Paper Marriage Proposition(22)

Damn. How was she supposed to say no to a guy who kissed like a volcanic avalanche?

She exhaled a breath she’d been holding, tightened her hold on her glass. She felt…helpless. Resented having to give him any kisses. It had been difficult last night at the hotel in her awkward attempts to enlist him, and it had been more so now that they’d been watched. She didn’t want to know his taste and now, well, now she’d never be able to forget it.

“You handled yourself well.”

Startled, she spotted her mother-in-law a few feet away. The woman wore an emerald green dress and a string of pearls, and her smile beamed with approval.

In the face of all that dignity and Texan charm, Beth forced herself to straighten, smoothing her hands along her hips. “I’m not new to the newspaper scene. It’s just nice to be treated with respect for a change.”

A chilly breeze sent the skirts of their dresses fluttering. “Then let me give you a piece of advice, Beth.” She jerked her chin in the press’s direction. “You win those people’s hearts, and you win the world.”

Beth narrowed her eyes, confused by this bit of wisdom. She’d been swept into Landon’s golden, glittering world of silk and velvet and music tonight—and they were lies, all lies, all for one purpose only.

Didn’t the woman know?

“Landon’s already doing that,” she then replied, cautiously. “Winning their hearts and the world.”

She gazed out at the gardens that led to the parking lot. They were vast and beautiful but they were shrouded in darkness. Dark and beckoning like Landon.

Past her shoulder, she spotted him, polite and easy as he talked to some of the reporters. He was such a solid, dynamic man, every time she saw him she found herself holding her breath.

“Why you, I wonder.”

That comment snapped Beth around. There wasn’t antagonism in her voice but genuine curiosity glimmered in her soft gray eyes.

“Me?”

“Well…” A jeweled hand fluttered in the air. “He’s been a bachelor for six years, and a lot of women have tried to get him. Why you?”

“I don’t want him, Mrs. Gage, and he doesn’t want me. We just happen to want the same thing.”

Spying on Landon once more, she watched him sip his drink as he assessed his surroundings.

“Maybe that’s why…” she added, to herself.

The woman huffed. “My son doesn’t need anyone to take down any man.”

Beth nodded, then thought of the little black book, of their prenup, their upcoming marriage. There was more at stake for her than for him. Why did he agree to marry her? Because he hates him, too, she thought. Her stomach contracted at the thought of all that Landon had lost because of Hector. “We won’t last,” she said out loud, unable to take her eyes off her betrothed.

Hector criticized the press, but Landon respected them and was clearly admired in return. Hector had hated that about him. Landon needed only to stand there, be cordial, treat them like human beings, not bend to them or try desperately to be liked by them, and they adored him. Whereas Hector used to bribe them.

“Have you met Kate?” Eleanor’s voice filtered through her thoughts.

Beth spotted a young redhead heading in their direction. She radiated so much energy, she could’ve been a little sun. Her lopsided smile had troublemaker written all over it.

Beth liked her instantly.

“I’m the caterer,” Kate said, offering a tray. “And you’re Beth. Hi, Beth.”

“Kate is also a friend of the family.” The affection in her mother-in-law’s words was also visible in her gracefully aged face.

“Almost family,” Kate corrected as she picked up an hors d’oeuvre from her own tray. She winked conspiratorially at Beth. “I’m going to marry Julian. Poor guy doesn’t know it yet.”

Beth glanced in Julian’s direction, but her gaze never reached him. Her eyes snagged on Garrett, who watched Kate as she tasted her creation.

“Umm. Delicious, if I do say so myself,” Kate said, and smiling, licked her fingers before a riveted Garrett.

She was playing a game, Beth realized. A game of jealousy. Kate waved at Garrett, smiling to him, and Beth could see the expression in Garrett’s face, tight with displeasure and heated with lust.

She thought about warning her of playing games with these men, with a Gage, but then bit back the thought. For wasn’t she in league with a Gage? And weren’t they, too, playing a game? Kissing, for crying out loud. With tongues. There absolutely had to be no more kissing—her son was at stake. Her entire future!

“Why are you all being so nice to me?” she asked Kate when her mother-in-law became engaged with another couple, for Kate seemed like someone who spoke the blunt, unfiltered truth. Honestly, if she were Landon’s mother and a strange woman had asked him to marry her in a week, for any reason, she’d want to smack both the woman and her son.