Dangerous Attraction Romantic Suspense Boxed Set (82 page)

What the hell should he do? He had no idea who this woman was, but he didn’t have a choice if he wanted to continue to head up the company his father had built. The company Jack had expanded and come to love. Jack stood stiffly in his office as his head reeled from the sudden proposition in front of him… But reason kicked in; he had to trust that Andrew wouldn’t have sent a hooker or someone Andrew didn’t know. Could Andrew have found a willing friend of his? Or maybe an ex-girlfriend?

How weird would that be if this was one of Andrew’s exes? Wait, I know all of Andrew’s exes, don’t I?

Jack hadn’t felt so off balance in his life. He suddenly realized that his supposed fiancé was talking to him.

“Jack? Jack, honey, I need to know if you can make it to the courthouse to apply for the marriage license tomorrow? We both have to be there to get it. Does that work for you?” Kelly asked, indicating the papers in his hand.

“Uh, yes. Yeah, that works for me.” Jack spit the words out through the haze in his head and turned to smile at his aunt and cousin. No matter what Chad’s relationship with Bryan Barton was, it looked like Jack had just committed himself to a year of marriage with a stranger.

Chapter Five

Kelly swallowed hard as she heard Jack’s answer to her ‘proposal.’ She was relieved he was going along with it, but a tight ball of nerves had been growing in her stomach since she walked in the room and she felt that ball taking over her entire being.

Chad excused himself to return to his office with a look on his face that promised Jack would be grilled for details later. Kelly watched Jack out of the corner of her eye as she continued to talk to his aunt. She had seen Jack Sutton on occasion coming in and out of the building when she’d met Jennie for lunch and Jennie had told her he was handsome. But, handsome didn’t even begin to describe the man.

Jack was tall, about six foot three inches. He had dark brown hair that curled up at the edge of his collar. His eyes were a rich, deep brown, almost mahogany, and his face had chiseled features with a strong jaw. There wasn’t a damn thing about the man that didn’t sizzle.

He wore a suit, but even in that Kelly could see his body was hard and fit under it – his tall, lean form toned and strong. His intense gaze made Kelly’s breath go ragged. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be alone in the room with him if he had this kind of effect on her with his aunt and cousin with them.

Jack sat on the edge of his desk, legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles in front of him, arms crossed over his chest. He watched her quietly while Kelly finished chatting with his aunt.

Kelly wrapped things up and ushered Aunt Mabry out the door by four o’clock as she made excuses about Jack needing to get back to work. She closed the door behind his aunt and turned to Jack. That’s when Kelly felt the ground fall out from under her and her world tilt on its axis.

Suddenly, she faced Jack Sutton. Kelly found herself feeling very shaken, to say the least. She looked up at Jack and realized that, in essence, she had just waltzed into his office and proposed.

“I can’t believe I did that,” Kelly began to pace frantically. She wrapped her arms around her waist and circled the room.

“Oh God, oh God, oh God,” she said and she began to feel like she might hyperventilate. She slid down onto the couch that sat along the longest wall in Jack’s office and tried to breath but ended up taking in huge gulps of air that felt as if they might choke her. For the first time since she came up with her hair-brained scheme to get her hands on enough money to attend Yale Law School, the reality of what she had done hit her like a ton of bricks.

* * *

Jack studied Kelly as she began to fall apart in his office. She had been so cool and collected two minutes ago – so totally in control of the situation. Now he watched her crumble as if all the steel she seemed to have running through her veins moments ago was suddenly drained, leaving her frightened and panicked.

He smiled wryly as he watched his future wife burn a circle in his carpet. He suddenly felt back in control.

I guess it’s my turn to be the calm, cool, collected one.

The killer instincts he always felt when he walked into the board room or sat down at the negotiating table came back in full force. He crossed to Kelly and took both of her hands in his. He led her to the couch and let her sit down, then sat next to her. He spoke firmly and calmly.

“You did great. You had them completely fooled and you did great. I don’t know how Andrew did this on such short notice, but you were fantastic.” Jack started to rub her back in slow, soothing circles, hoping to calm her down so they could discuss the details of their newly made arrangement. Since Andrew hadn’t had time to give him a heads up, he had no idea how this was supposed to work out.

