Stealing the Groom (13 page)

Chad didn’t answer. He merely shifted until his leg aligned with hers and they were touching from thigh to knee. He slid his arm across the back of the booth, lightly resting it against her back, and the warmth from his body seeped into hers.

Crossing her legs beneath the table, Amelia attempted to pull away from the touch of his body. Chad, darn him, seemed to have taken to the playacting as though he’d been born to do it.

“Don’t I get a kiss, honey?” he asked, pursing his lips in an exaggerated fish pucker. Any other time, Amelia would have laughed at his antics, but she was still shaken over the truth she’d learned regarding her marriage and Henry’s health.

She was caught between a rock and a hard place: honor the wishes of a dying man she’d known and loved her whole life, or confess everything to her best friend and risk causing a rift between him and his grandfather, the only family either of them had left.

If she told Chad what she’d discovered about Henry and the fake wedding, he would be more than upset. If she didn’t tell him and he found out later, he might never forgive her.

“Honey?” Chad needled.

“We need to talk,” she said quietly.

She felt Chad’s arm stiffen along the back of the booth before he shifted slightly so he could face her. “What’s going on?”

Their grandfathers leaned forward in unison, eyes beseeching.

She knew how stubborn Henry could be. How much he needed to be in control. But she also realized that with the remaining time he had left, he too needed to learn how to enjoy life, and that meant stepping away from the company. “Your grandfather has decided to turn over control of the company to you now instead of waiting until after you’ve been married six months. It’s one of his very generous wedding gifts,” Amelia said.

Henry’s eyes went wide with startled surprise.

Chad’s brows raised and he turned his attention to his grandfather. “I thought you weren’t stepping aside for a while yet.”

“Apparently I am,” Henry grumbled, fidgeting in the booth.

“Henry decided the best way to make the change was like ripping off a Band-Aid. Do it quickly and get it over with.” Amelia sent the older man a sweet smile and reached across the tabletop to pat the back of his hand. “I know how hard it is to step aside from running the company, but you can do it. I know you want to take time off to spend with loved ones,” she said pointedly.

Henry clamped his mouth shut audibly.

“What made you change your mind?” Chad said and Amelia heard the excitement in his voice.

“Something Amelia said.” Henry glared at her, looking every inch the imposing aristocrat. Then he laughed out loud and inclined his head toward Amelia. “I think you’re going to be quite an asset to the family. Now about those wedding plans.” He turned to Noah, who produced a folder.

“We have everything here that’s needed to pull the wedding off. Invitations to the who’s who of Sweet Creek, an announcement for the newspaper and the news stations.”

As he rattled on about flowers and a dress and a tuxedo, Amelia toyed with her food, dipping a fry in and out of the ketchup. She couldn’t even fake excitement over the next ceremony. She hated keeping things from Chad, but when he started talking to Henry about his plans for the company, she noticed the sparkle in his eyes.

She also noticed Chad hadn’t touched his plate.

“You’re not eating?”

“I’m too excited to eat,” Chad said.

Feeling the urge to escape, Amelia said, “Henry, Granddaddy, I’ll leave the wedding plans to you. If you’ll excuse me, I have a lot on my to-do list for today.” She squeezed from the booth when Chad stood to let her out, and with a brisk walk, she headed toward the exit.

Shielding her eyes from the brightness of the sun, Amelia dug the car keys from her purse.

“Amelia!” Chad caught up with her before she could get into the car.

“Chad, I’m sorry. I just…” She bit her lip to keep from blurting out the truth. “I just had to get out of there.”

“Hey, hey, is this about the wedding?” He took her hands and pressed them against his chest before sliding his arms to her waist. “Consider this upcoming ceremony a bump in the road. We’ll get through it together like we’ve done everything else life has thrown at us, okay?”

“With your grandfather giving you the shares, there’s no need for us to stick it out for six months.”

Uncertainty crossed his face. “Is that what you want?”

“I was telling you that you have a way out now.”

“I guarantee you that they’ve told a lot of people already about this wedding-to-be. I think we need to go through with it and stick it out for the six months.”

