SUSAN LET HIS NEWS sink in. Lewis was going back to football. He would feel like he had a home again. “That’s...” It was a good thing. It was what he wanted. Rising from her chair, she threw her arms around his neck. “I’m so happy for you,” she whispered. Lewis was getting his dream.
Meaning hers was over. With his mission accomplished, there was no more reason for their arrangement. Stupid her, telling him the affair could end with their agreement. Had she really thought she could sleep with Lewis and escape unscathed?
“I couldn’t have done it without you,” he said. “You believed in me.”
“No, it was all you. You’re the one who did the work and actually changed. All I did was help get the word out.”
And now he didn’t need her. She blinked away the lump in her throat.
“Look at me. I’m so happy, I’m getting teary,” she said wiping her eye. “We need to celebrate.”
“That’s kind of the reason I wanted to go home.”
Her heart twisted at the words. Wouldn’t be too many more times she’d hear him say them. Not now that he no longer needed her. “How about we settle for a toast in the meantime? Champagne for me, water for you. I’ll go get it.”
Immediately he reached for her arm. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I want to.” She needed the moment to shake the thoughts from her head. “This is your celebration. You sit and let me wait on you.”
Pushing her lips into a smile, she scurried to the bar, choosing the one outside the ballroom so she could duck into the powder room and wipe her nose. Someday she’d get through an event without having to hide in the bathroom at some point, but not tonight.
And, because the world really wanted to mock her, Ginger and Courtney were seated along with a few of the PAs at the table nearest the door to the restroom. Both of them shot a trademark smirk in her direction as she approached.
Whatever. She didn’t have time for them.
That is, until she was almost through the door. That’s when she heard Courtney.
“Fake,” she said.
Susan stopped in her tracks. Stepping behind the door, she leaned her ear close to the crack to listen, the nerves in her stomach doing a tap dance.
It was probably nothing.
“...heard her clear as day,” Courtney said. “She told Linus that the whole romance was a scam to get him some publicity.”
“You mean they aren’t an item?” someone asked. “What about those pictures of them kissing?”
“Totally for the camera,” Courtney said.
Susan’s stomach felt like it had been punched. No wonder Courtney had smirked at her. She’d overheard everything. The witch had probably spent the whole party spreading the story to anyone who would listen.
What was she going to do? Lewis was going to kill her.
She found a different entrance and rushed back to the table. Lewis frowned upon seeing her. “Where’s your champagne? Did they cut you off?”
The ballroom wasn’t the proper place for this discussion. There were too many people still gathered at the tables nearby. If they hadn’t heard the story, she didn’t want them to overhear anything now.
“You know what?” she said. “Screw Linus. Let’s go home and celebrate properly.”
Under any other circumstance, the way Lewis’s brown eyes lit up would have made her knees weak. “Are you sure?” he asked.
“Definitely.” They’d talk when they got to her place.
As it turned out, Lewis gave the driver directions for his place. That was fine. They could talk there, as well. She chewed the inside of her mouth while he pressed the combination on his apartment lock. It would be fine, she realized. Courtney could spread the rumor all over the company if she wanted. She and Lewis could always debunk it. Who would they believe—a known company gossip or the two of them? And even if they didn’t believe her and Lewis, it was only Collier’s. Wasn’t like anybody who worked there was going to alert the press.
Yeah, she would tell Lewis and it would be fine.
The first time she saw Lewis’s apartment, she’d joked that it looked like a set for a bachelor-life reality show. Lots of chrome and retro-style furniture and a hot tub with a view to rival the London Eye. She thought that again as she dropped her wrap on the glass dining room table.
Lewis stepped up behind her, his large hands curling around her shoulders. “Finally,” he murmured. “I’ve been waiting all night to get you back here.”
Preoccupied or not, Susan’s eyes still rolled back at the growl in his throat. “Lewis, there’s something I need to...”
His lips found the curve of her neck and those were the last words she said on the subject. It could wait until morning, she thought as her head fell back against his shoulder. There was still plenty of time to nip the gossip in the bud.
It was snowing when Lewis woke up. Big slow-falling flakes like the kind in TV movies. They blanketed the trees and parked cars with white. He pulled a nylon jacket over his running shirt and grabbed a knit cap. Running in the snow had always been a favorite pastime, even as a kid. While his teammates complained and moaned about working out in unseasonable weather, he embraced it. There was something strangely invigorating about cutting through the snowflakes. Besides, he could always count on the snow to clear his muddled head.
