whatever he says for now?” Rand didn’t want to upset her father. He’d been through enough turmoil with his own dad.
She remained with her back to the mirror. “That’ll work. Just pretend you’re on board with all of his ideas.”
“How do you think your mother is going to react?”
“She cries easily, and me marrying my dream man is going to make her weepy.”
“Right. The dream man thing.” Never in a million years did he expect to be cast in that role. But here he was, trying to wear that mantle. “So I should prepare for tears when I meet her on Skype?”
“Most definitely. She’s going to cry on the phone to me, too, when I first tell her about you. She’s also going to offer to alter her wedding dress and send it to me. She always wanted me to get married in the same dress she wore when she married Da, and since she’s a seamstress, she’ll be able to do it right quick.”
Rand winced. He didn’t know anything about the process of handing down a dress, but it was obvious how important all this was going to be to her parents. “If you want, I can arrange to have your family attend the ceremony on Skype. We might as well make the most of that medium. Not just for me to meet them and ask for your hand in marriage, but for them to watch you become a bride.”
“That would be wonderful. They would love that.” She rewarded him with a wobbly smile. “Thank you for suggesting it.”
“No problem.” As he met her gaze, a stream of silence ensued. A soft, sweet, quiet heat, he thought, with his heady vibes mingling with hers. “We better go back downstairs for now. The food should be here soon. We can figure out the rest of the details while we eat.”
She left her post at the vanity. “Yes, we should go.”
When he moved away from the bed and turned to leave, she quickly followed. She even shut the door behind her a little too soundly, as if she was eager to close off the room.
And everything that went with it.
Allison ate more than her fair share of the pizza. She drank the soda Rand had ordered, too. But in the center of her bride-to-be mind, her thoughts were racing.
She couldn’t stop thinking about the boudoir Rand had built for his lovers—the sexy, dreamy, lavish suite where she would be staying. How she was going to survive sleeping there, she didn’t know. Her crush on Rand was elevating to dangerous levels. Ever since she’d met him at The Bellamy, since he’d proposed this arrangement, since he’d kissed her with that scrumptious mouth of his, her pulse hadn’t quit pounding. And now she was going to have to contend with his bedroom being intimately connected to hers, with two big, easy-to-open, elaborately carved doors between them.
“When are you going to call your parents?” he asked.
She glanced up from her plate, her arteries still thumping. “First thing tomorrow.” She certainly couldn’t call them today. It was later in Ireland than in Texas.
“I’ll get your ring tomorrow, too. Maybe one of those sets where the engagement ring and the wedding band are designed to go together. I know someone who deals in antique jewelry, if older pieces are okay with you.”
“Yes, of course.” She wasn’t going to interfere with his choices. “You can get whatever you think is best.”
“The dealer works exclusively with a private clientele. She’s a longtime friend of my grandmother’s. I’ll be inviting Grandma Lottie to the wedding, so you’ll get to meet her. She’s ninety years old and has a condo in a senior community here in Royal. It’s a great place, as luxurious as it gets.” He hesitated, reached for his soda, took a swig. A second later, he said, “But just so you know, her short-term memory is failing her. She has what’s called mild cognitive impairment or MCI. Sometimes she forgets portions of conversations or repeats things we already talked about. I’ve gotten used to it now, but it was strange at first, trying to get a handle on it.”
Allison couldn’t imagine her granny going through something like that. Both of her grandparents were fit as fiddles. “Does MCI lead to Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia?”
“In some cases, it does. But her doctor doesn’t think that will happen to her. She has a caregiver who lives with her, so it helps to know she has someone with her all the time. Grandma Lottie was my rock when I was growing up. She stepped in when our mother got sick and raised us kids after Mom passed. I was ten at the time, and Trey was only four. He barely even remembers our mom.”
“How sad for him. How sad for both of you.” She didn’t know what to say, except to express the grief she knew he was feeling. “But I’m glad your grandmother was there for you.”
“Me, too. Without her, I don’t know what we would have done. Our parents weren’t even together when Mom died. They were already divorced. So by then, our father was used to being a weekend dad, to seeing us when it was convenient for him.” Rand shook his head in obvious displeasure. “He never tried to take us away from Grandma Lottie, but he butted heads with her about what he called the ‘indulgent’ way she was rearing us. He didn’t think she disciplined us enough.”
“My parents coddled me. But maybe if I hadn’t been so sheltered, I would have been more streetwise when it came to someone like Rich.”
He narrowed his eyes. “I’ve been wondering about your relationship with him and how it unfolded.”
“It’s foolish, the way I let it happen.” She picked at a piece of crust leftover on her plate, even if she’d been taught not to play with her food.
“Will you tell me about it?”
She winced. “Right now?”
He nodded. “Sorry, yes. But I’d really like to know.”
She expelled an uneasy breath, preparing for the shameful truth. She’d already discussed this with the authorities and answered all of their probing questions, but repeating it to Rand seemed different somehow. “I met him at a restaurant where I was waitressing. I’d been working there for years, in addition to my freelance writing, so I could save extra money. Kenmare is a tourist destination, and we have lots of pubs and eateries.” She picked at the crust again, tearing it into little pieces. “He said that he was on a much-needed holiday in Ireland, taking a break from his busy life. He explained that he was the CEO of an oil and energy company and how demanding his job was. He mentioned his family’s cattle ranch, too, and his devotion to it. He was certainly my idea of a handsome Texan.” She remembered how easily they’d talked and how forthcoming he seemed. “I thought he was as charming and interesting as a fellow could be. He took an immediate fancy to me, too. Or so I thought. But now I realize that he just saw me as an easy mark.”
“Did you know he was married?”
“Yes. But he told me that he and Megan were getting divorced. That she’d met someone else and was in a secret relationship with that person. He also said that Megan was an emotionally fragile woman. According to him, she wasn’t ready to talk to family and friends about the divorce or tell them that she was seeing someone else. She needed more time to get a handle on her new relationship.”
“So Rich and Megan were keeping everything hush-hush? Gee, how convenient for him.”
Her shame went bone-deep. Her foolishness. Her naïveté. “I shouldn’t have fallen for a story like that. But he seemed so kind and sensitive, and I believed that he had Megan’s best interest at heart. I didn’t have a clue how often he’d been cheating on her or what a lovely and centered person she actually is.” She released a sigh. “Of everyone I’ve met in Royal so far, she’s been the most gracious to me. I feel so badly for her, marrying a man who wasn’t even who he claimed to be.”
After a long and silent pause, Rand asked, “When