The Wedding Deal

by Duke, Regina

  “Understood.” Darcy answered equally softly. She knew she should move or step away or do something, but he was so close and so warm. And so darned handsome. “Are all the Garrison men good-looking?”

  Tony thought for a moment, then said, “No, no. I mean, you met Thor. What’s handsome about him?”

  Darcy laughed. “Do you really want me to list all the factors?”

  “No, please don’t,” said Tony. “I guess we’re attractive enough. That’s the best thing about being young, right?”

  “It certainly helps,” said Darcy softly. Then she cleared her throat. “I’d better go upstairs.”

  “Aren’t you forgetting something? We’re supposed to be getting phones.”

  “Whether we like it or not.” Darcy felt like her eyes were glued to him. “Let’s go then.” She didn’t move.

  “We could stay and discuss the factors that make you think I’m handsome,” he crooned.

  “Smarty pants.” Darcy broke the mood on purpose. She was dangerously close to agreeing to his plan. “You could at least turn off the magnetic attraction long enough for us to get to the car.”

  Tony showed some mercy. “Okay.” He deliberately backed up and let her pass by. “This shouldn’t take long, right?”

  But by the time they left the phone store, it was four o’clock. They returned to Tony’s room so he could program hers for her. Once that was done, Darcy said, “I’d better head back upstairs. See you at six.”

  Tony grinned. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” He walked her to the door, then watched as she entered the elevator.

  Darcy leaned against the elevator wall and murmured, “My, my, my. I guess Tony was right. You never do know what’s waiting around the corner.”

  * * *

  Tony closed the door and returned to his computer. He was filled with memories of Darcy, non-stop, and he marveled at her beauty. He wondered what was so urgent that her mother would track her down to Eagle’s Toe. He hoped it wasn’t serious. Read, medical. He cringed at the thought of Darcy having to deal with losing a parent.

  But on the other hand, the whole situation made him think. Poor Darcy had given up on her dreams because of power predators in Hollywood. That angered him. Maybe he could help her. He was looking forward to pretending to be her producer, but perhaps it didn’t have to be all make-believe. What did a producer do, anyway? What if her mother started asking questions?

  He opened his browser and started researching movie production and other related topics. When his eyes began to sting from looking at the screen, he closed the browser and checked his email again.

  The message from the countess was still there, poking at him like a sharp knife. He wanted to get that woman out of his life. He toyed with the idea of sending her necklace back via special messenger. But that would take more organization than he felt capable of at the moment.

  He shut down the computer and chose a beverage from the little fridge in the corner. His thoughts kept returning to Darcy. He closed his eyes while his mind ran a constant movie of her in his head.

  The ringing of the room phone jangled him out of the fantasy. He grabbed the handset to shut the phone up, then figured he better listen to whoever it was. It had to be a relative. No one else knew he was in Eagle’s Toe.

  “Hello?”

  “Yes? Yes? Is this Tony Garrison?” The thick French accent made him sit up straight.

  “Who is this?”

  “Oh, darling, it is me, the countess. Did you get my e-mail?”

  Tony was dumbstruck. “How did you find me?”

  “Other people…” Uzzer peepel. “…have cellphones, you backward-looking boy. I wanted to speak to you about my necklace. You have found it, n’est-ce pas?”

  “Oh yes, I found it. Do you realize what kind of trouble you could have gotten me into at customs? What if they’d chosen my bag to search? Because of you, I inadvertently lied to the customs official. What the heck?” Then he remembered his earlier suspicions. “Have you been in touch with my family? You better not be telling them that lie about being pregnant.”

  “Don’t worry, my darling. I am over the pregnancy game. I am not carrying a child. My husband has postponed having children for so long, I fear all my femaleness is drying up.”

  “You could have fooled me, running across the lobby with a pregnancy test in your hand.”

  “Oh, there were three other guests at the ski lodge who are acquainted with the count. They served their purpose. They immediately called him and told him I was pregnant with another man’s child. Unfortunately, my plan did not work. The count phoned me to say he would never divorce me. He said it would be a financial disaster to separate from my family’s money. So I must initiate the divorce myself.”

