Let's Pretend (Romantic Comedy, Contemporary, Second Chance, Sensual) Read Online Free

“Don’t get me wrong, sweetheart. I loved the welcome, but what’s going on?”
    Belle pulled her arm away with ease. “Will you just shut up for a second?” She resumed her mission to get to her bedroom. “I’ll explain when we get some privacy.”
    He followed. “I’m confused. One minute you’re throwing me out of our house, and the next you’re kissing me like everything is back to normal. You haven’t told your family yet?”
    Belle glanced over her shoulder as she ran up the second flight of stairs. Luc kept pace with her, his efforts less exhaustive than hers, as he took the steps two at a time with a lithe velocity that highlighted his fitness. Fifteen years as a firefighter kept him agile.
    “Have you told your parents?” The thought that he might have brought a strange ache to her heart.
    Luc’s gaze flicked from hers to the galleried wall of framed family photographs that stretched along the entire landing to Belle’s room at the far end.
    “I came close last week.”
    So he was having as hard a time breaking the news to his parents as she was. Why did that knowledge lift her spirits? She pushed open the door to the bedroom she was using, stepped ahead of Luc into the bright, airy room, and left him to close the door. “You’re right, I haven’t told my family yet.”
    Lucas slid his hands into his black trouser pockets. “It didn’t take me long to figure that out. What I can’t decipher is why?”
    “I think Gran has called this family meeting to tell us she’s seriously ill.”
    Astonishment drew Luc’s brows together. “What makes you think that?”
    “She’s very evasive.”   Belle sat on the end of the bed, crossed her legs, and clasped her hands on her lap. “When I asked her why she’d called the family together she said something terrible has happened, but she refuses to elaborate until everyone has arrived.”
    “How many more of your family members are due?”
    “She won’t say. Just that when the time is right, she’ll tell us why we’re here.”
    “What does your mum think? If anyone can get it out of Annie, it’s Vicki.”
    Her mum who was artistic, flighty, and fun. A woman who had dragged herself out of a dark place after her husband’s death, she decided life was too uncertain to let a day go by without making the most of it. Armed with her new motto of ‘live every day as if it were your last’, Victoria Murphy had changed the spelling of her name from Vicky to Vicki and jumped into the exciting pool of life with both feet.
    “Mum isn’t here yet. She’s due to arrive later tonight.”
    “Maybe you’re worrying for nothing. You know how crafty Annie can be. Perhaps her request for us all to be here is her cunning way to force her family to visit.”
    Belle had to admit her gran was wily. She’d played more than one trick on them in the past. But something was different this time. Gran seemed subdued, unresponsive to even the most diligent effort to cheer her up. Belle had tried several times to speak with her gran since she’d arrived yesterday at lunchtime. Gran had either cut her off, claiming to be tired and in need of a nap, or she’d flat-out shooed Belle from her bedroom when she’d tried to examine her.
    “I’ve hardly seen her since I got here—she keeps napping. I’ve never known my gran to take afternoon naps. Yet two minutes after I arrived, she went off for one.” Unwilling to allow Lucas to see the tears brimming her eyes, Belle cradled her head in her hands. “I’m convinced she’s called this family meeting to break bad news.”
    She couldn’t bear the thought of her beloved Gran dying. Not now, when Belle needed her strength and wisdom.
    The bed depressed beneath Luc’s weight. When he placed an almost tentative hand on her back, Belle restrained the urge to lean against him. “Is there anything I can do?”
    In the last six months, Belle had learned to stop thinking of Luc as her source of strength, but she needed his