Fake Marriage Box Set

He looked up from his paper and gave me a small smile. His glasses were perched near the bridge of his nose. He only wore them when he was reading. He’d had perfect vision until he was fifty. Then, as he was fond of saying, it all went straight to hell.

“How was your interview?”

“It went well. I really like the ranch. They have nearly a dozen horses with more coming in the future and lots of open land. It’s one of the bigger ranches in the area.”

“Is he farming it?”

“Just enough to feed his horses. I glimpsed the field from far off. He might bale extra hay to sell. I’d have to walk out there to see.” I sat back in my chair, watching Daddy staring thoughtfully down at the paper resting on his lap. He was a small, compact man, not standing taller than five foot seven, but with solid, muscled limbs from spending the last sixty years of his life roping cattle and riding horses. His skin was worn and chapped like old leather, which made his blue eyes striking in comparison. He was a real looker, or so the ladies around town said, but Daddy’d never been interested in dating after Mama died.

“He said he’d call me by Friday to let me know.” I pressed my lips together to keep from smiling like some fool, but Daddy would know how pleased I was just by looking me in the face. “I’m pretty sure I’ll get the job.”

He nodded once. “I’m glad to hear you found a place you like, Em.” He shook his paper straight and picked up where he left off before I strolled in.

“Kasey in her room?” I asked.

He nodded.

I headed that way, walking down the hall to her closed door. I knocked and walked in a second later without waiting for her to tell me to come in. She was lying back on a stack of pillows on her bed, tapping away at something or other on her cell phone. She never left the damned thing alone, even bringing it with her into the bathroom.

“Hey, Kase,” I said.

“Hey, Em.” She thumped the mattress next to her, and I went to sit down. She grinned over at me. “So? Did you get the job?”

“I think so. The property’s much nicer than anyth

ing I’ve seen so far. And the guy who owns it, Pete Gains, is about thirty years younger than I expected. He has ten fine-looking horses on the-”

Kasey held up her hands, the nails painted bubblegum pink, to stop my rambling. Around Daddy, I didn’t say more than was necessary, but she would draw the chattiness out of a damned mute.

“Wait. Go back to talking about this Pete guy. About how young is he?”

I shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t know. Thirty maybe?”

Her green eyes got wide, the sparkle in them telling me she’d just heard something she liked. “What does he look like? Is he cute?”

I couldn’t help the smile that sprang to my lips. “He’s cute enough. I couldn’t see his hair under his cowboy hat, but he had dark stubble on his chin and bright blue eyes. He smiled a lot, too, and kept telling these jokes that weren’t even a little bit funny.” I giggled now to think about it, though I hadn’t even smiled at the time. “He seems nice, though. Like he’d be a fair boss.”

She looked even more interested now. She sat up from her nest of pillows, shiny hair bouncing over her shoulders when she it flipped back and out of the way. “Is he single?”

I scrunched my face. “I don’t see how any of that’s my concern. I was paying more attention to his ranch. He has hundreds of acres of land, Kase. And, it’s well maintained, unlike some of the other ranches I’ve seen around here. It’s just on the other side of Round Rock.”

Kasey’s face had fallen a little more with every sentence I’d said that wasn’t about Pete Gains and his tan, muscled arms, and heart-stopping smile. “I don’t give a shit about his farm. I mean, I’m happy for you if you’re excited to work there with his horses and all his land. But none of that is interesting. I want to hear more about Pete!” She clasped her hands together over her chest as she said his name and batted long eyelashes that were black and sticky with mascara.

“I told you all I know,” I said.

“You left out the most important thing!” she said, her eyebrows pressing together, her disappointment in me abundantly clear.

I lifted my own eyebrows in response.

“Is he single?” She gave me a long look, her eyes narrowing into green slits. “Don’t act like you didn’t notice whether or not he was wearing a wedding ring.”

That didn’t always tell you what you wanted to know. Daddy still wore his ring. Although, it did what he meant it to do — keep interested middle-aged women from sniffing around or getting their hopes up.

“He wasn’t wearing a ring,” I admitted.

She whooped triumphantly, a smile breaking over her face and hair flying around as she lifted her arms in a mini celebration. It had been a while since I’d dated anyone, but damn, it hadn’t been that long. She made it sound like I’d been trapped in a convent.

“Don’t get too excited. I think he has a girlfriend. She was pulling up as I was pulling out. The way he looks, it wouldn’t surprise me if he had three girlfriends — one in Round Rock and two in Austin.”