NELSON WAS HAPPY that darts night was just the guys again. Ever since the engagement party had been greenlit, Jaycee had kept Mariah and Rachel busy with party plans. Unfortunately, the plans were stressing Dave, a lot.
“You’re really dancing on skates.” Nelson had a hard time picturing that.
Dave nodded. Instead of watching the hockey game over the bar, he was picking the label off his beer bottle.
“It’s not that bad. It’s more skating than dancing. But Jaycee is making such a thing of it. I mean, it’s not like we’re in the Olympics where someone is judging every little thing.”
Nelson almost bit his tongue, but he managed to keep his comments to himself. It wasn’t easy. He saw so much of himself in what Jaycee was doing.
This was what he had against these events. It could bring out a side to a person that could never be unseen. People could be hurt. Things were said that could never be unsaid.
Nelson had learned it all firsthand. But he’d learned other lessons, as well. One was that he didn’t always know best. And that even though he could charm, argue or coerce people into doing things, that didn’t mean he should.
He’d vowed to himself that he’d never do that again, and he wasn’t going to. He’d made a promise to his grandmother to stay out of the romance plan. He’d pushed those limits already, between his drunken diatribe and revealing Mariah’s connection to Sherry Anstruthers to Rachel and Dave. He couldn’t in good conscience do anything more.
Instead of telling Dave what to do, he asked him if he wanted another beer.
Dave shook his head. “No, I’m good. And sorry, didn’t mean to whine. I want to ask you something.”
Nelson had been about to go to the bar, but he waited.
“You’ve been spending a lot of time with Mariah.”
Yes, the small-town grapevine was in fine form. He’d refused to tell Kailey and Judy anything except that Mariah was helping with the horses, but he knew they suspected there was more to it. Everyone did.
And there was. They had the proposal coming up in a couple of weeks. He and Mariah were spending most of their free time together, except for dart nights, and other planning emergencies with Jaycee. And it had been, well, not as horrible as he’d feared.
“I told you—when she’s there, Toby is a different horse.”
“That wasn’t just a fluke?”
Nelson grinned. “Toby has a crush on her.”
Dave blinked. “Is that a real thing with horses?”
“It is with Toby. Every time she shows up, he comes right over.”
Dave had helped Nelson transport Toby to the farm. He understood just how big a deal that was.
“No kidding. So does she work with him?”
Nelson shook his head. “She doesn’t know anything about horses. But while she’s there, he sticks around, and I’ve been able to groom him, check his feet. It’s been pretty incredible.”
“It’s just been about Toby?”
Nelson could feel the heat in his cheeks as he paused.
Dave started to grin.
“Oh, so maybe this wedding planner isn’t so bad?”
Nelson would have loved to contradict him, but he couldn’t.
It wasn’t just that he was trying to make people believe that he and Mariah could be in love by Valentine’s Day.
It was because they weren’t just spending time with Toby together. And he didn’t hate it.
Mariah, in a move that was typical, had come up with a program for their time together, one that would help them appear like a dating couple. Since they’d be learning about each other if they were really dating, they spent every free night together doing research.
Research in this case meant watching the other person’s three favorite movies. And part of the other’s favorite TV shows. And he had to read her favorite books while she read his.
They shouldn’t have had too much time for talking, except that they managed to argue about the movies, TV shows and books. She was appalled by the lack of female representation in his choices. He thought hers were too serious and had no humor.
Needless to say, there was no overlap in their choices.
He enjoyed the sparring. He’d thought, after his wedding fiasco, that disagreements and arguments were the last thing he’d enjoy, but somehow, he did.
Because he was a Carter and had always been one of the smartest kids in school, and the most ambitious, people tended to defer to him. When he was treating his animals, no one contradicted him. When he made recommendations, for meals or movies or vacation spots, people listened.
Mariah, however, hadn’t been impressed with him since they met. He suspected that sometimes she argued against him, not because she thought he was wrong as much as because she believed he needed to be put in his place.
