by Gina Wilkins
Exasperated, Cody turned his head to look at her. “Surely there’s something you like to do just for fun. No one can work all the time.”
Cody, himself, had a passion for golf. When he wasn’t at the club, he could usually be found hanging out with his buddies at the golf course. He’d always considered it one of the few things he was really good at, frivolous as that one talent might be, since he’d never even attempted to turn it into a paying career. As far as he was concerned, doing so would have taken away from the pure pleasure of the game.
Dana didn’t seem to have a similar passion. She was quiet for a while, then she made a face and lifted one hand in a gesture of bewilderment.
“I guess I don’t have what you would call a hobby,” she admitted. “I used to play tennis in high school, but I haven’t held a racket in years. I like to read, but for the past few months I haven’t had time to read anything but college textbooks. I can’t remember the last movie I saw that wasn’t animated—I’ve seen a few of those on weekends with Andy.”
Which only reinforced Cody’s doubt that Dana should try to raise her little brother. Dana needed a life of her own, and she had little enough of that now.
Oh, sure, maybe if she had a husband.and, no, it wasn’t a sexist thought, he assured himself sanctimoniously. He simply meant that if she had someone to share the burden of child raising, it would be easier for her to pursue her own goals. But with that overachieving nature of hers, she was more likely to give up everything else to take care of Andy. What would that leave her after her brother had gone off on his own? No family of her own, no degree in the career she’d always wanted, no hobbies…He almost shuddered at the thought of the emptiness the boy would unintentionally leave behind.
Though he knew Dana would vehemently disagree, Cody still wondered if it wouldn’t be better for Andy to live with his other sister, the one who’d already established a home and a career.
“You, uh, aren’t dating anyone?” he asked without even realizing his thoughts had taken that turn.
Dana sighed. “If I were, would I have had to ask you to pretend to be my fiancé?” she asked logically.
“No,” he had to admit. “So you haven’t ever been, uh—?”
“Involved with anyone?” She looked disconcerted for a moment, but answered evenly enough. “There was someone once. Three years ago. Charming, funny, great looking. I was. infatuated with him for a while.”
Cody sensed that she’d been hurt. Though he knew it was none of his business, he couldn’t help asking, “What happened?”
“Nothing happened. I learned quickly enough that fun was the only serious word in his vocabulary. Turned out he didn’t believe in responsibilities, compromises-or commitments. When my family obligations got in the way of his ‘fun,’ he simply found someone else to play with. Anyone else would do.”
Cody winced at the underlying bitterness in the words—and the barbed innuendo. Was she suggesting that he was like the guy she’d once fancied? The guy she made sound so shallow and worthless? Was that why she’d been so cool to him from the beginning-because he reminded her of the man who’d hurt her?
Was she that far off the mark in her comparison? Cody scowled at the errant thought.
“Turn left at the next street,” Dana said abruptly. “Barbara’s house is the second on the right.”
Relieved to have a distraction from his sudden discomfort, Cody turned left.
He was a bit startled by the size of the house Dana pointed out as her stepmother’s. Dana always seemed so strapped for money-yet her stepmother’s house was a big, expensive-looking place in a decidedly upscale neighborhood. A circular driveway branched off to a three-car garage at the right of the house; the landscaping looked to have been professionally done.
“Nice place,” he commented.
“It was Barbara’s when she and Dad married,” Dana explained. “She received a sizable inheritance from her parents—they owned a profitable chain of department stores in the sixties. Though she’s never quite said so, I’ve suspected that her first husband married her for her money.”
Cody fought a brief, all-too-familiar battle between discreet silence and rampant curiosity. As it usually did with him, curiosity won. “If your stepmother is wealthy, why are you working at Country Straight to put yourself through college?” he asked bluntly.
Dana looked at him incredulously. “You really are as tactless as Jake says, aren’t you?”
He didn’t bother to disagree.
