Page 16 of Texas-Sized Scandal

Philomena lived her life in a bolder way than Melinda did, but at their core, they both sought to help others and surrounded themselves with nice people. She’d debated a number of times about driving herself versus letting Slade pick her up and, in the end, since she’d decided to go ahead with the engagement, he would be driving her.

As she zipped herself into a simple navy sheath dress with ruffles at the shoulders, she realized that she wouldn’t have that much longer before she might not be able to wear it. She had gone to Katy, a suburb of Houston, and its fabulous bookstore to pick up a few books on pregnancy and then, because she couldn’t resist, had tossed a few romance novels into her basket as well. She wasn’t one of those people who went into a bookstore and came out with one book. It was always an armful.

Glancing at her Cartier gold-and-steel watch, she knew she needed to keep moving and not stop and check out the books on her nightstand. She was already going to be at least ten minutes late, something her own grandmother had said was key to making a man understand how much time she’d put into getting ready for him. To be honest, she was usually ready on time and had to stall for ten minutes.

But today was different. And how! She went back to the vanity to put her long blond hair into a chignon and then touched up her makeup. She realized she was a little bit stressed and trying to look perfect.

But why?

This wasn’t real. She had to remember that. Slade wanted them to get through these troubled waters before they talked about the future. But the baby and the media left them with no choice other than to be engaged. Right? But it was hard. Harder than she’d imagined.

“I can do this, can’t I, Pixie?” she asked the dog, who came over and danced around her feet.

Melinda reached down and scooped her up. Pixie put her front paws on Melinda’s chest, her tail wagging as Melinda petted her. She wished that the world were as easy to please as this little dog.

She kissed Pixie on the nose and then set her back on the floor. That was a nice break from her worrying, but now she was back to it.

She wanted any photos taken of the two of them to look real. The kind of image that would hang on the wall in a house in tony River Oaks. But that wasn’t the endgame here. They were both trying to salvage a situation that was going from bad to worse with her reputation and Slade’s always scandalous one.

She tried to just leave her appearance as it was, but she couldn’t do it. Philomena would definitely know something was up if Melinda wasn’t wearing her pearls and princess-cut diamond stud earrings. They were her formal wear go-tos, which her friend would know.

She was struggling with lying to Philomena and her sister. She didn’t mind letting the society bloggers and reporters believe something that wasn’t true, or even her father. But her twin? That was much harder. And while she and Angela didn’t share every detail of their lives, this was a big rock. One of the things that if it were real, she’d be giddily over-sharing every detail with her sister.

Instead... Well, to be fair, Angela had been incommunicado all day, so that did make it easier to keep from having to tell her she was going to get engaged. That was sort of okay too, because Angela had had a lot of gossip swirling around her and Melinda was trying to distance herself from that.

She supposed tonight at Philomena’s house would be the test if she could pull off the temporary engagement with sincerity. She’d never been a good poker player or actress. She could be cordial to strangers but her friends always knew where they stood with her. If they could convince Slade’s grandmother they were the real deal, the rest of the world would be easy.

Sure, it would be. But one thing at a time. That was how she’d been successful at accomplishing as much as she had in her life.

When the doorbell rang, Pixie jumped up from her bed and started barking as she raced to the door. Melinda glanced at her watch; Slade was twenty minutes early. She was ready, and keeping him waiting today wasn’t going to happen. She wanted to discuss the engagement and make it clear he couldn’t live with her, as he’d suggested. She’d written down the things she needed to ensure didn’t happen, so she wouldn’t fall for the fairy tale.

Number one: no more sex.

Number two: no living together.

Number three: don’t fall in love.

She took a deep breath. She wasn’t going to mention number three to him. That one was for her eyes only. A reminder to not let herself believe the temporary fix.

No sex was going to be a hard sell for both of them. He turned her on, and she had gotten used to sleeping with him. But she wanted to come out of this thing between her and Slade with as much of her soul intact as she could. And she knew herself well enough to know that if she slept with him or lived with him, then it was going to be hard not to fall in love with him.

She walked through her condo slowly and glanced at the video monitor before opening the door. Slade looked so good in a dinner jacket and tie that her heart started racing. His dark hair was slicked back the way he styled it for formal events and he’d shaved—Philomena didn’t care for stubble.

She took a deep breath to center herself before she opened the door. Pixie greeted him with some doggy kisses on his leg and Slade bent over to pet her before he came into the condo.

She took a few steps back, realizing how much taller he was than her. Normally she always had on heels and it wasn’t often she stood this close to him in bare feet.

“I know I’m early but I figured we should have a game plan before we head to dinner,” he said.

She just nodded as she realized that not falling for him was going to be a lot harder than she’d previously thought. Mainly because she already was halfway in love with him.

Slade had never struggled so much with any decision and he guessed that was one thing he could thank his father for. He’d always been very focused on not following in the old man’s footsteps that most of his choices were easy. But this one... Well, it was like the past coming back to haunt him.

His parents had had a marriage of necessity. His mom had become pregnant with him and, bowing to the pressure of the Conti family, Carlo Bartelli had married his mother. But the marriage hadn’t worked out and had led to some very unhappy decisions by both of his parents.

Right now, the back of his neck felt tight, and as much as he wanted to be the cool and suave man he liked to think he usually was, he’d never felt more out of his depth. The engagement was simply for her protection, he reminded himself. He’d promised himself to never marry and that promise wasn’t one he was willing to break.

Even for Melinda.

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