Harrison was very used to a particular, wide-eyed expression on women once he told them the reality of his financial situation yet that expression was nowhere to be found on Clarice’s beautiful face. She only stared at him, waiting for him to continue, seemingly unimpressed by his confession. He was so thrown by it, he almost lost his train of thought.
“I’m, uh... of course, as an only child, I’m in line to inherit his business empire once he retires, but he is a bit of a traditionalist, unfortunately and it has complicated things.”
“Traditionalist?”
“He refuses to pass on the empire to me if I’m single. I must be settled down with a wife and preferably a future heir before he will acknowledge my worth to touch his precious business holdings,” said Harrison with thick sarcasm. “He believes a man without a family is a ticking time-bomb waiting to explode in a fireworks display of debauchery and evil, you see.”
“Well, you do literally run a sex resort,” said Clarice. “If that’s not debauchery…”
“Hey, you’re supposed to be on my side,” joked Harrison. “Besides, he’s the one that owns the place.”
“I still don’t understand why you don’t just… get married,” shrugged Clarice. “If he wants you to have a family, why don’t you just do it? Seems like a reasonable request in exchange for a business empire, and I can’t believe a guy like you would have a problem finding a willing wife, or a permanent pretend wife, if that suits you better.”
Harrison made an ugly noise and rolled his eyes, he couldn’t help himself. “I’m not really the family type, love. I do literally run a sex resort, remember?” He shot back.
Clarice looked a bit angry but didn’t reply.
He sighed. “Apologies, it’s not you I’m upset with. I simply resent anyone trying to tell me how I should live my life. I’m sure you can relate in some small way. I haven’t given into my father’s demands yet because I don’t want to do it. I like my life the way it is and quite honestly, I don’t even care about whether he gives me his empire or not. As I said, I already have quite a bit of my own money.”
“Then what happened? Why the ruse? You should just be honest with him about what you want.”
He cleared his throat. “That would be the Sambuca’s fault. I, uh, that is, drunk Harrison decided he would try and pull a fast one on good ol’ dad and emailed him letting him know that I had finally found my loving wife, and was ready to take over the family business.”
Clarice started laughing, a clear bright tone that Harrison would have taken offense to if she hadn’t been completely right to mock him. “You drunk-emailed your way into this mess? That is a new one...”
“Yes, yes,” he said with a wave of his hand. “I know.”
“Did you think he was just going to transfer the business over after he read the email, or what?” she asked through her chuckles.
“I don’t think thinking was a part of my process,” said Harrison. “Anyway, now, as you can see, I need to make good on that email or else I could be in a world of permanent hurt, and that’s where you come in.”
“So you told your parents you had a woman and now they’re coming out to meet her, and you’re actually just sitting around holding your dick?”
“You’re very poetic, has anyone ever told you that?” said Harrison in a quiet voice, although he couldn’t help the smile that spread across his lips.
Clarice rolled her eyes. “The whole situation is pretty pathetic.”
“Yeah, well, it’s not the first pathetic problem I’ve ever had and I’m sure it won’t be the last. But it is one that you can help me with, and I sincerely wish you would.” He held out the closed ring box to her again, but she only glared at it.
“What’s in it for me?” she said. “Why should I help you? I barely know you, and what I do know about you is not exactly shining character qualities…”
Harrison put the ring back in his pocket and shrugged. “I’m the owner, remember? I’m rich, I’m classy, I’m dashing. You said yourself you’re not sure you were interested in what the resort had to offer you as a guest. I can offer you a different experience. I’ll give you a week of luxury and shower you with gifts that you can take back home with you. I’ll even pay you for your time. You’re going to be headed home from holiday a richer woman, and all you have to do is pretend to like me enough to marry me for the next few days.” He leaned close, covertly. “Plus, it will be exciting, like being a spy.”
Clarice was quiet for a moment after he stopped. “Better be a six figure paycheck,” she murmured. But there was a little glint in her eye that wasn’t there before. It excited him to think that she was actually considering it.
