa’s many tearful interviews on the subject of her hardships growing up without a father at home, or they’d read the story online on one of her many fan sites. Everybody knew how Melissa had been brought up almost entirely by her single mother until the age of sixteen, while her father had spent most of his time with his other family in the next town over, only visiting when he could get away from his wife and daughter.
People rarely asked any questions about that other family, though. Or what had happened to them when her father had decided he’d had enough and walked out at last, to start his ‘real’ life with Melissa and her mother.
Laurel figured that at least that meant no one cared about her—least of all Melissa—so there were no photos of her on the internet, and no one could pick her out of a line-up. It was bad enough that her friends knew she was related to the beautiful, famous, talented Melissa Sommers. She didn’t think she could bear strangers stopping her in the street to ask about her sister. Wondering why Laurel, with all the family advantages she’d had, couldn’t be as beautiful, successful or brilliant as Melissa.
‘So you’re also the wedding planner, right?’ Dan asked, and Laurel gave him a grateful smile for the easy out.
‘That’s right. In fact, that’s why I’m up in town today. Melissa...uh...changed her mind about the wedding favours she wanted.’ That sounded better than her real suspicions—that Melissa was just coming up with new ways to torment her—right?
It wasn’t just the table favours, of course. When Melissa had first asked her to organise her wedding Laurel had felt pride swelling in her chest. She’d truly believed—for about five minutes—that her sister not only trusted in her talent, but also wanted to use her wedding to reach out an olive branch between the two of them at last.
Obviously that had been wishful thinking. Or possibly a delusion worthy of those of Melissa’s fans who wrote to her asking for her hand in marriage, never knowing that she tore up the letters and laughed.
‘She’s not making it easy, huh?’ Dan asked.
Laurel pasted on a smile. ‘You know brides! I wouldn’t have gone into this business if I didn’t know how to handle them.’
‘Right.’
He looked her over again and she wondered what he saw. A competent wedding planner, she hoped. She hadn’t had as much contact with Dan over the last few months as she had with the best man or the bridesmaids. But still, there’d been the invitation and the hotel bookings, and the flights and the car transfer—albeit she’d gatecrashed that. She’d been pleasant and efficient the whole way, even in the face of his one-word responses, and she really hoped he recognised that.
Because she knew what else he had to be thinking—what everyone thought when they looked at her through the lens of ‘being Melissa Sommers’s sister.’ That Laurel had definitely got the short straw in the genetic lottery.
Melissa, as seen on billboards and movie screens across the world, was tall, willowy, blonde and beautiful. She’d even been called the twenty-first-century Grace Kelly.
Laurel, on the other hand—well, she wasn’t.
Oh, she was cute enough, she knew—petite and curvy, with dark hair and dark eyes—but ‘cute’ wasn’t beautiful. It wasn’t striking. She had the kind of looks that just disappeared when she stood beside Melissa—not least because she was almost a whole head shorter.
No, Laurel had resigned herself to being the opposite of everything Melissa was. Which also made her a less awful person, she liked to hope.
Dan was still watching her in silence, and words bubbled up in her throat just to fill the empty air.
‘But you know this isn’t just any wedding. I mean, Melissa and Riley wanted a celebrity wedding extravaganza, so that’s what I’ve tried to give them.’
‘I see,’ Dan replied, still watching.
Laurel babbled on. ‘Obviously she wanted it at Morwen Hall—she has a strong connection to the place, you see. And Eloise—she’s the manager there...well, the interim manager, I think... Anyway, you’ll meet her soon... What was I saying?’
‘I have no idea.’
‘Sorry. I’m babbling.’
‘That’s okay.’
‘Oh!’ Laurel bounced in the car seat a little as she remembered where she’d been going with the conversation. ‘Anyway. I was just about to say that there’s lots planned for the next few days—with the welcome drinks tonight, the Frost Fair, and then the stag and hen dos tomorrow, local tours for the guests on Friday before the rehearsal dinner...’
‘And the actual wedding at some point, I assume?’ Dan added, eyebrows raised.
‘Well, of course.’ Laurel felt her skin flush hot for a moment. ‘I was working chronologically. From my Action List.’
‘I understand. Sounds like you have plenty to keep you busy this week.’
Laurel nodded, her head bobbing up and down at speed. ‘Absolutely. But that’s good! I mean, if this wedding goes well... It’s the first one I’ve arranged since I started my own business, you see, so it’s kind of a big deal. And it’s not like I’m in the wedding party at all—’
Neither was he, she realised suddenly. Wasn’t that a little odd? I mean, she knew why her sister wouldn’t want her trailing down the aisle in front of her with a bouquet, but why didn’t Riley want his brother standing up beside him for the ceremony?
Dan’s face had darkened at her words, so she hurried on, not really paying attention to what she was saying. ‘Which is just as well, since there’s so much to focus on! And besides, being behind the scenes means that it should be easier for me to avoid Benjamin—which is an advantage not to be overlooked.’
Oh. She hadn’t meant to mention Benjamin.
Maybe he wouldn’t notice.
‘Benjamin?’ Dan asked, and Laurel bit back a sigh.
Too much to hope for, clearly.
‘My ex-fiancé,’ she said succinctly, wondering if there was a way to tell this story that didn’t make her sound like a miserable, weak, doormat of a person.
Probably not.
‘He’s attending the wedding?’ Dan sounded surprised. She supposed that normal sisters wouldn’t invite their sibling’s ex-partner to their wedding. But the relationship between her and Melissa had never even pretended to be ‘normal’.
‘With his new fiancée,’ she confirmed.
Because it wasn’t humiliating enough just to have to face the man she’d thought was The One again, after he’d made it abundantly clear she wasn’t his anything, in front of her family, celebrities and the world’s media. She also had to do it with her replacement in attendance.
