Page 71 of First Bride to Fall
“What’s a stretch is what she told her sisters—and, by extrapolation, the whole town,” he groused. “Apparently.”
Jordan crossed his arms. “What’s that?”
“That she and I are engaged.”
Jordan hooted with laughter.
When Grant scowled, his friend’s humor faded, and he pursed his lips. “Oh, sorry. But seriously, Grant. Why would she do that?”
Grant ran a hand through his hair. “It has to do with some crazy bet between her and her sisters. Their family business. And—you won’t believe this—a marriage of convenience to some dude in London named Aidan.”
“Marriage of…?” Jordan squinted. “You mean, people still do that?”
“Yeah. At least it seems the Delaneys do.”
“They’re all good-looking women,” Jordan noted. “And seem nice and smart.”
“Exactly. You’d think that they’d have choices. I just never expected Nell’s choice to beme.”
“And that’s a bad thing because?”
“Because it makes me the subject of a bet, Jordan.” Grant raked a hand through his hair. “It’s not like Nell’s interested in me for me.”
“How do you know that?”
Grant blew out a breath. “Even if she is, there’s some kind of timeline involved, and I don’t do timelines. Or pressure.”
“I certainly get that part. How long’s the timeline?”
“Thirty days.”
Jordan’s eyebrows rose. “Okay, you’re right. That’s short. What’s supposed to happen by then?”
“Nell’s supposed to be engaged to someone if she doesn’t want to marry British dude.”
Jordan grinned broadly. “Twisted.”
“You bet it is, which is why I have to put a stop to it.”
“Are you sure you want to?”
“Are you kidding me?” Grant said. “Of course I’m sure.”
“I thought things were going well up at the cabin?”
He huffed. “That wasbeforeI knew I had a groom’s bounty on my head.”
“Gotcha.” Jordan’s shoulders sank. “So, what are you going to do? Talk to her? Call the whole deal off?”
“No.” Grant set his chin. “I’m going to letherdo that, thank you very much. You know how it was for me, growing up under my dad’s dark shadow in this town. I’ve finally built my reputation here. Have a good business. Friends.” Grant sighed. “I’m not going to toss all that away by having word circulate around Majestic that I’m the scumbag who dumped sweet little Nell Delaney. As it is, when she has to tell people she dumped me, they’ll already assume it’s my fault, no matter what I say.”
“That would just be a rumor.”
“You’re still fairly new here,” he told Jordan. “In Majestic, rumors are generally suspected to be based somewhat in truth. And anyway, I don’t need the hassle of deflecting the untruths. I’d rather leave that unsavory task to the woman who apparently started it all: Nell. I don’t know why she’d let her sisters think we’re engaged. Probably so they’d let her out of that bet. But now she’s going to be the one to tell them that we really aren’t. Not only that, she’s going to be sure to tell the whole town. Because, trust me on this, once I get back to that cabin, Nell Delaney is not going to want to marry me. She’ll be running for the hills.”
“Uh-oh. I don’t like the look in your eyes. What do you have in mind?”
“A lot of things, actually.” Grant chuckled and rubbed his hands together. “Like making myself impossible to live with.” The plan had really started coming together on the drive to Blue Sky Adventures. Far from being mean, he intended to be Mr. Sunshine, all sweet and lovey-dovey on the outside. Cloyingly so.
