Page 22 of Falling for your Fake Boyfriend

Luke had already started up the steps with the bags. He glanced back at me with a smile, a smile that quickly faded when he looked past me.

“Lucas, I guess Amy forgot to tell you. I wanted to see you on the veranda.”

I froze on the bottom step, suddenly wishing I had Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak. I was hoping I’d at least have a chance to “freshen up” before meeting Luke’s mom. I sensed her getting closer, like one of those weird shadows in a horror movie. Luke walked back down to meet her, and I had no choice except to turn around. I put on my best smile.

Margaret Greyson was tall and slender and her skin was flawless. That might not have been entirely natural. Her lips were stretched awkwardly across the bottom half of her face, and her eyebrows sat just a little higher than I considered normal. It seemed she’d had some work done, possibly recently. Her shiny blonde hair was layered and curled into a sort of rounded coif. Her ears and neck were heavy with diamonds. She performed the snotty air kiss on each of Luke’s cheeks. According to him, they hadn’t seen each other in months, and that was the most affection she could muster up for her son.

Margaret allowed herself to smile my direction, andallowedwas a generous word. It seemed to take all her energy to convince herself to do just that, and even with all that effort, all she offered was a weak, almost condescending grin. “This must be yourfriend.”

“My girlfriend,” Luke said sharply. “Isla, this is my mother, Margaret.”

Her wrist was weighed down by diamonds, too. “Hello, nice to meet you. You can call me Mrs. Greyson.”

“Seriously?” Luke asked.

I shook my head discreetly at Luke. This wasn’t a battle I wanted to take on. She obviously disapproved of me, and that was all right because I already disapproved of her. Fortunately, the two of us would never meet again after this weekend.

“Thank you for having me, Mrs. Greyson.” I added in a sugary smile.

She returned her own saccharine smile. It was extra disconcerting with lips that were both stiff and stretched. “I’ll tell Amy we need someone to show you to your room. I’m sure you can spare Luke for a while.” The diamond bracelet sparkled as she lifted her hand toward Luke, her elegant way of telling himCome with me.

“Mom, I just drove eight hours. I’m going to show Isla to her room and make sure she gets settled in, then I’m going to shower.”

Her face tightened, and I wouldn’t have thought that was possible. “Well, join us on the veranda as soon as you can. There are some people I want you to meet.” She swept away with great flourish and an angry grimace.

I turned to Luke and finally managed to take a decent breath. It felt as if Margaret had kept all the oxygen in the space hostage while she was standing in it.

“Sorry, that was even more brutal than I expected,” he said.

‘It’s all right,” I said. “After all, we’ll part ways after this weekend, and I—she and I won’t ever have to meet again.”

Luke’s shoulders were tense by the time we reached the upstairs landing. I placed my hand on his arm. “I’ll play the part well enough to get you through the weekend. Don’t worry about me. I can handle it.”

He nodded and continued down a long hallway with forest green carpeting and antique gold wall sconces. The whole place smelled of something floral. It was almost too much. I sneezed twice before we reached a door. Luke had to count the doors in the hallway to make sure he had the right one. He pushed open the third one, and we stepped inside.

“No way,” I said as I glanced around at the vast room. It had vaulted ceilings that were embellished with dark wooden beams. A giant four-poster bed with a lacy canopy took up half the room. The rest was filled with an antique armoire, a tall dressing mirror, elegant green wingchairs and even a Victorian fainting couch. After my little chat withMrs. Greyson(I even said the name in my head with aversion), I might just need that couch … and some smelling salts as well.

“There’s a bathroom through that door.”

“And my own bathroom,” I said. My sisters and I shared two bathrooms, and one was no more than a sink and toilet. “If I stay tucked inside this glorious room for the whole weekend, do I still get the seven grand?” I laughed. “Kidding, of course. Mostly.”

He set my suitcase down on the upholstered bench. It looked extra shabby and out of place on the lush damask fabric. Luke turned to me with a sympathetic smile. “I think we’ll both deserve a medal after this weekend. How long will you need to get ready?” He glanced at his watch. “I can have my driver swing by in—say—an hour?”

We laughed, and it felt good. For a second, we were back on our carefree, adventurous road trip, with no giant wealth and lifestyle chasm between us. We were just two people having fun.

“I think I can find my way to the veranda. I plan to take a long shower,” I said as I walked across and opened the door. I sucked in another stunned breath. “On second thought, I’ll take a long, hot bath in the pool-sized bathtub.” I turned back to him. “This is—what’s the word I’m looking for—surreal. That’s it.”

“Yeah, if only the reality behind all of it wasn’t so damn annoying. I’ll see you on the veranda. Enjoy the bath.”

“Oh, I intend to, Mr. Greyson. I intend to.”

ChapterTen

Luke

My brother met me in the bar area just inside from the veranda. His hand shot out with a highball glass. “Thought you’d need some fortification first.” I envied my little brother. Like the second prince in a royal family, less was expected of him, and he took full advantage of his freedom. Even now, he’d shown up to my mom’s cocktail party in a pair of ripped jeans and a Metallica T-shirt. I was sure his attire garnered a look of disapproval from our mom, but that was as far as her lecture would go. Bryan wasn’t expected to take the helm of the company and family after our dad died. That fell to me, only I wanted nothing to do with any of it.

“Whatcha been up to?” I asked as I took a healthy swig of the whiskey.

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