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She waved her hand dismissively. “It was just a harmless little…ruse. That’s all.”
“Ruse?” he said. “Lie, you mean.”
“No! Well, yes. I mean—” She exhaled sharply. “It was for my job, okay?”
“Go on.”
She put her hand to her forehead for a moment, then met his eyes again. “When I applied for it, I found out the big boss, Walter Davidson, prefers his employees to be married. Stability, and all that. So I…well, I guess I gave him what he wanted.”
“A married job candidate.”
Rachel sighed. “Yes.”
“And you obviously got the job.”
“Yes.”
“So now you’re a married woman.”
“As far as what everyone around here thinks, yes.”
He nodded down at her hand. “Nice ring.”
She slipped her hand behind her back. “It’s cubic zirconia.”
He winced. “Couldn’t you have sprung for the real thing? I don’t want people thinking I’m cheap.”
“They’re not thinking anything about you! You don’t exist!”
He looked down at himself. “I look pretty real to me.”
“You know what I mean!”
“And what’s with the ‘doctor’ thing, anyway?”
Rachel buried her face in her hands again. Oh, God. Did she have to tell him this?
“It’s why you’re gone all the time,” she said. “See, you…you fly to South America…”
“Yes?”
She thought she’d been so smart when she came up with this, but now she could barely say the words. She spoke quickly, mumbling so maybe he could hear only half the words. The ones that didn’t sound stupid.
“You’re an independently wealthy doctor who flies to poor South American countries on humanitarian missions.”
His eyebrows flew up, and then a grin spread across his face. “You’re kidding, right?”
She shot him a look of total disgust.
“Wow. I’m spontaneous, romantic, rich and charitable. No wonder you married me.”
“Will you stop it?”
He eyed her carefully. “Why me?”
She turned away. “The picture was handy.”
“Is that the only reason?”
“What other reason would there be?”
He gave her a cocky grin. “I’m unforgettable?”
Rachel shot him a look of disgust. Oh, he was so arrogant. And so conceited.
And so right.
Why had it been Jack’s picture? So she could look at him every day of her life? So she could remember what that night of fantasy had been like before she’d had to wake up to reality?
“I’m sorry I did this,” she said. “Believe me, I am. But you can’t tell anyone.” She looked at him warily. “You’re not going to tell anyone, are you?”
“If anybody asks, I’m Dr. Jack Kellerman, wealthy philanthropist. Your husband.” He eased closer, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “Assuming, of course, that the job comes with conjugal rights.”
Rachel gasped. “You think just because I told a little fib, it entitles you to—”
“No entitlement,” he said. “I’m thinking of it more as…a perk.”
Just as she was on the verge of going totally ballistic, the door to her office swung open. She spun around, expecting to tell Megan one more time to please leave them alone. Instead Walter Davidson walked into her office.
Rachel felt as if her stomach had dropped right out of her body and plummeted thirty-eight floors. No, no, no!
Walter, a balding man in his late fifties with a big, booming voice, zeroed in on Jack and strode across the room toward him with his hand extended.
“Rachel! Megan told me you had a visitor! So this is your husband?”
This was it. Her life was over.
But to her surprise, Jack didn’t even look flustered. He met the man halfway with a broad grin and shook his hand.
“Dr. Kellerman,” Walter said, pumping Jack’s hand up and down. “It’s so good to finally meet you.”
“Call me Jack.”
“Jack it is. And you call me Walter. Rachel here seems to have been a little reluctant to share you with us. I’m glad you finally dropped by. Are you planning on staying in the country for a while?”
“Yes,” Jack said. “For quite a while, actually.”
“Good. That means you can join us on the retreat.”
Rachel bit back a gasp.
“Retreat?” Jack said.
“Rachel didn’t tell you? I’m taking all the employees on a ski trip to The Summit in Silver Springs tomorrow morning. Four days. Rest and relaxation. Of course, spouses are invited.”
“Why, Rachel,” Jack said, “you didn’t tell me anything about a retreat.”
Rachel just about choked. “I—I didn’t think you’d be back in town. You…surprised me, you know.”
“Yes. I suppose I did.”
“I’d love to have you join us,” Walter said.
“He can’t!” Rachel said.
Walter recoiled with surprise.
“It’s just that…well, it’s just that I know how tired he usually is after his trips out of the country,” she said, stammering like an idiot. “I know he’d probably just like to stay at home. Rest. You know.”
“Rachel’s right,” Jack said. “She knows me so well. Whenever I come home from one of my trips, all I want to do is zone out. Relax. Take it easy.”
Rachel breathed a sigh of relief.
“Which means that a trip to a ski resort would be exactly what I need. I’d love to go.”
Rachel thought her heart was going to stop. This couldn’t be happening. It couldn’t be. It was as if she was paying right now for every lie she’d ever told in her life. God had saved up and hit her with her punishment all at once, and boy, was it a doozy.
“Excellent!” Walter exclaimed. “I’m interested in hearing all about your work. That is, between ski runs. You do ski, don’t you?”
“Of course.”
“Glad to have you joining us. I know there are a lot of people who will be interested in meeting Rachel’s husband. You’ve been somewhat of a mystery man around this office.”
“And I’d love to meet them.”
“Well, I suppose if you’d like, I can introduce you right now.”
“No!” Rachel said.
Walter looked at her again with surprise.
“Uh…Jack is late for an appointment already.” She gave him a pointed stare, warning him not to disagree. “He can meet everyone tomorrow.”
“That’ll be fine,” Walter said. “We’ll see you both tomorrow afternoon at the resort, then?”
“Yes,” Jack said. “Thank you for the invitation.”
Walter left her office, and she spun around to face Jack.
“Are you completely out of your mind?”
“Out of my mind? To accept a free four-day vacation in the company of a beautiful woman? Yeah, I’m nuts, all right.”
“You are not going to be in my company!”
“Beg to differ. We’re married.”
“We are not married!”
“That lovely fake wedding ring you’re wearing says otherwise.”
“Just how do you intend to pass yourself off as my husband for four days?”
“You’ve been passing me off for six months. I figure four days will be no big deal.”
“That’s right! I’ve been doing it! I made you up, so I know what to say about you! You don’t! You don’t know you like I do!” Rachel put her hand to her forehead. “My God, that sounded insane.”
Jack laughed. “Calm down, will you? It’ll be fun.”
“Fun? Fun?” She paced in front of her desk, waving her arms. “This is my career we’re talking about! If anybody finds out—”
“Nobody’s going to find out.”
“I don’t believe this. You think you can just walk in here, and—”
“What I think, Rachel, is that you’ve been using me for six months. I should at least be entitled to four days.”
“I’ve been using your picture! Not you!”
“My identity.”
“Not exactly. You’re not a doctor.”
“So you embellished. Was that my fault?”
“You can’t come with me, Jack. You can’t—”
“Really? Walter says I can.”
“He thinks you’re my husband!”
“Isn’t that what you want him to think?”
“Yes! As long as it’s your picture he’s thinking it about, not you!”
He grinned. “You’re right. You do sound a little insane.”
This was a nightmare. An honest-to-goodness nightmare come to life.
