Love Connection

by Crimson Romance

  “Here’s something you may be interested in. You know the wedding I went to on Saturday?”

  “Yes, of course. The reason you couldn’t meet us for dinner with the Carlisles.”

  “The bride was Lily’s best friend, Carly Piper from that Around the World in Thirteen Cakes show you pretend you only watch because the housekeeper DVRs it.”

  Her eyes lit up with interest. Mother had an unhealthy obsession with The Cuisine Network, an interesting choice for someone who rarely ate anything substantial.

  “Carly Piper? I adore her and that handsome man who does the show with her. I saw their engagement episode when they were in Paris. Very romantic.”

  “Maybe I can get an autograph for you.”

  “Don’t be silly.” She snapped her fingers. “You should see if they still make wedding cakes when you get engaged. Their work is phenomenal.”

  Years of practice made it possible for him to refrain from rolling his eyes. “Okay, Mother, I’ll do just that.”

  Ford checked his watch. “I need to run.” He leaned over and kissed her temple before leaving. “Nice to see you.”

  “You too, dear.” She was already waving to a friend across the dining room when he reached the door.

  Chapter Four

  Later that evening, Ford sank into the plush cushions of Lily’s sofa and sipped his wine as he lazily pushed the little golden elephant he’d given her across the end table, looking right at home. After working and sitting in the planning meeting for her new nonprofit organization all day, she was ready for a break, and he was definitely easy on the eyes. They’d made a lot of progress at the board meeting, and she was finally catching up, but wondering what was going on with Ford made it hard to relax and catch her breath. When he’d asked to meet her, it sounded urgent. Now that he was here, it could’ve been any other evening. Either he wasn’t as concerned about whatever it was as he’d let on, or he was much cooler under pressure than she’d realized. He was taking his time, checking out her apartment and sipping his wine. He’d given her the wine a month ago, a gorgeous pinot noir, and no matter how many times it happened, Lily wondered if she’d ever be comfortable accepting gifts from him. There was a lot she still didn’t know about Rutherford Buchanan Richardson, III—like what kind of family would hoist that name upon a little boy, continuing the family legacy or not.

  She set her own glass on the coffee table and joined him on the sofa. When he met her eye, she saw the tension she’d sensed earlier. Ford didn’t usually stay inside her apartment for long when they went out. Always the gentleman, he’d come up to collect her, but he’d never spent any significant amount of time in her home. She wasn’t sure if he was trying to keep things casual, or if he was uncomfortable being in her apartment under the watchful eyes of her late husband’s photographs and memories. Her space wasn’t one big shrine to Nathan, but there was definitely evidence of him.

  Had there been bad news for his campaign? Or was it something else? Was he breaking up with her? Could you break up with someone who wasn’t officially your girlfriend? What was going on?

  She glanced at the clock and stopped the runaway train of questions in her mind. If he was going to end their relationship or whatever it was, he needed to do it and get out so she could catch up on the backlog of shows waiting on her DVR. Downton Abbey wasn’t going to watch itself. Surprisingly, the thought of never seeing him again squeezed her heart a little. She’d miss him, miss what they had together, which was nothing, really, so she’d be fine. She’d just have to remind herself of that.

  “So, there was something you wanted to talk to me about?” She sounded lame even to her own ears, but the suspense was killing her.

  “Yes, and thank you for having me over. I thought it would be nice to have some privacy.” Ford shifted on the sofa and took a long sip of his wine. “This is really good, by the way.” He swirled the ruby liquid, keeping his eyes on the hand-blown glass she’d bought on a trip to Spain.

  “It should be. You gave it to me.”

  “Oh?” He laughed, a bit nervously. “I guess I have great taste in wine.” He put his glass down and ran his hands across his thighs, looking nervous. “I’ll definitely have to bring this one next time, too.”

  “That sounds great.” She pulled her feet under her, still uneasy but not quite so worried he was about to bolt now that they’d made vague plans for the future. The bigger question was why she cared one way or the other, but she’d tuck that away for later.

