Page 5 of The Fake Girlfriend's Billionaire Match
“You’re just really good-looking. Why do you need to hire a girlfriend? I would think you couldn’t beat the girls off with a stick.”
Bear’s shoulders shook as he laughed, and he hung his head. It was deep and rich, and she found herself wondering what it would be like to hear it all the time. His laughter died, and he sobered. Lifting his head, his eyes locked with hers. “I…” His voice faltered.
Without thinking, she stretched her arm across the table and took his hand in hers. “It’s okay.”
“It’s been long enough; you’d think I could get over it.” He pulled his hand away and sat back.
Winnie shook her head. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get over Tammy wiping out our bank account. We’d had this dream together for years. In a blink, it was just gone.” She rubbed her eyes before the tears could start flowing. She’d decided to keep that information from her dad; her mom knowing was bad enough. She didn’t want to see the disappointment in his eyes.
“Let’s fix that. If you’re agreeable, we can sign the contract and the first half of the money will be wired to your account,” Bear replied.
No, she wasn’t agreeable; she was desperate. Going to work in her dad’s law firm made her stomach cramp. She didn’t like the idea of helping people divorce. She was the little girl with a scrapbook filled with dreams about her wedding day and the type of man she’d marry. It was storybook perfect and magical and something that was on the back burner until her restaurant was up and running.
Nodding, she said, “I am. I think we can make this work.”
He stuck his hand out. “Then it’s a deal?”
She shook his hand. “It’s a deal.”
Again, electricity hit her with a force that nearly made her bite her tongue. Sheesh. This man wasn’t interested in her, and even if he was, she wasn’t interested in him. She had a restaurant to open. A dream to fulfill. Nowhere in those plans did a man have any place.
It was just a business arraignment. As soon as the holidays were over, she’d be two hundred thousand dollars richer. All she wanted was the money. The man could stay at the ranch.
Chapter 5
“Winifred Fordham, you did what?” Winnie’s mom’s voice was so shrill it could attract cats. “Your father—”
“No, I swore you to secrecy, Mom. You can’t tell him.” The only reason Winnie had called her mom was so she wouldn’t send out the National Guard when she couldn’t locate her. Bear had mentioned that sometimes the cell reception wasn’t great in Caprock Canyon. Plus, as confident as she was that Bear was upstanding, having someone know her whereabouts seemed smart.
Her mom sucked her teeth. “Just because I’m not married to your father doesn’t mean we aren’t friends. He deserves to know what you're doing. The two of you just need to talk and actually listen to each other.”
Yeah, right. “Didn’t you divorce him because he was so pigheaded and stubborn?”
They’d been divorced as long as Winnie could remember, but she had to give it to her parents, they never made her feel like she had to choose between them. They were friends, most of the time.
“Winifred.”
This was the tone her mom used with her clients. It was funny, really. Both her parents were lawyers, both divorce attorneys, and equally well-known as pros. Patrick and Henrietta Fordham, for about a year, according to them, had been the dream team when it came to divorces. They’d lasted in total about four years, and a little before Winnie was two, they’d gone their separate ways. Her mom was now remarried, and her stepdad traveled a lot. He treated her mom well, and that’s all that mattered to Winnie.
“Mom,” Winnie said, using the same tone.
“Just let me loan you the money. Dear, this isn’t the way Fordhams work.”
Winnie shook her head. “No, I don’t want to do that. I need to show that I can do this on my own.” Being a fake girlfriend was still doing things on her own. It wasn’t like she wouldn’t be working for the money.
Her mom sighed, and Winnie could almost see her rubbing her temple. “I can tell I’m not getting anywhere with you. Who is this man? What’s his name? Can you send me a photograph? That way if something happens, I’ll at least have something to give to the police.”
Holding in a snicker, Winnie nodded. “Yeah, Mom.”
Starting from the beginning, she told her mom everything. From how she found his biography to the eight-hour drive from San Antonio to Lubbock so they could meet. She wasn’t so stupid as to think a background check was the end-all, be-all if he was a serial killer. When she’d finished, she texted her mom the picture from the website.
“And you’re leaving the Monday prior to Thanksgiving?” her mom repeated the information Winnie had given her.
“Yes, and I’ll be staying through New Year’s.”
“Hold on; I just got your text.” After a little shuffling of the phone, Winnie’s mom came back. “He looks like Grizzly Adams, or should I say Grizzly ‘Bear’?” Her mom burst out laughing.
Winnie chuckled. That’s what she’d thought. “He doesn’t have a beard now. He said that picture was taken after he’d been herding cattle for a few days. He thought it would weed out women who wouldn’t like being on a ranch.”