Dana sighed. “My father was a police officer who lived on a cop’s salary. He never touched Barbara’s money, for himself or for me. I suppose I inherited his independence. Since I’ve moved out, I’ve made my own way. Barbara’s illness has been very expensive, and anything left over after…afterward should go in trust for Andy’s education. Any other personal questions you want to ask before we go in?” she added a bit waspishly. “The balance of my checking account, maybe?”
He cleared his throat. “Sorry if I was out of line,” he said gruffly. “I was just curious.”
She nodded and opened her door. “Let’s go in,” she suggested. “We can come back out for the bags later.”
They climbed the four steps to the double front doors. Dana hesitated at the threshold.
She turned to Cody and took a deep breath. “If we’re going to do this,” she said, suddenly looking nervous, “we have to do it right. Barbara has to believe that we’re really in love, that we have a real commitment. If you don’t think you can do it, please say so now. Before we go in.”
Cody looked into her beseeching eyes and felt something twist inside him. What a position she’d put him into! Not only did he have to hide his own doubts about her plans for her little brother’s future, not only did he have to spend a weekend in a home with total strangers, one of whom was very ill, but she also expected him to pretend to be madly in love with her. To pretend he wanted to marry her.
He almost told her right then that he couldn’t do it. And then his gaze fell on her slightly unsteady lower lip. And he remembered the way she’d tasted, the way she’d felt in his arms. And he heard himself saying, “I can do it”
He immediately told himself that he meant only that he was a talented enough actor to handle the role she’d assigned him. He certainly didn’t intend to get carried away with the charade. He wouldn’t let himself forget that he wasn’t the type to make commitments. And he wouldn’t allow Dana to forget that he wasn’t the type of man to depend on in the long run.
She was probably right to compare him to her ex-boyfriend. Cody had let too many people down—himself included. He’d long since decided the best way to avoid hurting anyone in the future would be to make no promises, no guarantees.
If no one really expected him to come through for them, no one would be disappointed—or disillusioned—when he blew it.
He would get through this weekend somehow, no matter how difficult it would prove to be. And then, he told himself in determination, he was never going to allow his impulsiveness to get him into a weird situation like this again!
Chapter Four
Dana had just led Cody through the front door when her name was shouted with enthusiasm from somewhere above. Looking up, Cody spotted a boy at the top of a staircase leading up from the spacious, marble-floored entryway.
“Hi, Dana!” The boy pelted down the stairs, his shaggy red hair tousled around a Rockwell-cute freckled face. Obviously, this was Andy. The reason Cody was here.
Dana was at the foot of the stairs to catch her brother as he threw himself down the last three steps. Laughing, she hugged him tightly.
“It’s only been a couple of weeks since I was here last,”
she admonished him lovingly. “You act as though it’s been months.”
“It seems like a long time,” her little brother said ingenuously. “I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you, too,” Dana replied with a smile that made Cody’s chest go tight again.
/>
Oh, hell, he thought. How could I—or anyone—expect her to willingly walk away from a bond like this?
He was just grateful that it wouldn’t be his decision to make. He was here only for the weekend, and had he known all the details before he’d begun the trip, he wouldn’t even have come this far.
The boy noticed Cody then. Without self-consciousness, he pulled out of his sister’s arms and gave Cody a thorough once-over. “Hi,” he said. “I’m Andy. Mom said Dana was bringing a friend for the weekend. Are you her boyfriend?”
Cody gulped. Dana’s cheeks pinkened.
“Yes,” she said, looking at Cody as though daring him to argue. “Andy, this is Cody Carson. My boyfriend.”
“Yeah?” Andy cocked his head, studied Cody a moment longer, then shrugged. “Cool.”
He turned away. “Benji Nesterman fell off his bike and broke his arm,” he announced to his sister. “I got to be the first to sign his cast.”
Cody had been around his niece and nephew enough not to be overly surprised by Andy’s matter-of-fact acceptance of Cody’s presence. Dana chuckled and tousled her brother’s copper hair. “That’s quite an honor,” she teased him.
