Barbara Dunlop - The Billionaire’s Bidding

Emma wasn’t marrying for money. At least not the way he was insinuating she was marrying for money. She had her own money. He was simply…Well, he was helping her out, for a handsome return, that was all.

It was mutually beneficial, and she resented him making her feel otherwise.

“This has been going on since the early eighteen-hundreds,” said Alex. “Even my father-” Then he clamped his jaw. “Hold out your hand, Emma.”

She started to retreat, but he reached out and snagged her left wrist, coaxing it toward him.

“I don’t-”

He slipped the band over her first knuckle.

She shut her mouth and stared at the endless circle of platinum, at Alex’s dark hand against her own pale skin, at the antique rubies and diamond winking in the light.

“Believe me when I tell you,” said Alex, pushing it a little farther. “You’re carrying on a proud tradition.”

The ring thudded reluctantly over her second knuckle, but then it settled at the base of her finger.

A perfect fit.

“There,” Alex breathed, stroking his thumb over the surface of the diamond. “Now we’re really engaged.”

Where Alex had ended up with Hamilton’s fortune and Hamilton’s looks, his third cousin, Nathaniel, had ended up with Hamilton’s life. The second son of the current earl of Kessex, Nathaniel had been forced to seek his own fortune, just as Hamilton had done so many decades before.

With little more than seed money from the family estate, Nathaniel had founded Kessex Cruise Lines. Then he’d added Kessex Shipping and quickly grew his fortune to the hundreds of millions.

He now had his finger on the pulse of the transportation industry from Paris to Auckland. And the transportation industry was the lynchpin of global commerce. Alex might know how to run a successful hotel chain. But Nathaniel could manipulate the world.

He’d provided Alex with a thick dossier on DreamLodge, then he’d hung around an extra couple of days. He should have been on his way back to London today. His continued presence made Alex nervous. Nathaniel didn’t stick around unless something was interesting. And things that Nathaniel found interesting usually made Alex sweat.

The two men, along with Ryan, waited until Simone exited and closed the door to Alex’s office.

“What’s going on?” Alex asked his cousin without preamble.

Across the round meeting table, Nathaniel inched slightly forward in his chair. “You ever met David Cranston?”

That sure wasn’t what Alex had expected to hear. “You mean Katie McKinley’s boyfriend?”

Nathaniel nodded.

“Sure,” said Alex.

Nathaniel strummed a single staccato beat with his fingertips. “He’s on my radar.”

Ryan jumped in. “Why?”

Nathaniel’s mood became contemplative. “Don’t know yet.”

“Gut feeling?” asked Alex, knowing the answer already.

Nathaniel’s gut feeling was legendary in the family. He made million-dollar deals based on nothing but a vague shimmer of a theory.

His uncanny luck used to freak Alex out. But then Nathaniel explained his luck was, in fact, the sum total of several hundred subconscious observations, from facial expressions and stock trends to weather patterns and newspaper articles. He wasn’t sure himself how it worked. He only knew that it did.

The phenomenon didn’t freak Alex out anymore, and he’d quit calling it luck years ago.

“Gut feeling,” Nathaniel confirmed. “Did you know McKinley Inns just hired him?”

“Cranston?” asked Alex, more than slightly bothered that he had to hear news like that from his cousin. “Doing what?”

“Overseas marketing. VP Special Projects.”

Ryan snorted. “Special projects?”

“Pathetic,” Nathaniel agreed.

“What’s his background?” asked Alex. And what was Emma thinking?

Nathaniel shrugged. “Some kind of mediocre project manager for Leon Gage Consulting.”

“Did they can him?”

Nathaniel shook his head. “He quit.”

“McKinley actually headhunted him?”

Nathaniel nodded. “Offered him a salary bump.”

“The guy’s a mooch,” said Ryan. “Takes a cushy job with the girlfriend’s firm…”

Alex hated the thought of McKinley Inns supporting a do-nothing executive, particularly where nepotism was involved.

Then again he wasn’t stupid enough to get between his fiancée’s sister and her true love, either. Of all the battles he wanted to take on at McKinley, this sure wasn’t on the top of his list.

Nathaniel stood up. “That’s all I wanted to tell you.”

Alex stood with his cousin. “You’re offended on an ethical level, aren’t you?”

“Nothing worse than a wussie who rides on his woman’s coattails. You should have a talk with this Katie person. Tell her to dump the bastard.”

Alex scoffed out a laugh. “Right. Like that’s going to happen.”

“She’s got rotten taste in men.”

“She’s also got fifty acres of beachfront property on Kayven Island. She can marry her St. Bernard for all I care.”

Nathaniel gave him a mock two-fingered salute. “Thanks for the visual there, Al.”

“Not a problem, Nate. Everything still on track for the Kayven Island project?”

“Minor problem with the dockworkers’ union, but I straightened it out. Everything still on track at your end?”

“Absolutely.” Emma had a ring on her finger, and they’d had very positive coverage in three major newspapers.

Nathaniel slid his chair back under the meeting table. “In that case, gentlemen. I’ve got a girl and a plane both waiting on the tarmac at JFK.”

Alex reached out and shook Nathaniel’s hand. “Thanks for the intel. On both fronts.”

“Anytime.” Then Nathaniel nodded to Ryan. “Catch you later.”

Ryan rose to his feet. “Have a good flight.”

Nathaniel grinned and turned for the door, tossing his parting words over his shoulder. “Plane’s my new Learjet Sixty. Girl’s a licensed masseuse from Stockholm.”

Alex crossed to his desk as the door clicked shut behind Nathaniel. “Guess he will be having a good flight.”

“How do I get his life?” asked Ryan.

“Most people want his brother’s.”

