Chapter11
Two weeks following her dinner with the Carrington’s, Ryder took Regina out to lunch and as they sat at a quiet table at Tavern on the Green, an upscale restaurant in Central Park, he talked with her about their next meeting with his family.
“Every year my family hosts a literacy benefit gala. We select a five-star hotel here in Manhattan, and have a party. It’s one of the biggest social events on the high society calendar. It’s not really my thing, but I go every year because I have to, and because it really is for a good cause. We raise a lot of money every year for literacy programs in New York. Each year we’ve raised more than any of the previous years.”
It seemed to Regina that even though it might not be his thing, he was proud of the money they raised and the good that they did with it. It made her see a different side of him; one that cared about the community around him, and she liked that enormously.
He glanced around the table to see if anyone else was listening to them and then he leaned a little closer to her. “I want to take you to the gala with me this year as my girlfriend. It’ll be the shocker of the season. Well, of any season really. It’s the biggest, easiest way to introduce you to all of my father’s society cronies, and to make a public splash with our impending marriage. Everyone will be there and no one will believe that I’m in a relationship.”
She eyed him curiously. “Are you ready to make this public?”
“Absolutely.” He answered with a grin, his sky-blue eyes twinkling mischievously. “Showing you off like that in public is cementing our relationship in an undeniable way before my father. There’s no way out of it for him after that.”
Regina knew what he meant. “Alright. How do I do this?” she asked, wondering again what she was getting herself into and how to go about it all without screwing up.
“Just wear that white dress with the little flowers on it that we bought, and go for an elegant look. Be yourself. I’ll take care of the rest.” He reached his hand out to hers and gave it a pat. “And don’t worry about anything. You’ll be just fine there. Just think of it as a party. Go, mingle, have some champagne. Have fun. It’ll be a day to remember. You’ll be just fine.”
She nodded, wondering if it would really be that easy or not, hoping with everything in her that it would be and that she wouldn’t screw anything up. Meeting his family was one thing; if she made a mistake in front of them it wasn’t that many people, but a whole gala, that was another thing entirely. Butterflies danced in her stomach and she felt rivulets of tension move through her.
Looking back at him, she saw his confident smile and it gave her some ease. No matter what happened, at least he would be there with her and he would be a good guide for her to make sure that everything went as he wanted it to.
“Okay. When is this big party?” she asked, hoping that it was a week or more off to give her time to get ready for it.
“It’s tomorrow night. I know it’s a little short notice, but you’ll be fine. Just go to a salon, get your hair and makeup done, wear the white floral dress, and you’ll be ready. There’s nothing more to it than that.”
A ripple of uncertainty moved through her and she pushed it away. “I’ll do my best. I wish you’d told me sooner, though. I would have liked some prior notice before you throw us to the wolves.” She almost managed a smile, but not quite.
He waved his hand dismissively in the air. “It’ll be fine. Don’t you worry about it. Just get dolled up.” He rubbed his fingertips over her fingers as he held her hand for a minute. She let him, knowing that he was probably going to be her saving grace the next day.
She did as he bid her to do; the following day she went to a high-end salon downtown and had her hair styled in a chignon at the back of her head, and she had her makeup done. She stared in wonder at her reflection in the mirror, thinking how nice it was to have someone else work to make her look good. The ladies at the salon told her that she looked so good that she could have been a model.
Regina accepted their compliments graciously and hoped that those good looks, along with her winning personality, would be enough to win over the whole of New York high society. She went home and slipped into the light white dress with flower prints strewn over it, just as Ryder had requested.
When she looked at the final result in the mirror, she couldn’t help smiling at herself and turning a couple of times in front of the mirror. She felt beautiful, and it made a difference in her confidence. She told herself that she could do it; she could be the woman that they would all believe Ryder would choose as his girlfriend.
Ryder came to the door a few minutes later with a bouquet of lovely flowers in his hand. She was surprised and touched at his thoughtful gesture, and she put them in a vase of water before they headed to the front door. He stopped her there as she closed and locked the door and he took her hand in his, lifting it to his lips to kiss the back of it.
