with every fiber of her being, and that meant she also had to protect herself. Even from a sinfully attractive madman.
“I run ChandlerAIR,” he continued calmly. “Have you heard…Yes, I can see by your expression that you’ve heard of us. I’m in the middle of some delicate negotiations with a company we are acquiring. The founder of this company has some old-fashioned ideas about how he likes to do business.” Kyle paused, as if she needed a moment to digest what he was saying.
She nodded, since she didn’t know how else to respond.
Kyle’s lips twisted slightly and he turned his attention to his hands. “He refuses to deal with anyone who is not the fine upstanding family man he is,” he elaborated. “Acquiring this other company will benefit ChandlerAIR, but it will also help the economy here in Buttonwood. Provide jobs. Increase tourism—”
“I understand the economic benefits, Mr. Montgomery. Surely this other man would understand that, as well, wouldn’t he?” She brushed back a lock of hair and was dismayed to realize her hand was trembling.
“Payton Cummings is perfectly happy to retain control of his company as long as he needs to until he finds the right opportunity. The right—”
“Family man,” Emma murmured.
“Exactly.” Kyle’s lips tightened for a brief moment. “I’m more determined to see this acquisition through than Cummings is. Assuming the trappings of a family man is something I’m prepared to do to attain my goals.”
“But…but why me? Someone in your company, your girlfriend…”
“I don’t have one.”
Men who looked like Kyle Montgomery always had a woman in the background somewhere. Whether they admitted it or not. She swallowed the bitter thought.
“I don’t have time in my life right now for personal entanglements,” he was saying, his voice deep and smooth. “And I don’t want to create any ties with my associates that might later cause discomfort.”
“Discomfort,” Emma repeated. It was the word so often used to describe childbirth to prospective parents. She considered it singularly inadequate to describe the reality. “But with me, a total stranger, there would be no cause for later…discomfort.”
“Essentially, yes. I’m new to this area, Emma. I’ve bought a house and I’m moving ChandlerAIR’s corporate offices from Denver. Having a family that lives here dovetails nicely with what Cummings already knows about my plans.”
“Then he probably already knows you’re not married.”
“He doesn’t.” There was no room for doubt in his assurance.
She argued, anyway. “You can’t know that. I’ve seen articles now and then about your company. About the services you offer and its success.” Phenomenal success, if Emma recalled correctly. She also recalled his company being praised particularly for its progressive policies toward its employees. “I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t follow the business pages very closely. But even I know a little about your company. A man you’re plannin’ to do business with like you’ve described would obviously know a great deal more. Including some personal details.”
Kyle nodded. “Those are valid points. But until last year when he moved to Durango, Cummings had been living in New Mexico. Our paths didn’t cross. Besides which, I’ve always kept my private life private. Only my closest associates know much about me personally. I prefer it that way.”
Emma couldn’t imagine it. There were times she suspected every resident of Buttonwood knew the business of everyone else. It was almost as bad as her hometown in Tennessee. “But to suddenly produce a wife? I just don’t see how you can possibly hope to fool anyone.”
His eyes narrowed. “I can count on your discretion, can’t I, Emma?”
She winced. “As if anyone would believe me if I went around announcing that a guy like you walked into my hospital room one morning and asked me, a simple waitress, to be his wife.”
He frowned. “For appearances only,” he corrected. “I meant no offense. This is a delicate situation. Cummings already thinks I’m married. But he’s been showing more interest in that area of my life, and I’m going to have to introduce him to my wife, I feel certain, before he’ll close the deal.”
“You told him you were married because he wouldn’t do business with you otherwise?”
“I told his stepdaughter I was married when she came on to me at our first meeting.”
“Oh,” Emma murmured.
Kyle grimaced. “I didn’t want to jeopardize my plans. It seemed, at the time, the easiest way.”
“And you couldn’t have just said you didn’t want to mix business with pleasure?”
“Let’s just say that Winter Cummings is a determined woman who doesn’t necessarily hold with her stepdaddy’s values.”
Kyle’s hand moved and Emma realized he was unclenching his fist.
“Ironically, once word reached Cummings that I’d been recently married, he was willing to meet with me himself. I wasn’t going to derail the deal by getting into explanations.”
She was believing every word that left his lips. He was utterly serious.
And his seriousness seemed far more dangerous than his being nuts. “Perhaps Mr. Cummings and his crew aren’t the type of people with whom you want to do business,” she suggested faintly.
Kyle smiled tightly. “I want Payton Cummings’s company,” he said. “If it takes a family to get it, I’ll produce a family. At least for show.”
Emma swallowed. “But to…to marry strictly for the purpose of a business deal? That seems so, well, extreme, don’t you think?”
“It wouldn’t be a real marriage,” he said. “I just need you and your son to pose as my family. The two of you would move in with me—strictly business,” he assured when she caught her breath audibly.
“But, sugar, it would be a lie.” Her face heated as the words burst out.
Kyle felt an odd stirring when he let himself look at the young woman opposite him. Her melodic voice had been growing increasingly smooth, like warm honey. There was more than a touch of the South in this dark-haired beauty. He’d had women call him all sorts of nicknames from darling to pig, but he knew he’d never been a sugar. He dragged his thoughts front and center, where they belonged. “I have to consider the weight of what I’m trying to accomplish.”
“Ah.” She nodded, her big brown eyes studying him steadily. “The old ‘end justifies the means’ reasoning.”
“I want to add more flights, Emma,” he said truthfully. “More flights, more service, more employees. The only people who will be hurt if ChandlerAIR’s acquisition of Cummings Courier Service falls through at this late date will be the considerable number of people within the Four Corners area who won’t be able to work for me. That’s four states, Emma. Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico.”
“I
