Chapter Three
“No one knows where the leak came from, Jack. My bet is it was someone in Washington. But what’s most important right now is getting ahead of this story before it snowballs.”
Jack tried to keep his face neutral as, using Daisy’s charged phone, he listened to his campaign advisor explain how news of the governor’s resignation had somehow been leaked ahead of schedule, while Daisy studied him from across the room.
It had been a no-brainer after his conversation with the governor last week that Jack would call his dad’s old campaign manager, Stuart Windstrum, to help him make the transition to governor while also balancing the demands of an active and competitive campaign. Stuart was calculating, shrewd, and perceptive, all of which made his service still very much in demand even after all these years. The man was a genius. Something that would be of even greater value in light of this morning’s events.
Stuart had actually been trying to reach Jack since last night, but thanks to the dead cell phone now charging on the desk, he’d been unsuccessful. And because Jack and his daughter were in Tahoe and nowhere near the nexus of events in the capital, Stuart hadn’t thought the situation urgent enough for him to take extra measures to reach him.
At least…not in time to head off this morning’s catastrophe, which was now being run on various news channels and social media on a seemingly endless loop for the past hour.
To put it mildly, Stuart was not very happy. Not that Jack was that crazy about it, either.
The door of the study threw open and Daisy’s two youngest stood in the threshold, their faces excited.
“We’re on Channel Four, Mom!” the pigtailed girl said. Natalie, was it?
“Hold on, Stuart,” he said, cutting off Stuart’s next words.
“I asked you guys to turn off the television,” Daisy said, coming to her feet.
“We did. This was on Lily’s iPad.”
It was the third time in ten minutes the kids had burst into the room to share news of the latest network that had picked up the story, their excitement at their newfound celebrity understandable and, in ordinary circumstances, adorable. But the strained look on their mother’s pretty face said the news of their celebrity wasn’t met with similar excitement—not that he could blame her.
“Kids. Come on,” Daisy’s aunt said, coming up behind them, apology in her blue eyes. His introduction to Glenda came just after the news cameras arrived and had been rushed, at best. But it was clear the woman was tickled to death by the circumstances that brought their universes colliding. She had been more than happy to volunteer to watch the kids while he and Daisy found privacy in the study near the front of the home.
“Your mom and Mr. Harris—I mean…Lieutenant Govern—no,” Glenda said, pausing to scratch her head. “What do I call you? Soon-to-be Governor?” the older woman asked.
“Jack’s fine.”
“Maybe we can turn off all the televisions and computers and do something else,” Daisy said to the kids.
“But I’ve never been on TV before,” Paul complained. “And we’ve been waiting forever to go play in the water and do some exploring. You said we’d do it after breakfast.”
“I know what I said, Paul,” Daisy said, a warning in her voice. “But I told you, I have important things to work out right now. Later. I promise.”
“Come on,” Glenda said again, steering them out “You heard your mother.”
The door shut behind them, leaving the room quiet again.
“Sorry,” Daisy said. “This is all so new for them.”
“Don’t apologize, I completely understand.” Jack took his hand from the receiver. “Stuart? You still there?”
“Oh, you’re done now? I mean, this is just your entire career.”
Jack rolled his eyes at the man’s melodrama. “I understand what’s at risk here, Stuart.”
“I don’t know if you do. Ten minutes ago, Aaron Leary tweeted his concern with what he sees as ‘morally irresponsible behavior’ in the future governor. He’s particularly worried about the example you’re setting not only for the kids involved, but also for all the fine children of our state.”
Of course he had.
Jack could see the motive behind the tweet and it sure as hell wasn’t pure moral outrage. Aaron Leary was posturing. Jack would take bets that Leary would be announcing his own intentions on running against Jack in the party’s primary election next spring. He and Leary had knocked heads many times in the past couple of years and it was an understatement to say there was some bad blood between them.
“It’s ridiculous. This all has been completely blown out of context. Why can’t I just go out there right now and explain everything?”
“That’s the last thing to do right now, Jack. We’ll make a statement and soon, but short of you marrying the woman and taking the wind out of their sails, let’s first make sure we have a clear plan in place. Let me meet with the team here, and we’ll call you back soon.”
Plan? What kind of plan did they need when it was all a big misunderstanding? He supposed this was what he was paying Stuart for, anticipating every possible outcome and having solutions.
“Okay. But I want to get ahead of this within the hour, Stuart. This doesn’t just affect me,” he said, meeting Daisy’s gaze.
“We’re on it. Oh, and I should warn you. I got a call from the highway patrol. In light of your impending promotion, they’re sending a couple of troopers out as part of your security detail. They’ll be there this afternoon.”
Jack sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Got it. Thanks for the warning.”