‘His parents are old friends of my father’s. We practically grew up together. Unlike me and my sister.’ She was only making things worse. ‘So, yeah, he’ll be there—just to maximise the awkward. And I’m not exactly looking forward to it, I’ll admit—especially since I haven’t seen him since... Anyway, it’ll all be fine, and I’ll mostly be organising wedding things anyway, like I said, so...’
There had to be a way out of this conversation that left her just a little dignity, surely? If she kept digging long enough maybe she’d find it—before her pride and self-confidence hitched a ride back to London in a passing cab.
‘The Wedding March’ rang out from the phone in her hand, and Laurel gave a silent prayer of thanks for the interruption—until she saw the name on the screen.
Melissa. Of course.
Sighing, she flashed a brief smile at Dan. ‘If you’ll excuse me?’
He leant back against the leather seats and nodded. ‘Of course.’
Laurel pressed ‘answer’. Time to see how her half-sister intended to make her day a little worse.
* * *
Considering that the hot little brunette who’d gatecrashed his ride to the hotel had done nothing but talk since they met, she was doing surprisingly little talking on her phone call.
‘Yes, but—’ Another sigh. ‘Of course, Melissa. You’re the bride, after all.’
Melissa. The blonde bombshell who’d exploded into his little brother’s world a year ago and taken it over. Dan and Riley had never been exactly what he’d call close—the six-year age-gap meant that they’d done their growing up at different times, and their parents’ blatant favouritism towards their younger son hadn’t made bonding any easier.
But the distance between them didn’t change the fact that Riley was his little brother and Dan loved him regardless. He’d loved him all through his Golden Boy childhood, through their parents cutting Dan off when he’d moved to LA and become a stuntman without their approval, and even through their outstanding hypocrisy when Riley had followed him nine years later.
Their parents were both world-renowned in their fields—cardiac surgery for their mother and orthopaedics for his father. That would have been enough to try and live up to under normal circumstances. But Dan had given up competing with anybody long before his younger brother had moved to Hollywood and become a star.
It wasn’t as if he was doing so shabbily by anyone’s terms—even his own. He owned his own business and his turnover doubled every year. He probably earned nearly as much as his hotshot brother, and even if the public would never know his name, the people who mattered in Hollywood did. He—or rather his company, Black Ops Stunts—was the first port of call for any major studio making an action movie these days. He’d made a success of the career his parents had been sure would kill him or ruin him.
Not that they cared all that much either way.
Dan shifted in his seat as he contemplated the week ahead of him. Five days in a luxury hotel—not so bad. Five days with the rich and obnoxious—less good. Five days dealing with his parents—nightmare.
When the invitation had first fallen onto his doormat he’d honestly considered skipping the whole thing. Formal events weren’t really his style, and he spent enough time with Hollywood actors to know that some of them had surprisingly little respect for the people who saved them from risking their lives doing their own stunts. And from what he’d heard about Melissa Sommers she was definitely one of them.
In fact it was all the industry gossip about Melissa that had persuaded him that he needed to be at Morwen Hall that week. Or rather the conflicting reports.
As far as Dan could tell every director and co-star who had ever worked with Melissa thought she was an angel. Anyone who ranked lower than a named credit in the titles, however, told a rather different story.
He sighed, running through his mind once more the series of off-the-record conversations he’d had recently. It wasn’t an unfamiliar story—he’d met enough stars who played the part of benevolent, caring, charitable celebrity to the hilt when anyone who mattered was looking, then turned into a spoilt brat the moment the cameras switched off. He’d even been married to one of them. The only difference was that this time it was Riley marrying the witch—and he needed to be sure his baby brother knew exactly what he was getting in to.
Riley didn’t do personas, Dan thought. In fact it was a mystery how he’d ever got into acting in the first place. It probably said something that he always got cast to play the nice guy, though. The ‘aw, shucks, good old country boy’ who found true love after ninety minutes, or the clean-cut superhero who could do no wrong.
That certainly fitted with the way their parents saw him, anyway.
But this week Dan was far more concerned with how Melissa saw him. Was it true love? Or was he her ticket to something bigger? Her career was doing well, as far as he could tell, but Riley was a step up. Stars had married for a lot less—and he didn’t want to see his brother heartbroken and alone six months after he said, ‘I do.’
‘Melissa...’
Laurel sighed again, and Dan tuned back in to the phone conversation she was enduring. Seemed as if Melissa didn’t count her half-sister as someone who mattered. Hardly unexpected, given their history, he supposed. Everyone knew that story—inside and outside the industry.
He wondered why Melissa had hired her famously estranged half-sister to organise the celebrity wedding of the year. Was it an attempt at reconciliation? Or a way to make Laurel’s life miserable? Judging by the phone call he was eavesdropping on, it definitely felt like the latter. Or maybe it was all about the way it would play in the media—that sounded like the Melissa he’d heard stories about from Jasmine, his best stunt woman, who’d doubled for Melissa once or twice.
This wedding would be his chance to find out for sure. Ideally before she and Riley walked down the aisle.
At least he had a plan. It was good to have something to focus on. Otherwise he might have found himself distracted—maybe even by the brunette on the phone...
‘I’ll be back at Morwen Hall in less than an hour,’ Laurel said finally, after a long pause during which she’d nodded silently with her eyes closed, despite the fact her sister obviously couldn’t see the gesture. ‘We can talk about it some more then, if you like.’
She opened her mouth to speak again, then shut it, lowering the phone from her ear and flashing him a tight smile.
‘She hung up,’ she explained.
‘Problems?’ he asked, raising an eyebrow.
Laurel, he’d already learned, talked to fill the silence—something that seemed to be absent when she was speaking with her half-sister. If he let her ramble on maybe she’d be able to give him all the information about Melissa he needed to talk his brother out of this wedding. They could all be on their way home by dinner time, and he could get back to business as usual. Perfect.
‘Oh, not really,’ Laurel said lightly, waving a hand as if to brush away his concerns. ‘Just the usual. Last-minute nerves about everything.’
