Page 67 of Winter Vows

And Trish stared at him, looking surprised. Apparently she still believed that his sudden appearance, his sudden claim to being her fiancé was all a generous, impetuous charade just to get her father off her back. His sudden assertion that he intended to be a good father to Laura had taken things to another level. He clearly had shaken her.

“You all go ahead. I’ll be here when you get back,” he said. The thought of seeing Jack Grainger with the baby made his stomach turn over. Besides, he needed some time to figure out exactly how he was going to convince Trish to actually marry him. The three of them were gone for less than a half hour. Obviously Grainger hadn’t been struck dumb by fatherly instincts at the sight of his daughter.

When they came back downstairs, Trish was carrying the baby. In a gesture that was probably meant to make a statement she promptly handed Laura to Hardy.

Grainger looked as if he couldn’t wait to get away. He barely glanced at Laura before heading out the front door. Trish’s father paused long enough to give Hardy a speculative look.

“I’ll be in touch,” he said to Hardy, then turned to give his daughter a hug. “Your mother will want to talk to you about those wedding plans.”

Trish nodded, then stood in the doorway and watched him go.

As soon as Hardy and Trish were finally alone, she looked at him with that grateful expression he was coming to hate.

“Don’t even say it,” he muttered, beginning to pace.

“Say what?”

“Thank you.”

“I wasn’t going to,” she swore. “I was just going to say that you don’t have to go through with this. I’ll figure out some way to get out of it. After things settle down, I’m sure I’ll be able to come up with something. After all, it won’t be the first engagement I’ve broken off.”

Hardy swallowed back fury. Obviously she thought she had it all figured out. Well, she wasn’t counting on him. He would hold her to their engagement if he had to conspire with her father and her mother to pull it off.

In the meantime, he thought he knew just how to show her that his intentions were honorable.

“We can talk about it later,” he said. “I’ve got to get back to work.”

“How did you know about my father being here, anyway?” she asked as she took Laura from him and followed him to the door. Before he could answer, she waved off the question. “Never mind. I’m sure Kelly told you. She couldn’t wait to get out of here this morning. She said she had things to do before church.”

“Don’t blame Kelly.”

“Of course not. She was trying to protect me, just like you were. I’m really—”

Hardy touched a finger to her lips. “I thought I told you not to say you were grateful. I don’t want your thanks. I was here because I wanted to be, darlin’, because Ineededto be.”

Let her think about that for a while, he thought as he bent down and brushed a kiss across her forehead.

“I’ll pick you up tonight at six,” he said. “Where will you be, here or in town?”

She stared at him blankly. “Tonight?”

“We need to talk about the engagement, remember?”

For a second a shadow moved across her eyes. Could it have been disappointment? Hardy wondered. Had she wanted to keep up the pretense just a little longer?

“Yes, of course,” she said, looking vaguely unsettled. “Breaking it off. I suppose the sooner the better, so my mother doesn’t have time to get too carried away with the plans.”

“Definitely the sooner the better,” Hardy agreed. Of course, he had an entirely different ending in mind than she obviously did.

“Six o’clock, then. I’ll be here.”

She sounded dismayed rather than pleased he was about to grant her a reprieve. He found that downright promising.

Apparently Hardy couldn’t even bear the thought of a fake engagement, Trish thought bitterly as she watched him drive off, then chided herself for caring. After all, he had been there when she needed him. That was what mattered. The rest was simply a matter of coming up with a plan that would extricate them both from an awkward situation.

So why did she feel worse about a broken phony engagement with Hardy than she ever had about losing the real thing with Jack? Because she foolishly wanted it to be real, she admitted.

“What kind of fool does that make me?” she asked her daughter.

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