Page 6 of Is This Real or Just Pretend?

Alex left the lovebirds behind and drew up alongside her parents, who had just greeted their new guests. But Mrs. Ericson wasted no time.

“Who is Winifred dancing with?” she asked with barely veiled suspicion.

“Ah…” Father shot her a panicked look. He probably couldn’t even tell that it was Lucien.

“Oh, that’s the coachman’s son,” Alex said with a dismissive wave. “He recently returned from Paris. We all grew up together.”

“ That is little Lucien Taylor?” her mother unhelpfully put in. Alex shot her a quelling look, which she quickly noted. “Freddie is like a sister to him,” she added.

But Hank Sr. did not look convinced. “I have a sister,” he said. “And we don’t dance like that.”

“No? It’s quite normal here,” Alex replied in a strangled tone. She didn’t even know what she was saying anymore, only that she had to fix this. Now.

Mercifully, the waltz ended and they were forced to break apart. But as Lucien escorted Freddie toward the refreshment table, they whispered to each other just a little too intimately for a pair of old friends.

Hank Jr. cleared his throat. “Perhaps we should leave.”

“Please, do stay—” her father began.

“You have it wrong, sir,” Alex interrupted. “I assure you.”

Hank Jr. arched a brow. “Oh? And how exactly am I wrong, Miss Atkinson? Because from here it appears your sister has a new suitor. And I don’t appreciate being made to look like a fool.”

Alex’s throat suddenly went bone dry as she frantically seized on an explanation. It was outrageous. Unbelievable, even. But it just might work…

“Mr. Taylor isn’t courting Freddie,” she said, managing to regain some degree of control. “Because he’s courting me.”

The silence that followed was, in a word, deafening. Alex held his gaze, almost challenging Hank Jr. to contradict her. But he was still a gentleman and she a lady. He wouldn’t dare.

“I see,” he finally said, though he still looked far more suspicious than convinced. “Forgive me.”

“No apology necessary,” Alex gritted out.

Then she felt her father’s hand on her elbow. “If you’ll excuse us for a moment.”

“And I’ll go fetch Freddie,” her mother trilled.

The ballroom passed by in a blur as Alex was guided into her father’s study. But as she entered the room, the full weight of what she had said hit her.

Oh God.

She pressed her hands to her face as an embarrassed flush heated her cheeks. Behind her, she heard her father shut the door. Alex whirled around.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I just—”

But she stopped short. Father was looking at her rather strangely.

“Is it true?”

Alex couldn’t help frowning at the disbelief in his voice. “No,” she huffed. “Of course not,” she couldn’t help adding. “But I didn’t know what else to say to convince Hank Jr.”

Father nodded slowly, as if he were mulling over something. “I think he believed you, though. Or he could, with a little more encouragement.”

“What does that matter? It isn’t true,” she said, hating that she sounded just a touch pitiful.

As he stepped toward her the light from the wall sconce caught the gleam in his eye. “But what if it was?”

Alex’s mouth opened and closed a few times. She felt like a lost goldfish. “I’m not sure what you mean,” she said carefully, though that was a lie. Sometimes it felt as if she had a direct line to her father’s mind, which made their working relationship feel so effortless.

And this was no exception.

“It is an unusual situation to be sure, given his parentage,” her father began.

“But Lucien has shown his business acumen. We can spin that into something. And besides, stranger things have happened in this family, have they not?” He punctuated this with a little laugh then turned serious once more.

“Regardless, we can’t let the Ericsons walk away now.

Otherwise these last few months will have been a complete waste of time.

And you need this deal to help win over the board, Alex. ”

Never mind the genuine friendship that had blossomed between Father and Hank Sr. Men like that put business before nearly everything else.

“I know that,” Alex huffed as she crossed her arms.

“Then find out what that boy needs to feign a courtship with you and give it to him. Pay him whatever he wants. No price is too high,” he added offhandedly.

Alex managed to lift her chin while the hot bite of humiliation sank into her neck. “Am I truly so displeasing that you would need to offer him carte blanche merely for the pretense of a courtship with me?”

Though this was very nearly the scenario she had been searching for herself, it still stung to have it laid out so plainly by someone else.

Her father’s gaze softened. “My dear. That isn’t what I meant at all.

Money just makes things… cleaner.” Alex wasn’t sure she agreed with that.

“Try to think of it as a business arrangement,” he continued.

“And I’ve told you before that you’ll have a much easier time with the board if you have a partner.

Not because you aren’t capable,” he said over her objection.

“But because our clients won’t trust a lone woman with their money. ”

Alex gritted her jaw. They had gone over this for months now. Her father was getting older and wanted to hand off Atkinson Enterprises to her, but the board was skittish about having a woman in charge—especially an unmarried one.

“And yet they seem to have no problem spending the dividends I’ve earned them,” she grumbled.

Father took her hand in his. “I want you to succeed in this world, Alexandra. I know you can. Don’t let your pride get in the way. Do whatever it takes.”

That was easy for him to say when he didn’t have to hide his abilities to protect the fragile egos of men. But trying to explain that to him hadn’t worked before, so Alex simply nodded.

“Fine. I’ll speak with him.”

“That’s my brilliant girl,” her father said proudly. “And Lucien’s a smart lad. I’m sure he’ll accept whatever you offer.”

“Yes,” Alex said with a distracted nod. For she had seen the look on Lucien’s face as he danced with Freddie. And asking him to give up what he wanted most would not come easily—nor cheaply.