  “Why choose me as the patsy for your little game?”

  “Oh you do not need all the details, but I confess I do know some of your family, and they wanted you to come home and stop being, what do they call it? A ski bum? And my little charade sent you packing back to the USA. Too bad it didn’t work as well on the count. Now I will have to share some of my fortune with him in order to get out of the marriage. Since I knew you would fly straight home, I put my necklace in your suitcase, and now it is in America. And in a day or two, I will also be in America.”

  “What?!”

  “I am coming for my necklace. It is my back-up, how do you say? Egg in the nest?”

  “Nest egg,” Tony said automatically. “Wait. I don’t want you over here.”

  “Well, fortunately for me, I am a free woman and I have a valid passport, so I will see you soon to collect my necklace. Au revoir! Good-bye.” Click.

  Tony asked the universe, “Why me?”

  She was the last female on the planet he wanted to see again. He puzzled over her scheme for half an hour and finally decided that the conniving countess deserved some conniving back.

  CHAPTER TEN

  When Darcy returned to the suite, she peeked in on Lulamae and found her awake, reading her email and checking her investments. She looked very businesslike in her reading glasses with her laptop next to her on the duvet.

  “I’m fine, cherie. Just catching up on a few things. You should take a break before your mother arrives. You have about an hour.” She lifted a short glass filled with amber liquid.

  Darcy agreed. As she lay on her hotel bed, she wondered if Lulamae would remember their plan by dinner time. She seemed to be consuming an inordinate amount of alcohol, but it was hard for Darcy to judge, because she very seldom allowed herself an alcoholic beverage. Having their plan go wrong would be mortifying. Darcy didn’t want to deceive her mother. She just wanted to postpone disappointing her until she’d had enough time to do something she would be proud of.

  She dozed off on a cloud of doubt and dreamed she was a famous movie star. She was on the red carpet at the Academy Awards, but all the Oscars went to Lulamae for Best Supporting Actress and to Tony for producing the greatest film of the year. She wore a sequined blue gown and glittering glass slippers, and as she stood on the carpet, flanked by Lulamae and Tony, the celebrity host came running up to her. “There’s been an error,” he announced. “The Best Actress award goes to Darcy Summerlin, for her role as the deceitful daughter in Tony Garrison’s latest movie.”

  She shielded her eyes against the flashbulbs of the paparazzi, then realized it was the late afternoon sun that was flickering in her face. She woke up and immediately went to check on Lulamae in the other bedroom.

  Her employer was fine, as far as she could tell. Sleeping soundly. Darcy went back to her own room and turned on the weather channel. It was only five-thirty. She was fidgety and beginning to regret their plan. Would her mother believe her? She would have to be on guard every moment to make sure she didn’t give anything away. She wondered if it was really worth it. But all through college her mother had reminded her about her student debt and all the cash she’d received from home. As far as her mother was concerned, she’d already
been working on her career for the four years she was at school. Darcy felt a headache coming on.

  Nap time was over. She changed into clean jeans and a white tee shirt with red and pink hearts all over it, slipped her feet into her running shoes, and went out to the common room. She needed some caffeine.

  She settled for a Coke. Lulamae was due for half a pain pill soon, but that could wait until she woke up. Until then, Darcy decided to make a list of all the wonderful things she’d experience if she were really a movie star. She found paper and a pen in a drawer behind the bar and sat down to make out her list.

  She had just written down “shopping spree” when she heard Lulamae’s handbell tinkling. “Coming, ma’am.” She hustled to Lulamae’s bedside.

  “Oh cherie, if I’m going to be your agent, you mustn’t jump when I call. You have to remember, movie stars are generally divas.”

  Darcy sat on the edge of the bed. “That is too precious. Are you sure you want to go through with this?”

  “Of course, dear. We aren’t lying to your mother. We’re simply reassuring her.”

  “What will Mr. Franklin say when he finds out?”

