Escorting the Groom (The Escort Collection 4)

We spent the next hour on the deck, relaxing and holding hands, each of us nursing a glass of wine. "Martha Stewart has a house up here," he said.

"No way! Have you ever seen her?"

"Yep. Out to dinner one night at this Mexican place. She's as lovely in person as she is on television."

"Wow," I said, "a real celebrity!"

"I'm trying to keep you in the know. Maybe you'll see her up here, someday." His phone buzzed, and he checked it. Whatever he read made him choke on his wine.

I pounded him on the back. "What's the matter?"

> Lucas gave one final cough. "I forgot about something—the Four Seasons."

"Huh?"

Lucas took another healthy sip of wine. "Back to the no secrets thing. I forgot to tell you—Elizabeth called me this morning."

My eyebrow shot up. "Why?"

"She said she wanted to, er… see me."

I crossed my arms against my chest. "See you? Or see you and then something more?"

"The latter. It kind of came out of the blue, but I think she heard about the inheritance and got kind of… excited."

"That witch! I knew she still wanted—"

"I thought that my father should know," Lucas said, interrupting me gently. "So I asked her to send me naked pictures of herself and to meet me at the Four Seasons this afternoon. Except that I'm not there—Ian is. And he just took a picture of her—that's what he texted me. I wanted documentation to prove it to my father, once and for all, that Elizabeth can't be trusted."

Blake held her hand out. "Hand me your phone."

Lucas shook his head, looking very wary. "I don't think that's a good idea, babe."

"The phone, babe. Now."

He gave it to me reluctantly. I scrolled through the pictures and immediately wished I hadn't. I hopped up and paced the deck as I looked at them. "The nerve! Disgusting! What is she doing with that cucumber?"

"That one's my favorite. Classic." Lucas was laughing until I stopped him with a death look.

I tossed him back his phone. "Rich people are so weird."

Lucas motioned for me to come to him. "Except me."

"Right." I leaned down and kissed him. "Except you."

He looked up at me. "Listen, there's one more thing."

"Ew," I said, eyeing his phone warily. I didn't need to see any more of Elizabeth.

"It's not an ew. It's an ooh. Hopefully." He got up from his chair and took my hands.

And then he got down on one knee.

"Blake, we came at this in a non-traditional way." He looked up into my eyes.

"You bought me," I said.

"I bought you. The thing is, after I realized that I didn't technically 'need' you anymore and that I was going to let you go—that's when I realized that I really needed you. And that I couldn't let you go."