“If anyone could make all of New York society fall in love with them at first sight, you can. You’ve got this, please don’t worry about it or feel nervous.” He gave her a wink and led her down the stairs to his car.
She smiled to herself at what he had told her; telling her that they would fall in love with her. She wasn’t sure if he really meant it or if he was trying to bolster her feelings, but either way, it was sweet of him to say, and she held on to it, keeping the sentiment in her pocket for later that afternoon, when she knew that she would need it.
A short while later they arrived at a beautiful hotel and the Ferrari was valet parked for them. Ryder was greeted almost like a prince, and it occurred to her that he was practically a prince; the son of society royalty. She wished that the thought hadn’t crossed her mind; it only intimidated her more.
They walked into the hotel and she was astounded at the luxuriousness of it. It was all done in marble, glass, and beautiful wood. She held his hand a little tighter as they walked into the main ballroom, where the event was taking place.
He pulled her to his side and gave her a little smile. “We’ll be mingling a bit, greeting the guests and then just before we all eat, we’ll do a few speeches and thank everyone for coming.”
Regina gave him a nod. “Okay. How do you make money here for literacy?”
He turned and faced them toward the wide-open room. “Everyone coming here paid at least a thousand dollars for a plate. The closer everyone is to the front of the room where the stage is, the more money they paid. We have celebrity guests here, and there’s a pricey ticket to sit at a table with one of them, and then along that whole wall in the back, there are items being sold in a silent auction. It makes quite a bit of money for the benefit. Last year we made over three million dollars. I expect that it will be more this year.”
He looked proud of it, even though she knew he probably wasn’t going to enjoy rubbing elbows with the elite of New York. “This is a really good thing.” She told him with a growing smile. “I’m really glad that your family is doing it. I wish I could do something like this, too.”
Ryder gave her a shrug. “You’re part of it tonight, being here with the family.”
She shrugged a little. “Yeah, but I’m not actually doing it. All of you are.”
“Perhaps you’ll have your own chance. We have to go say hello to some friends now.” He steered her through the growing crowd and introduced her to several people. They had been making the rounds for half an hour when two scantily dressed women in their early twenties came up to them. Each of them hugged Ryder closely, smiling and flirting with him a bit as they said their hellos.
Regina didn’t like it, but she didn’t say anything. Ryder turned and introduced her to them. “Tiffany Lemas, Amy Sprinkle, this is my girlfriend, Regina.”
They both looked at him in utter amazement. “A girlfriend? You never commit to anyone past the first date!” Tiffany teased him as she smoothed her hand over her big, dark, super curly hair. She was somewhat overweight and her dress revealed a lot more than it covered.
“I think we’d qualify as girlfriends too, if this one doesn’t work out.” Amy suggested heavily as she flipped her bleach streaked blonde hair over her shoulder and tried to step closer to Ryder.
He shrugged at them both. “I’m pretty happy with Regina.” He told them. Just then Pierce came up to them. He set his hand on his brother’s shoulder.
“Hello ladies, I’m sorry to pull my handsome brother out of your grasp, but I need him with the family for a few minutes. He’ll be back soon.” Pierce leaned over and gave Regina a hug, and then left with Ryder.
Tiffany and Amy looked at Regina through narrowed and judging eyes. Regina felt their coldness like icy fingers, gripping her confidence and strangling it. They moved closer to her, crossing their arms over their chests.
Amy lifted her chin and looked down her nose at Regina. “So, you’re his current girlfriend, are you?”
Tiffany shook her head. “He’s done so much better than you. I mean, he’s had both of us and he can definitely have either one of us again, any time he wants, whether he’s with you or not.” She spoke nastily.
“You might have him tonight, Regina, but you better watch out for all the other women he likes to play with.” Amy advised coolly.
“Yeah, like senator’s wives.” Tiffany laughed a little as she stared hard at Regina.
