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“What happens now?” Ellie asked. “What happens to Jiao?”
“Well, it would be handy if you had a boyfriend who was looking to commit in the very near future. But if not …” Linda put out her hands again. “I’m sorry. Maybe this one isn’t meant to be.” Linda didn’t have to say anything more. Ellie knew, without hearing the words, that her child would go back into the orphanage system and maybe languish there for years.
Ellie couldn’t believe that this wasn’t meant to be. Not for a second. The entire serendipitous way she had met Sun, the way the two of them had become instant friends, despite the cultural and language barriers.
And Jiao …
She already loved the little girl. Ellie had held Jiao. Laughed with her. Bonded. During her trips to China, Ellie had become a part of Jiao’s little family. A second mother, in a way, to Jiao, who had curled into Ellie and clung to her when they had buried Sun. It had broken Ellie’s heart to have to go back to the United States without the little girl. She’d only done it because she’d been assured the next few steps of the adoption were merely a formality.
And now Jiao was all alone in the world, living in a crowded, understaffed orphanage, probably scared and lonely and wondering why she had no family anymore. Ellie thought of Jiao’s pixie face, her inquisitive eyes and her contagious smile. Desperation clawed at Ellie. Oh, God, Jiao. What am I going to do?
Ellie took a deep breath. Another. She needed to be calm. To think.
Damn it. Ellie had made a promise. Jiao deserved to be raised with security and love, and Ellie would find some way to make that happen. “Let me think about this,” she said. “Can I call you later?”
Linda nodded, her warm brown eyes pooling with sympathy. “Sure. I have a day or two to get back to the orphanage.”
The unspoken message, though, was that after that, Jiao would slip out of Ellie’s grasp like wind through the trees. Off to another family or worse, stuck in the system. Ellie needed a miracle.
And she needed it now.
CHAPTER FOUR (#ulink_5508d239-fc9f-5834-83bf-97522dc3ef89)
FINN MCKENNA was not a man easily surprised. He’d heard and seen a great deal in the past ten years of running his own company. But this … offer, if that was what he could call it, from Ellie Winston was a total shock.
“Marriage? As in a church and a minister?” he said. The words choked past his throat.
“Well, I was thinking more like city hall and a judge, but if you insist …” She grinned.
“But … w-we don’t even know each other.” The words sputtered out of him. He, a man who never sputtered.
Ever since she’d walked into his office five minutes ago and announced she had a counteroffer to his, that was what he had done—sputtered. And stammered. And parroted her words back at her. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Shocked wasn’t an adequate adjective.
Marriage?
He had expected her to ask for more autonomy with the project or a larger cut of the fee. Something … practical.
Instead she’d said she would allow him to be an equal partner in the Piedmont hospital project, if he married her.
Marriage.
“I think I need a little more time to … think about this.” Or find a counteroffer that could possibly overrule her insane request. “Perhaps we could table this—”
“I’d rather not.” She was perched on the edge of one of the visitor’s chairs in his office. The late morning sun danced gold in her hair. She had on another dress, this one in a pale yellow that made him think of daffodils.
For Pete’s sake. Every time he got close to Ellie Winston he turned into a damned greeting card.
“If you’re free for a little while,” she added, “how about we go someplace and talk?”
He considered saying no, but then realized this was his best opportunity to get what he needed from Ellie Winston. In the long run, that would serve him better than staying at his desk. It wasn’t the fact that he wanted to see more of her. Not at all. He glanced out his window. “We could do lunch, and be stuck in some restaurant or … the weather is gorgeous. How about a stroll on the Esplanade?”
“Sure. I can’t remember the last time I walked along the river.” She reached into her purse and pulled out a small bag. “I even have flats with me.”
“Practical woman.”
She laughed. “Sometimes, not so much, but today, yes.” She slipped off her heels, tucked them in her bag, then slid on the other shoes.
