Accidental Bride(25)

“Don’t try to make up stories now. I know the truth.”

Something unexpected happened to his face. The smile transferred to a deep, almost serious expression. “I don’t think you know more than the smallest sliver of the truth, Kelly,” he murmured.

Her hands were trembling so she had to hide them under the covers. If she didn’t end this conversation soon, she was going to say something infinitely stupid, something she couldn’t take back. “I know it’s after seven now, and I’m going to be late for class if I don’t get moving. I’ve got to make sure Grandmama doesn’t need me to do anything.”

“I’ll drive you to class, so it won’t take you so long to get there.”

She usually walked, since the campus wasn’t far and she didn’t own a car. “But your class isn’t until ten.”

“Yeah, but I have a paper I need to work on anyway. I can just spend a couple of hours in the library.”

“Okay. Thanks.”

Peter stood up, and she thought he was going to finish getting dressed, but he stood looking down at her. After clearing his throat, he said casually, “I don’t have to work this weekend, so I was thinking…”

When he didn’t finish, she frowned. “You were thinking what?”

“Since people think we’re married for real, it would make sense for us to have a honeymoon.”

“What?”

“A honeymoon. Nothing big, but maybe we could go away this weekend. I think that would be a normal thing for a couple to do.”

“Go away where?”

“I don’t know. It doesn’t matter.”

“But anywhere we go would cost money.”

“That doesn’t matter.”

She stiffened her shoulders. “Yes, it does. We just had that trip to Las Vegas. We can’t go on another trip so soon. We don’t have the money for it.”

“I have the money.”

“But you’re saving your money to buy a property when you graduate. You can’t go blowing it on something useless like a honeymoon.”

“It won’t be anywhere expensive. We don’t have to fly. We can drive somewhere and get away. People aren’t going to believe we’re married if we’re around your grandmother all the time. No newlyweds would want to do that.”

“I don’t care what people think. They’ll have to deal with it. I can’t leave Grandmama again, anyway. And I’m not going to let you waste your money like that.”

He was frowning now, and he looked as displeased as she felt. “It’s my money. I can spend it however I want.”

“Then you can go on a honeymoon by yourself.”

“Kelly—”

“No, Peter. I’m not going to let this stupid fake marriage hurt you in anyway. I’m not going to let it use up your savings or make it harder for you to find a good property when you graduate. You’ve worked too hard. I know how much you want this. I know how much it means to you.”

“But it’s not the only thing that means something to me.”

She didn’t understand what he meant by this—only that he was being stubborn about something ridiculous. She was about to reply when her phone chimed with a text. Reaching over to grab it from the nightstand, she read the message.

“It’s Deanna,” she told Peter. “She wants to know if we can have lunch today with her and Mitchell.”

Peter looked surprised. “Sure. I guess so. What do they want?”

“I assume they want to check us out and figure out what’s going on with us.”

“You’re not going to tell them the truth, are you?”

“No. No, of course not. Deanna might suspect something, but we’ll just tell them it was spontaneous, and this is what both of us want.”

“Okay.” His face had relaxed, and he was smiling again as he pulled a T-shirt on over his head. “I need to be at work by two, but that should still leave us plenty of time for lunch.”

Kelly let out a breath and made herself get out of bed. She’d known a temporary marriage like this would be awkward in a number of ways—even between her and Peter.

She had no idea why he’d gotten this silly idea about the honeymoon in his mind, but hopefully it was just a passing thought and he’d already let it go.

At least here, in her home, with her family, going to her regular classes, she could still basically feel like herself—even though she was married.

If she was alone with Peter for the weekend, as his wife, she’d start to feel like somebody different.

And then she might do something that Kelly Beaufort just didn’t do.