Debbie scooted to the edge of the sofa. “What? Did she let you know she was coming? What does she want?”
“No. I had no idea she was going to be there. She wants to see the kids.” He resumed his pacing. “She wants to take custody of them.”
“Then why did she come instead of having her lawyer contact you?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. At first, she asked if we could just work something out, but when I told her she had no right to see them she threatened me with a costly, maybe even ugly, custody battle.”
Debbie was on her feet. “No, Austin, you can’t let her do that. Imagine what it will do to the kids.”
He shoved his hands into his hair. “I know, but I can’t stop her if that’s what she wants. When she pointed out that she’s their mother and emphasized how,” he made finger quotes, “well-to-do her husband is, I kind of snapped.”
“What did you do?”
Please don’t let it be something that will hurt his chances to keep his kids.
“I lied to Cheyenne.” Austin stopped pacing and took her by the shoulders. “Please forgive me.”
Debbie would have been thrilled at the contact if his words weren’t still filled with desperation.
“Forgive you for what?” she asked a little breathless regardless.
“I told her my fiancé was extremely wealthy and that legal fees wouldn’t be a problem. I also hinted that she would be willing to marry me in a heartbeat if it would help my custody case.” Austin cringed as he finished speaking.
He may as well have thrown ice water in Debbie’s face. She couldn’t have been more shocked. “You’re engaged?” She pulled away from him. How could she have not known this about him after all the time they’d spent together?
And he kissed me!
“No, not yet anyway.” He gave her a pointed look and a sheepish grin.
Debbie sucked in a sharp breath. “You mean me?”
I’m supposed to be the fiancé who would marry him in a heartbeat to help him keep his kids.
Debbie pressed one hand to her stomach and the other to her throat. She would do anything to protect those kids from an ugly custody battle. But marry their dad?
She was incredibly attracted to him, but to marry a man just to keep his ex-wife from getting custody was wrong. A marriage built on deceit didn’t have a chance.
Austin was a good father, who didn’t deserve this nightmare though.
Savannah’s whispered,“Please say yes,”filled Debbie’s head. Did that mean she wanted Debbie to pretend to be her dad’s fiancé? Debbie felt she and Savannah had grown close over the past week and a half. Did the girl feel the same closeness?
Tears filled Debbie’s eyes. Savvy would rather have Debbie in her life than her own mother.
Warmth flooded over her at the thought of becoming Austin’s fiancé. She was more than half in love with the man already, so selling the relationship wouldn’t be hard. Except he only wanted a pretend fiancé.
He’s not in love with me. He’d never marrysomeone like me.
As badly as Debbie wanted a family, she didn’t want to marry again for anything other than love. She’d tried to come to terms with the fact she might never marry again, even though the thought still depressed her.Ifshe was fortunate enough to have that opportunity a third time, it would only be because she was certain it was the kind of love that would last. Like her parents.
But still…if she could help Austin keep his kids—make this situation easier on the children—she’d do it.
He began to pace again. “I know I’m asking a lot. Tucker suggested the four of us sit down and discuss the kids. He’s the last person in the world I want to talk to about my kids, but I’m afraid if I don’t—“ Austin choked on the rest of his words.
“You’re afraid if you don’t, he and Cheyenne will turn this into an ugly custody battle.” Debbie took a deep breath and stepped in front of Austin, putting a stop to his pacing. “He’s right. Cheyenne and Tucker need to meet your fiancé. When they see how wealthy I am, they’ll know threatening you with a costly custody battle won’t work, which will give us the upper hand.”
Austin’s eyes widened, and he grinned so big it sent Debbie’s heart into a tailspin. “Does this mean you’ll pretend to be my fiancé?”
She swallowed down the disappointment that the wordpretendtriggered in her. There was no way she’d walk away from a fake engagement unscathed.
