Chapter Six
The driver opened Leah’s door and she looked around the back alley as she climbed out of the car.
“Why are we sneaking in the back door?” she asked Brooks, who chuckled and took her hand, leading her to the door, which opened like magic as they approached.
“If we went in the front door then someone might recognize me and then there’d be cameras and questions, and I assumed you’d prefer a more private shopping experience.”
She did, indeed. And the fact that he’d thought of her sent a little tingle of warmth through her body. It didn’t, however, ease the riot currently happening in her stomach. Skulking into the back room of a jewelry store for a wedding ring wasn’t exactly how she’d envisioned the whole getting engaged thing. Then again, nothing that had happened in the last few months, and certainly the last few days, was anything like she’d ever envisioned. At this point, she needed to stop trying to make sense of anything and just go along for the ride.
They were led into a lavishly decorated private showroom and seated in gold brocade chairs that probably cost more than she made in a year. She perched on the end, not wanting to crinkle the fabric. Brooks, on the other hand, sprawled into the chair and hooked an ankle over his knee, looking for all the world like he was in his favorite recliner about to watch a game.
A sharply dressed man entered, followed by four employees who reminded Leah of flight attendants. Only these attendants weren’t carrying open cans of soda and tiny bags of pretzels. They carried black velvet trays covered in glittering rings.
“All of this isn’t necessary,” she said, eyeing the huge rocks spread on the tray.
“Of course it is,” Brooks said, looking over the selection. “You’re my fiancée. People will be taking pictures, and most of those pictures will be zooming in on your left hand. I have a reputation to uphold. I am many things, but cheap isn’t one of them.” He winked at her. “Besides, there are relatively few perks to marrying me. Might as well get something out of it.”
“I’ve already told you, I don’t need or want anything from you.” She tried to speak quietly as the store manager was looking at them with a confused and curious expression. As well he should. She was pretty confused herself.
“I don’t think that’s totally true.” He gave her a heated look that shot a raging torrent of desire straight to her core, and brought her hand to his lips, nipping at one of her fingers.
She jumped and yanked her hand away, her cheeks flaming hot.
Brooks sighed. “You don’t have to fight me over everything.”
She couldn’t stop the small grin. “I know.”
He smiled back and shook his head. “Just pick something.”
She glanced at all the rings, each one easily three carats or more. “Don’t you have anything a little smaller?” she asked.
The jeweler looked at Brooks with surprise. “Most ladies prefer to see something larger,” he said.
“Oh, she’s already seen—”
“Don’t say it,” she said, jumping in before he could finish the pornographic thought. It might be impossible to instill some sort of public decency in him by sheer willpower, but she’d damn well try.
He grinned at her and then turned back to the jeweler. “She’s not most ladies.”
Just when she’d reached her bullshit threshold he went and said something sweet. He’d be the death of her.
“Really, a plain wedding band would be fine,” she said, hoping to appeal to his chivalrous side. “I’m not trying to be difficult, but it really is what I’d prefer.”
Brooks looked like he was going to argue, but instead sighed deeply and turned back to the jeweler.
“Can we see a selection of wedding bands?”
“Of course, sir.” The jeweler waved over his assistants. They disappeared through the door and quickly returned, each sporting a new velvet-clad tray.
Leah looked over these with growing dismay. Most of them were nearly as bejeweled as the engagement rings. How could any of them be remotely comfortable to wear? The stones would press into her skin and drive her nuts. Not to mention the fact that she’d be terrified to wear it anywhere without an armed guard. But she did finally see a few bands that were a little less ornate. She chose a thin white gold band set with several round diamonds evenly spaced around the circumference.
“Could we do something like this…only without the diamonds?”
The jeweler looked at Brooks, obviously at a loss for words.
“What if we made the diamonds smaller? Or added some sort of design?” Brooks said. “Like an engraving.”
The jeweler nodded, somewhat mollified. “That would be easy enough. Did you have something in mind?”
“Maybe a flowering vine that wraps around the band?”
“I think that would be lovely, sir,” the jeweler said, nodding his approval.
Brooks glanced at Leah. “Would that be acceptable?”
