Marrying Mister Perfect (26 page)

“I feel like I should clean something. I know
how the Doctors Doyle love a sterile environment,” Lou said, trying
for levity, but the joke fell flat.

Neither of them felt much like laughing.

He wanted to say something more, but he had
no idea what he would have said even without the show’s rules
hanging over him. The air between them was saturated with unspoken
words.

But in the end he just said good night and
walked out, uncertain what he was supposed to do now. Falling in
love with someone other than Lou in the next two weeks was utterly
inconceivable, but he’d told her originally that he would do this
for her, so she could walk away and have her own life.

He owed her that. So he would try.

#

Lou stayed seated at the kitchen table until
she heard the front door close behind Jack. At the distant click,
she let out a shuddering breath and sagged down over the table,
letting her head rest against the wood as tears came out of nowhere
to fill her eyes.

She’d done the right thing. She was sure of
it. So why did she feel like she’d just made the biggest mistake of
her life? Why was her entire body shaking with emotion?

He was glad they’d kissed. It felt like such
a short step from there to happily ever after. But it was a step
through a minefield.

They needed to tread carefully and keep the
children’s happiness always in mind. He’d said he wanted to kiss
her again, but he’d never said he wanted anything more from her.
He’d said that the kids wanted them to get married, not that he
wanted that—though it was too soon to be thinking along those lines
anyway, wasn’t it? Unless she counted the last four years. And it
was hard for her heart not to count the last four years.

Lou sniffed back her tears and shoved herself
to her feet, moving around the kitchen, looking for something to do
with her hands, something to clean, but the crew had left
everything spotless. Inconsiderate bastards. Didn’t they know she
was having an emotional crisis and needed to scrub something?

It felt like she’d lost him. Not that she’d
ever had him, but this time the missed opportunity was her own
stupid fault.

See where it goes
. It sure as hell
wasn’t moonlight and roses, but she could have said yes. She could
have taken his hand, gazed into his eyes, confessed that she’d like
that.

She’d said no.

And tomorrow beautiful Katya arrived. The
swimsuit model who never, ever told Jack no.

Lou groaned and buried her face in her hands.
Crap. What had she done?

Chapter
Twenty-Four

If Jackson Doyle married Katya No-Last-Name
the Swimsuit Model, Lou was going to kill him. Slowly. With red hot
pincers and boiling oil and whatever other medieval methods she
could dig up. Where was an iron maiden when you needed one?

The first thing Lou noticed when Katya walked
through the door were the gravity-defying orbs of silicon attached
to her chest. Her shirt was thin, clingy, and the neckline dropped
down nearly to her belly-button to display more cleavage than Lou
had ever seen outside an NC-17 movie. Her legs were approximately
three miles long and crammed into designer jeans so tight she could
barely walk—or maybe that deficiency was caused by the
four-and-a-half inch crimson stilettos she’d crammed onto her
dainty feet.

Platinum blonde hair hung in thick, glorious
waves all the way to her hips. They had to be extensions, but the
artificial hair still gave Lou’s wispy dishwater blonde ponytail an
inferiority complex—new highlights and layers notwithstanding.

Katya clutched her designer handbag with
long, elegant fingers, tipped with claw-like acrylic nails painted
such a dark, bloody red Lou imagined she may have just come from
ripping the throats out of her enemies.

Her features were vaguely Slavic, with wide
ice-blue eyes and delicate bones, but the piece de resistance were
the lips. Giant, poofy, Angelina Jolie,
why-yes-I-will-take-an-extra-injection-of-collagen Lips, with a
capital “L”. Sure, men thought lips like those were the sexiest
thing on earth, but Lou couldn’t help but think Jack kissing those
babies would be like making out with a grouper.

Okay, Lou was jealous. Neon green sparks of
envy flying off in every direction
jealous
. The woman was
disgustingly gorgeous. Did she have to be so damn
perfect
?

Katya stepped into the foyer and paused,
angling her head and posing for the cameras as she pretended to
search for Jack—who was standing right beside Lou in plain view of
Katya and everyone else. When the Russian supermodel finally
saw
him, she squealed and clapped her hands.
“Jackie-boy!”