He palmed the cell phone and crossed the room to join Daisy on the couch. She was so quiet now, pensive as she waited to hear any word of what was going on. Who knew what she was feeling in the face of this sudden unwanted attention, but he was certain stunned and numb was a start.
“I’m afraid that it looks like, for now, Lily and I aren’t going anywhere. My advisor thinks we need to come up with a game plan before we make any moves. I’m sorry, since I know that our presence here was not what you had planned as part of your week.”
“Game plan?” she asked, her voice oddly high and strained. “And what kind of game plan is that exactly?” Daisy jumped to her feet and pointed toward the windows with flourish. “Because right now there’s a circus camped out there who seem to have nothing else to do but make a lot of crazy and insane insinuations about me, about you, about us. No concern if this is true or anything. I don’t see why we can’t just go out there and set the record straight. Oh, and I don’t know if you’ve heard, but my phone has blown up with calls and texts from anyone I’ve ever known wanting to know if it’s true I’m on some romantic getaway with the soon-to-be governor—a little fact you forgot to mention to me by the way.”
Her eyes blazed with her frustration and fury, her cheeks flushed with color that instead of being intimidating, made him bite back a smile at how alluring and cute she was at the same time.
He got it. She needed to vent. It was a lot to process. “We’re going to figure this out. My staff will probably make a formal press release explaining how this is all a mix-up. How we are just two relative strangers who arrived for a nice, quiet vacation with their respective families only to find that the place was accidentally double-booked.”
She paced the floor, pausing to peek through the blinds before flipping back around. “And do you think that will be enough? They’ll pack up and leave us in peace? Retract everything they’ve said so far?”
He hesitated. Would they just take his word for fact?
The hard truth was that despite his attempts to keep his private life just that—private—there had a been a few persistent news channels that were always looking for something juicier to report to their viewers and readership. Especially if it pertained to his love life—what little there was. Last he’d heard, one of them had offered up to five grand for any personal details about what dating the lieutenant governor was like. Any included photos fetched a premium price.
Would these same news channels, now, in the face of this unfortunate mix-up, choose to believe the best? That it was an innocent mistake? Or would they prefer to run with the more salacious even if untrue story that the soon-to-be governor and his secret girlfriend—along with their families—were busted shacking up over the holiday weekend?
He hated to admit it, but his bets were on the latter. And people like Aaron Leary, with a stake in the game, would be sure to capitalize on that.
“I won’t lie,” he said carefully, meeting her gaze. “There will be a few people who, no matter what we tell them, will decide the worst. They’ll believe our excuse is merely a cover-up after being busted. But even if that were the case, the chances are that, eventually, another news story will make this all fade away in time.”
“And until then, I’ll be facing a lot of unflattering and outright hateful comments. And my kids…they’re going to be drawn into this, too.”
“We’re talking worst case here. A lot of people aren’t really going to care. We’re both single. We’re adults. It isn’t the most unheard thing in the world for a couple who are dating to take their families on a joint vacation. This isn’t the 1950s, after all.”
“But we do live in a state that is conservative by most people’s standards. And you’re forgetting. You’re the governor now. Or will be. You’re going to be held to a higher standard.”
It was true. But more to the point, even before this broke, he had known he was going to be in for a tough and competitive campaign for the next year. Many, even in his own party like Leary, would be looking for any chink in his armor to draw blood. And that was just in the primary, not even the general election.
Which all meant that resolving this situation was not going to be as easy as he would like.
“You’re right. My position is definitely going to make things more complicated. But we don’t really have that many options.”
She sank back onto the couch and covered her face. “I still can’t believe how quickly things got out of hand. Jack’s in the shower, Mommy. Isn’t that what you told us?” Daisy said, repeating Natalie’s earlier statement that seemed to be the highlight of most news stories as it played on a repeating loop. “It sounded so…bad.”
Her shoulders shook for a moment, and he reached out and laid his hand on her shoulder to try and comfort her. “Hey, it’s going to be—” He stopped as her hands fell away and he realized it wasn’t tears of sadness, but actually… “Are you laughing?”
“I’m sorry.” She wiped a tear away. “I’m just trying to think of how it could have gone any more wrong.”
Her laugher was infectious, and he grinned back, relieved to see that she was finding some humor in the situation. “Like maybe if I’d walked out wearing just a towel?”
“No. Maybe in pink-feathered handcuffs, a boa, and a towel.” She smiled at him and instantly his gut clenched. Mesmerizing.
Her phone buzzed on the cushion next to him and in need of a distraction, he picked it up. Glancing down, he saw she’d already received fourteen missed calls and twenty-seven texts.
He handed it to her. “I’m almost afraid to even turn mine on.”
