Christmas Bride Read online

  “I can hook you up with some folks,” Carter said casually, after taking the last swallow of his beer. “Half the people I know are always redoing their houses, including my mom.”

  “But you don’t even know if I’m any good!”

  “Of course you’re good.” He frowned at her. “Why wouldn’t you be good?”

  “I am. But you don’t know that. I’d appreciate anyone you want to recommend me to, but maybe I could show you my portfolio first so you’d know what you’re recommending.”

  “Sure. That would be fine. But I’m sure you’re good already. You just give off that vibe.”

  “What vibe?”

  “That vibe of being smart and knowing what you’re doing. Confident.”

  “Ah.” The words were a compliment, but they subdued some of Ruth’s flutters anyway. She’d lived her life being competent. Doing well at most of what she tried. She wasn’t a genius, and she wasn’t uniquely talented. But she was a quick thinker and an organized person, which had translated into being good at school and competent at tasks. But it also meant it was impossible for her to give off the sweet, helpless, feminine aura that guys seemed to like so much.

  Before her mother died, she’d always told Ruth that guys liked girls they could take care of, and that was why she was often overlooked by men. It wasn’t because there was anything wrong with her. It was because they didn’t think she needed them.

  Ruth had no reason not to believe that, but it was a little disappointing that Carter had the same impression about her. A guy as warm and gentle as Carter would definitely want a sweet, helpless female he could take care of. One who would make him feel strong.

  “That’s a good thing,” he said, evidently reading something in her expression.

  “I know. Thanks.” She gave him an appropriate smile. “So why did Savannah decide you needed to be fixed up at all? Surely you can get any date you want.”

  “Oh.” He rolled his eyes. “For the past few months, I’ve been bombarded with fix-ups. It’s like all my friends got together and decided I’m so pathetic I need to be saved.”

  “Why would they think you’re pathetic?”

  He shrugged and glanced away.

  “Why?” If she’d had more manners or sensitivity, she would have let the topic drop since Carter obviously didn’t want to talk about it. But stubbornness and nosiness were also on Ruth’s lists of characteristics, and she wanted to know the answer to her question. “Tell me why.”

  He sighed and met her eyes, almost defiantly. “Because they think I have a broken heart, and they’re trying to make it better.”

  “You have a broken heart?” She searched her memory but couldn’t remember any gossip she’d heard about Carter being in an angsty relationship. “I hadn’t heard about you dating anyone recently. What happened?”

  “I don’t have a broken heart.” His tone was a little rougher than normal. “I’m fine. For a while I thought... I was interested in someone. But she wasn’t interested in me. And it’s fine. I’m fine. I don’t need all these pity fix-ups.”

  Savannah’s flutters were entirely gone now. Dissolved into a heavy weight of understanding. Because she’d been right from the beginning. Guys like Carter would never fall for her. He was hung up on someone else. Still. She could hear it in his voice. His very insistence that he wasn’t in love made it clear he was.

  “I’m sorry. That sounds terrible.” Her sympathy was genuine. Just because Carter wasn’t the man for her didn’t mean she didn’t really like him. “It’s hard to hope in the wrong direction and then have everyone not accept that you’re over it.”

  “Has that happened to you before?” He sounded relieved to shift the topic, so she let him.

  “Of course it has. No guy I’ve ever fallen for has fallen for me.”

  His eyes widened. “What? Seriously?”

  “Yes, seriously. I’ve dated, of course. I’ve had some relationships that lasted a few months. But nothing longer than that. I’ve fallen for guys. Plenty of them. But they never want me back. And the guys who want me...” She shrugged. “I think some people just aren’t fated for epic love. And I’m one of them.”

  “You and me both.” He extended a hand to her over the table, closing his fingers for a fist bump. His eyes held hers and his mouth turned up in a small smile of genuine empathy.

  She completed the fist bump, returning the smile and getting one of those odd moments of true connection. A sharing of self. Even in the midst of a loud and crowded bar. “Anyway,” she said, after clearing her throat and shaking away the tangles of pleasure at the brief intimacy. “I’m trying to focus on my career right now and not on dating, so I don’t let it bother me too much.”

  “Makes sense. Me too.”

  Carter’s father had died less than a year ago. It had been big news in Green Valley. The family business—a chain of luxury hotels—should have been passed on to Carter, who was the one who’d spent his life working with his father to grow the company. Instead, Mr. Wilson had left everything to Lincoln in what was obviously a slap to Carter’s face.

  Mr. Wilson had been a real asshole. Ruth despised him although he was dead and she’d never met him. And fortunately the brothers had worked things out so that Carter had taken control of the business after all.

  But still... The whole thing had to have hurt Carter a lot.

  In a rare moment of restraint, Ruth didn’t say anything about it. They were having a good conversation, and there was no reason to ruin it with memories that must be painful to Carter. Instead, she said, “You should tell your friends not to fix you up anymore.”

  “I have told them. They don’t listen. They keep doing it.”

  “Well, tell them you don’t need fixing up anymore. You’ve already gotten yourself a girlfriend.”

