“When will that be released?”
“Not immediately,” he said after a beat, turning back to the coffee machine and scooping grounds into the basket. “I presume you’ll want to phone your mom and tell her yourself?”
“Oh, God. Mom. I hadn’t even thought of her. She’s going to flip.”
“She won’t approve?”
“It’s not that, but she has no idea about you, and this is going to come completely out of the blue. She’s never going to believe I kept a relationship with you a secret. She’ll know we’re getting married for Charlotte’s sake.”
“And?”
“She definitely won’t approve of that,” Abby said with a grimace. “If there was one message I was fed throughout my childhood it’s that it’s better to be alone than to be with the wrong person. Any time we saw my dad, which wasn’t often at all, mom would end up making that exact comment as we drove off.”
He put a coffee cup beneath the spout and let the dark liquid begin to run.
“Then we’ll have to convince her we’re madly in love.” The words were drawled with a hint of cynical amusement but they wrapped around Abby’s chest and squeezed it tight.
“I can’t lie to my mom.”
“You don’t have to lie to her, but if you want to save her from panicking about our practical marriage, then we’ll give her every reason to think there’s more to it. I’m pretty sure we can both pretend to be into each other for a few hours, or however long it takes to convince her.”
Turmoil dug into Abby’s chest.Pretend to be into each other.She had, once upon a time, been so completely into Grayson Fortescue that he was her reason for breathing. And it had just been sex for him, she reminded herself forcibly. Nothing about their attraction had been real.
“Let’s work out how to handle my mom later.”
“The announcement will run soon though, Abby. I want the world to know Charlotte’s mine.”
She balked. “Are people seriously going to be that interested?”
He fixed her with a level gaze. “Yes.”
Abby’s stomach felt like she’d crested over the highpoint of a rollercoaster. “Because you’re Grayson Fortescue.”
“More or less.”
“And because the world is used to seeing you with a different woman on your arm every night.” She tried, but failed, to keep the bitterness from her voice. “You alleged settling down is big news, I suppose.”
“The press tends to exaggerate my social life.”
She met his gaze, wanting, more than anything, to believe him.
I like being on my own.He wasn’t the settling down type. So he filled in his nights with temporary companionship – and it didn’t matter to him who he took home, just that he had a woman’s body when he needed to slake his physical needs.
It was important to remember that. It cheapened what they’d shared in a way she needed.
“Mainly, it’s to avoid the rumor mill going into overdrive. You’ll be seen with me, she’ll be seen with me. Even within this building, people will talk. I’d rather not have Charlotte growing up and reading the kind of sordid speculation on the internet that will run rife if we don’t control the narrative.”
“You make it sound so easy.”
“I’ve had experience with the media,” he said quietly. “Also with how the world views billionaire heirs and heiresses.”
It was one of the more revealing comments Grayson had made. He’d always been careful to couch his thoughts in general terms, giving very little away, particularly with regard to his own childhood.
“How did the world view you, Gray?”
His lips twisted in an instantly dismissive gesture. She’d been too obvious. He was shutting her down.
“Suffice it to say, we’ll create a different environment for Charlotte.”