Cody's Fiancee
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Gina Wilkins
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16
Chapter One
Standing behind the massive antique bar of his restaurant, Cody Carson hung up the phone with a hefty sigh. Family, he thought ruefully. God love ‘em, they ‘ll be the death of me yet.
The man and woman who’d been chatting quietly on the other side of the bar looked up curiously in response to Cody’s gusty exhale. Country Straight wouldn’t open for another hour, so they had the place to themselves except for the crew they could hear working behind the swinging doors that led into the kitchen.
“Problem, Cody?” Jake Dennehy, Cody’s business partner, asked in concern.
Cody made a face. “Not really. That was my grandmother. She closed the call by reminding me of the family gathering for her birthday at the end of next month. It’s six weeks away, but she talked as though it were tomorrow.”
Jake chuckled. “She didn’t really think you’d forget it?”
“Of course not. She just had to point out that the family hasn’t seen much of me lately. I think she’s convinced I’m up to something because I haven’t been around much.”
“You make her sound like my wife,” Jake said, grinning. “Every time the kids disappear into another room and get quiet, Nancy just knows they’re into mischief.”
Cody winced. “Yeah, I guess that pretty much sums up the way the family feels about me. If I’m too quiet, there must be a reason.”
Petite, red-haired Dana Preston, who worked for Cody and Jake as a waitress five evenings a week, looked puzzled. “I thought you were close to your family,” she said to Cody.
He nodded. “I am.”
“Then what’s the problem with the family reunion? Why do you sound as though you’re dreading it?”
Jake spoke up before Cody had a chance to say anything. “I can answer that. He’s the only single adult left in the Carson family, and he’s just had his thirtieth birthday. He knows good and well what’s in store for him when the family gathers next month.”
“Matchmaking,” Cody agreed ruefully. “Granny Fran’s already started. She told me a couple of her friends have granddaughters with ‘very nice personalities.’ She wants me to meet them. All of them.”
Jake groaned in sympathy. “‘Nice personalities,’ huh? You, my friend, are in deep trouble.”
“Don’t I know it. Granny’s married off the rest of her grandkids and now she’s gunning for me. Somewhere out there is a gold band with my name on it—and I’ve got a big red X painted right on my forehead.”
Jake laughed.
Dana turned to him in exasperation. “What’s so funny?” she demanded. “Why are you both acting like marriage is such a horrible prospect? Especially you, Jake. You’re happily married and have two adorable children. How would Nancy feel if she heard you talking like this, hmm?”
“Hey, I’ve got nothing against marriage,” Jake protested. “Personally, I think it’s great. But Cody—well, he doesn’t exactly share my view of the institution.”
Dana gave Cody a once-over that had him bristling. “I guess I can understand that,” she murmured. “Marriage probably involves too much hard work and commitment to appeal to someone like Cody.”
Stung, Cody almost argued with her. Instead, he resorted to his usual defense-lazy concurrence.
Leaning against the bar, he shrugged. “You got that right, darlin’,” he drawled. “Just the thought of all that effort makes me tired.”
Satisfied that he’d confirmed her accusation, Dana nodded smugly. “That’s what I thought.”
Jake, who knew Cody better than Dana—or almost anyone else, for that matter—frowned, but didn’t bother to protest. Jake knew it would be a waste of time to defend his friend’s honor when Cody wouldn’t make an effort to back him up. Instead, Jake returned to his teasing, obviously trying to keep the conversation light.
“So what are you going to do about it?” he asked Cody in challenge. “Fake the flu or something and miss the reunion altogether?”
“And get cut out of Granny’s will?” Cody asked in exaggerated dismay. “I wouldn’t want to risk that.”
Dana eyed him as though she wasn’t quite sure whether he was serious or not. Cody didn’t bother to enlighten her.
“You could always get engaged before the reunion,” Jake suggested, tongue in cheek.
Cody shuddered dramatically. “No, thanks. I thought I’d made myself clear. I’m not ready to get married!”
“Did I say anything about getting married?” Jake pulled thoughtfully at his lower lip, his dark eyes glearning with an expression Cody recognized.
Cody straightened slowly, watching his partner closely. “What?” he asked, intrigued.
“I was just thinking that it’s sure been a long time since you’ve pulled one of your great practical jokes. You’ve gotten downright boring lately, Cody. Staid, even.”
