Page 19
She still looks a bit hesitant, and I’m tempted to sweeten the deal just that little bit more, offer her even more money, but I worry that will make me seem desperate. Fuck, I am desperate to keep her from leaving, but she can’t know that.
But before I can break down and do something as ill-advised as getting down on my knees and begging, Maeve suddenly squares her shoulders.
“Okay,” she says, exhaling slowly. “Yes. I’ll pretend that I’m going to marry you.”
9
HAYDEN: Are you out of your mind?!
GABRIEL: I can get you the number of a good therapist.
FORD: Gabe, you’re not funny. Hayden, no, I’m quite sane, thank you.
HAYDEN: You asked Maeve to marry you.
FORD: No. I offered her a business proposal. You know we need to seal this deal, and George has been dragging his feet. You’re the one who told me we had to be perfect. I found something to clinch it.
GABRIEL: And you just conveniently did this right before the holidays when any decent fiancé would take his lovely fiancée to join him with his family at their estate.
HAYDEN: The estate where your brother will be? Jesus Christ, Ford.
GABRIEL: I’m sure you told her that being your fake fiancée would include that too, right?
FORD: …
10
MAEVE
When Ford asked me if I wanted to join him for his lunch meeting so that I could take some notes for him, I should have known that something was up. The man never takes lunch meetings at restaurants if he can avoid it. That’s more Gabriel’s thing. Ford stays in his office—and steals my food.
But I bought into it, possibly because I’m not sure what to do with this whole deal. I feel unmoored, adrift, and I don’t know if this is going to steer me to better shores or if I’m headed for an ocean storm.
Instead, Ford gets us food and sits me down at a bench in the park, and breaks the news.
I have to go home with him to his family estate for the holidays.
“I have to do what?” I blurt out, too in shock to come up with something witty.
Ford looks calm and in his element as always. “Everything will be fine. Gabriel and Hayden will be coming as well, since we always get work done over the holidays. We’ll be hosting a couple of parties, and we’ll invite the Silver Start executive team, including George. He’ll see that you and I are together and how serious our relationship is, and we’ll seal the deal.”
I take a shaky breath. “Ford, I want to help you. And not just because of the money. I know I’m quitting, but it’s not out of any ill will. I want you guys to succeed. But this will be with your family.”
“We already planned this party and invited the Silver Start board. If I show up without the woman I’m about to marry, there will be awkward questions. We need to look like a happy couple.”
I shake my head. “Ford, I don’t know if I can do this.”
“Of course you can. You’re the assistant to three billionaires. Most people can barely handle one.”
“But won’t it be weird to go home as your fiancée after everything with Liam? I don’t want your family thinking I just… moved on to the next brother. I’m not a gold digger.”
I have never, ever asked for a handout in my entire life. I always pay my debts. When Liam and I dated, he had no idea how bad my finances were. It had been the one sour note when I’d imagined marrying him, my stomach twisting with humiliation and horror at the idea of having to tell him the kind of bad debt I was in.
But if I get this money from Ford, I’ll not only be out of debt, I’ll have enough to make the down payment on a property, and I can get a loan to cover the rest.
“Nobody will think that,” Ford says, a hard edge entering his voice. The glint in his eye suggests just what will happen to anyone who dares to suggest the idea. Then he pauses. His eyes narrow, like he is trying to search inside my head. “You don’t still have feelings for Liam, do you?”
“Oh, god, no,” I blurt out. Then I wince. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to—he’s your brother, I know you love him. I just meant… no. That’s all done with.”
