Jared s Counterfeit Fiancée Read online

  Dana blinked, seeming thunderstruck. “You have?”

  His smile showed a perfect set of white teeth. “Yes, and more than anything I want to make our engagement real.” He lifted his hand to her face to caress her cheek. “But getting what I want really depends on how you feel about me, Dana.”

  He saw the moment tears began forming in her eyes. “Oh, Jared, I love you, too, and more than anything I want our engagement to be real.”

  He chuckled with both joy and relief and pulled her into his lap. “I’m damn glad to hear that. So, Dana Rollins will you marry me? Be my wife, the mother of my children and the love of my life for always?”

  He framed her face in his hands and continued. “Will you let that ring you’re already wearing be a symbol of my love and promise? And will you believe that I will honor you, protect you and make you happy?”

  He watched as more tears came into her eyes at the same time a soft chuckle escaped from her throat. “Yes, I’ll marry you, Jared, and be all of those things.”

  An overpowering gush of happiness erupted from Jared’s throat. “You do know this means you’ll have all the Westmorelands as family?”

  Tears made her choke back her laughter. “Thank God. I’d become attached to them and didn’t want to give them up even though I thought this would be our last night together.”

  When his arms tightened around her she leaned down and rubbed her cheek against his chest. “You’re a pro at making seductive proposals, Jared Westmoreland.”

  He grinned as his heart raced with unmeasured joy. “Am I?”

  “Yes.”

  “Umm,” he said as heat began stroking his body all over again. “I’m also pretty good at other things.”

  She met his dark penetrating gaze as she stared at him. “Are you?”

  “Yes.”

  She leaned down, her lips mere inches from his. “Show me these other things. I dare you.”

  In one smooth move he quickly had her on her back. Their gazes locked and he knew he would love her for the rest of his life.

  And that was the naked truth.

  Epilogue

  Two months later

  J ust as Sarah Westmoreland had predicted, there was another Westmoreland wedding before the end of the summer.

  As Jared carried his wife down the church steps, she laid her head against his solid chest as rice rained down on them. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw his parents. He noticed his mother dab tears of joy from her eyes. To say she was happy was an understatement. But then, he knew she was already checking out her remaining five single sons to see who she should set her mark on next. He chuckled. She even had his cousin Chase within her intense scope. No one would be safe from matrimony if Sarah Westmoreland had her way.

  When he and Dana were seated inside the limo, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her with all the love he felt in his heart. His tongue swept inside to caress the walls of her mouth thinking that he would never get tired of the taste of her.

  Their next stop was the grand ballroom of the Atlanta Civic Center. It amazed him how his mother and Aunt Evelyn, along with the long-distance assistance of his aunt Abby in Montana, were able to put together such an elegant wedding once he and Dana had set a date.

  Jared released Dana’s mouth and looked down into her smiling face. “How much ruckus do you think we’ll cause if I tell the driver that we want to skip the wedding reception and go straight to the airport to catch our plane for St. Maarten?”

  A smile touched the corners of Dana’s mouth. “Oh, I think more than we’re prepared to deal with. Your mother and aunts might never forgive us.”

  Jared grinned. “You’re right. I guess the least we can do is show up.”

  “I agree.”

  He reached out and pulled her into his lap. It wasn’t an easy thing to do considering her wedding dress. It was beautiful and she had looked gorgeous in it when she had walked down the aisle to him. Her best friend’s husband, Ben, had given her away and Cybil had been her matron of honor. Delaney, Shelly, Tara, Madison, Casey and some of Dana’s girlfriends from college had been her bridesmaids. Jayla had had to sit this one out since she was about to deliver at any moment. Dare had been Jared’s best man and his brothers and the rest of his cousins stood in as his groomsmen.

  Sylvester Brewster had asked to sing a song at the wedding as a way to show his thanks for all Jared had done in getting him and his wife back together. After Jared had set up the meeting between them, the two had agreed to marriage counseling to make their marriage work. They were in love and wanted to put this episode behind them and move on.

  Dana lifted her hand to admire her rings. She then looked at Jared’s hand to see his matching gold band. She glanced up at him. She loved him totally and completely. An idea suddenly popped into her head. “Later tonight, when we’re all alone I think we should play another game.”

  Jared lifted his forehead. “I thought Truth or Dare would be our final one.”

  She shook her head, grinning. “Why stop when you’re having fun? And I have the perfect game for us.”

  She had peaked his curiosity. “And what game is that?”

  “Spin the Bottle.”

  Jared smiled as he thought of all the possibilities and decided he could definitely put an interesting twist on that game. “Okay, I’m up for it.”

  Dana chuckled. “I thought that you would be.”

  And then with a shuddering sigh she pulled his face down to hers, her lips parting as she let him take possession of her mouth in a kiss that was full of all the passion she had come to expect from him. And as she returned his kiss with provocative urgency and overpowering passion, she knew that the best day of her life had been when she had agreed to become Jared’s counterfeit fiancée.

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-3673-2

  JARED’S COUNTERFEIT FIANCÉE

  Copyright © 2005 by Brenda Streater Jackson

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office, Silhouette Books, 233 Broadway, New York, NY 10279 U.S.A.

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

  This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

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