Hired Bride. Jackie Merritt

if I can’t pull it off?”

      “Good grief, you’re the most creative person I know. Create a persona for yourself that will knock everyone’s socks off, Zane Fortune’s included.”

      Gwen glanced at the two dresses hanging on the closet door that she’d thought would be best for the charade Zane had hired her for; she hadn’t yet decided which one to wear for the wedding today. Although they were both pretty dresses, neither of them would knock anyone’s socks off.

      But she had one in her closet that just might do that. “Create a persona for myself, hmm?” she murmured, more to herself than to Ramona.

      “And make it a noticeable one. Now hang up and get to it. I’ll be on pins and needles till you get back tomorrow, and you’d better have some darn good stories to tell me.”

      “’Bye, Ramona,” Gwen said absentmindedly, and put down the phone. Hurrying to the closet she took out a plastic bag, then removed the bag and studied the dress it had protected for well over a year. She was pleased to smell no mustiness but rather the faint scent of her favorite perfume; she had dropped several sachets of the fragrance into the bag when she’d put the dress away. Next she reached to the top shelf of the closet for a shoe box, and in it were the stunning high heels that went with the dress.

      “You want to impress your family, Mr. Fortune?” she said under her breath. “Fine, we’ll impress your family.”

      Zane had instructed Gwen to dress for the wedding ceremony and reception afterward, because he would be picking her up just early enough to allow for the drive to the ranch. “Bring an overnight case with whatever else you think you might need. Along with Saturday’s big event, there’s going to be a Sunday morning brunch. It will be casual, so slacks or even jeans will do for that.”

      She realized it hadn’t even occurred to him that she might not have appropriate clothes for a formal wedding—which didn’t surprise her considering how he lived. He was in for at least one surprise.

      When she was finally made up, coiffed and dressed, she stared at her own reflection with a feeling of wonder. Was that woman in the mirror really her? It had been so long since she’d worn anything but jeans, shorts and old tops, and just as long since she’d put on makeup and spent time on her hair, that she could hardly believe her own eyes.

      Charged up over looking so good, Gwen finished packing her overnight case, and was ready and waiting when her front doorbell chimed. She was carrying her handbag and the small suitcase when she opened the door.

      “Hello,” she said, and then watched a wash of confusion erase his smile.

      “You…you’re gorgeous!” he blurted, alerting Gwen to the fact that he hadn’t expected her to look as she did.

      She smiled. “Save the flattery for later, when we have an audience,” she said pertly, and pulled the door closed behind her. Brushing past him, she started down the front steps.

      Zane wondered about his almost stupefied reaction to Gwen’s appearance. He never had trouble talking to women, and compliments had always rolled off his tongue smooth as silk. Blurting was not his style, and yet he had definitely blurted when Gwen opened her door. In fact, he was still amazed at her astonishing transformation from the soggy but pretty woman in his mind to this glamorous creature.

      Regaining his wits, he hurried to catch up with Gwen and take the overnight bag from her hand. “I’ll put this in the trunk.”

      “Thank you.”

      He opened the passenger door of his luxury car and she got in. Because her skirt was split, he caught a glimpse of a long, sensually shaped thigh as she brought her legs around, and a jolting awareness of Gwen Hutton as a highly desirable woman suddenly buffeted Zane. Frowning, he rounded the back of the car, paused to put her bag in the trunk, then continued to the driver’s side.

      After starting the engine, he looked her way and gave her another amazed once-over. When she turned her head and looked at him with a raised eyebrow, he stammered, “Guess I’m staring, huh?”

      “I’d say so,” Gwen said dryly.

      Since stammering was another thing Zane never did with women, his doing so now unnerved him. Gwen appeared to be cool as a cucumber, and he felt like a tongue-tied boy. Unusual, damn unusual, he thought uneasily as he pulled away from the curb.

      Of course, he hadn’t expected her to look like a fashion model, he thought in defense of his behavior. Her dress was really a stunning black suit with pale gray satin piping around lapels that were just far enough apart to permit a glimpse of cleavage, which was sexier to Zane than if her entire bosom was on display. Her hosiery was gray and her high-heeled pumps were black. Her hair had been piled on top of her head in a mass of curls, with floating tendrils around her face and nape that tormented Zane.

      Gripping the steering wheel tightly, he tried to concentrate on driving instead of on the way Gwen looked. But inhaling the subtle scent of her perfume with every breath worked against him, and he kept stealing peeks at her.

      Finally, he couldn’t keep quiet any longer. “You’re going to knock my family out,” he said. “My friends too.”

      “That’s what you wanted to accomplish, wasn’t it? I mean, isn’t this entire charade aimed at impressing your family and friends?”

      “True.” Zane laughed then, albeit weakly. “Guess I didn’t expect to be impressed myself.”

      Uh-oh, Gwen thought warily. If she let herself, she could be very impressed by him. He looked fabulous in his dark suit and white shirt, and she would bet anything that the tie he was wearing had cost as much as her entire outfit—which she’d bought on mark-down.

      But she had not dressed to impress him, she insisted to herself. She was only keeping up her side of their “business arrangement,” and she didn’t want to hear any more compliments from him while they were alone.

      “Let’s keep this strictly impersonal,” she said coolly. “I have a few questions. Since you want your family to believe we’re a…couple, I should know a little more about you than I do. For instance, how do you take your coffee, and what’s your favorite drink as far as alcoholic beverages go?”

      “I suppose you’re right, but remember that I should know more about you too. Coffee strong and black, and while I’m not much of a drinker, I prefer scotch. What about you?”

      “Coffee with cream, no sweetener. Wine or champagne only. Are you a reader?”

      “I run in spurts. I doubt if anyone’s going to ask you what book I might be in the middle of reading.”

      “Probably not. I enjoy reading but have little time for it. Same with TV.” Gwen paused, then asked, “If someone asks me what I do, what would you like me to say?”

      Zane sent her a frown. “Is there anything wrong with the truth?”

      “Not to me there isn’t, but bathing dogs and running other people’s errands is hardly a glamorous job.”

      “It’s an honest living. Just be yourself, Gwen, except for our supposed relationship. Now that subject might raise some questions. How we met, for example.”

      “Well, if I’m going to be honest about my job, I might as well be honest about that, as well.”

      “Might as well be,” Zane agreed, then chuckled. “It was pretty funny, wasn’t it? Your chasing Alamo through the house, both of you sopping wet?”

      “Hilarious,” Gwen said wryly.

      “Of course, you can’t say it happened only yesterday. I’d like everyone to think that we’ve been seeing each other for at least two weeks.”

      “Fine,” Gwen snapped.

      Zane sent her a look. “You don’t like lying, do you?”

      “Never did,