She didn’t bother to glance at her screen, just dropped her hand to the couch, looking almost deflated. “So what do you think will happen next? I mean, after we give that press release. Because we can’t both continue to stay here and invite more conjecture and gossip. If my car was actually functioning, I could take the kids and head back home in a minute. But with it in the shop, I’m kind of at a loss. I’m mortified to admit this, but…I don’t exactly have a lot of money in the bank to pay for another place to stay. I only accepted Payton’s offer because my ex backed out on his promise to take the kids to Disneyland and I wanted to do something for them.”
Jack nodded in understanding. Rather than disappoint them, she’d swallowed her pride—which he could tell hadn’t been easy for her—and accepted Payton’s offer to stay here for free. “Don’t worry. Lily and I will leave as soon as we can make other arrangements.”
Something that still gave him an inexplicable pang of disappointment. He liked it here. Had hoped to make some positive memories here with Lily. But if he were honest, he also had been enjoying his time here—as unexpected as it was—with Daisy Sorensen and her brood, as short as it had been.
It was almost a shame they couldn’t figure out another way out of this predicament.
A way that let them both save their reputations, his future political career, not to mention protect their kids from the hurtful gossip.
All while letting them enjoy the next week at this beautiful lake house like they had originally planned.
Maybe it was Stuart who’d planted the idea initially, even if his suggestion was a joke, but now the idea was beginning to take shape in his mind. It was crazy, but was it any crazier than what was already out there?
He glanced at Daisy. She was going to think he was certifiable. Hell, maybe he was. But maybe he also had a solution to a tough situation that fate had brought them.
He cleared his throat. “Actually. Maybe there’s another scenario we haven’t looked at.”
She looked at him in mild curiosity, a soft smile on her face. “And what’s that?”
“We could get engaged.”
…
Engaged?
Daisy couldn’t help it. She started to laugh again, holding her belly as she did, because now he was just being ridiculous. “Who’d have thought? I went on vacation and came home engaged to the next governor. Well, if that’s your way of proposing, you’re going to have to do better than that.”
She glanced at Jack, expecting to see him finding this as amusing as her. Only, he was looking at her in such a way that she was beginning to think—
“You’re…you’re kidding, right?”
“Not even remotely.” He studied her closely. “Think about it. Rather than try to fight the rising tide of public belief on this, why not just go with it? But put our own twist on it. Instead of this being about the soon-to-be governor trying to sneak away with his divorced, single-mom girlfriend, make it into something that everyone can rally around. Two people who fell in love and are trying to take their kids on their first vacation together to get everyone used to the idea of becoming a family. And of course it would make sense that we would have wanted to try and do this before the governor made his announcement and before the public spotlight was shining on us.”
He really was serious. “That’s insane. No, you’re insane. I’m not going to marry you just because of one stupid little mix-up.”
“It wouldn’t have to get that far. Just long enough for everyone to accept that we’re so crazy in love with each other that we want to spend the rest of our lives together. Then, once the rumors have been laid to rest, and our lives and careers are back on track, we can make up some story about how we realized that we aren’t compatible. Or that the stress of public life was too much on the relationship and, as sorry as we are, we decided to end things.”
Crazy in love with each other? That would be a hard sell. This was Jack Harrison. Gorgeous, intelligent, powerful, and a legacy in Utah politics thanks to the long line of Harrisons before him. He was everything any woman could want in a man and she…
Well, she was just Daisy Sorensen. Divorced single mother. College dropout. She wasn’t anything special. There was no way anyone would buy into this story—even if she were to consider it.
Which she wasn’t.
She shook her head. “Sorry. Not going to happen. I’m not going to perpetuate something that’s not true. I’m not going to lie to reporters or anyone who asks and say I’m engaged. More importantly, I would never in a million years tell my kids to lie. I am sorry if this hurts you and your political career, but I can’t do it.”
He leaned forward. “I’ll admit that there is a level of concern with how this could impact my campaign. There are some more conservative members in the party who will be overjoyed to have this as ammunition against me. But the public’s opinion on my moral integrity and its effect on my campaign isn’t my only or even primary worry. Because this is bigger than just me. The rampant speculation won’t just affect me. It will affect my daughter. And most assuredly it’s going to affect you and those three kids as this all plays out in the media in the coming weeks. For me, this engagement plan really is the lesser of two evils.”
She hadn’t really considered that, about how this might affect her kids. She was an adult, and as hard as hearing the innuendo might be, she could take it.
But her kids?
She remembered how hard it had been those first few months after Leo left her with nothing but debt and a tanked credit score that had brought her back home to Utah. It had been tough for her, that feeling of helplessness and abandonment and utter failure, but even worse for the kids. Especially after they started school. Because then the questions from the other kids about why they didn’t have a dad around made them wonder the same themselves.
How would the kids handle the questions, the humiliation and shaming that might follow if people thought she’d shacked up with the soon-to-be governor even for a night? She could deny it until she was blue in the face, but it didn’t mean there wouldn’t be some who would still doubt her.
