“I’m sorry for wasting your time, Harper. I shouldn’t have let my boss bully me into setting up a meeting with you.” Uncomfortable with the blinding intensity of his gaze, she lowered her eyes to her hands and fiddled with the silver bracelet her roommate, Maggie, had given her for her birthday last month. “Tomorrow, when I get to work, I’ll tell Leland there is no story.”
“I appreciate you telling me the truth, Azure. I know that couldn’t have been easy.” His touch on her arm was light, full of tenderness and warmth, and his smile friendly. “Don’t stress out about your job. I have a feeling everything will work out.”
“You do?”
“What if you could give Leland the big story he’s looking for?”
Azure raised her bent shoulders. What was Harper about to disclose? she wondered, studying his face for clues. A hundred scenarios raced through her head. What was the Hamilton family dynasty hiding? A financial scandal? A crooked billionaire client? A skeleton in the closet? It didn’t matter. Harper had a story, something scandalous about his family he was willing to divulge, and she planned to use it to her advantage.
“I have a story that will benefit us both.”
Picking up her notebook, she snatched her pen off the table. “Go ahead. I’m all ears. Start from the beginning, and go slow, because I don’t want to miss anything.”
Harper wore an arch grin. “Marry me.”
Chapter 5
Azure felt her eyes widen, and her mouth drop open. Marry you? The thought was crazy. So crazy, in fact, she refused to even consider it. Either she misunderstood him or… No, no, that had to be it. Sometimes when she didn’t get enough sleep her brain got fuzzy, and this proved that she needed to quit watching reality TV into the wee hours of the morning and turn in early.
“Marry me,” he proposed, leaning forward in his seat, “and you’ll have everything you’ve ever dreamed of. Fame, success, popularity.”
In her haste to speak, Azure stumbled over her tongue. “Th-that’s your big, juicy story? The one that’s supposed to save my job and give your family more press?”
“Yeah, that’s it.” He nodded, looked as proud as a peacock sporting new feathers.
Azure nixed an eye roll. Harper was a true gentleman, and the last thing she wanted to do was offend him, but he sucked at saving the day. “I need another drink. Where’s the waiter?”
Harper’s gaze circled the room, and when he spotted one of the male servers, he signaled him over. Harper was anxious to lay out his plan, but he waited patiently until the server refilled their glasses with water before he resumed speaking. Only Azure wouldn’t let him. She held up a hand, cutting him off midword.
“Harper, I’m not interested. I love working at Eminence and I don’t want to lose my job, but I’m not going to marry you for kicks. I don’t like hurting or deceiving people, and my parents would kill me if they knew I got married for fun!”
“Really? You did a darn good job trying to trick me.” The moment the words left Harper’s mouth, he regretted them. A frown bruised Azure’s moist red lips, and her eyes thinned into a glare. “I shouldn’t have said that. I’m sorry.”
“No, don’t be. You’re right. I haven’t exactly been honest, but what you’re asking me to do is unethical. Worse, this whole marriage-of-convenience thing could backfire in my face. Then I’d be humiliated, out of a job and the butt of everyone’s jokes. No way, no, thanks.”
“Hear me out, Azure. I promise to make this worth your while.” Harper felt his excitement grow. His plan was a winner, the answer to all of his problems. To become a household name, he needed to shake things up, to think out of the box, and what better way to boost his popularity than by marrying sleek and sophisticated Azure Ellison?
Harper sneered inwardly when he remembered his conversation with his dad. His father’s words played in his mind, and although he gave his head a hard shake, he couldn’t break free of his thoughts. You could learn a thing or two from Jake.... He’s parlayed his engagement into a huge news story and is attracting wealthy clients left and right....
Adrenaline surged through Harper’s veins. It was the same feeling he got whenever he stepped into a packed courtroom and delivered closing arguments. I’ve got this. All he had to do now was convince Azure, but he had the gift of persuasion, and planned to use every weapon in his arsenal to get the vivacious magazine writer on board. “This is what I propose we do—”
Azure shook her head. “Save it, Harper. I’m not interested.”
“Of course you are. You want to keep your job and advance your career, don’t you?”
“Yes, but not like this.”
Slowly, meticulously, Harper laid out his plan. “We’ll embark on a marriage of convenience but let the world think it’s the real thing. A whirlwind romance between two old high school chums,” he explained, his tone strong, convincing. “Eminence will get exclusive rights to our wedding photos, and our first interview as a married couple, as well. We’ll appear at as many social engagements as possible and play up our love story for the cameras whenever we’re out in public. Your boss will love you, we’ll be touted in the media as the newest power couple to watch and everyone will be happy.”
“What’s in it for you?”
“Free press and a leg up on the competition.”
“You mean your cousin Jake, right?”
Harper shrugged nonchalantly. “Him, too.”
“When do you want to get married?” she asked, her curiosity getting the best of her.
“I’m flexible, but it would have to be soon, preferably by the end of the month.”
Azure’s hands were shaking, but she picked up her glass and sipped her ice water. It didn’t help. Her mouth was still dry, and her body temperature was still rising fast. Another question rose in her thoughts, one that increased her anxiety and troubled her conscience. “How long are we supposed to stay hitched for?”
“Three months sounds like a reasonable amount of time.”
“Three months!” Azure shrieked, drowning out the country music song playing softly in the background. “I can’t pretend to be your wife for twelve weeks! I could probably handle going back and forth between your place and mine for a couple weeks, but not for three months.”
“That’s why I’d expect you to live with me.”
“Every day?”
“And night.”
Azure swallowed. Good God, he’d thought of everything. But why was she surprised? He was Harper Hamilton, one of the most successful and respected lawyers in the state, and for good reason. The man was meticulous, thorough, the type of person who never slept in or ran out of gas on the freeway, or ever missed a credit card payment.
Unlike her.
Shivering, she rubbed her chilled hands together. Azure didn’t want to think about what would happen if she got fired; the possibilities were terrifying, scarier than any eighties slasher movie. With her student loans, her car payment and her ever-increasing rent, it was getting harder and harder to live the American dream. That’s why Azure had to keep her job. Writing jobs were hard to come by, and after years of pounding the pavement and doing crummy freelance gigs, Azure was thrilled to be gainfully employed. And at a popular, award-winning African-American publication no less.
“This is a win-win situation for the both of us, Azure.”
“Harper, this is crazy.”
“Crazy-smart,” he countered. “Our wedding is going to garner enormous press, but imagine what the coverage