“I’m not a mistake,” Morgan said fiercely.
“You must see you’re not going to get the result you’re looking for. Henry will never accept you. Isn’t it better that you move on from this town? Hooking yourself up with Jared Robinson, a notorious playboy, will only bring you heartache.”
“Leave my relationship with Jared out of this.”
“How can I? When you’ve flaunted it to all of Austin,” Nora said, sweeping her hand wide. “He’ll never marry you. I’ve known that young man since he was a child and he’s easily bored, moving on to the next thing before he’s put down the first. You’re merely a distraction, nothing more.”
Morgan’s eyes narrowed. Even if Nora’s words struck a chord, she would never let her see it. “You can keep your observations to yourself.”
Nora shrugged. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Lifting her skirts, she swept out of the room, leaving Morgan staring after her.
Once she was gone, Morgan crumbled into the chair and placed both her hands over her face. Tonight was an epic fail. Not only had Jared rejected her, but so had her father. And according to Nora, that wasn’t ever going to change. She was a “mistake.” Whenever he saw her, Henry was reminded he’d cheated on his wife and she was the result. She was unwanted by every man in her life.
She had to leave now with as much dignity as she could muster. Rising to her feet, she rushed over to the sink and tried to repair the damage her crying jag had done to her makeup. She managed to obscure it, but her eyes were still red and rimmed with pain. Breathing deeply, Morgan pulled out her cell and called for an Uber. The car was nearby and would be there in minutes. She intended to slip out quietly before anyone else saw her.
Morgan prepared to move swiftly down the corridor but Jared was leaning on the wall outside the restroom. He stood upright when he saw her.
“Morgan?” He rushed to her side and tried to touch her cheek, but she moved away.
“Don’t touch me!”
“What happened in there?” Jared didn’t let her harsh tone deter him. “What did Nora say to you?”
Morgan didn’t answer. She started down the hall. As she did, a young woman stepped in front of her to block her way. Morgan recognized the redhead. It was Ally, the journalist Morgan had tried to sell her story to.
“Morgan Stewart?” she said. “We meet again.”
“Excuse me.” Morgan tried to step away, but Ally moved in front of her.
“Not so fast,” Ally replied. “I wish I had stuck around. You had a story to tell me and I should have listened. How was I to know you were Dane Stewart’s baby sister? But it doesn’t matter. I’ve got the local scoop. You’ve been seeing Jared Robinson, Austin’s most notorious bachelor.”
“I have no comment.” Once again, Morgan tried to leave, but Ally wasn’t budging. “Please step aside.”
“You might not want to confirm your relationship with Jared, but perhaps you might want to comment on my latest story. Seems Jared here has a love child with his former fling Samantha Russell whom he’s left to languish in poverty. Do you have a comment on that?”
“A child?” Jared roared from behind Morgan. “You must be out of your mind, Ally. I knew you liked to make up stories, but that’s utter rubbish.”
Morgan’s stomach lurched. “Is it?” she asked, spinning around to face him.
Ally smirked at seeing her handiwork. “Jared has a child, Morgan. Didn’t he tell you? Do you have a comment now?”
“I have to go.” This time, Morgan shouldered past the woman and rushed down the corridor. She didn’t stop until she reached the outside and had run down the steps. Glancing around, she saw the car with an Uber sign in the window. Rushing toward it, she was nearly to the door when Jared caught up with her.
Jared grabbed her arm and spun her around. “Morgan, please, don’t leave like this.”
The desperation in his eyes was evident, but Morgan didn’t care. “Please, let me go.”
“I can’t do that,” Jared said. Concern was etched across his handsome features. “Not like this. I can’t let you leave thinking the worst of me.”
“Why should that matter to you, Jared?” She tugged on her arm and he released her. “You’ve ignored me all week. And tonight, I came here for you. Yet you treat me like something on the bottom of your shoe. Just like my father. I won’t take it. Not anymore. I deserve better.”