This morning, his head was clear as a bell, but he had too much energy to sit still. Susan was still asleep, wrapped up in the covers. He smiled and for a second he considered waking her up instead of running. But there would be plenty of time later. It was going to take a lot more than a run to burn off his high.
Other than the Youth Ambassador Event, Lewis couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this good about life. All the pieces of his goals were coming together. He was back in sports where he belonged, back on a team. And maybe now that he was back on top, he could convince Susan to continue their arrangement a little while longer.
Being with her was as close to belonging as a man could get.
After a few laps around the park, he made a quick stop for scones and a copy of the Looking Glass. The vendor sold Personal Magazine as well so he grabbed a copy of that too since Susan and he were scheduled to do that interview with the magazine later in the week. He was half tempted to cancel since the article wasn’t needed. On the other hand, he liked the idea of Susan gracing the pages of a national magazine. Letting the whole country see more of her uniqueness.
That reminded him, he’d have to find a place for a Christmas tree. When he was done “waking up” Susan, he would ask her what she wanted to do for decorations.
The bed was empty when he unlocked the door. Susan was in the bathroom. It was that last loop. He knew he should have cut it short. Oh, well. He’d give her a few moments of privacy, and then join her. The shower wasn’t built for two for nothing.
As he kicked off his running shoes, he idly flipped through the paper where he’d dropped it on the kitchen island. It was the usual headlines. The prime minister was fighting with Parliament. One of the royal duchesses had made an appearance in an expensive designer coat. He turned to page six and froze when he saw the headline.
Scam-pagne Lewis? Fans Duped by Publicity Stunt.
What the...? This was not good. Not good at all. This was...
He ran a hand over his mouth. This was a disaster. Quickly, he scanned the article. It detailed how he and Susan had conspired to improve his image and get publicity for Collier’s at the same time, even implying that he was paying Susan and that he was the same drunken playboy he’d always been. Half of it wasn’t true at all, and that mattered. Once a narrative was cast, it was near impossible to sway public opinion.
This was going to ruin everything. Goodbye new career, new reputation. Men like Montclark would want nothing to do with him now.
Snatching the paper in his fist, he stormed into the bedroom and thrust open the bathroom door. Susan was just stepping out of the shower. Upon his bursting in, she grabbed a towel.
“What the heck, Lewis,” she snapped.
“We’ve got a problem.” He held up the paper so she could see the headline.
A curse escaped her lips. Taking the paper, she continued reading as she padded past him into the bedroom. Lewis followed, reaching the bed in time to hear her swear again.
She’d turned pale. “I didn’t think it would make the papers,” she said in a low voice.
“What are you talking about? Did you know something like this might happen?”
“Not this.” She ran a hand through her curls, sending droplets of water across the comforter. “This is my fault,” she said. “I told Linus last night and Courtney overheard. I didn’t know she was there but at the end of the night I heard her and Ginger telling others. I’m not sure how it got in the paper though. One of the servers or bartenders must have heard her.”
“Dammit. Didn’t we agree that we couldn’t tell anybody for this exact reason?”
“I’m sorry.”
Sorry wasn’t going to change the fact his reputation was ruined. Again. “Why would you tell Linus in the first place?”
“I didn’t set out to,” she replied. “He was going on about some family-bonding trip and it came out. I didn’t know Courtney was there.”
“Well, she was,” he snapped. “And now all of London knows.”
“I’m sorry.” Her eyes were wet with tears.
Blowing out a breath, Lewis got up and retrieved a bathrobe from his closet. He couldn’t have this conversation with her wrapped in a towel. She looked too vulnerable. The rational part of him knew it was an accident. That she hadn’t intentionally set out to ruin their plan, but he wasn’t ready to listen yet. Not when everything he wanted was tumbling out of reach. “I need to go for a run,” he said.
“But you already went.”
He looked down at his damp running clothes. “Another one. I need to clear my head.”
“Don’t.” Her hand landed on his arm. Lewis turned around. His robe was oversize, the sleeves hanging several inches below her fingers. It was worse than seeing her in the towel.
“It’s only one article,” she said.
“Right now. You saw how the first one spread.” By tomorrow they would be dissecting it on the morning talk shows.
