Best Fake Day (3 page)

“You haven’t given me reason to,” she muttered.

“Then allow me to try.” Jack dragged a hand through his hair, giving a sigh almost as weary as her body felt and sat down again. “I was about to secure a property deal—a very important one—when Ellie turned up at the club unexpectedly. Later I decided I needed to take her home, and unfortunately, because of the celeb guests, the paparazzi were out in full force and me and Ellie were photographed—”

“Stop!” Izzy yelled as she held up her flattened palm. “Please spare me the details.”

“What?”

“Allow me to fill in the blanks. You were caught in a compromising position right? As in the up-against-a-wall kind?”

“How did you...”

Izzy swallowed against the dryness of her throat. Just the dust she told herself. “Remember I told you the last I saw of you was your bare behind? That was the last time I saw you in
person
,” she amended as she shifted the position of her feet. “The last time I
saw
you was a few weeks ago.”

“Ah, you saw the picture in the papers?” he asked with a grimace.

She fixed him with a nonchalant stare. “You mean the one with you and Ellie pressed up against each other down an alley? Oh yeah, I saw it. There wasn’t enough eye bleach available for that one.”

Jack’s dark head lowered toward her. All expression was removed from his face but she could see the grind of his jaw. “That wasn’t what it looked like either.”

“Really? The picture clearly showed you with your hands on her bare thighs, and your legs tangled.” She knew because she’d studied the picture over and over, wondering why Ellie hadn’t told her about it and, if she was honestly wishing she was her sister. She’d envied Ellie for knowing his touch. Craved the feel of his hands on her naked skin.

She loved her older sister, she really did. But when she opened the newspaper and had seen them together, pictured embracing in an alleyway with Jack’s hands beneath Ellie’s short dress, it was like a punch to the gut.

“She was drunk, Izzy, and upset.”

Was it the same day as the anniversary of the loss of their mother?
Izzy couldn’t help but wonder. It would explain why she hadn’t spent the day with her and their father.

“My car was parked in the alley and Ellie was stumbling everywhere. I couldn’t find my keys—”

“So your hands stumbled up her dress to find them?”

“No,” he ground out. “My keys were in my pocket and I couldn’t reach them and hold Ellie up too. I leaned her against the wall and the next thing she was throwing her arms around me and sliding down the wall. I had to stop her from falling.”

“With your tongue?”

“She kissed me. I don’t think she even knew who I was at that point.”

“Not even when you were between her thighs?”

“You jealous, Izzy?”

She snorted. “You wish.”

“Then would you have preferred it if I’d let her fall? I heard somebody coming and I tried to shield her from view. Would the picture have looked better with her on the ground and her dress around her waist? I don’t think she needs more of that kind of publicity, do you?”

Although she wanted to disagree with everything he said she had to admit he was right about that. Ellie had had a slow rise to fame, and a whiplash-inducing crash to the bottom only years later. And unfortunately the media had short-term memory and the crash of her career was all they remembered.

“No.” She sighed. “But it still doesn’t explain why you have to get married.”

“Part of that property deal is me showing what a moralistic person I am. Sentimental fool will only sell to someone with good intentions toward the property.”

“So buy something else.”

“No. I have to have this, Izzy. It’s personal.”

“I assume he saw the pictures?”

“Yes. I saw a flash but it could have been anyone. I didn’t expect it to be plastered in the papers the next day. I guess ex bad boy model and shamed singer still garners attention.”

“Couldn’t you talk to the vendor and explain?”

“I would if I’d known I had to. I took Ellie home with me because she wasn’t safe to be left alone. It was the weekend so I went into the office early, unaware of what was unraveling. Daleford wanted an explanation and called my apartment instead of my office. Ellie knew I had this deal going through and introduced herself as my soon-to-be wife and apologized on our behalf.”

“And he didn’t accept this?”

“He did more than that. He invited himself to the wedding!”

“Broken engagements happen all the time. Surely you could talk your way out of it.”

“No. He told me how delighted he was for me and how marriage would prove how family orientated I am. More worthy of his property,” he said with derision, making her wonder why he was going through the effort.

“And this property deal is worth all of this?”

