Jared's Counterfeit Fiancee - Brenda Jackson [13]
Her eyes widened. Whatever he had to say sounded serious. “All right.”
She stepped aside to let him in and closed the door behind him. “Can I get you something to drink?” she asked, leading him to her living room.
“No, I’m fine,” Jared said, but feeling anything but fine. His conversation with his father had thrown a monkey wrench into what he’d planned to tell his mother. Out of the corner of his eye Jared saw Tom race from where he had been near the sofa to the vicinity of the kitchen.
Jared took the seat Dana offered him on the sofa and watched as she sat in the chair across from him. With everything on his mind, the last thing he needed was to notice the skirt and blouse she was wearing. But he hadn’t been able to look away when she sat down and he caught a glimpse of thigh that her short skirt revealed. Nor could he dismiss the way her blouse hugged her breasts.
“Jared? You said you had something important you needed to discuss with me.”
Her words reminded him of the reason he was there and he met her curious gaze. “I went to see my mother this morning to clear up the misunderstanding, but things didn’t go the way I had intended. She wasn’t home so I talked to my dad instead.”
Dana nodded. “And you told him the truth.”
“No.”
“Oh?” Dana said, confused.
“There seems to be a problem,” Jared said, knowing that he needed to tell her everything. He decided to start at the beginning.
“Three years ago my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. The lump was removed and she went through eight weeks of both chemo and radiation. She had good days and bad days and my father, brothers and I saw just what a remarkable woman she was.”
The sincerity in Jared’s words touched Dana. She could imagine what Jared, his brothers and father had gone through. After spending time with his family yesterday, it was easy to see just how much Sarah Westmoreland was adored by everyone.
“Anyway,” Jared said, reclaiming Dana’s attention, “I talked to Dad this morning and before I could tell him the truth about us, that there really wasn’t an ‘us,’ he told me that the doctors found another lump in my mother’s breast and if it’s malignant, we might be talking about cancer treatments again.”
“Oh, no,” Dana whispered and immediately moved from her chair to sit next to Jared on the sofa. She reached out and touched his arm. “I’m sorry to hear that, Jared,” she said in all sincerity.
He slowly stood and shoved his hands into his pockets. Her touch had elicited sensations throughout his body, sensations he didn’t want to deal with right now. He had to stay focused.
“So am I,” he said slowly. “However, knowing my mother, she will handle this like the fighter that she is. But there’s something I can do to make the fight a little easier for her.”
“What?”
Jared met her gaze. “It’s a crazy idea but at the moment I’d do anything for my mother, including lie.”
Dana frowned, wondering what he would lie about. “Jared, what do you need to lie about?” she asked, rising from her seat to come stand in front of him.
His jaw muscles tightened and he briefly glanced away. When he met her gaze again, his eyes were intense and her breath caught at the tormented look she saw lodged there.
“Jared, what do you need to lie about?” she asked again.
He hesitated for a moment then said, “Us. My father made me realize just how happy my mother is, believing that I’ve finally decided to settle down and get married. Considering everything right now, I don’t want to take that happiness away from her.”
Reeling in confusion, Dana felt the need to take a step back. “What are you saying?” she asked, not sure she was following him.
“I have a proposal for you,” he said, holding her gaze.
Dana swallowed. “What kind of a proposal?”
He gave her a not-so-easy smile. “That we continue to pretend we’re engaged for a little while longer…for my mother’s sake.”
It would have been easier, Dana thought, if she had been sitting down instead of standing up. Nevertheless, the impact of Jared’s words slammed into her.
She stared at him, looked for some sort of teasing glint