We studied each other. I still found him stupidly attractive. Sighing, I asked, “Are we crazy to be doing this?”
“Yeah.”
I laughed. “I’m serious.”
He shrugged, then winced and dug a knuckle into his lower back.
“Sore?”
“Just this busted-up old couch,” he grumbled. “If my grandmother wasn’t a tyrant, we could each have our own bedroom right now.”
I snorted, then tilted my head toward the bedroom. “Why don’t you take the bed tonight?”
“No,” he said. “I get up earlier than you. Makes sense for me to be out here.”
“Well, we could both…” I gulped. “I mean, not, like… We could both sleep in the bed.”
His gaze was steady, eyes intent. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Sadie.”
I burned with shame. “Right. Of course.”
“This only works if we stick to the plan.”
I remembered his reaction to me speaking to his cousin, andI narrowed my eyes. “Maybe we should discuss some more particulars if this is going to work out long term.”
“As in?”
“You went all macho possessive at Sunday lunch. In this arrangement of ours, are we not allowed to see other people?”
His eyes twitched. “Is that what you want?”
“Is that whatyouwant?”
“I asked first, Sadie.”
I blew out a sigh. “Well, if we’re being honest, what I want is to meet the love of my life, fall head over heels, and have him treat me like a princess for the rest of my life so we can both live happily ever after.”
His face went still. “Seems like this marriage is doomed, then. Why bother going through with the next five weeks?”
I exhaled as I dropped my head in my hands. “Because if we don’t, your grandmother will chop your business into pieces and sell it off. And I’ve got nowhere else to go.”
When I looked up again, Gideon was watching me. I couldn’t read his expression. Finally, I pushed myself up to my feet. “Are you sure you don’t want the bed tonight?”
He shook his head and started spreading the sheets over the couch. Throat tight, I retreated to the bedroom.
GIDEON
Maybe I was a fool for refusing her invitation to sleep in the bed beside her. But before I lay on the couch, I opened her sketchbook and flicked through her designs. I wonderedhow quickly she would drop everything and leave Marswood Harbor—leave me—if the opportunity presented itself. If someone wanted her to create one of these dresses for them. If she got any chance whatsoever to go back to her old life.
She said it herself: She had nowhere else to go. This was her very last resort in a life that had crumbled apart.
If I got attached, it would only hurt that much more when she left. It was easier to shut her out and wait for these torturous weeks to pass.
NINE
SADIE
On Saturday, feeling restless and not wanting to have yet another meal in town by myself, where I knew my movements were watched and gossiped about, I spent the evening at home and decided to deep clean the cottage. I started in the kitchen, scouring every surface including the inside of the fridge, microwave, and oven. I tidied the living room and fluffed the ancient couch cushions. I washed the bathroom, swept the hallway, and made the bed. The home finally lost its shut-in smell, and I looked around with deep satisfaction.
