sent Grace a warm smile. “As much as I can manage.”
“You led the press on quite a chase, you know.” Bishop shook a finger in a gesture of indulgent reprimand. “That was very tricky of you to keep everyone guessing which lovely twin you were actually dating.”
Bryan shrugged. “My personal life is my business, of course. Still, I noticed that most got it wrong. You were one of the ones who reported that I was all but engaged to Grace’s sister, weren’t you, Terence?”
A faint touch of red stained the other man’s throat, but he managed a credible chuckle. “I’m afraid so. And you did nothing to set us straight. You practically confirmed that you were seeing Zoe—”
“Chloe,” Grace corrected in a mutter.
“Ah, yes, of course. But you must admit it appeared as though your old friend swept in and wooed your fiancée away from you. It’s quite a coincidence that you and Mr. Chance fell for sisters, don’t you think?”
Bryan’s grin deepened. “The dreaded love triangle—another bit of gossip fabricated through sloppy reporting. At least you’ve managed to avoid that one—haven’t you, Terence?”
“Certainly. I finally remembered how much you enjoy toying with the media. That wicked sense of humor just might lead you into trouble someday, Mr. Falcon.”
“I’ll keep your warning in mind. Yet, while the media was busy trying to figure out the players, Grace and I had a chance to get to know each other in relative private, didn’t we, darling?”
She only smiled when he took her hand again.
“So—” Looking searchingly from Bryan to Grace again, Bishop asked bluntly, “Can we expect another wedding announcement in the family soon?”
“One wedding at a time is plenty for my family, Mr. Bishop,” Grace replied. “Bryan and I are quite happy as we are for now. Isn’t that right, darling?”
He lifted her hand to his lips. “Deliriously.”
Their gazes met and held over her hand. Grace found herself momentarily unable to look away, captured by the gleam in his eyes and the brush of his mouth against her palm. Her fingers curled inward almost instinctively, as if to prevent the kiss from escaping.
Bishop cleared his throat. “Well. I’ll leave you lovebirds to finish your meal. Perhaps we’ll see each other again soon.”
Bryan looked away, breaking that disconcerting moment of connection with Grace. “I’m sure we will.”
“And you will let me know if there are any announcements in the future, won’t you?”
“You’ll be the first to know,” Bryan replied with such cheerful insincerity that Bishop was almost sulking when he strolled away.
Bryan turned back to Grace. “I think that went well, don’t you?”
His sudden transformation from devoted suitor to smug co-conspirator made Grace blink. Pulling herself together quickly, she snarled, “You licked my hand, you degenerate.”
He laughed softly. “And you taste delectable—as I suspected you would.”
She scooted nearer to him, gazing up at him through her lashes and keeping her voice a low, husky croon. “Bryan?”
His gaze fell to her moistened lips. “Mmm?”
Some evil impulse made her lean even closer, well aware that the neckline of her blouse gaped when she did so. In typical male fashion, his gaze dropped lower. “When this is all over—”
“Yes?” he prodded without raising his eyes.
She straightened away from him. “I’m going to have you killed.”
He laughed and reached for his water glass. “It’s always nice to have something to look forward to.”
Chloe and Donovan were waiting at the airport when Grace and Bryan arrived in Little Rock early that evening. Chloe rushed forward to greet them, Donovan following a bit more slowly at her heels.
It still startled Grace at times to see the short, fashionably choppy hairstyle her twin had sported for the past few months. They’d always worn similar styles in the past—and Grace had traditionally been the one to break rank and try something new. They’d stopped dressing alike in elementary school, and had maintained separate apartments for years, but their lives had still been tightly intertwined, both personally and professionally. Grace was aware that many things would be changing between them once Chloe and Donovan married and formed their own family.
Chloe hugged her, then stepped back to look at her as though it had been longer than a couple of days since they’d seen each other. “Did you have a good time in New York?”
“It was very nice,” Grace answered without a blink.
Glancing quickly around them, Chloe lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Do you think you accomplished your goal? Keeping the gossips confused about us, I mean.”
Grace smiled with a patience she reserved only for Chloe. “I know what our goal was. And, yes, I think we made some progress on that front.”
Bryan and Donovan had greeted each other with slaps on the shoulders—a ritual Grace had always considered the male version of a hug. Bryan then turned to Chloe, taking her hand in both of his and bending to brush a kiss across her cheek, murmuring a complimentary greeting as he did so.
Tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, Grace watched the interplay between Bryan and her sister, trying to read his expression. Only a few short months ago he had asked Chloe to marry him. Though he’d seemed to accept Chloe’s relationship with Donovan graciously enough, Grace couldn’t help wondering how he really felt about Chloe now. Surely he’d had some sort of strong feelings for her if he’d actually considered spending the rest of his life with her, raising children with her. Frankly Grace couldn’t imagine anyone not loving Chloe.
But Bryan had managed to move on from several previous relationships without ever looking back—at least according to those gossip columnists who’d been making their lives so stressful lately.
They all pretended not to notice the attention they received from others in the airport terminal, though all four were aware they’d been recognized by at least a few. When Bryan draped an arm casually around Grace’s shoulders, drawing her closer to him as they headed for the exit behind Chloe and Donovan, she knew he was making sure they were seen as a couple. She saw Chloe slant them a sideways glance, but she didn’t return the look. If she was going to bluff her way through this, she couldn’t meet Chloe’s eyes.
They went out to dinner, choosing a restaurant that was popular enough to keep them in the public eye, yet quiet enough to allow them to talk comfortably. Though they chatted about Grace and Bryan’s trip to New York, they were careful not to even obliquely refer to the purpose for that excursion. They were always aware of the possibility of being overheard.
Grace wondered how Bryan could stand living such a fishbowl existence. The average wealthy businessman could live in relative privacy, but Bryan, with his extraordinary looks and influential, highly visible circle of friends and associates, was hardly average.