  “Did you get caught up on everything today? I know you had that important meeting with your board.”

  As pleased as she was that he’d remembered and asked, he wasn’t there to find out about how her emerging enterprise was coming along. “We did. Sure, it was an intense day, but we needed to buckle down and get things ironed out. I won’t let myself get that far behind again. Fortunately, for all of us, my dad is the most passionate person on the team, and he didn’t let the whole thing fall apart while I was busy with Carly’s wedding.”

  “That’s great. Can’t wait to see how things come together.” He cleared his throat and let his eyes wander around her apartment. Either he was interested in the décor, which was admittedly awesome, or Ford Richardson was nervous. “Listen, I have to talk to you about something, and it’s a bit awkward.” Finally. She wanted to shout at him to get on with it, but he looked like he might be sick.

  She reached out and covered his hand with hers, surprised to find that it was trembling. “What is it? Is everything okay?”

  He cleared his throat and angled his body to face her. She’d never seen him look so intense, not even during his impassioned stump speeches. Maybe he was seriously ill and didn’t know how to tell her. She picked her wine glass up and took a sip, willing the smooth liquid to calm her nerves.

  “I’m just going to lay it all out, just blurt it out, and then we’ll figure out where to go from there.” Once he got started, he didn’t seem quite so afraid to continue. The shaking stopped, and he squeezed her hand. “I need a wife, and I’d like it to be you.”

  Her wine threatened to come out her nose, but she managed to swallow before she set the glass down. “I’m sorry, but what? I think I misheard you.”

  “I know, it sounds crazy, and I’m sorry for springing it on you like that.”

  “Um, is this a joke, or are you horrible at proposing?” Her heart raced, but why? She wasn’t interested in marriage, was she? Not again, and not to Congressman Richardson, at least. Lily never even voted Republican, for Pete’s sake. Strange, then, that the idea was kind of appealing.

  He laughed, that rich, easy laugh that could turn her knees to jelly. “I’ve never proposed before. Are you saying that’s not how to do it?” His smile was charming; his eyes twinkled in the low light of her living room.

  Oddly enough, she wasn’t compelled to shimmy down the fire escape to the street below to avoid the explanation of this strange proposal. “No, I don’t think that’s how you do it.”

  The awkward tension fizzled out of the air between them with the light joke, but Ford’s eyes turned serious. “It sounds crazy, but I need a wife. Or at least a fiancée to present to the public. I don’t stand a chance of re-election without it, thanks to my opponent’s pandering to the lowest common denominator.”

  “Okay, want to explain that to the layperson?”

  “My opponent, Sam Coldwell, is pushing the family values angle so hard that voters are losing sight of the real issues facing our district and the country. I run on a conservative platform, and for better or worse, I’m seen as less of a viable Republican candidate since I’m single. My opponent, on the other hand, is happily married with an adorable child and one on the way, and he never hesitates to bring them to the voters’ attention. With everything else being equal, I can’t beat him on the family values front since I’m not married, and that could be the one thing that loses the election for me. So…” He spread his hands, as though helpless to change the situation.
r />   “So, what exactly are you saying?”

  “My advisory team provided a list of pre-screened women who were willing to enter a political marriage, and they want me to go through the group and choose one to be my wife.” He cringed. “It’s even worse saying it out loud. I know how horrible that sounds, believe me.”

  “Yeah, I’m not sure you do.” She shifted on the sofa, mind reeling from the idea of a political marriage. Her first marriage had been a dream come true, and it ended too soon. Though she’d never admitted to herself that the day would come that she would move on, some part of her knew she could, eventually. She always assumed it would be for love, though, nothing like this. Entertaining the idea of marriage wasn’t something she took lightly.

  “As much as I tried to convince them otherwise, the team is adamant that this is the only way. I don’t know that I would actually be able to follow through and marry one of those women. I’m not a robot. But I do need a public fiancée, at least until Election Day.”

  “And then what?”

