“Hey, there.Look who just woke up,” Aurelie said.Her voice was charming.Authentic.Sexy.It calmed the uneasy feeling that rolled through his stomach, rose into his chest.
As if announcing her own arrival, Maddie cooed.
“Aww, she’s adorable,” Cammie said behind him.Aurelie’s head whipped around, and Jace’s gaze pinned on her face, gauging her reaction to the stranger in her home.
“Thanks,” Aurelie said, her voice reticent.She turned back to Jace, her mouth open as if she were about to ask a question.From the look in her eyes, Jace bet his ranch that it wasn’t going to becan this woman join us for dinner?
“You must be the doctor,” Cammie declared, striding up to Aurelie, her hand extended.Aurelie took it, her gaze still on Jace.Before either of them could correct Cammie, she added, “Thanks so much for taking care of our Jace while he’s here.We sure are excited to have him home, but it’s good to know he’s being treated so well while he’s away.I’m sure he just loves time with this little one, doesn’t he?”Cammie said, her voice taking on a childlike tone as she squeezed Maddie’s cheeks.
Maddie let out a small whimper that threatened to morph into a wail.Aurelie shushed her, a look of sheer incredulity on her face.
Jace froze.Cammie really wasn’t putting the pieces together.Which meant she hadn’t seen his social posts.The corner of Aurelie’s mouth was pulled up in a smile that brought back the uneasy feeling in Jace’s stomach.
“Oh, I don’t mind taking care of him.It’s my job, after all.As for this little cherub, we can’t wait to have our own one day.A few, actually.Right, hon?”
Jace bit back a laugh, though the look on Cammie’s face was decidedly devoid of humor.Why he thought his new bride couldn’t handle her own was beyond him.He should have been more prepared to come to Cammie’s aid than Aurelie’s.
“Excuse me?Jace doesn’t want—”
“Yeah, I think we’ll wait at least a few months, you know, let the honeymoon stage run its course, but after that, we plan on having as many as we can.”Jace could have jumped in, should have, maybe, but not if he was going to help Aurelie sell their lie.At the moment, the risk was worth it.
“So, you’re… You’re not the doctor, then?”
Aurelie laughed, a small bubble of sound that rang against the walls.
“Oh, no.I’m just a nurse.Paige, the doctor, is my best friend.Jace and I are watching her daughter while she and her husband are away for their anniversary.But I’ve been so rude, not properly introducing myself.I’m Aurelie, Jace’s wife.You must be Cammie, his agent.What a pleasure to meet you.”
Jace was careless enough to let slip a chuckle, earning him a scowl from Cammie.Aurelie would do just fine in his world if she had to.God help anyone who crossed her path on a feisty day.
“You’remarried?”Cammie hissed.Any hint of laughter building in Jace’s chest evaporated as she wheeled on him.“You married her without consulting me, after being up here less than a week?You’re going to ruin your career, Jace, and there won’t be anything I can do to salvage it!”
He took a deep breath and stepped back to put an arm around Aurelie.
“Maybe I don’t want to salvage it.”Another truth leveled at him only after the words left his mouth.That is certainly an interesting development.
“You don’t mean that.Jace, you and I have worked together for a decade now.Tell me you’re not going to throw that away for—”
“Careful,” he growled.
She threw up her hands.“I’m just saying, you have the opportunity to take that job you’ve been fighting for since we met.Don’t you still want that?”
He thought about it for a split second.Yes, the role would give him the most challenging acting experience he’d had to date.But when it came to authenticity, nothing held a candle to what he felt blossoming in his heart for Aurelie or the future he saw on his ranch.
He saw long rides to move the cattle to pasture, saw nights on the porch with Aurelie beside him, her belly swollen with their child.
Fear gripped his chest.Then he let that go.It wouldn’t do him any good to think about that just then.
“I don’t think I do.I’m sorry, Cammie.”
Cammie’s eyes watered, and he felt more than a little guilty for stymying her career along with his own.Without Jace, she didn’t have much of a business.
“Me, too.You’re on your own, then, Jace.”Her heels clacked across the wood floor as she saw herself out.It wasn’t how he’d wanted that meeting to go, but he didn’t regret a moment of what led to it.
Because, with his arm around Aurelie, anything fake about his relationship dissolved in that moment.He wasn’t alone at all.Like it or not, he had a family to protect, and he’d go down swinging to do just that.
Even if one of the casualties was the life he’d lived before, it was worth it.Or at least he hoped it would be.
CHAPTER TEN
