Will eyed her carefully in the darkened compartment, his silence stretching out between them uncomfortably. Eventually, he cleared his throat and spoke, “It’s simple, isn’t it? You’ll act as if you’re both my fiancée and my executive assistant.”
“But it’s all so sudden, our engagement. Don’t you think people will talk? Are you sure that’s what you want?” she protested.
“No one will dare discuss our relationship behind your back, or to your face, for that matter. You can be certain of that, Margaret. I will ensure you aren’t made a topic of casual discussion.”
“You can’t hold back human nature. People will talk.”
“Not if I threaten their jobs, they won’t,” he growled in the darkness.
“Please don’t. After you’ve gone back to New York I still need to be able to work with those people.”
He breathed a sound of irritation before inclining his head in agreement. “Okay,” he said begrudgingly. “I won’t threaten anyone’s job, but I will make it clear that our relationship is no one’s business but our own.”
Good luck with that, Margaret thought with a wry smile. “Thank you. Now, in the office? Is it to be common knowledge that we’re…an item?”
“Yes,” Will said, sitting up straighter as if he’d come to a decision. “I think that’ll put a halt to conjecture right from the start. Which reminds me, we need to get you a ring. Damn, I should have thought of that today. People will think it’s strange if you’re not wearing one.”
Margaret’s breath caught in her throat. A ring? She hadn’t even thought that far. Just the thought of what Jason would say when she arrived home with her new wardrobe was enough to send a cold chill of foreboding down her spine.
“Is that really necessary? Couldn’t it wait a while? After all, everyone is going to think this is a whirlwind affair as it is.”
“I want you wearing my ring for your protection if nothing else, Margaret,” Will said solemnly. “No one will dare question our relationship that way. Let’s stick as close to the truth as possible. If anyone asks, we can say we met at the Valentine’s ball and have been seeing each other ever since, on the quiet of course, but now we’ve decided to bring it all out in the open. Will that cause any problems for you amongst your friends?”
Margaret thought for a few moments. Her closest friends, Gillian and Sarah, would be surprised but happy for her, provided they believed this engagement was the real deal. Jason was the only fly in the ointment. His objections were already the hardest to bear.
But she was doing this, all of this, for him. To keep his job safe. To keep him, hopefully, out of the courts and out of jail. The lingering remnants of enjoyment she’d taken out of the day soured on her tongue.
How could she have lost sight of that? How could she have let her delight—in her new look, her new wardrobe, in simply spending time with a handsome man who made her the center of his attention—overcome her responsibilities toward her brother? Her parents would be ashamed that she’d allowed herself to be so easily swayed from the seriousness of the situation she and Jason now found themselves in. She was ashamed.
She saw they were pulling into the driveway at the Tennis Club. She reached forward and tapped on the glass, which slid down to reveal the driver.
“Could you let me off here, please? My car’s in the car park over there.”
Margaret gestured toward where her car sat in isolation in the back row. The old vehicle seemingly ostracized from its shiny later-model companions parked in the next few rows. The limousine glided to a halt.
“Are you sure you don’t want to stay here at the club? I can arrange a room for you if you prefer not to stay in my suite,” Will said with a look in his eyes that sent a flush of warmth unfurling from the pit of her belly.
No matter how much she pilloried herself today, just one look from him was enough to start that slow melt deep inside her.
“No, I have my own home. I’d like to keep it that way.”
“Have you always been this fiercely independent?” Will asked with a smile.
“Since my parents died, I suppose. It’s become a habit,” she admitted.
Will exited the limo ahead of her and turned to help her out.
“Maybe it’s time you shared some of that load you carry,” he commented.
Was he criticizing Jason? She felt herself bristle automatically in defense of her younger brother, words of justification on the tip of her tongue, before she reined herself in.
“I can manage just fine,” she finally said, a little more sharply than she’d originally intended but it got the point across.
Will walked her over to her car and stood to one side as she fiddled with her key in the door lock.
“Trouble?” he inquired.
“No, it’s okay. It just requires a bit of finesse to get it to work,” she said as the key finally engaged with the tumblers inside and the door unlocked.
“I suppose you have all today’s shopping in there, too?”
“Yes.”
“A bit risky given how easy your car would be to break in to.”
Will’s comment stung. So what if she didn’t have one of the latest models off the production lines of American driving excellence.
“I would have thought the security here at the Tennis Club would ensure that my parcels are quite safe. Besides, they’re in the trunk so it’s not as if anyone can see them on display.”
“No, but anyone could have seen you put them in there, and it’s not as if it would take someone with a MENSA-rated IQ to figure a way into your car,” Will pressed. “I don’t like the idea of your security being so easily compromised. Tomorrow I’ll see you have another car to use.” At her gasp of shock he continued, “Don’t argue with me, Margaret. I need you to have something reliable to get you to and from work and other appointments you’ll be undertaking with me. It makes sense that I put a car at your disposal.”
Margaret couldn’t think of a single argument that would sway him. Will stepped forward and tipped her chin up with one finger.
