“And,” Gilbert said, turning to Ryan, “since Emma manages the Texas Lights Hotel, the first one we’re renovating, she’s the one who knows all the intimate nuts and bolts of the place. She’ll assist you in whatever way you need. Won’t you, Emma?”
Ryan almost felt sorry for her. If Gilbert hadn’t been such an old-fashioned guy who meant that comment in the most innocent of ways, his words might have made the lady blush. But Gilbert was an old-fashioned gentleman, and Ryan had a feeling that Emmaline wasn’t a blushing kind of woman. She was the kind who kept her heat hidden inside.
A challenge, his subconscious said.
Stop thinking of her that way, he told himself.
He turned to her, hoping his voice wouldn’t reveal his thoughts. “I’ll definitely need your help. The Texas Lights is a historic hotel. We’ll be introducing the most current technology. I’m afraid this is going to be a challenge, Emmaline,” he managed to say, not sure if he was really discussing the hotel or the fact that they would be thrown together day in and day out.
And then, seeing that she was genuinely distressed, he took pity on her. “Somehow we’ll make it work.”
She stared up at him with those intense gray eyes that only made the copper highlights in her dark-brown hair shine more brightly. He was pretty darn certain that she didn’t want to hear that the two of them would make anything work. Instead she wanted to make a quick exit.
Interesting.
“I’ve seen the timeline. This will take a few weeks, won’t it?” she asked.
“Three or four. How long have you been involved with The Texas Lights?” Ryan asked. Perhaps a change of subject would get her to stop looking at him as if he were the spawn of the devil.
Emma blinked as if she was surprised that he had asked her such a mundane question. He wondered what she’d been told about him. He did have a reputation, and a lot of it wasn’t good.
“I…around twenty-five years,” she ventured.
Now it was his turn to blink. She couldn’t be as old as she was indicating.
Holly chuckled, a move that prompted Chris to pull her back against him, his arm encircling her waist. She turned slightly and gave him a loving look before turning back to Ryan.
“Emmaline isn’t lying, Ryan. Her mother died not long before I was born. Daddy had a baby, a four-year-old girl and a hotel to run. He’d put me in a crib at the hotel and let Emma tag along after him at work. We both grew up there, but she was the one who loved it. She started polishing the newel posts and running errands just as soon as Daddy would let her.”
“I see,” Ryan said, and he believed he did. He looked at Emma. “So the hotel is very special to you,” he ventured.
She gave him a careless shrug. “I run the hotel,” she clarified.
Holly rolled her eyes. “She loves the hotel,” she said, “and she doesn’t especially like change.”
“And I’m going to change lots of things,” he said, discovering yet another reason why the woman might dislike him.
“This is going to be a very good thing, Emmaline,” Gilbert told her. “In many ways. I promise you it will. You’ll see.”
“Ryan will help you. He’s an expert at explaining things,” Chris said, resting his cheek against Holly’s hair. “And then he’s good at making things go the way he wants them to go.”
Dead silence met this statement. Had love completely blinded and addled Chris? Ryan had to think so. If anything, Emmaline looked even more upset.
“You, more than anyone, know that the Texas Lights has been losing money, honey,” Gilbert said. “We have to do something, and I think this renovation is just the ticket.”
Emmaline nodded slowly. Obviously she and her uncle had discussed this before. “I know. Closing the hotel last week so we could do this renovation was necessary, but I just don’t want her character to be destroyed in the process. She’s a truly lovely hotel. She’s special,” Emmaline said, and this time she gave Ryan a defiant glance. Obviously she didn’t trust him one inch.
He felt a niggling sense of disappointment. It wasn’t that every woman in the world fell in love with him. It was just that very few disliked him on sight. The fact that Emma appeared to have done so rankled. That they had touched somewhat intimately, and now she wanted nothing to do with him brought forth some primitive male instinct to battle to win her. He ordered himself to ignore that warrior reflex, to remember that he was a man who could only hurt a woman like this if he allowed himself to pursue her for a while, but it wasn’t easy.
She was biting her lip, her small white teeth pressing against the pink flesh. He suppressed the urge to reach out and touch the softness of her mouth.
“We’ll have to talk,” he said, working hard to keep the dare out of his voice.
Gilbert smiled at that. “Yes, you two do that. Emmaline, you need to tell Ryan about anything that’s bothering you.”
Ryan fought to keep from thinking of her lips. If he had to discuss everything about Emmaline Carstairs that was bothering him, the aftermath of that accidental kiss would come first and the hotel would rank a distant second.
Which was totally wrong. He had come here only to work, but the fact that Emmaline was his guide was getting in the way.
“I’ll look forward to dinner then,” Ryan told her.
“I will, too,” she said politely, but there was a hint of fire in her eyes, and Ryan would swear what she was looking forward to was skewering him with a dinner fork.
Well, at least this job wasn’t going to be dull….
Chapter Two
When Emmaline entered the dining room later that evening, she was dismayed to see that Holly had seated her next to Ryan.
“As Dad mentioned, you two have so much to talk about, I thought that this would be best,” Holly said.
So what was she supposed to say? She couldn’t object on the grounds that the man had kissed her and set her body on fire. Still, Emmaline opened her mouth to make some excuse only to find that Holly had drifted over to give Chris a kiss.
And Ryan, imposing and tall in a black suit with a crisp white shirt, had appeared with Gilbert. He gave Emma a quizzical look when he saw that they were to be seated together. Was that a challenge?
She raised her chin and started to pull her chair out, but he was there before her. Ryan lightly touched her hand, making her pull back as he did the honors for her. She had nearly gasped at the brief contact and now his warmth at her back made breathing somehow, inexplicably difficult. Amazing how a man she didn’t want to like could have such an effect on her. Disturbing, too.
What had Uncle Gilbert told her about him? That he was an expert with computers, that he had once been a soldier.
Emmaline sat, smoothing her skirt down over her knees. The move didn’t take nearly enough of her attention, but she still managed to look reasonably unaffected when Ryan took his place next to her. At least she hoped she did.
Ryan chuckled. “You can relax, Emmaline. I promise I don’t attack my dinner partners,” he said, leaning closer. “And Chris tells me that my table manners are almost always passable.”
Despite