Her Convenient Christmas Date

by Barbara Wallace

  The crowd applauded, and the deejay struck up a party song. Lewis waited until Susan stepped off the stage before sauntering toward her.

  “Now can we go home?” He already knew the answer, but he wanted to see her skin blush again when he made the suggestion.

  At the same time, Linus walked by. “Nice of you to join us,” he said, giving them both a look. “We’ll talk later, Susan.”

  Lewis looked back at her with a frown. “Are you in trouble?”

  “Nothing dire. Although you could have told me my bun was falling.”

  “Is it? I hadn’t noticed.” His hands settled on her hips, fingers splaying outward. “Everything seems in place to me.” He paused. “Oh. Now that you say something, it does look a little disheveled.” Dipping his head, he whispered. “As if you were snogging on the rooftop.”

  Score another blush. If he thought she’d agree, he’d drag her back to the rooftop for a repeat performance. Seeing as how they couldn’t, they’d have to find another way to fill the time. “Since we’re going to stay,” he said, “would you rather eat or dance?”

  As if to help his argument along, the deejay began to play a Christmas love song. Susan’s arms looped around his neck. “Dance,” she said.

  Good. Food was overrated.

  They did eat eventually and mingle, as well. He wished Susan could have seen herself from his vantage point. She was charming and funny as she moved from group to group. Not a shred of shrewishness or unlikability in sight. “For a wallflower, you are amazingly charismatic,” he told her later, while they were dancing. It was the end of the night, and the deejay was playing the last slow dance of the evening, or rather the fifth last slow dance as Lewis had slipped him a few bills to keep the songs coming.

  “If I was, it’s because I had a star on my shoulder,” Susan replied. She had her cheek against his lapel and her arms wrapped around his waist. They probably looked more like they were hugging than dancing. “You make me feel charismatic.”

  Nonsense. She was her own star. She didn’t need him to be anything. Someday she’d realize that.

  “People are leaving. I don’t suppose Linus will release you from duty.”

  “Afraid not,” she replied. “Even if I weren’t in the doghouse, I’m stuck here until the last employee leaves. Turns out that’s the tradition. Something Linus said I’d know if I hadn’t skipped out all the time.”

  “Any way we can convince all the employees to leave now? Pull a fire alarm or something?” He was dying to get her home so he could peel off that dress and share his good news. In that order.

  “I wish.” Letting out a long sigh, Susan burrowed closer. “Why don’t you just tell me your news now? You know you’re dying to, and I’m dying to hear it.”

  “Won’t be as fun though.” Still, she was right about him being eager to tell her. “Let’s sit down though.” It was the kind of news best told face-to-face.

  “Do you remember when Graham Montclark said he would vouch for my character if necessary?” he asked once they’d settled in at a nearby cocktail table. Susan nodded. “Turns out, he went ahead and vouched anyway.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “I got a call this morning from his network asking me to come in for a meeting. They’ve decided to add a new face to their game-coverage team and they think I’m the right face.”

  Slowly, Susan’s eyes widened as the meaning of his news settled over her. “Are you saying...?”

  “It worked.” Man, but it felt amazing to finally say the words out loud. “Our crazy plan worked!”

  CHAPTER TEN

  SUSAN LET HIS NEWS sink in. Lewis was going back to football. He would feel like he had a home again. “That’s...” It was a good thing. It was what he wanted. Rising from her chair, she threw her arms around his neck. “I’m so happy for you,” she whispered. Lewis was getting his dream.

  Meaning hers was over. With his mission accomplished, there was no more reason for their arrangement. Stupid her, telling him the affair could end with their agreement. Had she really thought she could sleep with Lewis and escape unscathed?

  “I couldn’t have done it without you,” he said. “You believed in me.”

  “No, it was all you. You’re the one who did the work and actually changed. All I did was help get the word out.”

  And now he didn’t need her. She blinked away the lump in her throat.

  “Look at me. I’m so happy, I’m getting teary,” she said wiping her eye. “We need to celebrate.”

  “That’s kind of the reason I wanted to go home.”

  Her heart twisted at the words. Wouldn’t be too many more times she’d hear him say them. Not now that he no longer needed her. “How about we settle for a toast in the meantime? Champagne for me, water for you. I’ll go get it.”

  Immediately he reached for her arm. “You don’t have to do that.”

  “I want to.” She needed the moment to shake the thoughts from her head. “This is your celebration. You sit and let me wait on you.”

  Pushing her lips into a smile, she scurried to the bar, choosing the one outside the ballroom so she could duck into the powder room and wipe her nose. Someday she’d get through an event without having to hide in the bathroom at some point, but not tonight.

  And, because the world really wanted to mock her, Ginger and Courtney were seated along with a few of the PAs at the table nearest the door to the restroom. Both of them shot a trademark smirk in her direction as she approached.

  Whatever. She didn’t have time for them.

  That is, until she was almost through the door. That’s when she heard Courtney.

  “Fake,” she said.

  Susan stopped in her tracks. Stepping behind the door, she leaned her ear close to the crack to listen, the nerves in her stomach doing a tap dance.

