The Fiancee Charade

by Darcy Maguire

  Jess snatched the envelope from the man, swung around and stalked towards the bow. It was ridiculous that Alex wouldn’t want her to fulfil her job.

  Her eyes stung. So he didn’t want to continue lying about being engaged—that was good. But why on earth couldn’t he tell her himself?

  Didn’t she mean anything to him at all?

  Didn’t he want her to stage a fight? Had he come clean to Natasha? She swallowed hard. That would mean he had changed, he’d learnt something…even though it was to be with another woman.

  She flung open the doors to the master suite.

  Alex sat with Natasha on the bed.

  Natasha was in a hot red dress that clung to her thin body, with diamonds glittering at her ears and neck and wrists. Her flawless make-up and the tight coiffeur screamed class and sophistication. She was everything he expected his future wife to be.

  Jess stood staring at him, taking in his cool blue eyes, his kiss-me lips, and she knew, right down to her very soul, that she’d never see him again. The thought almost killed her.

  ‘Alex?’ she offered, her chest tight. His cold glare was sending chills through her heart.

  She should have known it couldn’t last, that she’d have no hope of touching his heart. All she was to him was another conquest before he settled down with the right woman.

  He jerked his head up. ‘Jess,’ he said, his voice deep and husky.

  He’d be pleased that his plan had worked, that he’d snagged Natasha by being the sensitive, kind person she knew he could be.

  Jess lifted her hands. ‘Don’t get up. I just wanted to tell you that it’s over,’ she blurted. ‘As you suspected, I found someone else some time ago. I didn’t have the heart to tell you…We had some good times, but I think we both have to accept it’s over.’

  Alex stared at her, his mouth slack, his brows heavy.

  ‘Goodbye, Alex,’ she said, her chest threatening to implode. She pulled the pink diamond off her finger and placed it on a shelf beside her. ‘I wish you a nice life, with all good things.’

  She forced herself to turn around, to leave him there with the woman he’d struggled so hard for. She willed her body to move slowly, to stay upright despite the weakness in her legs. She swallowed down the sting in her eyes and ignored the wrenching ache in her chest.

  What had he ever needed her for anyway? She was just another game to play…another toy…another woman to entertain him until he got what he really wanted.

  She wove through the guests aft, pausing by Alex’s friend who stood there, a motorboat tied up, waiting.

  She lifted her chin. ‘Thank him for me, won’t you?’ she said to Lucas, her chest tight. ‘He seems a little busy.’

  ‘And you know Alex—when he gets busy, he gets busy all night.’

  Jess’s world crashed around her, the significance of Lucas’s words smashing what dignity she had left.

  Alex had shared their special night together with this man as though she wasn’t worth anything more than a locker-room brag.

  She stepped onto the smaller boat, not looking back as they pulled away. She’d been a total fool—giving her heart away again just to be broken.

  But this time life just wouldn’t be the same ever again.

  She’d fallen for the enemy.

  And lost.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  JESS lay on her bed, running her fingers over Mr Darcy’s body, watching his tail quiver, feeling the deep rumble echoing through his body.

  Her eyes were swollen, her body was heavy, scrunched-up tissues littered the bed and the floor was covered with chocolate wrappers.

  The alarm sounded again.

  She let it bleat.

  Nothing mattered any more—least of all going in to work today. She’d already taken a week off, telling Kath that she was too busy with Alex to come in.

  She didn’t want to tell her the truth.

  She’d lost everything, including her enemy. He’d been her purpose and drive for so long that there was no challenge without him.

  She was drifting, wrecked, lost.

  There was CG&A, but despite everything she didn’t want to destroy Alex. It wasn’t about getting revenge for her father, for being used as a distraction or a trial run, or whatever the hell she’d been, or about being second-best again.

  It was about her. It wasn’t Alex’s fault she’d fallen for him, and she’d all but begged him to make love to her. It was her own self-worth that was the problem.

  She lifted her chin, wiping her cheeks. She had to feel good about leaving him with dignity, doing the right thing by him despite his choice of Natasha.

  Jess was a better person having known him, loved him, lost him.

  She buried her face in another tissue. She just wished she could feel stronger about it.

  It would have been easier if she had known he was as shallow as he’d pretended, but he’d cared for his mother, had been driven by his father, had had expectations placed upon him by everyone—including himself. And still he’d turned out kind and warm underneath the wolf’s clothing he wore.

  She knew he liked his coffee black with one sugar, and had a dog named Pete. She’d felt his kind heart when he had cared when he’d thought she was ill, had helped when she’d thought of her father.

  She’d got over sixteen messages on her answering machine from her father. Alex had been right. He wasn’t ignoring her now she was supposedly engaged to the man he loathed.

  She swept the alarm off the bedside table, silencing the noise. She should have opted for the negative attention approach years ago and saved herself the worry over whether he cared or not. Obviously he did.

  She should ring him, bask in his caring about her making the biggest mistake of her life.

  So she’d had the name of the biggest company around who was looking for new representation and she hadn’t used it. She’d been true to herself—not her father, or Kath, but her.

  She felt good about that.

