I paced back and forth. “We can make this wedding everything she’s dreamed of. I might have lied, but I’m good at my job.”
The smell of burning bacon filled the kitchen. “I still don’t believe it,” Brendan said. “You two seemed so much in love.”
Keegan snorted.
“No one was supposed to find out,” I said, stopping in front of Keegan and reaching for his hand, “but I couldn’t lie. Not anymore.”
“Seems I’m no longer needed.” Keegan pulled away and headed for the staircase. “It’s time I left.”
“Keegan, wait, please.” I ran up to the foyer after him and grabbed his arm, but he shook me off. He was behaving as if I’d killed someone. “Why are you leaving? I told the truth. I don’t understand. Barb doesn’t care. I didn’t want to lie anymore. I wanted to show you I’m not like your ex.” Even though he stood beside me, the distance between us stretched for miles and then snapped.
“Grace? What’s she got to do with this?” He scrubbed his hands over his face. “Don’t you think you should have talked to me before you spilled your guts? You don’t think I deserved to have a say about whether I wanted my character brought into question?”
“How am I bringing your character into question?”
“I promised not to say a word. You should have trusted me. A few more days and this charade would’ve been over. No one would’ve been any the wiser.” He tunneled his fingers through his hair. “I should never have listened to Shane.”
A heartbeat passed before I realized what he’d said. Shane? Shane! He was in league with Shane. A slap across the face would’ve shocked me less.
“You. You’re the wolf. That’s how you knew. And you had the nerve to call me a liar and say I was the one using you to make your lies more convincing. More fool me. What plan did you and Shane concoct?” My hands shook, and my chest tightened. I was on the verge of a panic attack. How could he have done this? All along he’d known. So many lies. The pieces of my heart not already broken by my ex, shattered into smithereens. “Why did you ask so many questions about him if you knew?”
He ran his fingers through his already messy hair. “For Christ’s sake, Tessa, forget about him. He’s not the one who’s wrecked everything for both of us. You are. One word from Barb and both of our businesses are finished. Do you know how many of my competitors would love that?” His fists repeatedly clenched and unclenched. “I’ve worked too long and too hard to have my reputation ruined by someone as desperate as you.”
I blinked back my tears. “Yeah, I was desperate. Desperate enough to trust someone like you.”
“Why did I think you were different?” he spat. “Women are all the same.”
Pain oozed from the splintered pieces of my heart and soaked into every pore. I thought telling the truth would be best for everyone, but now I’d dug myself into an even deeper hole.
I wouldn’t cry. I wouldn’t breakdown. “I don’t think I’ve ever been as disappointed by anyone in my life, and that includes Shane.”
“That makes two of us.” He turned his back on me and took the stairs two at a time.
Chapter Sixteen
Keegan
I charged into the bedroom and threw my clothes into my suitcase. How could I have fallen for her? Trusted her? Why the fuck hadn’t she discussed her plan with me before opening her mouth? No one needed to know. To think I’d wanted to help her. Got rid of Shane for her. I was a fool.
I zipped up my suitcase and left the room. If Barb told anyone what I’d done, how I’d pretended to be someone’s fiancé, Devlin Events would become a joke. I’d call my office manager from the car and prepare her for damage control.
I had to get away from the castle, weddings, and deceitful brunettes. I wouldn’t allow Tessa to manipulate me any further with her lies, her smile, or her body. I’d head to my parents’ house and say I’d come home early for Christmas as a surprise.
Fuming anger consumed me, and I stormed downstairs. Tessa stood at the bottom, but I didn’t stop.
“Keegan. Wait. We need to talk.”
“We don’t. Save your words for some other gullible sap.”
The intensity of her stare prickled my neck, but I left the castle without a backward glance.
Black ice would cover the roads to my parents’ house, and even though every forecast had warned people to stay indoors, I wouldn’t listen. All that mattered was putting as much distance between us as possible. If the airports were open, I’d jump on the next flight to New York.
Bitter wind whistled by, yanking my hair and stinging my cheeks. I pulled my wool coat tight and hurried to my rental car. Thick clouds hung in the Arctic-blue sky, and the cold sun glistened off the snow-packed ground. The calm wouldn’t last. Another storm was rolling in, and I wanted to get out of the castle grounds before the plowed driveway filled with snow again.
My fingers rested on the door handle, but my feet turned toward the castle, my heart willing me to go back. But if I went back, the hurt on Tessa’s face might make me forgive her, and I couldn’t do that. No way. Not now. Not ever.
I got into the car, turned the ignition, and watched the snow slide down the windshield.
Snow wind-drifted over the car, and I let out a stream of curses—as if the driving conditions weren’t already miserable enough. I glanced in the rearview mirror at the castle entrance and saw Tessa. Her hunched body