“Whatever you want,” said Harrison. “I have the means, and it’s certainly worth it to me to have you around. My father already thinks I’m a screw up, and I’ll not give him the satisfaction of knowing that I sent that email while drunk. That will only affirm his belief, and give him the idea that my intention is to try and trick him into giving me his money.”
“Aren’t you? I mean, that is what you’re suggesting, isn’t it?”
Harrison shook his head. “I’m his only heir. I know my father enough to know that he isn’t planning on leaving the money to charity or anything. He’s just looking to try and bend me to his will while he’s still alive, but when he dies, he’s going to leave everything to me regardless. I have enough money until then, I’m not looking to steal it from him while he lives. The worst that happens is that he sells this resort, and the rest of them, out of spite because he knows how much I like living here, and the belief that kicking me out of paradise will force me to finally settle down. Even if he sells it all, if he just trades it all for even more money, that will eventually come to me as well. So no, this isn’t about trying to fool him into giving me something that isn’t already coming. This is more about saving face.”
That seemed to give Clarice pause, but she still wasn’t completely sold.
“But then why me? There are a bevy of beautiful women on this island you could ask. Why did you pick me?”
Harrison licked his lips. “I need someone who is believable in this role. It wouldn’t do to introduce my uptight mother, who hates everywhere that isn’t England, to a wild, drunk, party girl from the States or Australia who can’t even keep a story straight. I need a woman with class, intelligence, poise. A woman worthy of carrying on the Moore name and providing an heir that will live up to my father’s expectations. I can see by the way you carry yourself that you have those qualities. You strike me as capable enough to handle yourself in the presence of high society.”
Clarice swallowed, and the skin of her cheeks looked beet red even in the dim light. “Geez, no pressure or anything.”
He laughed quietly. “I thought it was quite complimentary myself.”
“Give me a break, you know what I mean.”
“I did, but I must admit it’s a bit fun to tease you, love. What do you say? Sign on for the easiest week of work you’ll ever have in your life, whilst simultaneously saving me the embarrassment of losing another battle to Sambuca whilst proving my overbearing father right once again?”
Arms still folded, Clarice glanced out over the open, dark water, watching the light glinting on the horizon. In the distance the tiny square boxes of light coming from the passing cruise ships and ocean liners that were touring around the archipelago could be seen. The birds had quieted, but the soft night wind rustled the greenery, making an entirely different type of song. There was nothing quite like the night out here. Harrison hoped it would soften and sway Clarice in his direction.
She didn’t answer him, but instead stepped out with her bare feet into the tide and let it lap playfully at her ankles. He watched her beautiful form in the moonlight and was struck with the burning urge to walk up behind her and wrap his arms around her. She really was a stunningly gorgeous woman, a fitting match for a man of his stature. His father wouldn’t be able to deny that, at least.
>
She sighed and didn’t turn back to him as she spoke. “I’m not sure. This is all happening so fast, and it just feels unbalanced. I’m not really an impulsive woman… or, at least, I’m not anymore.” There was sadness in the way she trailed off.
Harrison nodded and took a few steps towards her. “I get that. How many proposals to be a pretend wife does a girl get nowadays anyway? Three? Four, tops? You have every right to be discerning.”
Clarice laughed that time, and it instantly broke some of the tension in the air. “I appreciate your honesty and that you’re willing to make it worth my time, but I’m just going to need to think about it for a bit, okay?”
Harrison sighed and came to stand next to her, the ocean water ran over his fancy shoes, which he ignored. “I understand, love. Take some time to think.” He pulled the ring box out of his pocket and handed it to her again. “Take this, too. Keep it as a down payment, to show you I’m serious. Your help is of utmost importance to me.”
Clarice looked more than a little shocked, but she took the box from him and grasped it in her palm.