Regina felt fire bubbling up in her. She had met girls like them before. Catty, mean, cold, heartless girls. She knew that she was a threat to them, and that was why they were after her. Tiffany’s comment about something as specific as senator’s wives caught her off guard, though.
“What do you mean about senator’s wives?” She asked, looking from Amy to Tiffany. She kept her voice even. She didn’t want them to think that they were getting to her at all.
They both laughed at her as if she was stupid for not knowing. “You don’t know?” Amy asked slyly.
“You didn’t hear?” Tiffany added. “Everyone heard. You must be so out of the loop.”
Amy leaned forward and pushed her blonde hair over her shoulder as she spoke. “Our boy Ryder was caught in flagrante delicto in a hotel just down the road from here, not even a month ago. He was having sex with a senator’s wife while the senator was having an event to raise money for his campaign. They were caught red handed and there were photos of them splashed all over the newspapers. It was only the biggest scandal ever. He didn’t care that she was married, he just… wanted what he wanted, and he got it, like he always does. He doesn’t care about scandals and rules. I guess that’s what makes him so… delicious.” She narrowed her eyes and grinned wickedly.
Tiffany laughed softly and looked over at Amy for a moment. “I know it made me want him more. What a hottie.” She turned back to Regina then. “So, you might have him for tonight, but don’t count on keeping him. He’s not a one-woman kind of man, and the longer you’re with him, the better the chances are that you’ll be caught up in a scandal, too.”
Amy laughed at Regina as Regina stared at them, trying to keep a poker face. “Enjoy him while you can. He’s just using you, and he’ll be gone before you know it. He’s not in this for a relationship.”
Regina had had enough by that point. She lifted her chin and her voice was razor sharp as she taunted them in return. “Well good, because I’m not in it for a relationship either. I just have him around for the sex, and when I’m done with him, I’ll be gone.”
They both stared at her open mouthed, and she felt an enormous swell of satisfaction rising up in her as she turned her back to them and walked away. She couldn’t stand shallow petty women like them; she had never had any tolerance for girls who acted that way. They were completely useless and the most valuable thing about them was the trendy clothes they were wearing.
She walked away from them and the words they had said to her echoed through her mind. Ryder was a playboy, Ryder had been caught having sex with a senator’s wife in public. Ryder was going to use her and leave her. With every thought, the taste in her mouth grew more bitter.
She knew that it shouldn’t bother her. She was being paid to be with him and to marry him. He was her employer and she was his employee. Still, it weighed on her mind. She didn’t like the idea that he could make a public fool out of her by cheating on her. Their engagement would be in the papers and in the news, and their wedding would be made even more public, but she wondered how foolish she would seem to the world if he was caught with other women while they were married.
If he did get caught, at least it would give her a viable and legal excuse for the divorce they were planning. She didn’t want to be made a fool of publicly, though. Especially not in front of the two bitches who were behind her, cruelly talking up a gossip storm.
Ryder came up to her then and took her by the elbow, leading her closer to the stage. “There you are. I wondered where you’d gone off to.” He glanced over at her with a smile, but then he stopped short when he saw the look on her face.
“What is it? Is something wrong?” he asked, stopping where he was and turning to face her fully. She felt like a partner to him, his partner in crime so to speak, and he wanted to make sure that everything between them was alright.
She frowned a little and shook her head. She was bothered by it, but she knew that he was going to be speaking to the crowd and that he needed to have his mind focused on what was going on at the event that day, rather than her concerns about his dallying with other women when they weren’t even a real couple.
“Nothing is wrong. I’m just… in your element and out of mine.” She told him, being honest without telling him the whole truth. He shook his head and gave her a smile.
“This isn’t my element either. This is my father’s element, and I’m just here as fringe, just like you.” He told her earnestly.
“You aren’t fringe.” She corrected him, knowing that he was much more a part of their environment at that moment than he cared to admit.
They spoke to a few more people and then Pierce got up on the stage and called attention to the event and the central focus of what they were all there for. He spoke for a little while and then introduced Lucas, who also spoke briefly, and who then introduced Ryder, when he was done.
