Myrna Mackenzie - Much Ado About Matchmaking

She was sorry about the white lie, but she truly didn’t want Holly to worry, which brought her to another thought. Holly’s recent engagement had made Emma realize she needed to concentrate on her own goals. She would be more alone now, and she did want a child, someone who would belong to her and to whom she would belong. Just as soon as Holly was married, Emma hoped to begin checking into the possibility of adoption.

“Em, can I ask a favor of you?” Holly said, a trace of worry in her voice, her pretty brow bunched.

Emmaline looked at her cousin, waiting.

“Ryan is like a brother to Chris. If there’s anything about him that’s bugging you…well…”

Immediately Emmaline felt like a jerk. Holly might be her cousin, but they had grown up like sisters. Emmaline had never let anyone hurt Holly, and she wasn’t about to start now, especially when she was the culprit.

Emmaline shook her head. “Don’t worry, sweetie. Ryan Benedict may be a bit more overt than I’m used to, but I’m very good at adjusting.”

She smiled at Holly to reassure her, but Emma still had reservations. Because if Ryan had noticed her reaction to him, he would know that she was susceptible to him, and that kind of knowledge was how her former boyfriend, John, had betrayed her. According to her mother’s diaries, being unable to control her feelings for her husband was why Danielle Carstairs hadn’t foreseen him abandoning her. So Emmaline had good reason to give Ryan Benedict a wide berth.

Still, Holly and Uncle Gilbert had every right to invite Ryan to stay here.

“Any moment now,” Holly said, glancing down at her watch. “In fact, I’ve go to go get ready. “Oh gosh, I’ve got to run. Chris just called on his cell and said that the trip from company headquarters in St. Louis hadn’t taken that long and they were running ahead of schedule. They’ll be here any moment now, and I’m not ready. I don’t want Chris to see me looking like a hag.”

Which was one thing her petite, blond cousin could never look like, Emmaline thought. But she was glad when Holly immediately left the room. It prevented her cousin from seeing the shocked expression on Emmaline’s face.

“Any minute now?” Emmaline whispered. That certainly didn’t give her any time to mentally prepare herself.

She blew out a frustrated breath and glanced down at the book she had carried upstairs: Shakespeare and His World. How thoughtful of Uncle Gilbert, he had a fondness for Shakespeare, and so did she.

Why did she have the feeling that Shakespeare would have been amused by her situation? “Well, I’ll just have to keep things light. I’ll pretend I’m one of Shakespeare’s actors and act as if nothing ever happened,” she said as she stepped into a drab black dress that she found in the back of her closet. Because she wasn’t about to let Ryan Benedict know that she even remembered touching him.

He was only here for work Ryan reminded himself as he maneuvered his black sedan down the long, curving driveway that led to the Messmer mansion just outside the hamlet of Avon Lake, Texas, not far from the coast. The fact that he was remembering Emmaline Carstairs’s lush pink lips right now didn’t change things.

“Hell,” he said.

Chris looked at him. “What?”

Ryan tightened his hands on the steering wheel. “Nothing. I just remembered something I forgot. It isn’t important.”

Which was the truth, because he had no interest at all in Emma Carstairs. He dated women who weren’t interested in anything beyond his bed and what he could buy for them. That was just fine. It was the way Benedicts had always done things, probably because Benedicts didn’t have hearts. They had ambition and a certain amount of cunning and brashness, and with that combination they generally got what they wanted.

Emotions could never be part of the deal, because when emotions were added to the mix, things got ugly and people got hurt. He’d watched too many people in his life get hurt, and he wasn’t going to be a part of that anymore.

He especially avoided serious types such as Emmaline appeared to be. If she chose to get involved with a man, she would expect things that someone like him could never give.

Not that that would happen. The minute he had stepped away from her after that simple kiss, she had frowned as if she didn’t like him. So why on earth was he thinking that he’d like to swoop in and actually taste her lips fully this time and feel her hand pressed against his chest again, risk breaking his rock-solid rules about women like her?

No question, this was going to be a long month.

“I don’t know what you’re brooding about, but leave the car here, and let’s go, Ryan,” Chris said. “I can’t wait to see Holly. It’s been hell without her these past few weeks. I thought October would never get here.”

Ryan smiled. “Spoken like a man firmly under the spell of a woman.” He pulled up to a long, brick walk-way that led past a plaza with fountains, glossy green shrubs and pink and white flowers to the cream-colored mansion’s colonnaded front entranceway. He climbed from the car, rubbing his knee to keep from limping too much. Long drives still affected the old wound.

Chris laughed. “Under the spell of a woman? Don’t knock it just because you’ve never been there.”

“I wouldn’t think of criticizing the fact that you’re in love,” Ryan told his friend. “Just because I’m not the emotional type doesn’t mean that I’m not happy for you.”

“I know. And thanks. I know this isn’t exactly an ideal situation for you, being here to work while I get to play and plan my wedding.”

Ryan shook his head. “That’s not a problem. You know that work is what makes me tick.” In fact, the army and work were the first places in life where he had made a difference, where his presence mattered. He’d gone without sleep to build this company with Chris, a friend from the service. C&R Technologies was his life now. It was what kept him content, so working while Chris pursued romantic interests didn’t bother him at all.

