The Wedding Pact Box Set

by Denise Grover Swank

  “Kelsey.” He took a breath. “I’ve been pining for her since our breakup, and the last year has been even worse. Everyone around me is starting to settle down, which has made me realize that I want to share my life with someone too. So I’ve been serial dating—not screwing—women for the last year to try and find a partner who comes close to matching what I had with Blair, and it’s just not happening. I fucked up when I let her go, Kels, and I’m going to pay for it the rest of my life. I deserve it, but I want her anyway, and as long as she isn’t one hundred percent content with Neil, I’m going to try to get her back. Tell me what to do.”

  “Did you actually use the word pining?”

  He groaned. “Forget it.” His ego was bruised enough by the mere fact that he was asking his sister for help.

  “Garrett, I’m sorry. I think you caught me off guard. That’s probably the most real thing I’ve heard you say in a long time.”

  He paused, then said quietly, “I love her, Kels.”

  “Then I’ll help you. But you have to do what I say.”

  “Why do I think I’m going to regret this?”

  “Because it’s going to be painful, but you want the girl, right?”

  “More than anything.”

  “Okay,” she sighed. “You two had fun when you were together, right? The weekend I spent with you in Columbia, you both laughed and joked around. Remind her of how much you enjoy each other’s company.”

  He nodded. “Yeah, that’s good.”

  “Prove that you’re trustworthy now. You screwed her over, so you have to show her that you won’t hurt her again. That one’s going to be tricky since you’re running out of time.”

  His chest tightened as he realized just how little time he had left. “Anything else?”

  “Show her how much you love her. You two were in love once. Maybe you weren’t the typical romantic couple, but it was obvious that you were crazy about her. There’s no way Neil can give her that. He’s too uptight.”

  He swallowed a lump of fear. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to do all of this before Saturday.

  “Good luck, Garrett,” she said with uncharacteristic seriousness. “I hope you can pull this off.”

  “Thanks.” He needed all the help he could get.

  Thirty minutes later, Garrett pulled into the parking lot of St. Luke’s Hospital. He’d already called his boss, who’d told him to go through with the new deposition. Later on, they would have a partner meeting to decide whether to keep Brian Norfolk on as a client. At the moment, he was ready to take his sister’s advice.

  He’d decided it was time to take a different tactic with Neil and discuss the situation with his cousin like adults. And the sooner the better. If he was convinced Neil really loved Blair—and vice versa—he’d give up his impulsive claim to the ring, beg Nana Ruby to let him out of the wedding, and leave Blair alone. But so far his limited observance suggested otherwise. God help him for hoping he was right.

  Garrett had no idea how to find his cousin, so he went to the information desk and asked for directions to his office. The woman looked up Neil’s office number and gave him instructions on how to find it. He took the elevator to the correct floor and found the office without having to go through a receptionist. He raised his hand to knock on the closed door but lowered it when he heard arguing inside.

  “You have to choose!” a woman shouted.

  “Keep your voice down, Layla,” Neil snarled. “Someone’s going to hear you.”

  “We can’t keep doing this! You’re getting married, Neil!”

  “Layla.” Neil’s voice was soft and soothing now. “It’s only for a little while, and then we can be together.”

  “But you’re getting married,” she said, quieter this time.

  “We’ll work it out, baby. I promise. Meet me at my apartment later tonight. I’ll text you when I leave the hospital.”

  Fury ran through Garrett’s veins, followed fast by horror. Neil was cheating on Blair. It was her worst nightmare come true. Before Garrett could decide whether to bust the door down and punch his cousin out or duck away to reconsider the situation, the door opened.

  A young woman with red, swollen eyes gasped as she nearly walked into him. Her hair was tangled, and she reached down to tug on the hem of her shirt. Neil stood behind her, his own hair disheveled, with a shocked look on his face.

  “Garrett.” The word carried a mixture of horror and surprise. “What are you doing here?”

  The woman tried to get past Garrett, but he continued to block the doorway. “Getting more answers to my questions than I expected.”

