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She set her purse on the coffee table and sat beside Luc, fisting her hands in her lap. There was nothing she hated more than giving good people bad news.
Luc unknotted his tie, tugged it off and tossed it over the sofa arm on top of his jacket. Relaxing back against the cushions he undid the top two buttons of his dress shirt. “Okay, let’s hear it.”
She took a deep breath, working up the nerve to tell him. “I heard back from immigration yesterday.”
One brow rose in anticipation. “And?”
Just say it, Jules. “My application to renew my visa again was denied.”
In a blur of navy blue Italian silk and white Egyptian cotton, Luc was on his feet. “Denied? You can’t be serious.”
Tears pricked the corners of her eyes. Now was not the time for a messy emotional display. She’d learned years ago that crying only made things worse. “According to your government I’ve overstayed my welcome. I have two weeks to pack up my things and get out of the US.”
“How is that possible? You’re on a humanitarian mission.”
“Technically I’m on a work visa.”
“I still don’t see the problem. You’re still my research assistant. Gainfully employed. What changed?”
“Remember how I told you that in college I attended several protests.”
“I remember.”
“Well, what I didn’t tell you is that I was arrested a few times.“
“Were you convicted?”
“No, but I was afraid that if I put it down on my application I would be denied.”
“So you left it out?”
She bit her lip and nodded, feeling juvenile and ashamed for having lied in the first place. But she would have done almost anything to come to the US and help her best friend. Now that one serious lapse in judgment was coming back to bite her in the rear. “I screwed up. I thought that because the charges were dropped, and it was a peaceful political protest, it wouldn’t matter anyway. I was wrong.”
“There has to be something we can do,” he said, pacing the oriental rug, brow deeply furrowed. “Maybe I could talk to someone. Pull some strings.”
“The decision is final.”
His chin tilted upward. “I can’t accept that.”
She rose from the sofa, touching his arm, stopping him in his tracks. “You don’t have a choice. It’s done.”
He muttered a curse, one he wouldn’t normally use in the presence of a female, and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. She rested her head against his chest, breathed in the scent of his aftershave. It wasn’t often that they embraced this way, and she found herself dreading the moment he let go.
The stubble on his chin brushed her forehead as he spoke. “There has to be something we can do.”
There was one thing, but it was too much to ask. Even of him. Especially of him. “At this point all I can do is accept it. And move on.”
He held her at arm’s length, and she could see the wheels in his head spinning. But this was one situation all his money and influence couldn’t fix. “Where will you go?”
“South Africa for a while, until I can find another research assistant position. Maybe in Europe, or even Asia.”
“I’ll do whatever I can to help. I’ll write such a glowing recommendation people will be clamoring to hire you.”
The problem was, she didn’t want to work for anyone else. She used to love moving from place to place, meeting new people and learning new cultures and customs. Now the only place she could imagine living was right here in Royal. It was the first place in her travels that had genuinely felt like home. The first place in her life really.
There had to be something she could do.
Two (#ulink_81faefae-607e-5bf5-8443-647f63a21261)
Luc sat at the bar at the Cattleman’s Club swirling a double Scotch, watching the amber liquid tornado along the sides of a crystal tumbler, still reeling from Julie’s news. And wracking his brain for a way to fix this, to keep her here in Royal where she belonged. Where she wanted to be.
She was the only person in his life—aside from his mother—who truly understood him. Who knew what made him tick. In fact, there were times when he wondered if she knew him better than he knew himself. These past few months, with the stress of seeing his hometown devastated, she was the anchor that had kept him grounded. She had been there to support him during his mother’s past two hospital stays, which seemed to stretch longer each time she was admitted. Julie sat with her on her breaks, read to her when she was too weak to hold a book in her own two hands. He never even had to ask for her help. She just seemed to sense when he needed her, and she was there.
Drew Farrell, a fellow club member, and the owner of Willowbrook Farms, slid onto the stool beside him at the bar. In blue jeans, worn boots and a dusty cowboy hat, he looked more like a ranch hand than a man responsible for breeding multiple Triple Crown–winning horses. And though he dealt regularly with an elite and prestigious clientele, he couldn’t be more down-to-earth. He was that guy in town everyone liked. Well, everyone but his neighbor Beth Andrews, who, up until the storm, had it in for Drew. But now, by some strange twist of fate, they were engaged to be married.
The complicated nature of relationships never ceased to amaze Luc.
