CHAPTER TWO

      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