The shrill sound of a phone ringing cut through the tension. “Yours,” he said.
She rummaged through her bag. “It’s Thomas.”
He’d heard about the article, no doubt. “You better take it.”
“He can wait until we’re done talking.”
“What more do we have to talk about? The damage is done.”
“Not necessarily. We just need to get out ahead of things. We’ll tell people it was a vindictive ex-girlfriend or someone with a grudge. If we do it right, we can spin this in our favor.”
“How, when it’s the truth? We aren’t a real couple.”
Her lower lip started to quiver. Lewis had to look away.
“We both said it that night in front of your apartment. A casual hookup that doesn’t mean anything. We aren’t some grand romance.”
Why would she want to be with him now anyway? His chance at redemption was done. If he was untouchable before, because of his reputation, surely, he was doubly so now that the papers branded him a fraud.
He couldn’t see bouncing back. Not this time. Might as well walk away from Susan too, and end everything in one cut.
“You should go talk to your brother,” he said walking away. “Fix what you can.”
“What were you thinking?” Thomas asked. With the baby sleeping in the bassinet a few feet away, he kept his voice a whisper. That didn’t hide his frustration however. “A phony romance?”
He paced back and forth in front of the ornate giant tree the decorators had installed in his living room as Susan watched his progress from the couch. “I knew something was odd from the start, but Linus convinced me that you were the real thing. I couldn’t believe when he told me last night. And now this?”
He pointed to the paper that lay on the cushion next to her.
“That,” Susan replied, “is not my fault. Gossip columnists have spies everywhere. All it takes for things to spiral out of control is for someone to overhear a single conversation.”
“If I find out one of my employees leaked the information, they’re going to be out the door.”
Susan kept quiet. As satisfying as it would be to toss Courtney and Ginger under the bus, she wouldn’t. If they were guilty, Thomas would find out easily enough and deal with the problem. Susan didn’t need to add fuel to the fire without proof.
“What did you and Lewis think you were going to gain by doing this?” The question came from Rosalind who, until she spoke, had been sitting quietly next to the bassinet watching.
“A new reputation,” Susan replied. Still pacing, Thomas let out a loud scoff. “He really is a different person,” she said. “About as far from Champagne Lewis as you can get. Only no one would believe him. Everyone was waiting for him to slip up.”
“So to prove he was reliable, he decided to lie to the press. Fabulous.” Her brother rolled his eyes.
“It’s called a contractual relationship and it’s done all the time by actors and athletes. Especially if they need a socially acceptable partner or have a project to promote. I wouldn’t be surprised if my mother’s had one.”
“Oh, by all means, let’s copy your mother’s bad example.”
“Thomas,” Rosalind admonished.
“It’s all right,” Susan told her. Belinda certainly wasn’t the best role model. “My point is, this wasn’t some nutty scheme Lewis dreamed up. There’s precedence.”
“Let us get this straight,” said Rosalind calmly. “You’re saying that Lewis needed to be seen with someone like you to look respectable?”
“Precisely. I’m the complete opposite of the women people picture him dating. The idea was that being seen with me would prove he was no longer the same man. And he’s not.” Didn’t matter if he’d broken her heart a half hour ago. She would defend Lewis’s character until the end.
“He needed an image makeover and this seemed like the best and most subtle way to do it,” she said. “It almost worked too. Graham Montclark vouched for him to the network. They were talking about giving him a broadcast job.”
Until this morning. Susan couldn’t imagine Lewis’s despair. To be so close to what you wanted only to have it taken away.
Actually she could imagine. She wanted to curl up and cry her broken heart out for a week. Only thing stopping her was maintaining a front for Thomas’s inquisition.
Thing was, she couldn’t blame her brother for being angry.
“All right.” He sat down in a chair across from her. “I get what Lewis was trying to do. Why would you agree though? What could you possibly be getting? And don’t say publicity for the company, because we both know that couldn’t have been your main driver.”
She shrugged. “Maybe I needed an image makeover too.”
“What?” Thomas and Rosalind spoke together.
“Come on, there’s no need to act all shocked,” she said. “We all know I’m the unloved elf of the Collier family.”
“The what?” Thomas asked.
“The one who doesn’t fit in and who everyone would rather just went away.”
“No one wants you to go away,” Thomas said. “You’re our sister.”