“Are you angry with me now?” he asked.
Conscious of their audience, the driver still waiting for Will in the limousine that idled a short distance away, Margaret shook her head. She wasn’t angry, exactly. But there was a sense of frustration that he’d put her in a position where she couldn’t refuse. A sense of frustration that was spilling over in all areas of her life with the power and force of a tidal wave.
“Looks like I’ll have to remedy that, won’t I?”
Before she could summon a protest Will kissed her—his lips gentle, yet persuasive. A tiny sigh of capitulation eased from her throat and he took the action as an opportunity to deepen their embrace. Without realizing what she was doing, Margaret wound her arms over his shoulders, the fingers of one hand driving into his short hair and cupping the back of his head as if she couldn’t quite get enough of him.
When his tongue brushed against hers she felt her body ignite. She leaned into him, pressing her breasts against the hardness of his chest, letting her hips roll against his in a silent dance of torment.
And then, just like that, he broke contact. As if he’d proven his point that no matter what she did, or thought, or said, she was his for the taking. Whenever and however he wanted her. It should have galled her to realize it, but instead she worked on trying to calm the thrumming desire that wound through her.
“Sweet dreams,” he whispered against her mouth. “I will see you in the morning.”
She nodded and got into her car, her hand trembling a little as she fitted the key to the ignition and fired the car to life. Will pushed her door closed and stood to one side as she backed out and began to drive away. A flick of her eyes to her rearview mirror confirmed he stayed there, watching her, until she hit the driveway that led to the main road.
She had no idea how she was going to handle this overwhelming effect he had upon her. None at all. While every cell in her body bade her to give
in to it, to him, logic told her that it would only lead to heartbreak—her heartbreak.
She’d slept surprisingly well after the turmoil in which she’d ended her evening. Thankfully, Jason had been in his room, the lights off but the sounds of his TV filtering through the closed door. She hadn’t wanted to disturb him. Hadn’t wanted to face his recriminations—especially when he saw the number of bags she’d brought in from her car.
Now, all she had to do was decide on what to wear to work today. She skimmed her hand over the hangers in her wardrobe before settling on a 1940s-inspired dress with a deep collared V-neck and three-quarter sleeves. The large black and white hounds-tooth pattern of the fabric drew attention to the design of the dress, rather than the person wearing it, and she and Paige had been in total agreement about it the second she’d stepped out of the dressing room. A wide black belt at her waist finished it off and after brushing her hair and applying a light coating of makeup, Margaret went through to the kitchen.
To her surprise, Jason was already there.
“You were late home last night,” he said as she reached for the carafe and poured herself a mug of coffee. “Work late at the office?”
“No, I had dinner out. I didn’t disturb you when I came in, did I?”
He barked an ironic laugh. “Disturb me? Well, that all depends on who you had dinner with, doesn’t it?”
“Why would it depend on that?”
“You were with him, weren’t you? And look at you this morning. That’s new. Did he buy it?”
Margaret flinched at the accusation in Jason’s voice. She drew in a leveling breath and chose her words carefully.
“Mr. Tanner and I agreed that my old wardrobe was perhaps lacking a little for my new role. He very kindly offered to rectify that.”
“Your new role, huh? And what exactly is that role to be, Maggie? How long before he has you warming his sheets?”
“How dare you speak to me like that?” she flung back. “I’m not like that and you know it.”
“Yeah, but the sister I know doesn’t stay away from her desk at work all day long, doesn’t ignore her cell phone and doesn’t sneak in late at night trying to avoid me, either.”
Her cell phone. Oh, God, she hadn’t even thought to check it all day and she’d been so rattled by the time she got home it hadn’t even occurred to check it then.
“Did you need me for something?” she asked as calmly as she could.
“That’s not the point. You’re not behaving like yourself. What’s going on?”
Margaret chewed at her lower lip. How was she going to approach this without aggravating the tenuous thread she and her brother had between them at the moment?
“I’m sorry. I was distracted.”
“By him.”
Jason spoke the two words as if they were poison on his tongue.
“Yes, by him. But, Jason, I only took this job to keep your job safe. I know you don’t like it but that’s the way it is. We can’t afford for either of us to lose our jobs. You know as well as I do that working for Cameron Enterprises is the only thing keeping our heads above water.”
“I don’t like it, Maggie. He’s only been in your sphere for two days and already he’s changing you. It’s not just your clothes, but your hair and…” He peered closer at her face. “Are you wearing contacts? What’s with that? Weren’t you good enough for him the way you were?”
“As his fiancée I’ll be expected to look a certain way. I could hardly argue when he covered the bill for everything.”
“Everything? So I expect we won’t be seeing any more serviceable white cotton in the laundry?”
Jason snorted, the sound grating on Margaret’s nerves. Oh, it was all so easy for him, wasn’t it? To sit in judgment of her when she was doing this for him. If he hadn’t been tempted… A slow-building anger began to well inside her. She’d done her best all these years and it was never going to be enough. Well, it was time he faced some truths.
