Chapter 5

Samantha

Were they really doing this?

As Samantha stared at Elizabeth, Josh’s mother, the question kept ramming her in the frontal lobe. There had to be something wrong with the center for reasoning in her brain because when Josh had told her this was the only way to frighten her in-laws off, she hadn’t told him he was insane. Had just asked him, “how high?” in response to his command of, “Jump.”

“You kept this all very hush-hush, didn’t you?” Elizabeth said, saccharine sweet.

Josh, dressed in an expensive suit, settled deeper into the high-backed sofa in his mother’s very formal salon. Though he held a fragile teacup, sans saucer, in his hand, he surprised Samantha by placing the other on her knee.

The gesture was surprisingly proprietary, and she felt herself flush when Elizabeth’s gimlet gaze focused on the innocuous as well as relatively innocent touch. From that look, however, Josh might as well have stuck his tongue down her throat.

She refused to think about why that thought had her cheeks blooming bright red with heat.

“Out of respect for Jamie’s memory,” Josh said simply.

Elizabeth surprised Samantha by sniffing, and the sound was scornful. “If you’d respected his memory, you wouldn’t have gone anywhere near his widow.” She raked Samantha with a disapproving glare. “And you wouldn’t have gone anywhere near his best friend. God only knows what Frank and Janice are going to say about this. I hope you realize the position you’ve placed me in, Joshua.”

“Because that’s all I ever consider, mother. How my life affects yours.”

Elizabeth turned pink and cut Samantha a look. She felt the older woman’s mortification, and though she didn’t like her, Samantha wished there was a way she could smooth over troubled waters.

But where women like her mother-in-law and Josh’s mother were concerned, there was no smoothing over.

It was impossible, she knew.

They were far too full of their own self-importance to appreciate being taken down a peg or two. Especially if that happened to occur in front of somebody they disliked, disapproved of, or thought was beneath them.

And, no matter what Samantha did, she was well aware she would never be good enough for the likes of Elizabeth and Janice.

Once upon a time she’d despaired over that. But then, having realized the kind of women they were, she figured as long as she was the direct opposite of them, she was doing a good job of living her life decently.

Like he hadn’t just humiliated his parent, Josh murmured, “We’re thinking of a spring wedding.”

Considering women like Elizabeth, who spent a fortune on facial fillers, did their level best not to frown, she’d done a lot of that since Josh and Samantha had arrived. At his words, though, her brow puckered in a way that would have distressed her cosmetic surgeon.

“So soon?” she exploded, apparently aghast at the prospect.

Josh snorted. “Hardly. It’s next year, after all.”

Elizabeth’s gaze dropped down to Samantha's stomach. “Is there a reason for the speed?”

Samantha felt her cheeks flame at the question. Even though she’d vowed to leave this in Josh’s hands, as thanks for him going to all this trouble on her behalf, she blurted out, “Of course not!”

“There has to be some reason for this haste,” Elizabeth grumbled with a sniff.

“We’re talking eight months away, mother. That’s hardly hasty in my opinion.” Josh managed to sound utterly unconcerned. How he did that, Samantha would never know.

The man’s poker face was beyond professional.

Though she supposed he took advantage of that in a business setting, in a personal one?

Fuck, was she destined to be surrounded by sociopaths?

“You know how people talk.”

“Of course I do. I saw you in action often enough as a child.”

The older woman’s eyes flared wide. This time, in anger. But before she could say a word in either defense or retaliation, Josh held up the hand he rested on Samantha’s knee. “I’m not here to fight,” he said gruffly. “I’m here to tell my mother some happy news.”

Considering the atmosphere was anything but happy, Samantha realized she’d found the answer to a lot of questions that had been bubbling away since Josh had come to pick her up this afternoon.

He’d told her to dress smartly for this, the breaking of their news to his parent, and the first step in their grand plan. In response to his request, she’d dug out the wardrobe full of clothes in the style Jamie had insisted she wore. But, though she was dressed more formally than usual, she’d kept it quite casual with a silky sweater and linen pants.

Yet, when he’d come to pick her up that afternoon, after she’d caught a glimpse of him, she’d found herself perplexed.

They were going to visit his mother, not heading for a meeting with an accountant. And his suit had seemed to indicate the latter rather than the former. His suit was a thousand times more formal than her simple outfit. Apparently, they had different opinions on what semi-formal meant.

The thrill of seeing him dressed like that, so smart, and she had to admit, so handsome, had been disconcerting. In all the time she’d known him, she’d recognized that he was an attractive man, but hadn’t been attracted to him because of the way he treated her, and, of course, Jamie.

