“Are you leaving?”
Hannah stuck her hands in her jeans’ pockets. “Yeah, I am. I’m going to go home and take some time to figure out who I want to be.”
“You don’t have to go right now.”
“Yeah, I do. You need time alone with her.”
Jackson lowered his gaze to Grace and brushed his knuckles along her cheek. “She doesn’t love me. She just wants to be my designer.”
“Did she say that?”
He nodded.
“Then she’s lying to herself. You can see how she feels about you when she looks at you.”
“I don’t really want to talk about it, Hannah.”
“Okay.” She turned and stopped. “You’re a good man, Jackson. Better than I deserved, and there won’t be another man who’ll ever measure up to you.”
His mouth dropped open as he lifted his gaze. “Bye, Hannah.”
“Bye.”
It almost seemed surreal. He’d tried so many times to be free of her, and now that he was, he was a little sad. Grace was right. There would always be a part of him that loved Hannah. That remembered the vibrant, giving woman he met all those years ago.
Grace took a deep breath and drew his attention back to her. He loved her, and he wanted to believe Hannah was right. But he’d heard her with her own two lips. She was just his designer. That’s what she set out to be, and that’s all she was.
And now that Hannah was gone, he didn’t have to pretend anymore. He didn’t want to lose the house, but he couldn’t continue to let Grace stay when he knew she’d never return his affection. When she woke up, he was going to ask her to leave.
Chapter 25
Grace took a deep breath as she stretched. Her whole body ached, but she felt so much better than last night that she didn’t care. She was dead serious when she said she’d never eat fish again. Just the sound of the word made her want to gag. She smacked her lips. Her mouth felt disgusting.
Jackson had stayed with her through her being sick. Disgustingly sick. She’d been so weak she couldn’t lift her head. He’d curled his body around hers, held her hair back, and whispered, “I’ve got you” more than once.
The one thing she did remember was telling Jackson she didn’t want to just be his designer. That was crystal clear to her. Talk about picking the wrong time to tell someone something. She’d wanted to tell him she loved him, but she’d had enough wits to keep that back. When she told him that, she wanted to kiss him and not stop.
“Hey.”
She sat up and smiled. “Hi.”
“Are you feeling better?”
“That’s good to hear.” He had his hands on his hips, and he wouldn’t quite meet her gaze. “Uh, when you get dressed, would you mind coming downstairs? I need to talk to you.” He sounded like something awful had happened.
Her heart raced as she thought of the gambit of possibilities. She pushed the thoughts away. No, he’d taken care of her last night, and only someone who cared would have done that. “What’s wrong?”
He held his hand up. “When you get dressed.”
“Okay.”
Jackson hesitated a second before leaving, and then she heard his footsteps on the stairs.
What could he want to talk about? She hurried out of bed and took the fastest shower she’d ever taken. When she was dressed, she hurried down the steps and stopped when she heard Jackson’s voice.
“Yeah, Uncle Quincy, it was all pretend.” Jackson held the phone from his ear. When the voice quieted, he put it back. “No, she’s just the designer.”
Tears pricked her eyes, and her heart shattered. She put her hand to her mouth and tried to stifle her cry. She’d promised him she’d stay until the end, but she couldn’t. Not now. She’d nearly told him she loved him, but he’d been pretending the whole time. Taking care of her last night was just him being kind. That’s who he was.
Grace quietly turned around, walked to the stairs, and tiptoed up. She walked to Jackson’s room and shut the door. There wasn’t a single piece of her that wasn’t numb. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, took a deep breath to calm herself, and dialed her sister.
“Grace?”
“Hey, Karla.”
“How’s the house coming?”
“It’s great. When it’s done, it’ll be amazing.” She paused. “Hey, you know that money I’ve been hanging on to?”
Her sister chuckled. “You mean the money Bret left you?”
“Yeah, I finally know what I want to do with it.”
“Oh, good. It’s just been sitting there, doing nothing.”
“I want to invest in the bed and breakfast. There’s a mortgage note on it, and I want to pay it off.” Grace heard papers shuffle.
“Okay, give me the details.”
Grace gave Karla all the information she could remember. With her sister being a lawyer, she could track down just about anything. “I’d like this done as soon as possible, okay?”
“I’ll work on it as fast as I can.” Karla paused. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m great. Uh, I need to go. Can I call you later?”
“Sure.”
They said their goodbyes, and Grace grabbed her luggage, hurriedly stuffing it with her things. When she was packed, she headed down the stairs, and as she reached the bottom, Jackson came into view.
“You’re leaving?”
“Yeah, I think it’s time for me to go.”
Jackson narrowed his eyes. “I thought you weren’t leaving until the house was done.”
She dropped her gaze to the floor. If she looked at him at all, she’d crack. “I realized this morning that maybe I needed to get back to my life.”
“Oh, is that so?”
“Yeah. Uh, I think I should.”
“Right. Well, I won’t beg you to stay.”
It felt like he was throwing knives at her. She’d hurt when Bret died, but this was a new level of pain. Jackson had shown her she was worthy of a better kind of love. Someone who wanted her and didn’t just tolerate her.
