The Substitute (20 page)

“I like surprises,” Gram chimed in.

Since Libby was playing the role of her bowled-over-by-a-sexy-smile friend, it was the three of them against Megan. Was she the only sane one left? Then she remembered that she was the only one in the room who was pretending to be engaged to a stranger.

They were all doomed.

“Do we know when Dad will be home with Josh?” Megan asked.

“He said he would be home by five. There’s some big to-do at the office about some silly patent,” her mother waved her hand, “or some such nonsense. But I made him promise to be home in time to set up for the dinner.”

“That’s exciting.” Noah’s smile widened—as if that were even possible. “A patent, you say?”

“I told Bart there wasn’t time for him to fool around and get excited over a tiny piece of metal. His daughter’s getting married.”

Noah nodded. “Priorities. Family takes precedence over everything and everyone, don’t you think?”

Nicole’s eyes softened. “Yes, I know exactly what you mean, even if…” She forced a smile. “I’m so glad you came, Noah.”

“I am too, Mrs. Vandemeer,” he said, matching her serious tone. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

“What’s the theme tonight, Mrs. Vandemeer?” Libby asked, trying to keep a straight face.

A scowl almost wrinkled Nicole’s Botoxed forehead. “It’s Hillbilly. Red-and-white checkered tablecloths. Banjos. You know.”

Noah’s eyebrows shot up in surprise and amusement.

Megan groaned. “
Mom
, Dad’s family is from
Springfield
, Missouri. That hardly makes them
hillbillies
.”

Her mother looked unswayed.

“Does that mean I should have brought my overalls?” Noah asked, grinning. “I’ve never been to a hoedown before.”

Megan could barely tolerate her mother disrespecting her father’s family; she definitely wasn’t going to take it from the strange man who had just barged into her parents’ house without an invitation. “Do you actually have a pair?” Megan countered, pinning him with a scrutinizing gaze. “You don’t exactly look like the type of guy who would willingly get dirty enough to need a pair of overalls.”

“Megan!” her mother reprimanded. “What has gotten into you?”

Megan bit back a retort. “Nothing.” She squinted at Noah. “I just
really
need to talk to Josh.”

And he was going to get quite an earful indeed.

Josh knew he was in deep shit. In more ways than he could count.

For one thing, he’d spent the entire day pretending not to know anything about engineering at Bart Vandemeer’s firm—a feat given that it was the field to which he’d devoted his entire adult life—and he was walking away with bupkis. Sure, everyone in the firm was excited over the recently granted patent—
his
patent—but whenever he asked questions about it, they treated him like a kindergartener who couldn’t possibly understand anything beyond 1+1=2. Josh would have found it insulting even if he
were
an investment banker. Noah might have been able to sneak around or seduce the info out of the cute twenty-something receptionist or some other 007 scheme, but Josh was out of his league. He’d wasted the day.

And to top it off, Noah had texted Josh to tell him that Megan was pissed about finding him on her mother’s sofa. Noah knew how pivotal it was for Josh to remain in Bart Vandemeer’s good graces. It was their best and only chance to get the information they needed to save their relationship with their investor. Thankfully, Noah had stuck to the plan, telling her that Josh had no idea he was coming, but apparently he hadn’t gotten the chance to pull her aside and tell her why he was there. When Josh got no response to the three texts he sent asking Noah what he’d
planned
to tell her, he knew he was on his own. But she had to wonder why Noah would show up unannounced on her doorstep. What possible explanation could there be that wasn’t incredibly sketchy?

He had a lot of smoothing over to do.

The patent celebration had caused them to leave the office late and Bart still needed to pick up the food for the family dinner. Using his brother’s arrival as an excuse, Josh talked Bart into dropping him off at the house before making his restaurant run.

Josh watched Bart drive off, wondering if he should have stuck to the plan and arrived later. Then he wouldn’t need to face Megan yet. But avoiding conflict had never been Josh’s style. He met it head on. That’s why this whole situation was so atypical for him. But then again, he’d never had so much to lose. The thought momentarily floored him. Losing his business or losing Megan—which bothered him the most?