She nodded. It sounded quite beautiful, and simple enough not to embarrass her. “It sounds very nice, thank you.”
Brooks turned to the jeweler with a smile of triumph. “Well then, I guess that will be all for today. But make it in platinum instead of white gold.”
“Excellent, sir.” The jeweler jumped up before Leah could protest.
Brooks held up a finger. “Oh, and make mine a matching platinum band without the design, please.”
“Why do you get a plain band?” Leah whispered at him.
“Shhh,” he said.
The jeweler nodded again, but his affable expression disappeared when Brooks said, “We’ll need these by tomorrow afternoon. Actually, morning would be better.”
The jeweler’s face paled, but he nodded with a forced smile. “Of course, sir. I’ll have these ready for you first thing in the morning.”
“Wonderful.” Brooks stuck out his hand for a handshake and then turned to take Leah’s hand to lead her back out the door.
“I’ll have to give him a massive tip or buy you a nice wedding present from here,” Brooks said. “Compensate him for the time he’s going to be spending tonight getting those rings ready.”
“If you would have let me get a plain band like I asked it wouldn’t be a problem.”
“Maybe I’d like the chance to spoil you a little. It’s not like I’ve ever had a wife before. And I won’t have one long. Being a doting husband for a few months could be fun, if you’d let it.”
“Only a few months, huh?” she said with half a grin.
“Oh, believe me, after a few months of being shackled to me, you’ll be begging the judge to release you.”
She could see herself begging for release, but it wouldn’t be a judge she’d be pleading with. She glanced at Brooks from the corner of her eye, hoping he didn’t notice her sudden flushed cheeks or jumping heart rate. The artery in her neck was probably visibly pulsing. Thinking of Brooks tended to make everything pulse.
“Like it or not,” Brooks said, waving the driver away and opening the car door for her, “you will soon be Mrs. Brooks Larson. I have a reputation to uphold. You might have to fancy it up every now and then. And since money isn’t an issue, you definitely need to take advantage of me. I insist.”
She resisted the urge to sigh. She’d known that being his wife, even for a short time and even if it wasn’t real, would mean stepping out of her comfort zone.
Brooks slid in beside her, laughing. “I’ve never met a woman who treated wearing diamonds with such distaste. You’d think I was asking you to wear a ball of slime on your finger.”
Her lips twitched. “It’s not that bad. It’s just not what I’m used to. I wouldn’t be comfortable with something that large. Don’t say it,” she said when his mouth opened again.
“You read my mind far too easily,” he said instead.
She laughed. “It’s not really hard when your mind seems to permanently reside in the gutter.”
“This is probably true.”
“As I was saying, wearing a massive diamond on my finger, especially since I work with children all day, might not be the best idea. I’d be too afraid to lose it.”
Brooks looked thoughtful for a minute and then nodded. “I guess I can see that.”
It was her turn to show some surprise and he laughed again. “What? I can be reasonable occasionally.”
“Good to know. I was starting to wonder.”
They drove up the street a short distance to several trendy clothing stores, including the studio of a bridal designer Leah had only seen in magazines.
Brooks jumped out and held the door open for her. Leah looked inside the window to see Kiersten waiting for her.
“You ladies have fun,” Brooks said, getting back into the car.
“Oh yeah,” she muttered under her breath.
Shopping for a wedding dress she would never be able to afford on her own to marry a man she barely knew so she could fool a nun she’d recently met into thinking she wasn’t the Harlot of the Year sounded like heaps of fun. How much did it take for a person to get sent to hell?
Though, despite her misgivings and the sheer craziness of the entire situation, she couldn’t help the small flutter of excitement in her belly. Like many little girls, she had always dreamed of what her wedding dress might look like. And while this might not be a real wedding, and it would be more appropriate to wear some simple off-the-rack dress, the thought of trying on gorgeous gowns appealed to her more than she wanted to admit.
She went inside to meet the girls with a much greater bounce in her step than she’d had with the jewelry. With the dress, she could have fun for a day, dress like a princess, and then put it away. A ring would have been a reminder every day of the absurdity of it all.
