by Megan Bryce
He ignored her outburst. Of course he hadn’t asked. She would have said no.
“I know this may be hard for you to grasp but most women do love me. They fall in love with me so easily. Any other woman would start out being a friend, doing me a favor, but then she would start secretly hoping, hinting. And then I’d end up breaking her heart, watching her cry, and I’d be in the same place again.”
“Maybe you should try being less lovable. That way they’ll dump you and no one gets hurt.”
“If you and my ex-girlfriends have anything in common, it’s that you have no illusions about how lovable I am. Even if I did break noses and force abortions, my name is synonymous with Prince Charming. Every woman in the world wants her own Prince Charming.”
“I don’t.”
He spun her chair around. “I know. That’s why I can trust you.”
He knelt to one knee and the look of horror on her face made him chuckle.
“Mackenzie Wyatt, will you do me the honor of pretending to marry me?”
“You’re even nuttier than I thought you were.”
“Was that a yes?”
She shook her head. “No.”
He took her hands in his and smiled. “I’ve always wanted my very own no-man.”
When she opened her mouth to yell at him some more, he stood up. “Just think about it. I’ll give you a few minutes.”
He needed to nail this thing down before she could come up with a way to get out of it. And also alert his mother and grandma. He probably should have done that before the press conference but he hadn’t thought of it.
He might just leave a voice message for his mother. Or let his grandmother tell her. Mother had strong feelings about Mackenzie, and he didn’t want to hear them again.
He took out his phone, backing his way out of Mackenzie’s office. She was looking around for the stapler again and he closed the door behind him.
He dialed his grandmother, nodding his head at those passing him as if they were giving him heartfelt congratulations instead of incredulous looks.
When Ellen answered, he didn’t know what to say.
“Er. . .”
She chuckled. “We saw it.”
We. “Is Mother alright?”
“She’s lying down.”
He debated whether or not to tell her this was a temporary arrangement, but decided against it. He would have to get his mother on board and he didn’t think he could do it over the phone. He wouldn’t put it past her to try and end this fake engagement before it had a chance to start. He glanced behind him at Mackenzie’s office. He wouldn’t put it past her, either.
“I need to go. I have a few more interviews to give. Tell Mother everything will work out and I’ll see her tonight.”
“Bring Mackenzie.”
Ethan grimaced, imagining Mackenzie and his mother together right now. “I’ll try.” He paused. “You seem okay with this.”
“I knew the minute I saw your grandfather. Sometimes that’s how it happens. And sometimes it takes seven years and countless mistakes before you can see what’s right in front of your nose.”
He shook his head, smiling. Trying to decide if she was going to be upset when she learned it wasn’t real.
He didn’t think so. Grandma rarely did surprised or upset. She left that to Mother.
He said, “I’ll see you tonight. Try to be gentle with Mother.”
Ellen hung up on another chuckle. Ethan was glad somebody was finding this situation amusing.
He commandeered an office on Mackenzie’s floor, giving his rep a quick call to see who wanted interviews. He gave permission to confirm the happy engagement, with no date set yet.
He returned four calls to reporters, giving quick interviews with promises for more later, then sat back and took a deep breath.
When he’d seen those pictures this morning, rage had filled him. He couldn’t ever remembering feeling that kind of white, hot anger before. He’d known from an early age that he was fair game. There would be good written about him, and bad. And that was that. It was up to him to get them to spin it how he wanted it spun.
And the women he dated were already in the spotlight. They knew the pressure, the unspoken rules. . .
Most of them, anyway.
But Mackenzie didn’t, and seeing her on the front of the National Enquirer had made him seriously think of destroying those who’d put her there.
He’d gone this morning to comfort her. To tell her it would be okay.
And he’d realized after about two minutes that Mackenzie didn’t need him to protect her. Wouldn’t want him to.
And she did a damn fine job of getting him to stop moping, stop dreaming of revenge, and start thinking how to spin it.
He’d known an engagement was what he needed the moment the idea had come to him. It would silence the tabloids. Would silence any other ex-girlfriends who’d started thinking of telling lies to the press.
Would stop the speculation about Mackenzie and him.
A mystery would always tantalize and an engagement announcement would end that mystery. Of course, now there was the mystery of just who this woman was who had captured Ethan Howell O’Connor.
He chuckled, thinking of some reporter getting hold of Mackenzie and what she would say. He’d have to give her a few lessons on how to talk to the press before that happened.
He thought about taking that short walk back to her office and decided he’d give her a few more minutes to cool down. Give her time to empty that stapler, at least.
Mackenzie fumed at her desk after Ethan left.
This was all because of that stupid softball game. She’d known not to mix business and pleasure and sure enough, she was right. In less than a week, she’d gone from being a pain in the butt salesman, to meeting his family, to becoming engaged to him. She didn’t even know how to get out of it. He wasn’t taking no for an answer, and if she tried to hold a press conference she’d get laughed off the phone.
Maybe she could submit her own article to the Enquirer– He forced me to marry him!
What a nightmare.
