The Flapper's Fake Fiancé

An inconvenient attraction...

To her convenient fiancé!

Patsy Dryer may be a biddable heiress by day, but nothing will stop her from dancing all night in Hollywood’s speakeasies—or fulfilling her dream of becoming a reporter. She’s investigating the mystery of an escaped convict with brooding, handsome newspaper editor Lane Cox...until they must pretend to be engaged! With their scoop linked to Lane’s tragic past, dare Patsy hope for a happy ending for their own story, too?

A lover of fairy tales and history, LAURI ROBINSON can’t imagine a better profession than penning happily-ever-after stories about men and women in days gone past. Her favourite settings include World War II, the Roaring Twenties, and the Old West. Lauri and her husband raised three sons in their rural Minnesota home, and are now getting their just rewards by spoiling their grandchildren. Visit her at laurirobinson.blogspot.com, Facebook.com/lauri.robinson1 or Twitter.com/laurir.

Also by Lauri Robinson

The Cowboy’s Orphan Bride

Mail-Order Brides of Oak Grove

Winning the Mail-Order Bride

Western Christmas Brides

Married to Claim the Rancher’s Heir

In the Sheriff’s Protection

Diary of a War Bride

Brides of the Roaring Twenties miniseries

Baby on His Hollywood Doorstep

Stolen Kiss with the Hollywood Starlet

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.

The Flapper’s Fake Fiancé

Lauri Robinson

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-0-008-90137-0

THE FLAPPER’S FAKE FIANCÉ

© 2020 Lauri Robinson

Published in Great Britain 2020

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

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www.millsandboon.co.uk

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Dedicated to an amazing fan

who loves the Roaring Twenties.

This one is for you, Tambra!

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Note to Readers

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Epilogue

Extract

About the Publisher

Chapter One

August 1928

An escaped convict! Imprisoned for robbing a train seven years ago. That’s the real cat’s meow!

And whiskers!

Patsy Dryer’s heart thudded as she quickly folded the newspaper article and tucked it inside the suitcase that held various other articles she’d saved over the years. This was it. The story that would get her name in the byline. She’d be the reporter. The one to get the scoop on the news overtaking Los Angeles.

Father wouldn’t be able to keep her locked up then. She’d become rich and famous on her own—without having to marry a man he handpicked. He was adamant that his daughters marry well and kept them all under lock and key until he found a suitable man for her and her sisters.

He’d already picked out a man for her oldest sister, Betty, so it was only a matter of time until he found one for her and Jane. Which meant time was running out.

Right next to the articles Patsy had snipped out of the newspapers was a stack of articles she’d written, about all sorts of things, along with a rejection slip for each one.

But this. An escaped convict. That’s exactly what she needed. Everyone would be interested in that and when her version of the story hit the editor’s desk, it would be printed for sure.

Then she’d have a real job, and wouldn’t have to worry about being forced into a marriage, or stuck in the house cleaning all day, day after day.

With that thought encouraging her, and her mind spinning with images of a man dressed in black-and-white stripes, she closed the suitcase and shoved it under her bed.

Gathering all the information she could before another reporter beat her to the scoop was a priority, and she knew just the place for that to happen.

The Rooster’s Nest. Everyone knew whiskey loosened lips. If there was news to be heard, that’s where it would be heard first. The crowd at that speakeasy was full of tough guys—mainly dockworkers who were certain to know more about an escaped convict than anyone else.

The docks were full of chin music. And criminals. At least that’s what she’d heard. Well, read. The newspapers were always full of stories about people being shanghaied.

Oh, maybe that’s what happened to the escaped convict!

She had to find out more information right away.

The morning sunlight filling the room sent a river of discouragement clear to her toes. It’d be hours before she could get to the Rooster’s Nest. Before she could sneak away. Today was wash day. So those hours would be filled with washing everything from rugs to linens, hanging it all out to dry and ironing each and every piece before putting it all away.

Patsy pushed up her sleeves and huffed out a breath while walking to the door of her bedroom, past the vanity table with its round mirror and matching bench seat, both painted bright pink to match the rest of her bedroom furnishings. Her life had been painted pink since the day she was born because she was the baby of the family. Daddy’s baby girl.

