Page 35 of The Love Chase

And if it all went wrong, I’d lose him forever. In a year when the contract was fulfilled, would he still want to be married to me or would he get a divorce the minute it burned in the fire?

My fingers brushed the soft petals of a bundle of peonies strategically arranged around the arch where Liam and I would say “I do.” My eyes burned, and I squeezed them shut.

I used to fantasize about the day when Liam would finally see me for real and realize he had loved me all along, and it had an ache settling deep in my gut knowing, even though we were about to become husband and wife, he didn’t love me. He was marrying me for his own gain, not because he harbored any feelings for me.

When I imagined getting married someday, I never imagined it would be like this.

Stop complaining, Emma. It’s only for a year, and you get peace of mind and financial stability out of the deal. This is a win-win. Then you can return to normal life once this is all over. You can start that YouTube channel and help people that way. It’s only a handful of months in the grand scheme of things.

Two sets of squeals forced my inner thoughts to a jarring halt and had me spinning on my heel before four arms enveloped me at the same time, barely avoiding crashing my head into theirs. Lots of hair shoved its way into my mouth until they finally released me from their grip.

Elsie and Maya stepped back with enormous grins on their faces and a black garment bag in each of their arms.

“I’m so glad you guys are here,” I said, swiping a bead of sweat from my temple. Why had Bridget planned an outdoor wedding in June? It was too stinking hot. It was a miracle that she had pulled off an entire wedding in less than a week, but even more so that she’d managed to work out Elsie and Maya’s schedules so that they could be here to be my bridesmaids.

At least one thing in this wedding was real.

Maya had to cut her honeymoon short by two days, which she swore she didn’t mind doing, and I had barely seen Elsie over the last week even though I was staying at Jameson’s. She’d been holed up at The Roasted Bean every day trying to finish edits on her next book to meet her deadline.

“And I can’t believe you’re getting married!” Maya cried. She had just returned with Oliver last night, and her skin was golden and glowing, her blonde hair freshly highlighted.

“And before me. Again,” Elsie muttered, which made Maya and me laugh.

“You have no one to blame but yourself,” Maya snarked, nudging her with an elbow. “You didn’t have to take so long with the wedding plans.”

“We wanted to wait until the end of summer or early fall,” Elsie retorted, crossing her arms. “When we could have the ceremony in the sunflower field where we first met.”

“Yeah, yeah, you hopeless romantic,” Maya replied with a roll of her eyes before fixing her gaze on me. Understanding flashed over her face, and perhaps a trace of pity. “How are you holding up?”

My tongue was heavy in my mouth and my mind blanked on every descriptive word I ever knew. How much had Bridget told them when she invited them to the wedding? Did she tell them how big of a scam this was? Or was it meant to remain a secret, and she’d hyped it up to be the event of the year? Maya knew since she had helped me talk through the decision, but I hadn’t had a chance to talk to Elsie about it yet since she’d been so busy. Jameson had promised that he’d fill her in for me.

I settled for a shrug and half a smile. They both yanked me in for a group hug again.

As she pulled away, Maya said, “Just say the word, Em, and we’ll call this whole thing off. We’ll tell that stuffy nose lady to beat it, and we’ll all go home.”

I chuckled at her description of Bridget but shook my head. “I already signed the contract. This is a done deal. Tomorrow evening, I will officially be Mrs. Liam Walker.”

Elsie arched a brow. “And how does Liam feel about this? Surely, he can’t be a fan of this…arranged marriage.”

I shrugged again. “Before I signed the contract, he tried to talk me out of it. He told me I deserved more, but I needed that money the contract promised—so here we are.”

“You know, he’s a successful musician,” Maya said. “With how close you two used to be, he’d probably be more than happy to help you out with the money, and then this whole marriage could be avoided.”

I waved a hand in dismissal even though he had said so himself to me the other night. “I would never ask Liam for money. At least not directly. This way we both win. He gets a wife to fix his dumb reputation, and I get money to pay off my chaser equipment. It’s convenient.”

“Convenient.” Maya blinked. “Because that’s romantic.”

“But what about when the contract ends?” Elsie asked, her eyes softening. “What then?”

“I don’t know,” I replied honestly. “We’ll cross that road when we come to it, I guess.”

Elsie and Maya exchanged looks, but like the golden friends they were, they zipped their lips and pasted smiles on their faces.

Elsie looped her arm through mine. “Well, come on then. Show us where we’ll be getting ready tomorrow before the party gets started.”

I nodded, meeting Maya’s concerned eyes as we crossed the field toward Liam’s parents’ house.

For a second, I allowed myself to enjoy the fact that we were getting married on his family farm. It had been my dream when I was a teenager. Though now it seemed more like a stab in the heart.

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