Cody scowled. “Staid? Staid? Me? Them’s fightin’ words, partner.”
“I’ve got an idea for one of your scams-if you’re interested. If you still remember how to pull one off, of course,” Jake taunted.
Challenged, Cody lifted his chin and tossed his heavy golden hair off his forehead. “What’s your idea?”
“Take a fiancée to your family reunion.”
“A fiancée? Are you nuts? Didn’t I just say that I—oh.” Cody suddenly understood. He frowned, then slowly began to smile. “Oh, man,” he murmured. “This could be great.”
Jake was grinning broadly now. “I thought you’d catch on.”
Dana was shaking her head. “You two are impossible. What a terrible idea!”
Cody ignored her. “It would be especially funny if she managed to convince everyone she’s all wrong for me. Someone totally unsuitable. Granny Fran would be appalled, thinking she’d pushed me into an entanglement that was going to end in disaster.”
Jake sobered at the sound of that. “I don’t know, Cody, maybe this isn’t right, after all. You’ve got a nice family. They don’t—”
“No,” Cody cut in, shaking his head, caught up now in his scheming. “Every one of them has made some comment lately about how I need to settle down and get married now that I’m thirty. Even my old buddy, Seth, has gotten carried away with the subject since he’s married my sister. They all deserve this. I’ll lead them on, make them sweat and then I’ll come clean and make them admit they’ve been meddling. And then I’ll have every one of them swear they won’t say another word about the subject in the future.”
“It’ll never work,” Dana muttered. “You’ll be sorry.”
“She’s probably right—”
“C’mon, Jake, it was your idea,” Cody protested. “And it’s a great one. Back me up here.”
“Okay,” Jake conceded with a rueful shake of his head. “So who are you going to get to help you out? How about Mitzi?” he asked, naming a woman who’d been hanging around the club quite a lot lately, doing everything but throwing herself at Cody’s feet to get his attention.
“No way,” Cody said fervently. “Pretending to be engaged to Mitzi is likely to get me in more trouble than I’m looking for.”
“So who?”
Cody rubbed his chin, eyes unfocused as he ran through a mental list of women acquaintances, none of whom seemed quite right for this particular assignment. Jake leaned against the other side of the bar, tugging at his lower lip again, obviously trying to help.
“You are both certifiably insane,” Dana pronounced, throwing up her hands, which loosened her yellow Country Straight T-shirt from the waistband of her slim-fitting jeans. “Who in the world would agree to go along with something this crazy?”
Jake suddenly straightened, staring at Dana with a new gleam in his eyes. “I know someone,” he said.
Cody narrowed his own eyes, looking from his partner to their employee. Surely Jake wasn’t suggesting. “You’re kidding.”
Dana Preston had worked for them for almost a year now, but he had to admit that he still knew very little about her. She was extremely private about her personal life. An excellent waitress, hardworking, punctual, dependable-but almost obsessively reserved. Which didn’t mean that she had ever been shy about expressing her opinions-particularly where Cody was concerned.
Cody had made a few attempts at getting the pretty redhead’s personal attention at the beginning, but she’d made it clear early on that she wasn’t interested. In fact, he’d realized soon enough that she had a rather sizable chip on her shoulder when it came to him. Someone had burned her, he’d figured. Burned her badly. He’d quickly backed off. He’d never been interested in picking up the pieces of some other guy’s mistakes. He’d made enough mistakes of his own to last a lifetime.
He and Dana had maintained a careful, co-worker relationship ever since, chatting easily, sometimes teasing and bantering, occasionally squabbling, but definitely platonic.
He wasn’t at all sure that Dana was the right person to help him with his practical joke on his family. He opened his mouth to tell Jake so, but his partner was already speaking again.
Leaning toward Dana with a companionable smile, Jake asked, “How would you feel about getting engaged to Cody?”
Eyes wide with disbelief, Dana hastily backed a few steps away. “Now wait a minute—”
“Think about it before you say no,” Jake said quickly. “You’d be perfect, Dana. Most of the family have met you, so Cody wouldn’t be showing up with a suspicious stranger.
You and Cody usually end up bristling like a cat and a dog when you spend too much time together, so it would be easy enough to convince them that you’d be making a mistake getting married—”
“You’ve got that right,” Dana muttered.
Cody held both hands up to halt Jake’s enthusiastic arguments. “It wouldn’t work,” he said flatly.
