had exonerated her, and he wasn’t pressing charges against her brother. In return, she was helping him cover the problem so that the press didn’t hurt his father. They were working together amicably, but that didn’t mean he should relax with her. He didn’t really know that she wouldn’t take advantage of this situation to extort money. But even if she was sufficiently cleared of that, he couldn’t afford to get emotionally involved with another woman.
Unfortunately, if he got any more appreciative of Savannah, he wouldn’t merely be involved, he would be smitten. Then he would give her anything she wanted when they divorced, and that took him back to his bottom-line suspicion. Savannah might not have helped her brother cook up the scheme to get a part of the McKenzie money, but now that she had her foot in the door there was no telling what she could demand. Though he didn’t believe Savannah was greedy, he couldn’t completely leave himself and his family unprotected, either. Which meant he couldn’t act upon any feelings he had for Savannah beyond what was appropriate.
“So, when do you want to get married?” he asked, taking his coffee to the table.
She shrugged. “I need two weeks to help my friends create a schedule and train them so they can run the bed-and-breakfast for the months I’m gone. Plus, we’ll need time to get a license and do whatever else is required to get married in Maryland.”
“That makes sense. How about the Saturday after next, then?”
She nodded. “The Saturday after next,” she said, playing with her silverware as Ethan helped himself to one of her delicious-looking cinnamon rolls, if only to give her a few seconds to acclimate. He knew her entire life was being turned upside down, but there was no help for it. Getting married was the only way to protect his father.
“So…have you told your parents?”
He glanced at her. “I’m not going to.”
She gasped. “You’re not?”
“Not on your life. I discussed this with Hilton last night,” he said, referring to Hilton Martin, family friend of the McKenzies, owner of Hilton-Cooper-Martin Foods and a man Ethan knew Savannah very much liked and respected. “And he agrees that there is no reason for my parents to know. Actually, their not knowing will help keep the scenario safe for them. Because they don’t know the truth, they won’t ever be lying to the press.”
“That makes sense,” Savannah agreed quietly.
“Yes, it does. The fewer people who know, the better,” he began, but he suddenly realized something he should have thought of immediately and he almost groaned. “Savannah, did you tell anyone how you got pregnant?”
Obviously realizing why he had asked, Savannah grimaced, “This isn’t something you share with the general public, so I only told the four women you met last night and Olivia Brady.”
“Olivia Brady? From Hilton-Cooper-Martin Foods?” Ethan said, stiffening with fear that his perfect plan had a big hole in it.
“I didn’t actually tell her everything when I had lunch with her in March. I tried, but she thought I was only considering getting pregnant and she never let me finish the story.”
Ethan relaxed. “So, that’s good, then. At the very least it’s manageable. We can say we bumped into each other while you were in Atlanta, realized we were head over heels in love and keep the story as pure as the driven snow.”
“I wouldn’t call this story as pure as the driven snow,” Savannah said, again playing with her silverware. “It’s a lie.”
“Yes, but it’s a necessary lie,” Ethan insisted. “What about your friends?”
“What about my friends?”
“What did you tell them?”
For this she looked him right in the eye. “I told them exactly what you told Hilton Martin.”
Understanding the comparison she had deliberately made, Ethan sucked in his breath. He couldn’t criticize her for telling her friends because he had confided in Hilton. “Do you trust them?”
Savannah gaped at him. “Of course, I trust them! I trust them enough that they’ll be running my business for six months.”
“This is different….”
“I don’t see how. Besides, even if I hadn’t wanted to talk with them about this last night to get my bearings, I would have had to tell them something to give them a reason for why I was marrying somebody they didn’t know and pulling up stakes. But only for six months. Not forever. Which immediately would alert them that something was wrong. There was no way I could have lied to them.”
“Right. You’re right. And I’m sorry.”
“Okay.”
Looking at Savannah’s angry face, Ethan suddenly felt like the villain. And he wasn’t. Her brother was. He wouldn’t be coercing her into marriage if it weren’t for her brother.
Nonetheless, guilt swamped him because he was asking a great deal of this woman. Then concern for her safety struck him next. What the hell was he doing upsetting the mother of his child? But continued fear about her friends hit him last and when that wave came it was a tsunami because it was a deal breaker. He wasn’t afraid one of them had already leaked her secret. Up to now the details of her pregnancy were highly personal for Savannah, a secret easily kept among friends. But now that the information had real value in the tabloid marketplace, Ethan knew any one of those four women could decide to sell this story. Which would make getting married pointless. If even one of them wasn’t as trustworthy as Savannah believed, this plan was dead in the water.
Still, not wanting to upset her with any more questions about her friends, and knowing she would be biased anyway, Ethan decided he wouldn’t say another word, but would check out her friends on his own.
“Why don’t you go change while I call my attorney to see what we have to do to get married in Maryland.”
“We have to see an attorney for that?”
“Well, we’re also going to need to have a prenup drawn up. Nothing extravagant, just one that says what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is yours.”
“Okay,” she said, then licked her lips.
Ethan’s gaze was drawn to her mouth. He noticed her lips were lush and pink. Full. Very kissable. If he hadn’t already reminded himself of all the reasons he couldn’t encourage his attraction to her, he would have been very tempted to at least wonder what it would be like to kiss her. But he wasn’t. He couldn’t take the risk.
“Okay. We’ll hash out the details at Gerry Smith’s office,” he said. “You go ahead and get changed.”
He watched her walk out of the kitchen, and after she was gone, he combed his fingers through his hair in frustration. It bugged the hell out of him that she made him feel guilty for pushing her into this scheme when she could be planning to turn around and blackmail him. Before he could enter into this marriage, he had a lot of backgrounds to check out….
On the drive back from Gerry Smith’s office, they decided that since they were entering this partnership “together,” he might as well
