Wishing and Hoping. SUSAN MEIER
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her head as if disgusted with him. “How many times do I have to tell you that I have a job. A good job. A job where I can climb the ladder. I have as much of a chance of being an executive at my company as anybody. I’m fine.”
Drew shifted uncomfortably on the driver’s seat of her car. He got it. She was self-sufficient. She didn’t need him or his money. But that meant the only logical conclusion he could draw for why they’d ended up in bed was that she had been overwhelmingly attracted to him. So attracted to him she’d forgotten all about birth control. So attracted she’d fallen for stupid lines. Really fallen. She’d all but purred with happiness in his arms.
He swallowed, suddenly aware of how close they were in the confines of her tiny car. The attraction they’d felt the night they’d met at the party had not been onesided. He’d been overwhelmingly attracted to her, too. On top of that, the heavenly soft, incredibly sensual woman beside him would be spending the next eight months of weekends with him. If he didn’t get ahold of himself right now, all he would be thinking about for all eight of those months would be sex.
He parked her car in the lot beside the diner and guided her into the small restaurant. Filled with Saturday-morning patrons, the place was alive with conversation and brimming with the scents of fresh coffee, bacon and maple syrup.
“Good morning, Drew,” Elaine Johnston said. Tall and amply built, the wife of Bill Johnston, the diner’s owner, served as hostess normally, but also filled in as a waitress or cook. “And good morning to you, too, Isabella.”
“She goes by Tia now,” Drew interjected, and though Tia laughed, Drew was struck by what a smart move that had been. By telling Elaine that Tia no longed used Isabella but went by the name Tia, he subtly told the woman in contact with nearly everybody in Calhoun Corners that he knew personal things about Isabella Capriotti.
But though that was good for the charade, Drew felt an odd sensation in his gut. They were sexually attracted. She hadn’t tricked him. She didn’t need him. Hell, she didn’t want him—except sexually. Now that he’d waded through the situation and realized she’d found him as irresistible as he’d found her, he was also recognizing that if he played his cards right she could want him again. And again. And again.
As Elaine led them down the aisle between two rows of booths, Drew inhaled a sharp breath. He had to stop thinking like this.
When they were seated and Elaine was on her way to get their coffee, Tia said, “So what now?”
His answer was quick and automatic. “We continue to make people believe that we are madly in love.” But as the words came tumbling out of his mouth, he realized that if she wasn’t the problem—if she hadn’t tricked him and didn’t want anything from him—then, technically, he was the problem. He’d seduced her. He was forcing her to marry him. He was demanding a place in her baby’s life. And now he was thinking about seducing her again.
He was scum.
“We have to make people believe we’re madly in love immediately? Can’t we date?”
“We don’t have time. Wedding’s already set for two weeks from now. Besides, if we start here, right now, the rumor will get to Rayne Fegan this morning.”
“Mark’s daughter? What does she have to do with this?”
“Your dad’s heart condition isn’t the only thing in the editorials. Mark’s also written about things your brothers did as teenagers, wondering why they were never arrested and almost accusing your dad of using influence to keep them out of jail.”
“Are you kidding?”
“Mark’s writing the editorials, but Rayne is the one digging up the past. We want her to find out we’re together so she’ll check up on us and decide we’re for real, and let us alone.”
“You’ve really thought this through.”
“It’s only common sense. There was no reason for Rayne to check on your brothers except to stress out your dad. When she hears about us she’ll think she struck pay dirt for more ways to push your dad and she’ll come gunning for us. But that’s what we want. We want her to ‘accidentally’ find us looking calm and ordinary. Like this has been going on so long that we’re comfortable. So nobody questions the wedding and there’s nothing about it that stresses your dad.”
Tia nodded, then leaned back and smiled at him. Once again, the easy upward movement of her lips was very good for the charade. Very bad for Drew’s libido. Still, he knew what he had to do. Especially when he saw Ossie Burton striding toward them, an evil look on his face, as if he was about to have one hell of a time teasing Drew.
Drew’s chest tightened. He’d vowed in every bar from here to the Chesapeake Bay that he’d never seriously date a woman again, let alone get married. He was not only about to endure months of the greatest physical challenge of his life by resisting a sexual attraction that suddenly seemed as natural as breathing, but he was also about to endure months of the teasing of his life.
Nonetheless, for Ben’s sake, he reached across the table and took Tia’s hand.
Tia and Drew ate breakfast interrupted by diner patrons who popped over to say hello, and the curious stares of people not bold enough to actually come over. When they left the diner, they walked to the small grocery store and picked up a few everyday items, making sure everybody saw them doing common, ordinary things. But when they reached the flower shop, Tia saw Rayne Fegan striding toward them.
“I told you she would track us down,” Drew whispered as he put his hand on the doorknob to go inside. Rayne stopped them.
“Tia!” she said, catching Tia’s arm to keep her from entering the flower shop. “My goodness, I didn’t know you were home!”
“I’ve been home a few times since May.” As if she’d done it a million times before, she turned and smiled at Drew.
Rayne’s eyebrows rose. “Oh.”
“We’ve been dating, Miss Nosey,” Drew said. Compared to Tia, Rayne looked like somebody’s maiden aunt. Though she wore her hair in a youthful ponytail, her long bangs sloppily brushed the frames of her outdated, oversize glasses. Her too-big blouse billowed over jeans that could have been taken in four inches. “I’ll spell it out for you so you don’t have to speculate in the newspaper.”
“Very funny.”
“It’s not funny the way you’re trying to take attention off the real issues of the election by focusing on Ben’s health.”
“He’s our elected official. He set himself up to have his life scrutinized. Whether or not he can actually do the job is a part of that.”
“He’s done the job for an entire year since his heart attack,” Tia said, joining Drew in defense of her father. “If you or your dad don’t realize he’s perfectly able to keep going then you’re wrong.”
“We don’t think we are,” Rayne said. “We think the town needs a young, enthusiastic mayor and we take the responsibility of the press very seriously.”
“In other words,” Drew countered, “you love making mountains out of molehills.”
Rayne shook her head. “We’re doing what needs to be done. Anytime he wants, Ben can pull out. From our point of view he’s the one who needs to reevaluate.” She sighed and glanced at Tia. Drew noticed the way her face softened with regret as she said, “It was nice to see you.” Then she walked away.
“I get the feeling you and Rayne were friends at some point.”
“We were two outcasts in high school. I was the brainy girl, she was the daughter of the guy who could put your misdeeds in the paper. We were a natural pair.”
She turned and entered the flower shop. Drew followed her, putting his hand on the small of her back, directing her to the counter.
“What can I do for you, Tia, Drew?” Sam Jeffries said,