Amelia pressed her hands on his, keeping a phony smile fixed in place, aware several patrons were regarding them with interest through the window. “So you’re still stuck with me.”

Relief crossed his face and his gaze searched hers, looking for what, she didn’t know. “Yes, it looks like we’re still stuck together.”

Noticing the people on the sidewalk looking at them and aware they were still the objects of interest, Amelia played her part, giving him what she intended to be a quick kiss.

But as soon as their lips met, he deepened the kiss and all her good intentions were shoved aside. His mouth, warm and inviting, pressed against hers and she practically melted against him.

She didn’t know how long they stood locked in an embrace until a customer leaving the diner called out for them to get a room already.

She moved away from him, willing her heart to stop racing. “I need to get going,” she said even though she wanted to do the opposite and let the kiss continue.

Chad stepped off the sidewalk and shoved his hands into the pockets of his dress slacks. “Then I’ll see you at home for dinner later?”

“Unless I see you when I drop that gift off at your office.” She moistened her lips. “About dinner, Abby asked that we join them for dinner tonight.”

“Sounds good,” Chad said. “I’ve always enjoyed Abby’s cooking.”

“She inherited the chef thumb in the kitchen, Ann inherited the brains with numbers, and I inherited making mistakes.”

“Not mistakes,” Chad corrected with a sexy smile. “Unscripted life, remember?”

He moved to her side and gave her a quick hug. His touch sent her hormones into a frenzy.

She quickly stepped away. “Abby asked me to pick up some ingredients for dinner so I’ve got to do that too. Oh, and I planned to work a few hours at the diner later. So…busy day.”

She’d also planned to get her sisters’ opinions on a couple of houses, but given the blow of learning about the way she and Chad had been manipulated, house hunting didn’t seem quite right for the time being.

“Then if I don’t see you at the office, I’ll meet you this evening.”

Compelled by the need to touch him, Amelia stroked the side of his face. “It’s a date.” She forced her hand away from him and got into the car and he closed the door.

Backing out of the parking space, Amelia’s heart squeezed as if in a vise. How was he going to feel when he learned the truth about everything? Could she get him to believe in love before this whole marriage ruse came crashing down?

And how would he cope with the news about his grandfather?

“Chad,” she said aloud to the empty car. “What is going to happen to us?”

He was a man who fought love tooth and nail. A man who would marry her but would never agree to be her real husband. He’d warned her that he wasn’t romance material, that loving him would only bring a woman heartache. And yet, here she was. Head over heels in love with him and not feeling a bit sorry she’d taken the plunge.

She turned into the parking lot of the small grocery store. The market had been around since she was a child. She and Chad used to ride their bikes here after school to grab a Coke and a pack of doughnuts, then head back to the park and eat while sitting by their tree.

She couldn’t go anywhere in Sweet Creek without remembering the times she’d shared with Chad. How come she’d never seen it before? Had she really been that determined to run away and live some big adventurous life, as though that’s what her deceased parents wanted for her?

They’d only wanted her to be happy. To live.

And living meant loving. It meant staying and fighting for that love.

Chewing her lip, she exited the car, taking care to lock it behind her. She entered through the automatic sliding doors and as she maneuvered through the aisles, several of the townspeople hailed her and wished her well on her marriage. She managed to keep a smile on her face even when she was wished “happiness and loads of kids,” the latter part said with lots of nudging and winking by Martha Hampton, the town florist, who had half a dozen kids of her own.

Kids with Chad. The thought sent a hot flush from her feet to the roots of her hair. She wanted all that and more. She wanted forever with him.

She hurriedly grabbed the items she needed, added a half gallon of chocolate ice cream to the cart and, once she’d paid, escaped back out into the heat. Stuffing the items into the trunk, wondering why she felt giddy one second and so close to tears the next, Amelia got back into the car and headed for her home. Once she was there, she carried the groceries inside, digging the ice cream from the bag the moment she crossed the threshold.

Abby paused, feather duster in hand, her eyes lighting up when she saw the chocolate ice cream. “Perfect! I was about to take a break.”

