Best Fake Day Read Free Page B

willing for marriage to take away that independence?”
    “Not exactly willing, no. It’s necessity. A temporary arrangement.”
    “Temporary? A marriage of convenience makes a mockery of vows, Jack, but to use it as a temporary fix…” She broke off as she shuddered.
    “So you still waiting for your Prince Charming, hmm? Take away the hearts and flowers and marriage is just a legal bind. An expensive piece of paper.”
    She pinned him with a glare. “Not for those who do it for the intended reason. Love!”
    “So if it’s so great why haven’t you tried it yet? Lecture me about love and marriage when you’re not single and you know what it feels like.”
    “And what makes you think I am single and not feeling it?”
    “If you were in any kind of relationship you would be getting help here right now. Also last night you would have been in his bed and not as uptight as you are now.”
    “Uptight?” She planted her hands on the table, pushing forward until her ribcage painfully met wood. “Uptight! What do you expect when you turn up out of the blue and demand marriage from my sister?”
    “I didn’t demand marriage from her, that’s already arranged. I just need her whereabouts.”
    “I couldn’t tell you that even if I wanted to.”
    “And you don’t want to.”
    She folded her arms across her chest as she noticed her breasts were showing their anger too, trying to fight themselves free of her unbuttoned shirt. Not that Jack would have noticed. She lifted her chin as she tilted her head to the side. She couldn’t breathe with him looking down on her.
    “You haven’t given me reason to,” she muttered.
    “Then allow me to try.” Jack dragged a hand through his hair, giving a sigh almost as weary as her body felt and sat down again. “I was about to secure a property deal—a very important one—when Ellie turned up at the club unexpectedly. Later I decided I needed to take her home, and unfortunately, because of the celeb guests, the paparazzi were out in full force and me and Ellie were photographed—”
    “Stop!” Izzy yelled as she held up her flattened palm. “Please spare me the details.”
    “What?”
    “Allow me to fill in the blanks. You were caught in a compromising position right? As in the up-against-a-wall kind?”
    “How did you...”
    Izzy swallowed against the dryness of her throat. Just the dust she told herself. “Remember I told you the last I saw of you was your bare behind? That was the last time I saw you in person ,” she amended as she shifted the position of her feet. “The last time I saw you was a few weeks ago.”
    “Ah, you saw the picture in the papers?” he asked with a grimace.
    She fixed him with a nonchalant stare. “You mean the one with you and Ellie pressed up against each other down an alley? Oh yeah, I saw it. There wasn’t enough eye bleach available for that one.”
    Jack’s dark head lowered toward her. All expression was removed from his face but she could see the grind of his jaw. “That wasn’t what it looked like either.”
    “Really? The picture clearly showed you with your hands on her bare thighs, and your legs tangled.” She knew because she’d studied the picture over and over, wondering why Ellie hadn’t told her about it and, if she was honestly wishing she was her sister. She’d envied Ellie for knowing his touch. Craved the feel of his hands on her naked skin.
    She loved her older sister, she really did. But when she opened the newspaper and had seen them together, pictured embracing in an alleyway with Jack’s hands beneath Ellie’s short dress, it was like a punch to the gut.
    “She was drunk, Izzy, and upset.”
    Was it the same day as the anniversary of the loss of their mother? Izzy couldn’t help but wonder. It would explain why she hadn’t spent the day with her and their father.
    “My car was parked in the alley and Ellie was stumbling everywhere. I couldn’t find my keys—”
    “So your hands stumbled up