Ineligible Bachelor (14 page)

“What’s so funny?” she whispered.

“You should see those two. They are beating the bushes looking for us.”

“What if they go back to the house for the key?”

“We’re not locked in, Freddy. They are locked out. Once they leave, we can make a break for it.”

She shot him a venomous look. “I know that.”

Logan stood, his face full in the window now. “They’re gone.” He turned to her.

“Then we should probably not waste any time getting out of here.”

“Yeah, think about how they would edit this. The eligible bachelor and his yenta sneaking around in the dark trying to find a place to get a little—”

She cut him off with what sounded like snarl. “Get a little what?”

“Fresh air. Get your mind out of the gutter.”

She glared at him before smiling. “I knew that. Quit talking, and let’s move. You said it. Who knows what an imaginative editor might be able to put together for the show.”

Logan shook his head. “I don’t think the show would have needed an editor.” He puckered his lips and made a kissing sound. “Remember?”

All too well
, she thought. “I got caught up in the romance of the show.”

“There is no romance in the show.”

“Of course there is. There’s a beautiful mansion and six weeks of luxury with a promise of the date of a lifetime at the end. It’s a perfect setting.”

“But it isn’t real.”

“Neither was the kiss.” How did she manage
that
lie?

“It felt real to me.”

“Would you have kissed me under other, more normal circumstances? Say if we were in the parking lot outside your office or in my mom’s backyard?”

“That’s not a fair question, Freddy.”

“It’s more than fair, so answer it.” He hesitated, giving her the answer she didn’t want. “Never mind. We should never have done this.”

He was beside her in a second and took her hand. “Do you really mean that?”

“Yes. We’ve known each other for a long time. Since we were kids. If you were going to kiss me for real, it would have happened already. It didn’t.” She shrugged her hand free. “Now, let’s go. We have a show to finish.”

The next morning, Logan didn’t slow his pace until he hit the three-mile mark on his daily run. He threw his head back and sucked in the crisp morning air before bending over and putting his hands on his knees to stretch his back.

He stared down at the dirt path. Despite Freddy’s dismissal of what happened last night, something had changed between them. True, they had done a lot together since they’d met as kids. Freddy seemed interested in the same things he liked in grade school, like football. He smiled. She had a mean chop block.

Later, during the high school years, they had done homework and research projects together, albeit for different schools. He guessed he couldn’t have passed physics without her. Then they stayed in touch during college via the usual social networking sites and connected again afterward. She helped him more times than he could count with gifts for girlfriends for birthdays and holidays, and they always remembered each other for the same reasons. They were friends, buds, someone he turned to when he needed someone to talk to.

But then they began spending twenty-four hours in the same house together and something happened. He discovered some feelings he had weren’t strictly friendly.

He needed to figure out why now. Could it be the confines of the mansion? The thrill of the chase associated with the show? Or could it be something deeper?

Still debating, he turned and headed back to the house, pounding the dirt path until sweat stung his eyes. After a time, he slowed his steps and squinted against the sun at the manor ahead as Lori and Stacy jogged up next to him.

“Getting in shape for the big date?” Lori asked him.

“And I see you are keeping up with your military PE,” Logan countered.

Lori smiled. “Thanks for noticing.”

He turned to Stacy. “Is she training you?” he quipped.

She shook her head. “Just want to be sure the five-year-olds don’t outrun me when I get back.”

Over Stacy’s shoulder, he could see Roberto waving at him from the edge of the gardens. He pointed. “I think that’s my cue, ladies.” Both women looked back at the mansion in response. “I bet Roberto would rival your basic training drill sergeant,” he said to Lori.

She laughed. “Better not keep him waiting then.” She smiled. “Although, I wouldn’t mind if you kept Jade waiting all day and missed the date entirely.”

“I’ll second that,” Stacy cut in.

“Now you wouldn’t want me to miss our dates, would you?” Logan asked. Both ladies shook their heads. “So I’ll go this way,” he pointed to the mansion, “and I’ll let you two continue your workout.” He hitched his thumb over his shoulder. “If you follow the path, up about two miles is some county parkland with a more level trail.”

“Thanks,” they called out in unison as they ran by him.

He shook his head and stabbed his fingers into his hair, brushing the damp locks away from his face. He blew out a long breath of air as a frazzled Roberto approached.

“I need to talk to you,” Roberto insisted.

“Sure, right after I shower.”

“No, now. It’s too serious for that.”

Freddy sat at the mile-long cherrywood table set up for production conferences in the basement of the mansion. Back straight, shoulders square, she rested her folded hands on the highly polished surface and waited. This would not be good. She could feel it. She looked up when Roberto and Logan entered.

Logan pulled out a chair and slid into it, as did Roberto. “What’s up?” He looked from Freddy to Roberto to Freddy. “Are we going over logistics of the date?”

He grabbed the hem of his T-shirt and wiped his face with it, exposing his bare stomach with its defined abs. Freddy sucked in a deep breath with the sight.

She saw Logan grin when he noticed. “I just ran three miles or so this morning, and Roberto waylaid me before I could get in the shower.”

“Enough chitchat,” Roberto said, his voice snappish. “What have you two been doing since you got here?”

“Stuff,” Logan shrugged and glanced at Freddy. “Why?”

She looked at him, wariness doing laps around her brain, hitting every sensory receptor she owned. Maybe the production crew caught them on film in the pool house somehow. She glanced at Roberto. His forehead bore more creases than the wrinkled linen jacket he wore, and they deepened with each passing moment. The warning voice inside her head sounded like the robot from
Lost in Space,
“Warning, Frederika McAllister. Warning. Warning.”

