Deceiving Derek (6 page)

“In a way. If my personal life isn’t under
control, how can Nathan believe that my business is?”

A male perspective, if she’d ever heard one.
And she’d heard enough in her twenty-nine years to last her ninety,
thank you very much.

She swigged her ice water. “So what you’re
saying is that by telling him you could risk the deal.”

“Precisely.” He had the audacity to smile.
“I’m glad you understand.” He finished his minestrone.

“To be honest, I don’t.” She swept the
crouton off her lap and ground it into the floor with her shoe.
Other than for the stated business complications, didn’t Justin
care that his girlfriend had bro-ken up with him? If so, he hid it
well. “I don’t understand why you need me. Can’t you ask a female
friend?”

“You seem upset. Why?”

“Because. I don’t like the sound of
this.”

“You don’t have to like it. You just have to
help me.”

“Again, why me?”

He stared at her. “I can’t take any woman
along. I need someone who mountain bikes.”

Magee’s stomach flip-flopped. She couldn’t
mountain bike to save her life. Thinking about the sport terrified
her.

There it was, her secret exposed…if she chose
to expose it.

But she couldn’t tell Justin the truth
now
. If she
did, he might terminate his contract with her father’s advertising
agency—and she wouldn’t blame him.

She’d screwed up.

Again.

She had no choice but to go along with
whatever her client suggested.

“I see.” Her homemade noose tightened. “That
makes sense.”

~*~

Justin straightened in his chair. For a
second, he’d thought Magee would turn him down, and then where
would he be? During his six months with Tina, he hadn’t looked at
another woman. All right, he’d looked, but he hadn’t touched. He
might not believe in marriage before forty, but that didn’t mean
he’d lost faith in monogamy, particularly in this age of STDs and
crazy women blathering their personal lives all over the
Internet.

“Then you’ll do it?” he asked Magee.

She nodded as if he’d sentenced her to face a
firing squad.

Odd
. He’d offered her a chance to go wheel-skiing at
Whistler, one of the few local mountain biking venues she hadn’t
tried. Or so she’d said when he’d signed with her advertising
agency two months ago. He’d thought she’d feel ecstatic. Instead,
her creamy complexion had assumed an ashy tinge.

“Remember,” he told her for added incentive,
“what’s good for CycleMania is good for Sinclair Advertising. We
both stand to gain financially from this deal.”

Her light green gaze darted away. “I’m game.
What do you want me to do?” She ran her fingers through the
chin-length blond hair framing her face. The color reminded him of
liquid honey, natural and appealing.

“Accompany me to Whistler for the weekend as
my girlfriend. A long weekend, to be specific. The Willoughbys
arrive tomorrow—Thursday. We’ll meet them at the airport and leave
for the mountain right away. We won’t return to Vancouver until
Sunday. Will that work for you?”

She looked him square in the eyes. “I’ll make
it work, Justin. You’re a valuable client. I wouldn’t want you to
lose this deal.”

“Good, we’re on the same wavelength.” The
cell phone in his pants pocket vibrated, signaling an incoming
text. He rat-a-tapped his hands on the table. He’d scheduled a tour
of warehouse sites with a realtor for this afternoon. The woman
liked to check in. He should leave and let her know he was on his
way.

“You don’t have to bring your mountain bike,”
he advised Magee. “We’ll use rentals from the CycleMania store in
Whistler. As for what to pack, we’ll go out for dinner once or
twice. Also, bring your hiking boots and a bathing suit for the hot
tub.”

“Hot tub?”

“At my parents’ cabin. They have a place in a
subdivision near Whistler. Three bedrooms, so there’s plenty of
space. Except, of course, we’ll have to share.”

“We?” She winced. “As in you and me?”

“Well, I don’t think Nathan would appreciate
it if I tried to bunk with his wife.” Justin tucked the printout of
the preliminary plan into his briefcase. When he glanced up, the
ashen cast to Magee’s skin had intensified. “Don’t worry, this
isn’t a convoluted attempt at sexual harassment. We’ll pretend to
share a room. I’ll sleep in another.”

“But…we’re supposed to be…lovers?”

