by Alexia Adams
A full-on grin split his face at her use of the old nickname. Sunshine glinted off his ripe-wheat colored hair, and ten years evaporated in an instant. “Yeah, sorry about that. I guess if you show up with your arm around a woman who’s wearing a diamond big enough to put an eye out, people will leap to conclusions—the exercise of choice in this town.”
She raised an eyebrow at him while her heart did that odd flip-flop thing. How could she ever have forgotten how gorgeous he was? Or the way he once made her feel—like she was the most important woman in the world to him? “That accounts for Sheryl’s assumption, but not the fact that you didn’t deny it.”
“I wanted to see what if felt like to be engaged to you. We could have been, you know.”
“That’s the past, Erik. We can’t resurrect it.”
“Maybe it’s just dormant, waiting for the two of us to get back together.”
Analise doused the flame of hope that dared flicker to life in her chest. Hadn’t her heart taken enough of a beating in the last few months? She couldn’t let herself be deluded by the memory of a past romance. She’d moved on, become a different person. Undoubtedly, he had as well. Erik wasn’t hers, never really had been.
Although, if Erik had been her fiancé, he might not have put her life in danger time and again. And she wouldn’t be sitting here with a shrapnel wound in her leg and another man’s ring on her finger.
Erik took her hand in his again. His strong fingers massaged the back of her hand. She closed her eyes and let herself enjoy the gentle caress. It had to be the exhaustion and pain warping her judgment.
“Analise, will you pretend to be my fiancée while you’re here?”
The question startled her eyes open. She pulled her hand back. She should have known a man, even Erik, would want to use her for his own ends. “For what purpose?”
He ran a hand through his golden locks, making a curl fall boyishly across his forehead. Hadn’t she learned by now how deceiving looks could be? There was nothing boyish about Erik.
“Every time I speak with my mother or grandmother, they ask when I’m going to settle down and get married. I’m here for three weeks. If they ask even once a day, it’s going to drive me insane. We cared for each other once. I’m sure we can fake it now.”
“Have you stopped to consider that maybe I’ve told my grandfather all about my fiancé, and you’re not him?”
Erik stared into her face. “Have you?”
She closed her eyes again. She hadn’t even told her grandfather about the engagement. Her relationship with Jean-Claude had been complicated from the start. In her rational moments, she’d realized she’d mostly stayed with him because it was better than being alone.
She opened her eyes to see Erik’s gaze caressing her face, as though he couldn’t get enough of looking at her. Or maybe he was trying to find the girl she once was. That wasn’t going to happen either. Come on, Analise, get your mind back in the present. “No. But that’s not the point.”
“What is the point?” When he stared at her with those blue eyes, she had trouble remembering. Breaking his gaze, she kicked at a dandelion with her foot. The seeds fluttered away in the breeze as though they’d just been waiting for the chance to escape.
“Embarking on this charade is lying to our families.” She’d had enough of lies to last her a lifetime.
“It’s making our families happy for a brief time. It’s my grandparents’ sixty-fifth anniversary, and I don’t want questions about my perpetual bachelorhood to spoil their celebrations. You know how they worry. It’s just for a few weeks, while all the family is here. And I’m sure your grandfather would like to know that someone is looking after you. When we leave, we can wait a respectable time and then announce our breakup. Besides, there is another consideration.”
She loved Erik’s grandparents like they were her own. If she could do anything to make sure they had a fabulous family reunion … She couldn’t lie to herself, though. Three weeks pretending to be Erik’s fiancée was more temptation than she could resist. Her heart still equated Erik with happiness. And she sure could use some of that.
She cocked her head to the side and stared back at him. There was more to this story than Sheryl’s assumption, although he seemed to have run with that. If Erik had really wanted someone to pretend to be his fiancée, she was sure the list of willing candidates would have been a wheat field long. So why her? Especially after what had happened. He clearly had another ace up his sleeve. As a photographer, she could read body language, capture elusive emotions. Erik was hiding something.
Searching his face, she dared to ask, “What else?”
“Has your grandfather told you anything about his business?”
“No, why? I mean, I know he’s scaled back a bit and doesn’t have as many horses.”