“Why not?” Jake demanded. “If you really want to teach your family a lesson, Dana’s just the one to help you do it.”
“Look, I’ve known Dana for a year and, as you pointed out yourself, most of the family knows she works here. They’re aware that there’s never been anything personal between us—not even a date. Why would they believe I’d suddenly gotten engaged to her?”
Jake didn’t seem concerned. “You can come up with a story they’d believe,” he insisted. “Say the two of you were—oh, I don’t know—trapped here overnight by a bad storm or something. Only then did you realize you’d been harboring a secret passion for each other all these months.”
Dana groaned loudly and rolled her eyes. “Didn’t I warn you that watching all those soap operas would warp your brain? Of all the crazy, harebrained, totally unbelievable stories I’ve ever heard, this one has to take the cake.”
Cody sighed regretfully. “Face it, Jake, the joke was a great idea, but this just isn’t going to work. My family’s never going to believe I’ve fallen head over heels for Dana, of all people.”
Dana stiffened. She planted her fists on her slender hips. “Excuse me?”
“Nothing personal,” he assured her hastily, hiding a grin at the genuine affront on her pretty face. “It’s just that you aren’t my type.”
A spark kindled in her emerald eyes. “That’s true,” she admitted silkily. “I’m not your usual type. I, after all, have a brain. And I’m not afraid to use it.”
Cody scowled. “That was a particularly catty remark,” he muttered.
She flushed a bit, but met his eyes steadily. “Maybe,” she admitted. “But you’re not exactly Prince Charming yourself, Cody Carson.”
“I never claimed to be.”
She tossed her head, her chin-length cinnamon hair swirling around her face. “Right.”
Jake sighed wistfully. “It really could be a great gag,” he mused. “If only the two of you had the talent to carry it off.”
“Hey!” Cody protested, his pride piqued. “I can pull off any gag. Even this one, if I wanted to. Of course, Dana.”
Dana’s chin rose another inch. “Are you implying that I couldn’t pull it off?”
He shrugged. “Well, as Jake said, it takes talent to really work a practical joke. It’s a highly refined skill. Not many people can handle it.”
“I could,” Dana said confidently. “If I wanted to, of course. Which,” she added bluntly, “I don’t.”
“Not even for a week off—with pay?” Jake asked enticingly.
She shook her head. “Thanks, but no. And speaking of work, we’ll be opening soon. I’d better get ready for my shift.” She started to move away, toward the employee lounge.
“Cody will pay you,” Jake said quickly, apparently reluctant to give up his clever idea. “Five hundred dollars.”
Cody choked. No one had said anything about this costing him—especially not that much!
“Er, Jake—”
Dana looked over her shoulder, one eyebrow lifted. “What was that?”
“A thousand,” Jake said promptly.
Cody pressed a hand to his heart.
Dana stumbled. She turned very slowly. “A thousand?” she repeated, gaping at Jake. “Dollars?”
“Of course.” Jake glanced laughingly at Cody. “It would be worth it, wouldn’t it? To have your family off your back forever?”
“A thousand dollars?” Cody whispered, staring at his partner as though he’d lost his mind. “Are you crazy?”
Dana suddenly laughed. “It would almost be worth saying yes just to watch Cody sweat for the rest of the evening. But the answer is still no.”
Cody watched her as she turned away again. The snug T-shirt and well-worn jeans fit her nicely, emphasizing her slender curves. Almost too slender, he noted. She could stand to gain a few pounds. Her hair was a rich auburn shot with copper, thick and invitingly soft looking. Her face was a delicate oval, her large green eyes her most striking feature.
He didn’t know what suddenly prompted him to speak. “You don’t think I’ll do it, do you? Well, tell you what-I’ll pay the thousand dollars, Dana. All you have to do to earn it is pretend to be engaged to me for a few days. And make my family believe it.”
Dana looked over her shoulder again, and her eyes met his. He wished he could read the expression in them. There seemed to be too many emotions to identify, some of them so strong that Cody was taken aback. There’d been times when he’d wondered if this woman had emotions. Now he realized that there was a great deal more to Dana Preston than she had allowed bim to see.
This fleeting glimpse made him all the more curious to find out who she was, what she was really like.
Almost immediately, Dana’s eyes grew shuttered, impenetrable. “I have to get ready for my shift now,” she said.
“Think about it,” Cody urged as she walked away.
She didn’t answer.
