She was going to throw up.
Then she thought about the man she’d gotten to know—a man who would never steal something for personal gain. He had too much integrity. It might not look that way, since he’d helped her for reasons that weren’t on the up and up, but she couldn’t ignore how he’d refused to have sex with her that first night. He’d wanted to—badly—but he’d stopped because he was afraid of hurting her.
But what about his feelings now? When she examined every minute they’d spent together, she kept coming up with the same answer. What he felt for her—what they felt for each other—was genuine.
“Why was he so upset with Noah?” she finally asked, turning to face Blair.
“How should I know?”
Megan stared at her, lifting her eyebrows. “Try again. I know you had a part in it.”
“Why would I interfere with their relationship?”
“Tell me.”
Blair released a sigh. “You know how much I love you, Megan. I may not say it often, but I figure actions speak louder than words. So I acted.”
“What did you do?” Her words were tightly controlled.
“I had a document prepared. After I presented my key evidence, I gave Josh an out. I found another investor to take the original one’s place—one of my divorce clients who received a very large settlement—but if he wanted my help, he had to promise to leave you and never speak to you again.”
Megan felt lightheaded. “You did what?”
“He refused to sign it. I know he wants that patent, but if he doesn’t have the money by next week, he’ll have to shut down. For all his whining about how devastating it would be to his employees if he had to shut his doors, he never even stopped to consider it.”
Megan put her hand on the back of her chair to help support her shaking legs. “He gave up his business for me.”
Blair scowled. “I know it looks that way, but you don’t know that.”
Megan shook her head. “No, Blair. I do. I know how desperately he wants to save his employees. He came on this trip for no other reason. And give me a break, there’s no way he could have arranged to sit beside me on that plane unless he hacked the airline. He said he left this trip up to fate, and sitting by me was definitely fate. He cares about me. I know it.” Her voice broke. “If he didn’t, he would have signed that document and gone with the sure thing.” She pressed her fingertips to her temple. “This morning he told me it was up to me if I wanted to move forward with the wedding . . . and with him. He wouldn’t do that if he didn’t want to be with me.” She looked up at her friend. “Tell me I’m wrong.”
Blair’s mouth twisted as she considered her words. “I admit that it confused me when he tore up the document. While I expected a halfhearted denial, I didn’t think he would act so offended.”
Megan lifted her chin. “Why was he so furious with Noah?”
Guilt washed over Blair’s face. “Noah had already signed the document. I caught him before the rehearsal.”
Megan sat in the chair, feeling even more lightheaded. “Oh, Blair. What have you done?” She glanced at Libby, who was sitting on the other side of the room, to gauge her reaction. There was a strange look on her friend’s face, and when she didn’t say a word, Megan narrowed her eyes. “You already knew. That’s what you talked to Noah about all night.”
Libby gave a tiny shrug. “He was upset. When he signed it, he had no idea that Josh was in love with you.”
Megan bolted out of her chair. “He’s what?”
Libby’s eyebrows rose. “You didn’t know he’s in love with you?”
“No . . .”
Blair snorted. “Hell, he told me himself last night when he tore up the paper. I didn’t buy it when he told me, thinking it was some way to outmaneuver me. But now I’m reconsidering, and I’m more cynical than the two of you put together. Supposing there are no other mitigating circumstances, what man gives up his family legacy for a woman he kind of likes?”
“Oh, God. I have to talk to him.” Megan bolted for the door, but Blair blocked her path.
“Wait. He stopped me when I was on my way in here.”
“What? He’s here?”
Blair rolled her eyes. “Of course he’s here. He said if you were still open to going through with this after I talked to you, he wanted me to give you something from him.”
“And you agreed?” Megan asked in shock.
Blair shrugged, looking irritated. “I have to admit, before I talked to him, I was convinced he was guilty as hell. But after I talked to him . . . I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I see some flaws in my theory.”
“What does that mean?” Libby prodded.
Blair scowled, looking aggrieved. “I may have been wrong.”
“What?” Libby teased. “The all-knowing Blair might have been wrong?”
Megan shook her head. “Get back to the present part.”
“It’s out in the hall. Like I said, he asked me to give it to you if you didn’t hate him after hearing my version of events.”
“And you agreed?”
She shrugged. “I’m not entirely cold-blooded, and like I said, there were some holes in my theory.” She left the room and came back with a white box that was almost as big as she was. “If I’d known it would be this hard to carry, I would have asked for a delivery fee.”
“What is it?” Megan asked, pushing makeup aside on the large table to make room for the box.
“No idea. I’m just the delivery person. Open it and find out.”
Megan’s hand shook as she tugged on the end of the giant white bow and pulled it loose. When she lifted off the lid, she gasped. “It’s my dress,” she whispered in shock.
“What dress?” Blair asked, peeking around her.
“Her original dress,” Libby gasped in awe. “But how? Knickers canceled the order.”
“They said it was too late to cancel it. So both were delivered to the store, but they wouldn’t exchange it.”
A card sat on top, which she pulled out to read.