  “And what should I do when they want to meet this fictitious girlfriend?” Carter always came across as such a nice guy that she’d assumed he was sweet and open and earnest. But he wasn’t really. The edge to his tone was bone dry. Not sweet at all.

  Ruth being Ruth, it made her like him better. “Then you get yourself a fake girlfriend. Or better yet, a fake fiancée. Just to get your friends off your back.”

  “A fake fiancée?”

  “It happens.”

  “In what world does it happen?”

  She gave him an exaggerated frown. “It can happen in this world. Right here. Why not? You know, I don’t know if this is true, but I heard that Lance and Savannah got married not because they were in love but because Lance needed to be married to inherit his grandma’s money.”

  Carter shook his head. “Have you seen them together? Lance and Savannah are definitely in love.”

  “I know that. They are now. But I heard...” She sighed and shook her head. “Sorry. It’s not really my business, and I know they’re your friends. I don’t know Lance, but I really like Savannah. And I’m glad whatever happened worked out for them. All I meant was that people do things sometimes that aren’t normal but that work out for the best for them. So if you need a fake girlfriend or fiancée to give yourself a break from all the fix-ups, then you should do it.”

  “And who’s going to agree to such a ridiculous scheme?”

  “You seem to have friends coming out of your eyeballs. I’m sure you’ve got a female friend who would agree to it.”

  Something happened to Carter’s face. She saw it clearly. It was like a sudden wave of painful recognition rose up and slammed into him. Like he was hit with a memory that hurt so much he couldn’t immediately hide it.

  Ruth sucked in a breath. “Carter? What’s the matter?”

  He shook his head and swallowed so hard she saw it in his throat. “Nothing.”

  “Well, something’s wrong. Did I say the wrong thing? I’m sorry. I’m always doing that. I don’t seem to have any tact or—”

  “No, no. It’s not you. You didn’t say anything wrong at all. I don’t have a friend I’d feel comfortable asking to
be my fake girlfriend.” He glanced down at his empty beer glass. “My best female friend married my brother.”

  Ruth stiffened as she started to put pieces together. She glanced over to the bar where Lincoln was chatting with some customers. He was sexy and charming and rakish. And deeply in love with the woman who had always been Carter’s best friend.

  “Shit,” she breathed.

  Carter straightened up and met her eyes. “What?”

  “Summer? Is Summer the one that you...?” She trailed off, uncharacteristically hesitant about putting it into words.

  “No,” Carter said.

  “She is! Oh my God. She is.” Ruth was absolutely astounded. Not once would she have imagined that Carter would fall in love with his best friend and then have that best friend marry his older brother in what by all accounts had been an exciting, whirlwind romance. “I’m so sorry, Carter. No wonder your friends are worried about you.”

  “I’m fine,” he gritted out, his eyes flashing in a way she’d never seen from him before. He was angry. “I said I was fine.”

  “I can tell you’re fine. I didn’t mean I was feeling sorry for you. But it’s still terrible. I mean, what a ridiculous and painful confluence of events to happen to you.”

  Carter relaxed, his annoyance with her fading as quickly as it had come. “It didn’t just happen to me,” he admitted. “I made a lot of mistakes. If I hadn’t made them, things might have been different. But I’m over it now. I’m fine.”

  Ruth scanned his face, wondering if that were true. She doubted it. He probably still had a thing for his brother’s wife that he was desperately trying to get over.

  What a terrible situation. Made worse if everyone was secretly feeling sorry for him. It sounded like the kind of romantic mess she herself might have fallen into. And she liked Carter too much not to try to help. “Okay. I believe you. But you’ve got even more need for a fake fiancée than I realized. So how about this? We can pretend to fall in love and then pretend to be engaged for a few months. That would give you a break from your friends’ attempts to fix you and help them understand that you’re really over whatever you went through before.”

  “Why the hell would you want to do that?”

  “Why not? How is it going to hurt me?”

  “Well, for one thing, you’re not going to be able to date anyone while you pretend to be with me for a few months.”

  “Who cares about that? I told you, I’ve had nothing but flops in the romance department, and I need a break from the discouragement for a while. I want to just focus on my work for now. Oh, actually, it might help me out too. If I’m your fiancée, I’ll have all kinds of opportunities to make business contacts. I can line up a bunch of jobs, and you can get some relief from the endless fix-ups. It will be good for both of us. We can keep it up for a couple of months. Until after Christmas. Then we can decide the whole thing happened too fast and break up. That way we can both get fresh starts after New Year’s.” She beamed at him, pleased with how neatly the idea was falling together in her mind. “It’s perfect.”

  “It’s crazy,” he muttered.

  “No, it’s not. I think it’s a great idea, and it’s going to help both of us out.”

  “You’re crazy.” He was glaring at her through narrowed brown eyes.

  She grinned. “Let’s do it!”

  “Fine.”

  The word surprised her since she’d been expecting more of an argument. “Really? So you don’t think it’s crazy?”

  He shook his head, his mouth turning up in the most appealing little smile. “Oh, it’s definitely crazy. But what the hell? I could use some crazy right now.”