Jack continued to rub her back and he could hear her breathing begin to slow down and become more regular. Jack felt her body relax as her breathing returned to normal. “See,” he said, “that wasn’t so bad.”

Kelly nodded and gave him a weak smile. She took several more deep breaths. Jack watched as her expression moved from panicked to resolved.

“Ha! I did it. I knew I could,” Kelly said out loud.

Great, she’s got multiple personalities or she’s bipolar or something. Jack watched as Kelly’s emotions swung back and forth.

Then Kelly’s eyes went round and she sat up straighter. “Wait,” she said, “who’s Andrew?”

Chapter Six

Poker face or not, Jack needed to put some space between them when Kelly asked who Andrew was. He stood up and took a few steps back and schooled his expression once again. He forced himself to stay calm despite her revelation that Andrew hadn’t set this up. If she didn’t know who Andrew was, how did she come to be here, and who had he agreed to marry? All the calm that had come back to him in the last few moments fled and he felt himself floundering again. What was happening to his ordered world?

“If Andrew didn’t send you, then who the hell are you?” Jack demanded. This day was getting worse and worse. Hell, it had to be a nightmare. There was no way he had just agreed to marry some complete stranger in front of his aunt and cousin. A complete stranger who happened to materialize out of thin air right when he needed a wife?

Jack rubbed the heels of his hands against his eyes. He hadn’t slept much the night before after he had lied to his aunt about having a fiancé and he had been working even more than usual lately. Maybe he had imagined this.

That’s it. She’s a hallucination. A very vivid hallucination.

The hallucination was speaking, though. Do hallucinations speak? Jack asked himself. “I’m Kelly Bradley,” she said, tentatively.

Jack leveled a steady glare at her and crossed his arms over his chest. “Nice to meet you, Kelly. Now who the hell are you and where did you come from?”

“Well, I recently became aware of your little problem and I have my own little problem. I put two and two together and figured out we could help each other and so here I am. Voila,” explained Kelly with a little flutter of her hands at the “voila.”

“‘Became aware’? That’s a bit vague. Start from the beginning, woman.” Jack knew he was a formidable looking man and he was using that to his advantage as he grilled Kelly, but he also couldn’t help be a little amused by her attempts to skirt his questions.

Damn, she’s cute when she squirms.

“Um, well,” Kelly bit her lip as she started the story and Jack hardly heard her. He found himself distracted by her luscious, kissable mouth.

Jesus, Jack, get a grip on yourself and focus.

Kelly was still talking and Jack forced himself to listen to what she said.

“Jennie overheard you talking about your mother’s will and that you needed someone to marry you by the end of the week. So here I am. We’ll get married for a year and then get a nice neat divorce and we’ll never have to see each other again. I’m not a psycho – just a normal girl with a degree that apparently isn’t going to get me a job anytime soon. So I improvised. And, before you get all worried, I have zero interest in a real relationship. I have other plans and marriage isn’t one of them. And besides, I’m immune to falling in love. I’m broken or something. It just doesn’t happen to me, so that won’t be a concern.” At this point, Kelly was babbling.

Jack held up his finger to stop Kelly’s story for a moment. He pushed the button on his phone and spoke to Jennie. “Jennie, can you come in here, please?” Jack released the button and turned calmly back to Kelly.

As he faced off with Kelly once again, Jack asked, “Why $154,000? Why did you ask for such a specific amount?” Gather the information first, Jack told himself. Get the right information so you stay ahead of this thing – whatever the hell this thing was.

“I need it for law school. I got into Yale but I can’t pay for tuition. I need that amount to cover three years so I can get my J.D.” Kelly said. Jack noticed that she raised her chin just a hair as she told him that she had gotten into Yale. As she talked, she began to look more like the confident woman who had claimed his office as her own an hour earlier.