Ryder went up onto the stage to stand with his family and he held fast to Regina’s hand and took her with him. She was nervous and growing more so as she followed him, but she kept her chin raised in confidence and she went along with a smile glued onto her face.
He took the microphone and looked out onto the crowd with an air of ease and he spoke with a smooth voice.
“Thank you all for being here. This is one of the most important functions that our family contributes to each year, and each year we look forward to hosting it and to sharing it with all of you. My brothers and sister have so eloquently shared the same sentiments that I feel about it. It is with that same spirit of sharing a wonderful event with you that I would like to share another wonderful event with you.” His mouth turned up at the corners and his siblings looked at him curiously.
Ryder turned to Regina then and took her hand once more, leading her to the side of the podium where he lifted the microphone from the bracket it was resting in and knelt down on the floor before her.
“I’ve had a hell of a time being a playboy, and I never thought I would fall in love, but I have. Regina Parker has captured my heart. I love you more than anything, Regina, and I never want to know a day without you. Please, do me the great honor of becoming my wife.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box, opening the lid to reveal a massive diamond ring.
She gasped, raising her hands to her mouth. It was an involuntary reaction. She had known that he was going to marry her, but she hadn’t expected a proposal, especially a public one, and she hadn’t expected at all that he would declare his undying love to her in front of everyone in the world.
Cameras were flashing all over the room and her heart began to pound against her chest as she weighed the knowledge that she could be made a complete fool of in the public eye if he chose to be with other women during their contract. Part of her hated the notion, while the rest of her only wanted to blow it off, knowing that it didn’t matter and that she was only in it for the money anyway. It was going to be a fast marriage, and it was going to be over before she knew it, and she would have a million dollars and he could run around and be with anyone he wanted to be with.
His brothers were astounded, and they, along with Carter who stared at them, and the whole crowd before them, gasped in shock. Camille grinned and clapped her hands together, happy at what she was seeing, and knowing more than anyone else in the room knew.
Everyone seemed to be holding their breath as Ryder knelt before Regina, awaiting her answer. For the briefest moment, the surety in his crystal blue eyes faltered, and became a genuine question. She saw it happen. Her heart pounded even harder inside of her, and she hoped with everything in her that she was making a wise choice.
She looked at him pointedly, and spoke. “As long as your playboy days are behind you and I am your future, then yes, I will be your wife.” She gave him a grin and watched as he heaved a sigh of relief. He pulled the ring from the box and slid it onto her finger. The crowd around them exploded with cheers and shouts of congratulations.
The ring fit like a glove and she wondered for a moment, but then remembered the day before when they had been sitting at the Tavern on the Green restaurant in Central Park and he had run his fingertips back and forth over her finger on that hand. She realized that he had been measuring her finger for the ring and she smiled at how sneaky he had been.
Ryder rose to his feet and reached for her, pulling her into his arms. A moment later, his lips were on hers and he was kissing her gently, his hand at the back of her head holding her close to him. She was surprised and her first instinct was to pull away, but he only held her closer, kissing her more deeply and firmly.
Her breath vanished and her rapid heartbeat seemed somehow to speed up. Fire traced through every vein in her body leading away from her heart, and she moaned softly as she tried to protest fruitlessly.
She wanted to pull away, but even as she tried for a moment, she realized that he was doing it for the cameras, and she began to kiss him back, telling herself that it was all for the money and that it didn’t mean anything. They had to sell it to every person in the room, including his family.
A long few moments later, he finally let her go and their breath mingled as it came back to them. He lifted his head slowly from hers, gazing hungrily into her eyes as he let her step back from him. There was only a moment from the time they parted that they were able to share their smoldering and breathless gaze before his brothers and sister crowded them, hugging them with delight.
Lucas and Pierce both embraced them each, and Camille hugged Regina tightly, speaking her congratulations in her ear excitedly and then kissing her cheek. She only got a glance at Ryder before he was taken off of the stage by their guests, and enveloped at the stairs by the stage by excited guests.