Meggie
I know how much this dress means to you. If you decide to go through with the wedding, you should feel like the most beautiful woman in the world, although it doesn’t matter to me what you wear—you are already the most beautiful woman in the world.
Josh
Libby picked up the small veil on top. “That is the most romantic thing ever.”
Megan grabbed the corners of the dress and lifted it out of the box. “I can’t believe he bought my dress.”
Blair grunted. “This still doesn’t mean he’s innocent.”
“Yeah,” Libby mumbled. “Because a guy who’s trying to scam her would obviously buy her a three-thousand-dollar wedding dress.”
Megan held it in front of her, studying her reflection. “I can’t believe he did this.”
“Well, what are you waiting for?” Libby asked, putting the veil back in the box. “Let’s get you dressed. There’s less than an hour until the wedding.”
Twenty minutes later, Libby and Blair were dressed in their pink puffed monstrosities, arranging Megan’s veil in her hair. They stepped back and studied her.
Tears filled Libby’s eyes. “I can’t believe you’re getting married.”
“I’m not really getting married,” Megan gushed out.
“It looks like you are from where I’m standing,” Blair said.
“It’s not real. It’s all for Knickers, and she’s not even here to enjoy it.”
Libby squeezed her arm. “She’ll be here, Megs. Wild horses couldn’t keep her away.”
There was a knock at the door, and Blair went to answer it, poking her head through the opening. She turned around with a scowl. “He wants to talk to you.” A tiny grin broke through her tough exterior. “And I suppose the fact you’re wearing the wedding dress means you want to talk to him, too.” Blair tugged on Libby’s pink organza. “By the way, it’s not fair that you got to dump the fairy princess dress a
nd we’re still stuck with ours.” Her eyes lit up with a devilish gleam. “But I’m getting married soon, too, and paybacks are a bitch.”
They filed out of the room, leaving the door open to reveal Josh. He was gorgeous. He wore the black tux he’d tried on the day before, but today he looked different. Nervous, but there was something else she couldn’t put her finger on. He stood at the threshold, hesitating.
“Can I come in?” he asked in a hoarse rasp.
She nodded, not trusting her voice.
He entered the room and shut the door behind him. He openly stared at her, his eyes wide in awe. “You’re beautiful,” he whispered.
She smiled softly, feeling shy in the spotlight of his unabashed wonderment. “You saw me wearing this yesterday.”
He shook his head. “Not like this.” He moved closer, stopping several feet in front of her. “You didn’t tell me to go to hell. I’m going to take that as a good sign.”
“I have some questions.”
He pressed his lips together. “Okay. Anything. Total honesty.”
She took a deep breath. “Did you know I’d be on that plane?”
He shook his head, his eyes pleading. “No. I had no idea . . . I didn’t have much of a plan either; I just knew Bart Vandemeer’s daughter was getting married. But I freely admit that I boarded the plane with the intention of finding evidence that your father’s firm stole my design.”
“Your design?”
His gaze held hers. “I came up with it, and Noah and I were working on funding and paperwork for the patent. Noah had a spare set of plans with him at a convention, and he . . . lost them.”
“Lost them?”
He grimaced. “He slept with some woman, and when he woke up the next morning, the bag and the plans were gone.”
She couldn’t believe her father would involve himself in such a thing, but two hours ago, she would have sworn an oath that her father wasn’t capable of cheating on her mother. “How do you know this isn’t some big coincidence?”
“Because when Noah was at your father’s firm yesterday, he saw a photo of the woman.” He paused. “She’s Drew Peterman’s fiancé.”
“Miriam?” Megan gasped. “I knew Drew was underhanded, but to have his girlfriend sleep with your brother . . .”
“So you believe me?”
“Of course I believe you, but I still don’t understand how you ended up as my substitute fiancé.”
“Everything I told you is true. I carried you out of the plane, and your mother heard me telling people you were my fiancée. I did try to correct her, but then your father introduced himself, and . . . I figured I was being given the chance to help us both out. I really did leave this trip up to fate, and it seemed like this giant gift had been delivered to me, wrapped up in a bow.” He took her hand in his. “I never meant to hurt or humiliate you. You have to believe me.”
She nodded. “So the reason you didn’t want to break up with me in the beginning was because you hadn’t found what you needed?”
“Yes, at first.”
“And then Noah came to help.”
“It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“And then yesterday? When you used my father’s computer . . . ?”
“I was ready to let the business die. After our night together, I knew I couldn’t lose you.”
“But something changed.”
“When I checked my email, I got a note from our business manager, Angie. She told me that an employee who’s been with the firm for over thirty years had a heart attack.” He swallowed and reached forward to squeeze her hand. “He’s counting on me, Megan. How will he survive if my business fails? I felt like I had to make a choice between saving him and the other people in my firm and my own happiness. I’ve sacrificed so much for this business, but I didn’t want to give you up. It ripped my heart out to even consider it—”
She closed the distance between them and kissed him. “You’re not giving me up.”
He squeezed his eyes shut and pulled her into a hug, kissing her softly for several seconds before releasing her.