She walked to the door, and with her hand on the knob, she said, “Good luck with the house. I hope it turns out to be everything you’ve ever wanted.”
He muttered something, and she quickly pulled open the door and walked out, stopping on the porch.
She was so stupid. Her car was at Quincy’s shop. She laughed and sat down. How was she going to walk back in there and beg for a ride when she didn’t want to leave?
Chapter 26
There were so many more things Jackson wanted to say to Grace. Why’d he let her leave like that? He’d planned to sit her down, tell her how he felt, and then if she still wanted to go, fine. Well, not fine. He’d have fought until he was hoarse to keep her from leaving.
He’d talked to Uncle Quincy about the whole mess. His uncle was the one to convince Jackson to be calm and rational. She’d been sick the night before, so who knows what she was trying to say. Even Hannah thought Grace loved him. And it was Hannah!
Then she’d come down the stairs, carrying her luggage, and all his calm and rational had taken a hike. Grace could get his blood boiling faster than anyone. If he went after her, he’d spend the next sixty years being driven insane by her. And he couldn’t picture life without her.
Jackson hesitated all of two seconds before he walked to the door and yanked it open.
“I’m going to need a ride to Quincy’s shop. I forgot I didn’t have my car.”
He scrubbed his face with his hands, trying to give himself a minute to get cooled down. “I’m not giving you one until I say what I need to say.”
“Jackson—”
“No. It’s my turn.”
With a sigh, she nodded, and her shoulders rounded.
“I don’t want you to be my designer. If that’s all you can be, then I’ll take you to my uncle’s shop and you can go. But Grace, somewhere between agreeing with your crazy pretend fiancé thing and getting married, I fell head over heels in love with you.
I don’t know what kind of man Bret was, but I can’t for the life of me see how it’s difficult to love you. I’m finding it the easiest thing in the world.”
Grace twisted around. Tears stained her cheeks. She blinked. “What?”
“I don’t want you to go. Not now, not ever. I love you.”
“But I told you last night that I didn’t want to be just your designer. And then I heard you tell Quincy that I was.”
“Last night, you left out the ‘I don’t’ part, and all I heard was that you only wanted to be my designer. And what you overheard was a snippet of me telling Quincy you were anything but that to me now. Grace, I realized last night that you’ve been more than that since the moment I met you.”
She stood and smiled. “So, you want me to stay?”
“Well, that depends.”
Her face fell. “On what?”
“Do you love me?”
Grace flung herself at him and hugged him around the neck. “I love you more than anything in this world. I don’t want to go.” She pulled back. “I was sitting out here, trying to figure out a way to walk back inside to ask for a ride, but I couldn’t because I didn’t want to leave you.”
“That’s what I wanted to hear.”
“I thought you were pretending the whole time.”
“That’s what I thought about you,” Jackson said. He wrapped his arms around her. “I’m going to kiss you now, and I’m not stopping until I want to.”
“I wish you would, and I don’t want you to ever stop.”
Jackson touched his lips to hers, and it was a completely new experience. When he’d kissed her before, there were doubts and questions. Now, she was his, and he didn’t have to hold back how he felt about her.
She threaded her fingers in his hair and molded her body to his. Her lips teased his with soft, delicate kisses. Only this time, all the urgency was gone. She cupped his cheek, and her parted lips left his, leaving a trail of fire across his skin. Those feathery kisses continued along his neck, across his cheeks, and down his jaw.
He was so desperate to feel her lips against his that he sank his hand into her hair, capturing her lips with his. She took his bottom lip in between her teeth, and there was no holding in the throaty moan. Her lips parted again, and he held her still as he accepted the invitation.
For who knows how long, he held her and enjoyed the softness of her lips. When he finally broke the kiss, her cheeks were crimson, and she was gasping for air. “Mrs. Bellamy, I’m not done kissing you, but I’d like to take this inside where it’s not so hot and there’s a little more privacy.”
“Isn’t Hannah here?”
“Left last night.”
“We have the whole house to ourselves?”
“Yep.”
A devilish smile formed on her lips, and he could see a desire that matched his own looking back at him. “I’d really like to go inside now. I believe you owe me a honeymoon.”
“And I keep my promises.”
“Yes, you do.” She pressed her lips to his. “I love you.”
He winked and opened the door before scooping her up. “I should have done this the night we were married,” he said and walked into the house. “I love you,” he said as he shut the door with his foot.
Epilogue
A year later...
With a cup of orange juice in one hand, Grace pulled the door open with the other and stepped onto the wide porch. She scanned the early morning sky as the sun began to peek over the horizon. Every morning, she was still amazed by the beauty.
The front door opened, and in an instant, Jackson curled around her, kissing her on the neck. She giggled and pressed herself into him. Oh, how she loved this and him.
“I’m glad we decided not to open the bed and breakfast,” Jackson said.
She set her juice down on the railing and twisted in his arms. “Me too.”
“It works better as a ranch.”