“Morgan...”
“Don’t apologize. I agreed to this arrangement. It was temporary and I accept that. But a child? For Christ’s sake, how could you abandon your own child?” Shaking her head in disbelief, she reached for the door handle and slid inside the car, but Jared blocked her from closing it.
“She’s lying, Morgan. I would never abandon any child of mine, ever. If you believe nothing else from our time together, believe that.”
He let go of the door and Morgan slammed it shut. “You can go to hell!”
The driver drove away and Morgan’s last view was of Jared staring after the car with sadness in his eyes. It was over between them and finding out Jared abandoned his child was further confirmation that Morgan walking away was the best decision she’d ever made.
Nineteen
He let her go.
He shouldn’t have. The despair in Morgan’s eyes destroyed Jared. He’d been keeping her at a distance all week, including tonight. In his mind, he’d done it for her own good, but he hadn’t wanted to hurt her. Yet he didn’t think he was good for her either. On the other hand, he wasn’t the monster Ally was claiming he was.
Hearing the car door click shut was like a vault slamming, shutting him out of something so precious, Jared knew he’d never get it back.
“Jared, what is this I hear about you fathering a child? My God what’s happening in this family? First Chris and now you?” His grandmother confronted him once he returned to the ballroom. The look on her face wasn’t embarrassment, it was disappointment. He hadn’t seen her expression of chagrin aimed at him in weeks and realized he never wanted to see it return.
“It isn’t true.”
“Are you sure about that?” His parents came over and his father was the first to jump on the bandwagon. “Up until Morgan, you were quite the playboy.”
Chris and Kandi joined their circle and his brother defended him. “Jared would never be that negligent. There’s one thing Jared has always practiced and that’s safe sex.”
“Must you be so crude, Chris?” his mother scolded.
“I will repeat. I don’t have a child,” Jared said, rather loudly so that several people standing nearby glanced up at his raised voice. “And I certainly wouldn’t leave one I’d fathered to be raised without me. I’ll prove it to all of you. To the entire world if I have to.”
His mother breathed a sigh of relief, but his father still looked skeptical. Jared glanced at his grandmother. “Please tell me you believe me, Grandma?” He’d never called her that, but the endearment came to his mind given how close they’d become in recent weeks.
She didn’t reply. Instead, she glanced around the room. “Where’s Morgan?”
Jared lowered his head.
“Where is she?”
“She’s gone,” he answered.
“Because she believes this story?” his grandmother asked. “If your girlfriend believes this is true, how can we not?”
“She’s not my girlfriend,” Jared blurted out.
His grandmother frowned. Jared glanced around; his entire family looked perplexed. “What do you mean, son?” his father inquired.
It was time to come clean. He was tired of the secret. “I asked Morgan to pretend to be my girlfriend to help win over grandmother and the board.”
Several looks of disbelief came his way. Even Chris rolled his eyes upward and spoke quietly to Kandi, who stepped away from the group so the Robinsons could have
some privacy. “What the hell did you do, Jared?”
“I don’t believe it.” His grandmother shook her head. “What I saw between you wasn’t make-believe. Morgan cares for you. I would bet my life on it.”
Jared lowered his head. “She probably does, but I don’t deserve her. She’s too good for me.”
“Why would you deceive us?” his mother asked. He could see that for once, he’d exasperated even her.
Jared sighed. “I didn’t set out to lie to you. I just wanted to prove to everyone I could be like Chris and run the business.” He motioned to his brother, who was scraping his jaw with his hand. “That I could step into his shoes. Grandmother said the board would prefer someone settled so I...” His voice trailed off.
“Roped Morgan into your lies,” his grandmother finished. “How typical. And now she has feelings for you, but you’ve gotten yourself caught up in a scandal. My God, Jared, when will you ever learn?” Turning on her heel, she stormed away.