  “Then we see what happens. If I win, there’ll have to be a serious discussion on how to move forward. If I lose, then you’ll be free to move on if you like. We don’t have to keep it up if you’d rather not.”

  “Me?”

  “I really hope so, Lily. I know I’m asking a lot of you, that we’re nowhere near ready for marriage, but I need help. I need you. I don’t want to pick a woman from the list.”

  “What exactly would I be agreeing to?” She couldn’t believe that the conversation hadn’t ended with her showing him the door already, but something made her want to hear the rest. Maybe she wasn’t quite ready for marriage yet, but she wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Ford. And a not-quite-real engagement was perfect for someone who wasn’t ready for a real marriage. She’d never considered the possibility that any man could replace her first husband, not in her heart, and not in her life. Ford wasn’t asking to take that place, though, and he knew it wasn’t going to be real. This might be the ideal solution.

  He smiled, clearly relieved that he hadn’t been turned down without another word. “First, thank you for hearing me out. The only thing worse than having to come to you with this crazy scheme would be for you to laugh me out of your home. I could hardly get through the conversation with my team, and I’ve been dreading having to ask you.” He sipped his wine and sat forward a bit as he explained. “We’ll need a public proposal. We can discuss that later, if you agree, but it’s got to be somewhere we’ll have an audience and photographers. After the proposal, we’ll make a formal announcement, so you’ll want to tell your friends and family rather than let them be surprised when they read about it online. This engagement can’t be a secret, and nobody can know that it’s for the campaign. I know that probably goes without saying, but if word gets out that you are simply playing the part, then I’d be ruined.” His blue eyes pleaded with her to acknowledge the gravity of the situation. “After that, you’ll just have to play the part of loving fiancée. I’ll need you to attend campaign stops with me, fundraisers, things like that. Pretty much the same events you’ve been coming to, but more of them, and with you taking a more active role. Also, you’d be more visible in the public eye, so if you’re, uh, seeing anyone else, I’d have ask you to end things.” They’d never even discussed whether or not their relationship was exclusive. This was crazy, but the idea was growing on her.

  “I’m not seeing anyone else, but my friends and family will think I’m a nutcase. I mean, people know that I’ve been dating you, but nobody thinks it’s serious.” It wasn’t serious, and it wasn’t going to be. Did he think they could simply pretend otherwise in front of other people and go back to normal behind closed doors?

  “We haven’t been incredibly open about the nature of our relationship, so I don’t think it’s inconceivable that things could be more serious behind the scenes than they seem, you know. The public will buy it without a thought, and your friends and family will probably go along with it if we show them that we’re a good match. I can visit with anyone who has concerns to show them that I’m a good guy, but you won’t be able to tell anyone that this is an arrangement. Not even Carly or your parents. Nobody. For all intents and purposes, this will be a real engagement as far as anyone knows. We’ll have a confidentiality agreement drawn up that I’ll need you to sign, but we’ll have a solid, believable story to tell people, so maybe it won’t be as bad as you think.”

  “Maybe.” Her parents would probably be happy to hear that she’d moved on, but her friends would likely think that she’d lost her damn mind. Pretending to suddenly be in love with Ford could prove to be exhausting, but it might be worth it. Friends were always trying to set her up with guys. At least that would stop.

  “If it makes it any easier, remember that I’ll be in D.C. when Congress is in session, and you’re welcome to stay here if you want a break from me and the campaign circus. We could easily say that work keeps you here. I’d love to have you come with me, too, though. I have a nice apartment close to the Hill, and I’m rarely there, so you could get some breathing space. We can see how it goes, and you might decide that you want some time away and alone.” And when she was home alone, she would truly be alone. There wouldn’t be any phone calls, video chats, sad emails. She could be completely, blissfully, alone. This could work.

  “So, if you don’t win the election, we just say goodbye?”

  “Not unless that’s what you really want. I’ve really enjoyed dating you, so I don’t think I’ll want to end things just because we don’t have to carry on with the engagement. I won’t hold you to it, though. We don’t have to get married, if that’s what’s worrying you.”