“Keep your mind out of the gutter for once, Jason, and try to focus on someone that isn’t yourself.”
The sharpness of her voice made him sit up in his chair, a look of surprise on his face. Never, not even when he’d been a sulky teenager, delivered home by the local police, had she spoken to him this way. She forced herself to soften her tone. It wouldn’t serve any purpose to antagonize him, anyway.
“Look, William Tanner and I are, for all intents and purposes, engaged.”
“You’re mad. No one is going to believe it.”
“They’ll have to.” Maggie crossed her fingers behind her back and hoped for the strength to get herself through this. “If anyone asks you can tell them that we’ve been seeing each on the quiet for almost two months and it’s…it’s become something a lot bigger than either of us expected.
“The news will no doubt be all around the office today, we were seen out at dinner last night together and a reporter from the Gazette was there, too. We have to keep our stories straight about this, Jason, before the gossip mongers get ahold of it.”
“Well, don’t expect me to welcome him here with open arms. I can’t stand the man.”
“I know. And don’t worry. I won’t be bringing him here.”
“So you’ll be going to him. You’ll be at his beck and call at work and on your own time?”
His words couldn’t be more true but she couldn’t tell him the truth.
“That’s right, and that’s my choice, Jason. A choice I made for us both. Remember that.”
And it was her choice. One she wished she’d never been pushed into making, but there was no going back now.
Six
“I’ve got tickets to a live show tonight. Are you interested? We can head into San Diego after work and I thought we could stay over—make a weekend of it. How much time do you need to pack a bag?”
Margaret sat up straight in her chair, her hands stilling on the keyboard where she’d been typing up a report for Will. They’d been working together for three days, excluding the day he’d taken her shopping, and every night they’d had dinner together either in his suite or in one of the multitude of restaurants dotted along the coast. Each night he’d done no more than kiss her good-night, and each night she’d gone home, her body aching for more. To all appearances they were very much the engaged couple but, for Margaret, it was growing more difficult each day to separate the truth from reality—even with Jason’s brooding silences and fulminous looks when they crossed paths at home.
A weekend solely in Will’s company? The idea both thrilled and terrified her in equal proportions. Jason would be scathing, she had no doubt. But the prospect of spending forty-eight hours alone with Will Tanner was infinitely preferable to the stifling atmosphere at home—for more reasons than one. She’d no sooner had the thought than she instantly felt disloyal. It wasn’t Jason’s fault he was so unhappy. But why should they both be miserable? Margaret took a deep breath and answered.
“I’d love to go. When do you need me to be ready?”
“If you’re finished with that report you could head home now and I’ll pick you up in,” he flicked a look at the understated yet expensive watch he wore on one wrist, “say two hours. That’ll give us plenty of time to drive in, check into the hotel and have a bite of something to eat. The show starts at eight and we can have a late supper afterward.”
“Do you want me to take care of the hotel bookings?” she asked, reaching for her phone.
“Already done,” Will said, meeting her gaze for the first time.
There was something in his eyes that made her forget what she was doing and her hand hovered, outstretched over her telephone, before she realized what she was doing and pulled it back. Snapping back to reality didn’t change anything, though. If anything it made the sudden pulse of excitement that swelled through her all the more overwhelming. Had he arranged one room, or two? She’d find out soon enough.
She forced herself to break the silent, loaded connection between the
m and turned her head toward her computer screen. A quick flick of her fingers over the keyboard and the document was sent to the printer.
“I’ll be ready to leave in a few minutes. Do you need my address?” she asked with as much composure as she could muster.
“No, I have all your details.”
Not surprising, given his investigation of her and Jason. The reminder should have been a wake-up call for her to get her head out of the clouds but she chose to ignore the frisson of warning that infiltrated her overheated mind.
They were going away together for the night. Away from the prying eyes of the office. Away from the simmering resentment that clouded every conversation she had with her brother. Just the thought of it was enough to make her feel lighter, happier.
It only took a few minutes to check the printed report, then copy and bind it for the meeting Will had organized for Monday morning. She locked the reports away in her cabinet and let Will know she was on her way home.
Not even the spiteful comment from one of the accounting staff that reached her ears on her way out the door, about it being nice to be the boss’s fiancée and be able to leave early on a Friday, was enough to take the polish off the hours ahead.
By the time she heard Will’s knock at the door of her home she was ready. The April afternoon had turned quite cool after the spring sunshine of earlier in the day and, as a result, she’d probably packed far too many clothes but, she consoled herself, better too much than not quite enough.
She swung open the front door and her breath caught fast in her chest. She hadn’t seen Will dressed casually before, at least not in anything like the green-gray sweater he was wearing now with a pair of sinfully sexy jeans. Words failed her as her eyes took in the subtle breadth of his shoulders and the way the sweater fit snugly across his chest. The lean strength visible beneath the ribbed woolen knit made her mouth dry and she swallowed hard.
Bought: His Temporary Fiancée Page 6