“Sign the paper, say ‘I do’ and then act like my wife for a short while—long enough for Dad to calm down, retire like he’s planned to do all along and name me as his replacement—then go on her way.”
She snorted softly and shook her head. Her hair gleamed under the overhead light. “Do I need to remind you that the women you usually date—before they reach the three-month expiration, that is—will be looking for a whole lot more out of your deal than going on her way?”
Because he usually marked his way out of his brief romantic entanglements with gifts of jewelry that Deanna arranged for him, she had a point.
“I’d need someone convincing,” he mused. He drummed his fingers on the desk as his thoughts coalesced into the perfect solution.
He looked his assistant square in the eyes.
“Someone like you.”
Chapter Two
Like her?
Alarm had Deanna shooting out of her chair. “Now I think you’ve lost your marbles.”
But Drew was sitting there in his chair as calm now as he’d been agitated earlier, and she felt her stomach sink even lower when he picked up the hat he’d discarded earlier and put it on.
Backward.
The small scar near his hairline that showed because of it gave him a particularly rakish look.
“It’s the perfect solution,” he reasoned. The faint dimple in his cheek appeared.
She gaped. “You are mad.”
He spread his hands, his palms upward. “Think it through, Dee. If a new CEO is named—someone from outside—what’s the likelihood that you and everyone else who’s worked here will get to stay? Bring in a new person at the top and changes are bound to trickle down. It’s the nature of the beast.”
A fresh wave of panic began forming at the edges of her sanity. “You already said that a new CEO wouldn’t mean closing this office.”
“Closing is one thing. Clearing the decks to bring in his—” he shrugged “—or her, I suppose—own people is not unusual, though. If I were going into a new place, I’d want some of my own people around me. Dad will officially be retired by then. Living permanently in Texas. He’s the one ready to bring in new blood. You think he hasn’t realized the ramifications to the people who’ve worked for him all along?”
“I can’t believe that your father wouldn’t have some plan for that. I’ve met him. He’s a very caring person!”
“He’s a man who has made it plain that he is starting his new life, no matter how it affects everyone else, including his own family,” Drew said flatly, and his dimple was nowhere in evidence.
Her knees suddenly felt wobbly and she closed her hands over the back of the chair where she’d been sitting.
She needed her job. Now, more than ever.
And while she felt certain that she’d be able to find alternate work if she had to, she knew that she’d never be able to start out at the pay level that she’d risen to at Fortune Forecasting.
She wasn’t getting rich by any means, but she made enough to keep her head above water … and until Gigi’s latest spending jag … hers, too.
“Nobody would believe that you and I … That we … well, that we—”
“—were in love? “
She could practically see the calculating wheels turning in his mind when he picked up a pen and began drumming the end of it on his desk.
“Why not?” he asked. “I think it’ll make perfect sense to anyone who bothers to think about it. My whole family knows that you’re the only female who has been in my life for longer than a twelve-week stretch.”
“Sure. Because you pay me well and usually leave me alone to do my job!” She shook her head. “I’m not even your type.”
He looked amused and the dimple was definitely back. “And what type would that be?”
“Six feet tall, blonde and big-chested.”
“Sounds like you’re describing the guy who runs the magazine stand down in the lobby.”
She grimaced. “Hilarious. You know exactly the kind of woman I mean. The only kind you ever date more than twice.” She could count on one hand the number of women he’d seen who’d had more interest in him than the size of his bank account or what they could get out of being on Drew Fortune’s arm for a while.
None of those women had ever made it past a second date with him; he’d made certain of that.
His pen was still tapping. “I do know what you mean. And you’re right. You are not a gold digger,” he said smoothly. “Nobody could ever make the mistake of thinking that. You’ve worked by my side for four years now. You’re the soul of discretion, you’re calm and sensible. Hell, if we’re honest here, my father will probably think you’re too good for me.”
He made her sound like a lap dog.
She shook off the unwanted shard of pique as she shook her head. “I can’t believe I’m even standing here discussing this with you. It’s insane. And I have friends still waiting for me. So am I supposed to distribute your article or was that whole episode just an exercise on your part to exert your power one last time before you take to the road?”
He ignored that. “One year of your time, Deanna, for a simple business deal. A marriage of convenience. Hands-strictly-off, right? So what’s that worth to you? A raise? A promotion? A new title?”
“No! I don’t want any of those things! Not when it’s a simple business deal that involves getting married to you—however you want to describe it—and lying to your own father about the real reason for it!”
“And you think what he’s demanding is all that reasonable?” he shot back.
She pressed her lips together. Because, if everything that Drew said was true, then of course she didn’t think it was reasonable at all.
Yes, Drew played hard.
But he worked even harder.
And she’d worked for him long enough to know that there was nothing he valued more than the company that his father had founded.
She raked her hands through her hair and turned away from the chair to pace across the office. Her knees were still shaking, but that was nothing compared to the quivering going on inside her belly.
Marry Drew Fortune?
Her?
Nerves skittered through her.
She paced back. “How do I even know that you’re not exaggerating the situation? “
