Read Online Husband for Hire by Susan Wiggs - Free Book Online

my hometown, with a guy who has magically appeared in my life like a genie from a bottle.”
    “A fate worse than death.”
    She chuckled. “I admit, the fantasy does have a certain appeal. Who wouldn’t love to show up at a high school reunion looking as if she’d conquered the world—and snagged a big-city doctor to boot. But I sure as heck can’t see myself playing out some elaborate masquerade.”
    He picked a blade of grass and chewed on the end. He probably didn’t mean to draw attention to his mouth, but she couldn’t help watching him as he nibbled absently on the blade of grass. “Can I ask you something?”
    “Sure.” She tried not to stare at his mouth.
    “What if you showed up just as you are—business owner, Brian’s mom?”
    “Lord knows, I don’t have anything to hide. But—” She broke off as a faraway feeling swept over her. He was too easy to talk to. She ought to shut up.
    “But what?”
    “I guess I was like most kids in high school. I dreamed big dreams, had a vision of glamour and success and pictured myself a certain way. Then life sort of…happened to me, and I didn’t have a chance to see any of my plans through. I suppose, to be perfectly honest, I would love to show up all spit-shined, a dream date opening doors for me.”
    “So I’d be your dream date?”
    She blushed. “Are you kidding? Look at you. A big important doctor with good manners and good taste in clothes? You’re a rare sight in Lightning Creek, I promise you that. Rarer still in Hell Creek.”
    “Hell Creek?”
    “My hometown.” She still thought of it that way, despite the brutal events that had occurred there, despite the fact that she hadn’t been back in seven years. “Anyway, you’d be the talk of the town.”
    “Don’t always believe what you see.” He spoke quietly, staring out at the sky, dark purple now and misted by stars.
    “What’s that supposed to mean?” Dear God, did he have some awful secret?
    “Nothing. I’m basically a boring person.”
    A long silence. She felt the tension of their unfamiliarity. What did you say to a man you didn’t know, a man paid to be your companion?
    He drummed his fingers on the concrete step. “You know what?”
    “What?”
    “We don’t have a choice. We have to do this.”
    She felt her mouth moving, but no sound came out. “Do this. You mean go to my reunion.”
    “Yeah.”
    “Do you know where Hell Creek, Wyoming, is?”
    “I’m told it’s not too far from Jackson.”
    “Trust me, it’s not Jackson.”
    He stuck his hands in his pockets. “Look, Twyla. I agreed to do this fund-raiser. I set aside time to be somebody’s bachelor—for fun, and for a good cause. A lot of people have worked hard on the auction. It wouldn’t kill us to hold up our end of the deal.”
    “I never made a deal with anyone,” she said.
    “Then make one with me. Right here. Right now. Let’s do your reunion.”
    Never, not in her wildest dreams, had she expected this. She was so taken aback that she looked up into his face and said, “I’ll think about it. Call me tomorrow and I’ll give you my answer.”

CHAPTER SIX

    I N HIS ROOM at the Starlite Motel at the north end of town, Rob stared at the silent telephone while his gut churned with regrets. Twyla McCabe had tried her best to do the honorable thing, to let him off the hook, and he’d blown his chance to escape. He ought to call her right now and tell her she was right—it would never work out.
    But it wasn’t tomorrow yet. Hell, it wasn’t even ten o’clock yet. He couldn’t call her. He should probably phone Lauren and explain the outrageous proposal the old ladies had cooked up.
    The blue glow of the neon star on the motel sign flickered sporadically through the slatted blinds. The almost forgotten hum of the wilderness that lay beyond the parking lot crept past the thin walls of the building—the whir of crickets, the chorus of chirrups from frogs, the occasional cry of an owl.
    With