by Gina Wilkins
“A thousand dollars?” Cody whispered, staring at his partner as though he’d lost his mind. “Are you crazy?”
Dana suddenly laughed. “It would almost be worth saying yes just to watch Cody sweat for the rest of the evening. But the answer is still no.”
Cody watched her as she turned away again. The snug T-shirt and well-worn jeans fit her nicely, emphasizing her slender curves. Almost too slender, he noted. She could stand to gain a few pounds. Her hair was a rich auburn shot with copper, thick and invitingly soft looking. Her face was a delicate oval, her large green eyes her most striking feature.
He didn’t know what suddenly prompted him to speak. “You don’t think I’ll do it, do you? Well, tell you what-I’ll pay the thousand dollars, Dana. All you have to do to earn it is pretend to be engaged to me for a few days. And make my family believe it.”
Dana looked over her shoulder again, and her eyes met his. He wished he could read the expression in them. There seemed to be too many emotions to identify, some of them so strong that Cody was taken aback. There’d been times when he’d wondered if this woman had emotions. Now he realized that there was a great deal more to Dana Preston than she had allowed bim to see.
This fleeting glimpse made him all the more curious to find out who she was, what she was really like.
Almost immediately, Dana’s eyes grew shuttered, impenetrable. “I have to get ready for my shift now,” she said.
“Think about it,” Cody urged as she walked away.
She didn’t answer.
“Think she’ll do it?” Jake asked.
“I don’t know,” Cody said. “Maybe.”
For some reason, he had decided that Dana was exactly the woman he wanted-for the joke he planned on his family, of course, he clarified hastily. He certainly wasn’t interested in her for any other reason.
Dana’s head seemed to be spinning as she stashed her purse in her locker. Maybe that accounted for her uncharacteristic clumsiness. She dropped the purse, spilling its contents on the floor at her feet.
Muttering imprecations, she knelt to scoop up her belongings. Lipstick, key ring, breath mints, loose change. And a crumpled handful of envelopes she’d just picked up from the post office on her way to work. She hadn’t opened any of them yet, but she knew what they contained. Bills, most of them.
A thousand dollars would go a long way toward paying them.
She scowled and stuffed the purse into her locker, slamming the metal door closed with more force than necessary. Forget it, Dana.
Two other waitresses walked into the lounge at almost the same time, nineteen-year-old Kasey Lee and forty something Angela Hallbright, both wearing the standard uniform of Country Straight T-shirts and jeans. As always, Dana greeted them politely, a bit distantly. Though she liked a friendly working environment, she didn’t make friends with her co-workers. To be quite honest, she didn’t have time for friends right now.
Tying her tiny waitress apron around her waist, she reentered the restaurant and glanced across the large dining room, her gaze drawn involuntarily to the man behind the bar. Cody Carson. Golden haired, blue eyed, dimpled. In his red-and-black western shirt and black jeans, he looked like a cross between a long, lanky cowboy and a California lifeguard. The embodiment of a wide range of feminine fantasies.
Dana tried very hard not to have fantasies—particularly any that included a man like this one.
Dana wasn’t looking for a relationship, and even if she had been, Cody would have been all wrong for her. The guy was a heartbreak waiting to happen. Nothing good could come from an involvement between them, no matter how fleeting.
Even if it were only a charade for a practical joke, she reminded herself sternly.
The restaurant opened at five, just in time to welcome patrons looking for a break after a day at work. Nothing stronger than beer was served from the antique bar, and the menu wasn’t extensive or fancy—burgers and barbecue, mostly, with salads and grilled chicken dishes for diners who wanted something lighter.
Dana knew there’d been pessimistic predictions of an early bankruptcy when Cody and Jake had opened a couple of years ago. But the partners had proved those gloomy voices wrong. By providing a place where everyone could feel welcome, where conversation was as important as the food, where the customers could unwind, listen and dance to country music and spend time with their friends, Cody and Jake had hit upon the right combination.
Oh, she doubted they were getting rich. But they were making a good income, and they seemed content.
It was all she hoped to someday find for herself.
The first customers came in as soon as the door opened, making Dana suspect they’d been waiting outside on this Wednesday afternoon. They looked hot and tired and she knew exactly what they needed. She greeted them with a smile and an offer to bring them something cold to drink while they looked over the menu, an offer they accepted gratefully.
Dana was very good at her job.
It was a busy evening. Dana soon found herself almost running from table to table. She pocketed a dollar tip from a five-dollar drink bill, and she couldn’t help thinking that she would have to serve a hell of a lot of drinks to earn a thousand dollars in tips.
Cody, Jake and a woman named Caroline rotated as bartenders during the week. Tonight, Cody was doing the honors, filling mugs with foaming beer, pouring sparkling waters and assorted juices and soft drinks. As usual, he talked almost as hard as he worked. Few customers came into the place without stopping by to swap jokes and lies with Cody.
He was leaning on the counter, telling a wildly improbable golf story, when Dana approached an hour or so after opening.
“I’ll tell you the rest in a minute,” he promised the prominent doctor with whom he’d been talking.
