Just My Luck (A Shamrock Falls Novel) (Entangled: Bliss) (2 page)

Jace’s fists clenched the letter in his hand. He wanted to ball it up. Almost did. “God damn it!” he yelled. His grandfather wanted him to fall in love and he was taking away the one thing Jace
did
love—his parents’ house. His memories. Had his grandfather gone crazy?

No. He knew that wasn’t it, just as he knew Brian was a damn fine lawyer. He wouldn’t have taken advantage, nor would Deb. Neither of them would budge and Jace knew that as well. Brian probably had documents from doctors and whoever else he might need to prove that Wallace had been in his right mind.

If anything, Wallace had been thorough.

Which meant Jace was screwed.

He picked up the phone and dialed Debbie. He had to try. Instead of hello, she answered the phone with, “I’m sorry, Jace.”

“If you’re sorry,” he said, struggling not to yell, “then don’t do it.”

“I have to. It’s what Wallace wanted, and I promised him I would. He was worried about you.”

Pain shot through him. Wallace had been worried about him, yet he hadn’t cared enough to tell him he’d gotten married? Or to give him his parents’ house?

“It’s only six months…”

And there went his self control. “Only six months? The timeframe doesn’t matter. He knows what that house means to me and you should too.” Jace hung up the phone.

Wallace had been wrong about Jace. He wasn’t afraid to love; he just liked his life. Not everyone needed the same things and there wasn’t anything he wanted that he didn’t have.

Except his house. When Jace went off to college, he always knew he could come home. That the only place he’d ever lived with his parents would be his one day. When Wallace got sick, Jace gave up the chance at partner in a big firm in order to come home and not only care for the man but also to reclaim his house. And this was what he got?

He needed to find a woman to marry him—and live with him—for six months. He’d never lived with a woman. He liked his space. How in the hell was he supposed to do this?

“I’ll let you think it over,” Brian said, standing and smartly leaving Jace’s office before he lost it on him.

Wallace had gotten married without even telling him. He obviously wanted to keep it a secret, since he didn’t even move Debbie in with them. He’d given Deb Jace’s mom’s house, his current
home
. Jace had to get married. Through all of that, another thought slipped through. In the letter, Wallace had called him son.

“Is everything okay?” Betsy peeked into his office, her cheeks slightly pink as though she wasn’t sure if she should bother him.

“No, B… No, it’s not. Come sit down with me.” He wasn’t sure why he said it, but he suddenly didn’t want to be alone. He looked at his desk, trying to find anything to distract himself. “Do you know where the—”

“Moroden file is?” Betsy answered the question before he could ask it. “I knew you were working on it last night, so I grabbed it and transcribed your notes. I know that makes it easier for you when you dive back in.”

He didn’t know why that made him crack a small laugh. She was actually quite good at doing that. It did make his job easier, but he knew she was just as anal about it as he was. “You do it just as much for yourself as you do for me.” Jace shook his head playfully, even though the marriage still weighed him down.

Betsy turned a dark shade of red
. Busted
, he thought. “I won’t divulge your secret.”

When his eyes hit the desk again he saw the letter. As much as Jace hated to admit it, it felt like a betrayal. When Wallace had been home, he’d been good to Jace. No, they weren’t emotional and didn’t hug or anything like that, but they’d talked. Wallace would tell him about the business world and Jace clung to every word, but then he’d be gone again and Jace always got lonely. It was like Wallace hadn’t cared much in life, but now he was taunting him in death.

“What is it?” Betsy asked and not for the first time he wondered how the woman read his moods so well.

But as always, it was easier to talk about someone else, rather than himself. “I could ask you the same thing, B. In fact, I did. What’s wrong?” He hadn’t meant to, but he’d heard some of her conversation on the phone and it sounded like she needed money.

Say hello to Betsy for me. I always liked that girl.
The last words of his grandfather’s letter came back to him. His grandfather had met the woman…what? Two or three times at most, and he told Jace to tell her hello? Not that he was surprised Betsy made a good impression. One day when Wallace was sick, Jace had been stuck in trial and she’d gone over with soup for him for lunch. But it still struck Jace as odd.

“Umm…I’ll leave you now.”

“Stay,” he said, and she sat back down.

Say hello to Betsy for me.

“Are you sure there’s nothing I can help you with? I heard part of your conversation on the phone.”

He could tell it took everything inside her, but she sat up and looked him in the eye. “I can handle my own responsibilities.” She could be strong like that when she wanted to.

And that also wasn’t a denial of needing help.