Somehow, he liked it. And upon occasion, he’d argue a position he didn’t honestly support, just to make her sit up, eyes sparkling, cheeks flushed, and go after him.
“She’s...” She was what? How would he describe Mariah?
Aggravating and independent. Way too sure of herself. Pretty. Smart. Strong. Brave and patient with Toby. Kind and respectful with Grandmother.
Dave was waving a hand in front of him, waiting for an answer to his question.
“She’s not so bad,” he muttered.
Dave laughed, looking carefree for the first time in weeks.
“You look like that was painful to say. I knew you weren’t just spending time with her for your horses.”
“Jeez, Dave, could you say that a little louder? I don’t know if the kitchen staff heard you.”
He squirmed on his seat, uncomfortable. But this was what he was supposed to do. And it made Dave laugh. It shouldn’t bother him so much.
“COME ON, SPILL. You aren’t spending all that time with Nelson just working with his horses, now, are you?”
Mariah was impressed that it had taken this long before Jaycee and Rachel asked about what was going on between Nelson and her.
Rachel was nice. It wasn’t a surprise that she hadn’t pried. But Jaycee was different. It was only the pressure of the engagement party distracting her that had bought Mariah time.
She didn’t need time, not really. But it had been a relief, all the same.
Mariah wasn’t an actor, but she was trying to act. Whether she could convince these two women that she and Nelson were really falling for each other would be a real test.
Apparently, she was acing it.
“I asked him to take me to some places around here, things that might help with my planning.”
“Sure. Is that why you’ve been spending nights at his place?” How did Jaycee know that? Mariah was still getting used to small-town gossip.
“I have not been spending the night at his place.” Not at all. She always came back to Abigail’s to sleep.
“Okay, fine, spending the evening. I know he doesn’t have any horses up there.”
Mariah felt her cheeks flushing. This was good, really. She needed people to believe they were dating.
“We’ve been...hanging out.” It would be better to be vague, and let people imagine what they wanted. Then she wasn’t lying, and the rumors would still spread.
“Hanging out, as in making out on his couch?”
Mariah rolled her eyes, but she wondered if this is what she’d missed, with the way she’d been raised. The teasing, about boys and whatever else.
“None of your business.” It was supposed to stop the conversation. Instead, it made Jaycee clap.
“Is he a good kisser? I’ve always thought he would be. I’m not sure why. I never thought Dave would be, but it turns out he’s fantastic.”
Mariah tried to get Jaycee back on track. “We’re not here to talk about whether Nelson is a good kisser.”
But now the question was in her head. Did Jaycee really have to bring it up? But then again, this was part of dating. If they really wanted to sell this...
Rachel was quiet. “You’re leaving in the fall, right?”
Mariah nodded.
“Nelson knows you’re leaving, too?”
Right. They needed to have a story for that to really sell the proposal.
“Nelson knows what my plans are.”
Rachel smiled deprecatingly. “It’s just, Nelson had a bad time, and it’s taken him a while to get over it. He’s my friend, and I worry about him.”
Mariah appreciated that. She wanted friends like that, friends who knew you, knew where you’d been and what you’d done and worried about you.
“Rachel, I promise I’ll be honest with Nelson. He may be an opinionated, arrogant know-it-all, but if he’s your friend, I know there’s good down there somewhere.”
Jaycee offered her a high five. “You are exactly what Nelson needs. Rachel is way too nice to him.”
Rachel smiled, but Mariah could see the worry underneath. Rachel was a lovely person. Quietly pretty, in a way that deflected attention. Kind, generous, helpful... Why had Nelson overlooked her? Nelson said they were friends—did Rachel want more?
Mariah hoped this proposal wouldn’t hurt Rachel. But if Nelson didn’t care for her, and she cared for him, it was better to know and deal with it.