Ever since she’d informed him of Jamie’s true nature, however, he’d done an about-face, and she was still reeling from the aftereffects of that.

But, though she’d been suspicious on the drive over to his mother’s apartment building, his suit made sense now. Having seen his relationship with his mother, she realized Josh would probably prefer to be having a consultation with his accountant.

For that matter, so would she.

Elizabeth cleared her throat, breaking into Samantha’s thoughts. “Well, I certainly hope you’ll be happy. No matter what you think, Josh, I do actually want what’s best for you.” For the third time, she sniffed. This time, it seemed to indicate she doubted Samantha was up to the job.

If she’d wanted the position, Samantha would have doubted it herself.

This was a false engagement, she reminded herself. That was all. Nothing more and certainly nothing less. There was no reason to read into anything, no need to worry if things were getting out of hand. This was simply about might.

Frank was rich. Josh was richer.

There was no getting around it. The bank balances told a tale of their own. But if there was one thing Jamie’s parents understood it was money and how to wield it. With Josh at her side, she knew she could make a powerful impression on her in-laws, one so unforgettable, they’d never question her right to have full custody over Erin.

She knew this solution wasn’t perfect. It brought with it its own perils, like the fact they were confirming the incorrect belief that she and Josh had been having an affair behind the scenes prior to Jamie’s death. But, in the face of it, if it got her in-laws to back off on the custody front, she could deal with the blow to her self-respect. She’d rupture it entirely if it meant keeping Erin safe.

The smile Elizabeth sent their way was most definitely false. As false as this engagement. Still, people didn’t have to like it for them to believe it. Frank and Janice included.

“I often wondered who would snare my boy,” Elizabeth said, her tone musing, but the gleam in her eyes said Samantha fell far short of her imaginings. “How did he propose?”

Samantha cleared her throat. The question was definitely for her, but it contradicted her wish to leave this conversation mostly in Josh’s hands. It was going to be quite obvious that he’d done most of the talking if she didn’t answer now, though. He squeezed her knee, and she was surprised by her own reaction to the comforting touch.

Or maybe she shouldn’t have been surprised.

After being married to Jamie for far too many years, a tender touch from the man in her life, even if he was only temporary, wasn’t something she was accustomed to.

At that moment, she realized she was like a sponge slurping up water after having been dehydrated. Her throat closed as the need to place her fingers on top of his filled her. She flushed, and wished away the strange need to connect with the man who had never liked her but was going to be her salvation.…

This was a charade, she reminded herself.

A lie.

“We were at dinner and he just dropped to his knee and asked me.” She kept it simple. There was no need to over embellish. The easier a lie was to remember, the fewer mistakes could be made. And she couldn’t afford to make any mistakes. Not with her child’s happiness on the line.

Elizabeth clucked her tongue. “Joshua is a handsome brute but he certainly isn’t a romantic. Still one can’t have everything, I suppose.” Elizabeth shot her a tight smile. “Let me see the ring.”

Swallowing, Samantha curled up her fingers. “I don’t have one yet.”

Elizabeth peered at them both. Quirking a brow, she murmured, “An unusual choice—unlike you to wait for a woman’s approval in anything, dear.”

“Samantha’s an unusual lady,” Josh murmured smoothly. “Why shouldn’t she have a say in what she’ll wear for the rest of her life?”

“How very caveman of you,” Elizabeth retorted. “Not very fashionable, dear.”

Though she was uneasy about what a ring represented, and truly didn’t intend for him to go to any further expense on this charade, she found she had to defend his choice. “I think it’s a beautiful sentiment,” Samantha murmured softly, meaning it.

“Well, you’re the one who has to wear it, I suppose, so your input would be better,” Elizabeth murmured. She pursed her lips before taking a dainty sip of coffee. “It’s short notice for the club.”

“It’s never short notice for me,” Josh said, and though the statement was arrogant, his tone wasn’t. He was stating the truth. No venue in New York, shit, probably the world, would turn down his business. That was just a fact.

Once upon a time, she'd have been in awe of that. Impressed at how he could maneuver through society.

But that would have been a long time ago now. She’d grown desensitized to wealth over her years with Jamie. Having learned what it could do, the doors it opened and closed, as well as the way it had trapped her in her untenable circumstances, she’d begun to view money as an evil.

Josh’s bank balance didn’t interest her, but from the taut tension in Elizabeth’s face, his mother definitely believed Samantha’s motives were centered in his wealth.

Which, though she didn’t particularly like him, was very unfair on his behalf.