Clearly, the prospect of participating in the
charade disturbed her. However, he didn’t have time to address her
concerns now. He’d have to do so later. “That’s the idea. I need to
keep this simple, Magee. Believe it or not, I don’t usually engage
in deception to get what I want. In order to pull off this weekend,
I need to think of you as Tina. In other words, as my lover.”

“How? We barely know each other.”

“I have a plan to correct that.”

Her pert nose crinkled. “What?”

“Practice, Miss Sinclair. Lots of it.”

CHAPTER 2

“He wants you to pretend to be his lover?”
Susannah Deshane’s bubbling laughter bounced off the bedroom walls
in Magee’s small apartment. “Magee, how do you keep finding
yourself in these nutty situations?”

“A mess,” Magee clarified for her neighbor
and friend. “It’s not a situation, it’s a mess. A major one.”
Tightening the sash of her satin bathrobe, she scoured her cramped
walk-in closet for an appropriate outfit for the practice date
Justin had proposed before he’d bolted out of their lunch to meet
his realtor.

A shrewd one, that Justin Kane. A practice
date might settle her nerves—or at least help her pre-pare for
tomorrow.

When the Willoughbys arrived.

Gulp
.

She glanced over her shoulder. “I have no one
to blame for this current mess but myself,” she said to Susannah.
“I never should have lied to Justin about the mountain biking in
the first place.”

“You can blame me.” Susannah joined Magee in
the tiny closet. “It was my brainwave that you tell him you’re an
expert mountain biker. You wanted to win his account so badly.”
Susannah flipped through the clothes on the opposite rod.

“Just because you suggested the idea didn’t
mean I had to do it.” That decision had been hers alone, the last
in a string of questionable choices. Considering she’d realized
Justin would only switch advertising agencies to secure the insight
of an account executive who mountain biked, her fib had been a
shady method to land his business. “At least Dad’s still on
holidays. I couldn’t face telling him right now that I’ve made
another mistake.”

“Will you tell him when he returns?”

“I haven’t decided. It took forever to
convince him to take Mom on this vacation. I don’t want him to
regret going.” Also, she wanted a chance to rectify the situation
before it became necessary to tell him.

She studied a short knit dress.
Too clingy
.

“I want him to have faith in me again,
Susannah,” she added, riffling through her clothes. “If I’m going
to accept this promotion to account director, I need to feel like
I’ve earned it. Yet every time I turn around, I lose the agency
money…or clients…or both! No matter how hard I try, I screw up.
First the billboards, then the Barnacle Beer ad. And let’s not
forget the little day-to-day snafus. I swear I’ll pull my hair out
if I can’t get my act together soon.”

Susannah’s muffled giggle drifted to Magee’s
ears. Spinning in the closet, she squinted at the rear view of her
friend. Susannah searched the opposite rod, her long blond curls
bobbling around her shaking shoulders.

“What?” Magee asked.

“The billboard mix-up.” Susannah faced her.
“You have to admit, that one was funny.”

“Susannah!” Magee smacked her friend’s arm. “
‘Do Your Buns Get Freezer Burn?’ is
not
appropriate copy for sun block. And ‘To
Soothe And Protect’ only marginally suits freezer bags.”

“Yeah, but the buns line looked fantastic
splashed on the billboard of the handsome cop slathering sunscreen
on the female model. Come on, Magee, you thought it was cute,
too.”

Magee drew in a breath. “It was mildly
entertaining. But my father wasn’t impressed with the mix-up, and
neither were the Sear-Soothe people—and
I
can’t figure out how it happened.
Nope. No more, Susannah. I lost two clients over that disaster. I
don’t intend to lose another.” Squaring her shoulders, she selected
a knee-length black skirt for her friend’s inspection. “How’s
this?”

Susannah stuck a finger down her throat.
“Gag. This is a date, old buddy, old pal. Remember, he’s your
lover
.”

How could she forget that most intriguing
detail? Justin Kane might treat his women like dirt—otherwise, why
would Tina Whoever dump him?—but his eyes, body, and deep, sensual
voice inspired fantasies of Magee locking him in her bedroom, oh,
for the next fifty years.

She waved a hand at the row of clothes. “You
choose.”

Susannah grinned. “With pleasure.”

“Great. I’m hot.” And bothered. Extremely so
when she thought of Justin Kane. “I need a pop. Want one?”

“No, thanks.”

