Lucky This Isn't Real: MacBride Brothers Series St. Patrick's Day Fake Fiance Romance by Jamie Knight (good books to read for beginners txt) 📗

I found myself liking Matilda more and more, finding myself wishing that she actually was going to be my mother-in-law. The theatre of my mind unspooled films of family reunions with both the Matthews and MacBride clans brought together. A chaotic sort of peace prevailing. I knew for a fact that Aunt Tricia would love Matilda. There were even kids in my mind’s eye. Though I couldn’t really tell whose they were but hoping at least one of them was mine and Darcy’s.

I felt a twinge in the back of my neck. Something that always happened when trouble was near. It was how I managed to survive through the worst of the trouble in our area. I was never clear if it was a sort of sixth sense or just the reflex of experience.

The smell gave it away. There was exactly one guy I’d smelled wearing Hugo Boss cologne in the past ten years, and it was fairly recently.

“Mr. Matthews,” I said, not turning around.

“That’s Mr. Matthews to you.”

“That’s what he said,” Matilda pointed out.

“Oh, um, right, if you will excuse us, Matilda, I would like to speak with this young man in my office.”

Apparently, in legalese, ‘speak’ meant the same as ‘interrogate.’ It was almost cute how he tried to intimidate me.

I excused myself and made my way into Garrison’s grandiose office. The place was decorated like something from the early 1900s. The dark and frumpy décor suited his personality perfectly.

“I would like to know your intentions with my daughter,” Garrison said, leaning back in his chair, steepling his fingers like a Bond villain.

“Marriage, children, general domestic bliss. The usual.”

“I hear you’re from Ireland.”

I raised an eyebrow. “What gave it away?”

He ignored my sarcasm. “Will you be moving here, or would you expect her to move there with you?”

“Oh, I could never take her away from her family. We would stay right here.”

It just came out. Despite my aversion to dishonesty, I was surprisingly good at it. At least in the right context. I really didn’t feel bad about lying to Garrison. Apparently, my honesty policy only applied to people I didn’t already loathe. It gave me hope for my dad, really. For all I might have criticized his actions, I was always honest with him. Compared to Garrison, Brendan MacBride looked like a Norman Rockwell picture of perfection.

“What would you do for work.”

“The same thing I’m doing now. I’m very flexible,” I said, turning the charm up to 11.

“Successful?”

“I like to think so. Nowhere near your level of eminence, of course, but who is really? I really want to marry your daughter, Mr. Matthews. There is no plan here to foil you or cockblock Harry. Darcy and I are in love, and we are going to get married. Mrs. Matthews was just helping me pick out a wedding cake.”

He opened a drawer in his desk and got out a checkbook. Even as he was writing, I knew what it was for.

“What’s that?” I asked, just for show.

“One million dollars.”

“Wedding gift?”

He snorted. “Hardly. Take it and go. Don’t come anywhere near my daughter again.”

He tore out the check and slammed it on the desk between us. I looked at the check, absolutely seething. This was clearly not the reaction he was expecting. Garrison, no doubt, figured that most people would have taken the check without a second thought. He was probably right about that. The problem was, I wasn’t most people.

Taking the check in both hands, I looked at it as though seriously considering his generous offer.

“Good, I’m glad we could come to an under—”

I ripped the check in two and then, for good measure, into four and then six, placing the pile of very expensive confetti onto the same spot he had slammed the intact check. His jaw dropped, and his face turned an unhealthy shade of red.

“See you around, Garrison.”

I pushed back away from the desk and strolled out of his opulent office, my head held high, the honor of the MacBride’s intact.

“Goodbye, Matilda, it has been lovely.”

“Leaving so soon,” she asked, sounding both disappointed and surprised.

“I really think it is for the best.”

As though on cue, a sound like one from the bowels of Hell rose up from down the hall as the almighty Garrison Matthews, king of Los Angeles and God among mere mortals, realized what just happened. Someone finally had the balls to defy him.

I should have thanked Garrison, really. Were it not for his interrogation and cheap conniving, I might never have realized how important Darcy was to me. I felt it, but I didn’t know quite how to say it. As it turned out, she was worth more than all the money in the world.

It was going to be tough, but not insurmountable, like climbing Everest in the summer. I could get another week of vacation without Armageddon back home. If I were going to marry Darcy for real, I would have to convince her to move to Ireland with me. Time was short, but I was good with deadlines. And if there was one thing I liked, it was a challenge.

Chapter Nineteen - Darcy

I never really thought of being an assistant as scary. There were lots more, much scarier jobs that came immediately to mind. Every job should be done as safely as possible, but the greatest risk one should face while filing is a paper cut. I now hated going to work and hated that I hated it. It took ten minutes of meditation in my car before I could will myself to go into the building. It didn’t seem right, but I took Nicole’s advice and went back to wearing pants, bent