Ann climbed down from the ladder where she’d been dusting the ceiling fan. Her olive green shorts and T-shirt were covered with clusters of dust. “Ice cream? You only eat ice cream when something major is bothering you. What’s wrong?”

Amelia took a deep breath. “I’m in love with Chad.” She burst into tears.

Her sisters rushed to her side and guided her to the sofa. “Amelia, honey, that’s a good thing that you’re finally acknowledging how you feel. Why are you crying? Has Chad done something?”

“No, he hasn’t done anything. Not one thing.” She sniffed and wiped at her eyes. “We’re getting married. I mean we’re supposed to get married.”

Ann waved her hand. “Hello? Were you working out in the sun? You
are
married.”

“The marriage license was a fake. So we have to do it all over again. And Chad doesn’t know.” Amelia clutched the ice cream to her chest. Between hiccups and sniffles, she poured out the story. “And Henry’s dying. He hasn’t told Chad yet about that either and doesn’t want me to say anything.”

“Wow,” Abby said. “You know from my experience that nothing good ever comes from deception.”

Amelia did know. Abby had been deceived by her ex-husband and had an awful marriage. He’d been a chronic liar and a cheat. Once the divorce was final, Abby had sworn off men, fully intending to live the rest of her life single. She’d definitely adopted Chad’s “love destroys” philosophy.

“Sit down.” Abby directed her to the sofa and then took a spot on the floor by her sister’s feet. She pressed her hands on Amelia’s knees. “You’re upset because you hate deceiving Chad.”

Ann reached between them and rescued the ice cream. “I told you that day outside the church you should have skipped the groomnapping and told Chad you love him.”

The room filled with silence.

“Ann, I don’t think I-told-you-so is helping,” Abby warned.

“I
am
in love with Chad, but I never realized that what I felt for him then was love,” Amelia said through tears. “What am I going to do? Chad doesn’t love me, he’s the poster boy for anti-love. If there was a vaccination against the emotion, he’d be first in line to get one.”

“You need to tell him how you feel,” Abby insisted. “And you need to tell him about Henry.”

“No, she doesn’t,” Ann countered firmly and leaned over to the end table to grab a box of tissues. She pulled out a couple and handed them to Amelia.

“Why not?” Abby demanded.

“What if he thinks Amelia was in on the plan? At least if he’s willing to admit that he loves her too…”

“But he doesn’t believe in love!” Amelia interrupted.

Ann shook her head. “I think the gentleman doth protest too much.”

“I agree,” Abby said. “But I still think Amelia should tell him the truth.”

“Well, sure.
After
he realizes he loves her,” Ann replied. “And with him and Amelia living under the same roof, it shouldn’t take too long.”

“It better not,” Amelia said. “I told Henry and Granddaddy that if he wasn’t in love with me by the time the next ceremony happened, I wasn’t going to go through with it.”

Ann nodded and studied her sister for a moment, then said, “I’ll go get some spoons. We’ll have some ice cream and then we’ll devise a way to get Chad to see you as more than a friend.”

Amelia brightened as the beginnings of a plan began to formulate. Get him to see her as more than a friend. If the way he’d kissed her lately was anything to go by…maybe it wouldn’t be that difficult. She squared her shoulders as her can-do attitude reasserted itself.

“You could always try seducing your husband. He might be anti-love, but I’ll bet he’s not anti-
that
.” Ann laughed at the thought.

Amelia grinned despite herself, her earlier misery pushed aside. “If Chad thought I would do something like that, he’d start writing out an ‘avoiding seduction’ plan. Step one, don’t look at the lingerie. Step two, don’t look at the wife.”

Abby laughed this time. “In my experience, what people make the most noise about is exactly what they’ve been entertaining in their thoughts.”

“You think Chad is adamant about us staying friends because he wants more?” Amelia asked.

“Yep,” Abby said.

“I have to agree,” Ann said.

“Then what I need to do is come up with a plan to overcome all Chad’s plans.” Amelia couldn’t prevent the smile from spreading across her face. “Maybe I should try telling him how I feel.”

“I think seduction is the better route,” Abby said. “Men tend to be real agreeable afterward.”

After the laughter died down, Abby said, “Let’s head to the diner early.”