The Wedding Hoax (15 page)

“Promise me you won’t make the same mistake I made. Secure your financial future, and if the girl wants to hang around for a while, fine, but for God’s sake, don’t make it permanent.”

His frustration skyrocketed. Being pushed around and strong-armed by his father all the time was really getting old. “And what if I do make it permanent? What then?”

His father sighed. “Then I’ll have to assume my lessons over the years fell on deaf ears. I’m not sure I can count on someone who doesn’t listen to the wisdom they’re given.” He patted him on the shoulder and headed for the door. “Get your head out of your ass and do what’s right for the magazine, for our family.”

“What if I find a way to be successful at both?” Cole offered, feeling desperate.

“If you’re stupid enough to go through with this mistake, I’ll give you one month to prove me wrong. But while you’re on your honeymoon, you should probably polish your résumé while you work on your tan. I can’t float dead weight for long.”

Even if he wanted to do what his dad suggested and back out of the wedding, he couldn’t.

Soon Daisy would walk down the aisle in a dress she didn’t really want to wear, holding flowers she couldn’t stand, to say vows she had no intention of keeping. Then they’d both collect their checks from Mason and walk away from each other, no worse for wear and a hell of a lot richer, just as they’d planned.

That
would secure his future, wouldn’t it?

Regardless of what happened between him and his father, Daisy was leaving him soon, and he was supposed to be happy about it. But he wasn’t so sure that’s how he felt anymore.

Chapter Eighteen

Daisy stood before the full-length mirror not believing her own reflection. A bride.

But not a real bride. No, Daisy was about as far from a real bride as she could possibly be. She was a symbol of marriage, but she certainly wasn’t a real bride.

A real bride was happy on her wedding day. A real bride spent hours fretting over every little decision from the flowers to the dress to the favors and the food. Daisy had spent minutes simply picking whatever option went best with the color scheme Mason had said was the most popular in the online poll. A real bride walked down the aisle to the man of her dreams waiting for her. She was not a real bride in any of those ways.

Except maybe that last one.

But only if she wanted to admit it to herself, which she didn’t. She wouldn’t allow herself to entertain the notion that Cole was the love of her life.

Because he wasn’t. She couldn’t let him be.

Sure, she’d realized her feelings for Cole were stronger, deeper than she’d thought when they went to see her mom. And sure, she did love him. But was he actually the love of her life, the man of her dreams, the only one she wanted to spend her life with? The man she wanted to build a future with, start a family with?

She bit back the tears stinging her eyes. She wouldn’t ruin her makeup over him.

It didn’t matter what she felt for him now. The deal was done, and there was nothing she could do about it.

She’d watched helplessly as he’d been distracted and stressed at work as the wedding day neared. If she hadn’t been sure of his feelings for her before—or lack of feelings, more accurately—this last month had made them crystal clear. Work was his focus, not her.

That was the only future Cole wanted.

He didn’t love her. He couldn’t wait for their wedding hoax to finally be over so he could go back to his real life.

The last couple of months, he had left for work early each day, stayed late each night. The only time he’d shown her any affection was when his brother was around, turning it on and off like a damn light switch. Daisy’s switch had been flipped so many times recently, she feared her bulb would burst at any moment. She just prayed it wouldn’t be during the ceremony or reception.

“You ready?” Tonya asked, adjusting Daisy’s veil.

“As ready as I’m going to be.” Daisy squared her shoulders. Today would undoubtedly be one of the longest of her life. Not only did she have to pull off the wedding they’d been working toward for so long, she also had to say “I do” to Cole. Her Cole.

And then she’d have to say “good-bye” to Cole. Her Cole.

A lump formed in her throat, and she blinked away the tears pooling in her eyes. Luckily, anyone who saw her cry today would believe they were tears of happiness. No one would ever know it was actually her heart breaking. Again.

“Hey now.” Tonya hugged her tightly. “What’s going on with you? You should be thrilled that this is almost done. That you almost have your life back, right?”

Daisy nodded and dabbed at her tears, unable to form words with the pain weighing on her chest. She couldn’t meet Tonya’s eyes. She’d see the truth and Daisy wasn’t ready to share the truth with anyone yet. She could barely face it herself.

“You don’t want this to be over, do you?” Tonya asked, gently.

She should have known her friend would figure it out. Daisy shook her head once.

“You’ve fallen for him again, haven’t you?”

She nodded and bit her lip, the taste of lip gloss hitting her tongue.

