Page 2 of Bridles and Bribery

“So?” The trickle of alarm running down Jillian’s spine grew a bead of perspiration.

“So, I’m assuming you told Dave the same cock and bull story you’ve told everyone else about trying to become a single mom before your biological clock ran out?”

Jillian gave a reluctant nod, though she didn’t considerthe partial truth to be an outright lie. She’d simply omitted one important detail, a detail she hadn’t considered to be anyone else’s business but her own.

“The only problem with that story is that a woman in your shoes would’ve normally visited a fertility clinic, not a surrogacy firm.” Julie clicked the details off on her perfectly manicured fingers. “Furthermore, the mother-to-be would be paying the firm in question, not getting paid herself.”

“Furthermore?” Jillian rolled her eyes to cover her burgeoning agitation. “Seriously, Julie. I preferred you before you went to college and started using big words.”

Julie’s lips tightened. “That’s not an answer.”

“You didn’t ask a question,” Jillian pointed out, knowing it would only make her sister angrier.

“Does Dave know the baby isn’t yours?” Julie demanded icily.

“The babyismine.” Jillian lifted her chin, feeling like her sister was dangerously close to crossing a line.

“How’s that possible?” Julie spat out the question.

Jillian glanced again at the clock holding down a stack of papers on her fiancé’s desk. “We don’t have time to get into it right now.” It wasn’t a story she’d planned to tell her family. Ever. She was still deciding if she was going to tell Dave, since he already knew everything he needed to know. Everything that mattered, at any rate. He knew that the baby growing inside her belly would be born into their family, share their last name, and be theirs to nurture and raise.

Even though it hadn’t started out that way.

Julie shook her head in disgust. “If you haven’t been perfectly honest with Dave, you might want to come clean before you tie the knot. I know that’s not something you want to hear right now, but?—”

“You’re right.” Jillian gritted her teeth. “It’s not.” Which didn’t change the fact that her sister was correct. It was only a few minutes before her wedding ceremony was about to begin, but…

Oh, who am I trying to kid?She blinked back the sting of tears, knowing there might not be a wedding ceremony if she came clean about everything. Admitting the truth to Dave might throw her in an entirely different light with him. It was one thing to present an image as an independent and self-sufficient woman voluntarily undergoing fertility treatments. It was another thing entirely to admit she’d farmed out her body as a surrogate simply because she’d needed the money.

Do I really have to admit it to him? To anyone?Dread swam through her as she pondered her options. Until she’d met Dave, her life and her decisions had been hers alone. Well, hers and God’s, anyway. That was about to change, though. In a matter of minutes, her life was about to be joined with someone else’s. His.

It was particularly unsettling to discover that her nosy sister already knew more about her deepest secrets than the man she was about to marry. That wasn’t right. It just…wasn’t.

“Fine,” she sighed, spreading her hands as she turned to face Julie. “I’ll tell him everything.” She narrowed her gaze at her sister. “But only him.”So bug off!

A flash of elation appeared in Julie’s blue-gray eyes that were nearly an identical shade to her own. “Good idea! I’m glad I thought of it.” She marched toward the door and threw it open. Since Dave’s office took up the entire third floor, the elevators opened into the waiting room outside his office. “I’ll go get him for you. Unless…” As the silver doors slid open, she paused in front of them with her hand pressed against the side of the elevator entrance to keep the doors open. “I mean, it’s unlucky for the groom to see the bride before the wedding.” She turned to face Jillian, still holding the doors open.

If there’s even going to be a wedding after what I’m about to confess to him.Jillian gave her a hard look. “I’m not superstitious.” Nope. Her troubles had exactly zero to do with bad luck. Every cent of the debt she’d wracked up over the past thirty years was entirely her fault — from her student loans for the business degree she’d never finished, to the money she’d lent a friend who’d never paid her back, to her maxed-out credit card from the tires she’d recently replaced on her car. The $60,000 payment from the surrogacy firm had put her bank account back in the black, but just barely.

Julie pasted on a smile as she took a step backward into the elevator. It reminded Jillian of the Cheshire Cat. Long after the elevator lurched upward to the rooftop courtyard, she could still see her sister’s empty smile hanging in the air.

Why can’t you be happy for me?Though Jillian turned back to the dressing mirror, she was no longer worried about whether her hastily purchased wedding gown made her look fat. She stared into space, wondering if Dave was still going to want to marry her after what she was about to tell him.

The arm counting off the seconds on his desk clock felt like it had picked up speed. Time was moving much quicker now than she wanted it to.

Maybe she’d been a little hasty in allowing her sister to goad her into a last-minute confession like this right before her wedding. Maybe she didn’t owe anyone an explanation for the events leading up to her pregnancy. Maybe…

The elevator dinged a warning of its pending arrival. Then the doors slid open again.

Dave stepped out, frowning. The ivory tuxedo he had on did nothing to tame the ferocity of his broad shoulders, well-corded arms, and military-style buzz cut. His brown gaze swept the room with the same intensity he’d used thirty-five years earlier as a running back on the Heart Lake High football field — back when he was dating far more popular girls than Jillian had ever been. It blew her mind that he’d gone this long without getting married. It made her heart ache to realize that what she was about to share with him might send him running straight back into bachelorhood.

His gaze darkened as it landed on her. He strode her way without preamble. “So, this is it?” he growled. “You’ve changed your mind about marrying me?” His tanned features were etched into stark lines of misery.

“What?” The air seeped from her lungs. “Of course not!” She stared at him, aghast, wondering what in the world her sister had said to him.

Cautious hope warred with the misery in his gaze. “Then why are you delaying the wedding?”

“Because my sister said something that made me realize...” Jillian bit her lower lip, scrambling for the right words. “She made me realize there’s something you deserve to know before we get married.”Oh, this is hard!She closed her eyes and added shakily, “Assuming you still want to marry me after you hear it.”

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