Maybe, after Nelson broke up the engagement, something could work out between them. She didn’t understand why that thought bothered her.
She wasn’t here to play Cupid for the residents of Carter’s Crossing. She was here to build a business. And that she would do.
After what Rachel said, she had to finally press Nelson on what had happened to him in the past. If they were going to sell this romance, it was something she needed to know.
She just hoped it wouldn’t end the fun they’d been having together.
DESPITE JAYCEE’S IMAGINATION, Mariah and Nelson always sat a decorous distance apart when they were in his apartment, doing research.
Mariah could only imagine what Jaycee would think if she heard they were doing “research.”
She hadn’t pushed Nelson on his life story. If she was honest with herself, she didn’t want to share her own in detail, so it hadn’t seemed fair to ask him to do so. But she needed to know. There was something connected with weddings and romance and that was much too close to her job for her to ignore.
And, they needed to demonstrate some PDA. That wasn’t going to be easy to bring up, but they were running out of time, and it wasn’t going to happen organically. Not when they weren’t really dating.
Since she hadn’t been able to find a replacement event for the proposal at this late date, it appeared that they were going to have to do this thing.
Mariah had brought her laptop and notebook to Nelson’s apartment. It was a familiar space by now. The first couple of visits, she thought he had cleaned up for her, but now she realized he just was that tidy. It was a trait she appreciated. Growing up with five people on a boat, the only way to find anything and stay safe was to have a place for everything and everything in its place.
Nelson turned on the hockey game. Mariah knew his favorite team, and more than she wanted about its history and how this season was going.
“You don’t mind?” he had said the same the last time they got together, when she had some sourcing to do online, and they weren’t actively “researching.”
Then she’d said she didn’t mind. This time she reached over and turned off the game.
He looked annoyed but didn’t say anything. He wasn’t stupid.
“I was talking to Jaycee and Rachel, and I realized...we have to work on kissing.”
NELSON TOOK A moment to hear what Mariah had just said and understand the meaning.
“Kissing? For this fake proposal, you mean? Is there a kissing part?”
Mariah shook her head.
He felt something drop in his chest. He was disappointed. Working on kissing sounded like fun.
“It’s for now. If we want people to believe we’re so in love that we want to get married, we have to show some affection in public. Unless that crosses some kind of line for you?”
That would be a no. He was a fan of kissing, and he’d missed it.
Mariah kept her eyes on her notes as she continued, “So that means hand-holding, touching and kissing. And yes, if two people are crazy about each other and one proposes, then there would be kissing at the proposal. I didn’t script it—I just assumed it was going to happen.”
Nelson didn’t respond immediately. He hadn’t thought about that part of the fake dating: her list of hand-holding, touching and kissing. Especially kissing. Not as far as actually making the moves necessary for their lips to meet. He’d thought Mariah was pretty, and, well, those lips had inspired some thoughts about how they’d feel...
Yeah, he’d thought about kissing Mariah. But not seriously. Always in the abstract. The idea of taking those thoughts and putting them into action? Not a place he’d allowed himself to go. Now he was going there, pushed on by Mariah herself.
“To be clear, you want me to kiss you the next time we’re out together. Like, where there are people around.” He didn’t think the farm would count.
And, totally unrelated, he wondered if they should go out somewhere tonight, someplace where people were around.
“No, I think we need to practice first.”
Practice? Nelson straightened on the couch. Oh, yeah, he was up for that.
“I’m good, but if you want a chance to make sure you’re up to speed...” He raised his eyebrows. This research was sounding better all the time.
“Of course you think you’re a good kisser. All guys do.”
There she went, giving him grief again.
“I am a good kisser. Do you need references?”
Mariah waved off his assertion. “You really think any woman would tell you if you were bad? We’re brought up to be nice.”
If this was Mariah being nice...
“You think you need to teach me how to kiss?” Seriously, this woman was enough to drive a man to frustration. Frequently.
