Page 19 of The Marriage Playbook

“You’d better figure this out,” he snapped. “The worst thing we can do is leave our clients worse off than they were when we found them, and if there’s a public scandal about a fake marriage…”

He trailed off. He didn’t have to say it. She understood. All the hits Liam’s reputation had taken so far would look like small potatoes if things didn’t go the way they were supposed to today.

Stephanie wouldn’t bail on us. She was already dialing Stephanie’s number, having terminated the call with Alistair without saying goodbye.

“Cara?” Stephanie’s voice was small. She sounded like she had been crying.

“Are you on your way?” Cara knew the answer before Stephanie spoke, but even so, she hoped. “Liam is waiting at the altar. We’re all waiting.”

Stephanie took a long, shuddering breath. “I can’t do it.”

“Stephanie…we had a deal. You signed a contract.”

“I know I did. I spoke with a lawyer about an hour ago.”

“You talked to a lawyer already?” Cara was numb with shock and horror. “You could have called me, then!”

“My lawyer says I can probably get out of it if I’m willing to pay a fee. He says you guys aren’t going to force me to get married against my will, so you won’t press charges unless I break the nondisclosure clause. And I won’t do that. I don’t want to do Mr. Sims any harm.”

“But this is going to do him harm,” Cara said. “He’s depending on you. On this marriage.”

“I can’t,” Stephanie said. “I can’t stop thinking about what you told me, about how when I show up in that wedding gown it’ll be the way I’m introduced to the world. You’re right about that. This is what people will remember me for. Years from now, when I’m trying to make a name for myself as an actress, the first thing people will think of is my short marriage to a football star. It’ll stay with me forever, even after the marriage ends. And I can’t do that. I’m sorry. I just can’t.”

Cara wanted to go on arguing with Stephanie, but the truth was, she couldn’t think of any good arguments. Stephanie had just made far too much sense. Of course she didn’t want to go through with this marriage. Why would she?

It was always a long shot.

But now Cara felt as though a great chasm was opening beneath her. She had depended on this. This was the way she had envisioned for Liam to get his good name back. And now it was falling apart.

She got off the phone, her heart racing. What was she supposed to do now? Making her way out of the bathroom, she looked over at the wedding dress hanging up in the coat closet.

No. No way.

And yet…

Liam had to get married today. That much was unavoidable. There was going to have to be a wedding, one way or another. Before she had the chance to give serious thought to what she was doing, Cara had taken the dress off the hangar and returned to the bathroom with it.

It doesn’t really matter who the bride is, does it? As long as someone walks down the aisle, and as long as she doesn’t have any scandal attached to her…

God. Was she seriously considering this?

It might be the only way. That was the thing. They couldn’t have a wedding without a bride. Stephanie and Cara were close enough in size that Cara would probably be able to fit into that dress. Liam was desperate enough for the whole thing to work that he wouldn’t protest. And Alastair would probably be impressed that she had managed to pull it off in the face of a wrench being thrown in the gears.

I’ll definitely get that promotion if this goes the way I want it to. In a few weeks, I’ll be taking new clients, Liam will be back on the Stingers, and the marriage will be dissolved.

So really, what was the downside?

She took a deep breath, fighting to steady her nerves. It was now or never.

Quickly, before she could change her mind, she shucked off her dress and stepped into the wedding gown. Fortunately, it closed with a zip. If she’d had to do up laces, she didn’t think she could have managed it.

She regarded herself in the mirror with a mounting sense of the surreal. This is my wedding day. This is my wedding gown. But it wasn’t, of course, not really. She was doing this because she had to. It wasn’t going to be a real wedding. It wasn’t going to be a marriage.

Her phone buzzed again.

It was Alastair. He had texted a single word, in all caps. WELL?!

Cara decided to leave the phone in the bathroom. She could recover it afterward.