  “Layla,” Neil said after sucking in a deep breath. “Thank you for bringing those lab reports.”

  “My pleasure.” But her voice suggested she was close to sobbing.

  Garrett considered keeping her here, but his beef was with his cousin, not with the nervous woman in front of him. He stepped to the side, and she bolted past him.

  “She’s a nurse on one of the floors I work on,” Neil said.

  Garrett fought every instinct within him and went into attorney mode. No emotion. No reaction. Just let him spill his guts.

  “She was bringing me some lab results.”

  Garrett remained still.

  “How long were you outside the door?”

  “Long enough.”

  “I know it looks bad, but we were discussing a patient.” When Garrett didn’t respond, he asked, “What are you doing here?”

  “Catching you cheating on Blair.” He was surprised he sounded so calm. So rational.

  Neil tried to look indignant, but did a very poor job of it. “How could you think that?”

  “Don’t insult me, Neil.” His words carried the first note of disgust he’d betrayed.

  “I don’t know what—”

  “Cut the shit.” He looked over his shoulder at the hospital personnel hurrying down the hall, then back at his cousin. “Would you like to have this conversation out here, or in your office with the door closed? What would happen to your sterling reputation if word got out that you plan to get married on Saturday and keep your girlfriend?”

  Two nurses lifted their eyebrows and glanced at them as they passed.

  Neil swallowed, his face turning pale. “Let’s go inside and close the door.” But fear filled his eyes as he ducked into his office. Neil was scared of him . . . or maybe scared of what the others would think of him if they knew the truth.

  Good. He should be.

  Garrett walked in and shut the door. Neil backed up, moving behind his desk without ever turning away from his cousin. “What difference does it make to you what I do?”

  “I couldn’t give a flying fuck what you do, but this affects Blair.”

  “Blair? Why would you care about Blair? You have no reason to care about her.” Neil bumped into the bookshelf behind him and jumped with fright.

  Garrett clenched and unclenched his fists at his sides. “Wrong. Blair and I dated in law school.” God, what had he done? He was so caught up in the horror of the moment that he’d played his one ace in the hole.

  Neil’s mouth tipped into a satisfied grin. “You’re the asshole that dumped her and then slept with half of law school.”

  Garrett didn’t answer.

  Neil’s shoulders relaxed. “What are you so pissed about? You did the exact same thing.”

  “Not even close, you dickhead,” Garrett seethed, moving closer. “I never cheated on her.”

  “You think breaking up with her to become the law school slut was any better? Between you and her father, she’s messed up in the head. But she’s such a cold fish in the bedroom, I can’t say I blame you. Why do you think I’m sleeping with Layla?”

  Cold fish? God, he really knew nothing about her at all. But his anger quickly turned to guilt and horror. He knew how much her father’s philandering had affected her ability to trust men, but could he really have played a part in her unhappiness?

  Encouraged by G
arrett’s silence, Neil continued, “I’ve convinced Blair that I need to keep my condo so I can be close to the hospital when I’m on call.”

  “So you can screw your girlfriend.”

  “Hell, Blair’s at the office so long most nights, she’ll barely notice that I’m not around.”

  “Why in God’s name are you marrying her?” he asked in dismay.

  Neil looked at him like he was insane. “The prestige. The stability. The money.”

  “The money? You’re a doctor!”

  Neil shook his head. “I’m an infectious disease physician. I’m employed by the hospital. By the time I’ve paid my bills and my student loans each month, I barely have anything left. But Blair’s a hotshot lawyer on the rise. Do you have any idea how much money she’ll make off those cases once she makes partner?” He grinned and sat on the edge of the desk, then waved his hand at Garrett. “You know. You do what she does.”

  Garrett stared at him in shock.

