Hired Bride. Jackie Merritt
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suspected what?” Gwen said cautiously. Was this woman a little light in the upper story, or what?
“You’re in love,” Rosita said calmly. “And you will be married right after the new year. What’s this I see? Children! How wonderful! You and Zane will have four children.”
Gwen yanked her hand back. “Mrs. Perez, everything you think you saw in my hand is as far from the truth as it could get. Now, if you’ll excuse me?”
“You’re quite wrong, my dear,” Rosita called out cheerfully as Gwen hastened away.
Outside, Gwen tried to calm her shaken system with breaths of fresh air. Without a doubt Rosita Perez was the strangest person she’d met here today. Zane’s relatives might be curious about his latest girlfriend, but at least they were polite about it.
Latest girlfriend? Gwen’s spirits dropped another notch. She was a hired girlfriend, and she had better not forget it for even a moment!
In the next heartbeat she saw Zane walking toward her. Apparently he’d been watching for her. How was she going to get through the rest of today and then tomorrow morning with him being so consistently attentive, when she couldn’t seem to rid herself of feelings for the man that just kept going deeper?
Well, she had to do it, that was all there was to it. She had to smile and talk and act as though he wasn’t the most incredible guy she’d ever met. Inwardly she groaned. Why was this happening to her?
Zane walked up to her and smiled. “Is your room satisfactory?”
“It’s a lovely room. Zane, I met the strangest woman in the house. She’s Maggie’s mother, Rosita, and when I offered to shake her hand, she took mine and read my palm.”
Zane let out a whoop of laughter. “So you met our local oracle.”
Gwen’s jaw dropped. “Are you saying she’s a genuine soothsayer?”
“I’m only saying this, Gwen. Rosita Perez has accurately predicted many an event, and folks around here have come to respect her predictions.”
“You don’t mean it,” Gwen said weakly.
“What did she see in your palm?”
“Uh, I’d rather not say. I don’t believe in that foolishness, anyhow, so it doesn’t matter what she told me.”
“Really,” Zane said with a small chuckle. “Know what I think? I think Rosita told you something that shook your underpinnings, and you wish she hadn’t. Come on, be a sport and tell me what she said.”
“Think what you want. I’m still not telling you what she said to me.” Gwen noticed people filing into the second tent. “Shall we join the others?”
Zane nodded amiably, but he would have given almost anything to know what Rosita had told Gwen. Maybe he could pry it out of Rosita, but he’d much rather hear it from Gwen.
As they strolled toward the dinner tent, he realized how much he was enjoying the day. And his enjoyment was mostly thanks to Gwen. That was food for thought—some very pleasant thought, he discovered.
Throughout the meal people kept rising and offering toasts to the newlyweds. Gwen’s—and everyone else’s—champagne glass was filled again and again. Gwen became more mellow and relaxed with each swallow she took of the most delicious champagne she’d ever tasted. She realized, if a bit fuzzily, that she was truly enjoying herself. It was becoming much easier to smile at Zane, and even to flirt with him. It was, in fact, almost possible to forget that she was being paid to flirt with him for the benefit of his female relatives, and to pretend that this was a real date.
When he laid his arm across the back of her chair, she smiled and leaned his way. He whispered in her ear, “This is great. I’d bet anything that a good half of my family is wondering when our wedding is going to take place.”
“Right after the new year,” Gwen murmured dreamily.
“Pardon? I didn’t catch that.”
Gwen felt heat in her face. “Uh, it was nothing.” How could she have repeated Rosita’s prediction so carelessly? It certainly was not going to come true, for pity’s sake. Watch yourself, Gwen Hutton!
The bride and groom got up to dance the first dance, and soon others were dancing as well. Zane talked quietly, for Gwen’s ears alone. “I should dance with you first, then do a little circulating.”
“Whatever you say.”
A few minutes later she was on the dance floor with Zane, and he was holding her as a lover held a woman. It had been a long time since Gwen had done any dancing, especially this kind of dancing, and she unconsciously stroked the back of Zane’s neck as they floated around the dance floor, all but glued together.
The intimate caress startled Zane for a moment, but then he told himself that Gwen was merely putting on a good act. Rationalizing didn’t stop his body from responding, however, and he brought her closer still and deliberately inhaled her arousing scent. However this whole thing had started out with Gwen, business deal or not, he knew now that he wanted her. She hadn’t only impressed his family and friends today, she had impressed him.
“You’re very beautiful,” he whispered.
“Thank you, kind sir. You’re beautiful too, you know,” she said teasingly.
“You think I’m still pretending, Gwen, but I’m not. You really are beautiful.”
The hoarseness in his voice jolted Gwen a bit, but she could only think that if he wasn’t pretending at this moment, then he was handing her a line.
“I know all about your reputation with women,” she whispered, “so please don’t insult me with false flattery just because we both drank too much champagne.”
For a few seconds Zane was at a loss. He certainly hadn’t expected that sort of reply, and it hurt that she would bring up his reputation at a time like this.
“Don’t you recognize a sincere compliment when you hear one?” he finally asked.
“Yes, I believe I do.”
“Meaning you don’t believe in my sincerity.”
“That sounds about right.” The music had stopped and they had stopped dancing, but Zane kept holding her. She tilted her head back to see his face and was rather surprised by his frowning expression. “Right now you are getting exactly what you wanted from today. People are watching,” she said, adding, “A lot of people. You really should erase that frown or they’ll think we just had a disagreement.”
“Right now I don’t give a damn what anyone thinks,” Zane growled. “Except for you.”
“Why would it matter to you what I thought about anything?”
“That’s a damn good question and maybe it’s something we should both think about.” Releasing his hold on her, he took her hand and led her back to their table. When she was seated, he leaned over and said, “I’m going to dance with Lily and my sisters. Will you be all right?”
“Of course I’ll be all right,” she stated confidently, but after he’d gone she sucked in the breath she needed very badly and told her racing pulse to calm down. Without question Zane had come on to her. She’d imagined all sorts of things happening today and this evening, but not that. And the turmoil in her system because of a few words of phony flattery scared the daylights out of her.
What scared her even more, though, were her own reactions to Zane Fortune. Whatever had made her think that she would be impervious to the famous Fortune charm?
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