She closed her eyes. “I would do anything to avoid having my kids hurt any more than they have been. This last couple of years with the divorce has been so tough on them.” On all of them, really.
“Daisy, I know this proposal is more than a little crazy. But let’s look at it from a different perspective than only what we have to lose if we don’t do this. What about what we could gain from this partnership?”
She looked at him skeptically. “Partnership?”
“Of course. We can make this a business agreement of sorts. You agreeing to be my fiancée for the next few weeks won’t just save our children from nasty gossip and speculation, it could help me buoy up public opinion as I take my first steps as governor. Everyone loves a fairy tale, and a widow engaged to a tough and beautiful single mom has all the makings of one.”
“Sounds like you have everything to win here,” she said drolly. Images of flashing bulbs and public attention on every facet of her life up until this moment as reporters delved into her background made the prospect of faking an engagement more like a horror story than a fairy tale. At least for her. “But I’m a fairly private person. Right now, all I am trying to do is provide for my kids as best as I can, make sure they’re not permanently scarred by the divorce. I’m not sure how shining that spotlight even brighter on us is going to be any better.”
He smiled, not appearing the least phased by her less than excited response. “Like I said. This is going to be a partnership. We both need to get something out of this. That includes you.”
“If you’re about to offer me a chunk of money, I can tell you right now that as hard up as I might be financially, I’m not going accept a penny of it. I don’t accept handouts. I want to be able to provide things to my family because I earned them. Not because they were given to me.”
“I’m not talking about a payout.” He paused. “Tell me more about the small business loan that you’re applying for.”
“My loan? What does that have to do with this?” she asked, trying not to sound defensive. She hated that she’d left those forms out. The fact that she was even considering applying for the loan was something she hadn’t really shared with anyone except her sister Benny.
“I’m not a banking expert, but I do have some familiarity with the subject and I know that there are certain things that lenders like to see before they approve financing thousands of dollars. Things like assets, personal savings accounts, credit scores. How are you looking on those fronts?”
Ouch. It was precisely the answer to that question that had her sitting on that application for the past month. Because her answer would be…nothing. Her savings was constantly being tapped for one emergency after another—such as whatever was going to be the cost of fixing her car this week. Her credit score was in the dumps thanks to her ex. As for assets, aside from the 1997 minivan, she had nothing. The house she and the kids lived in was rented from her sister-in-law.
She hated his question, hated how futile he made her dream of getting a loan to finance her business sounded. He seemed to realize this, his blue eyes softening in sympathy. That was the worst. Having someone feeling sorry for her. And not just anyone, but this man whose pity she didn’t want.
“I might not have everything in order right now, but it will happen one day.”
He seemed to hesitate, as if measuring the impact of his words. “Have you considered a cosigner? If someone with deep pockets could guarantee the loan, the prospects would be better.”
Even though she was certain every one of her family members would jump at the chance to help her, no questions asked, she couldn’t ask that of them. If her business failed, it would be her failure. “I get this loan on my own, or I don’t get it at all. I would never ask my family to risk so much.”
He didn’t look surprised. If anything, he seemed only more satisfied as he sat up a little straighter. “Then don’t. Let me offer my name. My guarantee. Mind you, from the short time I’ve known you and seen your stubbo—determination”—he corrected, grinning again—“I’m left with zero doubt that your business will become a success, so I don’t think my agreeing to cosign will ever result in any loss. But if it should, it’s a small price to pay for the benefit I have to gain from your fulfilling your obligations under our agreement. Again, this is just all part of a business agreement. You help me, and I can in turn help you. This isn’t a handout.”
Daisy would be lying to herself if she didn’t admit that the prospect of getting that loan approved, the wheels put in motion on getting her very own bakery finally up and running, didn’t fill her with hope and excitement. It was something she’d always wanted.
“A business proposition,” she said, testing the words and the idea.
“Precisely. You pretend to be my fiancée for the next few weeks, including doing any necessary public appearances to help maintain the story, and I’ll sign my name and offer the guarantee you need to get your business loan approved. No money will exchange hands at all. And in doing so, we can protect both of our families from the nasty speculation we’re currently facing.”
She still hesitated, hating the risk he’d be taking if it should fail. “I couldn’t let you guarantee the loan without offering anything in return. Five percent. If you guarantee the loan, I insist that you take five percent of any profits.”
“Okay,” he said, agreeing quickly. “It sounds more than fair.”
Only leaving her to decide…
A fake engagement.
She couldn’t believe that she was seriously considering his offer.
And she’d thought her brother Dominic had been insane when he and his now-wife had pretended to just be dating for reasons that had benefited both of them at the time.
It looked like insanity ran in the family, because the more she thought about it, the more sense it made. At least in light of the options before her.
She opened her eyes, ready to accept what felt inevitable. “Okay. What exactly would I be expected to do?”