“Think she’ll do it?” Jake asked.
“I don’t know,” Cody said. “Maybe.”
For some reason, he had decided that Dana was exactly the woman he wanted-for the joke he planned on his family, of course, he clarified hastily. He certainly wasn’t interested in her for any other reason.
Dana’s head seemed to be spinning as she stashed her purse in her locker. Maybe that accounted for her uncharacteristic clumsiness. She dropped the purse, spilling its contents on the floor at her feet.
Muttering imprecations, she knelt to scoop up her belongings. Lipstick, key ring, breath mints, loose change. And a crumpled handful of envelopes she’d just picked up from the post office on her way to work. She hadn’t opened any of them yet, but she knew what they contained. Bills, most of them.
A thousand dollars would go a long way toward paying them.
She scowled and stuffed the purse into her locker, slamming the metal door closed with more force than necessary. Forget it, Dana.
Two other waitresses walked into the lounge at almost the same time, nineteen-year-old Kasey Lee and forty something Angela Hallbright, both wearing the standard uniform of Country Straight T-shirts and jeans. As always, Dana greeted them politely, a bit distantly. Though she liked a friendly working environment, she didn’t make friends with her co-workers. To be quite honest, she didn’t have time for friends right now.
Tying her tiny waitress apron around her waist, she reentered the restaurant and glanced across the large dining room, her gaze drawn involuntarily to the man behind the bar. Cody Carson. Golden haired, blue eyed, dimpled. In his red-and-black western shirt and black jeans, he looked like a cross between a long, lanky cowboy and a California lifeguard. The embodiment of a wide range of feminine fantasies.
Dana tried very hard not to have fantasies—particularly any that included a man like this one.
Dana wasn’t looking for a relationship, and even if she had been, Cody would have been all wrong for her. The guy was a heartbreak waiting to happen. Nothing good could come from an involvement between them, no matter how fleeting.
Even if it were only a charade for a practical joke, she reminded herself sternly.
The restaurant opened at five, just in time to welcome patrons looking for a break after a day at work. Nothing stronger than beer was served from the antique bar, and the menu wasn’t extensive or fancy—burgers and barbecue, mostly, with salads and grilled chicken dishes for diners who wanted something lighter.
Dana knew there’d been pessimistic predictions of an early bankruptcy when Cody and Jake had opened a couple of years ago. But the partners had proved those gloomy voices wrong. By providing a place where everyone could feel welcome, where conversation was as important as the food, where the customers could unwind, listen and dance to country music and spend time with their friends, Cody and Jake had hit upon the right combination.
Oh, she doubted they were getting rich. But they were making a good income, and they seemed content.
It was all she hoped to someday find for herself.
The first customers came in as soon as the door opened, making Dana suspect they’d been waiting outside on this Wednesday afternoon. They looked hot and tired and she knew exactly what they needed. She greeted them with a smile and an offer to bring them something cold to drink while they looked over the menu, an offer they accepted gratefully.
Dana was very good at her job.
It was a busy evening. Dana soon found herself almost running from table to table. She pocketed a dollar tip from a five-dollar drink bill, and she couldn’t help thinking that she would have to serve a hell of a lot of drinks to earn a thousand dollars in tips.
Cody, Jake and a woman named Caroline rotated as bartenders during the week. Tonight, Cody was doing the honors, filling mugs with foaming beer, pouring sparkling waters and assorted juices and soft drinks. As usual, he talked almost as hard as he worked. Few customers came into the place without stopping by to swap jokes and lies with Cody.
He was leaning on the counter, telling a wildly improbable golf story, when Dana approached an hour or so after opening.
“I’ll tell you the rest in a minute,” he promised the prominent doctor with whom he’d been talking.
“Take your time,” Dr. Bakerman said dryly. “I’m sure the story only gets better with age.”
Chuckling, Cody turned to Dana. “What do you need?”
“One light beer, two diet colas and an iced tea.”
“Coming right up,” he said cheerfully.
A moment later, he slid the tray across the bar to Dana. He held on when she would have immediately scooped it up and carried it away. She lifted an eyebrow. “What’s the problem?”
“No problem,” he assured her. “I just wondered if you’ve been thinking about the gag.”
“I thought we’d already settled that.”
He shook his head. The stained-glass light fixtures above him streaked his thick golden hair with intriguing highlights, displayed to perfection the lean planes of his tanned face, added intriguing shadows to his devilish dimples. Dana tightened her grip on the tray as he spoke.