  “I declare, he’ll be entertained, won’t he? Now be a dear and bring me some clean clothes from my suitcase. I’m headed for the ladies’ room.”

  “Do you have your cane?”

  “Yes. Don’t leave bed without it.” She lifted her purple-flowered cane in the air. “I’ll call you if I need help.”

  “Promise?”

  Lulamae crossed her heart.

  Someone knocked on the door. Darcy froze.

  “Don’t worry, cherie. That should be our supper trolley. Your mother agreed to come at six. You have fifteen minutes.”

  Darcy exhaled. “Okay. I’ll go answer the door.” She fought off an attack of nerves at the idea of having her mother show up early. But this should just be dinner arriving. So she was surprised to see Tony behind the waiter and the dinner trolley. Following Tony was a man loaded down with photography equipment.

  “Good afternoon, Miss Summerlin,” said Tony, obviously in character. “I’ve brought my photographer along to take some publicity shots.” He swept through the door, casting his gaze around the room.

  “My mother hasn’t arrived yet,” said Darcy. “Come in, I’m starved.”

  Tony relaxed and let his voice return to normal. “Just being careful.” He paused to tip the waiter, who did a double-take at the hundred dollar bill.

  “Thank you, sir!” He quick-stepped out the door.

  “Darcy, this is my cousin, Austin. He has a photography studio here in town. I thought it would be a nice touch.”

  “Definitely,” said Darcy, shaking Austin’s hand. “I hope you don’t mind being drawn into our little…” She searched for the word.

  “…charade,” said Tony. “Austin is cool. He thinks our motives are pure, keeping your mom from being prematurely disappointed.”

  Austin was still staring at Darcy. “Wow,” he said. “You sure do look like a movie star.”

  Darcy blushed. “Thank you, that’s very sweet.” Unable to think of anything else to say to Austin while he was staring at her, she turned to Tony. “Lulamae says we aren’t lying to my mother, just reassuring her.”

  Tony tapped Austin’s arm. “Dude, you’re staring.”

  Austin dropped his gaze. “Pretty.”

  “Yep, and you’re married.”

  Austin grinned.

  To Darcy, Tony said, “That’s exactly right. We’re reassuring her.”

  Austin wandered toward the dinner trolley, and Darcy sidled up to Tony. “I don’t usually go out of my way to deceive people. I hope you don’t think I’m awful for wanting my mother to think I’m a success.”

  “Don’t worry. And after all, there’s that little detail I shared with you that you’ve kept quiet about. And I am very grateful. I don’t want to have to explain my way out of that velvet bag in front of my relatives.” He gave her a gentle hug and whispered in her ear, “I’d rather be dancing.”

  Darcy didn’t have time to respond. Lulamae came out of her room, balancing carefully with her cane, just as someone else knocked on the door. Darcy answered it.

  “Mom! How did you ever figure out where I was?”

  Darcy’s mother was a head shorter than Darcy and round as a barrel. She had close cut salt-and-pepper hair. She was wearing a long pastel plaid shirt over faded “mom” jeans and Birkenstocks so old it was hard to tell what color they were. She threw her pudgy arms around her daughter.

  “You always tell me to go Google stuff,” she said, still hugging. “So I did.”

  Confused, Darcy asked, “How on Earth could Google know where I am?”

  Her mother released her and looked around expectantly, ignoring her question. Darcy introduced her. “Oh, Tony? Mr. Garrison? This is my mother, Sheila. Mom, this is…” She hesitated.

  Tony took over in his big producer voice. “Tony G, Mrs. S. Clever of you to track your daughter down, but if Warner Brothers finds out where we are, they might interfere. Darcy, baby, remember you’re committed to my next film.”

  “Yes, of course,” said Darcy. “And this is Lulamae.”

  “Her agent,” said Lulamae. “Don’t mind the cane. I had to beat the competition off with something, didn’t I?”

  “Competition?”

  Lulamae nodded. “All the agents in Hollywood practically.”

  “But you sound like you’re from the south,” objected Sheila.