“Stop biting your lip. Now’s not the time to ruin your makeup.” Tonya applied a new coating of lip gloss, fixed her veil one more time, and handed her a tissue. “Listen to me. Remember why you did this to begin with. It wasn’t to marry Cole for real. He’s a bachelor. You know he’ll never settle down with one woman. He’ll never want a family like you do. And you don’t need him anyway. This was a business arrangement and nothing more. You’re feeling caught up in all this wedding stuff as much as any bride would be. But you’re not any bride. You’re a smart, savvy businesswoman, and no one, not even Cole, is going to take that away from you. Got it?”

Daisy nodded again, feeling a little stronger with Tonya’s odd yet helpful pep talk.

“So you’re going to go put on a good show for your guests, Mason, and the cameras. And if you feel the need to cry, do it with a smile so everyone will believe you’re actually happy. Suck it up, say your fake vows, and get it over with. Then collect your check for the boutique and move on.”

“You’re right,” Daisy said, her voice not as weak as she expected. “I didn’t do this to have a fairy-tale ending, but to get a check to make my business bigger and better, and that’s what I need to remember.”

“I’m going to go take my place, and you better be right behind me. Remember to smile for the cameras.” Tonya plastered a smile on her face, grabbed her bouquet, and wandered out of the little room toward the sanctuary.

Daisy took one last glance in the mirror. “You can do this. You don’t really love Cole. You love the thought of getting married. You’d love a happily ever after, but this one isn’t yours.” She swallowed hard on the last sentence, her emotions sticking in her throat. She didn’t want to think about how she might really love Cole or not, and it was simply too late to worry about it any more. She had to go through with her end of the deal no matter how much it hurt.

By the time the day was done, she would be Cole’s wife—pretend wife. Then she’d get back to real life and hopefully she’d be happy again.

Until then, she had to fake it.

…

Parker stood at Cole’s side, elbowing him again, chuckling quietly so only they could hear. “You really going through with this? It’s not too late to be the runaway groom.”

Cole jokingly played along for good show even as his heart pounded with nerves. Grooms were supposed to be nervous, weren’t they? “Nice. You’re supposed to be the best man, not my partner in crime.”

Parker was wrong, of course. It was too late. If Cole wanted his money, he had to go through with this.

He only had one goal for today: make it look good for the cameras and collect his check. Later, he would deal with Daisy and their real-life situation.

“You’re right,” he joked, playing along like he thought Parker expected. “It’s not to late to hop a plane to Vegas and bail on this.”

Movement at the end of the aisle caught his attention. Daisy waited while their guests stood and turned to face her. She was breathtakingly beautiful; the entire room was instantly captivated. He’d never seen her look more amazing.

“Would you run away from that?” he asked quietly. He knew his answer. Nope.

Daisy walked herself down the aisle, no father at her side. Of course she was used to not having her father around since he’d passed away when she was a teenager. But it was custom to be walked down the aisle by your father, and he hadn’t even asked if she was upset about not having one there for her.

Cole was an ass. And now it was too late to fix it. The idea of Daisy being alone in this important moment made his chest ache.

And yet there she was looking confident and beautiful and completely at ease with walking alone. He should have known she would be okay. She wasn’t your average bride.

When she joined him, he took her hand. She looked amazing from a distance, but up close, she was stunning. A hint of nervousness flickered in her eyes, but when she met his gaze, it seemed to disappear.

Any joking thoughts he’d had of leaving her and bailing on this marriage scam vanished. All he could see was Daisy waiting to become his bride.
Fake bride!
He needed to get that straight.

“You’re gorgeous,” he said.

“Thanks. You clean up pretty nice yourself.”

The way she looked at him, evaluating him with a hint of teasing flirtation in her eyes, sent his thoughts to somewhere far away from this church and to places way less pure. Marrying Daisy today would be easy. Having a wedding night with her would be even easier, if she’d play along with that part, too. A man could dream.

The minister appeared at the altar, adjusting his clothing and smoothing down his hair as if he’d hurried to get there. Cole would have breathed a sigh of relief if he’d bothered to realize the minister was missing and if the wedding was real. But instead, all he noticed was that the man standing in front of them, Bible in hand, was not the man Mason had described as the actor who would marry them.

Daisy scrunched up her forehead and motioning with a tilt of her chin toward the strange man, the question of who he was clearly on her mind, too. From among the congregation of friends and family, Mason nodded almost imperceptivity, telling Cole that all was well and they should continue.

