Misadventures of a Backup Bride

are kids involved. I know firsthand that it sucks for everyone.

I rub my palms together—a nervous habit when I’m thinking. There must be some way out of this mess. I refuse to believe that Gregory Shaw has one-upped me and I’m going down.

“If we could have longer to get to know each other…” She pours the first batch of eggs into the pan. “If I could be sure my sisters would be all right without me in California… If there were some way for me to pursue my acting in North Carolina…”

I completely see her point. Everything she’s said since Shaw left has been bouncing around in my brain. “You said something earlier about exploring all possibilities… What if our solution has no resemblance to any of the options that bastard gave us?”

“Go on.” She sounds intrigued.

“You’re an actress, and I can pretend fairly well, I think. He wants to call our bluff. What if we let him? What if we change up this poker match to play a game of chicken? First one to flinch loses.”

“Why would he flinch?” Ella frowns.

“Deep down, he wants me to marry Kendra. After all, he doesn’t know this Brayden dude. Okay, so his parents need money. But why would Shaw trust a stranger—and a poor one at that—with the multimillions Kendra will inherit when she comes into her trust fund? He knows I don’t personally need her money and I’m not greedy, but Brayden…” I shrug. “He might be a great guy. But if he’s not…well, in the South, they have a saying. And Shaw is too smart to let a fox into his henhouse.”

“Yes.” She smiles like she knows we’re on to something, like she can feel it, too. “You’re right.”

“If Kendra marries Brayden, once the vows are spoken, Shaw will have virtually no leverage to control him. But if I marry her, he’ll have his interest in Sweet Darlin’ to ensure he maintains some power over me, at least for a few years until I’ve repaid him. The minute he truly believes I’ve walked away from Kendra and intend to marry you, he might be willing to negotiate.”

“So you’re suggesting we upgrade our pretending from girlfriend to fiancée?”

“Exactly.”

Ella’s face sobers before she turns to add veggies to the beaten eggs heating in the pan. “What happens when we don’t go through with the wedding?”

“Not the right way to look at the situation. You should ask what happens if you don’t go through with it. Before you came here, I told Shaw that I was exploring my feelings for you. I didn’t know what yours were for me. I made that clear.”

“Maybe so.” Her cheeks turn slightly pink. “But he overheard my feelings on the dance floor at the benefit. We admitted them earlier this morning to his face.”

“But I don’t think that precludes us from using the rationale we crafted when we first planned our ‘breakup.’ Remember, your life is in LA and all that?”

“I do.” When she turns to face me again, it’s obvious she’s catching on. “So instead of merely breaking up with you at the end of my visit, I’ll simply jilt you at the altar. After all, you can’t control me. And I have a suspicion about Gregory Shaw. He thinks his own daughter is flaky, so I’m pretty sure he would believe that’s true of most women. Does he have any female executives?”

I do a mental scan of his staff. “Other than his assistant, no. All men, cronies who have been with him for decades.”

“That’s what I mean. It’s possible he’s a closet misogynist. So you can’t help it if you were perfectly willing to proceed with the wedding but I backed out at the last minute and left you brokenhearted. I mean, it’s not your fault if I’m flaky. I am one of those Hollywood types, after all. And I’m just a woman…”

Ella is incredibly down-to-earth. I can’t think of anyone less stuck on herself or more likely to keep her promises. But Gregory Shaw won’t take the time to get to know her. He should buy this.

“Of course,” I drawl, glancing at Ella, who looks as if she wants to punch my rival in the face for his screwed-up attitude.

“The only problem is, he thinks our whole relationship is a ruse. We have to find some way to debunk that notion.”

She’s right. “What can we do that seems permanent to him during our ‘engagement’?”

“I could fly home and drive my car back out.” She wrinkles her nose, glancing over her shoulder to check the eggs. “But it’s pretty crappy and I doubt it would make the long trip without dying altogether.”

I shake my head. “That drive is too long for you to make alone, especially in an unreliable car. And I can’t get away from work right now to travel with you. Every day in the office is critical until we get Sweet Darlin’s balance sheet under control. What about…a job?”

“Like, actually accept a position to work here in North Carolina?”

“Exactly. And what I have in mind is up your alley, too. The children’s charity is hoping to build those after-school programs, so they have an open position right now for an activities director. The role would put you in charge of kids’ workshops. You can introduce them to the arts. You can help them learn music and stage plays…”

She raises her brows like she’s actually interested, but then she scowls. “What makes you think they’d hire me?”

I send her a grin. “I know a guy who works there…”

“In other words, with you being such a big donor, they owe you a favor or two?”

“Something like that.” It’s sad she’s not staying, because I honestly think she’d do great work there.

“It sounds like something I’d enjoy. But…I’d hate to hire on, then walk off the job abruptly. I’d be leaving them in a lurch.”

I can’t exactly refute her, but I’m a step ahead of her on a couple of salient points. “First, they’re currently accepting résumés, so they’ll still have a fresh stack of them when you—” I can’t say leave. I don’t want to think about Ella waving goodbye and getting on a plane forever. Somehow, we’re going to find a solution to be together, damn it. “When you no longer need the job. At that point, they can slot in another qualified candidate. Hell, I’ll even help them with a donation of holiday candy for their annual Santa Parade to ease the pain. Trust me, they’ll be fine. Second, I don’t want to screw anyone, either, but I love you and you love me…and getting Shaw off our backs could mean a lot for us.”

Ella bobs her head as she reaches absently for the shredded cheese and tosses it into the omelet. As it melts, she does a little spatula magic, folds the concoction in half, and flips it over. “I just hate being dishonest. In fact, if you hadn’t been the one to offer me this assignment, I might well have turned it down.”

“I hate lying, too. But we can’t afford to bring scruples to a gunfight.”

“It sucks but it’s true.” She sighs, sprinkling a little more cheese on top of the omelet before sliding it onto a waiting plate and setting the steaming eggs in front of me.

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Do you think me being gainfully employed in North Carolina will be enough to convince him that I intend to stay? He’s a business owner, too. He must know people quit or abandon their jobs every day for all kinds of reasons.”

“Good point.” I smile absently as she hands me a fork and I dig into my breakfast. She also passes me a blueberry muffin I bought at the grocery store when I shopped the night before her arrival. I’m not surprised they haven’t been touched. She’s been watching every bite that crosses her lips since the indulgence from the steakhouse.

I take a bite out of both—and realize I’m hungrier than I thought. “I’ve got another idea. Something that should convince him we’re serious is buying a house. I’ve been wanting to give up this cramped apartment and put down roots here. I haven’t made the time to go house hunting. I really don’t know what I’m looking for, other than something less temporary with more space.”

“If we appeared to buy a house together…” She nods enthusiastically. “A job is easy to give up. A house isn’t. If you’re really okay with buying a

place, I think that’s a great idea.”

“Let’s do it. I’ll make sure Shaw finds out when we pick the perfect one.”

Suddenly, Ella laughs. “This tangled, twisted plot is making us pretend we’re engaging in a lot of life-changing events all at once—starting a job, buying a house, getting married… It’s crazy. You know that, right?”

“Batshit,” I confirm with a nod. “But if anyone can manage it all, it’s us.”

She beams a smile at me. “Absolutely.”