When they’d finished restoring the house, neither one had wanted to run a bed and breakfast. Jackson’s heart had been set on running cattle and horses. Plus, they were going to need the space soon.
“I have a late birthday gift for you,” Grace said.
He smiled. “Oh, yeah?”
She nodded and placed his hand on her stomach.
His smile dropped. “You mean?”
“If the test is accurate.”
He took her face in his hands and kissed her cheeks. “Grace.” He said her name like a prayer. “Oh, Grace. I hope it’s right.”
“I’ve been feeling kinda sick of a morning, so I thought I’d better check. I got two lines this morning.”
“Oh, sweetheart, this is the best gift ever.”
“Even better than paying off the mortgage?”
Grace could still picture his face when she told him she’d paid it. He’d been furious at first, demanding to pay her back, but she’d insisted it was their money now that they were married and would be staying that way.
“By a million times.” He bent down, and his lips moved across hers, slow and tender. His kisses still melted her into a puddle.
“Aw, geez, Jackson. Isn’t the honeymoon phase over already?” Logan asked.
Grace glanced over her shoulder, to find Jackson’s little brother on a horse with another in tow for Jackson.
His little brother had moved back to Willow Bend ten months ago. He and Jackson had worked out their issues, and they’d built a foreman’s home a few feet away from the house.
Jackson kissed Grace’s nose and then looked at Logan. “Find the right woman, and it’ll never end.”
Logan shook his head. “You comin’, Romeo?”
“Guess I’d better go.”
Grace tiptoed and kissed him. “Be safe, cowboy.”
He winked. “I’ll see you tonight.”
“I love you.”
Jackson stepped off the porch and mounted his horse. “Love you,” he called.
As Grace watched him ride off, she marveled at how her life had changed over the past year, and in a year, she’d be saying the same thing. She smiled and laid her hand on her stomach. She’d never been happier.
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Her Pretend Billionaire Boyfriend
Chapter 1
Tristan Stone swiveled his chair away from the boardroom table and looked out over the Seattle skyline. The sun glinted off the windows of the Space Needle while a white-capped Mount Rainier stood in the background. He wished he was there, on the top of the mountain, and not dwelling on the board meeting that had just ended. He didn’t want to think about the dozen or so men and women who’d argued about which direction his grandmother would’ve wanted him to take the cruise line he’d inherited.
He missed her.
Find someone to love, sweetheart. Not all women will want you for your money. His grandmother’s words were like a megaphone in his head. He could still feel the aged hand touching his cheek and see the wrinkled face smiling up at him. Even while she was sick, she’d been thinking of him.
He’d tried to convince her he didn’t feel lonely, but she could always see through him. Three months, and not a day went by that he didn’t miss her laughter and wisdom.
“Tristan!” Grayson Matthews’s voice broke through his thoughts. “Are you listening to me?”
“No,” he said without taking his eyes off the skyline.
“Nice. Real nice.” Grayson huffed, pulling a chair directly in front of him and sitting backward in it.
Tristan leveled his eyes at him. “What?”
“That board meeting was out of control. Why didn’t you do anything?”
Why? Because he didn’t want to do anything. His grandmother wasn’t even cold, and vultures were circling. “My head isn’t here.” He had tasks to finish for his grandma. One of which was taking a cruise on the last cruise ship she’d designed so he coul
d spread her ashes over the ocean.
Grayson’s icy blue eyes softened. “Buddy, I know you miss her, but if you want this company to continue, you’re going to have to bring that alpha dog reputation you’ve created to the table.”
Alpha dog. Tristan snorted. “I know, but this is different. I’m not buying up a company. This was her company. A company...people...I promised to take care of.” He was used to taking over companies, bulldozing over anything that got in the way of making it successful and turning it into a thriving business. This was different. He’d made a solemn vow to take care of her employees, among other things. Things he wasn’t willing to tell his best friend.
“Listen, man, I know you were close to her, but...”
Tristan stood and raked a hand through his dark-brown hair. “I’m not selling this company. I’ll buy out everyone’s shares if I have to. I don’t care if I go bankrupt keeping it.” He closed his eyes. He wasn’t just close to his grandmother. Other than Grayson and his Aunt Felicia, she was the only person he trusted to love him for more than just his money.
The chair squeaked as Grayson stood. “Maybe you should take a vacation. Get out of here, get some fresh air, grieve. Come back when you’re ready to make some hard decisions.”
Grayson continued when he didn’t respond. “Seriously, take one. Two weeks. What can possibly happen in two weeks without you here? It’s been three months, and nothing’s changed yet.” Grayson grasped his shoulder and turned him around. “You took care of her the last eight months of her life. I know it had to be hard on you. Taking a break will help.”
Tristan did like the idea. The stress of taking care of a loved one was worse than he ever imagined. The last month or so, his grandma didn’t even know who he was. She’d look at him with a blank expression most of the time, and when she was even remotely coherent, she’d call him by his father’s name, Thomas.
He had promised his grandma that he’d take a cruise and spread her ashes. May as well get it done. He could check that off the list. “Maybe you’re right.”
The Cowboy's Fake Marriage Page 17