The dress though… She stared at one of the enormous confections in the window, her smile growing. She could have a little fun with a dress…as long as she didn’t think about the wedding night when her groom would normally be taking it off.
…
Kiersten opened the curtain a little so she could pass in another dress. “Here, try this one.”
Leah took it and hung it on the little hook until she could unzip the one she was wearing. “This isn’t necessary.”
“It’s absolutely necessary. You’re getting married. You need a dress. What were you planning on doing? Heading down to the courthouse in your jeans?”
“No,” Leah said, trying on the sixth dress. “I was going to wear a nice dress, one that I already have. Seems kind of pointless to buy a new dress for something like this.”
“Something like this? You mean your wedding?”
“But it’s not really my wedding. I mean it is, but you know what I mean.”
Kiersten laughed. “All I’m saying is you only get a first wedding once. You might as well make the most of it. What does your mom have to say about all this?”
“We didn’t have much time to talk about it but she’s thrilled I’m getting married. And disappointed she can’t come. I wouldn’t have told her about it at all, but I didn’t want to risk her hearing it from somebody else. I mean Brooks is kind of…well kind of a…”
“Celebrity?” Kiersten said.
“Something like that. The first thing my mom did when I told her was google him. And she wasn’t totally thrilled about all the stuff that came up. But I think she’s too busy swooning to complain. How in the world did I get mixed up with a guy like him?”
“I know exactly how you feel,” Kiersten said. “Hell, when I married Cole he was in People magazine’s Sexiest Men edition. It’s definitely an interesting group to marry into.”
“It’s not one I should be marrying into. He should be marrying a model or an actress or Miss Universe or someone.”
“Here, try this one, too.” Kiersten passed in another dress. “I think you’re forgetting the fact he’s dated all those women before. None of them stuck, and yet you’ve managed to snag him with hardly even trying.”
“What do you mean hardly trying? I haven’t tried at all.”
“Well, now you’re just bragging.”
Leah groaned. “You know what I mean. I can’t believe this has gone this far. I haven’t snagged him. Didn’t want to snag him. The only reason we’re in this mess is because he couldn’t keep his mouth shut in front of my boss.”
Kiersten laughed again. “Yeah, keeping his mouth shut isn’t one of Brooks’s strong suits. Don’t get me wrong; he’s a great guy. He’s just a bit of a goofball is all.”
Leah sighed and zipped up another dress. “This is a disaster waiting to happen, even for a temporary marriage. We still have to be roommates for a while. We’ll probably kill each other inside of a week.”
“It won’t be that bad,” Kiersten said. “Now come out and let me see that one.”
Leah came out and stood in front of the three-panel mirror, turning a little from side to side so she could see all the angles.
“Oh, I love that one,” Kiersten said.
“I think I do, too,” Leah said, doing one more twist to see the back.
It was a tasteful lace dress with three-quarter-length sleeves that fell in a flaring skirt to her knee. Simple but beautiful. Perfect for a fake shotgun wedding.
“I think that’s the one,” Kiersten said.
“Agreed.” Leah gave her a big smile.
“See? Aren’t you glad I made you come dress shopping?”
Leah laughed. “Yes, I guess it will be nice to have something presentable to be married in. Oh, God,” she said, burying her face in her hands. “This is insane.”
“It is. But sometimes insane works. Look,” Kiersten said, prying Leah’s hands from her face. “It might be crazy, but it’s also about the only thing you can do to save your job, right?”
Leah nodded.
“Well, then, you might as well make the best of it. Brooks is a good guy. He’s also drop-dead gorgeous and filthy rich to boot. You’ve got the winning trifecta right there. No matter what reason you guys are giving for doing this, the fact remains you are going to be married to him in a few hours. So why not enjoy it?”
“That’s what he says.”
“He is occasionally right,” Kiersten said with a grin.
“And if it all blows up in my face?”
“At least you’ll get a good story out of it.”
Leah laughed. “That part, at least, is true.” She took one last glance in the mirror. “Do you think he’ll like it?”
Kiersten grinned. “Honey, he’s going to love it.”