“Yes. So you see, no Ellie, no wedding, and no deal. If you can’t persuade her to come back and go through with it, then you will have to take her place. You look enough like her to get away with it.”

“The hell I will! Ellie has no obligation to marry you and neither do I.”

“Really? How about the money I paid her?”

“You bribed her? How could you?”

“Izzy.” He gave a harsh sigh. “It was her idea. Her plan. She came to the club that night to ask for money. I said no. She was in a drunken state and I wasn’t sure what frame of mind she was in to know if it was to be used wisely. So when she told me how delighted Daleford was with our news, and how she’d convinced him we were in love, she named her price.”

Izzy dropped her head into her hands, her pulse pounding in her ears and stifling her thoughts. “Then you deal with Ellie, not me. This crazy idea has nothing to do with me.”

“But it does. Where do you think the money came from to pay off your debts? If I can’t find Ellie then that debt becomes yours.”

“I owe you nothing!”

“I either get marriage or my money back.”

“But I have no money.”

“Exactly.”

She took great pleasure in plastering a smug smile on her face. “Unfortunately, there are huge flaws in your plan. One, I don’t lie. Two, I won’t sacrifice what should be the best day of my life for your mistakes. Three, I don’t lie. Four, I’m pretty sure signing my name on a marriage certificate intended for someone else is illegal. And five, I don’t lie! I can change my looks, but I can’t change my name. I have work lined up I’ll pay you back as soon as I can.”

“Not when you see the amount.”

The heat of anger scalded her cheeks.
Why should I pay for my sister’s mistakes?
“I can’t believe you would do this to me, Jack.”

“I don’t want to, Izzy, but I have no choice.”

“You two talked your way out of everything in the past. Forged signatures at school, fake ID, fake stories. Why the hell couldn’t you have a fake wedding?”

* * * *

Izzy’s gaze finally tore away from his. The brown of her eyes looked like molten pools of dark chocolate flecked with gold and the accusation of hurt. It shouldn’t have bothered him, but if he looked into those wounded eyes any longer he feared he would sway from his path, and that wasn’t an option.

“I’ll finish making that coffee,” he muttered as he stood up and walked slowly over to the kitchen sink, wanting to gain as much thought time as possible. He glanced back, satisfied that her only response was to drop her head onto her flattened hands. They both needed time to think.

How could he have not seen his plan was unworkable? He didn’t make mistakes. Especially ones like this. Of course they couldn’t be legally married with Izzy using her sister’s name.

Staring out of the window, he frowned as his gaze perused the overgrowth of the once much cared for garden. He averted his eyes from the tree house sitting in the corner, ironically still strong in comparison to the house, and as comforting as the day they’d built it together. He huffed out a sigh. He couldn’t dwell on memories, he had to forget the nights he’d snuck in there to sleep and the days he’d spent in there with the two girls who accepted him as friend and in turn accepted him as an unofficial protector. The big brother they’d never had.

Of course some of that role wasn’t exactly brotherly.

He squeezed his eyes tightly shut, the glare of the morning sun tightening the band of pain inside his head. If this headache was punishment for failing as a protector then he knew he deserved far worse.

Protective wasn’t what he was feeling at all. The urge to kiss away the anger and defiance from those lush lips clawed at his insides.

He hadn’t achieved everything he had by being soft and he wasn’t about to start now. He needed his focus back. The fact that he’d lost it and hadn’t noticed the gaping hole in his plan concerned him. What was it about the woman that had ignited his blood?

Her words rebounded in his head. It had been a long time since he’d had to fake anything. Especially anything involving a woman. He turned his attention back to the coffee he should be making, stirring the drinks slowly in time with his churning mind as her soft voice echoed in his mind. They were both desperate and he was searching for a solution.

Yet again she may have given one. But he didn’t think she’d like this one either.

He grabbed both mugs, a smile of satisfaction curling his lips. He hesitated before turning, wondering if she would have any of her tools lethally pointing in his direction. Unfortunately, holding mugs in his hand left his groin seriously unprotected. And yes, she was looking that mad.