Finn told Miss Marstein that he was leaving, then shut down his computer and grabbed his phone. A few minutes later, they were out the door and heading down a side street toward the Esplanade. Finn drew in a deep breath of sweet salty air. “I definitely don’t get outside enough.”
Ellie sighed. “Me, either. When I was younger, I used to be a real outdoorsy girl. Hiking, canoeing, bike riding. I tried to keep up with that after college, but the job takes up way too much time.”
He arched a brow at her dress and the spiky heels poking out of her purse. “You hiked?”
Ellie put a fist on her hip. “Do I look too girly for that?”
His gaze raked over her curves, and his thoughts strayed from business to something far more personal. Damn. “Uh, no. Not at all.”
“What about you?” she asked. “Do you hike or bike or anything like that?”
“I used to. I ran track in high school, was on the swim team, you name it. And during college, I biked everywhere. Now I think my bike’s tires are flat and there are spiders making webs in the frame.”
She laughed. “All the more reason to get it out of storage.”
They crossed to the Esplanade, joining the hundreds of other people outside. A few on bikes whizzed past them, as if adding an exclamation point to the conversation. “Maybe someday I will,” Finn said, watching a man on a carbon fiber racing bike zip past him. “I do miss it.”
“Someday might never come,” Ellie said quietly. “It’s too easy to let the To Do list get in the way. And then before you know it, another year has passed, and another, and you’re still sitting behind the desk instead of doing what you love.”
He heard something more in her voice. Some kind of longing. Just for more outdoor time? Or to fill another hole in her life? He wanted to ask, wanted to tell her he knew all about using work to plug those empty spots.
But he didn’t.
The bike rider disappeared among a sea of power walkers. Finn returned his attention to Ellie. She looked radiant in the sunshine. Tempting. Too tempting. He cleared his throat. “It’s hard to keep up with the personal To Do list when the business one is so much longer.”
“Isn’t part of your business taking care of you? After all, if the CEO ain’t happy …” She let the words trail off and shot him a grin.
For a second, Finn wanted to fall into that engaging smile of Ellie Winston’s. Every one of her smiles seemed to hit him deep in the gut. They were the kind of smiles that Finn suspected—no, knew—would linger in his mind long after they were done. And her voice … her years of living in the South gave her just enough of a Southern tinge to coat her words with a sweet but sassy spin. It was … intoxicating.
Hell, everything about her was intoxicating. It wasn’t just the dress or the smile or the curves. It was everything put together, in one unique, intriguing package.
She had him thinking about what it would be like to take a hike through Blue Hills with her, to crest the mountain and watch the busy world go by far beneath them. He imagined them picnicking on a rock outcropping, while the sun warmed their backs and the breeze danced along their skin.
Damn. What was it about her that kept getting him distracted? He needed to focus on business, and more importantly, on why she had proposed marriage a few minutes ago. No wild, heady anything with her.
Finn cleared his throat. “About your … proposal earlier. No pun intended. Were you serious?”
Her features went from teasing to flat, and he almost regretted steering the conversation back. “Yes. Very.” She let out a long breath, and for a while, watched the people sitting on the grass across from them. It was a family of four, with a small dog nipping at the heels of the children as they ran a circle around their parents. “I need something from you and you need something from me. Marriage is the best solution all around.”
“We could always do a legal agreement for the businesses. This is just one project, you know.”
“For me, it’s much more.” Her gaze returned to his. “I have to have a husband. Now.”
“Why?”
“First, let me lay out the advantages to you.” She slowed her pace. “For one, our lack of familiarity with each other is what makes it a perfect idea and a perfect partnership, if you will.”
“Partnership, perhaps. Not a marriage.”
“I may not know you very well, Mr. McKenna,” she went on, “but I know your life. You work sunup to sundown, travel half the year and have all the social life of a barnacle.”
She could have opened up his skull and peeked inside his brain. Damn. Was he that transparent? And put that way, well, hell, his life sounded downright pitiful. Riley would have put up two enthusiastic thumbs in agreement.