“My father will be arriving tomorrow afternoon. I know it’s short notice, but if you could give me your answer before then, it will give me a chance to either get our plan into motion or throw myself off a cliff, depending on the outcome.” Harrison made sure he was smiling when she turned to look at him, to know he was kidding, or at least half kidding. Truthfully, his father might want to make it a homicide before he got the chance for suicide anyway.
“I’ll let you know,” she said. “How do I get in touch with you?”
He pulled a business card from his jacket pocket, one he had already scribbled his private number on. “I live here at the resort. I won’t be hard to find. Just call me and I’ll come running for you.”
Clarice looked at the card and nodded up at him. “I can’t promise you the answer you want. This is all pretty strange to me.”
Harrison nodded. “I get it, but you’re my only hope, Obi Wan.”
She laughed, and gave him a stern smile. “I’ll be in touch.” Clarice stood on her tip toes to plant a tiny kiss on his cheek before she turned, box and card in hand, back toward the rowdy patio.
8
Clarice
Clarice walked back towards the roaring patio party, shoes in one hand, ring box in the other, trying to comprehend what had just happened to her. Part of her wanted desperately to look back and see if Harrison was still watching her, standing on the beach like a handsome ghost, waiting for the night to swallow him back up. It was like a scene from a movie she should be watching all by herself in her apartment back in New York, instead of living it out here, sand between her toes, moonlight on her shoulders. But she didn’t want to give Harrison any false hope by turning back to look at him. She had no idea what she was going to do.
Still shoeless, she wandered back through the cacophony of eating and dancing people towards the table where the girls waited. The food had been served and the three had wasted no time in digging into the spicy prawn dish. Trudy spotted Clarice coming through the crowd, and immediately she perked up and stared as her friend returned.
All the girls stared at her silently as she pulled out her chair and sat down, waiting for her to say something.
“So?!” said Liz finally with a mouthful of food. “What the hell was that? Did he just want to show you his Long John Silver or what?”
Stressed as she was at the moment, Clarice couldn’t help but laugh at that, and neither could the others. “Something like that, I guess?”
“Well spill it, for hell’s sake!” said Sophie. “You can’t just take a walk with the owner of this place and expect us to…”
Clarice sighed and shook her head. She wanted to keep this from the girls—at least from Liz and Sophie, who just didn’t keep secrets like Trudy—but the weight of her talk with Harrison was far too much to carry on her own. She needed advice and help from her friends.
So she simply opened the ring box and plopped it in the middle of the table, Harrison’s business card tucked underneath, without a word.
All the girls froze, Sophie with a forkful of food raised half-way to her open mouth. Their eyes slowly widened as they absorbed the view of the huge carat diamond ring glittering under the light of the dancing tiki torches that surrounded the patio.
“Um,” said Liz.
“What. The hell. Is that,” said Trudy, pointing her finger hard at the ring.
“I’ve never seen a ring that big…” said Sophie in a breathless, envious whisper.
Clarice folded her arms and enjoyed the sight of all three of them being shocked and near speechless at the same time. It was almost worth the hassle of whatever dumb mistakes she was about to make because of the proposal. “So now that we’re all caught up, what say you help me with this little pickle?”
“All caught up? God I hate you sometimes,” said Trudy with only a hint of a smile. “Spill it, sister.”
“Did he give this to you?” asked Sophie. She was finally too overcome to help herself from scooping up the ring box and giving the jewelry a hard inspection.
“I knew you guys dragging me to this place was going to turn out weird,” protested Clarice. “There’s your proof,” she nodded toward the ring.
“What happened?” asked Liz.
“Harrison and I met this morning when I couldn’t find my way back to the suites, and he was… ridiculously charming,” said Clarice with a big breath. “So handsome. Anyway I had almost forgotten about it when he came over tonight. He took me out to the beach and pulled out this ring and asked me if I would marry him.”
The girls fell silent once again, until Sophie kicked Clarice’s shin under the table. “Shut your mouth.”