But despite his intentions, Ryan forgot everything in the next moment. Gilbert and Holly Messmer had come out to greet their guests, as had Emmaline. The sun kissed her shoulder-length dark hair and her pale skin, setting her quietly aglow despite the baggy black dress that she was wearing. She smiled at Chris, giving him a warm, welcoming look that transformed her normally solemn expression and made it impossible for Ryan to keep from staring at her pretty mouth. Almost immediately, however, her eyes slid away to look at something over Ryan’s left shoulder as she said hello to him in a painfully polite and prim voice.

If he had wondered whether Emmaline had forgotten that touch they had shared, he had his answer.

She hadn’t forgotten and she wasn’t happy to see him.

Hmm, there was probably only one way to handle this. Take the smart route and ignore her. It was the way he would have chosen just yesterday.

But with the intriguing memory of that moment when she had turned and he had tasted those delicious lips, there was no ignoring the woman. If he wanted her out of his thoughts, he was going to have to defuse the situation, treat it like any other project. No doubt he was fantasizing about her because he didn’t really know her, maybe because forbidden fruit always seemed tempting. No doubt she disliked him because she thought he might have been hitting on her.

If he took the initiative and turned the situation into, gentle teasing, they could both get past that false start they’d made down the wrong path. They might even become friends, a desirable arrangement if his partner and best friend was marrying her cousin.

“So begins round one,” he said beneath his breath.

Emmaline looked up at him and blinked, that frown drawing her brows together. “What did you say, Mr. Benedict?”

Keep it light. Surely she has a sense of humor.

“I said what a delicious shade of lipstick, Emmaline,” Ryan said with a smile. “What do you call it? Kiss-me-pink?”

For a second he thought he heard her gasp. Her eyes grew large and startled. Then, she suddenly pressed her lips together. She crossed her arms, lending some shape to the loose black dress she was wearing. He tried not to notice that her small breasts perfectly suited her slender figure.

“I’m sorry, wrong shade,” she told him, “although it is pink. Presumptuous pink, to be exact.” She gave him a slight smile, arching one brow.

Gilbert blinked. “What an incredibly odd name for lipstick, Emmaline. Is that really what it’s called? Oh well, I never did quite figure out all that girlie stuff. I probably should have been paying more attention. You’d think raising two girls I would have learned a thing or two by now, wouldn’t you?”

His voice sounded so sad that Ryan felt sorry for him. “You’ve raised two fine young women, sir,” he told Gilbert. “I’d say that that means you know quite a lot.”

“Yes, Uncle Gilbert,” Emmaline said. “Don’t mind me. Mr. Benedict and I were just—” She stopped, clearly uncertain how to go on, and Ryan wanted to laugh. She was trying so hard.

“We were just engaging in idle chatter since we don’t know each other very well. Chris tells me we’re to stand up together at the wedding,” Ryan volunteered.

Ah, she didn’t know that. Those serious gray eyes blinked. “Holly?”

Holly shrugged. “Well, of course you’re going to be my maid of honor, aren’t you, Em? I know we haven’t discussed the details of the wedding. I’ve been gone so much lately and been so wrapped up in Chris that I…well, I forgot to ask. But I just assumed you knew that I’d want you. Who else would I choose? And who else would Chris choose but his best friend?”

“I wasn’t thinking that far ahead, and I wouldn’t make that kind of assumption,” Emmaline said. Ryan noticed that she didn’t look at him. “But…thank you, Holly.”

“And never mind about arguing about shades of lipstick,” Gilbert said to Ryan. “You and Emmaline will have plenty of time to get to know each other, especially since you’ll be working together closely.”

Working together? Closely? Despite the warnings echoing through his brain, Ryan thought of that kiss. How right it had felt, how wrong it had been. Glancing to the side, he locked eyes with Emmaline who was looking just as shocked as he felt.

“We’ll be working together? What do you mean?” she asked.

Ryan had a feeling he knew and he was surprised that Emmaline hadn’t been told, but he wanted to be very clear on this. “Yes, what exactly will Ms. Carstairs and I be doing together, Mr. Messmer?” He had a bad feeling about the direction things were taking.

“Call me Gilbert, please, Ryan. No need to be formal when your best friend is marrying my daughter, and you and I are business associates. As for what you’ll be doing with Emmaline, that’s easy. She’s going to assist you at the hotel.”

“Assist him doing what?”

Ryan really wished she hadn’t asked that. Immediately his eyes were drawn to the way her shoulder length dark hair lay against the scooped neck of her black dress. He could easily imagine himself easing the dress down off her shoulders, assisting her out of every stitch she was wearing until…

Damn, don’t think that, he ordered himself and tried to pay attention to what Gilbert was saying to his niece who was looking as tense as if she had just been told she would be spending all her time with a man-eating predator.

“I know I usually handle the behind the scenes stuff regarding the hotel chain and you handle the day to day operations of Texas Lights, but this is a special situation. Let me explain a bit,” Gilbert told Emmaline. “C&R Technology is a two-man operation, as you know. They energize old businesses by instituting new technology. Hotels are their specialty, which is why we’ve linked up with them. Chris is the idea man, the dreamer, and Ryan is the man who makes everything work, the technician. He’s the one who has to go in, feel around and get his hands dirty, to thoroughly examine the place and figure out how to make Chris’s dreams work with our situation.