Emma was already worried about that.
She resisted the urge to touch the ring again.
Quite frankly, she was getting more worried by the hour.
Seven
Emma braced herself for Alex’s entrance.
Her admin assistant, Jenny, had just spent three minutes warning of his arrival, an excited lilt to her voice as she watched him walk through the long office foyer and relayed his every move to Emma.
According to Jenny, Alex was wearing a charcoal suit, a black shirt and a silver-and-blue striped tie that picked up the sunshine through the skylights. He didn’t look upset, but he didn’t look particularly happy either. And, by the way, had Emma ever noticed the delicate cleft in his chin or the way his gray eyes sparkled silver in direct sunlight?
By the time Emma got off the intercom, she only had thirty seconds to smooth her blazer and brace herself for the onslaught of emotions that were sure to be brought on by his presence.
She’d stay on this side of the desk. He’d stay on that side. She wouldn’t touch him, or smell him or look too closely into his eyes. And she would not touch that annoying diamond while he was in the room.
The oak door swung open, the air current swaying the leaves on her ponytail palm.
She came to her feet to face not happy, not angry Alex, with his sparkling silver eyes.
“Hello, darling,” he greeted for Jenny’s benefit before he clicked the door shut behind him.
She drew a bracing breath. “Can I help you with something?” They hadn’t made another appointment to meet, although she knew they had an endless number of things to work out.
“Brought you a present.”
Please, God. No more jewelry. Her right hand went to the ring before she remembered to jerk it back.
But he tossed an envelope on her desk. “Our prenup.”
She glanced at the thick manila envelope. “You wrote it without me?”
He eased down into one of her guest chairs. “Trust me.”
“Ha.” She peeled back the flap and took her own seat.
It was a single page, duly signed and notarized. Alex got half of McKinley upon their marriage, and if either of them initiated divorce proceedings within two years of the marriage, the other got ten percent of their net worth.
She looked up to see him smile. There wasn’t a single thing she could complain about. It meant she couldn’t have a relationship for a couple of years. But she’d expected that. If anything, the agreement favored her.
Then she set the paper down on her desk. “What exactly is your net worth?”
“Less than Nathaniel’s. More than yours.”
“Who’s Nathaniel?”
“My cousin. He’ll be the best man.”
She glanced back down at the agreement. “You’ve already signed.”
“I have.”
“You’re obviously not planning to divorce me anytime soon.”
“Not a chance.”
Emma picked up her phone and dialed the two-digit extension for Jenny’s desk. “Can you bring somebody over from Legal?”
“Right away,” Jenny confirmed.
“Thanks.” Emma hung up the phone. “Probably be about five minutes,” she told Alex.
He nodded. “I hear you hired David Cranston.”
“Where’d you hear that?”
Alex shrugged. “I told you the hotel business was a tight-knit community.”
“Katie hired him,” said Emma, then she immediately regretted the admission.
“Without talking to you?”
Emma hesitated. “We talked.”
“You’re lying.”
“I am not. And how dare you-”
“And you agreed to this?”
Emma compressed her lips.
Alex stared hard into her eyes. Despite her resolve, and despite the knowledge that she’d ramp up her unruly hormones, she gazed right back into his.
“She told you after the fact,” he guessed.
“But I wouldn’t have stopped her.”
“But you don’t like it.”
Emma stood up. “No,” she admitted, pacing toward the picture window. “I don’t like it. But it’s her relationship, her decision. And it’s certainly none of your business.”
Alex stood. “Oh, yes it is.”
She turned. “You going to micromanage Katie’s staff?”
“He’s working directly for her?”
“Alex.”
Alex crossed the room to stand in front of Emma. “Between the two of us-”
“No,” she barked.
“You don’t even know what I was going to say.”
Anger rising, she punctuated her words by poking him in the chest with her index finger. “Oh yes I do. And don’t you ever dare suggest that we gang up on my sister. McKinley Inns doesn’t work that way. I don’t care who the hell you are.”
He trapped her hand. “It’s a bad decision.”
“It’s her decision.”
“And you’re just going to stand there and watch her make it.”
“I am. And so are you.”
He moved closer. “I wouldn’t be too quick to tell me what I am and am not going to do.”
Emma paused. She couldn’t force him. But then he couldn’t force her either. And a tie went to the status quo. Which meant the tie went to Katie in this case.
Emma didn’t smile, but she came close.
But then she became aware of Alex’s hand on hers. The warmth of his skin prickled its way into her bloodstream, and those appalling feelings of lust and longing surged to life inside her.
His voice dropped deep and throaty. “We’re going to have to deal with it, you know.”
“With Katie?” she asked in a small voice, clinging to the slim hope that that’s what he meant.
“With the fact that we turn each other on like original sin.”
“We do not,” she lied.
“Want me to prove it?”
She tried to step back, but he kept hold of her hand.
He smiled. “You really need to stop lying to me, you know.”
“You really need to develop some manners.”
“Yeah? Okay, how’s this? Would you care to accompany me to a luau?”
“A luau?” The sudden switch left Emma’s head spinning.
“Kessex Cruise Lines is launching a new ship, the Island Countess, specializing in Polynesian trips. We’re invited to the launch party, and I thought you could wear the ruby-and-diamond choker.”
Emma had already resigned herself to being seen in public with Alex. She’d made a deal, and she was going to stick by it. Besides, being with him in public was quickly becoming a preferable choice to being with him in private.
In public she could pretend she was still pretending. She’d have an excuse to talk to Alex and laugh with Alex and touch Alex without examining the reasons why.
Doing those things in private forced her to admit she liked him. She even liked arguing with him. His self-confidence and strength of purpose made her feel…safe somehow.
And she trusted him. Probably not the smartest move in the world. But she had to trust somebody. And he was learning things about her that nobody else would ever see.
For now, for this moment in time, he was pivotal to her life. Not that she’d admit that to him. And not that she’d make things easy.
“You really think rubies and diamonds will go with orchid print cotton?” she asked.
“Hey, you want to look good or make your future husband happy?”
“Can’t I do both?”
“Not in this case.”
They stared each other down for a long minute.
“Well?” he demanded.
She tilted her head sideways. “Don’t you sometimes wish you’d picked the pretty one?”
“Watch it.”
“Watch what?” She was only joking. Besides, it was an acknowledged fact that Katie was the pretty one.
“Mess with me, and I’ll make you admit I turn you on.”
“How do you plan-”
His eyes darkened and his nostrils flared.
She quickly backtracked. “Never mind.” Then she swallowed and squared her shoulders, voice going unnaturally sweet. “I live to make my future husband happy.”