Erik took a deep breath and let it out audibly. “He doesn’t have any horses, except that old gelding of yours. The stables are in serious financial difficulty. The bank is foreclosing on Monday.”
“What? Why didn’t he tell me any of this?”
Erik shrugged.
Her grandfather was a proud man and not one who told the world his worries. Closing her eyes, she ran a hand through her hair. “How much to pay off the bank?” She was afraid of the answer.
“Around a hundred thousand dollars.”
“A hundred thousand?”
Analise’s mind whirled. If she sold all her assets, including her apartment and portfolio, she might be able to scrape that amount together. There was no way she’d manage that by Monday, though. “It’ll kill my granddad to lose the stables, especially on top of losing Grandma.” She had to save her grandfather, to atone for all those she hadn’t been able to help.
“I have the money. I can go to the bank and make the transfer tomorrow,” Erik said.
“How do you know all this?”
“One of my cousins works for the municipality, another for the bank. Nothing is really private in a small town like this.”
Don’t I know it.
“So, I pretend to be your fiancée for a few weeks, and you settle my grandfather’s debts until I can pay you back?”
“Exactly. Will you do it?”
“Why are you doing this, Erik? What would you have done if I hadn’t decided to come back to Akureyri today? What if I had brought my fiancé with me?”
“You didn’t, so why worry about what hasn’t happened? Will you pretend to be engaged to me?”
“Can I think about it?” There was something he wasn’t telling. Some other reason he needed a fake fiancée. Could she still trust him?
He glanced over her shoulder before putting his hand to her face. Lowering his head, he took her lips in a kiss so gentle she wondered if she’d imagined it. She was used to her mouth being ravaged. Erik’s soft touch was like a taster, leaving her wanting more. The flicker of happiness grew a touch brighter.
He pulled back a fraction. “Enough time?” He nuzzled her ear, setting off a tingling sensation in her abdomen. “We’re being watched.”
Being watched was nothing new. The French government had let her go, but she was pretty sure they weren’t done screwing with her life. Evidently, Erik was now a hotshot lawyer. Having someone with legal knowledge could come in handy. This could work to her advantage, too.
“Well, I guess it will be all over town within minutes. And if I deny the engagement, it will lead to more questions.” Smile and nod and get out without telling them anything.
“Thank you, Analise. You don’t know how happy you’ve made me.”
Enough to make up for the way I left before? They couldn’t go back. But maybe they could part as friends this time. “Just don’t expect too much. I’m not the girl I used to be.”
“Neither of us are the people we used to be.” His phone rang. Glancing down, he gave a wry smile. “It’s my mother. That took longer than I expected.” He answered the call on the fifth ring.
Analise twirled her engagement rin
g on her finger as she half listened to the snippets of Erik’s mother’s tirade. Jean-Claude would have understood her decision. He’d been all about doing what needed to be done in the moment—and dealing with the fallout, emotional and otherwise, later.
Erik’s voice interrupted her musing. “It was supposed to be a surprise … Yes, Mom, we’re on our way … No, you’ll meet her in a few minutes. We just stopped to grab a coffee … Yes, I know you have coffee there. Listen, you won’t be too clingy, will you? My fiancée isn’t used to such a hands-on family. All right, we’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
He hung up and winked at her. “The show has begun. I guess we’d better go see our families now.”
“I suppose.” Analise had a terrible feeling this whole thing was going to turn into a right pain in the aperture.
“Do you mind if we see my family first? The farm is closer, and my mother might actually explode if she doesn’t see us soon. We can leave your vehicle here and go the rest of the way in my car. We’ll need the time to get our story straight.”
She hesitated, and Erik put his hand on her face again, running his thumb over her chapped lips with a feather-light touch.
“D’accord … okay.” She must’ve been tired; she tended to slip into French when exhausted. “I want to get a vinnaterta from the bakery for my grandfather before we go.”
“No problem.” Erik stood and waited for her. When she rose, he put his arm around her waist. Analise enjoyed the feeling of security. The air was filled with birds singing to each other, and a light breeze blew a gentle warmth against her skin. No bombs, no staccato gunfire. Just peace.
Well, and Erik.