  She clapped her hands, so excited about the wild idea that she could hardly contain herself. “Me too. So let’s do it.”

  He was opening his mouth to reply when Ruth’s phone buzzed with another text. She glanced down at it. Kayla. Did he show up?

  “Is it important?” Carter asked in a mild tone, like he was subdued by the interruption.

  “Not really.” She put her phone down and sighed. “My stepsister. She’s just sixteen. I told her I’d bring her some groceries over since there’s nothing in the house. She was just asking if you showed up for the date.”

  “Do you need to head over there?” His brows were pulled together, and his mouth had turned down. He looked concerned and a little confused.

  “Not right away. Kayla doesn’t drive yet, and her father and brothers are... kind of thoughtless. I can bring some groceries over when we’re done here.”

  Carter was already getting up. “You think I’m going to be able to sit here drinking beer while that poor girl is by herself without dinner? Come on. I’ll drive you. We can go by the store and then get some good takeout for her.”

  Ruth stared at him, her mouth falling open.

  “What?” he asked.

  “You want to go with me?”

  He gave her a strange look, like he didn’t understand the question. “Why not? We can make plans for our crazy scheme while we go.”

  He waved a farewell to his brother and then put a hand on her back to guide her out of the bar. Ruth felt like she should probably have refused his offer—he couldn’t possibly want to go to the grocery store with her—but she wasn’t sure how she could do it now. He was already set on it, and if she put up an argument, it would make it into a big deal.

  So she accepted the inevitable. And the truth was she enjoyed their chat on the drive to the store about how they should schedule their fake relationship. And she enjoyed walking around the grocery store with him. He made funny comments and asked real questions. He didn’t do anything obnoxious like look surprised when she picked out the generic store brands of products rather than the name brands or try to pay for it.

  He did pay for the soups, sandwiches, and salads he got from a local café after they’d finished shopping. Enough for all three of them.

  When they got to Ruth’s stepfather’s house—the place she’d lived for two years in high school—Ruth’s stomach twisted. She didn’t want Carter to come in. The place would probably be trashed out. It always was on the weekends. And her stepfather, Brent, might be rude to an unexpected visitor. Especially since Carter was one of the rich people Brent had always openly despised.

  Ruth was embarrassed about what Carter would see in that house. She took a weird ragged breath and said, “I’ll just run the stuff in real quick and make sure Kayla is all right. Then we can eat our food somewhere else. If that’s okay?”

  Carter didn’t even blink. “Of course. It’s late and I’m sure they don’t want a stranger showing up at their doorstep. Take your time. Then we can eat and make the rest of our plans.”

  She really didn’t know why she was so relieved, but it hit her like a rush—a warm, strong rush of water. She gave a silly giggle and said, “Sounds good. I won’t be long.”

  She gathered up the bags and went inside to find the situation exactly as she’d predicted. The men barely acknowledged her presence except to ask if she’d bring them more beer. Kayla was in her room, and she was so thrilled with the tasty dinner she gave Ruth a hug.

  “I can’t stay long,” Ruth said. “Carter came with me. He’s waiting in the car.”

  “Oh my God! He likes you! I’m so excited!”

  Ruth might have been excited too, but she knew better. Carter wasn’t going to fall for her. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t help him out and enjoy being friends with him.

  She could use more of those. Friends.

  “I don’t think there’s anything to be excited about, but he’s a really nice guy. Maybe we can do something tomorrow. Go shopping or something. I’ll call you.”

  “Have fun tonight. Tell me all about it.” Kayla was grinning as Ruth left.

  Ruth was smiling too, and as she hurried back to the car, she saw through the windshield that Carter was smiling back at her.

  A few more flutters awoke in her chest at his expression, but she gave them
a firm mental lecture until they behaved themselves and went away.

  Two

  TWO WEEKS LATER, RUTH was on a cozy love seat in a Green Valley coffee shop. It was her fifth date with Carter. In addition to the evening they’d first met, they’d had lunch together twice and gone to the annual symphony in the park together last weekend.

  Tonight they’d had a romantic dinner at an upscale restaurant overlooking the lake. Afterward, they’d held hands as they walked around town—making sure they were widely observed by the curious residents of town—and ended up at Roasted, where they’d split a cupcake and tried to act like one of those obnoxiously sappy couples Ruth had always rolled her eyes about.

  If this were a real relationship, Ruth would be over the moon about how well it was going. Even recognizing it was fake, she was enjoying herself more than she would have imagined. It felt like she and Carter were mischievous children, knowing they were being a little bit naughty and relishing it all the more because of it.

  She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had so much fun.

  “You want another one?” Carter asked, licking the last of the cream cheese icing off his fingertips. He had very good fingers. Long and agile and strong. He also had a really good mouth.

  She couldn’t help but watch with visceral interest as he sucked one of his fingers in a brief, casual move. There had never been anything overtly sexual in his interaction with Ruth for the past two weeks. He wasn’t that kind of guy. He was thoughtful. Careful. Decent. Always buttoned-up and holding tight to whatever he was feeling. Which made the thoughtless gesture with the icing all the more distracting since it hit her out of the blue with a wave of physical attraction.