She wasn’t the only one. His parents expressed their disappointment in him once more before heading off, leaving Jared and Chris alone. Jared was glad his brother didn’t leave him and was still at his side as he’d been so many times.
“Well, you’ve really done it this time,” Chris said.
Jared glared at him. “Yeah, I know. I’ve mucked it up bad. What am I going to do?”
Chris wrapped an arm around his shoulder. “The first thing you’re going to do is clear your name of this slander about the baby. And then, you’re going to get your woman back.”
“Morgan?” Jared shook his head. “I can’t. That ship has sailed. She thinks I fathered a child and abandoned it like her father did her. We’re done.”
Except Jared didn’t feel like they were over.
“You have to talk to her,” Chris said. “Convince her of the truth. I’ve seen you with Morgan, Jared. You’re a different man—dare I say, a better man—because of her. You need Morgan. You have to make this right.”
Jared nodded. He doubted Morgan would open the door to him, let alone listen to a word he had to say. He may have hurt her so bad that there was no coming back from it, but he wouldn’t know unless he tried.
* * *
Morgan was on autopilot. She had been since last night when somehow she’d made it from the Uber to her apartment. Once the door shut, however, she’d fallen to the floor in a heap, where she’d stayed until she was all cried out. Eventually, she went to her bedroom, where she’d drawn the shades, curled into bed and turned off her phone. She needed sleep.
Except her sleep wasn’t peaceful. She dreamed of Jared’s smile. His laugh. His sinful abs. His tight butt, which she’d grasped as he’d driven her to the brink of pleasure. But that was over. It had been an illusion. A lie.
Jared wasn’t the man she thought he was. He’d turned his back on her like he’d done his own child. He was no better than Henry. And she’d fallen head over heels in love with him. What a fool she’d been to fall for his lies hook, line and sinker.
She drifted off to sleep near dawn. When she woke up, Morgan had a plan: get out of Austin. She would go someplace remote to clear her head so she could figure out her next steps. Given that their relationship was over, Morgan didn’t want anything from Jared, including his help finding a job. She realized now that wasn’t the reason she’d stayed in Austin to begin with. It was because she’d fallen for him.
And now she would have to swallow her pride and ask Dane for help. Morgan would have preferred to be self-sufficient, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.
She was finished packing by noon and planned to leave the key with the concierge on her way out. They’d already seen to her luggage so Morgan was giving the apartment one final look and was picking up her carry-on when the doorbell sounded. Morgan didn’t need to look through the peephole to know who it was. She just knew.
Jared.
When she’d finally turned on her phone this morning, there had been endless texts and voice mails from Ruth and Morgan’s siblings, who’d all read the story and wanted to know if she was okay. And then there were half a dozen voice mails from Jared. She didn’t want to talk to him then and didn’t intend to now.
But she had to face him one last time. Morgan swung open the door. Jared was leaning against the door frame in faded jeans and a pullover sweater with a bleak look in his eyes.
“Whatever you have to say, I’m not interested.”
“We need to talk.”
“We don’t have to do anything.” Morgan walked inside her apartment and to her despair, Jared followed. She smelled his spicy scent and it caused a fissure in her chest. But she refused to let her emotions bleed out and make a mess on the floor. “And I was just leaving.”
Jared glanced at her small carry-on. “Are you going somewhere?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Does it really matter?” Morgan asked. “You have bigger fish to fry, like taking care of your child.”
Jared’s eyes turned stormy dark. “I don’t have a child, Morgan. That’s what I came to explain. Ally spewed lies last night. I don’t have a child with Samantha. This is all some elaborate media ruse they’ve concocted, which is why I went to Samantha and told her I want a paternity test.”
“Good for you.” Morgan grasped her handbag and carry-on and moved to open the door. “I’m sure your family will appreciate that, but I have a flight to catch.”
Jared pushed the door closed with the palm of his hand. “You can’t leave like this, with so much unfinished between us.”