Dan sat up a little straighter. ‘About marrying Riley?’
‘Goodness, no!’
Laurel’s eyes widened to an unbelievable size—dark pools of chocolate-brown that a man could lose himself in, if he believed in that sort of thing.
‘Sorry, that wasn’t what I meant at all! I just meant...there are so many arrangements in place for this week and, even though I really do have them all in hand, Melissa just likes to...well, double check. And sometimes she has some new ideas that she’d like to fit in to the plans. Or changes she’d like to make.’
‘Such as the wedding favours?’ Dan said, nodding at the glossy bag by her feet.
‘Exactly!’ Laurel looked relieved at his understanding. ‘I’m so sorry if I worried you. My mouth tends to run a little faster than my brain sometimes. And there’s just so much to think about this week...’
‘Like your ex-fiancé,’ Dan guessed, leaning back against the seat as he studied her.
An informant who talked too much was exactly what he was looking for—even if he hadn’t really thought about her as such until now. Fate had tossed him a bone on this one.
Laurel’s face fell, her misery clear. Had the woman ever had a thought that wasn’t instantly telegraphed through her expression? Not that he was complaining—anything that made reading women easier was a plus in his book. But after spending years learning to school his responses, to keep his expressions bland and boring, he found it interesting that Laurel gave so much away for free.
In Hollywood, he assumed people were acting all the time. In the case of people who had to deal with the over-expressive actors, directors and so on, they learned to lock down their response, to nod politely and move on without ever showing annoyance, disagreement or even disgust.
Laurel wasn’t acting—he could tell. And she certainly wasn’t locking anything down. Especially not her feelings about her ex-fiancé.
‘Like Benjamin,’ she agreed, wincing. ‘Not that I’m planning on thinking about him much. Or that I’ve been pining away after him ever since...well, since everything happened.’
Yeah, that sounded like a lie. Maybe she hadn’t been pining, but she’d certainly been thinking about him—that much was obvious.
‘What did happen? If you don’t mind me asking.’
Dan shifted in his seat to turn towards her. He was surprised to find himself honestly interested in the answer. Partly because he was sympathetic to her plight—it was never fun to run into an ex, which was one of the reasons he avoided celebrity parties these days unless he could be sure Cassie wouldn’t be there—and partly because he couldn’t understand why Melissa would invite her half-sister’s ex-fiancé to her wedding. Old family friends or not, that was a level of harsh not usually seen in normal people.
Which only made him more concerned for Riley.
Laurel sighed, and there was a world of feeling in the sound as her shoulders slumped.
‘Oh, the usual, I suppose. I thought everything was perfect. We were going to get married, live happily ever after—you know, get the fairy tale ending and everything.’ She looked up and met his gaze, as if checking that he did understand what a fairy tale was.
‘Oh, I understand,’ he said, with feeling. Hadn’t that been what he’d thought would be his by rights when he said ‘I do’ to Cassie? Look how wrong he’d been about that.
‘But then it turned out that he wanted the fairy tale with someone else instead.’ She shrugged, her mouth twisting up into a half-smile. ‘I guess sometimes these things just don’t work out.’
‘You seem surprisingly sanguine about it.’
‘Well, it’s been six months,’ Laurel answered. ‘Melissa says I should be well over it by now. I mean, he obviously is, right?’
Six months? Six months after Cassie had left him Dan had still been drinking his way through most of LA’s less salubrious bars. He probably still would be if his business partner hadn’t hauled him out and pointed out that revenge was sweeter than moping.
Making a huge financial and professional success of Black Ops Stunts wasn’t just a personal win. It was revenge against the ex-wife who’d always said he’d never be worth anything.
‘People get over things in their own way and their own time,’ Dan said, trying to focus on the week in front of him, not the life he’d left behind.
‘The hardest part was telling my family,’ Laurel admitted, looking miserable all over again. ‘I mean, getting engaged to Benjamin was the first thing I’d done right in my father’s eyes since I was about fifteen. Even my stepmother was pleased. Benjamin was—is, I suppose—quite the catch in her book. Rich, well-known, charming...’ She gave a self-deprecating smile. ‘I suppose I should have known it was too good to be true.’
‘So, what are you going to do now?’ Dan asked.
Laurel took a deep breath and put on a brave smile that didn’t convince him for a moment.
‘I’ve sworn off men for the time being. I’m going to focus on my business and on myself for a while. And then, when I’m ready, maybe I’ll consider dating again. But this time, I want to be a hundred per cent sure it’s the real thing—the whole fairy tale—before I let myself fall.’
Well, that was rather more information than he’d been looking for. Dan smiled back, awkwardly. ‘Actually, I meant...how do you plan to get through spending a week in the same hotel as him?’
Laurel turned pale. ‘Oh, I’m sorry. Of course you don’t want to hear about that! Melissa always says I talk about myself far too much. Anyway... This week... Well, like I said, I’ve got a lot of work to do. I’m hoping that will keep me so busy I don’t even have to think about him.’
If Melissa had her way Dan suspected Laurel would be plenty busy. And probably only talking about Melissa, too.
‘What you really need is a new boyfriend to flaunt in his face,’ he joked, and Laurel laughed.
‘That would be good,’ she agreed, grinning at him. ‘But even if I hadn’t sworn off men I’ve barely had time to sleep since I started organising this wedding, so I definitely haven’t had time to date.’
That was a shame, Dan decided. Laurel, with her warm brown eyes and curvy figure, should definitely be dating. She shouldn’t be locking herself away, even if it wasn’t for ever. She should be out in the world, making it a brighter place. Less than an hour together and he already knew that Laurel was one of the good ones—and the complete opposite of everything he suspected about her half-sister. Laurel should be smiling up at a guy who treated her right for a change. A guy who wanted to spend the rest of his life making her smile that way. The prince she was waiting for.
Dan knew he was definitely not that guy. Treating women right wasn’t the problem—he had utter respect for any woman who hadn’t previously been married to him. But he didn’t do ‘for ever’ any more. Not after Cassie.
