The CEO's Accidental Bride

by Barbara Dunlop

  “Then take the money instead,” Lindsay offered reasonably.

  As if that made it better. “I’m not taking his money, either.”

  Lindsay held up her palms in exasperation. “So, what do you want? What’s the payback?”

  Kaitlin thought about it for a moment. “I want him to sweat.”

  Lindsay chuckled and linked her arm with Kaitlin’s, turning her to resume their walk. “Trust me, honey.” She patted her on the shoulder. “He is definitely sweating.”

  “And I want a job,” said Kaitlin with conviction. That was what she’d lost in this debacle. She needed her career back.

  “I don’t want free money,” she told Lindsay, voice strengthening. “I want a chance to prove myself. I’m a good…no, I’m a great architect. And all I want is a fair shot at proving it.”

  The path met up with the sidewalk, and Lindsay tipped her head and stared up at the Harper Transportation sign on the pillar-adorned, ten-story concrete building across the street. “So, ask him for one,” she suggested.

  Kaitlin squinted at the massive blue lettering. She glanced to Lindsay, then again at the sign. Suddenly, the possibilities of the situation bloomed in her brain.

  A slow smile grew on her face. “There’s a reason I love you,” she said to Lindsay, giving her arm a squeeze. “That is a brilliant plan.”

  And it was exactly what she’d do. She would make Zach Harper give her a job. She’d make him give her the job that should have been hers in the first place—developing designs for the renovation of his corporate headquarters.

  She’d pick up right where she’d left off. In fact, she’d come up with an even better concept. Then, once she’d proven to him and to the world that she was a talented architect, she’d sign whatever papers he needed her to sign. He’d have his company back, and she’d have her life back. And, most importantly, she wouldn’t have to leave New York City.

  The light turned green, and she tugged on Lindsay’s arm. “You’re coming with me.”

  Lindsay hesitated, staying on the curb. “I have a class now.”

  “We’ll be quick,” Kaitlin promised.

  “But—”

  “Come on. I need you to spout some legalese to scare him.”

  “Trust me, he’s already scared.” But Lindsay started across the street.

  “Then it’ll be easy,” Kaitlin assured her, stepping up on the opposite curb then mounting the short concrete staircase.

  They made their way across the small serviceable lobby of the Harper Transportation building. Kaitlin had been in the building many times, so she knew Zach’s office was on the top floor.

  While they took the groaning elevator ride up twenty stories, she straightened her short black skirt and adjusted her sleeveless, jade-green sweater, anchoring the strap of her small handbag. She moistened her lips as they exited the elevator. Then she determinedly paced down the narrow hallway to Zach’s receptionist.

  “I’m here to see Zach Harper,” Kaitlin announced with as much confidence as she could muster.

  Her pulse had increased, and her palms were starting to dampen. She was suddenly afraid the plan wouldn’t work. Like a drowning woman who’d been tossed a life vest, she was afraid her chance would float away before she could grab on to it.

  “Do you have an appointment?” the young brunette woman asked politely, glancing from Kaitlin to Lindsay and back again. Kaitlin had seen the woman from a distance while working on the project for Hutton Quinn, but they’d never been introduced.

  “No,” Kaitlin admitted, realizing the odds were slim that Zach was available at that particular moment.

  Lindsay stepped forward, standing two inches taller than Kaitlin, her voice telegraphing professionalism and importance. “Tell him it’s a legal matter,” she said to the receptionist. “Kaitlin Saville.”

  The woman’s head came up, curiosity flaring briefly in her blue eyes. “Of course. One moment, please.” She rose from her wheeled desk chair.

  “Thanks,” Kaitlin whispered to Lindsay, as the receptionist walked down the hallway that stretched behind her desk. “I knew you’d come in handy.”

  “I’ll send you a bill,” Lindsay responded in an undertone.

  “No, you won’t.” Kaitlin knew her friend better than that. Lindsay had never charged her for anything in her life.

