Loving Lauren by Jill Sanders Read Free Book Online Page A

started.
     
    “Wonderful!” Savannah reached into her purse and pulled out a stack of small folded fliers. “I was hoping you'd say ‘yes.’ Now, if you need more, I'd be happy to get you some.”
     
    Lauren looked down at the fliers. There was a picture of Savannah and her white Pekingese dog on the front wearing matching tiaras. Savannah prided herself on being the town's beauty queen. She always rode center stage in the town's parades and had on several occasions been named Fairplay's Princess.
     
    “Anyway, I better get back.” She sighed and then stood. Lauren followed her to the edge of the deck.
     
    “I'm so glad you stopped by.” Lauren stood on the steps above her.
     
    Savannah turned and hugged her. “Oh, me too. We simply must do lunch sometime.”
     
    “Sounds good. Drive safe.” Lauren watched Savannah get in her white Jeep and drive away, slowly going over the dips and rivets in the long dirt drive.
     
    “Thank god. Can you believe how much makeup she had on?” Alex leaned back and sighed.
     
    Lauren turned and glared at her sister.
     
    “No more than you wear on any date with Travis,” Haley said. Alex glared at her little sister. Lauren started laughing and Haley followed. Soon after, Alex was joining in.
     

    Chase stood in the market and looked down at the flowers. Which ones would Lauren like best? He knew he hadn't dealt with their last meeting the best way possible. He needed to show her that he didn't want to come in and take over everything. It had been a moment of craziness seven years ago when he'd proposed the crazy scheme of marriage for money. Okay, he'd had his reasons back then. His heart had led him to tie up his future in a tight little knot. He had wanted out of the small town for a while and was heading to college in Dallas. But he’d also known that he wanted Lauren. He just didn't know how to get everything. When he'd sat across from her that day seven years ago listening to his father and Mr. Holton talk to her about all the money she now owed them, he’d seen the despair in her eyes and he’d felt something shift inside.
     
    He'd honestly just wanted to see that look go away. After the older men left, he'd sat out on the front porch swing and talked to her. He'd just suggested it in passing, not really meaning it, but she had looked at him with such excitement that he hadn’t been able to turn back. The next day, unknown to everyone in the small town, they'd driven into Tyler and had signed the paperwork at the courthouse. Then he'd stopped by the bank that held the inheritance that had been left to him by his grandmother. He'd handed her the cash to pay her father's debt to his two best friends, and plenty for her to live on for the next few years.
     
    A year later, while he'd been attending college in Dallas, he'd received a letter from her with a check. He'd thought about her message of wanting to pay him back, of wanting out of their arrangement, for two days before he'd sent the check back to her with a note saying he didn't want her money. Even then, he knew he didn't want out of their agreement.
     
    He'd talked to Cheryl on the phone and had asked if Lauren was seeing anyone. When his father's assistant called him back a few days later, after confirming it herself, he'd been relieved to find out that Lauren was still single. If she didn't want free from their agreement because of personal reasons, he knew she just wanted to be free from him.
     
    She'd tried again a few weeks later, this time sending money orders in his name. He'd returned those to her as well. Then six months later, she'd started sending him receipts from the local bank. The receipts showed both of their names on an account and the dollar amounts she was depositing.
     
    One thing you had to say about her—once she had her mind set on something, she never gave up. Well, you could say that about him as well. He was determined to show Lauren that he was just what she needed. After