Morgan shook her head. “You’ve made it pretty clear you’re no longer interested in continuing our arrangement or in being my lover. I’m sure it must have been a strain dealing with my lack of knowledge for someone so experienced as yourself, but I got the hint, okay? So please, let me leave gracefully and with a shred of dignity.”
She passed underneath his arm, walked to the elevator bank and pressed the down button. Jared followed her.
“You’re not even going to give me the benefit of the doubt?” he asked, his expression watchful. “After everything...”
The elevator chimed and Morgan stepped inside. Jared did the same. She couldn’t look at him. She didn’t dare because Morgan knew if she did, she’d be lost, caught up in his world again where she’d lose herself. Jared was never going to be her Prince Charming. He’d told her from the start and she’d foolishly built him up in her heart to be more.
She’d been wrong.
When the elevator made it to the ground floor, Jared surprised Morgan by taking her carry-on and walking with her through the lobby. But when they reached the French doors he stopped.
“Don’t go,” he pleaded, halting her steps. “Stay with me. We can figure this out.”
“I can’t. I can’t see you ever again, Jared. It hurts too much.” Morgan couldn’t take it anymore. She wrenched her bag from his grasp and rushed out the doors. She knew if she didn’t leave now she would never leave because Jared had a hold on her.
Morgan wasn’t looking where she was going and ran out into the circular driveway just as a car drove up to the entrance. Morgan caught a glimpse of it, but not in time to stop. Her last image as the car struck her was of soaring through the air and Jared’s horrified expression before everything went black.
* * *
Jared was frozen for several seconds on the sidewalk as he watched Morgan fly through the air and hit the pavement. Then, he sprang into action, rushing to her side. She was unconscious, sprawled out in the driveway, with blood gushing from her head.
He was terrified. He knew enough not to move her with a head injury. “Call an ambulance!” he screamed.
The valet was on his phone immediately while the driver of the car got out and started toward Jared. “Stay away!” He held his hand up.
“I’m so sorry,” the m
an cried. “I didn’t see her. She jumped out in front of my car. I tried to...”
“Shut up! I don’t give a damn about your excuses.” Jared responded. He just prayed Morgan would survive this, but she wasn’t moving. He looked down at her and whispered, “Please, baby, please don’t leave me.”
He lowered his head and rested it against her bosom. It was inconceivable to him that Morgan could leave this earth and he would never see her again. And tell her what he’d only just discovered as she’d hurtled through the air.
“I love you,” he said softly against her chest. But feared it was too late.
Twenty
“Jared, what the hell happened?” His grandmother ran toward him in the waiting room of St. David’s Medical Center with his parents, Chris and Kandi close behind her. It was the first time in his life he’d ever seen his grandmother disheveled. She was usually so put together, but today, her hair was ruffled and she wore jeans and a tunic. He doubted she’d ever worn jeans a day in her life. “How’s Morgan?”
“I—I don’t know...” Jared shook his head. “They’ve been running lots of tests—X-rays, CAT scans and some sort of EEG to record the electrical activity in her brain.”
“Omigod!” His grandmother clasped her hand to her mouth, fell into a chair and began sobbing.
“It’s okay.” His mother rushed to her side. “She’s going to pull through.”
“Is there anything we can do?” Chris asked and Kandi nodded.
“Morgan’s been so great to me,” she said, tears in her eyes. “This is so awful.” She turned into Chris’s arms and wept.
Jared moved away from them to the window and stared blankly outside. He felt a presence behind him and saw his father’s reflection in the glass. “I’m sorry, son. I know I was hard on you the other night. And I can see I was wrong. You’ve changed. You care for this girl.”
“It’s more than that, Dad,” Jared said, turning to face him. “I love her. And I never thought I could feel that way about anybody. But when I saw that car hit her and she went flying through the air—” he shook his head trying to rid himself of the images “—I swear to God, I... I thought...”
Secrets of a Fake Fiancée Page 15