She was sitting upright, chin raised. “I don’t know if I need to teach you or not. But I’d like to try it in private first, in case we need to work on it.”
What, she was going to critique his kissing performance? Not happening. He’d make sure she had no complaints. And he needed to derail this line of thought right now.
“Mariah, I don’t know what kind of ‘working on this’ you think we might need, but if you want to kiss me you could just say so.”
Mariah lifted her hand and started counting off on her fingers. “Too much saliva, too much pressure, too much tongue, licking, scraping teeth, bad breath—”
“Okay, okay, I get it,” Nelson broke in. She really did have a list on this. And then he wondered if he had breath mints around. What had he eaten for dinner?
He wanted to assure her he didn’t do any of that, but now he began to second-guess himself. Would anyone have told him if he’d gotten it wrong? He couldn’t remember any of his dates trying to avoid his kiss...
“It would look bad if one of us was flinching away from the other when we kissed in public. I just thought we should try a kiss in private first, so we can do it right.”
Nelson looked at Mariah, her cheeks slightly pink, her gaze on her notebook and her teeth biting her bottom lip. Maybe it was all this talk of kissing, but right now he wanted to kiss Mariah.
Not theoretical, kissing would be great, but kissing the woman sitting there, the one trying to make kissing an item on her list, something they could practice in order to demonstrate to people that they were falling for each other.
Maybe some people kissed like that. But Nelson never had. He didn’t kiss for anyone but himself and the woman he was interested in. He wanted to kiss Mariah but kiss her so that she wanted to kiss him again, not to impress anyone else or critique his technique.
He was going to make her love his kisses.
Being overeager was something that would be on the bad kissing list, so Nelson shrugged.
“Okay, then. Let’s do it.” He patted the couch beside him.
He watched Mariah. He saw her swallow. Her teeth were scraping her lip now. She set her computer and notebooks down on the floor beside her chair.
“I guess we should go ahead and get this taken care of.”
Was she nervous? She totally was.
“Mark it off your list.”
She narrowed her eyes, looking like she suspected something. He smiled back at her.
“Come on. No time like the present. Then I can get back to the game.”
Her shoulders snapped back, and her teeth were no longer worrying her lip. He held back a grin. Unless he mistook the expression on her face, she was determined that he wasn’t going to shrug off this kiss and turn on the TV.
Good. They were on the same page about it.
She stood and crossed to the couch, dropping on the cushion beside him. He watched the expressions swirling over her face. She was staring at his lips, and then she leaned forward, starting to pucker. He could almost read the checklist in her mind.
Uh-uh. Kissing wasn’t a checklist.
He put a hand on her cheek, soft under his palm, and kept her at a distance.
“Hold on, Mariah. You all but accused me of being a bad kisser. I can’t have that. We’re going to do this right.”
Her brow creased. “What do you mean?”
His thumb brushed over her cheek. She blinked. His other hand brushed her arm, fingers running up and down from shoulder to wrist and back. Her gaze followed his hand, her expression confused.
His fingers slid up her shoulder, across to her neck, gently stroking. He felt her soften under his touch. Soon he had both hands cradling her face. She drew in a breath, watching him intently. He caressed her bottom lip with one thumb, and her mouth parted.
Bingo.
He leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. Her skin was warm and smooth under his lips. Her perfume tickled his nose, and he could hear her breathing. He felt his own breath speed up. Mariah’s eyes fluttered closed as his lips traced a path down her nose, across her cheek, to one corner of the delectable lips.
She sighed, relaxing fully into his hold.
Then he touched her lips with his, softly. He pulled away, just enough to catch his breath, and she moved closer, seeking more.
He pressed forward again, brushing his lips against hers, back and forth, as she pushed closer to him. His hands slid into her hair, and hers moved up his chest, gripping his sweater.
Now he increased the pressure, feeling the texture of her lips, the brush of her breath, the slight moan that escaped her.