Before he could reason it out, the front door swung open and Knickers greeted him in the doorway. “Josh! I’m so thrilled your brother could join us.”

At least someone was happy about it. “Yes! I was shocked when he texted to say he was not only here in Kansas City, but at your house. I hope he hasn’t been an imposition.”

“Of course not. He’s your brother. You should have family here.”

He walked through Megan’s parents’ front door, preparing himself to face Megan’s wrath, but she wasn’t in the living room and he didn’t see her in the kitchen either. Noah, on the other hand, was sitting at the island drinking what looked like lemonade while talking to Megan’s grandmother, who—thank God—was fully clothed.

Gram glanced up at Josh and shot him a grin. “You’re off the hook, Josh. Noah has agreed to pose as my nude model.”

Megan’s mother walked through the back door, rolling her eyes. “No one’s posing nude.”

Noah winked at Gram and gave her a knowing nod.

“How was your day, Josh?” Nicole asked, giving him a sweet smile. Josh was sure that wasn’t an adjective normally associated with Mrs. Vandemeer, but he planned to use her temporary approval to his advantage.

“It was great, but I’m eager to see Megan.”

“She’s upstairs with Libby, getting ready for the dinner.”

“I’ll run up and check on her.”

Noah shot him a glance that conveyed
good luck
.

Josh bounded up the stairs, but his steps slowed as he neared the top. He’d spent most of the day frustrated by his lack of progress, and the only thing getting him through his utter failure was the knowledge he’d see Megan at the end of the day. Granted, they were supposed to break up tonight, but maybe he could talk her out of it. The fact that she seemed to like him improved his chances. Of course, the wedding was in less than forty-eight hours, so any kind of breakup would have to happen soon, but he’d felt pretty confident he could convince her to wait until tomorrow. But now he was nervous. Any points he’d gained, he’d lost now that his brother had made an uninvited entrance.

Damn it. Why hadn’t he thought this through?

The thought of her kicking him out the door made him more upset than he cared to admit. He was in a very awkward situation, with no discernable plan, but he knew one thing: Every time he thought about seeing Megan, he felt happiness blooming in his chest—a sense of peace and fulfillment he hadn’t experienced since his father’s death.

What in the hell was he going to do?

First thing first—he had to deal with this crisis. He knocked on the door and called out softly, “Megan?”

The door cracked and Libby’s face filled the opening. She grimaced at the sight of him.

“That bad?” he whispered.

“Worse.” She swung the door open wider and stepped out of the way. “She’s in the bathroom, but she’s decent.”

“Okay.” He started toward it, but Libby grabbed his arm.

“She likes you, Josh. Fight for her.”

Libby’s trust in him added to his guilt, but he needed her as an ally. Which meant pretending his only motive was to make a relationship work with Megan. “Thanks, Libby.”

“I’m going downstairs to talk to your brother.”

“He’s busy flirting with Megan’s grandmother.”

She laughed as she slipped into the hallway. “Then maybe we can share him.”

“Libby.” He followed her into the hall, closing the door behind him. “Regarding my brother…” He didn’t want to ring any alarm bells, but he genuinely liked Libby and didn’t want to see her get hurt. Noah always left behind a string of broken hearts; it was his MO. “Let’s just say he’s here for the wedding, then he’ll be gone.”

She stopped and turned around to face him, her face softening. “You’re something else, Josh, you know that?”

He froze, unsure of what she meant.

Her face lit up with amusement. “You’re really sweet to be worried about me, but I’m a big girl, and I’ve fooled around with my share of guys like your brother. If I decide I’m interested, I know what I’m getting into.” Then her eyes turned serious. “But Megan’s different than Blair and me. She wears her heart on her sleeve and a lot of people take advantage of it.” She stepped closer, an unfamiliar look filling her eyes. “I’d rather not go there, but let’s just say if Blair’s right and you’re really here to hurt her, you’ll find out that Blair isn’t the only one with claws.”

He resisted the urge to swallow, which he was sure would make him look guilty. Instead, he spread his hands wide and gave her a gentle smile, lifting his eyebrows to assert his sincerity. “Libby, I will do everything in my power to help her.” Not a lie, but not the complete truth either.

