Bought: His Temporary Fiancée

“No, he wouldn’t. He promised—” She cut off her words before she gave Mr. Tanner any further ammunition to use against her brother.

“Margaret, please, sit down. Clearly this news has come as a shock, and why wouldn’t it? I understand you campaigned quite hard for your brother to be given the position he now occupies.”

The innuendo in his voice left its mark. He’d already intimated that she could be linked to the fraudulent activity. As innocent as she knew she was, mud had a habit of sticking. She wouldn’t have a position here for long if there was any suspicion she was involved, especially not with the corporate restructuring that was rumored to be in the works. Rafe Cameron’s determined takeover of Worth Industries, and almost instant rebranding to Cameron Enterprises, had left everyone feeling a little precarious with respect to their jobs. It still wasn’t certain what his plans were for the company, and fresh rumors arose each day about the likelihood of the factory work being outsourced to Mexico or, worse, the whole company being moved closer to Cameron’s home base in New York—which would mean the loss of almost all their jobs. Several top-level executive heads had already rolled, or been ousted on the basis of early retirement. And then there was the steady stream of Cameron’s own people coming into those key roles, William Tanner being one of them. A shiver ran down her spine.

She swallowed back the words she longed to say. The words that would set William Tanner straight on exactly where she stood on matters of honesty and loyalty. Common sense held her back. Granted, it had been six years since Jason’s last run-in with the law. She’d lost track of the number of times she’d been called to the local police station to collect him after he’d been picked up for one misdemeanor or another, in the first couple of years after their parents died. But then the trouble had started to get worse—so much so that Officer Garcia could no longer let Jason go with a stern lecture and a promise of dire things to come.

The first—and last—time Jason had been locked up he was eighteen. The experience of being charged as an adult, with all its long-term ramifications, had finally opened his eyes to his behavior. He’d promised her that would be the only time, and that he’d learned his lesson, big-time. He even swore on their parents’ graves that he’d stay away from trouble for the rest of his life. She’d believed him—believed in him—so much so that she’d increased the mortgage over the home they’d grown up in so she could borrow the money necessary to send him to college out of state. Somewhere he could start afresh. Somewhere he could grow into the man she and their parents had always believed he would be.

Was it possible he’d thrown that all away?

“Look—” William butted in on her thoughts “—the way I see it, we’d be doing each other a favor.”

“A favor?” she repeated dully.

What kind of favor saw her lose everything she held dear? She’d fought long and hard to maintain her dignity through years of adversity and a lack of recognition. She had always aspired to do better—to be more. Now it appeared that everything she had ever done had been for nothing. Now she was expected to prostitute herself to save her brother.

“In return for you doing this for me, and believe me, you will be very well compensated, I will ensure that your brother receives nothing more than a reprimand. Obviously he’ll be under close supervision. If he keeps out of trouble, this transgression will be removed from his staff record and he’ll have a clean slate once more.”

“And if I don’t?”

“You will both be escorted from the premises immediately and I imagine that we can arrange for the police to be waiting for you at the front door. It’d probably take some time to go to trial, but I can assure you that if it did, there would be no question of Jason being found guilty.”

William Tanner’s voice was adamant. Each word a cold steel nail in the coffin of what had been her dreams.

“How long?” she asked.

“How long what?”

“How long would I have to pretend?”

She injected enough distaste in her voice to make William’s eyes narrow as he appeared to consider his answer.

“Don’t think this would be a walk in the park, Margaret. If you take this on you will have to be convincing in your role.” When she didn’t reply, he continued. “My father has put some pressure upon me to follow in my brothers’ footsteps and find a good woman to settle down with. At this stage of my career that is the furthest thing from my mind. He’s withholding something that is rightfully mine over this issue, and the situation is distressing my mother. I would need you to be my fiancée until I’m assured that the transfer of ownership of property back in New Zealand takes place. Basically, until my family calms down again and continues to act reasonably.”

“So there’s no finite term on this?”

Margaret could feel the walls closing in on her now. With his open-ended proposal and the continued threat of Jason losing his job hanging overhead, this would be a total nightmare. One from which she was afraid she might never awake. And yet this morning had started so promisingly with the inter-office communication confirming that she’d been promoted to being Tanner’s EA. For Margaret, the only way from a position like this was up and her summons to report to his office this afternoon had been something she’d been looking forward to all day.

“Obviously this won’t go on forever. It’s not as if we’ll be getting married.”

He said the words as if the entire prospect of marriage was completely abhorrent to him.