Despite graduating high school, and secretarial school, everything was still painted pink. When she had her own house, her own life, nothing would be pink. She wouldn’t be anyone’s baby girl, either. She’d be a reporter. A woman of means.

Shopkeepers already thought of her as a woman of means because she was Patsy Dryer, William Dryer’s youngest daughter, but they didn’t know the half of it. Her family hadn’t always been rich. Father hadn’t started making money until ten years ago, and most of his wealth had been acquired in the past few years, since the houses he’d had built started selling. Those houses didn’t sell on their own, either. They had to be cleaned from top to bottom once they were built, and that was what she and her sisters had been doing, besides keeping their own home in tip-top shape all the time.

She and her sisters had decided some time ago that they weren’t going to do this forever. They weren’t going to be like Mother, either. Being told when to get up, when to go to bed, when to eat and what to do all the time.

“I’ll wash today,” Betty said as Patsy stepped into the hallway. “Jane will run the wringer.”

Betty, being the oldest, kept track of rotating everyone’s household duties. Everything from washing day to shopping day, Betty was in charge, per Mother’s orders, of course.

Mother, of course, was following Father’s orders.

That was the golden rule of the Dryer household.

Father’s orders.

The Dryer household was a prune pit. So old-fashioned it felt as if she was being smothered every day, living in the last century, long before women were given the right to vote. Father threatened he’d send them to a convent if they didn’t follow his orders. Well, living here was nearly as bad.

It was not that she wasn’t grateful. She was thankful that she always had plenty to eat and new clothes to wear, but what was the fun in having new clothes if you were never allowed to go anywhere? Not allowed to do anything? Father’s strict rules kept them practically imprisoned in their own house.

She wasn’t the only one to feel the way she did. Her sisters were as starved for freedom as she was.

“And I’ll rinse,” Patsy replied to Betty as Jane stepped out of her bedroom and joined them in the long hallway that would take them downstairs of their big Hollywoodland home.

Theirs had been the first home built in the hills that now hosted several dozen large and elaborate homes. When Father had inherited the land that was too hilly for farming years ago, he’d decided to plot it off and build houses to sell. Like everything else, he had very specific building requirements and very specific requirements as to who could purchase any of the homes—only the rich and famous. Because that was what he wanted to be. He wanted the Dryer name to ring with recognition.

His words, not hers.

“So I’m on the wringer?” Jane asked.

They all three had inherited their mother’s blond hair and their father’s blue eyes, and as if Father had control over their size, too, they were like stair steps. Betty the tallest, then Jane and then her, the baby of the family. The shortest.

Betty nodded at Jane. “Yes. It’s your turn.”

Jane nodded in agreement, accepting things were as they were, because that’s what they were required to do.

Or did.

Until the day Father had made them visit a convent. That night, six months ago, Jane had snuck out and visited a speakeasy.

Patsy had been floored to learn what Jane had done, but upon hearing about the fun and adventure her sister had experienced, Patsy had joined her the next night, and had the absolute time of her life!

Betty joined the two of them the night after that.

That night, they’d all agreed if they were going to have to live in a convent the rest of their lives, they’d better have fun now, while they could.

So they’d become flappers. Real, live flappers.

They wore short skirts, fancy hats and feathered headbands and makeup, listened to the new fast-paced music, danced with any man they chose and didn’t care if others thought their behavior was acceptable or not.

And it was so much fun!

Excitement filled Patsy from head to toe. She loved their secretive flapper life. “We’re going to the Rooster’s Nest tonight,” she whispered, even though Father was already at work and Mother was down in the kitchen.

A short time ago, after breakfast, she and her sisters had returned to their rooms for half an hour of “digesting time.” What was that? Digesting time? To her, it was nothing more than another one of Father’s rules. However, it was one that she didn’t mind because it gave her time to sneak articles out of the newspaper her father had finished reading up to her room.

“Haven’t been to the Rooster’s Nest in a while,” Jane said. “I heard they have a new piano player that is really the bee’s knees.”

“Hush,” Betty hissed as they started down the long, curved staircase. “Wait until we are on the back porch.”

“Read something interesting this morning?” Jane whispered.

Betty shot them both a glare, but there was a hint of an enthusiastic gleam in her eyes.

Patsy pinched her lips together and nodded at Jane.