  “Look, I’m not cut out to be faithful. If I’m with a woman for more than six months, I get bored. Hell—” he waved a hand toward Garrett, “—you know what I’m talking about. You move from woman to woman. Maybe it’s a genetic trait.” Mistaking Garrett’s silence for approval, he continued. “Blair won’t have a shot at partnership if she’s not married, and I’ll be taken more seriously here if I’m married. I’m doing her a favor. She demands little of my time, and I let her work her crazy hours without complaint. She doesn’t really want kids, and neither do I. We’ll live our mostly separate lives, and everyone will be happy.”

  “Except for the part where you’re cheating on her.”

  Neil rolled his eyes in exasperation. “She’s too busy to notice, Garrett. And she doesn’t want to know. It’s not like I’m depriving her of anything. She doesn’t have much of a sex drive.”

  Garrett sucked in several breaths, fighting the rising urge to beat the shit out of his cousin. He was using Blair, and he wasn’t even trying to hide it from him, him of all people. He’d heard enough. “Let me tell you what’s going to happen.”

  Neil’s eyes widened in surprise, then turned to amusement. “Okay.”

  “You’re going to go to Blair tonight and tell her that you have changed your mind. That you aren’t worthy of her or you don’t love her. Or both. I don’t care. But you will not tell her that you are cheating on her, or it will kill her.”

  Neil eyed him with disbelief. “Did you just listen to what I said? Why would I do that?”

  “Because it’s the decent thing to do.”

  “Why do you even care?” He gasped. “Oh! This is about the ring. You want me to break my engagement so you can get the ring.”

  “I don’t give ten shits about that damn ring!” Garrett shouted. “Keep the stupid thing!”

  A smile of understanding spread across Neil’s face, and maliciousness filled his eyes. “Oh, my God. You still love her.”

  Garrett swallowed his rising nausea. He’d just screwed up big time. Now Neil would use this against him. “Don’t do this to her.”

  “You do.”

  “At least one of us does.”

  Neil started laughing, and Garrett’s anger grew. “I’m not going to break up with her. This is exactly what she wants. What she needs.”

  Garrett shook his head. “She needs someone to love her.”

  “And that person is you?” Neil laughed again. “You showed her how much you cared about her in law school, when you broke up with her and slept around. Besides, she’s already told me that she doesn’t love me. Not in the matrimonial sense. We care about each other in our own way. This is the perfect solution for both of us.”

  “You’re crazy if you believe that.”

  Neil crossed his arms. “I really don’t care what you think. I’m not breaking up with Blair days before her wedding. That would kill her just as much as finding out I’m sleeping with Layla. And if you don’t know that, then you don’t know her very well after all.” Neil hunched over his computer and tapped a few keys, then straightened up. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to visit a couple patients before I leave for the day. As you know, I have plans.” Then he winked.

  Garrett’s hands clenched at his sides. “What’s to stop me from telling Blair everything you just told me?”

  “She won’t believe it if you do.” Neil grinned. “Not that I have anything to worry about. You won’t tell her. You just admitted you don’t want her to know I’m sleeping with Layla. The only other thing you have over me is that I’ve told you I’m not passionately in love with her, and while I’ve never outright told her so, it wouldn’t come as a surprise. Especially after she recently confessed the same thing was true for her.”

  The words penetrated the haze of his shock: Blair doesn’t love him.

  Neil ushered him out of the office and turned to lock his door. “I presume you’ll be at the party tomorrow night.”

  “Yeah,” he said absently. He was busy reworking his plan.

  “Then see you later, cousin.” Neil winked again, with the assurance of a man who had everything he wanted, then walked down the hall, whistling softly.

  Garrett shot daggers at his back. Let Neil think he had the upper hand. He might have practicality on his side, but Garrett had something else . . . something that was certain to win Blair over.

  He’d show her what she was missing.

  Chapter Ten

  The last thing Blair wanted to deal with right now was a bridal shower. She’d found the entire day unnerving. The depositions had gone well, but while she’d savored the chance to give that egotistical prick Brian Norfolk his comeuppance, spending hours in a room with Garrett sitting across from her had nearly driven her insane.