Perhaps she was joking. He glanced at her face. Saw only serious intent in her features.
“But don’t you think it’s wiser to work out a business arrangement instead? More money, more prestige, a reciprocal arrangement with my next project?” Something he could quantify, put into those neat little debits and credits columns. Not something like marriage, for Pete’s sake.
“Perhaps to you it would be. But a business arrangement isn’t the number one thing I need right now.” She gestured toward a small grassy hill that led to the river, away from the crowds out walking, and the energetic in-line skaters rushing past them. He followed her down to the water’s edge. In the distance, a rowing team called out a cadence as they skimmed across the glassy blue surface.
Her green eyes met his, and a thrill ran through him. Damn, she had beautiful eyes.
“Not to mention, you’re probably as tired of the dating game as am I,” she said. “And maybe you’ve looked ahead to the future, and wondered how on earth you’re going to fit the American Dream into your schedule.”
He gave her a droll smile. “Actually I had that down for next year, on Tuesday, March 30, at two in the afternoon.”
She burst out laughing, which also surprised him and stirred that warmth again in his gut. Those who knew Finn would never have described him as a man with a sense of humor. But apparently Ellie Winston found him funny. That pleased him, and had him wondering what else Ellie thought of him.
Damn. He kept getting off track. It had to be her proposal which had knocked the normally unflappable Finn off balance.
“I was hoping to fit it into my planner a little sooner than that,” she said. “Actually a lot sooner.”
“Why? Why now? And … why me? I mean, you are a beautiful woman. Smart, charming, sexy. You could have your pick of any man on the planet.”
“I … well, thank you.” Now it was her turn to sputter. A soft pink blush spread over her cheeks. Then she paused, seeming to weigh her answer for several moments before responding. He got the distinct impression she was holding something back, but what, he didn’t know. He thought again about what he knew about her. Nothing pointed to “desperate to get married,” no matter how he looked at the details he knew about her. Yet, there was an ulterior motive to her proposal—he’d bet a year’s salary on it.
“There’s a child in China who needs a mother. I promised her that I would adopt her, and everything was in place for me to do so. Until this morning.” She bit her lip and turned to him. “The agency told me I need a husband to complete the adoption.”
“Whoa, whoa.” He put up his hands. “I’m not interested in becoming an instant father.”
“I’m not asking that of you. At all.”
“Then what are you asking?”
“A marriage based on commonality, not passion or lust or infatuation. We’ll stay married for a short time, long enough for me to get the adoption finalized, then get a quiet divorce. Painless and fast.”
In other words, no real strings attached and he’d be out of this nearly as fast as he was in it. He should be glad. For some reason, he wasn’t. “Sounds so … clinical.”
“Mr. McKenna … Finn. We’re both detail oriented—clinical in a way—people. I’m not interested in losing my head in a relationship, or wasting a lot of time dating Mr. Wrong, not when I’m concentrating on running my father’s company. I need a spouse, in name only, and you need a business partner.”
He looked in Ellie Winston’s eyes, and saw only sincerity, and a quiet desperation to help a child halfway around the world. He knew she wouldn’t have come to him, with this insane offer, if she didn’t have to.
Find out what she wants most in the world, Riley had said, and give it to her.
But this?
“I don’t know if I agree with this,” Finn said. “The child will undoubtedly be hurt when her father disappears after a few weeks.”
“You don’t have to be a part of Jiao’s life at all. Just be there for the home visit and the adoption proceedings. And in return, we can work together on the Piedmont project. That will keep my father’s business growing and help yours. It’s a win all around.”
Pigeons picked at the grass before them, looking for leftover crumbs. In the distance, there was the sound of children’s laughter. The swish-swish of rolling cycle tires on the paved walkway. The continual hum of traffic, punctuated by the occasional horn. The world went on as it always did, swimming along beneath a sunny sky.