His smile slipped as he turned. Long lashes rested on high cheekbones. Silky strands of caramel hair fell over her chin, spilling onto the table where her face rested on her outstretched fingers. Jack put down the steaming mugs, reaching out to gently brush the strands away to expose her parted lips as her even breaths of sleep puffed against his hand. His brow furrowed as he succumbed to the temptation of trailing his fingers down the delicate softness of her cheek, his groin tightening as she emitted a gentle sigh.

He snatched his hand back. Whatever was going on in his head—and his groin—was going to have to wait.

Because now he was wondering how he was going to convince her to fake it.

Chapter 3

Fake it! Why had she let those words escape from her lips?

Izzy stood outside Club Vita.

She’d known for the past few years that Jack owned this club but she’d never visited. Why torture herself with hope of seeing him again, of him being single and not having one of the beauties he was usually pictured with draped over his arm? Denial was far less painful.

Until yesterday when he’d turned up at her door. And the thoughts she’d had of him when she’d woken with his note stuck to her forehead and finger grooves in her cheek? Not entirely fond ones. She rubbed her forehead absently as if expecting the smudged ink imprint of multiple zeros to still be there. She had been cross when she’d read the note and the supposed amount of debt he thought she was going to have to pay. She had been fuming when her reflection taunted her with it too.

He wouldn’t be expecting her quite so soon so she was hoping to catch him off guard.

If he had one of those.

She took a deep breath and willed the butterflies away. This was no place for the weak and delicate. Jack might still consider her the weaker more sensible of the two sisters, but she was about to show him otherwise.

She’d denied tiredness to Jack but admittedly her exhaustion had left her vulnerable. It also made her snappy too. She was hoping his brusqueness was out of character also. Now she was hoping for a calm, rational conversation when she would then tell him where he could stick his faking it plan!

Izzy smoothed down her dress, pushed back her shoulders, and smiled sweetly at the door supervisor who was now studying her with interest. She adjusted her posture, trying to look as though she wasn’t at all fazed by being the only female alone in the long queue of people waiting to get in. It was bad enough she had to resort to paying for a chance to speak to Jack. The burly, keen-eyed door supervisor spoke into his headset as he looked in her direction. Didn’t some women flaunt their assets to get ahead in these queues? Izzy cocked a hip and offered a smile as his gaze remained on hers. If this was what it took to get inside on this chilly summer’s night then so be it. She hoped as her forced smile disguised her soon-to-be chattering teeth.

The eyes of the man mountain narrowed as he murmured into the headset again. His long arm stretched out to beckon her in. Funny, she thought as she ignored the glares of those waiting ahead of her, but as he opened the door for her, the look he was giving her now didn’t seem at all friendly.

She paused, allowing her eyes to adjust to the dimly lit entrance. Already she felt the rhythmic pulse of music beat at the soles of her feet. It seemed to coincide with the frantic beat of her heart. She took a calming breath. As long as she maintained a cool exterior she could do this.

Mr. Big-and-Burly moved close behind her, making her whip around in surprise as the door closed with a thud. Something told her it wasn’t her charms that had gotten her in so easily.

“Mr. Carter would like to see you in his office. Follow me,” said the man mountain in his deep timbre. He proceeded to lead the way without even looking to see if was obeying his command. As if she dare not!

Izzy didn’t budge. She swiftly scanned the corners of the dark entrance. Locating one of the cameras she offered it a scowl, hoping Jack was the beneficiary of her icy glare as he’d obviously been watching the whole time.

Not so much a surprise visit after all.

“And,” she said in a voice loud enough to penetrate the bass of the music and reach his hearing, “what if I don’t want to see
Mr. Carter
?”

He stopped and turned, silent. The only hint of reaction was his raised eyebrow and insolent gaze. Then he turned and walked away. His silence spoke volumes. Obviously nobody refused to see Jack Carter. Reluctantly, she followed. She couldn’t help but wonder if plucking out lonely females was a regular part of his job. How many women had been lead up to Jack’s office for a
personal
meeting? She lifted her arm to absently rub against the sudden tightening in her chest that blossomed at the thought. When man mountain stopped to open a door for her, she dropped her hand and took a deep, fortifying breath, her eyes widening at the sight before her.