Jace had never lived with a woman before, but he thought about how easily they worked together in the office. How she gave him space when he needed it and he brought her coffee because she always wanted an extra cup at the beginning of a day.

Holy shit.
Was he really thinking about this? About asking Betsy?

It would help her out, too… Whatever she needs the money for, she won’t accept a loan.

And he wanted to help Betsy. He did.

Christ, he couldn’t believe he was actually considering this. He was her boss.

Jace looked around the office. He couldn’t imagine working here without her, which very well could happen if he asked her this. But she needed his help. And he needed his parents’ house. “I never want to lose you here, B.”

Her eyes went wide and he realized he probably just sounded like he was going to give her a
but
. “I didn’t mean that how it sounded. I just want to let you know I appreciate you.”

“Thanks…” She studied the pen cup on his desk. “I love working here, too. You make my job easy. I think…I think we work well together.”

He was going to do this. He was really going to ask Betsy to marry him. “I do as well.”

It was only six months. Jace thought about the backyard they’d had cookouts in and his mom’s library and how it had comforted him as a child to see her reading there. He couldn’t lose the house. He and Betsy could find a way to make this work. It would be mutually beneficial. A business arrangement.

She was a friend; he trusted her—probably more than anyone he knew—and they got along so well. They already spent a lot of time together at work, and with their group of mutual friends, how different could it be?

Okay, so he knew that last thought was a little far-fetched. It
would
be different, but if they went into this from a business standpoint, they could just pretend to extend their working relationship.

But what if it doesn’t? What if it messes up our friendship? What if she quits? And that isn’t even considering the little crush she has on me.

On the flip side, it doesn’t interfere at work right now. Betsy has a good head on her shoulders. She wouldn’t let something like emotions cloud a business deal.

“Do you trust me, B?” he asked her.

“Of course I do,” she said immediately. “You’re scaring me, Jace. Is there something you need?”

Jace took a deep breath. “I need you to marry me.”

Chapter Two

Betsy sat across from Jace, staring at him with her jaw open. He could understand her surprise, but the more he thought about it, the more perfect it seemed.

“Betsy?” She still hadn’t replied. Still hadn’t taken her eyes off him, which had to be some kind of record for her.

She opened her mouth, closed it, before opening it one more time. “No.” Betsy stood and walked out of Jace’s office.

Jace followed her into the main room, where she had already sat down at her desk. The hair that had been behind her ear in the office now hung loose around her face again. He’d learned that meant she was uncomfortable. “Betsy?” he asked again.

“Is there something else you need?” Her eyes never strayed from her computer.

Jace watched her, unease settling into his limbs. “To finish the conversation you walked out on, yeah.” She flinched and he realized he’d raised his voice. “I didn’t mean to yell, but this is very important to me. I—”

“I don’t even know what you’re talking about right now, Jace.”

She stood and turned her back on him, facing the window. Her long black skirt went just below her knee. It wasn’t form-fitting, but flowy like most skirts she wore. A simple white blouse stretched across her back. It wasn’t bad, just homely. Quiet, like Betsy herself.

Damn, maybe this was a mistake. Things weren’t going very well so far, but when he thought about the house he had so many memories in, plus Betsy’s declaration on the phone that she’d come up with some money, he pushed forward. “My grandfather’s lawyer… He…” Jace stopped. He could really lose his house. The place where his parents had tucked him in every night and told him that, one day, he would do the same thing with his own children. Not that he ever expected to have them.

“Your grandfather what?” Betsy didn’t turn around. She had such a soft, sweet voice that always caught his attention.

“He didn’t leave me the house. The only way I can get it is if I’m married and living there with my wife.”

Betsy gasped.

Jace pushed his hands in his pockets, eyes on the ground.

“There are lots of houses out there, Jace.”

“None that I lived in with my parents.”

She turned around but didn’t say anything, and Jace fidgeted. Hell, he couldn’t remember ever feeling so nervous. Not even at trial. “I don’t know what to do, B. I can’t lose that house. I called Debbie and she won’t sell it to me. I thought maybe…maybe you and I could have some kind of business agreement. Which I know makes me sound like an ass, but I wouldn’t expect you to do something like this without being compensated. I know you don’t want to talk about it, but by the sound of your conversation earlier, this could be something we’d both benefit from.” Now he was rambling. Jace pulled his hands from his pockets and crossed his arms.

She was quiet when she asked, “Why me?”

It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her to look him in the eye so he could try and gauge what she was thinking, but he didn’t want to push her. “I need someone I can trust. Someone who won’t drive me crazy, I guess.” He chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. “I’m probably not the easiest person to live with. I’m sure you can attest to that, but we make it work here. Why not in private, too?”