Or maybe that was him. Because kissing Mariah was a pleasure he’d have hated to miss.
Her lips parted, inviting him in, but he made himself pull back. It was more difficult than it should have been, because after all, this was Mariah, his fake date. But the kiss felt real, and that was a problem. It shouldn’t. This was all pretend.
She was still there, eyes closed. Right, his hands, in her hair. He made himself loosen his hold, drop his hands, lean back to his side of the couch.
“So,” he started, but his voice was rough. He cleared his throat. “Is that good enough?”
Her eyes were open now, and she was holding herself stiffly upright.
She took a trembling breath. “That...that will do.”
Nice try. He’d felt her response, and it made the caveman in him want to sit up and beat on his chest.
“You’re sure? You don’t have any tips? Need to give me some lessons?”
He couldn’t let her know how real that had felt.
Her eyes flashed. “Nelson, I’m not here to stroke your ego. We both did good enough. Lessons and further practice are unnecessary.”
“All right. Have you got a schedule for kissing now? I’m sure you wrote down just how often we need to kiss in front of people to make this look good.”
He wasn’t sure why he was pushing this. If he was smart, he’d find a way to put kissing completely off the table. More kissing was just going to cause more problems.
Perhaps his intelligence was overrated.
“I’ll let you know. After all, I can initiate a kiss myself.”
Oh, that would be interesting.
“Good to know.”
Mariah stood and crossed back over to her chair, picking up her notepad with shaking hands. Her hair was mussed from his fingers, and her lipstick smudged. Her cheeks were flushed.
Yeah, he felt confident that he could kiss her well enough.
MARIAH COULD FEEL Nelson’s smugness, see it on his face, hear it in his voice.
Yes, that kiss had been...unsettling.
Mariah would admit when it came to kissing, making out, she was inexperienced. Not completely, but she hadn’t had a lot of opportunities to practice. There wasn’t a lot for her to compare that kiss to.
She only knew that if Nelson hadn’t pulled away, she’d have done her best to wrap herself as close to him as she could to continue that kiss. The one that made her forget where she was, what she was doing and why. The one she was already missing.
But even if Nelson was a more than adequate kisser, she couldn’t let him have the upper hand. She had to do something so that she wouldn’t throw herself back on the couch to continue that kiss.
Her notepad saved her, as it often had. “There’s something I need to know if we’re getting engaged. Why are you so against people getting married?”
Nelson stiffened, no longer relaxed. He appeared to choose his words carefully. “I’m not against people getting married.”
Mariah raised an eyebrow. “Really. How can you even try to make me believe that?”
Nelson clenched his jaw. “I’m not against marriage, or dating, or love, or any of those things. I’m not a fan of elaborate weddings.”
Hair splitting.
“Okay, tell me how you split that fine hair.”
He narrowed his eyes. She kept her chin up.
“Can you honestly tell me that some weddings haven’t been disasters? That some brides or grooms focus only on the big event, and bulldoze over everyone and everything in their way? They make life miserable for everyone around them in service for their big party? You’ve helped plan some of those, right?”
Oof. Mariah sat back. That was very... impassioned. Accusatory. And somehow, very personal.
“You’re right. There are some people like that. But that isn’t everyone, or even most people. My job was to try to find balance—make my clients’ wishes come true, but as considerately as possible.”
She could see the disbelief in his expression.
“Why do you look like you think I’m lying? What is your problem? Have I ever done anything to make you believe otherwise?”
“Don’t you get paid to make sure the big event comes off, no matter what?”
She shook her head. “No, I don’t make that my only focus. I need people to refer me to friends, so it’s not in my best interest to allow the wedding to make everyone miserable. I try to deliver the event they want, but it’s not a thing in isolation. And I don’t encourage my clients to believe their wedding is the center of the universe.”
His expression hadn’t changed.
“I heard you tell Grandmother, the first night I met you, that you’d worked for Sherry Anstruthers and learned everything you needed to know from her.”