The excitement in her sister’s eyes nearly matched hers, and with new enthusiasm to get their chores completed, they all increased their speed down the wide steps.

Hours later, after the beds had been stripped and remade, they were finally in the back porch, where the hum of the washing machine motor, the sloshing of water and the constant high-pitched squeak of the rollers on the wringer gave them the opportunity to talk without the fear of being overheard.

“Why the Rooster’s Nest?” Jane asked, feeding a white sheet between the rollers on the washing machine, filling the air with the smell of bleach.

Patsy waited until enough material rolled out of the wringer for her to grab and guide the sheet into the rinse tub before answering, “There’s an escaped convict on the lam.”

“Really?” Jane flipped the arm of the wringer around so it was in position to squeeze the rinse water out of the sheet.

“Yes,” Patsy answered while swooshing the sheet about in the water. Her sisters knew about her desire to be a reporter. Jane wanted to be in showbiz, and Betty... Betty just wanted out of Father’s house, to move to Seattle, where she’d once visited their grandmother before she’d died. “I read about it in the Gazette this morning. It appears the convict robbed a train seven years ago, and escaped from prison just last week. The article warned people to keep their doors locked.”

“The Rooster’s Nest will be the place to go, then,” Jane said, feeding the rinsed sheet into the wringer so it could drop in the basket to be hung on the line. “If there are any goods to be had, that’s where you’ll hear it.”

Patsy nodded. “That’s what I figured, too.”

“The Rooster’s Nest means we’ll have to take a streetcar.” Betty pulled a sheet out of the washer and waited for Jane to flip the arm of the wringer back over the washing machine tub. “The red line.”

Patsy bit her bottom lip, waiting for Jane’s reply. Both she and Jane knew that if Father ever learned about their nighttime excursions, they all would be in trouble, but Betty would be in the most trouble. He forever pointed out that she was the oldest and the one responsible. For everything.

“We’ve done that before,” Jane said.

“I know.” Betty looked at both of them with a serious gaze. “We just have to be more careful when taking the streetcar.”

Patsy nodded. The Rooster’s Nest wasn’t that much farther away than some of the other joints they visited. It was just located on a busier street, which meant they had to be more cautious about not being spotted by someone who might know them, or their father.

Jane nodded. “You don’t have to tell us twice. If we ever got caught, we’d be locked upstairs like Rapunzel for the rest of our lives.”

That was the real malarkey. They all knew it. “With our hair cut off,” Pasty added. “So we couldn’t throw it out the window to be rescued by a knight in shining armor.” That was the one step none of them had dared take. Cutting off their long hair. Father thought all women should have long hair.

Jane laughed, but Betty didn’t. Her blue eyes grew sad. Patsy knew why. Their father had announced last month that Betty would marry James Bauer, a man whom none of them liked. He was the owner of one of the companies building houses for their father, and most certainly was not a knight in shining armor. But James was what Father looked for in a man. Rich. That was all he cared about.

“We’ll leave at eight thirty,” Betty said as she pulled out another sheet.

“Eight thirty it is,” Jane said, feeding the sheet through the wringer.

Patsy grinned at both of them and nodded while swooshing around the sheet in the rinse tub. Eight thirty was hours away, but excitement filled her nonetheless. Despite the fact that she was nineteen, Jane was twenty-one and Betty twenty-two, they were sent to bed at seven thirty every night just like they had been when they were small children. She’d hated that for years. Right up until Jane had showed them what could happen after their parents were sound asleep. Now she was glad that Father lived by such a strict schedule. One that included his own bedtime, as well. And that their big house meant their parents had a large bedroom downstairs, while the three of them had the upstairs rooms all to themselves.

By 8:31 that evening, Patsy had climbed down the ivy-covered trellis that extended to the second floor, right outside the upstairs bathroom window. Jane climbed down next, and then Betty. They all had their blond hair tucked up beneath floppy brimmed hats, bright lipstick shimmering on their lips and thick layers of mascara on their eyelashes. The shin-length, long-sleeved, paisley-print dresses they’d worn all day had been changed into fashionable A-line sleeveless dresses with hems that stopped above their knees.

