Poker face or not, Jack needed to put some space between them when Kelly asked who Andrew was. Where the hell had this woman come from?
He stood up and took a few steps back and schooled his expression once again. Staying calm despite her revelation that Andrew hadn’t set this up wasn’t easy but he needed to find out what the hell was going on. If she didn’t know who Andrew was, how did she come to be here, and who had he agreed to marry?
What was happening to his ordered world?
“If Andrew didn’t send you, then who the hell are you?” Jack demanded. This day was getting worse and worse. Hell, it had to be a nightmare. There was no way he had just agreed to marry some complete stranger in front of his aunt and cousin. A complete stranger who happened to materialize out of thin air right when he needed a wife?
Jack rubbed the heels of his hands against his eyes. He hadn’t slept much the night before after he lied to his aunt about having a fiancée, and he was working even more than usual lately. Maybe he imagined this.
That’s it. She’s a hallucination. A very vivid hallucination.
The hallucination was speaking, though. Do hallucinations speak?
“I’m Kelly Bradley,” she said, tentatively.
Jack leveled a steady glare at her and crossed his arms over his chest. “Nice to meet you, Kelly. Now who the hell are you and where did you come from?”
She squirmed under his gaze, just as he’d wanted her to. He wanted the truth and he was damned good at getting it.
“I recently became aware of your problem, Mr. Sutton, and I have my own problem. I put two and two together and figured out we could help each other, and so here I am. Voila,” she explained with a little flutter of her hands at the “voila.”
“’Jack’” he said, almost absent mindedly. Something in him didn’t like her calling him Mr. Sutton. Still, he focused on what she’d said. “’Became aware’? That’s a bit vague. Start from the beginning, woman.” Jack knew he was a formidable-looking man, and he was using that to his advantage as he grilled Kelly, but he also couldn’t help be a little amused by her attempts to skirt his questions.
Damn, she’s cute when she squirms.
“Um, well,” Kelly bit her lip as she started the story, but he hardly heard her. He found himself distracted by her luscious, kissable mouth.
Jesus, Jack, get a grip on yourself and focus.
Kelly was still talking and he forced himself to listen to what she said.
“Jennie overheard you talking about your mother’s will and that you needed someone to marry you by the end of the week. So, here I am. We’ll get married for a year and then get a nice neat divorce, and we’ll never have to see each other again. I’m not a psycho—just a normal girl with a degree that apparently isn’t going to get me a job anytime soon.”
She took a breath. “So I improvised. And, before you get all worried, I have zero interest in a real relationship. I have other plans and marriage isn’t one of them. And besides, I’m immune to falling in love. I’m broken or something. It just doesn’t happen to me, so that won’t be a concern.” At this point, Kelly was babbling.
Jack held up his finger to stop Kelly’s story for a moment. He pushed the button on his phone and spoke. “Jennie, can you come in here, please?” He released the button and turned calmly back to Kelly.
As he faced off with her once again, he asked, “Why $154,000? Why did you ask for such a specific amount?” Gather the information first, Jack told himself. Get the right information so you stay ahead of this thing—whatever the hell this thing was.
“I need it for law school. I got into Yale, but I can’t pay for tuition. I need that amount to cover three years so I can get my J.D.” she said.
Jack noticed that she raised her chin just a hair as she told him that she had gotten into Yale. As she talked, she began to look more like the confident woman who had claimed his office as her own an hour earlier.
Hmmm. If what she said were true, she wasn’t an idiot and—all evidence of mood swings aside—she probably was a fairly bright, normal person to have made it into law school. Much less Yale Law School.
That showed she wasn’t completely psychotic, anyway. And she wasn’t looking to take him for millions. His rough net worth was a matter of public knowledge, so she had to know the amount she was asking for was chump change to him. She could have demanded millions, and it wouldn’t have put a dent in his bank account. He wondered why she hadn’t asked for more.
Watching her now, he began to think they just might be able to pull it off. He’d have to teach her about negotiating though. Really, what was she thinking only asking him for tuition? She’d had him over a barrel when she walked in this room. She should have held out for more.
Jack made a mental note to have a full background check done on Kelly. He could have the results back tomorrow. If that panned out, he would go through with getting the marriage certificate the next day as she suggested. If not, he’d send her packing.
While Jack was busy thinking, Jennie came into the room. She looked appropriately embarrassed, trying not to make eye contact with her boss. He figured she was probably wondering if she would get fired from the temp agency or only from this particular assignment.
Jack glanced up at Jennie. “Call the temp agency and tell them you quit. You work for me now. Go down to Human Resources and tell them you’re joining Chad’s team. Chad runs our security and investigations department. I think that’s a good fit for your…skills. HR will get you set up.”
Jennie stood there with a stunned look on her face, and Jack wondered if she’d ever been caught at any of her little games before.
“Oh, and Jennie,” Jack said.
“Yes, sir?”
“Keep the marriage deal quiet. Don’t mention it to anyone, including Chad, or you’re fired and Kelly won’t get a penny. That goes for anything else you’ve overheard. And tell maintenance to get that damned intercom fixed.”
He had known the light didn’t work right on the phone but hadn’t thought it would be an issue. Hell, usually his company was the one investigating other people. But Jennie had been eavesdropping on him—in his own office. He should have been more careful to protect himself. But at least he could put her to work for him from now on. Jennie had managed to fool him and look so damned innocent this whole time, he was sure she’d be an asset on Chad’s team.
As Jennie skittered out of the room, Andrew walked in and looked at Jack and Kelly. “Hey, Jack,” he said slowly, “what’s going on?” His head whipped back and forth from Jack to Kelly as if he were watching a tennis match.
“Did you find anything?” Jack ignored Andrew’s question, asking one of his own. If it was still possible to get out of this marriage deal, he should do it. Even if the woman was stunning and intriguing and gutsy as hell.
“I found a friend of Chad’s from prep school that owed me a favor. Says Bryan and Chad knew each other. They weren’t close but they also didn’t hate each other. Hung out with some of the same people, so it might be a gamble hoping that he wouldn’t back Chad for CEO considering his feelings for you. I think we need to go to Chad and get him involved.”
Jack shook his head as Andrew finished his explanation. Andrew knew Jack didn’t have it in his heart to ask Chad to do that to his mom.
To Jack, family was family and he would lose everything he had, for his family. The irony was, in this case, it was his own family that was attacking him, so he was in a Catch-22. Still, he wanted to do all he could not to hurt his aunt as he defended himself.