wedding, the painting and his suggestion. She omitted the devastating kiss at her front door.
Diana stared at her with openmouthed amazement. “He suggested you pretend to be in love?”
Hearing it put like that and in a tone that said it was incredible, Teddy was sorry she’d brought up the subject.
“Do you think it will work?” Diana asked.
“I’m not sure. I’d rather just tell my mother to back off, but we both know that won’t work.”
Diana leaned forward, her arms folded on her desk. “Let me ask a different question. Are you considering this because you’re attracted to Adam?” Teddy hesitated. It was apparently too long for Diana. “I guess that’s my answer.”
“I told you he was good-looking.” Actually he was gorgeous. He had the most amazing eyes, light brown with a fringe of lashes that any female would be jealous of. His hands were soft when he had them on her face, but she could feel the strength in them. His body was solid and that bedroom voice could possibly undo her.
“At the time you didn’t say you wanted to spend time with him. What is this, your third date?” Diana asked.
“We haven’t been on a date yet.”
“What was dinner last week and the wedding on Friday?”
“Those were chance meetings.”
Diana frowned at her, but her face showed the opposite. “Sure they were,” she said sarcastically. “But as far as your question goes, you’ll have to decide. If you’re doing it to ward off your mom, that’s one thing. But if you just want to spend time with the guy and he with you, I’m sure neither one of you needs a guise.”
Teddy thought about that. She was confused about her reasons for considering the Marriage Pact. She’d never wanted to be married in the past. Even though she loved the planning of someone else’s wedding, she’d never thought of doing it for herself. So Adam should be a perfect candidate in her life. He didn’t like weddings, didn’t want to have anything to do with happily ever after. So why didn’t Teddy just take him up on the Marriage Pact and fall in with his plans? It would make everyone happy. Did she really want to continue seeing Adam? Granted, if she’d met him on her own, she’d have no problem going out with him. But in her usual manner, as Diana put it, Teddy would quickly move on to someone else.
There was a certain chemistry between them. Teddy felt it. Her mouth tingled just thinking about the kiss the two of them had shared. Was that the reason? Was she afraid of spending time with him? They could become close. Was that so bad? Diana and Scott hadn’t begun on the best foot and they were happily married now. Was Teddy protecting herself, putting up barriers to prevent her life from changing?
Neither she nor Adam really needed to fall in with their parents’ wishes. She was her own woman, with her own needs and plans. So why was she so undecided about Adam?
* * *
Adam stared at himself in his bedroom mirror. Who was this guy, he mentally asked himself? He’d never acted this way before. He liked Teddy. He really liked her. And that was his problem. He really liked her. In fact, he felt as if his feelings were morphing into something else, something more. It didn’t make any sense. If there had been a lineup of beautiful women before him, Adam would never have selected her as someone he wanted to get to know, but he did want to know her.
Grabbing a sweater from the drawer, he shrugged into it, dropping the one he’d spilled beer on in the hamper. Then he went into the kitchen and popped the top off another can of beer. Joining his brother in front of the big-screen television in his family room, he dropped down next to him and tossed him a can.
There was a baseball game on ESPN and Quinn was watching it. The moment he arrived, he went straight for the TV and turned on the game. When Adam joined him, he took his eyes away from the screen for a moment. Quinn was the athletic brother. He not only watched every sporting event possible, but in high school and college, he played baseball and tennis, and competed in track. He was still active in tennis and jogged several miles a day. Adam didn’t envy him his biceps. Adam had his own workout routine that could rival his brother’s.
Adam knew Quinn had been observing him closely for the past few days. He didn’t think he’d changed since he and Teddy talked about their Marriage Pact, but he knew his observant brother must have noticed a change in him. Anything that removed Quinn’s attention from a game in progress had to be important.
“What are you thinking?” Adam asked.
“That something is wrong with you.”
“I’m fine,” Adam said.
“Since Mom fixed you up with that blind date, you haven’t been the same.”
“Which blind date? There have been several. Often I can get out of them.” Adam knew the routine with his mother. She would call, pretend to ask him something about investing or going through some amount of small talk, before mentioning that she’d run in to so-and-so from his past or that she’d met a very nice woman who was unattached and who would like to meet him.
Other than giving her an out-and-out no, which he’d done on one occasion, he put them off by telling her he already had a date. Sometimes that was true. Sometimes he then found a date to make the lie come true.
“You know which date,” Quinn said. “The one you had a few weeks ago.”
Adam took a sip of beer. “How have I been different?”
“You’re quieter.”
“Aren’t you the one who’s always telling me to be quiet so you can hear the television?” Adam said, glancing at the TV screen, and sipped his beer to cover the uncomfortable feeling that washed over him.
“I never thought you’d actually do it.”
“I’m getting older...and wiser.”
“Nope,” Quinn said.
“Nope?”
“You’re getting older, but I think we can thank Ms. Theresa Granville for the change.”
Adam stiffened. “She has nothing to do with this.”
“Not what I heard.”
“What do you mean?” Adam frowned. “What have you heard? And from whom?”
“I mean, the word is that the two of you are a couple.”
“Yeah?”
“It’s true.” A commercial came on and Quinn hit the mute button on the remote control. He turned to Adam. “Someone’s gotten under your skin?”
Adam understood what Teddy meant by not truly thinking through the deception angle. He’d intended to fend off his mother. He hadn’t thought that he’d have to keep the pretense up with everyone else, including his brothers. But the fewer people who knew the truth, the better. And while Quinn could keep a secret, Adam decided it wasn’t the time to reveal what he and Teddy had talked about.
“It had to happen sometime,” he answered Quinn. Adam hated lying to his brother, but if their deception was to work, only the two of them could know about it. And Adam was confused by Teddy. She seemed to tap into something deep inside him and he was unsure of what it was. Keeping it under wraps was the right thing to do, he told himself.
“This from the man who said falling in love wasn’t for him. That he intended to play the field the rest of his life. Then you meet Veronica.” Quinn paused, giving Adam a long look. “Then that didn’t work out and you find Teddy. Two out of two. Or is Teddy a rebound love?”
“Teddy is nothing like Veronica.”
“Is she more like Chloe?”
Adam tensed. His brother knew better than to bring up Chloe. But Adam didn’t want to let on that her name disturbed him. Chelsea, who he parted with on