  It was probably nothing.

  “...heard her clear as day,” Courtney said. “She told Linus that the whole romance was a scam to get him some publicity.”

  “You mean they aren’t an item?” someone asked. “What about those pictures of them kissing?”

  “Totally for the camera,” Courtney said.

  Susan’s stomach felt like it had been punched. No wonder Courtney had smirked at her. She’d overheard everything. The witch had probably spent the whole party spreading the story to anyone who would listen.

  What was she going to do? Lewis was going to kill her.

  She found a different entrance and rushed back to the table. Lewis frowned upon seeing her. “Where’s your champagne? Did they cut you off?”

  The ballroom wasn’t the proper place for this discussion. There were too many people still gathered at the tables nearby. If they hadn’t heard the story, she didn’t want them to overhear anything now.

  “You know what?” she said. “Screw Linus. Let’s go home and celebrate properly.”

  Under any other circumstance, the way Lewis’s brown eyes lit up would have made her knees weak. “Are you sure?” he asked.

  “Definitely.” They’d talk when they got to her place.

  As it turned out, Lewis gave the driver directions for his place. That was fine. They could talk there, as well. She chewed the inside of her mouth while he pressed the combination on his apartment lock. It would be fine, she realized. Courtney could spread the rumor all over the company if she wanted. She and Lewis could always debunk it. Who would they believe—a known company gossip or the two of them? And even if they didn’t believe her and Lewis, it was only Collier’s. Wasn’t like anybody who worked there was going to alert the press.

  Yeah, she would tell Lewis and it would be fine.

  The first time she saw Lewis’s apartment, she’d joked that it looked like a set for a bachelor-life reality show. Lots of chrome and retro-style furniture and a hot tub with a view to rival the London Eye.
She thought that again as she dropped her wrap on the glass dining room table.

  Lewis stepped up behind her, his large hands curling around her shoulders. “Finally,” he murmured. “I’ve been waiting all night to get you back here.”

  Preoccupied or not, Susan’s eyes still rolled back at the growl in his throat. “Lewis, there’s something I need to...”

  His lips found the curve of her neck and those were the last words she said on the subject. It could wait until morning, she thought as her head fell back against his shoulder. There was still plenty of time to nip the gossip in the bud.

  * * *

  It was snowing when Lewis woke up. Big slow-falling flakes like the kind in TV movies. They blanketed the trees and parked cars with white. He pulled a nylon jacket over his running shirt and grabbed a knit cap. Running in the snow had always been a favorite pastime, even as a kid. While his teammates complained and moaned about working out in unseasonable weather, he embraced it. There was something strangely invigorating about cutting through the snowflakes. Besides, he could always count on the snow to clear his muddled head.

  This morning, his head was clear as a bell, but he had too much energy to sit still. Susan was still asleep, wrapped up in the covers. He smiled and for a second he considered waking her up instead of running. But there would be plenty of time later. It was going to take a lot more than a run to burn off his high.

  Other than the Youth Ambassador Event, Lewis couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this good about life. All the pieces of his goals were coming together. He was back in sports where he belonged, back on a team. And maybe now that he was back on top, he could convince Susan to continue their arrangement a little while longer.

  Being with her was as close to belonging as a man could get.

  After a few laps around the park, he made a quick stop for scones and a copy of the Looking Glass. The vendor sold Personal Magazine as well so he grabbed a copy of that too since Susan and he were scheduled to do that interview with the magazine later in the week. He was half tempted to cancel since the article wasn’t needed. On the other hand, he liked the idea of Susan gracing the pages of a national magazine. Letting the whole country see more of her uniqueness.

  That reminded him, he’d have to find a place for a Christmas tree. When he was done “waking up” Susan, he would ask her what she wanted to do for decorations.

  The bed was empty when he unlocked the door. Susan was in the bathroom. It was that last loop. He knew he should have cut it short. Oh, well. He’d give her a few moments of privacy, and then join her. The shower wasn’t built for two for nothing.

  As he kicked off his running shoes, he idly flipped through the paper where he’d dropped it on the kitchen island. It was the usual headlines. The prime minister was fighting with Parliament. One of the royal duchesses had made an appearance in an expensive designer coat. He turned to page six and froze when he saw the headline.

  Scam-pagne Lewis? Fans Duped by Publicity Stunt.

  What the...? This was not good. Not good at all. This was...

  He ran a hand over his mouth. This was a disaster. Quickly, he scanned the article. It detailed how he and Susan had conspired to improve his image and get publicity for Collier’s at the same time, even implying that he was paying Susan and that he was the same drunken playboy he’d always been. Half of it wasn’t true at all, and that mattered. Once a narrative was cast, it was near impossible to sway public opinion.

  This was going to ruin everything. Goodbye new career, new reputation. Men like Montclark would want nothing to do with him now.

  Snatching the paper in his fist, he stormed into the bedroom and thrust open the bathroom door. Susan was just stepping out of the shower. Upon his bursting in, she grabbed a towel.

  “What the heck, Lewis,” she snapped.

  “We’ve got a problem.” He held up the paper so she could see the headline.