The minister said a bit about the sanctity of marriage and a bunch of other stuff Cole couldn’t concentrate on. The only thing holding his attention was Daisy’s gaze meeting his, the tremble of her fingers as he slid her wedding band into place, and the patch of milky-white skin between her breasts as they heaved against the tight corseted top of her gown. Would she let him peel her out of that dress later? Later, when all this pretending was finally done and they could be themselves again. Hopefully.

“You may now kiss your bride,” the minister said.

Cole had been listening for that command the whole time, and he was only too eager to bring her into his arms and press his lips to hers. His heart felt as if it might explode when she placed her hand over its pounding beat and fisted his shirt in her hand to pull him closer. He loved it when she did that. Her lips parted, inviting him in. He accepted, tasting her, savoring her.

A throat cleared somewhere to his side, and reality interrupted his moment of bliss. “Let’s save a little mystery for the honeymoon, shall we?” the minister joked.

He pulled back, reluctantly, and peered into her eyes. Tears brimmed and spilled down her cheeks, her chin quivering. Cole ignored the minister’s attempted joke, too concerned about the unhappiness on Daisy’s face to pay attention to anything else. This was not how a new bride was supposed to look. The warmth he’d felt a moment earlier ceased, turning into a lead weight, taking his breath. “What’s wrong?” he whispered.

She wiped her eyes with a tissue and smiled, even as her chin still quivered. “I’m fine, Cole. I’m…happy. Just like any bride would be on her wedding day. Now smile and walk me back down the aisle, husband.” Her voice cracked on the last word, and she bit her lip.

He could tell she held back a stream of new tears but didn’t understand why. Were they tears of happiness like she said? Were they part of the act? Or was there more to it that she wasn’t telling him?

“If you and your witness will join me for the signing of the marriage license,” the minister said, more as a command than a question. He walked to a small table set off to the side of the altar.

This was not part of the original plan. There wasn’t supposed to be the signing of a document because they didn’t need one for the wedding to be believable. Cole looked pointedly at Mason, who did nothing but nod slightly again and twirl his mustache casually. If Mason wasn’t concerned, maybe there wasn’t cause to be.

Cole took Daisy’s hand and led her to the little table and held out a chair for her to sit. He sat in the one beside her. “Smile, and sign. Let’s get this over with.”

“We weren’t told to sign anything.”

“I’m not sure we have a choice at this point. We just need to play along, like always.”

Daisy put the pen to paper but hesitated. “Are you sure?”

He shrugged. “As sure as I can be with everyone watching us.”

She signed her name and handed the pen to him to do the same, then waited while Parker and Tonya signed as witnesses. Afterward, they retook their places.

“I’m pleased to introduce Mr. and Mrs. Benton,” the minister said, then encouraged the congregation to applaud. It didn’t take much.

Cole took Daisy’s hand and paused so people could snap a picture. They walked down the aisle smiling and waving at their guests and then disappeared out the front door to the limo waiting out front.

He pulled her into his arms as they stopped in front of the vehicle. Their guests spilled out of the church behind them, cheering good wishes for the new couple and snapping pictures. They posed together as they had done so many times before, smiling, kissing, embracing, but this time he felt her pull back into herself instead of letting go and getting carried away in the moment as she usually did.

He helped her climb into the waiting limo, anxious to finally be alone with her so he could inquire about her sudden bout of unhappiness, but once inside the vehicle, he learned they weren’t alone. A photographer waited, ready to snap more pictures of the happy couple en route to their reception.

The charade continues
.

…

Daisy managed to pull herself together in the limo ride over to the reception hall, and it seemed like she’d finally convinced Cole everything was fine. She’d had a rough moment or two after her vows, but now she’d moved past it.

Cole, she realized with every glowing smile he offered, was completely okay with their fake wedding and their business arrangement finally coming to an end. She could see it even more clearly when he’d greeted his buddies at the reception, fist bumping and accepting a round of celebratory shots. He was already falling back into his partying, bachelor ways. And the second this whole mess was over, he’d fall seamlessly back into his old life without hesitation and with a fatter wallet.

On her fourth glass of champagne, she’d finally convinced herself she was okay with her fate. She was good at helping other brides get married, but her own happily ever after would come another day, if at all. So she may as well enjoy this one. Cole was certainly enjoying it. And if this fake marriage meant nothing to him, why should she let it mean anything to her?

Who cared if this meant she was no closer to her goal of a committed relationship with someone who wanted to have babies with her and grow old with her?

Not her. Not anymore.

The speeches ended with another toast and another empty glass of champagne for Daisy. It may not be classy to get bombed on your wedding day, but she was beyond the point of caring. It wasn’t as if she was getting drunk at her real wedding. This fake one didn’t count.