Finally she looked at him, her eyes wide, and she sucked her bottom lip into her mouth like she so often did. Jace got the strangest urge to hug her, hoping it would wipe some of the fear out of her eyes. He’d never known someone as skittish as Betsy.

“What if we couldn’t, and it caused us problems at work? I know it’s only the two of us here, but that doesn’t mean things couldn’t get awkward. I need this job, Jace. I would be in a world of trouble without it. And anyway, you’re my
boss.
”

“I would never ask you to leave here—you have to know that. As for the rest of it, we make a plan. It’ll be just like another job for us, right?”

She flinched at that. Her reaction to his words nearly caused him to do the same thing.

“And we’d have to live together?”

“Yeah. It’s part of the deal.”

When Betsy began to pace the room, he stood back and watched her. He’d never noticed it before, but there was a confidence to the way that she walked when she was thinking. He studied her. There were little bits and pieces of Betsy he’d always been curious about and now this confidence was another one.

The phone rang and he was shocked when she didn’t move to answer it. Jace let it go to the machine. Maybe not the best business practice, but this was important. He thought he heard her mumble something about not being able to believe she was considering this before she asked aloud, “How…how long?”

“Six months.” Her nerves were making him even more nervous.

“And we wouldn’t…” Her eyes shifted to him before darting away. Her cheeks turned red as a tomato.

Jace held in a laugh. She was so innocent, but he liked that. It made her different. Her blush had started to grow on him. “No, Betsy. Of course we’d keep up pretenses. I wouldn’t risk your reputation by letting people know what it’s really about.” And then, because house or not, he wouldn’t let himself hurt her, he added, “And you do know what this is really about, right? I need to make sure you don’t think it’s about love. The last thing I want is you getting hurt. I want this to be something that helps the both of us.”

He hated the way that sounded.

Betsy held up a dainty hand. “I’m not an idiot. I know how the world works, Jace.”

He found himself smiling, not at what she said but how she said it. Lately, she’d started to speak up for herself more often and he liked that. “It’s not how the world works, it’s just how I work. You’ll find—”

“Don’t. Please don’t do that.” She paused, questions written all over her face in a language he didn’t understand.

“What is it? You can ask my anything.”

“Will you be…with other women? Discreetly, I mean.”

He didn’t know why, but her question raised his hackles, even though he understood where it came from. It wasn’t like he didn’t hear it from his friends often. It was one of the main reasons he dated women from Seattle—so he could keep his private life private. It never worked that way, though. In a town as small as Shamrock Falls, everyone still knew everyone else’s business. “Hell no. That’s not the kind of man I am. This might not be a real marriage, but I will respect it as though it is.” She still had that concentrative look on her face. The way she held herself, with that hidden confidence he liked seeing. There was more. He could tell, so he waited for her to be ready.

Instead of speaking to him, she said more to herself, “It would kill her if she found out.”

Worry lit a fire inside him. “Who?”

Instead of answering, she asked, “What about the money? How…how much would it be?”

“I want you to know I’d still help you, even if you say no.”

She shook her head. “I don’t want to be paid for nothing, but if we…get married, it would be like you said—a business agreement.”

He couldn’t believe this might really happen. “I’ll have a lawyer I trust write up the papers myself.”

Jace realized he hadn’t answered her question about money, but then her head raised and she met his eyes straight on. Not for the first time he noticed their brown depths were never-ending. It wasn’t often she looked at him like this, and when she did, he was always startled at how they seemed to go on forever.

“Okay…I’ll do it. I’ll marry you.”

Jace suddenly felt like he might pass out.
Holy shit.

He was getting married. But for some reason, it didn’t feel as frightening as he’d thought it would.

…

Betsy was very aware of Jace standing beside her, though that was nothing new. She sat in her chair, determined to get to work, or distract herself somehow from the fact that she’d just agreed to marry Jace. Yes, it was a marriage of convenience and he’d made sure she knew he didn’t have real feelings for her, but for six months Jace Macnamara with his cute grin and gorgeous eyes would be her husband. The man who obviously knew she had a crush on him, since he worried about her getting hurt.

And she’d be able to pay for some of her mother’s care, in the home she wanted her to be in.

Mom.
Guilt charged at her, and it was a struggle not to let it take her down. If her mom found out, she’d lose it. The paranoia was always worse when she worried about Betsy. God, Betsy had hardly had a childhood because of it, and if her mom found out she was getting married?
Even if she doesn’t, the guilt of lying will eat me alive.