Besides, he knew from experience that ‘for ever’ wasn’t what women wanted from him, anyway. They wanted a stand-in—just like the directors did when they hired him or one of his people. Someone to come in, do good work, take the fall, and be ready to get out of the way when the real star of the show came along.
But maybe, he realised suddenly, that was exactly what Laurel needed this week.
A stand-in.
That, Dan knew, he could absolutely do. And it might just help him out in his mission to save his baby brother from a whole load of heartbreak, too, by getting him closer to the centre of the action.
‘What if he just thought you had a boyfriend?’ Dan asked, and Laurel’s nose wrinkled in confusion.
‘Like, lie to him?’ She shook her head. ‘I’m a terrible liar. He’d never believe me. Besides, if I had a boyfriend why wouldn’t he be at the wedding?’
‘He would be,’ Dan said, and the confusion in Laurel’s eyes grew.
He almost laughed—except that wouldn’t get him any closer to what he wanted: a ringside seat to find out what the bride was really like.
‘I don’t understand,’ Laurel said.
Dan smiled. Of course she didn’t. That was one of the things he was growing to like about her, after their limited acquaintance—her lack of subterfuge.
‘Me. Let me be your pretend boyfriend for the week.’
CHAPTER TWO (#u141bb61d-2242-5b16-8ec0-885b0fe8e029)
LAUREL BLINKED AT HIM. Then she blinked a few more times for good measure.
‘Are you...?’ Pretend. He’d said pretend boyfriend. ‘Are you fake asking me out?’
Dan laughed. ‘If you like.’
‘Why?’
Because he felt sorry for her—that much was clear. How pathetic must she look to elicit the promise of a fake relationship? Really, there was pity dating and then there was this. How low had she sunk? Not this low, that was for sure.
‘Because it feels wrong to let your ex wander around the wedding of the year like he won,’ Dan replied with a shrug. ‘Besides, I’m here on my own—and, to be honest, it would be nice to have a friend at my side when I have to deal with my family, too.’
His words were casual enough, but Laurel couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something else under them. Something she was missing. But what?
‘So it’s not just a “Poor, sad Laurel, can’t even get a date to the celebrity wedding of the year” thing?’ she asked, cautiously.
Dan gave her a quick grin. ‘I’m not even sure I know what one of those would look like. No, I just figured...we’re both dateless, we both have to spend the week with some of our less than favourite people, we’re both non-Hollywood stars in the middle of a celebrity extravaganza...why not team up?’
Who were his ‘less than favourite’ people? she wondered. Who was he avoiding, and why?
Suddenly the whole suggestion sounded a little bit dodgy. Especially since...
‘Aren’t you a stuntman?’ Laurel narrowed her eyes. ‘Doesn’t that count as a Hollywood star?’
‘Definitely not,’ Dan said firmly. ‘In fact it probably makes me the exact opposite. Put it this way: if I wasn’t related to the groom by blood there’s not a chance I’d have been invited to this wedding.’
‘Same here,’ Laurel admitted.
One thing they had in common. That, plus the whole far-more-famous-sibling thing they both had going for them. Maybe—just maybe—this was a genuine offer.
Leaning back against the car seat, she considered his proposition. On the one hand, the idea of having someone there to back her up, to be on her side for once...well, that sounded pretty good. Especially when she had to face down Benjamin for the first time since that really awkward morning in the coffee shop, half an hour after she’d walked in on him in bed with her replacement.
‘You understand, don’t you, Laurel? When it’s true love...you just can’t deny that kind of feeling.’
She hadn’t thrown her coffee cup at his head. She still felt vaguely proud of that level of restraint. And just a little bit regretful... Breaking china on his skull would have been a reassuring memory to get her through the weeks that had followed—breaking the news to her family, cancelling the save-the-date card order, dealing with all the pitying looks from friends... And Melissa’s amusement as she’d said, ‘Really, Laurel, couldn’t you even satisfy old Benjy? I thought he’d have done anything to marry into this family.’
Her mouth tightened at the memory, and she fought to dispel it from her brain. Back to the problem at hand. A fake relationship? Really?
As nice as it would be not to have to face this week alone, who was she kidding? She wasn’t the actress in the family. She couldn’t pull this off. Even if Dan played the part to perfection she’d screw it up somehow—and that was only if they got past the initial hurdle. The one that she was almost certain she’d fall at.
They’d have to convince Melissa that they were in love.
Melissa and Laurel might not have spent much time together for half-sisters—they hadn’t grown up in the same house, hadn’t spent holidays together, celebrated Christmas together, fought over toys or any of that other stuff siblings were supposed to do. Laurel hadn’t even known Melissa existed until she was sixteen. But none of that changed the fact that Melissa had known about Laurel’s existence her whole life—and as far as she was concerned that meant she knew everything there was to know about her half-sister.
And Melissa would never believe a guy like Dan would fall for Laurel.
Fair enough—she was right. But it still didn’t make Laurel feel any more kindly towards her sister.
Laurel shook her head. ‘They’ll never fall for it. Trust me—I’m an awful actress. They’ll see right through it.’
‘Why?’ Dan asked, eyebrows raised. ‘Do you only date A-List celebs like your sister?’
Laurel snorted. ‘Hardly. It’s the other way round. Melissa would never believe that you’d fall for me. Besides, when are we supposed to have got together? We’ve never even met before today!’
‘They don’t know that,’ Dan pointed out. ‘It’s not like my family keeps a particularly tight check on my calendar, and Melissa and Riley have been in LA the whole time. I could have been over in London for work some time in the last six months. Obviously we’d been emailing about the wedding arrangements, so I suggested we meet up while I was in town. One thing led to another...’ He shrugged. ‘Easy.’
‘Is that my virtue or the lie?’ Laurel asked drily.