Hmmm
. If what she said were true, she wasn’t an idiot and – all evidence of mood swings aside – she probably was a fairly bright, normal person to have made it into law school. Much less Yale Law School. Well, that showed she wasn’t completely psychotic, anyway. And she wasn’t looking to take him for millions. His rough net worth was a matter of public knowledge so she had to know the amount she was asking for was chump change to him. She could have demanded millions and it wouldn’t have put a dent in his bank account. He wondered why she hadn’t asked for more.

Watching her now, he began to think they just might be able to pull it off. He’d have to teach her about negotiating, though. I mean, really, what was she thinking only asking him for tuition? She’d had him over a barrel when she walked in this room. She should have held out for more.

Jack made a mental note to have a full background check done on Kelly. He’d have the results back tomorrow. If that panned out, he would go through with getting the marriage certificate the next day, as she suggested. If not, he’d send her packing.

While Jack was busy thinking, Jennie came into the room. She looked appropriately embarrassed, trying not to make eye contact with her boss. Jack figured she was probably wondering if she would get fired from the temp agency or only from this particular assignment.

Jack glanced up at Jennie. “Call the temp agency and tell them you quit. You work for me now. Go down to Human Resources and tell them you’re joining Chad’s team. Chad runs our security and investigations department. I think that’s a good fit for your…
skills
. HR will get you set up.”

Jennie stood there with a stunned look on her face and Jack wondered if she’d ever been caught at any of her little games before.

“Oh, and Jennie,” Jack said.

“Yes, sir?”

“Keep the deal between Kelly and me quiet. Don’t mention it to anyone, including Chad or you’re fired and Kelly won’t get a penny. That goes for anything else you’ve overheard. And tell maintenance to get that damned intercom fixed.” He had known the light didn’t work right on the phone but hadn’t thought it would be an issue. Hell, usually his company was the one investigating other people. But Jennie had been eavesdropping on him, in his own office. He should have been more careful to protect himself. But at least he could put her to work for him from now on. Jennie had managed to fool him and look so damned innocent this whole time, he was sure she’d be an asset on Chad’s team.

As Jennie skittered out of the room, Andrew walked in and looked at Jack and Kelly. “Hey, Jack,” he said slowly, “what’s going on?” His head whipped back and forth from Jack to Kelly as if he were watching a tennis match.

“Did you find anything?” Jack ignored Andrew’s question, asking one of his own.

“I found a friend of Chad’s from prep school that owed me a favor. Says Bryan and Chad knew each other. They weren’t close but they also didn’t hate each other. Hung out with some of the same people so it might be a gamble hoping that he wouldn’t back Chad for CEO.”

Jack shook his head as Andrew finished his explanation. Andrew knew Jack didn’t have it in his heart to ask Chad to do that to his mom. To Jack, family was family and he would lose everything he had, for his family. The irony was, in this case, it was his own family that was attacking him so he was in a catch twenty two. Still, he wanted to do all he could not to hurt his aunt as he defended himself.

Chapter Seven

Jack faced Kelly again. He was now fully back in his element. He took control of the negotiations now that he had made the decision to run with this. He didn’t really have any other option and she didn’t appear to be a lunatic. In fact, as he watched her quietly come to grips with what she had done and get her confidence back, he marveled at her. It had really taken guts to walk into the room and pull off what she had. And she’d done it with such grace and confidence. She owned his office as if it were hers and there weren’t many people who could pull that off. He found himself a little in awe of the gorgeous creature who now sat quietly on his couch.

“Okay. One year of marriage. You’ll sign a prenuptial agreement. You get your law school tuition and you’ll have a credit card for expenses while we’re married. You’ll have to attend occasional dinner parties and fundraising events, that sort of thing, so you’ll need appropriate clothes. Some of them will be black tie. Put anything you need on my card. After the divorce, I’ll get you a condo in New Haven and some spending money for the three years you’ll be at law school. After graduation you’ll be on your own. You’ll move into my house in Fairfield while we’re married. At the end of the year, we cite irreconcilable differences and end the marriage.”

“I hadn’t really thought I’d need to move in with you. I-I thought this would only be on paper,” Kelly stammered while Andrew watched the scene play out, with a look of shocked amusement on his face. It was more than obvious Andrew didn’t know who this woman was or how Jack had found her – and that he couldn’t wait to hear the details.