  “Ten minutes from now, you’ll be able to afford me,” Lindsay joked.

  “Send Zach the bill,” Kaitlin suggested, a nervous sense of excitement forming in her belly. If this worked. If it actually worked…

  “Will do,” Lindsay promised.

  The receptionist returned, a practiced, professional smile on her face. “Right this way, please.”

  She led them past a few closed doors to the end of the hallway where a set of double doors stood open on a big, bright, burgundy-carpeted room.

  She gestured them inside, and Kaitlin entered first.

  If she thought Zach had looked impressive standing in her apartment last week, it was nothing compared to what his office did for him. The fine surroundings reeked of power, and he was obviously in his element.

  His big desk was walnut with inset cherry panels. A matching credenza and hutch were accented with cherry wood drawers, and a bookcase opposite showcased leather-bound volumes and nautical carvings. The desk chair was also leather, and high-backed with carved wood arms. Two guest chairs flanked the front of his desk, while a meeting table stood in an arched window alcove.

  As Kaitlin crossed the thick carpet, Zach came to his feet. As usual, he wore a perfectly pressed, incredibly well-cut suit. His usual white shirt was crisp and bright. The necktie was gold this time, with a subtle silver thread that picked up the sunlight.

  “Thank you, Amy.” He nodded to the receptionist, who closed the doors as she left the room.

  His gaze flicked to Lindsay and he quirked a questioning brow in her direction.

  “My lawyer,” Kaitlin explained to him. “Lindsay Rubin.”

  “Please sit down.” Zach gestured to the leather guest chairs.

  But Kaitlin chose to remain standing. “I’ll sign your papers,” she told him.

  Zach’s glance went back to Lindsay, then returned to Kaitlin. The barest hint of a smile twitched his full lips, and there was a definite flare of relief in his gray eyes.

  “But I want two things,” Kaitlin continued.

  Though she knew she ought to enjoy this, she was far too nervous to get any pleasure out of watching him sweat.

  This had to work.

  It simply had to.

  Zach’s brow furrowed, and she could almost feel him calculating dollar figures inside his head.

  “One—” she counted on her fingers, struggling to keep a quaver from forming in her voice “—our marriage stays secret.” If people found out she was married to Zach, the professional credential of renovating his building would mean less than nothing. The entire city would chalk it up to their personal relationship.

  “Two,” she continued, “you give me a job. Renovation design director, or some similar title.”

  His eyes narrowed. “You want a job?”

  “Yes,” she confirmed.

  He appeared genuinely puzzled. “Why?”

  “I’ll need an office and some support staff while I finish planning the renovations to your building. Since you already have those things available here…”

  He was silent for a full three seconds. “I’m offering you money, not a job.”

  “I don’t want your money.”

  “Kaitlin—”

  She squared her shoulders. “This is not negotiable, Zach. I get free rein, carte blanche. I do your renovation, my way, and—”

  He leaned forward, tenting his fingers on the polished desktop. “Not a hope in hell.”

  “Excuse me?”

  They glared at each other for a drawn-out second while a thousand emotions skittered along her nervous system.

  He was intimidating. He was also undenia
bly arousing. He was both her problem and her solution. And she was terrified this chance would somehow slip through her fingers.

  Then Lindsay spoke up, her voice haughty and authoritarian as she stepped into the conversation. “You should know, Mr. Harper, that I’ve provided Ms. Saville with a copy of Sadie Harper’s will, as filed with the probate court.”

  The room went to dead silent.

  Nobody moved, and nobody breathed.

  Kaitlin forced herself to straighten to her full height. She crossed her arms over her chest, letting his stunned expression boost her confidence.

  “I’ll divorce you, Zach,” she told him. “I’ll sign the entire company over to you. Just as soon as I have my career back.”

  His furious gaze settled on Kaitlin. His tone turned incredulous. “You’re blackmailing me?”

  Sweat prickled her hairline, anxiety peaking within her. “I’m making you a deal.”

