December 15th
Jeez. Okay yeah, so Branch had to be pretty rich but wow. This was even bigger than the Home Alone house!
Mira gaped as she huffed and puffed her way up the driveway. Yikes – she was exhausted just walking from the taxi to the door.
She checked the note she hastily wrote on her hand, making sure she had the right address. She considered going to the back door – the tradesmen’s entrance – decided against it and just banged on the door.
Mr. Smolder appeared before she had finished and she immediately blushed. If he was sexy in a suit, it was nothing compared to jeans and a sweater. If there was one thing the suit didn’t show, it was that he had lovely thighs. Was that a strange thing to notice about a man – his thighs? But they were lovely and powerful, and she wondered what he looked like without trousers on, or any clothes at all really…
Mira let out an eep as he clutched her arms. Even through three layers, she could feel the heat emanating from him. Oh, what would it be like to feel skin on skin? She’d probably burn to a crisp… it would be worth it.
“Prepare yourself,” he murmured lowly.
“Hmmm?”
Too busy imagining whether she was fireproof enough for a kiss his words didn’t register. Not until he pulled her into his house and a ton of people yelled, “Surprise!”
Mira let out an enormous scream.
*
“I thought we were supposed to be talking about our arrangement?” she said in a quiet voice.
Yep, Mira was at her own surprise engagement party. It was incredibly surreal. After she stopped screaming – and everyone stopped laughing in delight at her reaction - Branch’s mom took her hand and led her around, introducing her to everyone. She’d only just managed to corner Branch in a quiet room.
Branch ran a hand through his dark hair. She could see the frustration and annoyance on his face.
Self-doubt reared it’s ugly, swollen head. Was he annoyed because he had to tell everyone he was engaged to her? Surely not. They were virtually getting married – he would have to introduce her to everyone eventually. She just wasn’t the type of woman men like him would date or marry. She was too short, too silly, too chatty and possibly too plump – though she wasn’t sure that was a problem, she often noticed his eyes dipping towards her breasts, and her hips for that matter, and he definitely didn’t seem disappointed by what he saw there. Nope, quite the opposite.
“I’m sorry,” he growled – and it was a proper growl. “My mother found out from my assistant that you were coming here and she decided to turn it into an engagement party. I tried to call you,” he said with just a tad of reproach.
“Oh!”
Mira pulled her battered cell out of her purse and gave it a whack. Sure enough her screen was flooded with missed texts.
“Sorry, it’s been kind of wonky for a month now.”
It was five years old, which was about ninety in cell phone years.
His face flickered with disapproval. “Is that duct tape?”
“Yeah, otherwise the back comes off,” she told him cheerfully.
“You should buy another one, for your own safety.”
She muttered under her breath.
“What was that?” he asked sharply.
Mira sighed. “I said that’s easy for you to say; not all of us are Mr. Millionaire. Not all of us can just run out and buy another at the drop of a hat.”
Branch stared at her before nodding. “I will have my assistant buy you one.”
Crap! She wasn’t fishing for a new phone or trying to guilt him.
“No, I don’t want that, I can buy my own phone!”
“You just said you couldn’t.”
Ugh. “What I mean is…”
“I can buy you a phone,” he grumbled, his face getting harder by the second. “It’s really nothing. I need you to have a working one in case I need to reach you.”
“But…”
“There you are!” cried Ariel, Branch’s sister as she swept into the room.
“Here we are!” exclaimed Mira, thankful for the end to that conversation.
Branch narrowed his eyes at her - as if saying that they would discuss it later.
The young woman beamed at them. “Mom’s looking for you both.”
“Swell,” he rumbled.
If his dour tone bothered her, Ariel didn’t let it show. Perhaps she was used to it. Perhaps he was always like this. Mira usually found grumpy people offputting – like the guy from Monty Python says, ‘always look on the bright side of life.’ But she didn’t find it offputting in Branch. No, moody and broody was just damn sexy in him. Oh, who was she kidding, he could prance around with his underwear on his head and pencils up his nose, and he’d still be sexy.
“She wants to know how you two met. She wants the full story,” trilled Ariel. “Come on.”
She danced out the room, calling to her mother that she had found them.
“Damn,” muttered Branch.
Mira shrugged. Nothing to worry about. She wasn’t saying that lying was always a good thing, but she had experience. When she was younger, she used to tell all sorts of stories about why her mom left. It was easier to tell the stories than the truth – that her mom simply didn’t want to be with her.
“Don’t worry, I’ve read about a thousand romance novels – I can make something up. It’ll be fine. Just you wait, I can be a terrific fake fiancée.”