Lou wondered if the producers would edit it
out if she vomited all over Katya.

Then Katya, the gravitationally improbable,
caught sight of the kids standing next to Jack and her squeals
reached a new decibel normally reserved for canines and torture
devices. “Oh, are these them? Aren’t they just the cutest you’ve
ever seen?”

Lou wasn’t sure who Katya was asking, but no
one answered as she teetered forward with a determined smile on
those insanely huge lips. Emma tucked herself behind her father’s
leg, her eyes wide.

Katya bent down, her
gravitationally-resistant orbs swaying precariously close to
not-safe-for-primetime exposure. “Aren’t you just precious?” she
cooed at Emma, who shrank back a little more. She then turned her
silicone cannons in TJ’s direction. “You must be JT! Aren’t you a
handsome little man? You’re gonna be a heartbreaker just like your
daddy, aren’t you?”

TJ just looked at his father uncertainly, as
if silently asking what planet Katya was from. Lou could have told
him. Planet Hollywood. Or perhaps Planet Miami Beach.

Jack smiled, for all the world as if he had
no problem with Katya’s attire or the way she was scaring the
bejeezus out of the children, and stepped forward to peck Katya on
the cheek. “Welcome to Casa Doyle. I’ve got a great day planned.
You’re gonna love it.”

Katya batted her eyelashes at warp speed.
“Oh, I know I’ll love it,” she simpered. “As long as we’re
together.”

Lou stomach turned. Jack could
not
have been taken in by this. Sure, it was like being hit on by
Angelina Jolie’s tall, blonde, slightly-more-sexy sister, but
still! How could he not see how
fake
she was?

Then Katya leaned forward to return Jack’s
peck, giving him a bird’s eye view straight down to her navel.
Oh, yeah, that’s how
.

Jack gave a dazed smile. Lou somehow managed
not to thump him upside the head on national television. She should
get an Emmy for that alone.

“Shall we get started?” he asked.

Katya’s gaze flicked sideways to where Lou
was standing, just slightly off to the side—the only family member
she hadn’t greeted. “Are we
all
going?”

Lou smiled, knowing the baring of teeth
looked a little feral, but not nearly as good as Katya at
manufacturing her expressions. “Oh, I thought I’d just tag along,”
she said sweetly. “In case the kids get tired early.”

Katya instantly brightened, megawatt radiance
pouring off her. “Excellent!” She wrapped her talons around Jack’s
biceps. “I can’t wait.” Then she seemed to realize she’d just said
she hoped the children tired out so she quickly amended. “To see
where we’re going! I just love surprises!”

As they all headed out to pile into the cars
along with multiple camera crews, Lou trailed behind, watching
sweet Katya coo and paw at Jack. She kept angling herself and
cocking her head and flicking her hair—constantly aware of which
direction she was being shot from. Katya may love surprises, but
Lou was willing to bet there was nothing she loved more than the
limelight. Including Jack.

After they popped the kids into the car, Jack
turned to help Katya in, she tugged him back from the door. As Lou
approached, she heard Katya purr, loud enough for the cameras—and
half the block—to hear her, “I’ve missed you so, darling.”

She speared her talons into Jack’s hair and
yanked his head down for a grouper lip-lock.

Lou’s mouth went dry, her insides turned to
stone and her eyes burned.

When Katya released him, Jack’s face was
flushed. He cleared his throat roughly as he disentangled Katya’s
hands from his person. “Let’s go.”

Lou turned quickly away, ducking into one of
the other cars before Jack turned and caught her gaping. She
clenched her hands into fists in her lap, managing not to scream
her frustration. An entire day watching the most gorgeous woman on
the planet paw the man she loved and had stupidly
told
to
date the bimbo.
Oh, joy
.

#

After Jack pried Katya off him, he looked up
just in time to see Lou dive into the second car. Crap. Had she
seen the kiss? He’d kept his mouth sealed shut and let Katya writhe
and moan against him because it was easier than causing a scene by
pushing her away, but he hadn’t realized Lou might be watching. How
was he going to convince her without words that she was the one he
really wanted if he made out with other women in front of her?

