Engaged with the Boss

After four minutes in the shower beneath the icy-cold spray, Devin had come up with a plan. His family might not like the suddenness of his announcement, but he had to do it to avoid the media circus an untimely affair would generate.

Ash followed him through the streets of St. Louis in his own car, arriving seconds later as he parked in one of the spaces reserved for executive staff.

They rode the elevator together in silence, up to the twenty-fourth floor.

Heads turned as they walked by office doors where people milled around in the aisles. Devin glared at anyone who dared to speak to him or whisper as he passed.

When he reached his suite of offices, he breezed past Jolie, who didn’t even look at him, or attempt to say good morning as was the usual greeting she’d dished out every day for the past six years.

Yeah, Devin had really screwed things up royally this time. But he’d fix it. He had a plan.

When he reached his office, he turned and barked, “Jolie! In here.” Okay, so that wasn’t exactly how he’d planned to start this conversation, but he was so mad at himself he couldn’t take the edge off his anger enough to be civil.

Jolie grabbed a steno pad and ducked around him into his office, her cheeks flaming a bright pink.

Staff foolish enough to be standing within sight were the recipients of Devin’s harshest glare. “There are a hundred people who want your jobs. I suggest you get to work.” With that he started to slam his door, but Ash got in his way.

“Move it or lose it,” Devin threatened.

“The entire family has a stake in this.”

“Not now. This is between me and Jolie.” If Devin could have breathed fire onto his brother, he would have.

Ash saw it and relented. “Make it quick, we have to conduct some serious damage control. I’m going to get Uncle Craig and Natalie.”

Devin closed the door in his brother’s face and turned to Jolie. His chest tightened as he took in her prim and proper appearance. No one would ever look at her like this again. Especially him. All he could picture was her lying naked across his bed.

The public would forever see the woman on the front page, whose hair had curled around her face and whose lips looked swollen from a marathon of kissing. What had she done to deserve the wrong kind of attention?

She’d been kind to him. That’s what. And he’d taken advantage of her.

“If this is about the newspaper, I’m sorry. I didn’t know that photographer was there when I left last night. I didn’t even think about it. I was in a hurry to—”

Devin raised his hand to stop her ramble. Jolie never rambled. She chose her words with care. Damn, she’d been more disturbed than he’d thought by what had happened. “This isn’t your fault. I don’t blame you for what happened. In fact, all the blame goes to me.”

She shook her head, her mouth forming her next argument.

“Let me finish.” Devin walked across to her and gripped her shoulders. “I shouldn’t have taken advantage of you when you’d been good enough to bring me food.” His voice sounded formal, stiff and so different from what he wanted to sound like for the next thing he had to say. “I should never have kissed you.” And dear God, he wanted to kiss her again. Another mistake getting this close to her after last night.

She stared up at him, her eyes limpid pools of green. “I shouldn’t have kissed you back.” She swayed toward him, her gaze dropping to his mouth.

Ah, hell, he knew where this was going and was powerless to stop himself. “I can fix this.…” His head dipped and he claimed her lips, his own slanting down over hers, crushing her to him.

His fingers slid up the back of her neck into the smooth twist, loosening the pins until the long tresses fell down around her shoulders.

She didn’t seem to notice, her tongue slipping through his teeth to stroke his. Her hands climbed his chest and circled behind his neck, pulling him closer.

A knock on the door brought Devin back to earth with a jolt. “Just a minute.” He pushed her to arm’s length and sucked in a breath, trying to focus on what he had to say next, not on how much he wanted to kiss her again. “What’s done is done. What I don’t want to happen is for the media to drag the Kendall family down during this murder investigation. Nor do I want them to turn on you and ruin your reputation.”

Jolie raised shaking hands to her hair, pushing it back behind her ears. “I understand. Would it be better if I quit? I could formally announce my resignation if that would help.”

“No.” He said the one little word with more emphasis than he’d intended. The thought of losing a wonderful executive assistant because of his indiscretion made him want to hit someone. Himself, if he could. “I have an entirely different proposal for you.”