Andy grinned and nodded. “I drew a smiley face under my name. Did you ever break your arm, Cody?”
“Yeah,” Cody answered, unconsciously flexing his left arm. “My leg, too. In a car accident.”
He knew his light tone belied the horror of the memories. Nor was he inclined to elaborate on the single most devastating experience in his lifetime.
“Did you wear a cast?”
“From my wrist to my shoulder, and from my ankle to my hip,” Cody replied with a shrug. “There was room for everyone I knew to sign them. And they did.”
“Cool,” Andy pronounced, his all-purpose word apparently.
A stocky, gray-haired woman in a brightly-colored windsuit appeared at one end of the foyer. “I thought I heard your voice,” she said to Dana, smiling in welcome. “Your stepmom’s getting impatient to see you and meet your young man.” She glanced curiously at Cody as she spoke.
Dana greeted the woman with a warm hug, then turned to gesture toward Cody. “Cody Carson, this is Hilda DeWitt. She’s been with us a long time. I don’t know what we’d have done without her these past few months,” she added.
Cody assumed Hilda was a housekeeper. He responded to the introduction politely, rather amused that the woman was giving him the same thorough scrutiny that young Andy had only minutes before. Like Andy, she seemed to approve of what she saw.
“Miss Barbara is waiting for you,” she said, motioning toward the doorway behind her. “I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me. I’ll let you know when lunch is ready.”
“Thanks, Hilda.” Dana swallowed visibly, ran her hands down the legs of her slacks in a nervous gesture, then nodded toward Cody. “Ready to meet my stepmother?” she asked, her eyes searching his face.
Her display of nervousness fueled his own. One wrong move, he thought…one wrong word, and Dana would never forgive him.
One last time he wished he’d never agreed to this, had never listened to Jake’s crazy idea in the first place. But then he reminded himself of the pledge he’d made to Dana, and he nodded somewhat curtly. “Ready.”
She held out her hand to him, and he noticed that her fingers weren’t quite steady. “Let’s go, then.”
He took her hand. Leaving Andy with Hilda, Dana and Cody walked into a hallway lined with framed portraits. Cody noticed that several of them were of Dana at various ages; he would have liked to stop and examine them, but she tugged at his hand to keep him moving.
He made a mental note to study the photographs later during the weekend—just for curiosity, of course.
Dana paused in an open doorway. Looking past her, Cody saw that it led into a large bedroom decorated in rose and white frills and lace. A four-poster bed rested in the center of the ultrafeminine room. Propped against a mound of pillows lay a woman Cody knew must be Barbara Preston, Dana’s stepmother. At his first glance, he realized that Dana hadn’t exaggerated the extent of Barbara’s illness.
Barbara’s gaunt face brightened when she saw Dana. She smiled, and Cody saw that she had once been beautiful. He knew she wasn’t quite fifty, but her disease had aged her beyond her years, digging lines of pain into her pale skin, hollowing her cheeks and eye sockets.
“Dana,” she said, her voice weak but still musical. “I’m so happy to see you.”
Dana dropped Cody’s hand and rushed forward to hug her stepmother. “Hi, Mom,” she murmured as she drew back. “How are you feeling?”
“Not bad at all,” Barbara assured her.
Even Cody could see that she was lying.
Barbara was already looking at him, an eagerness in her eyes she made no effort to hide. “You must be Cody.”
He smiled and stepped forward. “Yes, ma’am. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Dana’s told me a lot about you.”
Barbara reached out to take his hand. Hers was cold, and so frail it almost broke Cody’s heart. He cradled it gently.
“She’s told me a lot about you, too,” she said, taking him completely by surprise with the archly teasing look that accompanied the words.
“Has she?” he murmured, glancing from Barbara to Dana.
“Oh, yes. From the day she started working for you and your partner, I always suspected Dana was more fond of you than she’d let me know.”
Dana shifted restlessly. Intrigued, Cody leaned closer to Barbara. “What makes you say that?” he asked encouragingly.
