Bargaining with the Bride(34)

"Actually, Rachael has already handled every detail. She's been incredible." Garret smiled from her mother to her and for a second Rachael could have sworn he'd winked.

Mother sniffed, "All the same. Help is always a blessing. Isn't that right, Eliza?"

Eliza's perpetual smile stiffened into a a defiant frown. What a polite dig at her current living situation. "I'm forever in your debt," Eliza mumbled loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Don't be so dramatic, dear. You know I didn't mean it that way. I simply meant that we love to help our children. Eliza with college for the year she managed to attend, and now with a living situation. And then of course there was the catastrophe with Rachael and—"

"Really, mother, that was years ago. I don't think we need to—" Rachael started, but her father interrupted.

"What an awful night. The mayor was beside himself. We had to pay all those fines from the country club. And our relationship with the community was never the same."

"Never," Rachael's mother gave a well-practiced shake of the head.

She glanced at Garret, willing him not to ask for more details. Not that it mattered. They went through this song and dance every holiday since that summer seven years ago and today was hardly the day for breaking tradition.

"Honestly, I still can't understand what you saw in the Mayor's son. He was...slovenly. Unless you simply wanted to ruin our relationship with his parents."

"She always was Machiavellian that way," Eliza's whisper carried across the table, but everyone ignored her. Rachael's focus was still on Garret. How he'd react. What he thought.

"Trespassing on a golf course of all places," Her father's head shook in synchronization with her mother's.

"And you helped me out of that. For which I am grateful." Rachael sipped the champagne, trying her hardest not to down it in one.

"I thought it was romantic. A midnight picnic on the golf course," Eliza shrugged.

"You would." Her mother huffed. "What wasn't so romantic was the night in prison."

"Yes, I think that's quite enough. Garret doesn't need to hear about all of that," Rachael tried again, but her mother frowned.

"Shouldn't he know all about you if he's going to be your husband? You shouldn't have secrets in a marriage, Rachael. I've always told you that."

"But do you really need to tell him about something that happened while I was in high school?"

"Would you prefer I told him about the underage drinking in college? Or the time—"

"Mother. I'm very grateful for all the help you've given me," She had to be calm. She had to embrace a sense of inner quiet and strength.

And most of all, she had to get them to stop talking.

"Yeah, besides, my stories were always way more interesting. You remember that time my friends and I broke into the water park? Good times." Eliza grinned and sipped her champagne.

Thank god for little sisters.





10





“Ugh, I thought tonight would never be over. As if I didn’t have enough reasons to drink before.” Rachael closed the door behind her when the taillights of her sister’s rental car had finally faded into the night.

“It wasn’t that bad," Garret laughed.

She turned the find him leaning back against the cushions of the sofa, looking cool and collected as ever. He’d been living with her for over two weeks, she still wasn’t used to that. The control that always surrounded him. The unflappable confidence.

In front of her parents, it had been all the more noticeable. The poised, practiced way he carried himself. Whenever they started in on her again, he’d listen intently, but never show a reaction. Occasionally, he’d jump in with a mention of why that story made him like her all the more.

It was sweet, really. Or it would have been if a nagging part of her didn’t wonder if he was only interested for the science of it. For the research. Somehow, though, she didn’t think that was it.

As his lean muscles flexed against the fabric of the couch, she found herself wondering, not for the first time, what might have happened if her sister hadn’t barged in on them tonight. She swallowed hard, and then crossed to settle into the chair across from him.

“Thank you. For tonight, I mean,” she said.

“My pleasure. Your sister is charming.”

“Crazy might be a better way of putting it.”

“All the best people are. After all, what we’re doing here isn’t exactly normal,” his gaze lingered on hers for a tense moment. Was it her imagination, or was there heat behind his words? Maybe even longing?

Awareness surged between her thighs and she crossed her legs to dull the ache. This was all just part of her imagination. What happened before had been in the heat of the moment. She knew how Garret felt about her, and if he’d wanted things to be more intimate he certainly would have acted on it by now. Sure, they’d kissed, but he’d walked away. And earlier…