He made it sound so simple, so obvious. Did everyone else live their lives this way? Telling the story that made them look better or stopped them feeling guilty? Her dad certainly had. So had Benjamin. Could she do the same? Did she even want to?
‘The story,’ Dan answered. ‘And as for no one believing it...’
He reached out and took her hand in his, the rough pad of his thumb rubbing across the back of her hand, making the skin there tingle. His gaze met hers and held it, blue eyes bright under his close-cropped hair.
‘Trust me. No one is going to have any trouble at all believing that I want you.’
His words were low and rough, and her eyes widened as she saw the truth of them in his gaze. They might have only just met, but the pull of attraction she’d felt at the first sight of him apparently hadn’t only been one-sided. But attraction...attraction was easy. A relationship—even a fake one—was not.
Laurel had far too much experience of her world being tipped upside down by men—from the day her father had declared that he’d been keeping another family across town for most of her life and was leaving to live with them to the most recent upheaval of finding Benjamin naked on top of Coral.
But maybe that was the advantage of a pretend boyfriend. She got to set the rules in advance and, because she had no expectations of for ever or fidelity, or anything at all beyond a kind of friendship, she couldn’t be let down. Her world would remain resolutely the right way up.
Something that, after a week filled with Melissa’s last-minute mind-changes and the vagaries of celebrities, sounded reassuringly certain. She eyed Dan’s broad shoulders, strong stubbled jaw and wide chest. Solid, safe and secure. He looked like the human embodiment of his company brochure—which she’d studied when she’d been memorising the guest list. Black Ops Stunts promised safety, professionalism and reliability. Just what she needed to help her get through the week ahead.
Maybe—just maybe—this wasn’t a completely crazy idea after all.
‘Basically, it comes down to this,’ Dan said, breaking eye contact at last as he let go of her hand. ‘I have a feeling this is going to be the week from hell for both of us. Wedding of the year or not, I can think of a million places I’d rather be—and I’m sure you can too. But we’re both stuck at Morwen Hall until New Year’s Day, along with our families and all their friends.’
Laurel pulled a face. She’d been trying very hard not to think too much about how much she wasn’t looking forward to that. But when Dan laid it out flat like that she knew he was right. It really was going to be the week from hell.
‘So I guess you need to decide something before we get there,’ Dan went on. ‘Do you want to go through that alone, or do you want a friend on your side? Someone you can rant to when people are awful and who understands exactly what you’re going through?’
He was pushing it, she realised. This wasn’t just for her, or just to make the week less awful. There was some other reason he wanted this—and it wasn’t because he was attracted to her. The minute he’d dropped her hand she’d seen his control slide back into place, noted the way his expression settled into that same blankness she’d seen when she’d first got into the car.
Dan Black was after something, and Laurel wasn’t sure she wanted to know what it was.
She shook her head. ‘No. Sorry. It just won’t work.’
‘Your choice,’ Dan said, with a no-skin-off-my-nose shrug.
Laurel frowned. Maybe she’d been wrong after all. It wasn’t as if she was the best at reading people.
‘I mean, we can still help each other through this week as friends,’ she added quickly. ‘Just...I’m no good at faking it—sorry. I’d mess it up.’
Not to mention the fact that Melissa would have an absolute fit if Laurel showed up with a new boyfriend at the last moment—especially Riley’s brother. That was the sort of thing that might draw their father’s attention away from Melissa, after all. And Melissa did not like people stealing her thunder.
Frankly, it wasn’t worth the risk.
Besides, she could handle Benjamin. It had been six months. She was over it. Over men. And far too busy focussing on her career to let him get to her at all.
It would all be fine.
‘Friends would be good,’ Dan said with a small smile. ‘And if you change your mind...’
‘I’ll know where to find you,’ Laurel said, relieved. ‘After all, I’m organising this party. Remember?’
* * *
Well, there went the easy option. Still, friends was good, Dan decided. He’d just have to make sure to stick close enough to Laurel to get the information he needed on her sister. Maybe he might even manage to get Melissa alone, for a little brotherly chat. The sort that started, If you hurt my brother I’ll destroy your career.
See? He could do friendly.
Besides, Dan had been the rebound guy far too often to believe that it ever ended well. Laurel was looking for a prince, and he was anything but. A fake relationship was one thing, but a woman with a broken heart could be unpredictable—and Dan didn’t have space in his life for that kind of drama.
One thing his marriage to Cassie had taught him was that giving up control was a bad idea. He’d never concede control of a stunt to anyone else, so why give up control of his heart, or his day-to-day life? Love was off the table, and so were complicated relationships. His was a simple, easy life. Complicated only by his family and by potential heart-breaking film stars who wanted to marry his brother.
‘So, tell me more about this wedding, then,’ he said, figuring he might as well ease Laurel into talking about her sister now, while he had her undivided attention. ‘What’s the plan? I mean, who takes a whole week to get married?’
‘Celebrities, apparently,’ Laurel said drily, and he knew without asking that she was quoting Melissa there.
‘And you said something about a...?’ He tried to remember the term she’d used. ‘A Frost Fair? What on earth is one of those?’
Laurel grinned. ‘Only my favourite part of the whole week! They used to hold them on the Thames when it froze over, back in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It’s like a country fair, I guess, with food stalls and entertainment and all sorts. It’s going to be brilliant!’
‘It sounds like a health and safety nightmare waiting to happen,’ Dan replied, wondering when he’d become the sort of person who noticed those things. Probably when he starting risking life and limb for a living.
‘We’re not actually holding it on the river. It’s probably not frozen over, for a start. We’ll just be on the banks. But I’ve got an acting troupe lined up to perform, and a lute player, and a hog roast...’
Her enthusiasm was infectious, and Dan couldn’t help but smile. ‘It sounds great. I bet Melissa was really pleased when you came up with that one.’
Laurel’s smile faltered, just a little. ‘Well, I think she’ll like it when she sees it,’ she said diplomatically, but Dan got the subtext.
