Saving Sycamore Bay (Destined for Love: Mansions) Read online

  Layla stared at her father, trying to figure out where this conversation was going. It was the twenty-first century, not 1845. “So, what? He’ll invest in the business if I date Grant?”

  Daddy nodded. “Exactly.”

  Layla’s stomach dropped, and she squirmed in her chair. “You’re serious.”

  Thunder clacked again, and the rain poured down harder, as though in agreement.

  “I know it’s unconventional,” Daddy said. “But you’re unattached, and Grant’s a nice boy. What’s the harm in dating him for a while to improve his image?”

  “That boy’s a social pariah,” Mom broke in. “Who says dating Layla will elevate his status? It might do the exact opposite and ruin her.”

  “Layla’s a darling around here,” Daddy said. “And it won’t be forever.”

  “How long will it be?” Layla ran a hand through her hair, lifting it off her clammy neck. She couldn’t pretend to be in love with some stranger when Tyler still held her heart in his strong hands.

  Daddy shrugged, not meeting her eyes. “Charlie thinks six months—”

  “Six months!” Layla sputtered out a laugh. “I don’t even know Grant.”

  “That’s not important.”

  “Uh, it’s pretty darn important to me.” She’d never seen Daddy like this—her vague memories of an apparently difficult time when she was barely more than a toddler hardly counted. “What does Grant think of this?”

  “He’s agreed to the plan,” Daddy said.

  “Well, in that case, sure.” Layla waved a hand as a sarcastic laugh bubbled forth. “By all means, I should date him.”

  “Grant’s a nice boy. The press is being unfair to him.” Mom lifted a finger. “But don’t let your father pressure you into this.”

  “Let me save our family legacy, will you, Annette?” Daddy snapped. “All Layla needs to do is let the local press attach her name to his for a while. That’s not really so much to ask in exchange for Cypress Grove. Six months will go by in a blink.”

  Dating a man for the local gossip column, with a circulation of five thousand, tops? Layla massaged her forehead. “This is insane.”

  “I know,” Daddy said. “But it’s also the only way.”

  She braced her arms on the porch railing, staring across the pond at the mansion. Tiny figures moved across the window panes as they rushed to get ready for the evening’s event.

  Her parents had given her that pond, with its etched concrete pier and stone lion statues guarding the entrance, as a twelfth birthday present. A year-long obsession with Gothic romances had made it the perfect gift. She’d had a cotillion in the mansion’s ballroom on her sixteenth birthday, and danced the night away with “it” boy, Danny James. When the main floor needed redecorating, Layla had spent hours with her mother and the designer making selections.

  Date Grant and keep the mansion. Could it really be so simple?

  Was she willing to roll the dice and call Mr. Davenport’s bluff?

  She turned away from the mansion and faced her parents. “Okay.”

  Daddy’s shoulders sagged in relief, but Mom let out an unhappy sigh.

  “We’re having a party at the mansion tonight,” Daddy said. “Charlie just opened a new dealership, and as a sign of goodwill, I’m holding a get-together to congratulate him. Grant will be there. You can be his date.”

  Layla nodded. She could do this. It was just a date, and it wasn’t like she and Tyler were . . . well, anything.

  “Fine,” she said. “Let’s do this.”

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