“Do you have any hard evidence against my father’s company yet?”
Guilt flickered in his eyes. “No. Just circumstantial.”
She hesitated, not knowing if she wanted the answer to her next question. But she was tired of hiding from the truth. “Is my father involved?”
He didn’t answer and she pushed out a breath, trying not to cry.
“We don’t know, Megan. That’s circumstantial, too.”
But there was a good chance he was involved somehow, and the thought nearly killed her. “How’d he pay for this wedding, Josh? My parents don’t have that kind of money.”
“I don’t know.”
She pressed her lips together and nodded, taking in a deep breath. “So we need to get the evidence to save your business, right?”
“You want to help me?”
“You have people depending on you, don’t you?”
“Well . . . yes . . . but . . .”
“Do you have a plan?”
He shook his head, as though letting the realization that Megan was there for him, that she wanted to help him, sink in. “Drew Peterman and his fiancée are supposedly coming to the wedding. Noah is going to pull her away and try to get her to confess to stealing the plans and capture it with a video recording. If we can get her confession, the rest falls into place.”
“And how does Noah plan to get her to confess?”
His face reddened. “He has his . . . methods.”
“Oh.” She was sure he did.
“Libby’s agreed to help him, too. She’s going to record it all.” When her eyes widened in surprise, he added, “Noah stayed with her last night. Supposedly they’re BFFs now.”
“I heard. And what about you and Noah?”
He grimaced. “We’re working it out. He’s making an effort.”
“So if Libby and Noah are trying to get a confession, what is there for me to do? I want to help you.”
His eyes were soft as he smiled at her. “Your job is easy. You just be you.”
“And what’s your job in this?”
“To stand next to you and be the luckiest man in the world.”
Her face flushed. Were Libby and Blair right? Did he actually love her?
Did she love him?
She glanced down at her dress. “Thank you for this.”
“If we’re going through with this, I wanted today to be as wonderful for you as possible.” He started pacing, then stopped in front of her and said, “I have another gift, if you’ll accept it.”
Why was he so nervous? “Okay.”
He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a silver ring. The band was engraved with an intricate pattern. Two smaller but still good-sized diamonds flanked a large round diamond. “I don’t want to stand in front of all your mother’s friends and go through this ceremony with Jay Connors’ ring on your finger. Noah called our mother on the way to the rehearsal dinner last night—after he’d realized what a screw-up it was to sign that damned paper—and asked her to overnight this.” He held it in front of her. “This was part of my grandmother’s wedding set. I figured we could swap out his engagement ring for mine. There’s a wedding band, too.” He searched her eyes. “And maybe when the ceremony is over, you’ll keep wearing the engagement ring.”
Her mouth dropped open in shock as he got down on one knee. “Megan Vandemeer, sitting by you on that plane was the best thing that ever happened to me. And when I thought about losing you, I was devastated. I don’t want to live without you. I don’t know how I fell in love with you so quickly, but I did. I know it’s probably too soon, and this is so unlike me, but I love you. I know deep in my gut that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?”
She laughed between her tears.
“Are those happy tears?” he asked, still on his knee. “Please tell me those are happy tears.”
She nodded.
“Is that a yes? You’re leaving me hanging, Meggie, and this floor is hard. But I’ll grovel if I have to. I’ll do anything to prove myself to you.”
“Yes. Yes.”
He stood and pulled her into his arms, kissing her until she forgot everything around them.
When she looked into his eyes, she smiled. “I love you, too.”
He laughed. “I sure as hell hope so. You just agreed to marry me for real.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Josh was more nervous than he’d expected. This was a fake wedding, arranged for his now-fiancée and another groom, so why was he so nervous?
Fake wedding or not, it felt incredibly real, especially since there was a real wedding in their near future. He knew Megan was worried that her parents wouldn’t arrive in time, and he wished his own mother were present. All he could do was hold Megan’s hand and stand by her side.
Megan and Josh waited behind the glass chapel and around the corner by the flower garden, out of sight of the guests who were being seated. Libby, Blair, Noah, and Kevin were with them. Josh was happy that Kevin’s animosity had softened, even if he wasn’t overly friendly. Noah kept grinning like a fool, as though he had something up his sleeve, and Libby, who was probably in the know since she and Noah were besties now, seemed perkier than usual. Josh pulled his brother to the side.
“What are you up to?” Josh asked, scrutinizing him while waiting for an answer.
Noah held out his hands. “What? I can’t be excited my baby brother is getting married?”
Josh leaned into his ear. “It’s not like this is our real wedding, Noah.” He stood upright. “But thanks for having Grandma’s rings sent.” He swallowed. “It means a lot, especially since she left them to you.”
Noah clapped his brother’s upper arm. “You and Megan deserve them and all the happiness that comes with them.” He glanced over his shoulder at the bride. “It looks good on her finger.”
Josh studied his brother before whispering, “She’s going to keep wearing it after the ceremony. I asked her to marry me, and she said yes.”
The Wedding Pact Box Set Page 31