Melissa, he suspected, hadn’t been actively pleased with anything Laurel had done.
He decided to play a hunch. ‘Oh, well. A job’s a job, right? And this one must be paying pretty well, at least?’
It was crass to talk about money, his mother had always told him that, but if her answer was the one he expected then it would be a clear indication that Melissa was the user he suspected her to be.
The answer was clear on Laurel’s face as her smile disappeared altogether. ‘It’s great experience. And an opportunity to get my company name in the world’s media.’
Translation: Melissa wasn’t paying her anything, and Dan knew for sure that she and Riley could afford it.
‘Right,’ he said, ignoring the burning sense of unfairness in his chest. Laurel didn’t deserve this—any of this. Not her ex at the wedding, not her sister taking advantage—not even him, using her to suss out the truth of his brother’s relationship with Melissa.
It was a good job he’d decided that Laurel was off limits, because Dan had always had a soft spot for a damsel in distress, and a habit of rooting for the underdog. As a friend, he could help her out. But he couldn’t let himself even consider anything more.
Which was where that iron-clad control he’d spent so long developing came in.
The car took a sharp turn and Dan turned away to peer out of the window. As they broke through the tree cover—when had they left the city? How had he missed that?—a large, Gothic-looking building loomed into sight, all high-peaked arches and cold, forbidding stone.
That just had to be Morwen Hall. It looked as if Dracula wouldn’t feel out of place there, and as far as Dan could tell Melissa was the nearest thing the modern world had to a vampire, so that was about right.
‘I think we’re here,’ he said.
Laurel leant across the empty seat between them, stretching her seatbelt tight as she tried to look out of his window. ‘You’re right. I’m sorry, I’ve spent the whole journey talking about me! We’re supposed to be being friends, and I still don’t know anything about you!’
Dan shrugged. ‘I’m a simple guy. There’s not much to know.’
She sighed. ‘I was hoping I could pick your brains about your family. Get a feel for who everyone is before tonight’s welcome drinks.’
Thinking back to all the highly detailed emails she’d sent him during the wedding planning process, Dan laughed. ‘Come on—don’t try and tell me you haven’t got the guest list memorised, alphabetically and backwards probably, along with pertinent details on everyone attending. You probably know my family better than I do at this point.’
It wasn’t even a lie. He hadn’t stayed in close touch with any of them these last few years. When it came to their jobs, their hobbies, their movements, Laurel probably did know more than him.
She smiled down at her hands. ‘Well, maybe. I like to do a thorough job.’
There was no hint of innuendo in the words, but something about them shot straight to Dan’s libido as she looked up at him through her lashes. Laurel, with her attention to detail, her perfectionism...everything he’d seen through her emails as she’d been planning the wedding...maybe he knew her better than she thought, too. And he couldn’t help but imagine what all that detail orientated focus would feel like when turned to their mutual pleasure.
Not that he would have a chance to find out. Seducing Laurel Sommers was not an option—not when she might still be harbouring feelings for her ex, and not when she was holding out for a prince. Which was a pity...
He shook the thought away as the car came to a stop directly outside the Gothic monstrosity that was Morwen Hall.
‘We’re here,’ Laurel said, and bit her lip.
He flashed Laurel a smile. ‘Time to face the mob.’
* * *
The mob. Her family, his family, her ex...most of the Hollywood elite and a delegation from Star! magazine.
All the people she’d least like to see. Hooray.
Laurel’s knees wobbled as she stepped out of the car, but in an instant Dan was there, offering her his hand as she descended. A friendly hand, she reminded herself as he smiled at her. She wasn’t going to waste time pretending that there could be anything more between them. Apart from anything else, if there was a chance of that he wouldn’t have offered to be her fake boyfriend, would he?
Besides, she was waiting for the real thing—the right person, the right time, the right place. And Dan, at Melissa’s wedding, surrounded by their families, while Laurel was working every second to make the week perfect and magazine-worthy, was definitely not any of those things.
She looked up to thank Dan for his assistance when something else caught her eye. A too-flashy car, pulling up beside theirs on the driveway. A shiny silver convertible, the sort that Benjamin had liked to drive...
Oh. Perfect. There he was, her cheating rat of an ex, all ready to make her miserable week just a little bit more unbearable.
Her feelings must have shown in her face, because as Benjamin shut off the engine Dan bent his head so his mouth was by her ear and whispered, ‘This is the ex?’
Laurel nodded, unable to keep her eyes off the car. She couldn’t look at Benjamin, of course. And she couldn’t look at Dan or he’d know how truly pathetic she was. And she definitely couldn’t stare at the tall, leggy blonde that Benjamin was helping out of the car, even if she did look a bit like Melissa. The car seemed by far the safest bet.
Cars didn’t betray a person, or break her heart. Cars were safe.
Far safer than love.
Love, in Laurel’s experience, went hand in hand with trust and hope. None of which had ever worked out all that well for her.
Every time she’d had hope for the future that relied on another person, and every time she’d trusted a person she loved, she’d been let down. More than that—she’d been left abandoned, feeling worthless and hopeless.
Which was why, these days, she was putting all her faith, hope and trust in herself and in her business. That way at least if she got hurt it was her own stupid fault. One day her prince would come—and he’d be the kind of equal opportunities prince who loved it that she had a successful career, and thought she was brilliant just the way she was. In the meantime, she would never, ever feel that worthless again.
‘Laurel!’ Benjamin called out, a wide smile on his face as the blonde stepped out of the car, high heels sinking in the gravel of the driveway. ‘How lovely to see you! Quite the venue you’ve picked here.’ He shot a glance over at Morwen Hall and winced. ‘It doesn’t exactly scream romance, I have to say, but I’m sure you know what you’re doing.’
Always that slight dig—that slight suggestion that she was doing something wrong. Never enough for her to call him on it—he’d just put his hands up and laugh, saying she was being over-sensitive. But just enough to leave her in no doubt that he knew better than she did. She wasn’t quite good enough.