Her emergency stash of chocolate was taking a hit today. She couldn’t concentrate. And everyone in the office had found some reason to walk by and stare at her. She knew if she left the dubious sanctuary of her office she’d be accosted, and she had no idea what to say yet. And how to say it without choking, or hyperventilating, or blushing.
The world thought she was engaged to Ethan Howell O’Connor.
How was she to ever hold her head high again? He dated movie stars and debutantes, and now he was engaged to her? No one would have believed it if he hadn’t told the world himself.
Her voicemail was full, had been full almost the minute the press conference had ended. The two most alarming calls had been from his grandmother and mother, the ten reporters following close behind.
This was going to ruin her life, and he thought she could just dump him in the end and everything would go back to normal? Sometimes he could even bullshit himself.
She had two messages from friends, one from her friend Shane.
“Is there more than one Mackenzie Wyatt who works for O’Connor? ‘Cause I swear I just heard he’s engaged to you.”
And Cassandra.
“Mackenzie! I don’t talk to you for one lousy week and the sky starts falling! What is going on? Call me!”
She didn’t know what to tell them, didn’t know what to tell herself.
Fifteen minutes later she’d snuck out to her car. There was one person who might be able to help her. One person who would be even less happy about this than she was. She should have just called but she couldn’t do it at the office. She couldn’t stay there one more minute with all those incredulous, watching eyes staring at her without shouting that there was no way in hell she was marrying Ethan O’Connor.
And that would just make her look like even more of a fool when he came back and told them she was. They’d believe him. They would always believe him.
/>
She stopped at a gas station and used the payphone to call the number his mother had left on her voicemail. Mackenzie was the last person in California without a cellphone and normally she was proud of that. Today she hadn’t wanted to get out of the car.
His mother answered warily and Mackenzie announced herself just as warily.
There was a heartbeat of silence.
“Ms. Wyatt.”
Another silence.
“Why don’t you join us for dinner.”
“I’ll either be drunk or in prison for killing your son by then. Let’s make it lunch.”
“Perhaps this should be a private conversation.”
“I can meet you right now. The sooner you fix whatever is wrong with Ethan, the sooner we can end this pretend engagement.”
Christine O’Connor sounded a little cheerier. “Pretend? Come to the hotel.”
Mackenzie headed back downtown to the hotel. The glass high-rise of the Ritz-Carlton gleamed in the sunlight and when Mackenzie entered the modern lobby, money screamed at her. The new of it didn’t suit either Christine or Ellen O’Connor, but maybe Ethan had picked it. He would look at home here. He would look at home just about anywhere. Mackenzie’s current thinking was that he would look at home in a casket.
Christine O’Connor opened the door before Mackenzie even knocked, and she walked right in. For a moment Mackenzie wondered if it was wise to be alone with his mother and then she heard Ellen O’Connor chuckling.
“I looked like that myself a few times while I was married to Ethan’s grandfather.”
“Like you wanted to kill him?”
“Like killing was too good for him. Now, Christine was always too gentle. She never got angry with Michael like I did Grant.”
Mackenzie glanced at Christine and the frigid look she was currently wearing. Gentle was not the word she would have chosen.
Mackenzie said, “Can’t anybody keep a leash on Ethan? He’s a menace.”
“He needs a wife to do that.” Ellen grinned at her.
Christine cleared her throat. “What were you saying about this being a pretend engagement?”
Mackenzie stalked to the window, staring out at the hazy yellow air.
She said, “Ethan has decided that the best way out of this tabloid hell he’s found himself in is to become engaged to the woman of his dreams. Unfortunately, he’s picked me to be that woman.”
His gentle mother said, “That does seem to be a stretch.”
Ellen came to stand next to her. “I think you’re perfect for him.”
Mackenzie and Christine both glared at her.
Mackenzie said, “He announced it at that stupid press conference before he even told me what he was going to do. Let me tell you, that’s not the way you want to find out you’re engaged to Mr. Charming.”
Ellen said, “He’s not nearly as smooth with you as he is with all those other bimbos he brings home. It’s good for him. And stop frowning, Christine. The wrinkle between your forehead hasn’t gone away since you met Mackenzie.”
Mackenzie nearly laughed at the speed his mother stopped frowning.
Mackenzie ran her hands through her hair, pulling at the roots. “I would have told you at the picnic that I wouldn’t really hurt your son, but he’s changed my mind since then.”
Christine’s frown came back.
Mackenzie said, “He won’t listen to a thing I say. Maybe you can talk some sense into him.”
Ellen shook her head. “That boy is notoriously hard-headed. I think you’re stuck with him.”
“Maybe you could have him committed. Just tell the press that he has obviously lost his mind.”
“I think he’s finally found it.”
Christine sighed. “You’re not helping, Ellen.”
“Someone’s got to be on his side. You two are going to be hatching all these plans against him. As his grandmother, I have a duty to protect his future and the future of the O’Connor name. This girl’s exactly right for him. We need new blood. And he needs someone he can’t schmooze all over.”
Mackenzie felt a little queasy thinking about future O’Connors. His mother didn’t look all that well herself.
