Undercover Protector. Melinda Di Lorenzo
said. “C’mon.”
Nadine frowned as she let herself out of the truck. It was well-known that as the only real hotel in Whispering Woods, the lodge offered a good-sized chunk of reasonably priced rooms and an even bigger set of moderately priced ones. But it was just as well-known that their block of suites were luxuriously equipped and had a cost to match that luxury. She had a hard time believing that the lodge would just give him an upgrade. Especially by accident.
“What did you tell them?” she asked.
“Tell who?” he replied innocently, moving around to her side of the truck and gesturing for her to start walking.
She planted her feet and narrowed her eyes. “Why?”
“Why what?”
“Stop that. Why did they give you an upgrade, Anderson?”
He sighed and ran a hand over his shaggy locks. “Look. It just kind of happened.”
“What did?”
“I was checking in, and the girl behind the counter was friendly. Chatty. You know those dolls where you pull a string to make them talk?”
“Yes.”
“She was like that. Only her string got stuck and she just kept going.”
Nadine fought a laugh. “That’s not very nice.”
He shook his head. “I didn’t say it was a bad thing. It was just a very full five minutes. She told me all about her life and the guy she was marrying. Her high school sweetheart. And she wanted to hear about me. So I told her my cover story, which is that I’m here visiting a friend at the care center.”
“Me.”
“Yes.”
“What does that have to do with the room?”
“When I said friend, the girl at the counter took that to mean something more.”
“And you didn’t correct her?”
“It didn’t seem important. And actually...”
“Actually what?”
“Let’s get to the elevator first.”
Nadine started to argue, then caught the obvious embarrassment on his face and relented temporarily. “Fine.”
“We should take the service elevator. We’ll run into fewer people, and if someone from the staff questions us, we’ll plead error.”
“Are we really that conspicuous?”
“I’m not.” He cast a pointed look toward her legs.
She looked down and spotted her hospital-issue pajama pants. “Oh.”
“I did offer to get you some clothes a few days ago.”
“Don’t rub it in.”
“I wouldn’t dare. Let’s go.”
She let him lead her across the cement. They moved past a set of slick faux-wood doors that led to the main elevators, then around a corner and up to another, far more utilitarian setup—plain gray metal. Anderson tugged on the handle, then stepped back to allow her to pass through first.
“What, no further criticism of my politeness?” he joked as she stepped across the threshold.
“I’ve temporarily suspended my aversion to it.”
“Glad to hear it.”
“Don’t be. I might change my mind once I hear what you have to say about what you told the girl at the front desk.”
His expression turned sheepish, and he didn’t speak until they were in the elevator and on the way up.
“Once the check-in girl had put the idea out there,” he said, “it seemed like a better option. Being your boyfriend instead of your friend gave me a better excuse for my vigil outside your room.”
Nadine had to push off yet another need to blush and instead asked, “But if you were my boyfriend, why would you be staying at the lodge in the first place? Why wouldn’t you stay at my place?”
Anderson cleared his throat. “Exactly what she wanted to know.”
“And what did you tell her?”
“The first thing that came to mind. That you and I had a fight.”
“About what?”
“You want to know what our fictional fight was about?”
“I think I have a right to know.”
“What makes you even think I told the check-in girl what it was about?”
“Because you got a suite, and you didn’t get it just because you lied about being my boyfriend. And speaking of lying...” Nadine crossed her arms. “I thought you were Mr. Honesty.”
“Mr. Nice Guy,” he corrected. “And aside from the fake name—which was a necessity—and the fake fight—which was a knee-jerk-reaction kind of excuse—the girl filled in the rest on her own. I mentioned she was chatty, didn’t I?”
She rolled her eyes. “And what did she fill in?”
“That I was getting ready to propose, and you ran off to Whispering Woods to avoid me.”
“Well, that’s a hell of a leap.”
Anderson chuckled. “You have no idea. One second I was single guy, checking into a hotel for a few days, and the next, I was chasing after a woman who refused to marry me.”
“I’m afraid to ask how that led to the suite,” she said.
“Well. When you see which suite it is, you might be able to fill in a few things on your own.”
“Can’t wait.”
“I’m sure.”
The elevator pinged then and came to a smooth stop. But as the doors slid open and Anderson pressed an arm against one of them so she could go by, Nadine had a sudden urge to run. To shove the thick-shouldered man aside and run straight down the hall without looking back. And it wasn’t fear that fueled the need. It wasn’t even some unspecific kind of apprehension. It was anticipation. An unexpected tingle that licked warmly up her feet and hands, moved inward, then settled somewhere in her gut. It was a heady feeling. Dangerous. Unexpected. And directly related to her attraction to Anderson and the fact that she was about to be very, very alone with him.
Well, that...and the gold-plated sign that hung on the wall just in view.
Honeymoon Suite.
And it got worse. As Nadine forced her feet to move her out into the hall, a girl who couldn’t be more than twenty or so bounced into sight, her ponytail wagging and eyes sparkling at the two of them. Even without an introduction, there was no doubt about who she was—the chatty storyteller who was trying to seal Nadine and Anderson into a fake engagement.
* * *
Anderson stifled a groan. In his mind, it was already awkward enough that he’d been forced to confess to having gone along with the assumptions made by the check-in girl. Now he was going to have to own it, too. Taking a breath, he forced a smile onto his face. Then he slung his arm over Nadine’s shoulders as casually as he could manage and bent a little to whisper, “Can’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“It worked!” the check-in girl squealed as she approached. “I told you it would!”
“You sure did,” Anderson agreed.
She turned her eyes to Nadine. “How did he do it? What part convinced you? Tell me the room had something to do with it! It was the room, wasn’t it? Wait—why aren’t you wearing the ring?”
“The ring?” Nadine repeated,