  “I thought we covered that on the phone. People from all over the world flood into Hollywood with their dreams,” said Lulamae.

  “I guess so. Well, it’s nice to meet you. You, too, Mr. Garrison.”

  “Come have a seat, Mom. Dinner just arrived.”

  “Oh, I can’t eat. I need to talk to you alone, Darcy.”

  “Alone?” Darcy blinked at her. “Well, okay. Let’s go into my bedroom.” She pointed the way, then shrugged helplessly at Tony. “We’ll be back in a bit.”

  Once in the bedroom, her mother gushed, “I’m so proud of you! I should have known you were working on a movie. I guess I can stop worrying about your future now.”

  “I’m sorry I haven’t called in a while.”

  “In more than a month! But that’s okay. You’re here, preparing for a film. Have you signed a contract yet?”

  “Tony G and I shook on it,” said Darcy, cringing as the lie deepened. “Are you all right? How did you get here?”

  “I drove.”

  “All the way from Forest Hill?”

  Sheila nodded glumly. “Darcy, I hate to do this to you, dear, out of the blue and all, but I need a loan.”

  “What? Why? I mean, what happened?”

  Sheila perched on the edge of the bed and played with one of the pillows. “Last June, after school got out, I checked with Maggie—you remember her?”

  “Of course. The woman who owns the shop where you work in the summer.”

  “Well, she retired! No summer job. And then, the school called and said they had to lay off some teachers, and I was one of them. I didn’t want to tell you because you would have insisted on staying home to help out.”

  Darcy wasn’t sure about that. Hollywood was her way out. She’d been dreaming about it for years, all through college, and she barely went home long enough to pack her bags. Knowing that about herself only made her feel guiltier.

  “How much do you need?” Her ears were ringing and her mouth was dry.

  “I went through my savings already,” said Sheila. “And I’m too young for Social Security. On top of all that, the county reassessed the property values, and I couldn’t afford to pay my taxes. I’m afraid I’ll lose the house.”

  “Oh my God.” Darcy took a deep breath and wondered if now was the time to confess to her little game. Before she could speak, her mother continued.

  “Can you help me out, sweetheart? Five grand should do it until I find another job .”

  Darcy
thought she might throw up. “We haven’t made the movie yet.”

  “Won’t your producer advance you a little money?”

  Darcy’s eyebrows shot up. A little money? Five grand sounded like a whole lot!

  “Will that be enough?”

  “It will keep a roof over my head for a little while. If I solve that problem, I can concentrate on looking for work.”

  “Wait here.” Darcy kissed her mother on the forehead and returned to the living room.

  Tony and Lulamae looked up expectantly.

  Darcy went to the big sofa near the windows and sagged onto it. “My mother wants a loan,” she whispered. “She thinks I’m making money on this movie. What am I going to do? I don’t have five grand.”

  Lulamae said softly, “She’s having financial troubles?”

  “She lost her job, and she can’t pay her property taxes.”

  “Oh my.”

  “She must have maxed out her credit card to get here and stay at the hotel.” Darcy looked from Tony to Lulamae. One glance told her Austin was too busy with the view of the mountains to be listening in. “She’s waiting for me to go back in there and solve her problems, but all I can do is destroy her faith in me.”

  “Not necessarily,” said Tony. “After all, wouldn’t a movie producer front you some living expenses? Travel expenses?”

  Darcy chewed her bottom lip. “Would he?”

  Lulamae piped up, “Of course. And maybe your agent would, too.”

  Darcy looked woefully up at Tony. “What a mess. We should just come clean.”

  “Don’t be silly,” said Tony. He sat next to her and patted her knee. “If we tell her the truth now, we won’t have a decent way to loan her money.”

  “But where will I ever come up with five thousand dollars?”

  “A drop in the bucket,” said Tony, puffing up a bit, “when you’re a major movie mogul like me.” He put a finger to his lips and motioned for Darcy to fetch her mother. When they re-entered the room, he played the Hollywood type to the hilt.