Mackenzie sat down slowly on the couch, staring at Christine hopefully. “Maybe you could have both of them committed?”
Ellen sat next to her. “There are a lot of perks to being an O’Connor. I’m sure we could come to a mutually beneficial agreement in regards to grandbabies.”
Right about there, Mackenzie realized she wasn’t going to get anywhere with his mother. Maybe if Ellen had been against it, but between Ethan and his grandmother, her cause was lost. His grandmother had already told her she would bet for whatever she thought was best for Team O’Connor. Apparently she’d decided Mackenzie would make a great addition.
Mackenzie left as fast as she could and found herself at the batting cages. She changed into the sweats she kept in her car for just such emergencies and proceeded to knock the hell out of a ball that looked unsurprisingly like Ethan Howell O’Connor.
Ethan gave Mackenzie nearly an hour to calm down before he returned to try and sweet talk her again. He grinned to himself, thoroughly enjoying having to beg to get her to even pretend to marry him. After years of fending off women, he was enjoying the challenge. Although when he found her office empty, he started to enjoy it a little less. No one knew where she had gone, no one had her cell number, and she didn’t answer her home phone.
He frowned. He hadn’t expected her to run.
He ran through his voice messages, hoping she’d called, but even he realized how slim that chance was. His grandmother, though, had called to tell him that Mackenzie had arrived there very upset with him. His grandmother sounded pretty amused about it.
He called her back real quick.
“Is Mackenzie still there?”
“Nope. Came to see if we could get you to stop with this pretend engagement, then ran off in a huff after I started talking about babies and ways to keep the O’Connor men in line. She wants to have you and me committed.”
Ethan rubbed his forehead. “I should have told you it wasn’t real, but I wanted to talk Mother into it in person. Mackenzie is just doing me a favor.”
Ellen laughed outright at that. “She’s not doing you any favor if she can help it. But I’m hoping the engagement will stick. She’s the best one you’ve dated in years and I hope that brain of yours will start working and realize that before too long.”
His grandmother could be just as bad as his mother at trying to get him married off. She was just a bit more discerning.
“Did she leave a cell number or tell you where she was going?”
“No, but if I was you I’d just sit still. She’ll be back eventually to have it out with you.”
Ethan relaxed. She was right. Mackenzie would be back to give him hell, he just had to let her get over the shock.
“And Ethan. Get that girl a ring! An engagement’s not real until there’s a ring on her finger.”
He hung up. That wasn’t a bad idea, actually. He’d always found jewelry to have a calming effect on women.
He drove by her house on the way to the jewelry store, unsurprised to see a TV crew waiting already. Mackenzie would be surprised, but it was her fault for not giving her cell number out at work. Then he drove to a jeweler that he’d visited a number of times at the end of a relationship. He’d never needed jewelry at the beginning before and he wondered if Mackenzie would find that as funny as he did.
He doubted it. She would probably say it had something to do with the kind of woman he normally dated and he wouldn’t disagree with that. Mackenzie was a different breed altogether.
He found a diamond ring that would work until he could get her a custom one. It was probably better to save the nice one until she’d had time to cool down anyway.
Three
Mackenzie parked at the end of her street and watched with growing disbelief. Multiple news vans blocked her driveway
and neighbors stood out on the sidewalk watching. Some were even being interviewed. How could one single man wreak such havoc?
She slowly turned the car around and headed back to the nearest gas station. She was either going to have to fix this mess soon or break down and get a cell phone.
She called his mother again. “I have reporters at my house. How do I get ahold of your son?”
Christine was silent and Mackenzie tamped down her frustration. The woman wasn’t going to let Mackenzie anywhere near Ethan as long as she was afraid bodily harm was the order for the day.
It was; Mackenzie just needed to hide it better.
Mackenzie said, slightly more calmly, “No one can undo this but him. I need to talk to him. Could you give me his cell number? I don’t need, or want, to see him.”
She heard Ellen in the background and then a scuffle as the phone changed hands. “You two are going to fight this the whole way, aren’t you? Call Ethan; he’s looking for you.”
Ellen read off his number and the suite he was staying in and Mackenzie hung up, rethinking whether she really wanted to talk to him or not.
She was going to fight it the whole way. But she knew better than anyone that Ethan got what he wanted as long as it was worth the cost. He wasn’t going to just change his mind about their pretend engagement; he thought it fixed all his problems. He would pay a lot for that, and considering that she was the one paying, not him, there wasn’t much hope convincing him it wasn’t going to work.
And she certainly wasn’t going to win this battle by appealing to his better nature; he’d known before he started the ball rolling that it would disrupt her life and give her a heart attack.
She needed to either make him see that it wouldn’t help him like he thought or make her terms too damn expensive to be worth it.
She dialed his number slowly, wondering if he would even pick up an unknown number, but it barely rang before his voice came on the line. “Mackenzie?”
She let out a pent up breath. “My house is inundated with reporters.”
“I know. I drove by trying to find you after you ran away.”
She ignored his dig. “What are you going to do about it?”