Читать книгу The Bachelor's Bed - Jill Shalvis - Страница 9

THE TENSION DRAINED from Colin’s shoulders and while he didn’t quite smile, some of the strain left the lines around his mouth. “Well,” he said, obviously relieved.

“Yes. Well.” Lani grabbed her broom and laughed again, a little giddily. “I feel swept off my feet.”

“For pretend,” he clarified, eyes sharp on hers. “You feel swept off your feet for pretend.”

Darn, she had a pesky habit of forgetting that. “Right.”

He opened his mouth to say something, but Carmen stuck her face against the glass again, looking like a troll doll as she scrunched up her features to see better. Colin held up his finger for another minute.

Carmen rolled her eyes and disappeared.

“Um…Mr. West?”

He smiled at Lani for the first time, and wow, it was a stunner. “I think under the circumstances,” he said, “you can call me Colin.”

“Okay.” Lani smiled back, feeling a little dazed. What had she done? Had she really agreed to marry this wild, untamed creature just because her life needed a boost? “I should clean now.”

“Okay.” He frowned, plucking again at his wet shirt. “Ouch.”

“Yeah, the cleaner is starting to burn a bit,” Lani admitted regretfully, shifting uncomfortably herself. “I’m sorry.”

Without another word, Colin pulled the shirt over his head and tossed it aside.

Oh, man. Oh, man. He was perfect. Wide sinewy shoulders, hard chest, flat belly, lean hips, and the most amazing eyes that drew her right in… She was getting light-headed, and it most definitely wasn’t from the cleaner fumes.

Colin ran a hand over his bare chest with obvious relief. “Better.”

Better, Lani agreed silently. There was a solid thunk behind her. Carmen had banged her forehead on the glass attempting to get a better look.

The phone rang again and Colin sighed resolutely. “I have to get that.” He looked as though he’d rather face a firing squad. “But I’ll be back. We have to go over some things.”

Lani nodded, wondering if some of those things involved her wifely duties.

Now why did just the thought of that give her a heady rush of anticipation? She wasn’t promiscuous, not by a long shot, but somehow, with a man like Colin, she thought she might learn something about being a woman.

Yep, the chemicals in the cleaning stuff she used were most definitely going to her head—and really starting to burn her skin. Too bad she couldn’t rip her shirt off, too. At the thought, she let out another laugh.

“Lani?” Colin dipped his head down a little so he could see into her eyes. “Don’t leave yet.”

Did he honestly think she’d disappear now? He didn’t know much about her if—

What was she thinking?

He knew nothing about her. Still speechless, a truly unusual state for her, she shook her head.

She wouldn’t leave.

He looked at her for a long moment, and she wondered what was going through his mind, what he saw in her.

Again, the enormity of what she’d agreed to do staggered her. What was she going to tell Great-Aunt Jennie, who was likely to be so excited to have wed off her old-maid niece, finally? She’d have a heart attack!

It was just pretend, she reminded herself. No real heart involved. Walk away when the project’s done.

Lani watched her half-naked boss—and, good Lord, her future husband—as he walked out of the room.

Another unstoppable giggle escaped and she slapped her hand over her mouth. Giggling wouldn’t do, it didn’t become the future Mrs. West. “Oh, my God.”

Quietly, and since her knees were very weak, quickly, with a wide, silly grin on her face, she sank to the nearest seat, which happened to be the floor.

THE PHONE had stopped ringing by the time Colin got to his home office, which suited him.

Everything was good, he thought with relief. He had his fictional fiancée, and now, finally, he could concentrate on his work.

All other troubles faded away as he did just that, with a hyper-focus born of necessity. Nothing intruded, not the Institute’s hurry for his completed laser, not the fact he still had to talk to his well-meaning if meddling mother, nor that he had conned his cleaning lady into a pretense she clearly wasn’t prepared for.

His fingers raced over the keyboard of his computer, his mind locked deep in the complicated equations he was formulating. He was so close to perfecting his compact mini-laser, all he needed was time, uninterrupted time.

Turning to the console behind his desk, he lifted part of the scale model of his invention. He worked on many projects at a time for various conglomerates and institutions all over the world, but he had also incorporated himself. Generally he worked out of a large converted warehouse downtown, but this home office allowed him the privacy he sometimes craved.

The laser component hummed when he activated it. A miracle, and the miracle lay in the palm of his hand. Finally, after months and months of work, everything had begun to gel. Just as he let out a rare smile in response to the thrill of that, the phone rang, startling him from his intense concentration.

Blowing out a breath of frustration, he grabbed the phone.

“Darling, you haven’t returned a single one of my calls,” said his mother before he had a chance to open his mouth.

Thirty-two years old and that tone could still plant a headache between his eyes as fast as lightning. “I know. I—”

“How are you? I hope you’re good, you work too hard. Listen darling, I’m in town for the night only. I’m at the Towers with Aunt Bessie and Aunt Lola.”