Mariah sat back. Okay, this might explain some things.
“You didn’t hear exactly that. I did work for Sherry, but only for a short while. I didn’t like the way she worked. What I told your grandmother was that I’d learned everything I needed to know about how not to do my job from her. She was a nightmare.
“But obviously, I don’t need to tell you that. You know. You just assumed all wedding planners were like her. Why? What did she do to you?”
NELSON TOOK A moment to consider what he wanted to say. And to consider what Mariah had said.
He couldn’t remember exactly what he’d heard at his grandmother’s, not at this late date. It wouldn’t be hard to find out how long she’d worked for Sherry, or when. Grandmother probably had her résumé somewhere around. And the only way he could believe Zoey would have worked with Mariah was if she was the anti-wedding planner.
Unless Zoey had been steamrolled again.
“I knew someone who used her as their wedding planner. It didn’t work out well.”
MARIAH WAS FULL of questions, but she restrained herself. This was important to work out with Nelson.
“I’ve heard some stories, about weddings that were nightmares. While I like to believe all of mine went well, I know I’m not perfect. And I know some of Sherry Anstruthers’s weddings went badly.
“The last wedding I worked on, before coming here to Carter’s, was for someone who’d planned a wedding with Sherry, and she said it had been a disaster. Her fiancé turned into a groomzilla, and she ended up not showing for her own wedding.”
“You mean Zoey.”
Mariah opened her mouth, and then closed it again. He knew Zoey? Obviously. He must have known about her first wedding. That went a long way to explaining his attitude toward her. Zoey had interviewed Mariah five times before finally trusting her to take care of her wedding.
“Are you a friend of Zoey’s? Were you at her wedding?” Had Nelson been there, and Mariah hadn’t recognized him when she saw him again?
There was a bleak expression in his eyes. “No, I wasn’t at her last wedding. And I can’t say I’m a friend of hers, not anymore.”
There was a wealth of meaning behind those words. Mariah tried to decipher it. Had he been a friend of the groom’s? Had there been a break, after the wedding, between the groom’s friends and Zoey’s?
Zoey was such a kind, sweet, shy woman. It was hard to imagine her carrying a grudge. Unless Nelson had been close to her first fiancé. Nelson was a vet, and he’d said he worked with horses. Zoey’s father had an equine veterinary practice. One of the best in the country. In vet circles, he was a big deal.
Zoey’s fiancé had been a vet, too.
An idea flashed across her brain, but no. Zoey’s fiancé had been a Theo, not a Nelson.
“Did you know Theo?”
Nelson shot her a glance, then stared at the blank television. “You could say that. I am Theo.”
Mariah shook her head. “What? You’re not making a lot of sense. Your name is Nelson. Zoey’s ex was Theo—I know, we talked about her first wedding, and what we needed to do differently.”
Nelson fiddled with the TV remote. “Grandmother was an only child. She was the last Carter of Carter’s Crossing. When she married, her husband took her last name.
“His name was Theodore Nelson. After he married Grandmother, he became Theodore Nelson Carter. My father was Theodore Nelson Carter the second. I’m Theodore Nelson Carter the third.”
Mariah felt like a vital part of her torso had taken the first dip on a roller coaster while the rest of her was still waiting at the top of the ride. She held up a hand, trying to come to grips with this information.
Nelson kept talking. “Grandfather was known as Teddy to everyone. Dad was Theo. I was named Theodore Nelson the third so that Grandfather’s name didn’t die out, but instead of confusing everyone with another Theo, they called me by my middle name. Nelson.
“Until I went to school in California. There was another Nelson in my class, so people called me Theo. When I graduated and was looking to work in some of the top veterinary practices, that ‘third’ helped with the snob value.
“I’m Theo, the groomzilla. And your former boss was the one who cheered me on, every step of the selfish, vainglorious way.”