“Let me get this clear. You want me to pretend to be your fiancée for an undetermined period of time. In exchange you’ll recompense me and you will ensure that Jason doesn’t lose his job.”

“That Jason doesn’t lose his job over this incident. Should he push his boundaries and try something a little more sophisticated there will be no more second chances.”

No more second chances. The words were exactly what the judge had said when Jason had been brought before the court. She’d never been certain if it was the judge’s words or the night he’d spent in the county jail’s holding cells that had been the catalyst he’d needed to finally want to break free from the creeps he’d been hanging out with. She hadn’t cared much at the time. All she’d been concerned with was getting her brother back on an even keel. It had cost her far more than money to do so and she wasn’t about to jeopardize things now.

Margaret knew she wasn’t in a position to argue, but never in her wildest dreams had she imagined she would be forced into something like this. It wasn’t enough that the man had infiltrated her private thoughts and fantasies in the six weeks since the Valentine’s Day ball. Now he would control her days as well.

“Why? Why me?” she whispered.

He reached out a finger to trace her lips.

“Because you intrigue me, Margaret Cole. You intrigue me very much.”

Despite her distress, she reacted to his caress as if it was a touch of lightning. Her lips parted on a sharply indrawn breath and deep to her core she felt the sizzling awareness of his touch.

“Margaret,” he continued, “if you truly believe your brother to be innocent in this, you owe it to him to allow him to prove it. He can’t do that if he’s suspended pending further investigation, can he?”

Blood pounded in her ears, almost drowning out his words. Her chest tightened with anxiety. What choice did she have? In her heart she knew that Jason could not have done what he was being accused of, but the evidence said differently. She did owe him the chance to prove his innocence. If she didn’t accede to Mr. Tanner’s demands, all the hard years of work she’d put into Jason, and all the effort he’d made to clean up his act and make something of himself would be in vain.

She drew in a shaky breath.

“I’ll do it,” she said, the words little more than a whisper. She stood up and raised her head to meet William Tanner square in the eye. “I’ll do it,” she repeated, more strongly this time.

Will could barely hold back the rush of excitement that spread with molten heat through his body. She’d agreed. For a few moments there he’d thought she’d refuse—that maybe she’d throw her brother to the wolves and to hell with the consequences. He should have trusted his initial research. Margaret Cole was intensely loyal. Everyone had spoken highly of her, from the factory floor workers who still remembered her parents all the way through to the middle management for whom she’d provided secretarial support. As hard as he’d tried, he hadn’t been able to unearth the smallest speck of dirt on his elusive masked Spanish lady—except for what her brother had handed him on a platter.

And now, she was his. All his.

“I’m glad to hear it,” he said with a quick smile. “I believe it would be best if you went home now. I’ll talk to you in the morning about your instructions.”

“Instructions?” A spark of fire burned in her eyes.

“As to your new duties, of course. You haven’t held an EA role before so I don’t expect you to fall immediately into place. And then, of course, there are your extracurricular duties to discuss as well.”

A tremor ran through her body. Was it revulsion? He doubted it. Not after the way she’d reacted to him during that all too brief kiss a few minutes ago and especially not after he’d seen the fire leap to life in her eyes as he’d traced the soft fullness of her lower lip with only a fingertip. With her response being so instinctive, so honest, he knew the next few weeks, even months, would undoubtedly be as pleasurable as he’d anticipated from the moment he’d laid eyes on her.

He took a step toward her and tried to tamp down the disappointment he felt when he saw her flinch. Sure, he knew she’d be reluctant. What woman wouldn’t under these circumstances? But he had her exactly where he needed her and she couldn’t run away.

“I don’t need to remind you that this matter between us is completely confidential. Of course there will be questions when news of our ‘engagement’ leaks out, but I’m hoping we can keep them under control if we keep our stories straight.”

“Jason and I share our home. I have to tell him, at least.”

“I’d prefer you didn’t. Obviously I can’t stop you two from discussing the accusations against him, but the more people who know our engagement is a sham the more likely it is to be exposed.”

“Don’t you understand? Jason and I live together. I can’t hide the truth from him.”

“Then you’ll have to convince him that you’re doing this for love.”

“Believe me, he won’t have any trouble with that. He knows I love him.”

“No. Not him. Me.”

To his surprise, a throaty laugh bubbled from her. As delectable as the sound was, the reason behind it wasn’t. He bristled, going on the defensive.

“Is that so very hard to believe?” he pressed. “Don’t you think you’ll be able to act with credibility?”