Josh was an attractive man. Very attractive. Though she’d always seen that before, it was weird how she was noticing it more now. He had power, could hold a good conversation when he wasn’t being a jerk, had a charitable foundation he was actually interested in and took an active part in, and had a brilliant sense of humor if the laughter she remembered hearing coming from Jamie’s den when the pair hung out together was anything to go by.

Elizabeth was totally selling her son short if she thought a woman could only ever be interested in her son’s money.

Although, knowing the type of woman Elizabeth was, maybe it made sense. As a mother, most of her maternal interest was focused there. Why wouldn’t a potential wife’s be too?

That train of thought definitely saddened her.

Her father had been a jerk, but Samantha’s mother was a darling. Given a choice between any number of dollars and her mother, Samantha would always choose her mama. Because of her, she knew how to be a good parent. Knew her own worth too. And knew that her mother had always had her back—God rest her soul. Unlike Josh, who had several hundred millions padding his accounts, but an absent mom.

The rest of the conversation, and the meeting itself, was nothing more than a series of shots lobbed at one another. By the end, Samantha had a neck strain from moving her head from side to side. It was like watching a tennis match.

Samantha had always hated tennis.

When she thought about her relationship with her own mother she was relieved hers was nothing like Josh’s. When she had been with her mom, she could relax. Could find a strange sense of peace that came from being half-child again in the presence of adults.

God, she missed her.

Here, though, there was no peace for Josh.

He and Elizabeth were adversaries, fighting a war on a battlefield that had been established a long time ago. Probably long before Jamie and Josh had become such close friends.

When they finally escaped Elizabeth’s sleek penthouse, Samantha found herself split in two. She was relieved to be out of there, happy to be over that first hurdle, but she also felt sorry and saddened on Josh’s behalf.

That had not been a pleasant way to pass a few hours.

When they made it out of the apartments, entering the elevator that would take them to the garage floor, Josh didn’t say a word, just pulled out his phone and began texting somebody. In the mirrored box, she didn’t have to turn her head to study him, and though he’d never interested her before, she found herself watching the minutiae of his expression.

With his head bowed, the lights enhanced the gleam in his hair. He also looked more tanned, an impossibility considering how much time he spent indoors in his office building. A man like Josh didn’t get rich by sunbathing by the side of the pool. He just owned the pool, paid somebody to clean it, but probably barely used it.

Being rich and having stuff didn’t mean that stuff was always used. Her in-laws, for example, had several properties all over the States, and yet they never left New York. She didn’t understand the point of having several homes and not using them, but maybe that was proof of how bougie she was, and how she would never be on the same stratosphere as people like the Garretts.

As Josh read from his phone, she was quite charmed to see his lips move. The tell surprised her. She wondered what that meant.

Was he nervous?

Angry?

She supposed it didn’t really matter. Samantha intended to be around him long enough to fool her in-laws, but not long enough to learn such facts.

The elevator lights revealed other startling truths. Like how well his suit clung to his frame, lovingly sitting atop his body, without obscenely revealing his muscles. Save for now. His posture, and the lighting, helped her to see his belly beneath the cotton/silk blend of his shirt. Not only that, but she saw the faint lines either side of his eyes, as well as on his brow. He was only thirty-two, six years older than she was, but they were quite deep.

From stress?

He didn’t have a particularly mobile face, so she assumed so.

As the doors opened, his head shot up. She managed to avert her glance before he caught her staring, but when he saw his car idling outside the elevator, he murmured, “Ladies first.”

The chauffeur was there, waiting, and he opened the door for her. Josh rounded the back of the vehicle to climb in the other side.

As she settled into the plush interior, she felt it shrink with Josh’s presence. It grew even smaller when the driver sat behind the wheel.

Jamie had always gone without a driver. But then, he’d not driven sedate sedans. He preferred sports cars. Low, fast. Expensive.

“Thank you for this,” she said softly before his attention could fully revert to his phone, and as the chauffeur drove them out of the parking lot underneath his mother’s building.

“It’s the least I can do.”

And that was that.

He didn’t want her thanks. Didn’t need her gratitude.

Why? Because he felt guilty?

Because he felt like Jamie had deceived him?

Did the answers matter? She guessed not. Still, she truly appreciated what he was doing for her. Knew how much of his time they were taking up with this game they were playing.

She guessed she shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth though. Should just be thankful for small mercies…

So why was she irked by his lack of grace?

Samantha didn’t have the answer to that either, and wasn’t sure she’d ever find a response that would satisfy her. Because why she needed to feel satisfied was beyond explanation.