Well, the biggest advantage of not being in love with him any more was that she didn’t have to care what he thought.
‘Giving my sister the wedding of her dreams!’ she said, smiling as sweetly as she could as she held a hand out to the blonde, for all the world as if she was meeting her for the first time and hadn’t found her naked in her own bed six months previously. Because she was a professional, dammit, and she would prove it. ‘Hi, I’m Laurel Sommers. The wedding planner.’
The blonde’s smile barely reached her cheeks, let alone her eyes. ‘Coral. Ben’s fiancée,’ she added, obviously wanting to make her status absolutely clear. As if Laurel didn’t already know the whole sordid history of their relationship.
‘Lovely to meet you, Coral,’ Laurel lied. She glanced down at Coral’s left hand, unable to help herself. There it was: a beautiful diamond, oversized and ostentatious and... Hang on.
That was her engagement ring. The one she’d given him back that morning in the coffee shop because she couldn’t bear to look at the damn thing a moment longer and, besides, it was an expensive ring and she hadn’t felt right keeping it.
She’d expected Benjamin to return it or sell it or something.
Not to give it to the woman he’d cheated on her with.
A strange, shaky feeling rose up in her—something between fury and confusion. How could he? Wasn’t it humiliating enough that he was here at all? And now this woman was wearing her ring? How much embarrassment was she supposed to take? How little had she mattered—to Benjamin, to Melissa, to her own father—that she found herself in this position? Alone and humiliated and...
Wait. Not alone. Not quite.
Laurel took a deep breath. And then she made a decision.
Reaching behind her, she grabbed Dan’s hand and pulled him forward, keeping a tight grip on his fingers as he stood beside her. ‘Benjamin, this is Dan. My date for the wedding.’
Until that moment Dan had stayed quiet and still just behind her, not drawing any attention to himself, and it seemed that Benjamin and Coral had barely even registered his presence. Which, now she thought about it, was quite a trick. Maybe that was what you had to do as a stuntman—be mostly invisible or at least easily mistaken for the person you were standing in for. But since Dan had to be over six foot, and solid with it, disappearing in the pale sunlight of an English winter day was a real achievement.
Now he squeezed her fingers back, as if asking, Are you sure?
She wasn’t. Not at all. But it seemed she was doing it anyway.
‘Dan...’ Benjamin echoed, holding out a hand, suspicion already in his gaze.
Laurel resisted the urge to roll her eyes as Dan dropped her fingers to grip Benjamin’s hand hard enough that he winced slightly.
‘That’s right. I’m Laurel’s new boyfriend,’ Dan explained, with a sharp smile.
Laurel bit back her own grin as Benjamin’s expression froze. Yeah, that was why she’d changed her mind about this crazy scheme. That look, right there. That look that said, Really? Are you sure?
Because of course Benjamin wouldn’t expect her to have a new man already, given how crushed she’d been by their break-up. And even if she had he wouldn’t expect it to be someone like Dan—someone big and muscly and gorgeous and just a little bit rough compared to Benjamin’s urbane polish.
Sometimes it was nice to surprise a person. Besides, knowing that Dan was clearly not her type—and that she was almost certainly not his either—helped to keep it clear to both of them that this was just a game. A game that they’d need to discuss the rules of, she supposed, but how hard could that be? The charade would be over the minute the wedding guests departed anyway.
But until then...it would be kind of fun.
Coral was looking at Dan with far more interest than her fiancé, and Benjamin retrieved his hand and quickly took Coral’s instead. Staking his claim, Laurel realised, just as he’d always done with her—holding her hand, or placing a proprietorial hand at her waist whenever she spoke to another man. Something else she really didn’t miss.
Benjamin’s gaze flipped from Dan back to Laurel, and she stopped reflecting on the past in order to concentrate on fooling her ex in the present. Dan slipped a hand around her waist, which helped. Somehow it felt totally different from the way Benjamin had used to touch her there. Less possessive, more a gentle reminder that she wasn’t alone.
She liked that, too.
‘Actually, Laurel, it’s handy we’ve bumped into you. Could you spare a moment? I have something I want to talk to you about...’
Laurel ran down her mental checklist of any outstanding Benjamin issues and came up with nothing. She’d already given back his ring—as evidenced by the fact that it was sparkling on Coral’s left hand right now. He had no stuff left at her flat—mostly because he’d never left anything there longer than overnight if he could help it anyway. He’d kept all their mutual friends in the break-up, since they’d all been his to start with, and she was sort of relieved to have more time for her old uni friends instead of having to hang out with his society people.
What else could there possibly be for them to talk about?
‘I should really get back to work,’ she said, wishing she could sound more definite, more confident in her denial. Why couldn’t she just say, There is nothing left I want you to say to me?
‘It’ll only take a moment,’ Benjamin pressed, moving a step towards her.
Laurel stepped back and found herself pressed up against Dan’s side. He really was very solid. Warm and solid and reassuring.
She could get used to having that sort of certainty at her back.
‘Sorry, but the lady has a prior engagement,’ Dan said.
Laurel knew she should be cross with him for speaking for her, but given that she couldn’t say the words herself she was finding it hard to care. Besides, he was supposed to be her boyfriend. It was all just part of the act.
‘I’ve had a very long journey, and Laurel promised to show me to my room the moment we arrived. Didn’t you, honey?’
The warm look he gave her, the innuendo clear in his gaze, made her feel as if her blood was heating her up from the inside.
Just an act, she reminded herself. But, given the way Benjamin stepped back again, and Coral pulled him close, it was an act that was working.
‘Sorry,’ she lied, flashing the other couple a short, sharp smile. ‘Maybe later.’ Then she gave Dan a longer, warmer, more loving smile. ‘Come on, then, you. I can’t wait to give you a thorough tour of your room.’
Turning away, she led Dan up the stone steps and through the front door of Morwen Hall, victory humming through her body.