Still holding his hand, Barbara patted the bed beside her. Cody perched there gently, touched by her pleasure in meeting him.
“Why did I suspect that she was interested in you?” Barbara’s eyes suddenly filled with mischief that belied her obvious pain. “For one thing, when she first described you, she mentioned that you were very handsome, with thick blond hair, deep blue eyes and a wicked smile.”
“Um, Barbara,” Dana murmured, her cheeks suspiciously pink.
“She told me that you have a wonderful sense of humor and that you’re an excellent golfer. She told me you’ve lived in Percy a long time and that you’re very close to your family. And she told me that you’re good to your employees, always ready to lend a helping hand. I thought it was sweet that you changed Dana’s flat tire for her one night when it was pouring rain, even though she says she tried to talk you out of it. She said you got drenched. I knew from the way she talked that you were someone special.”
“Barbara, I’ve told you about all the people I work with,” Dana said hastily, carefully avoiding Cody’s quizzical eyes.
Barbara smiled gently at her stepdaughter. “Yes, I know. But there was something different in your voice when you talked of Cody. I always suspected you were especially fond of him—and I was right, wasn’t I?”
Cody swallowed a chuckle at the look on Dana’s face. He could tell her first instinct was to deny that she held any special feelings for him—and he, better than anyone, knew she didn’t. But Barbara was so eagerly waiting to hear Dana agree.
Dana had no choice but to smile and say, “Of course you were right, Barbara. Aren’t you always?”
Barbara laughed softly, and Cody understood Dana’s reluctance to disappoint the woman.
Barbara squeezed Cody’s hand. “I’m just so happy to hear that you’ve been dating. I’ve been so concerned about Dana. I’ve told her many times that she works too hard. I’ve worried about her being alone after…” Her voice faded.
Cody could have groaned at the expression in the woman’s eyes. He was torn between remorse at deceiving her and sympathy with Dana’s desire to assuage Barbara’s worry. “She won’t be alone,” he said quietly, reaching for Dana’s left hand.
Her eyes following the gesture, Barbara suddenly stiffened. “Is that…an engagement ring?” she asked in an excited whisper.
Dana and Cody exchanged a quick half guilty, half rueful glance.
>
It was Dana who answered. “Yes,” she said. “It is an engagement ring.”
It wasn’t a lie, Cody mused. It was an engagement ring. He and Dana just didn’t happen to be engaged.
But Barbara was blissfully unaware of that technicality. She caught her breath in delight and drew Dana down for a fervent hug. And then she reached for Cody.
Patting her thin, bony back, Cody shot Dana a look of reproach over her stepmother’s head for getting him into this painfully awkward situation.
She had the grace to look penitent.
Barbara’s eyes were filled with tears when she drew back. “I’m so happy for you.” She sniffed, reaching for the tissue Dana had quickly pulled from a nearby dispenser. “So relieved…”
She blew her nose, then managed a watery smile. “I knew something was up when you called to tell me Cody was coming with you this weekend,” she told Dana. “When did this happen?”
“Very recently,” Dana replied, looking determinedly away from Cody.
“My little girl’s getting married.” Barbara sighed. She laughed a bit self-consciously. “I suppose you think I’m being ridiculously sentimental, Cody.”
He smiled. “Not at all. My own family is obsessed with the topic of marriage. Especially this year. Both my sisters and my cousin have married within the past twelve months.”
“I want to hear all about your family,” Barbara assured him eagerly.
He agreed to tell her everything she wanted to know.
Looking a bit tired, she settled back against the pillows, holding Dana’s hand in her left, Cody’s in her right. “When are you planning to get married?” she asked.
“Um, we haven’t really set a date yet,” Dana hedged.
Barbara’s expression grew wistful. “I would so love to he there to see it for myself.”
A heavy silence fell between them. Barbara shook it off. “You can tell me all the details later. I’m sure you’d like to unpack before lunch. Dana, you’ll show Cody to his room?”
“Of course.” Dana kissed her stepmother’s cheek and stepped back. “Cody?”