Oh, God, all three of them at once. They were just women; petite, innocuous, elderly. But together, this team of New York, Italian, Catholic-raised siblings had guilt-laying and conformity-forcing down to a science. Colin was convinced that together they could have conquered Rome in a day.

And now they were in town. He rubbed his temples, knowing they cared about him beyond reason, which made it all the more difficult to hurt them in any way. “I thought you were going to be traveling all summer.”

“We are, we’re just back to check on things.”

Namely, him.

Since his mother had been the only sister to have a child, the three of them felt they co-owned him. Growing up, Colin had been raised by committee. His father had bowed out under pressure; after all, he was only one man. As a result, Colin had been fiercely watched over, fiercely disciplined and fiercely loved.

He was still fiercely loved, he had no doubt.

He just wished they would do it from a greater distance. Jupiter, maybe.

“I wanted to remind you,” his mother said. “Muffy is expecting you tonight.” She paused, then delivered the coup de grâce. “I’ve confirmed that you will attend.”

“Now wait a minute….”

“We want to see you, darling. How long has it been?”

Only two months, he thought desperately. Had she and his aunts only been on their annual shopping trek in Europe for eight short weeks? He struggled for patience, in short supply on the best of days and this wasn’t one of them. “We’ve spoken every week,” he reminded her firmly but gently, not pointing out that even from a distance of thousands and thousands of miles, she still tried to run his life. “And I’m not going to the auction.”

“Charity auction,” she corrected him. “It’s expected, Colin. It’s why we came back into town. Everyone will be there.”

Gritting his teeth to bite back his comment, he opened the delicate machinery in front of him and adjusted the micro-module with one of his tiny precision tools. “I can’t. I have a—”

“Oh, Colin, I do so love you.”

His heart softened. “I’m still not going.”

“Please? Do this for me. Honey, I don’t want to be a hundred years old before you make me a grandmother. I—”

“Stop!” He managed to interrupt and let out a short laugh. “Stop with the old. You and your sisters are the youngest old biddies I know.”

“Oh, you.” But his mother laughed, too. “This is the second time you’ve disappointed Muffy. Take a break from building those robot thingies and come out with us tonight.” Her voice gentled. “Have a social life, darling. You need to get married again and do it right this time. Please? For me.”

He might have laughed, if she were kidding. But she never kidded when it came to this—seeing her only child taken care of in what she saw as matters of the heart.

“Please don’t hurt my feelings on this,” she said in that quietly devastated voice all mothers have perfected.

Guilt. Dammit. “You made the plans without consulting me.”

“Because you won’t make plans for yourself! Your divorce has been final for five years, Colin. Five years. Move on. Please, darling. For me. Move on.”

The pain that slashed through him had nothing to do with his ex-wife. Lord, he needed a major pain killer. A bottle of them. Instead, he lifted another part of his advanced scale and ran a knowing finger over the trouble spot—the laser shaft. Complex plans for repair tumbled in his head.

“I’m simply trying to better your life.”

He could think of several ways to do that, starting with leaving him alone. Especially since with or without this project he was currently obsessing over, he would never again “better his life” with another female. “Save yourself the trouble, Mother.”

“But I want to die in peace.”

He rolled his eyes. Great. Now the death speech, when she was healthier than anyone he knew and likely to outlive him by thirty years.

“Just one night,” she urged. “That’s all I’m asking. Maybe she’s the one…”

“No.” He stretched his long, cramped legs over the top of his cluttered desk. No one was the one. No one ever would be again. “I’ve been trying to tell you, I have a good reason for not wanting to date.”

“Oh, no,” she whispered, horrified. “I knew it! I knew it wasn’t safe to let you play with dolls when you were younger!”

“Mother…”

She groaned theatrically. “Oh, no. Oh, no! How am I supposed to get grandkids now?”

He wisely contained his laughter. “No, Mother, that’s not it. I’m…engaged.”

The silence was deafening.

“Mother?”

“To whom?” she asked weakly.

“Her name is Lani Mills.”

“What does she do?”

“She runs her own cleaning business.”

“Oh.” She thought this over. “Does she love you?”

Colin wasn’t sure he knew the meaning of the word. Still, he remembered how wide- and wild-eyed his little cleaning lady had got when he’d removed his shirt. He hadn’t thought he could be sensual standing in his own kitchen doused in cleaning fluid, but the way she’d looked at him had certainly put a spin on things. “She’s…crazy about me,” he said.

“Colin, are you sure? Really, really sure? I mean if she doesn’t totally love you, then—”

“I thought you wanted me married,” he teased. “Well now I have a fiancée, so no more dates! In fact, no more calls about dates. No more making other people call me about dates. Okay? Tell everyone.”

“She’s the one for you? You’re sure? How do you know?”

Lani was quirky. Sweet and kind and exceptionally patient. After knowing her for one year, Colin knew she was a positive ray of sunshine that he usually tried to avoid at all costs, because to see someone so happy…it hurt in a way he didn’t quite understand.