But then again, she could try to look at this like a new experience, too. That’s what she’d wanted all her life.

“B, what are you doing? You can’t work right now. We have to come to an agreement. There’s a lot to talk about. Let’s start with payment.”

Oh. Money. And talking. She wasn’t very good at talking—especially about money. How did he expect her to talk when she was still trying to work through the fact that she would be
living
with Jace. She couldn’t stop herself from wondering what that would be like—how different he acted at home compared to at work.

Betsy tried to derail that train of thought. She needed to concentrate on money. This was for her mother’s good.

How much did one ask for in a situation like this? Mom’s care was $2,500 a month. All Betsy needed was to catch up and pay a couple months ahead, and that would give her enough time to figure something out. “Ten thousand?”

She squeaked when Jace grabbed her chair and turned it so she was facing him. Betsy looked up at him.

“If we’re going to convince people we’re in love, you have to at least be able to look at me. And ten thousand dollars isn’t enough.”

“But it’s all I need.” She fought to turn herself away.
They’re the devil, Betsy, the lot of them. Don’t you fall for what any man tells you.

As he so often did, Jace cocked his head. “Are you in some kind of trouble? You know you can trust me, right?”

No. No she didn’t.
Don’t do that. Don’t focus on what Mom made you believe.
“I’m not in trouble. I just have…responsibilities. I’d, umm…rather not talk about it.”

Jace opened his mouth like he would push it, but then put a hand on her shoulder before saying, “That’s fine, but you’re getting more than ten thousand dollars, B. I already don’t feel right about this.” Still, he didn’t remove his hand and she tried not to like it so much.

“Ah, so I get to be a
high-priced
call girl?”

Jace gaped. Sometimes things like that just jumped out of her mouth before she could stop them. “Oh my God.” She covered her face with her hands. Had she really just called herself Jace’s hooker?

“Hey. Don’t do that.”

She shivered when his hands pried hers away. He was hot, so warm that heat raced up her arms.

“Don’t make it sound like something dirty. You’re helping me get my house and fixing whatever situation you need assistance with, okay?”

There was the tick in his jaw. He always got it when he was really angry. It made her heart flip-flop to think that he would get so upset over her, which was exactly the feeling she needed to push away before this caused problems at the job she loved and ended in disaster. “Okay. Yeah, okay.”

They sat and discussed money, finally coming to an agreement. It felt so odd, talking about a marriage as a business arrangement, but that’s what it was. It wasn’t as if Betsy ever thought she’d marry anyway. How would she have explained it to her mom? How could Betsy put her through that? Plus, it wasn’t like she had men busting down her door.

Jace planned to give her some of the money now, which would be the perfect way to get her account caught up. She’d be given the rest after the marriage was over.

Over. That was something she needed to keep in mind. This marriage had a time limit. People would talk, wonder what happened, and she would have to keep working with him afterward. What if she couldn’t handle it? It wasn’t like there were ten other lawyer offices in Shamrock Falls.

“What about family? Is there anyone you’d like to invite?” Jace sat on the corner of her desk, his question briefly silencing her worries. “And what do you want to tell them?”

Even though he sat close to her, she felt like he was a million miles away. Or maybe it was her who was so far, not just from him but from anyone. She knew people wondered about her family. It helped that she was relatively new to Shamrock Falls, but even if she had relatives who lived elsewhere, most people would still invite them to a wedding. “No…there’s no one. I only have my mom, but I can’t— I mean, I won’t tell her.”

Jace sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Nerves trickled down her spine.

“Are you sure you want to do this, Betsy? Like I said, I’ll still help you.”

This was the Jace she fantasized about. Betsy wasn’t stupid—she knew he would never go for her, just like she knew her friends Rowan and Sidney thought she was foolish for pining after him. But they didn’t get it. Yes, they were friends with him, too, but they didn’t see this side of him. Didn’t see the kind things he did. Didn’t know he often bought lunch for the homeless man who wandered town or witness him bring her a cup of her favorite coffee every day.

He sent her silly e-mails that always made her smile and he asked about her life. He’d given her a job when her shyness in interviews meant she’d struggled to find one before.

It wasn’t as if she didn’t know his downfalls, like the suave games he played or the rotating women in his life, but there was more to Jace Macnamara than everyone thought. And that was why he made her pulse race and her cheeks burn.

But she would be very, very stupid to let herself get in any deeper. He was discussing this as a business deal because it
was
one, and she’d be smart to remember that.

The scene from Mom’s room replayed in her mind. What if Mom’s illness got worse? This money would help. It was exactly what she needed. “Yes. I’m sure.”