Leaving her friend in the closet, Magee
strode barefoot to the miniscule kitchen of her U-shaped apartment.
She grabbed a diet cola from the fridge. She’d worked for her
father for over three years. She could afford to rent a newer place
if she wanted. However, she loved the flavor of her Kitsilano
neighborhood with its tree-lined sidewalks and old houses remodeled
into apartments. The layout of her suite left something to be
desired, with the bathroom accessible only through the living room,
but Magee didn’t mind sacrificing convenience for the nobler
pursuit of character. If doing so entailed traipsing through the
kitchen and living room to reach the bathroom in the dead of night,
that was fine by her.

She set the pop can on the counter and
tinkled ice cubes into a glass. A huge gray cat meowed at her
through the gable window spanning the length of the kitchen in the
top-floor apartment.

Magee pushed open the window. The cat
sauntered in, front paws meeting the counter with a grace that
belied his bulk.

“Hi, Monster. Time for your milk, baby?”
Magee picked up the cat and stroked his soft fur. Monster tolerated
her cuddling for thirty seconds before scrambling to the floor.
Magee filled a saucer with the evaporated milk she stored in the
fridge for the cat. Purring, Monster slurped his treat. Flying
flecks of heavy milk dotted the linoleum.

“Magee?” Susannah appeared in the bedroom
doorway, several garments slung over her arm. “You’re feeding that
cat again?”

“As if you don’t when he visits you. I can’t
let him starve.”

A wry smile tipped Susannah’s mouth. “His
real owners feed him daily. In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s 7:35.
Aren’t your dinner reservations with Justin for eight?”

Magee zapped a glance to the wall clock.
“Omigod, you’re right. He’ll be here in ten minutes.” She sloshed
the diet cola into the glass, then scurried to the bedroom. “What
are my choices?” Sitting on the bed, she sipped the cold pop.

“Well, you said he’s taking you to The Dock.
That’s outdoors, but it’s a warm night. Perfect for something short
and sexy.”

“I’m not trying to seduce him, Susannah.”

“Why not? He’s your lover.”

Magee rolled her eyes.

Susannah held out a vintage, fuchsia leather
mini-dress. “How about this?” she asked.

“Not on your life. That’s my hooker outfit
from last Halloween.”

“It’s cute.”

Magee jabbed an imaginary buzzer on the bed.
“
Bzzzt
. Try
again.”

Monster, evidently finished his milk,
strutted in from the kitchen, hopped on the mattress, and resumed
purring. Gripping the cool glass of cola in one hand, Magee petted
the cat as Susannah presented another dress.

“
This?”

Magee shook her head. “Too short.”

“This?”

“Too flirty.”

“This?”

Magee’s heart pounded. “Too tight!”

Susannah planted a hand on her shorts-clad
hip. “Magee, other than your work clothes, every summer outfit you
own is either too short, too flirty, or too tight.”

“Not the black skirt.”

“You are
not
wearing the black skirt. Time is of the
essence here. Take a leap of faith and close your eyes.”

Magee obeyed.

Rustle, rustle
.

“You can open them again.”

Magee opened her eyes.

Susannah stood beside the bed, shaking out a
beautiful turquoise slip dress.

“Susannah, yes! I forgot about that dress.”
Magee glided a finger over the cool silk. She bit her lip. “Uh,
maybe not. Look at the skinny straps. I don’t own a bra in a
coordinating color anymore.”

Susannah shrugged. “Go braless. It wouldn’t
be the first time. You’re lucky in that department.”

In other words, Magee’s barely-Bs didn’t
strictly require a bra.

“But to not wear one
this
time?”

“Honey, you’re not thinking clearly. Repeat
after me, ‘Justin Kane is my lover.’ ”

“Justin Kane is…my lover.” A delicious thrill
vibrated through Magee as she spoke the words that would guide her
thoughts and actions over the next three days. Her body warmed in
strategic places. Even her cheeks heated to a burn.

She placed her cola glass on the nightstand,
accepted the dress from Susannah, and began to change. She was
running out of options.

Susannah strolled to the dresser and withdrew
a wispy silk wrap in shades of turquoise and deep pink. The bright
tulip shade almost matched Magee’s modified raspberry manicure.
Clever friend.

“Cover up with this if you’re shy.”