  She would sleep at night—as soon as she rid herself of Alex’s haunting blue eyes and kiss-me lips, his strong, warm hands and his safe arms.

  Jess stood up and trudged into the kitchen, flicking the switch on the kettle. Maybe she should have stuck to hating men. She would have been safe, would have kept them at a distance and wouldn’t have risked her heart again. But she knew that would have been a half life.

  She deserved more.

  She wished for a great chasm to open up from the ground and swallow her until she didn’t have to endure this terrible ache in her chest any more, this emptiness in her heart, the endless tears that crept down her cheeks like the memories creeping through her mind.

  The doorbell rang.

  She dragged herself to the door, pushing her hair back from her face, straightening the baggy shirt she wore over her track pants.

  Her father coming to lay down the law? Kath coming to drag the truth out of her and get her back to work? A pizza?

  She pulled the door open.

  Alex stood on the doorstep, his dark suit tailored around the shoulders she knew so well, a white shirt covering the chest she’d run her hands over, with a light blue tie that matched his eyes.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ she croaked.

  ‘I came to see you.’

  ‘That’s obvious…Why?’ she rushed, biting her lip and trying not to succumb to the sting in her eyes. Was he going to have the last word? Torture her with news of his success with Natasha?

  ‘Firstly, I sort of noticed that CG&A have signed up with us without any hiccups and apparently, as far as Doug is concerned, without being remotely scalped from under us.’

  She frowned. ‘What?’

  ‘I know you’re from a rival advertising company,’ he said, slipping his hands in his pockets, avoiding her eyes. ‘And I know you endured your time with me to get insider information on who we were hunting.’

  Jess bit her lip, her cheeks filling with heat. How long had he known? Had she been
played the entire time?

  ‘Secondly, I had to wonder why a woman who was tolerating me just to get some insider information would ignore the cream of that info.’

  She looked at the ground. Oh, Gawd. Here it comes. He’d worked out she’d fallen in love with him and wanted to add to her misery and embarrassment and his ego by getting her to confess.

  ‘And then, thirdly, why did that said woman, who made it abundantly clear she hated me, follow through on the original plan and break up with me so I could have a chance with Natasha?’

  Jess stepped backwards, gripping the door tightly. This was adding torment to torture. He wanted the truth…could he handle the truth?

  She tipped her head, pushing back her hair, knowing how awful she looked. ‘I hope you two will be very happy together.’

  ‘That’s not an answer.’

  Jess moved into her apartment. ‘Fine,’ she snapped. ‘I hated you. You took my father’s business and ground it into the dirt on your rise to the top. I had every reason to hate you.’

  ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t realise—’

  ‘And when I finally found a partner as crazy as I was to take the Calahan empire on I jumped at the chance. When Kath arranged for me to bump into you I saw the opportunity to take you down a peg or two.’

  ‘And the Women Against Womanisers thing?’

  ‘A spark of genius. I hated you, and men like you. The last man in my life took me for one hell of a ride and drove home reality.’

  ‘Jess—’ he offered, his voice low and warm.

  She shook her head, raising the strength she figured she’d earned in the last week. ‘But although things may have started that way I got to know you, and I sort of began to see that you’re human too. And I didn’t want to hurt you.’

  ‘Why?’ he asked, moving into her apartment, closing the distance between them.

  ‘Because…Fine. Okay. Why not just say it? You already know. With a head the size of America how could I possibly hide the fact that I’ve fallen head over heels in love with you, like every other dropkick female that’s come anywhere near you.’

  He shook his head, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. ‘You love me?’

  ‘Yes, you arrogant, big-headed, smooth-talking charmer. I love you. Not because you have a big boat, and a limo, and own some company that swims in success and money, but because you make me laugh. You listen to me. You care about me…Well, I thought you did.’

  Alex caught her hands in his and held them tight. ‘I do.’

  Jess swallowed hard, glaring at him for his kindness and concern. ‘And I miss you. I miss your touch, your kiss, your arms around me.’ She threw up her arms, pulling away from him. ‘That’s it. Are you satisfied now? You can go back to your perfect Natasha Bradford-Whatever and woo her into the perfect marriage, the perfect life.’

  ‘I don’t want her.’

  ‘Why? She’s everything you ever wanted.’

  ‘She’s not the one for me.’ Alex reduced the distance between them, his stormy eyes glinting with purpose. ‘I can’t stop thinking about you. About what an idiot I was for not telling you how I felt at the party, for going with Natasha and talking to her instead of you. About taking so long to figure out what meant the most to me.’

  ‘You don’t mind that I tried to steal your clients?’ she whispered, tears smothering her words.

  He took her hands and looked into her face. ‘It doesn’t matter how many you take…I have plenty of clients but there’s only one you.’

  ‘Alex…’ she whispered.

  ‘Jess,’ he murmured, pulling her close. ‘I want to die with you loving me. I want to be the man you love for ever. Please—I’ll do whatever I can to change. Say I’ve got a chance.’

  Jess held her stomach, stilling the migration of butterflies to her chest. ‘No.’

  Alex lowered his head. ‘No?’