Roberto did not say another word. He reached behind him and pressed the play button on the control panel hooked up to the flat-screen TV sitting on the credenza. The screen brightened, and Freddy felt sick. Someone had filmed her and Logan in the mansion’s kitchen during the blackout. No audio accompanied the scene, obviously shot with a night-vision lens.

A sickening awareness took hold as she watched the scene unfold. “No, no, that is not what you think!” She glared at Logan. “Tell him!”

The scene continued. As though an arctic blast froze her to the chair, she watched Logan, outlined in the green of the infrared light, lean in to nearly kiss her. Fortunately, the angle was bad. You couldn’t really tell what happened. Logan could have been doing anything, from getting something from the counter behind her to whispering in her ear. She remembered her hands on his shoulders and his hands on her hips, but the cameraman had shifted to a close-up and showed the embrace. With some editing and clever narrative, the kissing seed could be planted in the mind of the viewing audience. Still, it could be worse.

Logan tunneled his fingers in his hair and let out a long breath of air. “It looks kind of sexy, doesn’t it?”

Openmouthed, Freddy looked at him and blinked twice. “Sexy?” she asked through clenched teeth.

Roberto ignored her. “Keep watching.”

Then it got worse. The picture shook, as if the camera had changed hands, and then the close-up she’d never wanted came into focus on the screen. Her chin rested on Logan’s shoulder and she appeared to be enjoying the feel of his cheek next to her neck. While he hadn’t kissed her that day, it seemed they were getting mighty close to it.

Suddenly, the camera shot burned to white when the lights came back on inside the mansion when the electricity was restored.

Roberto didn’t waste a second. “I don’t know what was going on, and I don’t care.” He pointed at Freddy. “I’ll sue you both for fraud if I have to, but this show is going on, as scheduled and according to script. The teasers go on the network this week during prime time, and the commercials for the series have been shot. We’re talking millions of dollars here in revenue for the network and the producers. Are you prepared to reimburse everyone if the show doesn’t air?”

“No,” she answered in a small voice. She saw Logan slump back in his seat in surrender.

Roberto held her gaze. “Need I remind you that you are the one who sent in Mr. Gabriel’s photo?”

“No.”

“Or that the magazine has put a lot of time and effort into this?”

“No.”

“And the network has already put out a lot of money.” He reached for his clipboard.

“I know, I know. The contract.” Fortunately for Roberto, he withdrew his hand. If he had shaken that clipboard in her face one more time, she was sure she would have exploded. She had some serious proverbial tap dancing to do until she could figure a way out.

“So then, what was going on in the kitchen that night?” Roberto gestured to Logan. “His male hormones I can understand, but you.” He pointed to Freddy. “You started this, and we expect you to finish it.”

She certainly did start it. She took a mighty sexy picture of Logan and sent it in to the magazine. Just her luck to win something besides the lottery. Now for both their sakes, she had to see this little adventure she had gotten them into through to the bitter end. The
very
bitter end.

“I can explain the video.”

Roberto leaned forward and rested his arms on the table. “Please. By all means do.”

Logan leaned forward. “Freddy…”

She cut him off before he could finish. “Logan, it’s all on me. I got you into this. I’ll help you get through it.” She closed her eyes for a brief second and took in a small, calming breath she hoped no one noticed. “Nothing happened in the kitchen, and nothing ever would have. Logan and I are like family. It was all strictly innocent. He’s like my brother.”

“Are you sure?”

“Totally.” The word came out in a rush of air.

Roberto turned to Logan. “Is that true?”

He shrugged. “She’s driving.”

“Look,” Freddy said quickly, “I’ve never been a quitter, and I’m not going to start now.” She caught Logan’s gaze. “Besides, you know your firm is totally on board. With all the publicity this show brings and all the attention your firm will get, appearing on
Eligible Bachelor
could give you a great career boost.”

“I’m not worried about my career, Freddy,” Logan countered.

“You should be,” Roberto cut in. “Your ad agency is going to play a key role in one of your dates.”

Freddy snapped her head around to look at Roberto. “What?”

“We have arranged with the managing partner at Logan’s firm to use the winning bachelorette in the ad campaign you were working on.”

Logan cut him off with a dismissive wave. “Ad campaigns can be tricky. Clients don’t like experiments.”

“We’ll be using a version of your Bio-Shoe ads, but jazz it up a little with our contacts. Your boss seemed very excited about the new concept.”

Logan blew out a long breath. “Now I am worried about my career. That is an important account.” The skeptical look on
Logan’s face revealed more than the dubious tone of his voice. “I’ve been courting that account for months. A bad presentation could send the client to another firm.” He rose and began to pace. “I mean, it’s more than a PowerPoint presentation. You need the right setting, the right mood, an experienced model and production crew, and my concept includes the Arizona desert.”

“Relax,” Roberto assured. “We’ll be taking care of everything.”

Freddy’s blood kicked into a slow, angry simmer as she listened to the details. Heck, Logan hadn’t even gone on the first date yet, and already there were plans to fly across the country and use his dream date to solidify his marketing career. She thought her veins would burst as the temperature of her blood probably reached that of the Arizona desert in August.

She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. No words. No protests. No sounds. Nothing. She looked at Logan. He looked surprised. She sure was.

Roberto looked from Logan to Freddy. “Unless there is actually something going on between the two of you that would prevent the show from continuing.”

Freddy cut her eyes to Logan. Was there something between them? She knew she felt more than just friendship, but then again, she always had. Even when they were kids.

But that might be all it ever was and ever would be—the adolescent crush of a girl who never got any closer to the sports jock than helping him with his science homework or history report. Then he grew up and moved on. Maybe now she should also.