She managed a look over at Carter and saw that he had a stony expression on his face and that he had looked away from them both. He stayed still with his hands clasped in front of him, looking out over the crowd.
Camille took her by the hand and led her down the stairs and through the crowd of people to Ryder, where she let go of Regina and hugged Ryder tightly, congratulating them both. He moved with her through the thick and seemingly endless wall of people around them, heading toward the far doors.
They passed Tiffany and Amy and both of them gave her an icy glare, to which she merely grinned and held up her hand, waving her fingers and showing off the huge diamond ring she was wearing. People hugged them, kissed their cheeks, and shook their hands all the way to the door where they finally escaped the room and the crowd, just as Carter took the microphone at the podium on the stage and began to speak.
The door closed and they both looked at one another and heaved a sigh of relief. Ryder frowned slightly then and took her by the hand, leading her to a small garden courtyard with statuary and a water fountain.
He turned to her and looked into her light blue eyes. “What do you think you were doing up there on that stage making me wait for your answer? You had me worried you were going to turn me down!” He told her honestly and irritably.
She lifted her chin defiantly and frowned at him. “Why did you kiss me?”
“I had to make it look real! No one would have believed a proposal for a willing and blissful bride without a kiss. Besides,” He added with a sly smile, “you liked it. I know I did.” His smile became a grin and he considered kissing her again just to prove the point.
She planted her hands on her hips. “I made you wait because you never told me about the senator’s wife. Those two girlfriends of yours that I met, Tiffany and Amy, both told me all about your scandal with her. I don’t care who you’ve seen or slept with in the past, but I’ll tell you this. We might be in this just for the business, but you had better not make a laughing stock out of me while we’re together if you want me to go through with it. You might have hired me to play the part, but I’m not going to let you make a fool out of me.”
Turning on her heel, she walked away from him and headed back into the hotel, leaving him in the courtyard. She hadn’t been back in the hotel for a full minute when Camille ambushed her near the ladies room and wrapped her hands around Regina’s arm. Her grin was so bright that she could have warmed the whole world with it.
“Regina, I would really love to talk with you about the engagement and the wedding and all of the things that will need to be done to prepare for it!” She gushed excitedly. She wrapped her arms around Regina and hugged her tightly and then let her go. “Call me! We’ll get together and work on it. I’m so excited for it!”
Lucas and Pierce came to her once more to congratulate her, and she thanked them. She saw Carter watching her from a distance and she could not discern the expression on his face. He had said nothing to either her or to Ryder, and she wondered when he would and what it would be. There was no telling what he thought of their engagement, at least nothing that she could see just then.
When the evening began to die down somewhat, Ryder and Regina slipped out of the event and he took her home. They talked about the party, the people, and a little about the engagement, but nothing was said about the kiss they had shared until he walked her to her door.
He pulled her close to him and embraced her, and at first, she embraced him in return, but then as their cheeks were so close together, he moved to kiss her again, and she turned away from him. Taking a step back, she looked at him seriously.
“Ryder, this is just business, and it’s going to stay that way. We can’t afford to make it anything else. We both have a lot at stake in this.” She bid him a gentle goodnight and went into her home, closing her door behind her.
Ryder frowned and went back to his car in a sullen state. It had been so natural to kiss her at the event, and it had felt so good. She had set him on fire with just that kiss, and he had left it hungry and wanting more. It was frustrating to him that she could walk away from it and not want anything else. He was attracted to her, and he was getting to a point where he had to admit that even to himself. He wanted her to want him back as much as he desired her, and it bothered him tremendously that she didn’t.
Regina watched him leave from the privacy of her curtains, touching her finger to her lips. It had been difficult to tell him no, that she didn’t want him to kiss her, but she told herself that just because it set her on fire, it didn’t mean anything. She needed to keep her wits about her and focus on the money and the divorce. She promised herself that the only other time that she would kiss him would be at the wedding when they made their vows.