They were polar opposites and therefore, no, she was most definitely not the one for him. But he had to do this, had to be left alone to finish the project. His work was everything, it meant the difference between life and death to others.

It also meant a lie to someone he cared about, his mother. “I’m sure,” he said quietly.

“But…”

She wasn’t going to let this go and he knew this was because she blamed herself for his own last failure. He couldn’t let her do that again. “I’m sure because—” he glanced out his window and saw Lani’s small car parked there “—we’re staying together,” he improvised.

“You mean you’re living together?”

“Yes,” he said, sealing the lie with yet another, hating how he felt about the deception. “I have to go.”

“Wait! I want to meet her. Your aunts will want to meet her, and, oh, damn, we’ve got a flight out in the morning. No problem,” she said, quickly reversing herself. “We’ll cancel. Your father can wait. We have to come stay with you, of course, for at least two weeks, that’s how long we’ll need to get to know Lani, and— Colin, don’t you dare hang up on me.”

Two weeks, good Lord. “Gotta run, Mother. I’ll let you know when Lani and I set a date.”

“Colin! You hang up on me and I’ll come right now, I swear.”

The threat wasn’t an idle one, he knew she’d do it. “Mother…Lani and I need time alone, to…” To what? How was this backfiring when he had it all planned out? “We need to get to know each other,” he said quickly.

“Fine. I’ll give you two days, I really can’t just stand your father up, he’ll pout. But I’ll be back after New York.” Excitement made her voice shrill. “I’m so thrilled—we have a wedding to plan! Can you imagine the fun? See you in a few days!”

Colin stared at the phone when it clicked in his ear.

Irene West was coming here. In two days. For two lifelong weeks.

Suddenly it hit him. His fictional fiancée had just become—he had to swallow hard to even complete the thought—a real fiancée.

The implications were mind-boggling. Lani would have to stay here, pretend to love him.

Sleep in his room.

He couldn’t imagine she’d be willing, which brought him to another thought. Why had she agreed to this in the first place?

It wasn’t as though they were friends, he hardly knew her.

Oh, God, his mother was coming.

This hadn’t just backfired, it had blown up in his face.

COLIN CLICKED AWAY at his keyboard, pretending he didn’t have time to face the mess he’d created.

Which he didn’t.

“Sorry to interrupt.” Lani poked her head in the door. She looked at him with those huge baby-blue eyes, framed by a golden halo of hair precariously perched on her head. “I’d like to get in here to vacuum and dust, if that’s okay with you.”

Colin found himself staring rudely, but he couldn’t seem to help it. It was as if he was seeing her for the first time, though it’d only been an hour since he’d asked for her help. She was lovely, startlingly so. How could he not have noticed before?

She’d also saved his life.

What kind of a person was so willing to help?

He didn’t know another soul who would have done so. Uneasy with that thought, and irritated that he’d needed her help in the first place, Colin stood and walked around his desk to meet her. “You’re not interrupting. But there are some things we should go over, if you don’t mind.” Some things? It was laughable.

How to ask her if she was willing to put the entire charade on yet another level and attempt to fool the nosiest, most meddling, well-meaning mother that had ever lived?

Lani’s eyes widened slightly as he moved toward her and Colin slowed, realizing she probably considered him a certifiable nutcase.

He would just insist he pay her extra, over and above her cleaning fees, which had always been surprisingly low anyway. He’d yet to encounter a woman not susceptible to his money.

“You…didn’t put on another shirt,” she announced breathlessly.

He’d forgotten. He still smelled like pine, but then again, so did she. Her gaze was plastered to his chest. Her cheeks reddened, but she didn’t stop in her curious perusal of his entire body.

He felt curious, too, though it wasn’t as easy for him since she was fully dressed. A strand of her long hair hung in her still-flushed face. The baggy, shapeless, drab-colored clothes she always wore completely hid her figure, but judging from the lack of meat on her arms, she was a bit scrawny.

Definitely not his type, he thought wryly. Thank God. To have been attracted to her would have made this whole situation all the more impossible to deal with. “I have a bit of a problem,” he said.

She blinked, stopped staring at his chest, and went still. “You don’t need me anymore?”

“Ah…not exactly.”

She shot him a smile then, and it was a stunner. At the impact, he lost every thought in his head and then had to reassess the whole not-being-attracted-to-her thing.

“We need to set a date?” she asked.

“Worse.” He braced himself. “We need to live together.”

“Before the wedding?”

“It won’t get that far,” he said fervently.

“No…wedding?”

Uh-oh. She sounded shocked…disappointed. “This is just for pretend,” he said slowly. “Remember?”

She laughed and quickly turned away, hiding her face. “Of course. It’s just that I thought…never mind. Excuse me…I’ve got…something to do.”

“Lani?”

“I’m sorry. I’ve got to go.” She ran out of the office.