but they had grown up like sisters. Emmaline had never let anyone hurt Holly, and she wasn’t about to start now, especially when she was the culprit.
Emmaline shook her head. “Don’t worry, sweetie. Ryan Benedict may be a bit more overt than I’m used to, but I’m very good at adjusting.”
She smiled at Holly to reassure her, but Emma still had reservations. Because if Ryan had noticed her reaction to him, he would know that she was susceptible to him, and that kind of knowledge was how her former boyfriend, John, had betrayed her. According to her mother’s diaries, being unable to control her feelings for her husband was why Danielle Carstairs hadn’t foreseen him abandoning her. So Emmaline had good reason to give Ryan Benedict a wide berth.
Still, Holly and Uncle Gilbert had every right to invite Ryan to stay here.
“Any moment now,” Holly said, glancing down at her watch. “In fact, I’ve go to go get ready. “Oh gosh, I’ve got to run. Chris just called on his cell and said that the trip from company headquarters in St. Louis hadn’t taken that long and they were running ahead of schedule. They’ll be here any moment now, and I’m not ready. I don’t want Chris to see me looking like a hag.”
Which was one thing her petite, blond cousin could never look like, Emmaline thought. But she was glad when Holly immediately left the room. It prevented her cousin from seeing the shocked expression on Emmaline’s face.
“Any minute now?” Emmaline whispered. That certainly didn’t give her any time to mentally prepare herself.
She blew out a frustrated breath and glanced down at the book she had carried upstairs: Shakespeare and His World. How thoughtful of Uncle Gilbert, he had a fondness for Shakespeare, and so did she.
Why did she have the feeling that Shakespeare would have been amused by her situation? “Well, I’ll just have to keep things light. I’ll pretend I’m one of Shakespeare’s actors and act as if nothing ever happened,” she said as she stepped into a drab black dress that she found in the back of her closet. Because she wasn’t about to let Ryan Benedict know that she even remembered touching him.
He was only here for work Ryan reminded himself as he maneuvered his black sedan down the long, curving driveway that led to the Messmer mansion just outside the hamlet of Avon Lake, Texas, not far from the coast. The fact that he was remembering Emmaline Carstairs’s lush pink lips right now didn’t change things.
“Hell,” he said.
Chris looked at him. “What?”
Ryan tightened his hands on the steering wheel. “Nothing. I just remembered something I forgot. It isn’t important.”
Which was the truth, because he had no interest at all in Emma Carstairs. He dated women who weren’t interested in anything beyond his bed and what he could buy for them. That was just fine. It was the way Benedicts had always done things, probably because Benedicts didn’t have hearts. They had ambition and a certain amount of cunning and brashness, and with that combination they generally got what they wanted.
Emotions could never be part of the deal, because when emotions were added to the mix, things got ugly and people got hurt. He’d watched too many people in his life get hurt, and he wasn’t going to be a part of that anymore.
He especially avoided serious types such as Emmaline appeared to be. If she chose to get involved with a man, she would expect things that someone like him could never give.
Not that that would happen. The minute he had stepped away from her after that simple kiss, she had frowned as if she didn’t like him. So why on earth was he thinking that he’d like to swoop in and actually taste her lips fully this time and feel her hand pressed against his chest again, risk breaking his rock-solid rules about women like her?
No question, this was going to be a long month.
“I don’t know what you’re brooding about, but leave the car here, and let’s go, Ryan,” Chris said. “I can’t wait to see Holly. It’s been hell without her these past few weeks. I thought October would never get here.”
Ryan smiled. “Spoken like a man firmly under the spell of a woman.” He pulled up to a long, brick walk-way that led past a plaza with fountains, glossy green shrubs and pink and white flowers to the cream-colored mansion’s colonnaded front entranceway. He climbed from the car, rubbing his knee to keep from limping too much. Long drives still affected the old wound.
Chris laughed. “Under the spell of a woman? Don’t knock it just because you’ve never been there.”
“I wouldn’t think of criticizing the fact that you’re in love,” Ryan told his friend. “Just because I’m not the emotional type doesn’t mean that I’m not happy for you.”
“I know. And thanks. I know this isn’t exactly an ideal situation for you, being here to work while I get to play and plan my wedding.”
Ryan shook his head. “That’s not a problem. You know that work is what makes me tick.” In fact, the army and work were the first places in life where he had made a difference, where his presence mattered. He’d gone without sleep to build this company with Chris, a friend from the service. C&R Technologies was his life now. It was what kept him content, so working while Chris pursued romantic interests didn’t bother him at all.
But despite his intentions, Ryan forgot everything in the next moment. Gilbert and Holly Messmer had come out to greet their guests, as had Emmaline. The sun kissed her shoulder-length dark hair and her pale skin, setting her quietly aglow despite the baggy black dress that she was wearing. She smiled at Chris, giving him a warm, welcoming look that transformed her normally solemn expression and made it impossible for Ryan to keep from staring at her pretty mouth. Almost immediately, however, her eyes slid away to look at something over Ryan’s left shoulder as she said hello to him in a painfully polite and prim voice.
If he had wondered whether Emmaline had forgotten that touch they had shared, he had his answer.
She hadn’t forgotten and she wasn’t happy to see him.
Hmm, there was probably only one way to handle this. Take the smart route and ignore her. It was the way he would have chosen just yesterday.
But with the intriguing memory of that moment when she had turned and he had tasted those delicious lips, there was no ignoring the woman. If he wanted her out of his thoughts, he was going to have to defuse the situation, treat it like any other project. No doubt he was fantasizing about her because he didn’t really know her, maybe because forbidden fruit always seemed tempting. No doubt she disliked him because she thought he might have been hitting on her.
If he took the initiative and turned the situation into, gentle teasing, they could both get past that false start they’d made down the wrong path. They might even become friends, a desirable arrangement if his partner and best friend was marrying her cousin.
“So begins round one,” he said beneath his breath.
Emmaline looked up at him and blinked, that frown drawing her brows together. “What did you say, Mr. Benedict?”
Keep it light. Surely she has a sense of humor.
“I said what a delicious shade of lipstick, Emmaline,” Ryan said with a smile. “What do you call it? Kiss-me-pink?”
For a second
