High Plains Wife. Jillian Hart

Sunny rolled her eyes, her eyelids fluttering in disbelief. “You came into the room, and I said your name without thinking. I didn’t mean to. You were just there, and it happened. Look, the stage is set. Unthinkingly on my part, but set just the same. Would you consider pretending to be my girlfriend, just while my parents visit?”

      Sunny hesitated. “You want me to make nice with your parents for an evening or two.”

      “Well…” He lifted a persuasive shoulder. “Maybe more than that. I told them we were engaged.”

      She groaned. “Oh, Mr. Hamilton.”

      “Brett,” he said quickly.

      “You can’t be serious.”

      “I am.”

      “This is ridiculous.”

      “I know, luv. It is. But the calendar won’t wait. They’re coming next week. Just pose as my girlfriend. We’ll say we’re engaged, and you can move in and we’ll make it look as if we’re living together.”

      Sunny stared at him. Then she yanked her short skirt down to just above her knees and held it there with the heel of her hand. “Let me make this perfectly clear. I walked down the hall to drop off file folders, not move in with you.”

      “Sunny, I’ve got a two-bedroom flat—I mean apartment. You’d have your own room. And while my parents are here, we’d have a grand time, I’d see to it. Granted, the idea is preposterous, but everything else would be aboveboard and innocent. I promise.”

      Sunny looked at Brett and thought the man had lost his mind, but one phrase echoed in her head: two-bedroom apartment. Since her wandering, homeless parents had moved in with her, she was in a quandary. There wasn’t enough room for all of them and she didn’t have the heart to insist they find somewhere else to light. “Let me get this straight. You have a two-bedroom apartment?” she asked.

      “I know it’s small,” Brett said apologetically. “The three bedroom wasn’t available.”

      His response was so quick it had to be genuine. Brett had a reputation at Wintersoft of being easygoing and amicable. He typically looked like he didn’t have a care in the world—but now he looked worried, almost trapped. That bothered her, even as she guessed at the monthly rent on his apartment. “And this apartment of yours is located where?” Sunny asked. “Because if it’s all the way on the other side of Boston—”

      “At that big complex Lloyd always recommends to all his new employees. The Liberty Tree Apartments.”

      A ripple went through Sunny. If her mother were here, she’d say it was a sign, that it was preordained and that forces in the universe were aligning themselves for a “Sunny” moment. “That’s…where I live,” she mused.

      Brett brightened. “Then you could commute,” he said hopefully. “Your apartment to mine. At your earliest convenience, of course.”

      “You mean I could just move into your place, like a roommate?”

      “Of course.”

      “I wouldn’t ask, but I have family living with me now, and it’s…crowded.”

      “Sunny, I have plenty of room. You’re welcome to it. Pose as my engaged roommate,” he wheedled. “I think we’d get on famously, or well enough for a couple of weeks, anyway. All you’d have to do is to dote on me and convince my parents we were meant to be together.”

      “You make it sound so easy.”

      “It won’t be,” he warned. “My parents are being quite stubborn about this. They may not like you at all, but you’d be doing me a huge favor.”

      Sunny could feel herself giving in. They did have something to offer each other, even though she had serious doubts about gazing into Brett Hamilton’s eyes for the next few weeks. The man exuded sex appeal—and she had no intentions of falling victim to it. He also had a reputation as a playboy.

      “Sunny? What can I do to make you believe me?” he said earnestly. “I don’t want to be dishonest with my parents, but I am quite weary of being reminded I have a duty, one that includes marriage. I don’t want my nuptials to be used as a bargaining tool in the boardroom, and I don’t want to produce heirs merely to carry on the family name. I’d like to genuinely fall in love with the woman I choose to marry.”

      “That was quite a speech,” she said, considering.

      “It’s how I feel.” He reached over and covered her hand with his. “Really.”

      “Oh, Brett…” She unconsciously used his first name. “How can you put me in this position? I’m not sure this is right, and I may live to regret it, but—” she looked at the concern in his eyes, the drawn expression of his features “—okay, I’ll do it.”

      He broke into a relieved smile, and Sunny knew immediately that while it might be the right decision to help him out, living with him was definitely going to wreak havoc with her senses.

      “When do you want me to move in?” she asked cautiously.

      “We really ought to get to know each other. Is tomorrow too soon?”

      Chapter Two

      Carmella Lopez, executive secretary to Lloyd Winters, CEO of Wintersoft, was cleaning off her desk when Brett Hamilton walked into her office, file in hand.

      “Lloyd said he needed these. They’re suggestions for the contract changes for the overseas markets.”

      Carmella took the file, thinking that Brett was one eligible bachelor who shouldn’t be overlooked. “Fine. I’ll see he gets them. He’s in a meeting now, and I expect it to run late. But you? Duty calls. I’m not letting you out of here until you sign these.” She pushed a stack of papers at him.

      Brett grimaced and checked his watch. “Can they wait? I’m meeting someone and—”

      Carmella drew back, surprised. “Brett? I’ve never known you to weasel out of anything that has to do with work.”

      He grinned. “I know. But I’m getting a new roommate. And I’m meeting her after work.”

      “Her?” A sudden, guilty flush crossed his face, making Carmella only more curious. “Okay, what gives?” she pressed. “Is there a lady in your life that we don’t know about?”

      “No.” As if feigning indifference, he pulled the papers to his side of the desk.

      “Brett, I know you. And you look guilty as sin,” Carmella accused. “Out with it.”

      “It’s nothing,” he protested, his attention riveted to the required signature line. “Everything’s innocent. But because it’s someone who works here—”

      “What?”

      He sighed heavily. “What is the matter with me today? I’m making a habit of saying too much of the wrong thing. It’s good I’m not in the sales department.”

      Carmella pinned him with her gaze. She wasn’t going to let him off the hook.

      “Well, I don’t want anyone thinking office collusion, office romance or anything. You won’t mention it to anyone else, will you?” When she made a cross over her breast. He paused momentarily, then sucked in a deep breath. “It’s Sunny Robbins, from legal.”

      “No!” Carmella sat back in amazement. She’d had no idea that Sunny and Brett even talked—and now they were moving in together? This would put a new twist on Emily’s plans to pair him off with Josie, in public relations.

      Brett shrugged. “Sunny needed a place to stay and I needed someone to help me out when my parents visit next week. It made sense. And I—” he flipped to the last page for one more signature “— I don’t want to keep the lady waiting.”