Drew gestured to the bartender for a drink, and within seconds a bottle of his favorite brew sat on the bar in front of him. “What’s the score?” he asked Luc.
It took Luc a few seconds to realize Drew was referring to the game playing on the television behind the bar. He’d been so lost in thought he hadn’t even noticed it was on. “No idea,” he said, taking a sip of his drink.
“I’m sorry I missed the ribbon cutting at the clinic. I had a client in town looking to buy one of my mares.”
“No apology necessary. If there was any way I could have gotten out of it, I would have.”
“Is that why you look so down?”
Luc ran his thumb around the brim of his glass. “Nope.”
“Anything I can do to help?”
He shook his head. “Nope.”
“Maybe it would be better if I left you alone,” his friend said, grabbing his beer and making a move to get up.
“No,” Luc said, realizing that he was being unnecessarily rude. And frankly, he could use the company. “I’m sorry. I just got some bad news today.”
“It must have been pretty bad to put you in such a foul mood.”
“Julie’s request to extend her visa was denied.”
Drew’s eyes went wide with disbelief. “No way.”
“I couldn’t believe it, either.” Nor was he willing to accept it. But when it came to plausible ideas to stop this from happening, he was coming up short.
Drew shook his head, expression solemn. “After all she’s done for this town since the storm, they should be giving her a medal, not kickin’ her to the curb.”
Luc’s thoughts exactly.
“What are you going to do?” Drew asked.
At this point there wasn’t much Luc could do. Despite her objection he’d made a call to his lawyer, who had confirmed what Julie had told him. It was a done deal. “Let her go, I guess.”
“Dude, you can’t do that. You can’t give up on her.”
“I’m out of options.”
“I’ll bet there’s one thing you haven’t considered,” Drew said.
“What’s that?”
“You could marry her.”
Marry Julie? His best friend? Drew was right, he hadn’t considered that, because it was a ridiculous notion.
“Julie is like me,” he told Drew. “She’s very focused on her work. Neither of us has any plans to marry.”
Drew rolled his eyes, as if Luc was a moron. “It wouldn’t have to be a real marriage, genius. But it would be enough to keep her in the country.”
A pretend marriage? “Not only is that a preposterous idea, it’s illegal. We could both get in serious trouble. We could go to prison.”
Drew grinned. “Only if you get caught.”
Luc could hardly believe that Drew of all people was suggesting he break the law. “And if we do get caught, what then?”
He shrugged. “Volunteer in the prison infirmary?”
Luc glared at him and Drew laughed.
“I’m kidding. Besides, it would never come to that. No one in this town would ever question the validity of your marriage.”
Confused, Luc asked, “Why is that?”
“Are you kidding? You two are inseparable. Or at least, as inseparable as two workaholics can be. Most married couples don’t spend as much time together as you two do.”
“We’re colleagues. It’s part of the job description.”
“It’s more than that. You just...I don’t know, fit.”
“Fit?”
“People have been waiting for you guys to hook up. And there are others who think that you must already be knocking boots.”
Annoyed that anyone would make that assumption, Luc said, “People should mind their own damn business.”
Drew shrugged. “Small towns.”
That didn’t make it any less irritating. He and Julie didn’t have that kind of relationship, nor would they ever. Yeah, he may have had the hots for her when they first met, but he had been reeling from his ex-fiancée, Amelia, abruptly calling off their engagement, and Julie had just come out of an emotionally rocky relationship herself. Before they’d had a chance to get over their former significant others and explore a physical relationship together, they had become pals instead. She was his buddy, his confidante. He would never do anything to jeopardize that. “We’re just friends, and that’s all we’ll ever be.”
Looking exasperated, Drew said, “Dude, it doesn’t matter. You would be married in name only. Consider the alternative.”
He had, a million times since she’d hit him with the bad news. Although the term bad news didn’t quite measure the depth of his feelings when he imagined her leaving. Living thousands of miles away. Who would he talk to? Who would remind him to pick up his dry cleaning, or share late-night Indian takeout with him in the break room on those evenings when they were both too jammed to leave the hospital?
There had been nights like that for weeks after the storm, performing surgery after surgery. Some successful, some not. While volunteering for Doctors Without Borders, he had seen his share of heartbreaking situations and managed to stay detached and objective for the most part. A disaster in his hometown was a completely different story. Without Julie to lean on, to keep him grounded, he would have been a wreck. She was his anchor, his voice of reason.
