Make-Believe Beau. Keli Gwyn

of a lake.”

      “I see that. She must be proud of you and all you’ve achieved.”

      His thoughts turned to the letter he’d left lying on top of his bureau. “Your parents must be proud of you, as well. Do they know about your new job?”

      She shrugged. “They’re both gone.”

      “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

      “How could you? We hardly know each other.”

      Her matter-of-fact statement brought reality crashing in on him. “You shouldn’t have to do this. If you’d rather not go to the concert—”

      “Not go?” She laughed, a musical sound that eased the tension between his shoulders. “Of course we’ll go. And we’ll make the best of the situation. You might even enjoy yourself. I intend to.”

      Her playfulness was contagious. “Even if your escort is a stodgy engineer.”

      “I wouldn’t call you stodgy. Serious at times, perhaps, but not stodgy.” She grinned. “In fact, I believe there’s a fun-loving fellow inside you.”

      “What makes you think that?”

      She focused on the floor and traced the pattern in the runner with the toe of her boot. Her response was so soft he had to lean close to catch it. “You agreed to a game of make-believe for my sake. You didn’t have to do that.”

      “I wanted to.”

      She jerked her head up. “You did? Why?”

      “For the same reasons you did, I suppose.”

      “Because Corby expected it of us?”

      “Yes.” That was true, but only to a point. He hadn’t admitted it before, but he welcomed the opportunity to spend time with her. For the remaining three weeks he could pretend this remarkable woman enjoyed his company as much as he enjoyed hers.

      There was no harm in that. Was there?

      “Speaking of Corby, we should be going. I’ll say good-night to Maybelle, and we can be off.”

      Jessie returned moments later, and they headed down the hill, walking side by side in companionable silence. They reached Main, where a stream of concertgoers dressed in their finest overflowed the plank walkways and spilled into the street.

      Eager to keep her from being jostled by the crowd, he held out his arm. She stared at it a moment, wrapped both hands around his elbow and tugged. “Would you come with me, please?”

      “What is it?”

      “We’re about to make our first major appearance as a couple, and we haven’t formulated a plan. We need to do that.”

      Her take-charge manner couldn’t conceal her uneasiness. If following her would put her mind at rest, follow her he would. After all, he didn’t mind having her to himself a little longer.