She studied him for a second, then that strange glint in her eyes disappeared and her soft smile returned. “Yeah, I think you will.”

He reached for the doorknob and let himself back into the bedroom. After closing the door behind him, he studied the bathroom door, struggling with what to say.

The bathroom door opened and Megan stood in the opening, wearing a white sleeveless dress dotted with tiny pink and blue flowers, her dark hair tumbling over her shoulders. Even if he’d had a perfectly planned-out speech, it wouldn’t have helped him. He was struck dumb by the sight of her natural beauty. She wasn’t made up with lots of makeup and fancy clothes, although he had no doubt that she’d be beautiful that way too. She was the kind of woman who was beautiful no matter what she was wearing. And in that moment, he knew he was struck with a strange certainty: he might actually want to marry this woman someday.

Where the hell had that come from?

But more importantly, what the hell did he do with that, with the knowledge that he had less than forty-eight hours with her? Because fake fiancé aside, once she knew the details of his little business problem, they would be done. And for him to give up his quest was impossible. What he was doing went beyond him personally. His employees were counting on him.

He would have to make the most of the time he had with her. If they survived this part, anyway.

Irritation was written across her face and he braced himself. He needed to stop drooling over her and put out this fire.

She pointed to the door, anger darkening her eyes. “I don’t know who is down there in my mother’s kitchen, but you have some explaining to do.”

He lifted his hands in surrender. “Just give me a chance.”

She crossed her arms and glared at him. “Is he even your brother?”

“Yes, that’s Noah, my brother who Blair talked to last night.”

“What is he doing here?”

Josh sighed and motioned to the bed. “Can we sit down while I explain it?”

She glanced at the bed, seemingly unsure, wrapping her arms tighter around her torso.

He sat tentatively on the edge. “I didn’t ask him to come.”

“Then why is he here?”

“He knew I was coming to Kansas City…”
Dammit
. He got to his feet and began pacing. Why had he been stupid enough to believe that Noah, who’d gotten him into this situation in the first place, could help? “He’s worried about me.”

She pointed her finger at him. “That’s a bullshit answer!”

“Megan, I’m sorry! I didn’t ask him to come.” When she didn’t interrupt him, he continued. “He knew I was coming to Kansas City and when we spoke last night he asked me where I was staying.”

“And you
told
him?”

He ran a hand through his hair. Shit. This whole trip had been one ill-thought-out decision after another, which was the exact opposite of the precedent Josh liked to set for himself. No wonder he was floundering. “He didn’t want me to come to Kansas City this weekend. Like I said, he was worried about me.”

“Let’s go back to the part where you told him you were
here!
”

Josh sat back down and leaned his elbows on his knees. He looked up at her, pleading. “I told him that I was helping you. He wanted to know
how
exactly I was helping you—”

“I bet he did,” she said sarcastically.

“—so I told him you were in a desperate situation.”

“You
told
him that you were posing as my fiancé?”

He nodded, unable to look her in the eye. “Yeah. I’m sorry.”

“Didn’t he want to know why you were helping me?”

“Yeah.”

“
And?
”

He took a deep breath, then looked up at her. He needed to tell her the truth. Or at least the part of it that directly impacted her. “Look, I wasn’t lying when I said I never meant for this to happen. Your mother heard me say I was your fiancé. I wasn’t myself…you saw me on the plane when I boarded. So when your mother assumed I was Jay, she swept me along in her cloud of…Knickers-ness… Well, the next thing I knew, I was still carrying you and we had wandered to baggage claim. How could I correct her at that point? I was in dire straits with my business, and like I told you, I’d decided to hand it all to fate, so I figured if I did a good deed, the cosmos would do one for me in return. Stupid, I know.”

She turned to the side and he could feel that he was losing her. “Megan, this isn’t coming out right.” He groaned in frustration, then stood and moved in front of her. “When I decided to go through with this, I admit I did it for selfish reasons, but then I got to know you.” He slowly lifted his hands and placed them gently on her upper arms. “As stupid as this sounds, I like you. Like
really
like you. I’ve never fallen for someone this quickly, and while it kind of freaks me out, I’m not ready to end this yet. At least not like this.”