  ‘I don’t want you to change a bit,’ Jess whispered, tears filling her eyes. ‘I love you just the way you are.’

  He dropped to his knees. ‘Gawd, Jess. I can’t believe this. You. Us. How can I be so lucky?’

  ‘What are you doing?’

  ‘I’m asking you to wear this ring for me,’ he said slowly, slipping the pink diamond solitaire onto the ring finger of her left hand.

  ‘As what?’ she asked cautiously, staring at the ring he’d given her over a week ago as a ruse to fool the world into thinking she was his bride.

  Was he still fooling everyone? Including her?

  ‘As the woman who has touched my soul. Captured my heart. As my bride-to-be. Will you consider marrying me?’

  ‘Maybe,’ she said softly.

  It wasn’t about changing him. It was about finding him beneath the layers he’d built to survive his family, survive in business, with his good looks and easy charm. ‘But I think we ought to get to know each other more.’

  ‘Every day.’ He looked up at her with his stormy blue eyes. ‘And I’ll do anything.’

  She pulled at his jacket. ‘Get off your knees and kiss me.’

  ‘I can do that.’ He stood up and swept her into his arms.

  ‘Lucas doesn’t like me,’ she whispered against his solid chest, her words stabbing through the joy of the moment. ‘He wanted me to find you and Natasha.’

  Alex rested his chin against her forehead. ‘He was protecting me. He didn’t realise just how much you mean to me.’

  She relaxed against him. She’d found the man she loved with all her heart and soul and he’d found the strength to be himself and not his father.

  Jess pulled back. ‘My father? How on earth will he take this news?’

  Alex swept her close again, looking down into her eyes and smiling. ‘He’ll be fine once he realises that you’ve found a man that’s going to love you for ever.’

  ‘For ever?’

  ‘For ever and always. I’m going to give you all the love you deserve, and then some,’ he said, claiming her mouth.

  She kissed him back with all the passion pumping through her body. There was justice in the world. Her enemy was as cute as a wonderful, caring person deserved to be.

  And he wasn’t her enemy any more. He was hers, to have and to hold and to love. For ever.

  EPILOGUE

  ‘I WISH her mother was here to see this day.’ Jess’s father raised his glass and smiled down at her and Alex. ‘She’d be as proud as I am that she’s found someone special to share her life with.’

  Jess swallowed hard, turning to Alex and holding his hand tighter, tears stinging her eyes. If her father had loved her mother anything like as much as she loved this man beside her she could understand his pain, understand his withdrawal, understand how he’d stopped living the moment she’d died.

  ‘I wish you both all the happiness in the world,’ her father said loudly, sipping champagne and beaming at her.

  ‘Thanks, Dad,’ she offered, smoothing out the white satin of her wedding gown, swallowing the ache in her throat.

  The whole day had been incredibly perfect—the church, their vows declaring their love for each other, and now the reception.

  Her father sat down amid cheers from the crowd around them, leaning close to her. ‘I can’t say what it means to me to finally see you happy.’

  Jess’s eyes stung. She had waited so long to hear those words…to know that he’d cared all along. Alex held out his hand to her father. ‘I’ll look after her.’

  Her father grasped Alex’s hand. ‘I know.’

  Jess’s chest filled with warmth at the depth of emotion in that handshake. It had taken her father a while to accept that she might have fallen for the man he’d resented for so long, but now all was forgiven. Business was business, and in the past. This was personal.

  She touched the wedding band on her finger, tracing the engagement ring beside it that Alex had given her that day to play his fiancée. Now here she was, surrounded by their friends and family, sitting next to her husband, with their life together just
starting.

  ‘Your mother looks happy…and your father came,’ Jess whispered to Alex, watching the burly man on the next table with a young blonde.

  ‘With yet another woman on his arm,’ Alex murmured, his voice deep. ‘Let’s go talk to the old guy.’

  Jess darted a look at Alex. ‘Why?’

  He stared into her face, pushing back a wisp of hair that had escaped her coiffeur. ‘To find out how many grandchildren he wants us to give him.’

  ‘The competition is over?’

  ‘Absolutely. I’m going to live my life now.’

  Jess leant towards him, staring into his adoring eyes. ‘With me?’

  ‘Only if you tell me how you feel about me,’ he said, his voice velvet-soft. ‘And you’ve got to be honest.’

  She brushed her lips over his, fighting a smile. He’d learnt a lot about honesty since they’d first met, and so had she.

  ‘Okay.’ Jess pulled back. ‘You’re a rich, arrogant, expensive-suit-wearing entrepreneur.’ She couldn’t help but smile at her husband. ‘But I really truly love you anyway.’

  ‘And I love you, Mrs Calahan.’ Alex laughed, claiming her mouth with a slow, sensuous kiss that made his bride’s lips hot and her body shiver.

  He couldn’t wait to escape the reception and start the honeymoon…start their life together, filled with love, with sharing and with family. Everything Jess had lost was everything he yearned to give her. Because they were the only things that truly mattered.

  ISBN: 978-1-4603-6660-8

  THE FIANCÉE CHARADE

  First North American Publication 2005.

  Copyright © 2004 by Debra D’Arcy.

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.