Wednesday evening, Katie grasped at the unwieldy ring on Emma’s left hand. “No way,” she exclaimed.

“Way,” said Emma, still struggling to get used to the weight of the thing and still worrying about the insurance implications if she lost it.

Katie looked up, her eyes shining under the lights of Emma’s penthouse. “A real earl?”

“About four generations ago.”

“Alex gave you his family heirloom?”

“Don’t go getting all excited.” Emma liberated her hand and sat back down on the couch. “He’s only lending it to me. And it has a dubious history.”

Katie took the seat opposite, kicking off her sandals and curling her feet beneath her. “Oh, do tell.”

“The brides all married for money.”

Katie stared at her, waiting. “That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“I thought you were talking about sex and scandal and murder.”

“Sorry. No murders.” Emma thought back to her afternoon. “Well, except for Mrs. Nash. Alex’s housekeeper. I have a feeling she’s capable of it.”

“And did you upset her?”

“Not so much me. But Philippe better watch his back.”

Katie grinned. “I have a feeling Philippe can take care of himself.”

Emma had to admit, she had that feeling, too. She stroked her thumb over the big diamond and was assailed by a vivid body memory of Alex. She determinedly shook it off. “So what did I miss at the office?”

Katie tossed her wavy blond hair back over one shoulder. “I got David to come and work for us.”

Emma didn’t understand. “Your David?”

“Yes, my David.”

“But he has a job. With Leon Gage.”

“I convinced him to quit.”

An uneasy feeling trickled through Emma. “Why would you do that?” David was a great guy. And Katie obviously loved him. But working together? Day in and day out? Could that be good for any couple?

“Because we need him,” said Katie, the tone of her voice subtly shifting to petulant.

Emma regrouped.

She wished Katie had discussed it with her. Not that Emma would have overruled her sister, but she might have been able to curb Katie’s impulsive nature.

“Did you at least get help from Human Resources?” McKinley had a top notch HR department.

“What? I can marry him, but I can’t hire him?”

“Katie-”

“Really, Emma.”

Emma clenched her jaw. HR checked references and aligned suitable people with suitable jobs. What would they do if David didn’t work out?

Now she struggled to keep the censure out of her voice. “What’s he going to do?”

Katie pushed out her bottom lip.

“Katie?”

“Vice President of Special Projects Overseas.”

Emma pressed her thumb against the jagged facets of the ring. This time when the memory of Alex popped up, it was strangely comforting. “I see.”

“He’s got contacts in Europe and all over the Caribbean.”

Emma nodded. She wasn’t aware they had problems in Europe or the Caribbean.

“He’s going after convention business and tour clubs.”

Emma couldn’t hold her tongue completely. “Are you sure that’s not too much togetherness?” She wanted Katie to be happy, truly she did. But there was something about this situation that made her uneasy. For Katie’s sake. For the company’s.

“You and Alex are going to work together,” said Katie.

“But Alex and I aren’t-”

“Getting married.”

Emma jerked her thumb away from the ring. “Falling in love.”

“So? Love makes it easier for me and David to work together.”

Emma struggled to find fault with that logic. Technically, she supposed it should be true. Katie and David actually liked and respected each other. Where Alex and Emma couldn’t come within ten feet without arguing or…worse.

Fingers spread, Katie raked her blond hair back over her forehead. “Quite frankly, Emma, if you’re going to worry about anyone working together, I’d worry about you and Alex.”

Emma was already worried about that.

She resisted the urge to touch the ring again.

Quite frankly, she was getting more worried by the hour.

Emma braced herself for Alex’s entrance.

Her admin assistant, Jenny, had just spent three minutes warning of his arrival, an excited lilt to her voice as she watched him walk through the long office foyer and relayed his every move to Emma.

According to Jenny, Alex was wearing a charcoal suit, a black shirt and a silver-and-blue striped tie that picked up the sunshine through the skylights. He didn’t look upset, but he didn’t look particularly happy either. And, by the way, had Emma ever noticed the delicate cleft in his chin or the way his gray eyes sparkled silver in direct sunlight?

By the time Emma got off the intercom, she only had thirty seconds to smooth her blazer and brace herself for the onslaught of emotions that were sure to be brought on by his presence.

She’d stay on this side of the desk. He’d stay on that side. She wouldn’t touch him, or smell him or look too closely into his eyes. And she would not touch that annoying diamond while he was in the room.

The oak door swung open, the air current swaying the leaves on her ponytail palm.

She came to her feet to face not happy, not angry Alex, with his sparkling silver eyes.

“Hello, darling,” he greeted for Jenny’s benefit before he clicked the door shut behind him.

She drew a bracing breath. “Can I help you with something?” They hadn’t made another appointment to meet, although she knew they had an endless number of things to work out.

“Brought you a present.”

Please, God. No more jewelry. Her right hand went to the ring before she remembered to jerk it back.

But he tossed an envelope on her desk. “Our prenup.”

She glanced at the thick manila envelope. “You wrote it without me?”

He eased down into one of her guest chairs. “Trust me.”

“Ha.” She peeled back the flap and took her own seat.

It was a single page, duly signed and notarized. Alex got half of McKinley upon their marriage, and if either of them initiated divorce proceedings within two years of the marriage, the other got ten percent of their net worth.

She looked up to see him smile. There wasn’t a single thing she could complain about. It meant she couldn’t have a relationship for a couple of years. But she’d expected that. If anything, the agreement favored her.

Then she set the paper down on her desk. “What exactly is your net worth?”

“Less than Nathaniel’s. More than yours.”

“Who’s Nathaniel?”

“My cousin. He’ll be the best man.”

She glanced back down at the agreement. “You’ve already signed.”