Clarice put up her hands. “Hey, shit, I surrender! It’s not like that, we barely know each other. He was just being a dramatic idiot. He needs my help and this is part of it.”
“Part of what?” asked Trudy.
“He wants me to pretend to be his fiancée for the week while his parents are visiting from
out of town,” said Clarice. “He said he’ll pay me, and I can keep the ring.”
The girls exchanged glances with each other, heavy with as much excitement as there was worry.
Trudy leaned across the table. “Seriously? This guy needs to pretend to have a wife? What’s his deal, is he gay and hasn’t told them yet?”
“Uh, no,” said Clarice with a laugh. “He is definitely into women. But he’s not the marrying type and his parents want him to be, so…”
“So he’s fooling them with an elaborate ruse, and you’re helping him?” asked Trudy.
Clarice felt a little redness flush across her cheeks. “Well, shit, when you say it like that, it sounds really stupid.”
“It is stupid,” said Liz. “This is definitely going to backfire.”
“But you get to keep the ring?” said Sophie, still twirling the box in her hands.
“Backfire how?” Clarice began to scoop herself up some of the dinner before it got too cold. “I’m leaving for New York as planned either way, and it’s not like they’re my parents. I’m never going to have to see them again.”
“Backfire for him, at least,” said Trudy.
“Again — so?” said Clarice with a shrug. “It’s his life to wreck.”
“Give me a break,” said Trudy with an eye roll. “Don’t try to act all hard and cold now like you’re some grift-master taking one last job before you quit. What’s going on, really?”
“I really told you,” said Clarice, but she was feeling the heat of her best friend’s interrogation, realizing maybe the tough act wasn’t for her girls but for herself. “He asked for my help, so I’m going to help him. I don’t really have anything to lose, do I?”
“It’s just so… not like you lately,” said Liz.
“Lately,” repeated Clarice with a pointed finger. “So not that strange.”
“Still strange enough,” said Trud
y.
Clarice took a big breath and let it out slowly as she stirred the meal around her plate. “Look, I don’t want you guys to feel bad, because you put so much work into this trip and into trying to make me feel better, but this place, what it’s about, I’m just not into it. Maybe I will be or would have been when I felt better, but I tried to meet up with a random guy here and it was just uncomfortable.”
Trudy’s face fell in such a way that Clarice felt her own heart crack under the weight of guilt.
“I’m happy to be here, don’t get me wrong,” she amended, “but Harrison noticed earlier that I wasn’t comfortable. So he wanted to offer me this job to help both me and himself, to give me something else to do while I’m here that will still be a fun adventure. Just not the same kind of fun you guys will be having. And I’m seriously considering taking it.”
The girls were quiet, and the noise of the party filled in the empty space. Everyone was getting drunker by the minute, and already plenty of people were making out and sitting in each other’s laps without a care of who was looking on to watch. From the grill came the loud sound of sizzling meats, and smoke plumed into the air, carrying its scent across the patio and onto the beach.
“This is a little bit crazy,” said Trudy finally.
“Yeah, so is this whole place,” replied Clarice with a smile. “You guys are the ones who wanted me to do something different, right? Try something to break me out of my rut and help me go home a new, adventurous woman?”
“Well yeah, but we thought that would just be a lot of good dick,” said Liz. “Not… not these romantic comedy shenanigans. What if you end up getting hurt?”
Clarice frowned. “Getting hurt how?”
Liz shrugged. “I don’t know, I’m not a psychic, but since when do plans ever go the way they’re supposed to? We’ve only been here like one day and look, already, at how our plans have exploded.”
“She’s not wrong,” agreed Trudy.
Clarice sighed. “C’mon you guys, when I’m worried you push me hard to keep going but when I want to keep going, you guys hit the brakes and try to pull me back. I’m not made of glass, you know. I know shit’s been rough for me the last few months—“
PRIDE: A Bad Boy and Amish Girl Romance (The Brody Bunch#1) Page 41