“It would be a platonic marriage,” she said. “Nothing more.”
“A purely impersonal alliance?” he asked, still not believing she had suggested this. When he’d made his list of possible ways to convince Ellie a strategic partnership was a good idea, marriage hadn’t even come close to being in the mix. “A marriage based solely on like minds and like goals?”
Though when he put the marriage idea like that, it sounded cold. Almost … sad.
He shook off the thoughts. He was a practical man. One whose focus was solely on building his business back to where it had been. He wasn’t going to get wrapped up in the foolishness of some romantic ideal—and that wasn’t what Ellie was asking for. It was, in fact, the exact kind of relationship he had vowed to pursue. Then why did he feel as empty as a deflated balloon?
She nodded. “Yes.”
“And in exchange, our companies partner as well?”
“Yes.” She put up a finger. “However, we each retain ownership and leadership of our respective companies, in case … things don’t work out.” She dug in her purse and pulled out a piece of paper. “I took the liberty of having my attorney draw up a contract.”
A contract. For marriage.
Finn skimmed the document and saw that it indeed promised everything she had talked about. The business arrangement, the annulment agreement. All he had to do was sign on the dotted line and he’d be a temporary husband, father in name only.
The businessman in him said it was an opportunity not to be missed. The partnership his business needed, and at the same time, the bonus of companionship. Not sex, clearly, but someone to talk to at the end of the day.
He thought of the nights he’d spent on the rooftop deck of his townhouse. Watching the city lights twinkle in the distance, while he drank a beer, and gathered his thoughts, wondered if he’d made the right choices. Lately those nights hadn’t brought the peace they used to. More, a restlessness, a question of “is this all there is?” Except for the times he was with his brothers, his life was staid. Almost dull.
Riley was right. He was lonely, and tired as hell of feeling that way.
At the same time, he didn’t want to pursue the empty one-night stands his brother did. He wanted more, something with meaning and depth. Something that was … sensible. Reliable. Practical. Something that wasn’t foolish or wild or crazy—not the kind of whirlwind romance his parents had had, that had gone so horribly wrong after the children started coming and they realized that a quick courtship couldn’t build a lifetime, not between such badly mismatched people.
Love—or any approximation of it—was a dangerous thing that left a man vulnerable. Not a position Finn McKenna relished or welcomed. A marriage of convenience would be void of all those things.
Still, the cynic in him wondered if Ellie was proposing this as a way to knock him off guard, or maybe even an alliance that would allow her to gather facts about him and his business, facts she could use to take over his company later or eliminate him as a competitor. Hadn’t Lucy done exactly the same thing?
But the man in him, the one standing beside a very beautiful, very intriguing woman with a smile that stayed with him, hoped like hell it was something more than that.
Was he truly considering this … this marriage of convenience? What choice did he have? He needed to be a part of that hospital project. Making it a joint venture with a company like WW would reestablish his company’s reputation, and distract attention from that fiasco last year. And, as calculated as it sounded, a marriage to a charming woman like Ellie would also distract attention from the mess his company had been in lately, give the gossips something else to talk about. He’d be back on top before he knew it, and then he and Eleanor Winston could quietly dissolve the union, as she’d said. She’d have the child, and he’d have his business back. He could feel the old familiar surge of adrenaline that always hit him when he landed a big job, one that he knew could change the future of McKenna Designs.
“This contract looks pretty good,” he said.
“I wanted to make it clear this was business only.” Her gaze flicked to the water, and she let out a small sigh. Almost like she was disappointed. Which was crazy, because she was the one floating the idea in the first place. “But we don’t have a lot of time to waste. Jiao is stuck in that orphanage, farther away from me with every passing day. And you, I suspect, would like to be on board from day one with the hospital project. The initial drawings are due the fifteenth so we have very little time to get everyone up to speed.”
“The fifteenth? That does put a crunch on our time. By all rights, we should start right away.”