Her dress was dark blue with two layers of fringe on the hem, Jane’s was red-and-white-striped and Betty’s was deep purple with silver lace on the hem and neckline. Sewing was another household skill they were well versed in, and one they each put to good use regularly. Their parents only ever saw the simple paisley-and-gingham-print dresses each of them sewed. These ones, their flapper dresses, were made of silk, satin and other enticing materials that had been secretly slipped in the house and sewn in secret for this. Their late-night excursions.

Once on the ground, Betty gave both Patsy and Jane a thorough once-over, then, upon her satisfied nod, they were all three off, running across the backyard like the house had just been raided.

They darted through the line of trees that separated the backyard from a dirt road that led up the hill, where houses would someday be built, and then followed the road downhill, all the way to an abandoned house on the edge of the development. It was a fairly new house that had once been owned by the mob, but the government had confiscated it. Their father had tried to buy it, because it butted up to property he already owned, but it wasn’t for sale. That suited them fine because they could walk through the yard without the fear of being seen, and then onto the street where the red line of the streetcars rolled by.

“Perfect timing!” Jane exclaimed as they all hurried to the edge of the street where they could climb aboard the city trolley ringing its bell. “I can’t wait to hear that new piano player.”

Patsy agreed, mainly to be nice. She enjoyed music, but Jane loved it. Jane even dared sneak into the living room and listen to the radio. Of course, that was only when Father wasn’t home, but Mother was home. So far, she hadn’t gotten caught, and Patsy hoped things stayed that way.

“We have to leave before midnight,” Betty whispered once they were aboard the streetcar. “No later than eleven forty-five or we’ll miss the last car home.”

Patsy and Jane agreed with nods. Other than that, they didn’t speak to each other, or do anything to draw attention to themselves or each other. There were hundreds of thousands of people in LA and the chance of their running into someone who knew them was unlikely, considering other than shopping and church on Sunday mornings, they rarely left the house, but they’d agreed long ago to be extra cautious on their excursions.

They leaped off the streetcar as it stopped a block away from the Rooster’s Nest, which was located beneath a laundromat. Others were going that way, too, and the sisters walked along with the others as if they didn’t even know each other.

The entrance was in the front of the building, except that once they were in the entranceway, everyone took an unmarked brown door on the left that led down a lighted flight of stairs. Jane was several steps ahead and Patsy grinned at how her sister’s head bobbed to the music emitted into the stairway.

At the bottom of the stairs, the first person in line knocked on another door. The small sliding peephole opened, and upon hearing the password, the door was opened for all of them to enter. The password was simply the speakeasy’s name, but it was still a security measure. If the person who opened the slide saw a police officer’s uniform, he would signal the bar, and all of the alcohol would be dumped or hidden so the place couldn’t get busted for selling it.

Patsy’s grin increased as she stepped through the door at the bottom of the stairs and rounded the corner. The large room was full of bright sparkling lights, music and people. All sorts of people.

She loved the thrill that filled her every time she entered a room like this. It was as if she was instantly transformed into an entirely different person.

Tonight that thrill was even bigger. This was it. Her chance to write an article that would get printed and launch her into the world she read about every day. She wanted to see all the things written about in the newspaper, from the ostrich rides at Lincoln Park, to the jazz bands playing music along the beach boardwalk and a gazillion things in between. Being a reporter would allow her to do all that, and there wasn’t a thing her father could say about it.

She rubbed her hands together, ready to learn all she could about the escaped convict. Rex Gaynor was his name. The newspaper had said as much. Her attention zoned in on a trio of men sitting at the end of the bar. No fancy jackets covered their work shirts or the wide suspenders holding up their britches. Hot dawg! Those were the type of men who talked, a lot, once they drank enough, especially to a flapper.

Happiness bubbled inside her. She loved this. Being someone other than dull, boring Patsy Dryer. Here, she was anyone she wanted to be.

That had been scary at first, to break out of the quiet, shy girl she’d been her entire life, but once she had, an entire new world had opened up for her.

Tonight, she was going to be Libby, short for Liberty. That was her favorite, the name she used the most, because that’s what she was, liberated.

Libby wasn’t shy, or quiet, she was bold and vivacious, and knew how to get what she wanted.

She glided up to the bar, planted one foot on the rail near the floor and an elbow on the bar. Cupping her chin, she winked at the men. “Hello, fellas. What’s the news on the dock today?”