Page 18 of One Night Bride
That finger turned to point at my chest. “You’re a disruptor, Remington Roth, and while that usually leads to amazing growth in a business setting, I’m not sure I like it in my personal life.”
I bit back a grin. “We can circle back to that later, lady boss. Right now, we got a plane to catch and a herd to rescue.” I gave her a pat on the shoulder and spun around to grab my suitcase.
“A herd?” she yelled at my back, sounding horrified yet again.
My booming laugh echoed through the house.
“We’re about to start our descent, sir,” came Wayne’s voice over the intercom.
“Buckle up, buttercup,” I told Esme, who’d been furiously typing on her computer the entire time we’d been on my jet.
She hadn’t made much comment when we’d boarded, even though I saw her darting glances around, taking in all the accoutrements on board. I’d hoped to spend the flight getting to know her, but the laptop was a serious cock blocker. Not that I wanted to know her sexually. I mean, I did, most definitely, but I wanted to know everything about her. The woman. The daughter. The businesswoman. All of her.
She shut her laptop on a sigh and slid it inside her leather carry-on bag.
“When we get to the ranch, I need you to play along with our marriage thing,” I said evenly, testing the waters.
Her head whipped up. “Excuse me?”
I nodded. “We’re married, right? I need you to not say anything about getting an annulment. The story is we met in Tahoe, fell madly in love, and got married.”
Her jaw dropped. “Excuse me?”
She was taking this as well as I thought she would. I fished the velvet box out of my jacket pocket.
“Here.” I opened the box and held it out to her.
Her eyes went wide and her mouth flopped open and closed like a fish. She leaned away from the box like it might jump out and bite her. Why did her reaction have to be the opposite of every other woman? Most ladies would have jumped at the chance to slide a two-carat diamond ring on their finger. All I was asking for was a couple days of acting. Surely she could do that for me.
I pulled back the box and tried to explain. “Listen, Esme. The ranch is a big deal to my family. My parents expect my brother and me to run it when they retire, which is about now. The only way we can get out of running it is if we get married. And well, we’re married. I need you to just go with it for the few days we’re here. Can you do that for me?”
Esme ran her fingers through her hair and blew out a breath. “Why do you want out of the ranch so badly?”
I looked out the window at the huge pastures we currently flew over that were so familiar to me. “I love the ranch. It’ll always be part of me, but I have other goals. Other dreams. The ranch is Ruger’s dream though, so my stepping aside will also give him his dream.”
She blew out another breath. “Well, great. If I say no, I’m blowing up two grown men’s dreams.”
“We’d be indebted to you forever,” I added, shifting closer and extending my arm across the narrow aisle to hold the ring in front of her face again.
She shook her head, but took the ring out, muttering under her breath.
“Wait!” I said quickly, startling her.
I took the ring out of her hand and held my palm out. “Give me your hand. I want to put the ring on.”
She gave me a look. “You know this isn’t real, right?”
I gave her a look right back, mine much more petulant. “I have a license that says otherwise.”
“You’re impossible,” she lobbed at me.
“You’re cute when you’re angry,” I said back.
“Don’t flirt fight with me.”
“You loved it when I flirted with you in Tahoe,” I reminded her, sliding the ring on her finger and feeling something shift in my chest.
Her angry gaze dropped to her finger and her shoulders dropped away from her ears. Something stilled in her, the anger leaving behind something that reminded me of wistfulness.