  A curse escaped her lips. Taking the paper, she continued reading as she padded past him into the bedroom. Lewis followed, reaching the bed in time to hear her swear again.

  She’d turned pale. “I didn’t think it would make the papers,” she said in a low voice.

  “What are you talking about? Did you know something like this might happen?”

  “Not this.” She ran a hand through her curls, sending droplets of water across the comforter. “This is my fault,” she said. “I told Linus last night and Courtney overheard. I didn’t know she was there but at the end of the night I heard her and Ginger telling others. I’m not sure how it got in the paper though. One of the servers or bartenders must have heard her.”

  “Dammit. Didn’t we agree that we couldn’t tell anybody for this exact reason?”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Sorry wasn’t going to change the fact his reputation was ruined. Again. “Why would you tell Linus in the first place?”

  “I didn’t set out to,” she replied. “He was going on about some family-bonding trip and it came out. I didn’t know Courtney was there.”

  “Well, she was,” he snapped. “And now all of London knows.”

  “I’m sorry.” Her eyes were wet with tears.

  Blowing out a breath, Lewis got up and retrieved a bathrobe from his closet. He couldn’t have this conversation with her wrapped in a towel. She looked too vulnerable. The rational part of him knew it was an accident. That she hadn’t intentionally set out to ruin their plan, but he wasn’t ready to listen yet. Not when everything he wanted was tumbling out of reach. “I need to go for a run,” he said.

  “But you already went.”

  He looked down at his damp running clothes. “Another one. I need to clear my head.”

  “Don’t.” Her hand landed on his arm. Lewis turned around. His robe was oversize, the sleeves hanging several inches below her fingers. It was worse than seeing her in the towel.

  “It’s only one article,” she said.

  “Right now. You saw how the first one spread.” By tomorrow they would be dissecting it on the morning talk shows.

  The shrill sound of a phone ringing cut through the tension. “Yours,” he said.

  She rummaged through her bag. “It’s Thomas.”

  He’d heard about the article, no doubt. “You better take it.”

  “He can wait until we’re done talking.”

  “What more do we have to talk about? The damage is done.”

  “Not necessarily. We just need to get out ahead of things. We’ll tell people it was a vindictive ex-girlfriend or someone with a grudge. If we do it right, we can spin this in our favor.”

  “How, when it’s the truth? We aren’t a real couple.”

  Her lower lip started to quiver. Lewis had to look away.

  “We both said it that night in front of your apartment. A casual hookup that doesn’t mean anything. We aren’t some grand romance.”

  Why would she want to be with him now anyway? His chance at redemption was done. If he was untouchable before, because of his reputation, surely, he was doubly so now that the papers branded him a fraud.

  He couldn’t see bouncing back. Not this time. Might as well walk away from Susan too, and end everything in one cut.

  “You should go talk to your brother,” he said walking away. “Fix what you can.”

  * * *

  “What were you thinking?” Thomas asked. With the baby sleeping in the bassinet a few feet away, he kept his voice a whisper. That didn’t hide his frustration however. “A phony romance?”

  He paced back and forth in front of the ornate giant tree the decorators had installed in his living room as Susan watched his progress from the couch. “I knew something was odd from the start, but Linus convinced me that you were the real thing. I couldn’t believe when he told me last night. And now this?”

  He pointed to the paper that lay on the cush
ion next to her.

  “That,” Susan replied, “is not my fault. Gossip columnists have spies everywhere. All it takes for things to spiral out of control is for someone to overhear a single conversation.”

  “If I find out one of my employees leaked the information, they’re going to be out the door.”

  Susan kept quiet. As satisfying as it would be to toss Courtney and Ginger under the bus, she wouldn’t. If they were guilty, Thomas would find out easily enough and deal with the problem. Susan didn’t need to add fuel to the fire without proof.

  “What did you and Lewis think you were going to gain by doing this?” The question came from Rosalind who, until she spoke, had been sitting quietly next to the bassinet watching.

  “A new reputation,” Susan replied. Still pacing, Thomas let out a loud scoff. “He really is a different person,” she said. “About as far from Champagne Lewis as you can get. Only no one would believe him. Everyone was waiting for him to slip up.”

  “So to prove he was reliable, he decided to lie to the press. Fabulous.” Her brother rolled his eyes.

  “It’s called a contractual relationship and it’s done all the time by actors and athletes. Especially if they need a socially acceptable partner or have a project to promote. I wouldn’t be surprised if my mother’s had one.”

  “Oh, by all means, let’s copy your mother’s bad example.”

  “Thomas,” Rosalind admonished.

  “It’s all right,” Susan told her. Belinda certainly wasn’t the best role model. “My point is, this wasn’t some nutty scheme Lewis dreamed up. There’s precedence.”

  “Let us get this straight,” said Rosalind calmly. “You’re saying that Lewis needed to be seen with someone like you to look respectable?”

  “Precisely. I’m the complete opposite of the women people picture him dating. The idea was that being seen with me would prove he was no longer the same man. And he’s not.” Didn’t matter if he’d broken her heart a half hour ago. She would defend Lewis’s character until the end.