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“She faked it.”
“How is that possible?”
“She drew a pink plus sign on it with a marker. To hear her tell the tale, it was easy-peasy. Not an ounce of guilt for screwing up our plan.”
“Why would she do that?” Beth asked in open astonishment.
He looked at her like she was dumber than dirt. “Because she wanted to be with me, and I was about to marry you. She says she was desperate and thought she and I would be a great pairing if she could just have some more time to convince me.”
Beth didn't know what to believe. Trish might have lied to Simon, sure, or Simon could be lying to her now. In the end, it didn't matter. The fact was, Beth had fallen in love with Jared. Real love this time. It wasn't a silly schoolgirl crush based on letters anymore. She knew Jared Wilder, the man rather than the fantasy, and she wanted to keep him in her life.
“Why are you here, Simon?”
With a sheepish smile, he shrugged. “Guess I was hoping you and I could finish what we started. We can get married and take the ranch from Jared.”
She lifted her left hand to show him the wedding band.
He paled. “Why are you wearing that? Did you marry some other guy just to stick it to me because I left without saying goodbye? Were you that mad at me?”
“Was I that mad?” Beth glared at him. “Yes, I was that mad. But, no, I didn't get married to spite you. Jared saw the pregnancy test and thought it was me. Apparently, when he talked to you about it, you didn't make it clear that Trish was the one that was pregnant.”
Simon slapped his forehead. “Crap! Let me guess what happened next. Mr Always-do-the-right-thing boxed you in and made you marry him before you could say one word?”
“Something like that.”
He grabbed her by the shoulders and stared into her eyes, as if trying to hypnotize her. “Well, don't you worry your pretty little head 'cause Simon is here to fix everything. Jared will annul the marriage as soon as you tell him the truth, that you aren't pregnant, and you can marry me. This can still work. We can take the ranch from him.”
She took a deep breath. “Simon, I already told Jared the truth. He's in Boston taking care of a few things, and then he's coming back. We're going to make this marriage work.”
She wasn’t so sure that was Jared’s plan anymore, but she said it with confidence. Whether Jared returned or not, she didn’t want to marry Simon.
“Are you out of your mind?” Simon's eyes narrowed on her face. “I thought you got over this hero worship thing a long time ago. Don't let Jared do this to you. He will suck you in, make you think he loves you, and then he'll walk away. Jared cannot commit to a woman.”
She scoffed. “That is hilarious coming from you.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“You aren't exactly Mr. Responsible.”
Beth turned and headed into the living room. Simon was hot on her heels. She imagined he still had a great deal to say on the subject of her surprise wedding. Because she didn't want Simon planting himself next to her on the couch, she went to the window instead. Traces of snow from their most recent downfall remained on the ground, a constant reminder of her time with Jared.
She opened her mouth to tell Simon that Jared wanted to sign the ranch over to her. She clamped her lips together before a single word could emerge. Jared's numerous warnings about his brother returned to the front of her mind. Simon might push her to get the papers signed so he could try to take half the ranch. She'd have to tell him that Jared worded the contract so she couldn't sell it or give him any part of the property. That would just cause a huge fight, and she wasn’t in the mood to go toe-to-toe with Simon.
Although she cared for him—he'd been her best friend since childhood—she knew he had a bad temper. She didn't want to deal with that. Maybe it was better if she kept her mouth shut. It wasn't like the whole thing was a done deal anyway. Jared had torn up the papers and hadn't asked his lawyers to send him another copy. In fact, he hadn't mentioned signing over the ranch in a while. Since they were giving their marriage a fair shot, he didn't need to give it to her. The ranch belonged to both of them now.
Simon glared at her from the sofa. “You can't be serious about wanting to stay married to my brother.”
“Why not?” she asked.
“Jared is married to his career, and he hates this ranch.”
“I offered to move to Boston.”
Simon's jaw dropped. “You can't be serious. You love this place. There is no way you could survive in Boston, and you'll just wind up hating him. What will you do when the marriage implodes and you've lost everything?”
She shrugged. “Don't know.”
“You aren't even Jared's type.”
