Page 43 of Never the Bride
My brows hover in confusion. “Why?”
He scratches behind his ear. “You haven’t met Harvey yet.”
“Who’s Harvey?”
“My golden retriever.”
“You have a dog?” As soon as I say the words, the animal spawns, running toward me. I brace myself for contact as he leaps forward, paws on my hips.
“He’s just a giant puppy.”
Giant is right.
“Down!” My hands lift, and I try to back away. “Down!”
“Harvey, c’mon!” Hess wrangles the animal by pulling on his collar and nudging him away. “Go play.” We both watch the dog run to the corral and bark at the horses. “You’ll love him the more you get to know him.”
I brush off my linen shorts. “I doubt it.”
“That's where Selena plans to have her wedding.” He points to the barn. “Do you want to go see it?”
“Nope.” I walk past him back inside the house, where the AC is flowing. “I’m still hoping I can convince her to call off the wedding.”
“If she didn’t listen to you before, she’s certainly not going to take your advice once our secret marriage gets exposed.”
“She’s not going to find out about our secret marriage.” I keep walking, finding my way to the kitchen, glancing over the wooden cupboards and dark-granite countertops. “That’s the point of it being asecret.”
“Wait. I thought it wasn’t a secret anymore. That we had to prove that we’re trying.”
“We have to prove to Judge Perry, but to everyone else we can just keep things on the down low.”
“So you’re not going to tell Selena?”
I turn around and rest my back against the kitchen island, facing him. “I’m not going to announce this marriage to the world. It’s on a need-to-know basis. Just because we’re living together doesn’t change things.”
He folds his arms and leans back against the opposite counter, copying my pose. “Well, that’s not going to work.”
“Why not?”
“For starters, Landon and Selena come over to the ranch sometimes.”
I can’t help the pang of hurt in my heart. I rarely see Selena, and the hurt comes from knowing it’s my fault we don’t get together more often.
“I can just hide whenever she comes.”
“Do you like having a lie hanging over your head all the time?”
“No.” I rear back. “But like you said, if Selena finds out about this marriage, I lose all credibility with her. I’ll have no chance at convincing her she’s making a mistake.”
“I think you’ve already lost that battle.”
Not in my mind. I can be very persistent.
“There’s also the problem of my family and my parents. I’m really close with them. They stop by—just like a pop-in—andthey’re going to wonder why some strange girl moved in instead of my girlfriend.”
“Just tell them I needed a place to stay while my apartment gets renovated.”
“And what do I tell them about no longer being with Shanna?”
