“This is pretty, right?” I looked up.
“Yes. It’s not traditional, but I love emeralds. And it’s about as good quality as you can get. The diamonds either side are the same. Not the most expensive of the rings here—not by a long shot—but really nice, just the same.”
“She wouldn’t want flash,” I replied. I picked out the ring from the box and looked at it more closely. It was small and a little quirky but pretty as hell. A lot like Parker.
“You want to tell me who she is?”
“It’s not what you think. I’m considering doing a friend a favor.”
Joshua poked his head around the door again.
“Come in. You might as well hear this from the horse’s mouth. You can be the second person to tell me I’m being an idiot.”
As Joshua poured out our wine, I began to tell them all about the auction, the date, and Parker’s proposition.
“But do you like her? Or at least want to bang her?” Joshua asked. “It could get complicated.”
If she wasn’t Arthur’s daughter, my answer would be a definite yes. But I couldn’t unlink her from the man to whom I owed so much.
“It won’t get complicated. Arthur means too much to me.”
“And he’s fine with it?” Dexter asked.
“More than fine. He’s positively encouraging me to do it.”
“And it’s just ninety days?”
“Yeah, we can split after then, although I think a divorce takes a year—We can’t get an annulment or the whole thing doesn’t work.”
“Are you okay with that?” Joshua asked.
“I’m trying to think of a reason why I wouldn’t be. You all will know. Arthur knows. I’d have to figure out something with my parents, but it’s doable. It doesn’t have to be a big deal if we don’t let it be a big deal. Right?”
“I guess,” Dexter said. “I just know that marrying Hollie felt . . . special.”
“But it doesn’t have to, right?” I asked. Just because it was one way for Dexter didn’t mean that it had to be that way for me.
“Nothing in the rule book says you have to marry for love,” Joshua said.
“Exactly, and it’s not like it’s forever. Worst-case scenario, it will be over in a year. We won’t have to live together after ninety days.”
“You have to live with each other?”
“The rules of the trust state that it has to be a proper marriage. If we don’t live together, how is that a marriage? Anyway, as long as I keep her in bananas and chocolate-covered raisins, I think she’ll be fine.” I grinned at her borderline obsession with the snack. I could think of worse obsessions.
“Chocolate-covered what now?”
“It doesn’t matter. Point is, she won’t be hard work to live with. She’s been staying with me the last couple days and she—”
“She’s staying with you? Why? Are you shagging?” Dexter asked.
“No. Definitely no shagging. She needed a place and—it’s not a big deal.”
Dexter and Joshua exchanged a look. It was clear they weren’t entirely approving. I got it. They were both with women they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with. My relationship with Parker wasn’t going to be that kind of marriage. I was doing her a favor. A favor that had the potential to keep together families that would otherwise fall apart. Love may be a good reason to get married, but I’d never heard of better reasons than the ones Parker and I would be marrying for.
All twenty-five million of them.
Ten
Tristan
I couldn’t wipe the grin from my face as I turned the key in the lock and opened my front door. “Hi honey, I’m home,” I called.
It was Parker’s third night at my place, and I planned to tell her tonight that I agreed to her marriage scheme. I wasn’t quite sure how exactly. Obviously, I’d never fake-proposed to anyone in my life. It wasn’t usually difficult for me to ask for what I wanted—and I definitely did want to marry Parker. It was just that, even though our marriage would be fake, I liked her. I found her attractive. If she wasn’t Arthur’s daughter, I’d certainly have tried to seduce her by now. And that complicated things. Slightly.
“Hey, I’m in the kitchen.” Of course she was. She loved my kitchen. When the time came for her to move out, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to drag her away.
“I hope my dinner’s on the table.”
I set down my messenger bag and headed to the kitchen, following the smell of home-cooked food. Marrying Parker just for her cooking ability wouldn’t be a terrible idea.
She bounced up and down on her tiptoes as I came in, her hands behind her back, grinning at me like it was my birthday. “I cooked again. This kitchen is my spiritual home. I may never leave.”
I glanced up. The lights were dimmed and the table was set for two.