“Take your time,” Dr. Bakerman said dryly. “I’m sure the story only gets better with age.”
Chuckling, Cody turned to Dana. “What do you need?”
“One light beer, two diet colas and an iced tea.”
“Coming right up,” he said cheerfully.
A moment later, he slid the tray across the bar to Dana. He held on when she would have immediately scooped it up and carried it away. She lifted an eyebrow. “What’s the problem?”
“No problem,” he assured her. “I just wondered if you’ve been thinking about the gag.”
“I thought we’d already settled that.”
He shook his head. The stained-glass light fixtures above him streaked his thick golden hair with intriguing highlights, displayed to perfection the lean planes of his tanned face, added intriguing shadows to his devilish dimples. Dana tightened her grip on the tray as he spoke.
“This could be a lot of fun, Dana. And I’ll make it worth your while.”
She hardened herself against the warm entreaty in his eyes. She’d almost forgotten for a moment that he wanted something from her, and he was willing to pay for it. He wasn’t the first to make a similar offer. She didn’t find it any more flattering this time.
“I’m really busy, Cody. I have to get these drinks to table four and take food orders from table six.”
He obligingly released the tray. “Maybe you don’t really think you could pull it off,” he needled her.
She walked away without responding.
It was after eight when the call came for Dana. She was already tired, though she hid her fatigue from the customers behind airy banter as she served their food and drinks. Taking college classes in the mornings and working nights at the club, followed by late hours of studying, was exacting a heavy toll from her. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d managed a full eight hours of sleep.
“Telephone for you, Dana,” Angela said, appearing at her side with an order pad in hand. “I’ll take care of this table—you go ahead.”
“Thank you.” Dana went into the back to take the call.
“Dana?” a young voice said eagerly as soon as she answered. “It’s me. Andy.”
&nbs
p; Dana’s weariness vanished immediately. “Hi. What’s up?”
“I won first prize on my school math project. I know you’re working and you can’t talk long, but I thought you might want to know, since you helped me so much with it.”
“Andy, I’m so proud of you! I didn’t help you that much. You did it mostly on your own. Thank you for calling to tell me your good news. I’ll have a special treat for you when I come to visit this weekend.”
“That’s okay,” her ten-year-old half brother said, sounding a bit embarrassed. “You don’t have to do that.”
“No,” she agreed with a smile. “But I will, anyway. You deserve a reward for working so hard. I know your mom must be thrilled.”
The boy hesitated only a moment before saying, “Yeah. She seemed pleased.”
Dana bit her lip. “Bad day?” she asked, trying to sound casual.
“Yeah. She’s not feeling so good today.”
“I’m sure your good news made her feel better.”
“Maybe. She smiled real big when I told her.”
“I bet she did. I’m smiling, too.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“I’d better let you go. Mom told me not to keep you long.”
“You call me anytime you want, okay? And I’ll see you in a few days.”
“Okay. Love you, Dana.”
“Love you, too, sweetie.” She hung up the phone with a lump in her throat and a familiar moistness in her eyes. For a moment, she was almost overwhelmed with emotionslove, pride, worry. Fear.
He was so young, she thought sadly. So vulnerable. She couldn’t bear the thought of what he had to face soonwhat they both had to face. And she simply couldn’t accept the very real possibility that she would be losing Andy as well as the stepmother she had grown so fond of.
A burst of laughter from the dining room reminded her that she had a job to do. With a weary sigh, she straightened and smoothed her apron, telling herself she would think about her personal problems later, in the privacy of her tiny apartment.
She had just stepped back into the main room when it occurred to her that a possible solution to one of her problems had already been presented that evening, quite by coincidence.
Her eyes widened. One hand rose to cover her mouth as her heart began to thud. Why hadn’t she thought of this sooner?
And then she shook her head. No, she told herself firmly. It wouldn’t work. It was a crazy idea, just as she’d told Jake when he had proposed it for another reason altogether.
But even as she tried to talk herself out of it, she found herself wondering why she hadn’t come up with it herself.
A fake engagement. It’s perfect, Dana.
“It’s insane,” she muttered aloud. “I’d never get away with it.”
“Dana?” Kasey Lee spoke curiously, passing her with a heavy tray of food in her hands. “You okay?”
“Hmm? Oh, yes, I’m fine, Kasey.”
“You look sort of funny.”
Dana pushed a trembling hand through her hair. “Just tired, I guess. Is that the order for table six?”
“Yeah. Table four’s getting impatient. Can you take care of them?”
“I’m on my way.”
Dana hurried toward table four, her thoughts lingering on the wild idea Jake had inspired in her. Even as she politely jotted down food orders from the couple at table four, she found herself glancing surreptitiously toward the goldenhaired cowboy behind the bar.
“I’ll make it worth your while,” Cody had told her enticingly.
He couldn’t have known that the only payment she needed had nothing to do with money-not even the thousand dollars his partner had impulsively offered her.
It just might work, she thought tentatively. If Cody would go along with it, it just might work.
Now if only she could find the nerve to ask.
