He motioned to a table and headed for the serving counter.
“I hope you’re not thinking of doing something irrational or illegal,” he said when he rejoined Emily. “If you are, count me out.” He set the paper cups of hot coffee on the table and glanced at her clenched hands and tense lips.
She nodded her thanks. “Of course I’m not.”
“You’re not?” He wasn’t convinced, not when she couldn’t meet his eyes.
“I’m not,” she repeated. “I’m not even sure where to go from here. But I can tell you this. I’m not going to give up. My aunt wanted me to have the property, and I intend to fight for it.”
“I’m sure she did,” T.J. soothed. “It’s just too bad she added the marriage clause to her will. Maybe you ought to consult a lawyer of your own?”
“A lawyer might help,” Emily agreed. “Unfortunately, I don’t know any lawyers around here. I’d have to go back home to Placerville to find one.”
T.J. held his tongue. He was afraid if he gave her his own lawyer’s telephone number, he would be getting more involved with Emily than was wise. He was already too attracted to her for his own good.
Emily silently drank her coffee and mulled over her options. With none in sight, going back home and talking things over with her mother was the logical thing to do.
There was a problem: with T.J. across the table, she was in no mood to think logically. Not after the way she’d reacted to his unexpected embrace. Not after the way she’d reacted to his kisses, either. And certainly not when her senses were in a turmoil.
After she’d been jilted by Sean Foster, she’d sworn off men, hadn’t she?
She still had her dream of visiting Italy, didn’t she?
So why was she even thinking of the amazing way she’d felt after T.J. had taken her in his arms and kissed her senseless? Or why she could hardly wait for him to do it again?
“I think I’ll go back to the hotel and try to take a nap,” she finally remarked. Her head throbbed and her stomach was in knots. “These have been very trying days.”
“Sure,” T.J. answered, wishing he could take a nap with her. Maybe it was just as well he hadn’t been invited. He couldn’t have stopped with a nap. He settled for getting to his feet and reaching for her hand. “Come on, I’ll walk you back to the hotel.”
Emily’s comment about trying days was the understatement of the year. Courtesy of his brother, T.J. had gone from being a bachelor to being a married man in a matter of hours. Married to a woman he didn’t know.
He’d participated in a masquerade that looked as if it didn’t have a prayer of succeeding. The way things were now, he’d be lucky if he didn’t wind up getting charged with intent to commit fraud.
If that weren’t enough to keep his mind and body in turmoil, he was becoming more and more attracted to Emily Holmes.
He glanced uneasily at the woman who, intentionally or not, was rapidly turning his safe and ordered world around into a place where he couldn’t recognize himself. He was even afraid to imagine what her next move in this wacky scenario would be. Her ideas, at least so far, had been naive and maybe harmless. Unless he was mistaken, the next idea would probably be illegal.
Instead of thinking of taking a nap with Emily, he should have taken his head out to be examined.
“Trying days” was putting it mildly, Emily mused as she and T.J. walked back to the hotel. T.J.’s continued silence didn’t help, either.
Either he’d forgotten their earlier embrace, or he’d already dismissed their brief encounter. Maybe she’d given him too much credit for being sincere. Maybe she was just another conquest of his, after all.
T.J.’s devil-may-care attitude at the bachelor auction yesterday should have warned her he wasn’t reliable.
Meeting him this morning again at the construction site and having to coerce him into honoring his promise should have been proof of his character.
To top off a confusing day, winding up in his arms in front of the hotel this afternoon and returning his embrace as though they were lovers had been the most unsettling event of all.
She glanced at a more dangerous-than-ever T.J. out of the corner of her eye. How could she have been so foolish to have asked him to masquerade as her husband?
Chapter Four
Back to setting bricks in mortar, T.J.’s thoughts continued to linger on the troubled look in Emily’s eyes.
What the hell was wrong with him? One minute he was saying goodbye to Emily, and the next, he was kicking himself for not sticking around to help her.
He’d done his best to live up to the bargain Tim had left him, hadn’t he? Even when his personal convictions had been against posing as his brother.
A visit to the lawyer with Emily had been one thing, faking a marriage certificate was another.
Further than the visit, he told himself firmly, he wasn’t prepared to go.
The next scheme the lady had up her sleeve had to be a fake marriage certificate. The thought of that request coming down the pike had been enough for him to throw in the towel and say goodbye.
Sure, she hadn’t gotten around to asking him to help her with the fake marriage certificate, but as sure as his name was Thomas Jefferson Kirkpatrick, that had been in the works.
So why did he feel as if he’d betrayed the trust Emily had placed in him?
And why did Emily’s air of desperation and the glint of tears in her captivating eyes continue to haunt him?
The pile of used bricks in front of him began to shimmer in front of his eyes. To add to his misery, the blazing sun beating down on his back was making him his head swim in spite of the hard hat he wore. And if that wasn’t enough to try a man’s soul, his stomach was at odds with his breakfast. He didn’t know why. He ate four slices of bacon, two eggs and toast every morning with no side effects. Today, as the morning wore on, he was feeling worse than ever.
He reached for the bottle of water and took a long swallow to clear his head. When his vision began to blur, he poured water into his hand and drew it across his forehead. His head still pounded. To add to his problems, he had an uneasy feeling he had left something important undone.
“Emily,” he muttered to himself. Whatever was wrong with him, it had to have something to do with Emily. Through a growing haze, the sound of her name was enough to almost make him smile. It wasn’t only their kiss he remembered, although he was honest enough to admit it was a big part of her attraction.
The devious way her mind worked fascinated him. The way her eyes gave away her inner thoughts just before she popped another peppermint into her mouth was another. To add to her attraction, there had been the satisfying moments when he’d held her in his arms.
He muttered his frustration and laid another brick. He might be fresh out of common sense, but there was no way around the problem. Pure and simple and straight to the point, he missed Emily.
In saner moments he would have known better.
Duke strolled up. “So, how did the date with the babe, er, the lady, go last night, boss?”
“It wasn’t a date.” T.J. wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead and headed for the shade of the oak tree while he was still able to navigate.
Bad choice.
The tree only served to remind him of the bargain he’d made with Emily: he would pose as Tim long enough for