CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Ethan tried to shake off the creeping darkness that fringed his vision as he scrolled through the pages of Autumn’s notes. “Shit.” His chest felt tight and it was hard to breathe. It was all a lie? Autumn had been lying to him?
In her notes, she wrote about making her video – all the tricks she and Becka – Becka? He glanced up at the girl, who wouldn’t meet his gaze – had used to make her supremely attractive to the cowboy who’d put up the wife-wanted video. She described the plane ride to Montana, her first glimpse of him and his friends at the airport – the swirl of raw testosterone in the air that caused her heart to pound.
Yeah, right.
The notes went on and on. The dinner at DelMonaco’s – after his lame attempt to get take out food instead. Getting it on in Rob’s truck and then finishing at the bunkhouse. Taking a picnic lunch to him on the range at the suggestion of his creepy neighbor, Rob – the one who liked to lure women home to make porno flicks.
Jesus.
Lacey was right – incisive, snarky. Autumn hit every nerve a guy could have until he felt like he’d been flayed alive. And she was going to publish this?
“Ethan – it’s not what it looks like.”
He glanced up and met Autumn’s beseeching gaze. Her eyes were shining with tears, a trick she used all too often, he realized now.
“Looks pretty clear cut to me,” he ground out, hardly recognizing his own voice.
“I don’t understand, Autumn. Who is this? What’s happening?” Teresa waved at Lacey who still hung over Ethan’s shoulder.
“What’s happening is your daughter faked this whole thing,” Lacey said, her face alight with a vicious triumph. “Your daughter needed a subject for an article. She answered a want ad for a wife, came out here and fooled Ethan into thinking she’d really marry him and instead she planned to take off just before the wedding and write an expose about the whole thing. She was going to roast him in front of the whole nation – a big, fat joke – a stupid cowboy who wanted a wife and got duped instead. Of course, she didn’t realize she was the stupid one – the whole ad was a fake.”
Teresa shook her head. “Autumn? What’s going on?”
“Mrs. Leeds,” Ethan scraped back his chair and rose to his full height. “What’s going on is the wedding is off. Your daughter and I are done. I don’t know if you are in on it or not and at this point I don’t give a damn. Collect your things, get out of my house and get the hell out of Montana. All of you!”
His heart nearly gave out when he saw Autumn’s face. Pale as a sheet, stricken, desolation writ large in her eyes. Those lying, scheming, cheating eyes.
She probably had a boyfriend back home – some metrosexual guy who didn’t give a damn if his girl slept with a cowboy as long as she brought home a good story to tell. And made a few bucks off of publishing the story. God damn it all to hell.
He slammed through the restaurant, shaking Jamie off when the man caught up with him.
“Ethan, I’m driving. You can’t get behind the wheel like this.”
“The hell I can’t!”
“I’m not going to let you. Give me the keys. Now!”
Jamie was right, he could hardly see through the haze of red in front of his eyes, let alone navigate a highway without killing someone. He wanted to kill someone, though. He wanted to rip someone to shreds.
Instead, he allowed Jamie to push him toward the passenger seat and soon they were out on the highway, cruising as fast as the speed limit would let them.
He was thankful the man kept his mouth shut. The last thing he needed right now was pity. Or advice.
Ten minutes passed before Jamie opened his mouth. “You know that’s Lacey back there, showing you those files. You didn’t even ask Autumn if it was true.”
“It’s true.” He’d seen it in Autumn’s eyes.
“There might be an explanation.”
“Doubt it.” He knew enough of the world to know people did things for several basic reasons. Greed. Desire. Or hate. Greed in this case.
“Autumn deserves a chance to give her side.”
“Does she?” They rode in silence for several minutes. “Shit.” His head bowed under the crushing weight of all his dreams collapsing on him.
“What?”
“Autumn’s pregnant.” Or at least he thought she was. Had she faked that, too? Could you fake a pregnancy test? “I think.” He met Jamie’s brief, pitying gaze. “I don’t know.”
Jamie slowed the truck and pulled to the side of the highway. “I don’t think you can run from this one, Ethan. It’s f*cked up every which way from Sunday, but you need to see it through. Things weren’t right on your side at the beginning, either, remember? The ad was a joke and by all rights we should have sent Autumn home on the next flight when she landed at the airport, but you didn’t because you were attracted to her and you wanted to see how things turned out. You fell in love with her over time and changed your mind about the joke.” Jamie shrugged. “The joke became real. What if it’s the same way for Autumn?”
Ethan felt a pang of guilt. Jamie was right, he hadn’t been truthful with Autumn, either. “What do you mean?”
“What if she answered the ad as a joke – as a funny way to write an article? Then, when she came out here she fell in love with you and decided to make the marriage work. She got pregnant, she’s been sleeping with you for weeks, right? Hell, she figured out how to save the ranch and got the two of us to be business partners!”
“That could all be for the story.”
“Sure, it could be. But is it? How far did those notes of hers go?”
Ethan tried to think back. There was the picnic, getting the ring…and hardly anything after that. She’d stopped writing about their relationship and she hadn’t even downloaded any more pictures.
“The first couple of days, I guess.”
“See?” Jamie leaned forward. “Just like you – it started out fake and then turned real. Shouldn’t you at least give her a chance to say something?”
Ethan leaned back in the seat and stared at the ceiling. “I don’t know.”
“I do.” Jamie started the engine and spun the wheel around.