Chapter Two
A half hour after the restaurant closed, Cody was in the office, staring blindly at paperwork and thinking about Dana. He’d been thinking about Dana quite a bit latelyeven before Jake’s crazy idea about having her pose as Cody’s fiancée as a practical joke on the Carson family.
Part of his reluctant fascination with her probably had to do with her being such a mystery to him. She’d come to the club with few references and little personal history. Cody and Jake had hired her because she’d made a favorable first impression, and because she’d offered to work cheap.
She’d explained that she was working her way through an education degree at Percy Teacher’s College, and needed an evening job to help finance her schooling. Since they’d been relatively new in business then and still uncertain of their earning potential, they had hired her immediately.
The club had done well enough since then that they’d given her two raises. Cody suspected that Dana was part of the reason for the club’s success. The customers liked her. She was efficient, courteous, quietly competent. When approached with personal overtures, she rebuffed them politely, good-naturedly—but always firmly.
Cody still found her attractive, and even though he’d long since abandoned any thought of an intimate involvement with her, he was intensely curious about her. Where did she go when she wasn’t working or attending classes? Who did she spend her leisure time with? Who had hurt her so badly that she held everyone at arm’s length now—or was that the reason she did so?
Especially during the past few weeks, he had begun to suspect that something had been preying heavily on her. Even when she smiled, as she so often did in the performance of her job, there had been a growing sadness in her eyes that had bothered him. Jake had commented on it, though neither of them had presumed to ask her personal questions.
Cody wouldn’t exactly call Dana a friend. She annoyed him a bit too often for him to term their relationship friendly. It irked him that she always seemed ready, even eager, to believe the worst of him. He knew his weaknesses, and his failings, but he paid his taxes, took care of his employees and tried never to deliberately hurt anyone.
Maybe his way of working was different from Dana’s, more laid back. And maybe he didn’t regard life with the same seriousness that she did—but that didn’t mean she should treat him with such cool disdain. Who did she think she was, anyway?
A tap on the office door made him look up, distracted from his thoughts. “Come in.”
As though he’d summoned her only by thinking of her, Dana stepped into the office. She was still wearing her apron, wringing it nervously between her hands. She looked tired, worried and…something else. Embarrassed? But why?
“What is it?” he asked, hoping she wasn’t there to lecture him about the evils of practical jokes. He could accept her refusal to help him with it—expected her to do so, in fact—but he’d be damned if he’d let her tell him what he should or shouldn’t do with his own family.
“I’ve, um, been thinking about your offer,” she said.
“You know—for me to act as your fiancee for a couple of days as a practical joke?”
“I remember the conversation,” Cody said dryly.
She nodded, her cheeks a bit pink. “Yeah. Well, anyway, I might be willing to go along with you. If you’re still interested, of course.”
For a price. She didn’t actually say the words, but they seemed to hang in the air.
Thinking of the thousand dollars Jake had rashly offered her, Cody mentally gulped at the thought of the money he really couldn’t afford to spend frivolously. Funny. He wouldn’t have thought Dana was the type who’d do anything for cash.
But he had gone along with Jake’s offer, and he wouldn’t go back on his word now. “I’ll pay you the money,” he assured her.
Her chin lifted in obvious pride. Her flush deepened. “I don’t want your money,” she told him coolly. “Please don’t mention it again.”
Startled, Cody blinked. “Then what do you want?”
“A return favor—something very much along the lines of the favor you’v
e asked me,” she explained. “I want you to pretend to be my fiance this weekend for my family. I’m expected for the long Labor Day weekend—and I’d like for you to go with me.”
Cody searched her face again, looking for a sign of humor in her eyes. Finding none. “Is this another practical joke?” he asked, thinking she was awfully grim about it if it was.
Again, she shook her head, her cinnamon hair swaying around her jawline. “Not-not exactly. No one can know we aren’t really engaged. I want them to believe that we’re perfect for each other, that we’re genuinely committed. Can you do that? Will you do it?”
Piqued at what sounded like doubt in his acting abilities, Cody almost repeated adamantly that he could pull off any role she gave him—but he wasn’t so sure he wanted to.
“What game is this?” he asked warily. “Is someone going to be hurt by this?”
“No one will be hurt,” she assured him quickly. “Just the opposite, in fact. I promise, I’ll tell you all the details when you need to know them. If you’ll go along with me on this, I’ll do whatever you want to pull off your big joke on your family.”
Cody liked the sound of her offering to do anything he wanted. He was still more than a bit concerned about her counterproposal, though. She looked so damned serious about it.
Cody wasn’t comfortable when anyone depended on him too much for help. He was a self-admitted clown, a joker by nature. Lots of fun to be around, but not one to come through in a crunch, he reminded himself with a touch of old regret. He’d let too many people down over the years.
He started to tell Dana not to look at him so hopefully, that he would only disappoint her—but something held him back.
Maybe it was the sadness he saw in her eyes again.
When his silence had stretched too long, Dana sighed and started to turn away. “Never mind. It was a stupid idea, anyway.”
“Okay,” Cody heard himself saying. “What, exactly, do you want me to do?”
Dana stumbled, then quickly righted herself as she turned to face him again. “You’ll do it?”