He herded Katya into the SUV limo and climbed
in after her, snagging the empty seat between the kids so Katya
couldn’t maul him in front of them on the drive out to the
country.

The producers had loved it when he’d
suggested the destination for today’s outing. Miranda’s eyes had
lit with visions of sweeps week. One of the things
Marrying Mr.
Perfect
did best was jarring people out of their comfort zone.
Today’s destination was a test for Katya—one he was reasonably
certain she would fail.

He’d kept Katya around for so long for two
reasons. One, she was distinctly easy on the eyes. And two, he was
one hundred percent certain her emotions were not engaged in the
slightest. Oh, sure, she would work up some crocodile tears when
she was eliminated, but as long as he gave her plenty of camera
time, she was happy. So he didn’t have to feel guilty about leading
her on.

Marcy and Katya were a lot easier to deal
with than some of the other girls. The ones who wanted so badly for
him to love them. They just made him feel like an ass.

He hated being responsible for everyone’s
happiness. The girls, the producers… hell, it even felt like the
American public was counting on him for a good show. He couldn’t
wait until the show was over and the only happiness he was
responsible for was his own, his kids, and Lou. If she would have
him.

Their conversation in the kitchen last night
replayed in his mind. He’d gone over it a dozen times, from a dozen
angles, and he still didn’t know what to do. She was right about
the kids. But he wasn’t convinced that she wasn’t doing the martyr
thing by pushing him on the other women. If only there was a way to
woo her without the children hanging around. And without the camera
crews. Just the two of them. No show. No kids. No pressure. Just a
chance to see if he what he thought was between them was really
there.

But would Lou want to even if they had the
chance?

He’d overheard her being interviewed this
morning, gushing enthusiastically about how happy she is that he’s
found all these extraordinary women and how she can’t wait to meet
them and welcome them to the family.

Part of him feared that she really wanted him
to fall in love with someone else, but this was Lou and she sure as
hell wasn’t going to come right out and tell him. Good Midwestern
girls didn’t inflict their desires on others.

But he wanted her desires. He wanted her. He
still didn’t know when it had happened—maybe it had been there all
along, lurking beneath everything he thought he wanted—but he loved
Lou. And now that he’d finally figured it out, he wasn’t going to
be stupid enough to let her slip through his fingers.

Not if he could help it.

And provided he could keep her from hating
him forever after seeing him kissing Katya. He’d definitely have
some damage control to do today. But maybe their destination would
help.

Jack felt a small, wicked smile curve his
lips as he glanced over at Katya, who was powdering her nose and
checking her make-up with her compact mirror.

Today was certainly going to be
interesting.

#

“Well,” Katya huffed, plucking a stalk of hay
out of her hair. “That was… unique. I can honestly say I’ve never
been on a hayride before.”

Jack grinned to himself, feeling inexplicably
smug. The day had gone
exactly
as he’d intended. And the
expression on Katya’s face when they first arrived at the corn maze
was priceless.

She’d balked initially, but gotten over her
initial protest when she realized she could get “lost” in the maze
and force him to find her in some secluded corner. He’d found her
all right, but he’d been holding Emma by one hand and TJ with the
other so her plan of maze-seduction hadn’t panned out. Though he
understood the sentiment. He’d been more tempted than he wanted to
admit to sneak off and corner Lou.

After the maze, they’d met up with his
parents at a weenie roast and hayride. Katya had looked at the
hotdogs like they were toxic, and hadn’t had much more appreciation
for the hay. Jack’s parents had taken turns grilling Katya with
questions about her past and what she wanted out of the show, which
gave Jack the chance to settle down next to the fire to make
s’mores with Lou and the kids.

He’d been relieved to see Lou laughing as she
licked marshmallow goo off her fingers. The pinched expression
she’d worn when she first met Katya had eased and she’d been easy
with him again for the first time since the infamous Jacuzzi
incident.

After the hayride, his mother had pulled him
aside and informed him—in full view of the cameras—that he would
have to be out of his ever-loving mind to marry that twit.
Apparently the only thing Katya knew about him was that he was a
doctor and she wanted to marry a doctor. His mother had not been
impressed. He hadn’t been surprised.