The Wedding Surprise

It was all she’d wanted ever since she’d trained as a chef. Her own place to be creative in. But her priorities had changed now. There were other things, much more important, that needed the money.

Another lie wouldn’t make much difference, though. ‘Sure I do.’

‘Well, then…’

‘What about the guy?’

‘Aiden?’ Her face lit up, ‘Oh, he’s a blinder. We all just adore him. Wait ’til you meet him…’

Caitlin cringed at the thought. She didn’t want to meet him. Ever. Given the choice.

If he was as unsuitable for her as Aisling thought he would be then she was going to hate every moment of being around him.

But that was the whole premise of Aisling’s new show. Two completely different people pretending to be in love. All they had to do was persuade their families and friends that it was true. Then, to collect, they had to say their fake ‘I do’s with all of their family and friends present. Easy as pie, right?

Three months. Three months of living a lie with a camera crew following their every movement. But it would be worth every torturous moment of invasion of Caitlin’s precious privacy if it saved her father’s business and the magical place called home.

Caitlin’s chin raised a notch. She could do this. She had to. Even while her stomach churned and her hands were clammy. It was only three months.

And, after all, how bad could this Aiden guy really be?

CHAPTER TWO

AIDEN FLYNN turned as the door opened and then stared at the woman who was now his ‘fiancée’ for the next few months.

She was stunning. Not a bit of wonder they’d chosen her from all the candidates suggested. He’d bet she’d look great on screen. A hell of a lot better than he was looking anyway. But six months in front of a computer, within arm’s reach of billions of calories, hadn’t exactly helped any.

And he could tell she wasn’t impressed. When she’d opened the door she’d been smiling openly. But now, as her eyes moved over him, he could see that smile fading in her dark eyes.

Suddenly he wished he’d bothered to remove the abnormal amount of hair on his face. That he’d taken maybe ten minutes to visit a barber in the last week. But Aisling had been fairly adamant that he stayed the way he was. He was perfect the way he was, she’d said.

Shame that Caitlin Rourke didn’t think so. Because she really was stunning.

His eyes moved down from the urchin cut of her rich brown hair, over flawless creamy skin to the sensual bow of her mouth. Then they dared to move further, down over her long neck to the curve of her small breasts and the inward sweep of her slender waist. Oh, yeah. She was something. And way out of his usual league if the designer cut of her clothes and the swanky place she lived in were anything to go by.

His eyes moved back up as she smoothed her short hair behind one ear and smiled at him again before moving forward.

She then stunned him completely by throwing her arms around his neck and pressing her slender body tightly against his. Blinking in confusion, he wrapped his arms around her waist with jerky movements.

‘You’re here at last!’ She tilted her head back to look up at him. ‘I’ve missed you so much.’

Aiden’s eyes widened. ‘Well, I’ve missed you too.’

Her eyes jerked to her left and he followed the movement until his own found the camera pointing at him. Aha. Straight to business, then…

She leaned in to kiss his cheek above the line of his beard, leaving her cheek there and whispering, ‘My sister is here.’ Then she leaned back again to look at him.

Tightening his arms around her waist to signal he understood, he then did what any self-respecting fiancé would do and leaned down for a kiss. After all, her sister would expect it…

Caitlin’s eyes widened as the realisation of his intention hit her. She ducked her head further back and laughed slightly. ‘Oh, no, you don’t. Not with that beard.’

She thought he’d grown that beard overnight? If they’d only recently got engaged then she’d have been kissing him with that beard for some time now.

‘You didn’t complain about where this beard went last weekend, honey.’

A dark eyebrow quirked at his response and a spark entered her eyes. A challenge? he wondered.

Her voice came out like warm honey. ‘You have no idea the places I ended up with beard rash.’

A challenge indeed.

His eyes sparkled back at her. ‘Maybe you should show me later.’

‘We’ll have to see about that.’ And as quickly as that the spark was gone from her eyes and she pulled back from his embrace. She glanced towards the living room, then her eyes flickered back to meet his as her voice dropped. ‘That beard has to go.’

‘We’re not even married yet and already you’re trying to change me?’

She looked him over with a cursory glance, taking stock of the raw material the show had given her. Then with a small smile she nodded. ‘Hell, yes.’

The sister stared at him with a similar look of surprise as he entered the warm-coloured room. Aiden was sensing a pattern here. What was it? Had he two heads? All right, so right that second he might not look like a pin-up, but he wasn’t exactly serial killer material either. At least he didn’t think he was.

‘Hi.’

Caitlin watched her sister blink at him a couple of times before she stared back at her with wide eyes. The news of her ‘engagement’ not five minutes earlier hadn’t exactly gone too well. And the fact that she’d had to explain the presence of TV cameras in her life in an earlier phone call only added to the lack of reality. She was in the Twilight Zone. Something her sister had pointed out only seconds before Aiden’s arrival.

‘This is Aiden.’

‘The internet guy?’

She smiled as she followed the story they’d been given. ‘Yes, this is him.’

‘The guy you’re getting married to?’

‘Yes.’

She opened her mouth to make a comment. Then her eyes moved to the camera at the end of the room and she pinned a smile on her mouth as she rose from the large sofa. ‘It’s nice to meet you, Aiden. I’m Cara.’

Aiden hadn’t missed the hesitation before she stood to offer her hand to him. There’d been a comment coming there, he’d just bet. ‘It’s nice to finally meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you.’

The smile stayed in place as she shook his hand. ‘More than I’ve heard about you, I’m sure. You’re quite a surprise.’

He laughed as he released her hand. ‘I’d say so.’

Cara continued to stare at him. It was like being a bug under a microscope. He stepped closer to Caitlin and grinned. ‘Well, honey, I’ll just throw my bag upstairs.’

‘Good plan.’ She reversed a few steps towards the door.

‘No, it’s all right. I know where I’m going.’ The lie flowed smoothly from his mouth. ‘You stay here and chat to Cara. I’ll be right back.’