  The minute he’d walked in wearing his grey suit and ice blue tie, her heart had begun to race, and her face had flushed. She had spent most of her first deposition trying to convince her traitorous body that she wasn’t interested in him. Then she’d spent half of the Brian Norfolk deposition thinking about Garrett naked and all the delicious things he used to make her feel.

  She had to put a stop to this. She couldn’t afford to be distracted tomorrow. Rowena Norfolk was paying her to make sure she got the best possible settlement—not to fantasize about Garrett stripping off her clothes and—

  “Blair?” Melissa asked, standing in the doorway of her office. “The service is dropping off your car in about fifteen minutes. Do you want me to go secure it in the parking garage, or will you be leaving soon? Your wedding shower starts in forty-five minutes.”

  “Um . . .”

  Melissa walked into the office. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah. Why do you ask?” she asked, flustered.

  “You look flushed. Do you think you’re coming down with something?”

  She was coming down with something all right. Her libido was running full throttle after spending years in hibernation. “I’m fine. I’m just thinking about how the deposition went.”

  Melissa grinned. “You nailed him, huh?”

  “He never even saw it coming.” She took perverse pleasure in that part. The men always thought they were pulling a fast one on Blair, and she let them think it in the beginning. In fact, she planned it that way. She wanted them to underestimate her. It made the look of shock and horror even sweeter when she finally pulled her gotcha move. The euphoria of that moment would never get old.

  Only today, the horror in Brian Norfolk’s eyes wasn’t what had made her breathless. It was the raw hunger in Garrett Lowry’s eyes after she’d executed her plan to bring Norfolk to his knees.

  He still wanted her.

  She wasn’t sure why she was so surprised. She’d sensed it the night before, particularly during the car ride to her condo. But even then, his desire hadn’t been so blatant.

  “Well?” Melissa asked.

  “What?” She looked up at her with raised eyebrows.

  “Your car . . . Are you leaving or staying later?”

 
To Blair’s horror, her face flushed even more. “I’ll leave. I need to run home and change before I head to Megan’s mother’s house.”

  “Megan’s going to be there?”

  Blair smiled. “Yeah, she flew in this afternoon.”

  “I like her.”

  “Me too.” Blair glanced up at her assistant. “What are you doing tonight? You’re welcome to come to this thing as well.”

  Melissa laughed. “Nice try. Showers of any kind give me hives. I’ll go to the party tomorrow night, but a shower with games . . . no way.”

  “Games?” Blair asked in dismay. “Good God. We won’t have to play any of those, will we?” But then she remembered Megan’s mother was planning the party. Knickers was certain to have games. “I could force you to go, you know.”

  Her assistant chuckled. “Now you sound desperate. But don’t worry. Libby and Megan will be there to help you through it.”

  “Yeah, but Neil’s mother and sister will be there too. Not to mention Garrett’s Nana Ruby.”

  Melissa’s smile fell. “Neil.”

  Blair shook her head. “What about Neil?”

  “You said Garrett’s nana. Not Neil’s.”

  Oh, shit. She had. “Garrett’s nana. Neil’s nana. She’s the same person. It makes no difference.” But it made every difference. What was he doing to her?

  Melissa looked even less convinced than Blair, but she didn’t call her on it. “Is there anything you need me to do to help you get out of here?”

  “You cleared my schedule for the deposition in the morning?”

  Melissa flashed a smug grin. “Your ten o’clock meeting has been rescheduled for Friday. It was that or schedule it for after your honeymoon.”

  “Good call.” The meeting was with a potential new client, and she knew she could possibly lose her if she put off the meeting for another week. Women who’d been blindsided by their husbands’ infidelity or unexpected divorce papers needed almost immediate reassurance that everything was going to be okay. And while Blair never deceived them, she always assured them that she’d fight for them. And she did. Still, Neil was bound to be unhappy. She’d promised to spend the day with his family, but now she’d have to come into the office for a few hours. Was the fact that she was secretly relieved a bad sign?