“Discomfort,” Emma repeated. It was the word so often used to describe childbirth to prospective parents. She considered it singularly inadequate to describe the reality. “But with me, a total stranger, there would be no cause for later…discomfort.”
“Essentially, yes. I’m new to this area, Emma. I’ve bought a house and I’m moving ChandlerAIR’s corporate offices from Denver. Having a family that lives here dovetails nicely with what Cummings already knows about my plans.”
“Then he probably already knows you’re not married.”
“He doesn’t.” There was no room for doubt in his assurance.
She argued, anyway. “You can’t know that. I’ve seen articles now and then about your company. About the services you offer and its success.” Phenomenal success, if Emma recalled correctly. She also recalled his company being praised particularly for its progressive policies toward its employees. “I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t follow the business pages very closely. But even I know a little about your company. A man you’re plannin’ to do business with like you’ve described would obviously know a great deal more. Including some personal details.”
Kyle nodded. “Those are valid points. But until last year when he moved to Durango, Cummings had been living in New Mexico. Our paths didn’t cross. Besides which, I’ve always kept my private life private. Only my closest associates know much about me personally. I prefer it that way.”
Emma couldn’t imagine it. There were times she suspected every resident of Buttonwood knew the business of everyone else. It was almost as bad as her hometown in Tennessee. “But to suddenly produce a wife? I just don’t see how you can possibly hope to fool anyone.”
His eyes narrowed. “I can count on your discretion, can’t I, Emma?”
She winced. “As if anyone would believe me if I went around announcing that a guy like you walked into my hospital room one morning and asked me, a simple waitress, to be his wife.”
He frowned. “For appearances only,” he corrected. “I meant no offense. This is a delicate situation. Cummings already thinks I’m married. But he’s been showing more interest in that area of my life, and I’m going to have to introduce him to my wife, I feel certain, before he’ll close the deal.”
“You told him you were married because he wouldn’t do business with you otherwise?”
“I told his stepdaughter I was married when she came on to me at our first meeting.”
“Oh,” Emma murmured.
Kyle grimaced. “I didn’t want to jeopardize my plans. It seemed, at the time, the easiest way.”
“And you couldn’t have just said you didn’t want to mix business with pleasure?”
“Let’s just say that Winter Cummings is a determined woman who doesn’t necessarily hold with her stepdaddy’s values.”
Kyle’s hand moved and Emma realized he was unclenching his fist.
“Ironically, once word reached Cummings that I’d been recently married, he was willing to meet with me himself. I wasn’t going to derail the deal by getting into explanations.”
She was believing every word that left his lips. He was utterly serious.
And his seriousness seemed far more dangerous than his being nuts. “Perhaps Mr. Cummings and his crew aren’t the type of people with whom you want to do business,” she suggested faintly.
Kyle smiled tightly. “I want Payton Cummings’s company,” he said. “If it takes a family to get it, I’ll produce a family. At least for show.”
Emma swallowed. “But to…to marry strictly for the purpose of a business deal? That seems so, well, extreme, don’t you think?”
“It wouldn’t be a real marriage,” he said. “I just need you and your son to pose as my family. The two of you would move in with me—strictly business,” he assured when she caught her breath audibly.
“But, sugar, it would be a lie.” Her face heated as the words burst out.
Kyle felt an odd stirring when he let himself look at the young woman opposite him. Her melodic voice had been growing increasingly smooth, like warm honey. There was more than a touch of the South in this dark-haired beauty. He’d had women call him all sorts of nicknames from darling to pig, but he knew he’d never been a sugar. He dragged his thoughts front and center, where they belonged. “I have to consider the weight of what I’m trying to accomplish.”
“Ah.” She nodded, her big brown eyes studying him steadily. “The old ‘end justifies the means’ reasoning.”
“I want to add more flights, Emma,” he said truthfully. “More flights, more service, more employees. The only people who will be hurt if ChandlerAIR’s acquisition of Cummings Courier Service falls through at this late date will be the considerable number of people within the Four Corners area who won’t be able to work for me. That’s four states, Emma. Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico.”
“I did pass geography, Mr. Montgomery. And regardless of your motives, it still doesn’t make lyin’ right.”
His jaw hardened. He’d had this argument with himself too many times already to want to sit here and go through it with this young woman. He’d spent too many years planning. Waiting for just this opportunity. To finally take the action that, while it wouldn’t reverse the past, would go a long way toward evening the score.
If producing the family Payton kept harping on got Kyle to his goal, then produce a family he would.
ChandlerAIR would survive if the deal to acquire CCS didn’t go through. His company was strong and solid because he’d devoted his existence to it for most of his adult life. But taking over CCS was an action that went beyond business.
And he had no intention of discussing his personal motives with this young woman, no matter how honeyed her voice. “I prefer to look at it as expedience. And perhaps we should agree to disagree on the point,” he said.
“Might be wise,” she murmured, shifting in her chair.
A fine white line appeared around her softly compressed lips at the movement, and he felt a jab of conscience. She’d just had a baby. Sitting here arguing ethics was undoubtedly the last thing she’d expected to be doing today. “Miss Valentine. Emma. Give my offer some thought.” He kept his voice calm even though his impulse was to push the issue. “I’ll make it worth your while.”
Far from calming her, however, her face blanched. “I’m sorry, Mr. Montgomery.” Her tone said she was anything but. “I can’t help you.” Her hands curled over the sides of the chair and she pushed herself gingerly to her feet.
He rose, automatically reaching out to assist her, but the frosty look she gave him had him keeping his hands to himself. He felt awkward and inept, something he hadn’t experienced for at least twenty years. Yet watching her slowly maneuver herself to the hospital bed without offering assistance went against his grain.
“One of my sisters had a baby last year,” he said.
“How nice,” she murmured.
It would have been so simple just to lift her off her feet and deposit her on the bed—much easier than watching her efforts to climb into it. He looked away, shoving his hands in his pockets. When his sister had been in the hospital after giving birth, her room had been filled to overflowing with flowers, plants, balloons and assorted baby gifts. The only thing personal in this room was one small green plant with a cheerful smiley-face balloon sticking out of it.
At the rustle of sheets he let his gaze travel back to her. Emma was still bundled in the thick robe and