Read Online The Rent-A-Groom by Jennifer Blake - Free Book Online Page A

Unless he was married and had children?
     
    But no, he had said he was unattached. That didn’t make it the truth, of course; men had been known to lie about such things.
     
    As Gina thought of Corey and Diane, she realized with a start that she hadn’t phoned her friend again, as promised the night before. Diane would be frantic. It was a wonder she hadn’t called the police, or at least sent someone from hotel security to check on her.
     
    Gina set her section of the paper aside as she got to her feet. “Excuse me a second, if you don’t mind. I need to make a call.”
     
    Race nodded toward an extension of the suite’s phone half-hidden behind a pot of greenery. “There’s one over there.”
     
    “That’s all right. My cell is in the living room, and I’ll make a pit stop before I come back.” Before he could reply to that hasty improvisation, she opened the French door and stepped inside.
     
    Diane answered on the second ring. Gina rushed into her explanation since she was half-afraid she might have to cut her call short if Race decided to move back in from the balcony. Diane heard her out without interrupting. When Gina stopped speaking, a small silence fell.
     
    “Well,” her friend said finally, “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
     
    “Actually, I’m not so sure,” Gina answered on an uneven laugh, “but I don’t care. Race is so fine, you wouldn’t believe it—even I don’t believe it. And you should have seen Bradley’s face when he met him! He was dumbstruck. I mean literally. And he sounded so two-faced. I don’t know what I ever saw in him.”
     
    “Praise be. At least some good seems to be coming of all this. But you won’t do anything silly like falling for this Race character, will you? I mean, you’ve had enough of men who aren’t exactly marriage material. The last thing you need is another one.”
     
    Gina couldn’t help a quick laugh. “How do you know Race wouldn’t make an excellent husband? Stranger things have happened.”
     
    “Don’t say that!” Diane’s tone was sharp. “You don’t know a thing about this person. I mean, a male model, for heaven’s sake!”
     
    “He’s more than that,” Gina protested. She went on to tell her friend about the ranch.
     
    “I don’t care if his spread covers half of Texas, it still doesn’t make him a good risk. I just don’t want you to get hurt.”
     
    “Oh, Diane, he’s a nice person, really he is.”
     
    “I’m sure his mother would be happy to hear you say so, but that doesn’t make it right. You should get rid of him, pronto.”
     
    “Well, I meant to, but we both seem to be at loose ends. It’s just one more afternoon.”
     
    Diane made a sound that was both disgruntled and despairing. “Well, if you won’t, you won’t. At least be careful.”
     
    “Diane,” Gina began, troubled by the other woman’s doubts and strictures.
     
    “I’ve got to go. Corey was saying something just now about hooking up my computer to the stereo speakers, and now he’s entirely too quiet. But you take care of yourself, you hear? And don’t believe a word this Race character has to say, because you can bet your boots it doesn’t mean a thing!”
     
    Gina ended the call, then sat staring at the cold gas logs inside the fireplace. It wasn’t like Diane to be so brusque or so edgy. She was usually the most laid-back of women, never in a hurry, infinitely tolerant of people’s little quirks and always ready to see the best in them. At the same time, she was open and plain-spoken to a fault.
     
    Her friend had been most of those things this time, of course, yet something had been different. She had asked almost no questions about Race, for one thing. For another, she had condemned him sight unseen. And she really hadn’t wanted to talk about the whole thing except to issue warnings.
     
    Something was wrong. What was it?
     
    Gina realized, after a moment’s thought, that the short time she had