“Half sister,” she reminded him. “And please, I know I drive everyone crazy. People at the company only tolerate me because I’m your sister.”
“I don’t believe that,” Thomas said. “Linus told me last night that you were the belle of the ball.”
“Because I had Lewis with me. When I’m with Lewis I feel different. Likable.” Wanted.
“Is that why you agreed to the idea?” Rosalind asked.
She nodded. “Yes. Kind of.” Close enough anyway. “I wanted people to see me as more than I am. I thought if people think someone like Lewis could fall for me, they would see there’s something likable about me after all and I wouldn’t...”
“Wouldn’t what?” Thomas asked. For the first time since the conversation began, his voice was gentle. The kindness threatened to dislodge her withheld tears.
“Be the loser outsider anymore.”
“What are you talking about? You’re not an outsider.” Thomas said. “You’re my sister.”
“Half sister,” she corrected again.
“Whatever,” he replied. “It’s not your fault who your mother is.”
“A woman who took off and stuck you with me,” Susan added.
He waved off the comment. “Linus and I always figured you dodged a bullet when that happened. You call yourself a loser outsider now. Imagine the damage if she’d stuck around and raised you. Imagine the kinds of issues you might have had to face.”
Susan didn’t know how to respond. He was right; she would have been worse off. The three of them sat quietly for a few minutes, listening to the baby’s gentle sleeping noises.
Eventually, Thomas leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees. “Linus told me last night he didn’t believe you. About the relationship being fake. He said you two looked pretty into each other and he thinks you only said it because you wanted to get him off your back.”
He’d whispered something similar to her when they were on the dais. You don’t look like you’re faking to me.
“That was wishful thinking on his part.” On her part too. “We had to put on a show in order to make people think the relationship was the real deal.”
“By loving it up on the roof?” Susan looked up from her lap. “He told me on the phone.”
“I’ve got to say, that doesn’t sound too fake to me,” Rosalind said.
“It was nothing serious. We figured since we were going to spend the month together and were attracted to each other, we might as well enjoy ourselves. We weren’t some great romance,” she added, quoting Lewis.
“And how’d that arrangement work out for you?” Thomas asked.
Susan didn’t answer. Couldn’t answer really, without her voice cracking. She studied the wrinkles in last night’s dress.
“I’m sorry,” her brother said.
“Me too.” But hey, for a few glorious weeks, she’d felt special. “I’ve got no one to blame but myself. The whole point was to go against type, so I knew going in he wasn’t going to stick around. Caveat emptor or something like that.”
A tear escaped. The first of the day. Swiping it away, she looked over at Thomas. “I never meant for Collier’s to get stuck in the middle of this. I’ll step away from the company.”
“What? Why would you do that?” he asked. “No one is suggesting you step down from anything.”
“But the bad publicity. You’re going to need to do something.”
“It won’t be firing my sister. You’re a Collier. The company is as much a part of your legacy as it is mine and Linus’s. Was I the only one who listened to Grandfather when he brought us to the company museum?”
He crossed the room to sit next to her. “Bottom line is that family is what makes Collier’s. We’ve survived four hundred years. We’ll survive a few weeks of tabloid coverage. Might even help. We’re getting a lot of free advertising.”
Susan gave up trying to rein in the tears. Letting them escape, she hugged her brother tight. “Thank you.” It was the first time she’d ever truly felt like a Collier.
“You’re welcome. And you’re not an unloved elf. Just an annoying one.”
Annoying, she’d take.
“Now,” Thomas stood up and smoothed the front of his sweater. “I’m going to call the office and see what kind of statement they’re putting out before Rosalind and I go Christmas shopping.”
As she watched her brother head upstairs to his office, Susan felt moderately better. At least things were okay with her family.
Family. She repeated the word to herself with a sense of shame. Lewis had tried to tell her that she mattered to her brothers, but she hadn’t believed him. Turned out Lewis was right. Someday she’d have to thank him. If she ever saw him again.
Baby Noel was starting to fuss in his bassinet. Must be nearly feeding time.
“I’m sorry. I disrupted your morning,” she said to Rosalind, rising to leave. “I’ll get out of your way.”
“Hold it right there, unloved elf.” Wearing a very deliberate expression, her sister-in-law rose from her chair. “It’s high time you got a dose of the truth.”