Maybe Melissa wasn’t the only actress in the family after all.
‘What an idiot,’ Dan whispered as they moved out of earshot, leaving Benjamin supervising the retrieval of his bags and handing his keys over to the valet. ‘What did you see in him?’
‘I have no idea,’ Laurel said, honestly.
‘So—we’re doing this, then? I thought it was a terrible idea.’
But he’d gone along with her lies the minute she’d told them, she realised. Even though she’d insisted not half an hour ago that they couldn’t do it. A person who could keep up with her whims was a very useful friend to have, she decided.
‘It probably still is.’ Laurel flashed him a smile. ‘But...it could be fun, don’t you think?’
‘Oh, definitely,’ Dan replied, and the secret half-smile he gave her felt even warmer than the victory over Benjamin.
CHAPTER THREE (#u141bb61d-2242-5b16-8ec0-885b0fe8e029)
LAUREL LAUGHED SOFTLY as they entered Morwen Hall, and Dan congratulated himself on handling the situation with the ex well—and getting to play the game he’d wanted all along. It was hard enough judging how a woman wanted him to behave in such a situation when they really were dating, but trying to guess it on an hour or two’s acquaintance with no notice... Well, he was just glad he hadn’t got it wrong. If he had, he wouldn’t have got to hear Laurel’s giggle—and Laurel had a fantastic giggle. Low and dark and dirty, with just a hint of mischief. Totally at odds with her perfectionist organisational tendencies—and not what he’d expected.
If that giggle told the true story of who Laurel really was, underneath everything—well, then she was definitely someone he was looking forward to getting to know better.
She’d surprised him, though. When she’d dismissed his idea of a fake relationship in the car she’d seemed very certain. He hadn’t expected her sudden change of heart—and he couldn’t help but wonder what had caused it. Surely it couldn’t just have been seeing Benjamin in the flesh again, since she’d been expecting that. Unless she really was still hung up on him, and this was all an act to make her ex jealous. Dan hoped not. Revenge games weren’t the sort he liked to play at all.
He’d have to remember to ask her, later, he realised. Even if it was too late now to back out, having all the facts would make deciding how to play things a lot easier.
‘Hey. You’re back!’
A tall redhead strode towards them across the lobby, a clipboard in hand, looking every bit as professional and efficient as Laurel did when she wasn’t giggling.
He glanced down at Laurel, keeping his hand at her waist as she gave a forced smile. Dan applied just a little pressure to let her know he was still there while he tried to read the situation. Was this one of the people destined to make his week miserable? Or might she be on their side?
‘I am,’ Laurel said, sounding uncomfortable.
Was she changing her mind again? Dan hadn’t taken her for a fickle woman, but under the circumstances he might have to re-evaluate.
‘And you brought company.’
The redhead’s gaze flicked up to meet his, and Dan gave a non-committal half-smile. No point encouraging her until he knew which way Laurel was going to jump.
‘Eloise, this is Dan. Riley’s brother,’ Laurel explained. The redhead didn’t look particularly reassured by the information. ‘Dan, this is Eloise. She’s the manager of Morwen Hall.’
‘Pleased to meet you,’ Dan said, placing the shopping bag full of wedding favours that he’d lugged in from the car on the ground and holding out his hand.
‘Acting Manager,’ Eloise corrected, as if unable to stop herself, as she took it and shook. She had a good handshake, Dan decided. Firm and friendly. Much better than that idiot outside, who’d tried to crush the bones in his hands before realising, after a moment, that Dan hadn’t even begun to squeeze.
‘Not for long,’ Laurel said, and this time when Dan glanced down her smile seemed real. Friend, then. Good. They needed some of those.
He upgraded his expression from noncommittal to cautiously friendly. ‘So, what’s been happening here?’
‘Cassidy, the maid of honour, has taken a fall while skiing and broken her leg, so her husband is bringing his mistress to the wedding instead.’
Eloise’s words came out in a rush, and Dan had to run them through his brain twice to process them. Maid of honour. Broken leg. Mistress. None of that sounded good.
Laurel’s mouth fell open in an O shape, and her eyes were almost as wide. Apparently she’d reached the same conclusion. ‘So Melissa doesn’t have a maid of honour?’
Eloise winced. ‘Not exactly. She’s making me do it.’
Laurel’s eyes widened even further, into dark pools of amazement. ‘You poor, poor thing,’ she said, sounding genuinely sympathetic.
Under other circumstances Dan might have been surprised that Laurel wasn’t offended that she wasn’t even her sister’s second choice as maid of honour. But, given the phone call he’d heard in the car, he suspected she viewed it as a lucky escape.
‘Yeah. I’m thrilled, as you can imagine. And it means I’ll have to call in my deputy to cover for me at the hotel this week. He will not be thrilled. I can probably keep on top of the wedding events at least, so he only has to deal with the guests.’ Eloise sighed. ‘What about you? How did the favours go?’
She eyed Dan again, her gaze slipping down to where his hand rested at Laurel’s waist. They might have passed the ex test, but now their unexpected fake relationship faced an even tougher challenge—convincing a friend. Still, it would be good practice for facing his family later, he supposed. Oh, no, his family. Maybe he hadn’t thought this through properly either...
He reached down to pick up the bag of wedding favours again, just in case Laurel decided they should make a run for it.
‘Fine, they’re all sorted.’ Laurel waved her hand towards the large glossy shopping bag in his hand. ‘Then I got Dan’s car to pick me up on the way back.’
‘That was...convenient.’ Eloise’s stare intensified.
Dan glanced down at his fake girlfriend in time to watch her cheeks take on a rather rosy hue. Women didn’t usually blush over him. It was kind of cute.
‘Um, yes. Actually, I meant to tell you... Dan and I...’
Laurel stumbled over the lies and sympathy welled up inside him. She was right—she really wasn’t good at this. Maybe he’d have to give her lying lessons. Except that sounded really wrong.
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