She tipped her head, eyebrows dipping low on her pale forehead. “Proposal?”

His lips quirked up on the edges, the irony of his word choice striking him as unfortunately funny. “Since I dragged you into our family troubles, the least I can do is deflect the drama from last night’s … assignation.”

“And how are you going to do that?”

“By announcing our engagement.”

Chapter Four

Jolie staggered backward, pulling free of his grasp, her head spinning. When the backs of her knees hit the wing-backed chair, she sat down hard, a hand rising to her cheek. She couldn’t breathe, her heart having stopped at Devin’s words. “Engagement?” Had her every dream just come true?

“It’s the only way we can salvage the situation and deflect the media inquisition.” He turned and paced the floor. “It will be a fake engagement, of course. I won’t expect you to go through with the marriage.”

Jolie’s gut roiled as if she’d been punched hard. Blood rushed back into her face and her heart surged into gear. She clutched her hands together in her lap, her gaze on her fingers, not Devin, as she forced her disappointment aside. Why had she even dared to believe a man like Devin would be interested in marrying a girl like herself? Fool.

They were worlds apart. While Devin dined on caviar and two-hundred-dollar steaks, she cooked her own meals and ate leftovers. Not that she didn’t make good money as the CEO’s assistant, she just didn’t have the kind of income to throw away on extravagance.

Devin faced her directly. “Fake only to you and me. The rest of the family must believe it’s true in order to convince the paparazzi.”

“Don’t you think they deserve to know the truth?” Jolie asked, glad his focus was on his family and not her. It gave her time to think through her response.

“They will be safer with the lie. That way only the two of us will have to keep up the pretense, limiting the number of people who could slip, blowing our story. It keeps the rest of the family from worrying about making the wrong move or saying the wrong thing.”

Jolie stood. “And if I’m not willing to participate in this lie?”

“Why wouldn’t you? It’s to protect you from a media nightmare and Kendall Communications from a scandal. We keep the focus on something exciting, like a wedding. And not that our family is being investigated regarding the murders. That way, we can continue our own investigation without being too obvious.”

She swallowed hard, a wad of tears clogging her throat. Oh, dear God, don’t let her cry in front of him. Devin hated when women cried. She turned her back to him. “I think it would be best if I quit.” How could she see Devin day in and day out and not fall more hopelessly in love? Especially after the previous night’s indiscretions?

The carpeted floor muted Devin’s approach, but every nerve in Jolie’s body knew he’d closed the distance between them. When his hands descended on her shoulders, she sucked in a breath and held it.

Devin turned her to face him. “The media will crucify you and me if you quit now. I don’t care about me, but I don’t want you hurt because of my mistake.” He pulled her into his arms.

Mistake. Jolie held herself stiff. What they’d done last night was a mistake to him. She let the air out of her lungs and steeled her voice not to shake, as she responded, “I’m tough, I won’t break. Besides, how can we work together now that we’ve done … what we’ve done?” The mistake.

“I could promise not to touch you again, but I hate breaking promises.” He tipped her chin up with his thumb. “Do it for me. Be my fiancée. When the hoopla dies down we can break the engagement and everything can go back to normal.” His blue-eyed gaze bored into hers. His thick brown hair fell down over his forehead as though he hadn’t taken the time to tame it that morning, making him appear more vulnerable.

When he looked at her like that, how could she resist? Damn, she was a mess. “Okay, I’ll do it. But when this ordeal is over, we have to face reality.”

“We will. Later.” His lips tipped upward at the corner. “Ash is gathering the family. I wish Thad was here, but that can’t be helped. We can announce our engagement to them now to quell their uproar at the morning news.”

Jolie nodded and forced herself to smile. “I guess we’re engaged. Sort of.” Her laugh sounded stiff, even to her own ears. “Somehow, I pictured my first proposal differently.” She shrugged, maintaining her pretense of nonchalance when what she really wanted was to find a quiet, dark closet to hide in until her insides quit trembling. She could just imagine her reaction had it been a real engagement.

A long silence stretched between them, with Devin’s hands still resting on her arms.