  “But if you do win, that’s the next step, right?” She wrung her hands in her lap, wondering if she was excited or frightened by the prospect. Probably a bit of both.

  He cut his eyes away from her, suddenly finding the Murano glass sculpture she’d bought in Italy very interesting. “That’s the only logical conclusion, but I would never ask you to compromise your personal values. If it comes down to it and you aren’t sure you can or want to marry me, we can certainly figure something out. Don’t feel pressured to decide about marriage until you’re ready. We can focus on the engagement, which is what I really need right now.”

  This was really happening. Her not-quite boyfriend was not-quite proposing, and she had a decision to make. Even without the confidentiality agreement, she couldn’t hash it out with Carly, not while her friend was in Paris on her honeymoon. Besides, even considering the staged engagement was too strange to actually admit to anyone. “So, if I say no, you and I will break up, and you’ll have to pick someone from your binder full of women?” Joking about it made it a little easier to handle.

  That earned her a smile. “Yes, unfortunately. I can’t add a cheating scandal onto my fake engagement, so you and I won’t be able to see each other anymore.”

  That shouldn’t bother her, but it did. She didn’t want to fall in love with Ford, but she certainly wasn’t ready to let him go. She’d enjoyed their superficial dating, each of them content to maintain the status quo and never pushing for more. An engagement, fake or not, was a huge step for a not-quite couple. Maybe too huge.

  She blew out a breath and leaned against the arm of the sofa. “I need to think about this.”

  “Of course.” He sat up, leaning forward so that she caught a hint of that sophisticated scent she’d come to enjoy so much.

  “When do you need an answer?”

  “I’d love to give you all the time you need, but I have to let the team know as soon as possible. We’ll need time to plan a proposal, if you agree. If not, I’ll have to move onto meeting the candidates. With so little time left to turn things around, I have to make my move soon.”

  She blew out a long breath, her cheeks puffing out. “Tell you what. Let me sleep on it, and I’ll have an answer for you tomorrow.” Given all the time in the world, she wouldn’t be able to decide if
this was brilliant or the stupidest idea ever. No need to draw it out too long.

  His eyes lit up, and she wondered again why she was even considering this crazy scheme, encouraging him when it was clearly ridiculous. It probably said a lot about her that she was willing to entertain a political engagement, but the idea of opening herself up for a real relationship was out of the question. Getting engaged to Ford at this point in their relationship was absurd, but it did seem like a great way to protect herself from getting hurt. No real commitment, no real pain. As she often did when things were tough, she looked to the framed picture of a handsome soldier sitting on the shelf of her bar next to the bottle of Jack Daniels that sat unopened, waiting for someone who was never coming home.

  • • •

  After tossing and turning all night, unable to sleep, Lily poured herself a glass of water and carried her laptop into the living room. The only way she’d be able to make her decision would be to hash it out with her best friend. She’d held off, thinking she could work it out on her own, because of Ford’s need for secrecy. Carly wouldn’t be checking email while on her honeymoon, but she’d feel better if she made the connection at least. Maybe writing out the message would make it clear, either that getting engaged was a good idea or that she had finally lost her mind. The more she thought about it, the more she wanted to say yes. If she could only talk it through, she’d know for sure what she wanted to do. Surely Carly could be trusted to keep the news to herself until they had a public engagement. She pulled her silky robe tighter around her body and settled on the floor in front of her coffee table. The screen lit up as she folded her long legs in front of her and sipped the ice-cold water. The handsome soldier smiled at her from his spot on the bar shelf, and her breath hitched.

  Lily had married PFC Nathan Price against her parents’ advice, right before she graduated from college, and spent one beautiful month as his wife before he deployed to Iraq. She’d sent him off to war, holding tight to his promise to return, and made do with emails, letters, and video chats while he was away. Less than eight months after their wedding, Nathan was killed by an IED while on a mission and Lily became a widow. At twenty-one.