  Several beats ticked by in thick silence, while her stomach churned with anxiety.

  His expression barely changed. But finally, he gave a single, curt nod.

  Her heart clunked deep in her chest, while a wave of relief washed coolly over her skin.

  She’d done it.

  She’d bought herself a second chance.

  She doubted Zach would ever forgive her. But she couldn’t let herself care about that. All that mattered was she was back on the job.

  From beneath the stained concrete porch of the Harper Transportation building, Kaitlin stared at the rain pounding down on Liberty Street. It was the end of her first full day of work, and her nerves had given way to a cautious optimism.

  Zach hadn’t made her feel particularly welcome, but she did have a desk, a cubbyhole of a windowless office, with a drafting table and a bent filing cabinet. And, though other staff members seemed confused by the sudden change in the renovation project, one of the administrative assistants had introduced her around and offered to help out.

  Kaitlin inhaled the moist May air. Fat raindrops were splashing on the concrete steps, forming puddles and rivulets on the pavement below. She glanced at the gray sky and gauged the distance to the subway staircase in the next block. She wished she’d checked the weather report this morning and tossed an umbrella into her bag.

  “I trust you found everything you need?” Zach’s deep voice held a mocking edge behind her.

  Kaitlin twisted, taking in his towering height and strong profile against the backdrop of his historic building. She was forced to remind herself that she was in the driver’s seat in this circumstance. She should make him nervous, not the other way around.

  “Could you have found me a smaller office?” she asked, attempting to go on the offensive. He was obviously making some kind of a point by relegating her to a closet. It didn’t take a genius to figure out he was attempting to put her in her place.

  “Haven’t you heard?” His mouth flexed in a cool half smile, confirming her suspicions. “We’re renovating.”

  “I notice your office is plenty roomy,” she persisted, hoping to give him at least a twinge of guilt.

  “That’s because I own the company.” His expression hinted that he also owned a decent portion of the world.

  She arched a meaningful brow in his direction, feeling a little more in control when his expression wavered. “So do I,” she pointed out.

  Her victory was short-lived.

  “You want me to evict a vice president for you?” Left unsaid was the understanding that while he could easily give her special treatment, they both knew it would raise questions amongst the staff, potentially compromising her desire to keep their personal relationship a secret.

  “You have nothing between the executive floor and a closet?” Of course, the last thing she wanted to do was call attention to herself. He had to treat her no better and no worse than any other employee. Right now, it certainly appeared he was treating her worse.

  “Take your pick,” Zach offered with a careless shrug. “I’ll kick someone out.”

  Kaitlin hiked up her shoulder bag. “And they’ll know it’s me.”

  “You do own the company,” he drawled.

  She rolled her eyes. “Just treat me like you would anyone else.”

  “That seems unlikely.” He nodded to a shiny, black late-model town car cruising up to the curb. “Can I give you a lift?”

  She slid him an incredulous glance. He had to be kidding.

  “Hop into the boss’s car after my first day of work?” Right. That would work well to keep her under the radar.

  “You afraid people will get the wrong idea?”

  “I’m afraid they’ll get the right idea.”

  His mouth quirked again. “I have some papers you need to sign.”

  The rain wasn’t letting up, but she took a tentative step forward, muttering under her breath. “No divorce yet, Mr. Harper.”

  He stepped into the rain beside her, keeping pace, his voice going low as hers. “They’re not divorce papers, Mrs. Harper.”

  The title on his lips gave her a jolt. She’d spent the day trying to forget about their circumstances and focus on getting started at her job. But she was beginning to realize forgetting their circumstances was going to be nearly impossible.

  They were married, married.

  She tipped her head, surreptitiously taking in his profile, the dark eyes, the furrowed brow and the small scar on his right cheekbone. She tried to imagine an intimate relationship, where they joked and touched and—

  “Kaitlin?”

  She gave herself a firm mental shake, telling herself to get control. “What kind of papers?”

