* *
As her stepmother’s words echoed throughout the long, open back hall of the Harrisons’ home, Presley wished she could sink into the floor.
Not that embarrassing her was anything new for Marjorie. No, it actually seemed to be her regular pastime. But repeated experience didn’t take away the sinking feeling in Presley’s stomach or the hot flush that flooded her cheeks so quickly that she was surprised she didn’t pass out from blood loss.
Her stepmother practically shoved herself between Presley and Kane. “Look at you. Hay on your dress, dirt on your sandals. What were you doing out in the barn, you silly girl?”
“I think the answer to that might be just as embarrassing as the question.”
With that single answer, Kane caught the attention of everyone within hearing distance. Presley wished she could fade into the flowered wallpaper as his laser gaze inspected her from head to toe, no doubt noticing her lack of style and ability to attract dirt no matter how hard she tried to stay clean. But he didn’t mention it. Oh, no. Kane had embraced this pretend relationship wholeheartedly.
If he only knew what a mistake he was making—though it was beneficial for her that he didn’t. The sooner he realized she wasn’t going to be the perfect princess on his arm at all these events, the sooner she’d have to repay him in full.
“Sorry, sweetheart,” he murmured near her ear, though his voice still seemed to carry. “I didn’t mean to get you all dirty.”
Holy Moses. The heat that swept through her as she heard him talk should have been an embarrassment. She should have been wishing he would quit making a spectacle of her. Instead, she wished he would keep on talking and make her forget about their audience.
He reached out to snag the small piece of hay from the tip of her loose ponytail—the only hairstyle she could comfortably create—and then held it up as he smiled into her eyes. There was mischief in that look, and also something deeper, darker, that tempted her to join him in his game.
Only she’d never learned how to play.
Her stepmother was just as nonplussed, which was the first time Presley had ever seen that happen. Marjorie watched Kane’s actions with a kind of wide-eyed fascination, then glanced back and forth between the two of them as confusion clouded her expression.
Finally she focused solely on Presley, frowning. “Well, you should have at least told me you had a date. I could have helped you find something more appropriate to wear.”
Apparently the embarrassment wasn’t going to end any time soon. Over Marjorie’s shoulder Presley could see a group of women—the same debutantes who had haunted her existence since she was about fourteen—whispering furiously and grinning. All except one: Joan Everly. She simply stared through narrowed lids, anger slowly taking over her polite society mask.
“Oh,” Kane said, his amused tone warning Presley she wouldn’t like what was coming. “I think her dress suited my purposes just fine.”
Judging from the few gasps she heard out of the debs, Kane’s voice had carried. But Presley could sense the disbelief in people’s reactions. And now she was done being put on display.
She turned around and blindly grasped the nearest door handle and pushed her way through. She didn’t care where she went, as long as it was away from prying eyes. But the shuffle of feet and the click of dress shoes on the floor behind her told her she hadn’t escaped. She had company. Great. More confrontation was just what she wanted right now.
Give her a stubborn horse or an uppity ranch hand and she met the challenge like a trouper. Social settings and public displays of anything, much less affection, were definitely not her forte.
A familiar weariness seeped into her muscles. The feeling had made its first appearance as soon as her father’s funeral was over and all the guests were gone. Since then it returned regularly, but she always pushed it back. She didn’t have time to be tired, especially not with the task of taking care of her stepmother on top of her already heavy schedule managing the business.
So just as she had a hundred times in the past six months, she pushed the gray cloud back and straightened her spine. When she spun around, she saw that only their small group had followed, but it was Marjorie who spoke first.
“Presley, what is going on here?”
Confusion still reigned in Marjorie’s expression, but years of being ridiculed for not living up to Marjorie’s expectations, not being feminine enough, being too smart and serious all the time...none of that made Presley want to confide exactly what had happened in the barn earlier. Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. How in the world could she possibly say out loud that the only way she could attract a man of Kane’s caliber was because her stepmother had tried to swindle the Harringtons out of a large amount of money?
Of course, given the result, Marjorie would probably see that as doing a good deed.
To Presley’s surprise, Kane spoke up. “The fact is, Presley wouldn’t even be here without your criminal lack of judgment, Ms. Macarthur.”
Shock rippled through the room, settling in Presley’s core. No one had ever stood up for her. Not even her daddy. When he’d brought Marjorie into their lives, he’d hoped that she’d teach his daughter to be a woman. Marjorie’s abject failure in that area was considered all Presley’s fault. And though he had loved her, her father hadn’t hidden his disappointment from her.
The look of shock on Mason’s face was priceless. Especially when Kane stepped closer to Presley and draped his arm around her shoulders again. But Kane ignored his brother as he said, “Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’m very grateful she did show up.”
Marjorie wasn’t buying it. “If you expect me to believe that my Presley snared the catch of the county in thirty minutes, in that dress, you must think I’m really stupid.”
Presley wasn’t sure what set off her normally dormant outrage. The stress of the day. Kane’s blackmail. Or everyone’s obvious disbelief even as Kane insisted they were interested in each other. If you had to sell it that hard, might as well not sell it at all.
Without thought Presley stomped forward, invading her stepmother’s personal space. “What I think is that you couldn’t care less how your actions affect me or anyone else who has to put up with your antics.”
“Well, I knew that my very smart stepdaughter would smooth everything out,” Marjorie whined.
“Excuse me?” Suddenly all the tension and upset of the night became too much and Presley was the one who couldn’t control her voice. She made a desperate attempt to contain the words but couldn’t keep them back. “You bargained with an animal you knew didn’t belong to you, but that’s okay because Presley will figure it all out?”
Marjorie blanched. “I know you love the horse, but money is—”
Presley stepped uncomfortably close, lowering her voice. “Not something you have an unlimited amount of anymore. And if you ever pull a stunt like this again, I’ll do everything in my power to have Grant break Father’s will. Do you understand me?”
“He couldn’t.”
“He’s a great lawyer. I’m sure he could manage it for me.”
Something
