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

relieved. The last thing Belle wanted was to rehash old hurts and fears. Luc would never understand the crippling dread that held her hostage.
    “Fine, we’ll talk... after you help me.” Belle set a path to the bedroom door. Pausing with her hand on the doorknob, she turned to find Luc staring at her with a contemplative expression. “Coming?”
    Finally, after a good thirty seconds, he strode toward her. He nodded to the door. “After you, wife.”  
    Belle yanked it open. Her sudden nerves had nothing to do with the way Luc had said the word wife, with such intense feeling it pierced her heart. She was simply nervous because she was about to deceive her family. Maybe her intentions were born from her protective instincts, but the fact remained—she wasn’t being honest with the people she cared about. And to add a twist to her scheme, Belle was no actress.
    As they descended the stairs, Luc dropped his arm around her shoulders, giving her a little squeeze. “Are you ready for this?”
    “Not at all.”
    He chuckled. “I won’t let you down. I promise to act the devoted husband.”
    Every muscle in Belle’s body tensed. Luc was going to have fun playing with her. She’d heard the little telling nuance at the end of husband .
    “Luc, I’m warning you. Don’t go overboard. No one expects us to be in the honeymoon stage of our marriage any longer. In fact, most couples start to forget each other exist after five years.” She started to warm to this new supposed stage of their relationship. “Yeah, I’ve seen couples like that. He walks ahead, leaving his wife to struggle behind with the shopping. He stops opening doors for her, never pulls out her chair, and the only time he notices his wife is to tell her to fix her hair.”
    Luc’s playful smile segued into a grave expression. “That’s not the kind of man I am. My wife will always be the centre of my world.”
    Tears pricked the back of her eyes.
    Why did Luc have to be so sweet all the time? Why couldn’t he be insensitive and mean? It would certainly make giving him up easier for her to deal with.
    He’d said his wife would always be the centre of his world, but she no longer held that title. Would he remarry? Choose some other woman who could handle what he did for a living? A shard of jealous pain sliced through her as she imagined Luc with another woman—sharing love and life, laughter and children—a woman who couldn’t be her. Death had already taken one man she’d loved deeply; she couldn’t bear to lose another. To Belle’s way of thinking, she’d rather give Luc up now than wait for death to steal him from her.
    He reached out and caught a lock of hair that had escaped her haphazardly finger-combed ponytail, smoothing the tress between his fingers before he released it.   “Besides, I love your messy look.”
    Belle tucked the wayward strands behind her ear. “Lucas, be reasonable. If we behave all loved up, it’s going to be harder on Gran when I do have to tell her we’re divorced.” She stopped on the last step. “Maybe we should bicker, throw little insults at each other so they can see things aren’t so good between us.”
    Luc shook his head, removed his arm from around her shoulder, and continued striding toward the kitchen.
    Belle caught the back of his white cotton shirt in her fist, yanking him to a stop. “Don’t you think that’s a great idea?” she whispered, searching Luc’s grim expression for some agreeable sign. Instead, he looked ready to spit. “Luc?”
    “No, I don’t think it’s a ‘great idea,’ Belle.”
    “Why not?”
    He exhaled noisily. “If you wanted to go with the marriage-in-trouble plan, you shouldn’t have kissed me like your life depended on it.”
    “What did you expect me to do? I was shocked to see you.”
    “Interesting that your reflex to the shock of seeing me was to kiss me instead of slap me. Now that would have told everyone our marriage was in trouble.” He resumed