Page 30 of Pretender

Can I pretend to be his date? His girlfriend?

I can hardly look him straight in the eye without freezing up or weirding out; how am I supposed to act convincingly enamoured with him in front of his family?

My employees’ faces flash before my eyes. I tell them we’ve landed Lady Beauchamp’s mansion, and her friends are all calling us to do their homes, and the relief in their eyes is priceless.

All because I’m dating Aiden? I absolutely hate how dependent I am on him already, and this makes me even more entangled with him.

But if it works … it’ll save my company.

“Yes,” I say, and keep eye contact with Aiden so he understands he needs to stick around. “I’ll be there on Saturday.”

“Wonderful, I can’t wait to get to know you.”

“Thank you, Lady Beauchamp. I look forward to seeing you then.”

Aiden sucks in a breath and holds it while I put my phone away. Waiting for me to say something.

I shake my head. “It seems I’ll be your date on Saturday.”

“Oh, what made you change your mind?”

“It turns out being linked romantically with you has made me more attractive to Lady Venetia Beauchamp. I had no idea she’s your godmother.”

“She’s not really. She doesn’t have her own children, so when my mother started working for her, she spoiled me rotten.” He chuckles.

I realise I know very little about Aiden. His mother worked for the Lady?

“Sounds like I’ll need to learn more about you if this is going to fly,” I say.

“Yes, and me about you.”

“This makes me very uncomfortable… I didn’t want anyone to think I couldn’t make it on my own.” I instinctively reach up to check my hair covers my ears as they burn with humiliation. “But I’m in a pickle right now. It’s not just about me, and I can’t let my pride hurt my employees.”

Aiden takes one step towards me and my eyes flick up to his.

“You’ve always made it. It’s your design people want.”

I shrug.

“It seems it’s not enough on its own. Lady Beauchamp said she’d made a mistake, and now she’s learned more about me? I don’t know what she meant.”

“She was at the pre-event with her husband on Saturday and raved about the Diamond Lounge. I made sure she learned it was all your work.” Aiden waves towards the house next to us; our current project and currently my entire design portfolio.

“Thank you.”

Was that out of pity too? I pull on a lock of my hair, wishing I felt as confident as I pretend to be.

Aiden nods. “Alright, let’s get to work and we can talk over lunch. Did you have breakfast today?”

“I did,” I say, stretching the truth a little. I had milk in my coffee.

Aiden narrows his eyes at me. “Okay, if you say so.”

My senior designers, Olga, Daniel, and Inez, arrive around the corner of Grafton Street. Aiden turns at the sound of their voices and waves at them.

His gaze finds mine again and he says in a low voice, “Let’s start at lunch if you can break free, we’ll sort out the … arrangement.”

“It’s a date,” I say, and flash him a big smile that’s so genuine I surprise myself. Aiden’s eyes widen, and he opens his mouth as if to say something, but then he chuckles and smiles back, his eyes crinkling at the corners.