“This could be a lot of fun, Dana. And I’ll make it worth your while.”
She hardened herself against the warm entreaty in his eyes. She’d almost forgotten for a moment that he wanted something from her, and he was willing to pay for it. He wasn’t the first to make a similar offer. She didn’t find it any more flattering this time.
“I’m really busy, Cody. I have to get these drinks to table four and take food orders from table six.”
He obligingly released the tray. “Maybe you don’t really think you could pull it off,” he needled her.
She walked away without responding.
It was after eight when the call came for Dana. She was already tired, though she hid her fatigue from the customers behind airy banter as she served their food and drinks. Taking college classes in the mornings and working nights at the club, followed by late hours of studying, was exacting a heavy toll from her. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d managed a full eight hours of sleep.
“Telephone for you, Dana,” Angela said, appearing at her side with an order pad in hand. “I’ll take care of this table—you go ahead.”
“Thank you.” Dana went into the back to take the call.
“Dana?” a young voice said eagerly as soon as she answered. “It’s me. Andy.”
Dana’s weariness vanished immediately. “Hi. What’s up?”
“I won first prize on my school math project. I know you’re working and you can’t talk long, but I thought you might want to know, since you helped me so much with it.”
“Andy, I’m so proud of you! I didn’t help you that much. You did it mostly on your own. Thank you for calling to tell me your good news. I’ll have a special treat for you when I come to visit this weekend.”
“That’s okay,” her ten-year-old half brother said, sounding a bit embarrassed. “You don’t have to do that.”
“No,” she agreed with a smile. “But I will, anyway. You deserve a reward for working so hard. I know your mom must be thrilled.”
The boy hesitated only a moment before saying, “Yeah. She seemed pleased.”
Dana bit her lip. “Bad day?” she asked, trying to sound casual.
“Yeah. She’s not feeling so good today.”
“I’m sure your good news made her feel better.”
“Maybe. She smiled real big when I told her.”
“I bet she did. I’m smiling, too.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“I’d better let you go. Mom told me not to keep you long.”
“You call me anytime you want, okay? And I’ll see you in a few days.”
“Okay. Love you, Dana.”
“Love you, too, sweetie.” She hung up the phone with a lump in her throat and a familiar moistness in her eyes. For a moment, she was almost overwhelmed with emotionslove, pride, worry. Fear.
He was so young, she thought sadly. So vulnerable. She couldn’t bear the thought of what he had to face soonwhat they both had to face. And she simply couldn’t accept the very real possibility that she would be losing Andy as well as the stepmother she had grown so fond of.
A burst of laughter from the dining room reminded her that she had a job to do. With a weary sigh, she straightened and smoothed her apron, telling herself she would think about her personal problems later, in the privacy of her tiny apartment.
She had just stepped back into the main room when it occurred to her that a possible solution to one of her problems had already been presented that evening, quite by coincidence.
Her eyes widened. One hand rose to cover her mouth as her heart began to thud. Why hadn’t she thought of this sooner?
And then she shook her head. No, she told herself firmly. It wouldn’t work. It was a crazy idea, just as she’d told Jake when he had proposed it for another reason altogether.
But even as she tried to talk herself out of it, she found herself wondering why she hadn’t come up with it herself.
A fake engagement. It’s perfect, Dana.
“It’s insane,” she muttered aloud. “I’d never get away with it.”
“Dana?” Kasey Lee spoke curiously, passing her with a heavy tray of food in her hands. “You okay?”
“Hmm? Oh, yes, I’m fine, Kasey.”
“You look sort of funny.”
Dana pushed a trembling hand through her hair. “Just tired, I guess. Is that the order for table six?”
“Yeah. Table four’s getting impatient. Can you take care of them?”
“I’m on my way.”
Dana hurried toward table four, her thoughts lingering on the wild idea Jake had inspired in her. Even as she politely jotted down food orders from the couple at table four, she found herself glancing surreptitiously toward the goldenhaired cowboy behind the bar.
“I’ll make it worth your while,” Cody had told her enticingly.
He couldn’t have known that the only payment she needed had nothing to do with money-not even the thousand dollars his partner had impulsively offered her.
It just might work, she thought tentatively. If Cody would go along with it, it just might work.
Now if only she could find the nerve to ask.