  He glanced around, obviously confirming a sufficient buffer of space between them and the other Harper employees heading out the doors. “Confirmation of my positions as the president and CEO.”

  “What are you now?”

  “President and CEO.” His gunmetal eyes were as dark and impenetrable as the storm clouds. He was not a man who easily gave away his emotions. “There’s been a change in the company ownership,” he explained.

  It took a moment for the enormity of his words to sink in. Without her signature, his position in the company was in jeopardy. He couldn’t do what he’d always done, and he couldn’t be who he’d always been, without her consent on paper.

  Something hard and cold slid though her stomach.

  It wasn’t right that she had this kind of power. All she wanted was to do her job. She didn’t want to have to sift through her confusing feelings for Zach. And she sure didn’t want to have to analyze the circumstances and decide if they were fair.

  They weren’t. But then neither was the alternative.

  “Get in the car, Kaitlin,” he told her. “We need to get this signed and settled.”

  She couldn’t help but note the stream of employees exiting from the building. Even as they dashed down the rainy steps, most of them glanced curiously at Zach. Climbing into his car in full view of a dozen coworkers was out of the question.

  She leaned slightly closer, muffling her voice. “Pick me up on Grove, past the bus stop.”

  He gave a subtle but unmistakable eye roll. “You don’t think that’s a bit cloak-and-dagger?”

  “I’m trying to blend,” she reminded him. Her plan to rescue her career would come to a screeching halt if people had any inkling that she had some leverage over Zach.

  “You’ll get soaked,” he warned her.

  A little water was the least of her worries.

  Well, except for what it would do to her shoes. They’d been on sale, her only pair of Strantas. She loved what they did for her legs, and they looked great with anything black.

  She braced herself, mentally plotting a path around the worst of the scattered puddles.

  “Have a nice evening, Mr. Harper,” she called loud enough for passersby to hear as she trotted down the stairs.

  She made her way along the sidewalk, surging with the crowd toward the traffic light at the corner. When it turne
d green, she paced across the street, avoiding numerous black umbrellas in her path and hopping over the gurgle of water flowing against the opposite curb.

  On the other side, she negotiated her way to the edge of the sidewalk, raking her wet hair back from her forehead and tucking it behind her ears. She swiped a few raindrops from her nose then extracted her cell phone, pressing the speed dial as she hustled toward the bus stop shelter.

  “Kaitlin?” came Lindsay’s breathless voice.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Riding the bike.”

  Kaitlin pictured Lindsay on the stationary bike crammed into the small living space of her loft. “I’m going to be late for dinner.”

  “What’s going on?” Lindsay huffed.

  As she wove her way through the wet crowd, Kaitlin lowered her voice to mock doom. “I’m about to get into a big black car with Zach Harper.”

  “Better send me the license plate number.”

  Kaitlin cracked a grin, comforted by Lindsay’s familiar sense of humor. The two women had known each other so long, they were almost always on the same wavelength. “I’ll text it to you.”

  A deep, classic-rock bass resonated in the background. A fixture whenever Lindsay exercised. “Why are you getting in his car?”

  “He wants me to sign something.”

  “Better let me read it first.”

  “I will if it looks complicated,” Kaitlin promised. “He says it’s to reconfirm him as president and CEO.” Not that she trusted everything Zach said. In fact, thus far, she trusted exactly nothing of what Zach said.

  “It could be a trick,” Lindsay warned.

  Kaitlin grinned into the phone. “There is yet another reason I love you.”

  “I’ve got your back. Seriously, Katie, if you see the words irreconcilable or absolute I want you to run the other way.”

  “Will do.” Kaitlin caught sight of the black car. “Oops. There he is. Gotta go.”

  “Call me when you’re done. I want details. And dinner.” There was a gasp in Lindsay’s voice. “I definitely still want dinner.”

  “I’ll call,” Kaitlin agreed, folding her phone and tucking it into the pocket of her purse as Zach swung open the back door of his car and hopped out onto the sidewalk next to her.