Did he love her? Absolutely. But that was very different from being in love. And finding a new research assistant would be a nightmare. Julie knew his work inside and out. Training someone new would take more time and energy than he cared to expend.
“I obviously don’t want her to leave,” Luc said. “But if we were caught and something happened to her, I would never forgive myself.”
After she was gone they could keep in touch through email and social media. They could even video chat on their computers or phones, though it wouldn’t be the same as having her there. But was defrauding the government and risking both her freedom and his the answer?
“I’m telling you, no one is ever going to know,” Drew insisted. “Even if the truth comes out, you’re a local hero. Can you name one person in town who would turn you in?”
He made a good point. And even if there was an investigation, he and Julie knew each other as well as any married couple. He had no doubt they would pass any test with flying colors. The question was: How would Julie feel about it? She was the one with the most to lose.
“I guess it couldn’t hurt to bring it up and see what she thinks,” he told Drew.
“Great. I suggest a small-to moderate-sized ceremony and reception at the club and a long relaxing honeymoon somewhere tropical.”
A wedding was one thing, but leaving Royal? That was out of the question. “I wouldn’t have time for a honeymoon. I’m needed here.”
Drew laughed and slapped him on the back. “Dude, you’re a brilliant and devoted physician and, yes, this town needs you, but everyone needs a break now and then. No one will blame you for wanting a honeymoon. When was the last time you took time off? And I mean real time.”
Luc tried to recall, and came up blank. It had definitely been before the storm. And probably quite some time before that. A year, maybe two. Or three. He’d traveled all over the world volunteering with Doctors Without Borders. That was how he’d met Julie. Their duties had taken them to many exotic and unfamiliar destinations, but it had been no vacation. Maybe they could use a break...
Luc shook his head. He and Julie married and taking a honeymoon? Until today the thought had never even crossed his mind. And it wasn’t that he didn’t find her appealing, both mentally and physically. Any man would be lucky to win her heart. He’d found her so appealing when they first met, it had been a little difficult to be objective. Practicing medicine in a developing country, the accommodations weren’t exactly lavish. It wasn’t uncommon for all the volunteers, male and female alike, to share living quarters, where modesty took a backseat to practicality. He was used to seeing his colleagues in various stages of undress. But in the case of Julie, he would often find his gaze lingering just a little longer than most would consider appropriate. But if she’d noticed, or cared, she’d never called him out on it. The issue was exacerbated by the fact that Julie didn’t have a bashful bone in her body. In his first week working with her he’d seen more skin than the first two months he’d been dating Amelia, his college sweetheart and ex-fiancée. She’d had enough body hang-ups for half a dozen women.
But he would never forget the day he’d met Julie. He had just arrived at the camp and was directed to the tent where he would sleep and store his gear. He stepped inside and there she was, sitting on her cot, wearing only panties and her bra, a sheen of sweat glistening on her golden skin, her long, reddish-brown hair pulled into a ponytail. He froze, unsure of what to do or say, thinking that his presence there would offend her. But Julie hadn’t batted an eyelash.
“You must be Lucas,” she said, unfazed, rising from her cot to shake his hand while he stood there, caught somewhere between embarrassment and arousal. It was the first of many times he’d seen her without her clothes on, but that particular memory stood out in his mind.
He and Julie had seen each other at their best, inventing surgical tools and techniques that they knew would change the face of modern surgery, and at their worst, unwashed and unshaven for weeks on end covered in bug bites from every critter imaginable. They had been to hell and back together, and they always, under any circumstance, had each other’s back. Was this situation any different? Didn’t he owe it to her?
It was becoming less of a question of why, and more of a question of why not. “You really think this could work?” he asked Drew, feeling a glimmer of hope.
“You would have to make it convincing,” Drew said.
“Convincing how?”
“Well, she would have to move in with you.”
Of course as a married couple they would have to live together. He and his mother had more than enough space, and four spare bedrooms for her to choose from. “What else?”
“In public you would have to look as if you’re in love. You know, hold hands, kiss...stuff like that.”
There was a time when he’d wondered what it would be like to kiss Julie. A real kiss, not her usual peck on the cheek when she hugged him goodbye. How would her lips feel pressed against his? How would she taste?
The tug of lust in his boxers caught him completely off guard. What the hell was wrong with him?
