Page 61 of The Rented Bride

Cassie stood. “Sleep well.”

He grasped her hand. “You can call me Grandfather, lass.”

She smiled. “Grandfather.”

“You two have a lovely evening,” he said.

“Will you be okay without us for a few hours?” Cassie asked.

“Trent has spent too many nights home on my account. You’re newlyweds. It’ll do me good knowing you’re spending time together. And I won’t be alone.” He sent a dark look Annie’s way. “That woman won’t let me be for a moment.”

Annie braced her hands on her hips. “Be nice or there will be no reading tonight.”

“See how mean she is?” he said to Cassie.

Cassie laughed. “She loves you the same as we do. You listen to her and I’ll share your blood pudding next Sunday.”

He laughed. “Done.”

Trent rested his hand on her shoulder. “Ready?”

She nodded and kissed James on the cheek.

“See you in the morning,” he said, and she realized he wouldn’t see her in the morning. Should she tell him? Trent hadn’t mentioned the fact she was leaving. Her heart dropped into her stomach and ricocheted back into her throat. What if James didn’t make it till Sunday? She fought unexpected tears. This could be the last time she saw him. Cassie started when Trent’s arm slipped around her waist.

“You get a good night’s rest, Granddad.”

Before she could say anything, Trent urged her out the door. After a few paces, she said, “Shouldn’t we have told him about my trip?”

“He is liable to badger you into staying. If you want to feel guilty, then go back in there and tell him.”

Guilt. She didn’t need more of it. God, she hadn’t thought this through when she agreed to marry Trent.

“I don’t know what to do,” she said. They reached Trent’s bedroom. He opened the door and allowed her to enter first. “I have to go,” she said more to herself than him. “But if anything happens to him while I’m gone, I’ll never forgive myself.”

“He’s right, you know,” Trent said.

“Right about what?”

“It does do him good to know we’re a happy couple, living our lives as we should. If he left this world tonight, he would go believing we were happy.”

Was Trent happy? Cassie shook off the thought.

“Is half an hour enough time for you to get ready?” he asked.

Ready for their date. She nodded. “I’ll be ready.”

He stepped out of the room and Cassie went to the closet. She flipped through the few items hanging in the closet, her mind on James. How old had Trent said he was, seventy-four? Still fairly young by today’s standards, and his mind was sharp. Cassie pulled the Lycra skirt and sweater she’d planned for their wedding from their hangers, then went to the bed and sat down.

She began stripping off her slacks. James’ illness was all so unfair. Both men were more concerned about how the situation affected the other than they were about themselves. Trent would be hurting once James was gone. He loved his grandfather so much that he’d risked marriage to a woman he didn’t know just to make him happy. Cassie paused while folding her slacks. How many men would do that? He loved deeply, more deeply than she’d realized. Perhaps more deeply than she understood. Would he love a woman as deeply? How could he not? Tears pricked again, this time falling before she could stop them. It was wrong that James wouldn’t be around to see Trent marry a woman he truly loved, and to see the birth of their child. A real family, that’s what Trent and James deserved.

Cassie released a stuttered sigh and swiped at her eyes. She had to pull herself together. The last thing Trent needed was to find his rented wife crying. He had enough weighing him down. She put on the skirt and blouse, then pulled her hair back into a bun at the nape of her neck and freshened her makeup. Her reflection stared back. Not terrible. A spritz of perfume and a smear of lip gloss completed her preparations.

A knock sounded at the door. The man had impeccable timing.

“Come in,” she called from the bathroom. The door clicked open and Cassie gave her lip gloss another smoothing around the edges, then went into the bedroom. She stopped short at sight of Trent standing near the bed.

Sporting the current fashion of a fit suit, he wore black slacks, a dark gray shirt and a black silk tie. He could have walked off the cover of a fashion magazine. Her heart raced. Sure, he was her husband and he was attractive and charming as hell, but he also was temporary. The knowledge didn’t stop a tingle of anticipation.