Kori knew she was stalling. As she paced the crowded sidewalk in front of the Magellan Hotel on trendy Union Square, her thoughts flew in a thousand different directions. She did not want to go up to the reception. Yet to avoid it would be cowardly. And give rise to even more talk. She’d been the victim of enough gossip for the last three months. She really, really didn’t want to add to it today!
Another cab swerved to a stop before the hotel’s main entrance and when the uniformed doorman stepped to the curb to open the door, Kori recognized Harold Satten and his wife. He was one of Phil’s cohorts—a fellow account executive at the firm they all worked for, Reemer Solutions. Just her luck they spotted her at almost the same time she saw them. Another couple on their way to the Reemer Solutions event. The same event she should have arrived at some ten minutes ago.
“Hello, Kori. This is the place, isn’t it?” Harold asked, joining her on the sidewalk.
“On the twenty-fifth floor,” she confirmed, smiling a polite acknowledgment to Harold’s wife.
“Shall we go?” he asked.
“I’m waiting for someone,” Kori replied, the lie rolling off her lips with unaccustomed ease.
“Oh, I thought you were alone.”
Sheesh, she thought, refraining from making a face with effort. Did the entire world know about the big breakup? Well, of course they did. Tiffany made sure of that. Poor Kori. Tiffany hadn’t meant to come between Kori and Phil, but when they fell in love, what were they to do, she asked anyone within earshot—usually when Kori could also overhear.
“No, I’m waiting for someone,” she repeated, glancing up the busy street as if seeking a familiar face.
“We’ll see you up there, then,” Harold said.
Holding her fake, polite smile until they were out of sight, Kori sighed. Yes, they would see her. It was a command appearance. And ordinarily she would have been thrilled. It was her design concept, after all, and her innovative ideas for the account that had been the pivotal point in signing one of Japan’s huge conglomerates, Makomoto Industries, to the lucrative contract. Steve Powers was the account executive, but it was her artwork that had clinched the deal.
And hadn’t that made Tiffany furious? The two women were both in the art department of Reemer Solutions, a high-tech, full service company that led the way in innovative concepts for businesses. And from the first day Kori had started, Tiffany Burrows had had it in for her.
After almost seven years, Kori would have thought she’d have grown immune. But Tiffany’s deliberately luring Phil had been the final straw. Kori refused to give into the pitying glances and murmured condolences on her breakup with Phil. No more miss nice girl, she was fighting back!
The celebratory reception had started ten minutes ago. The press, media and important and influential movers and shakers of San Francisco were on the impressive guest list. Everyone who was anyone would be there.
Including Phil Peters—and Tiffany.
Kori walked a few feet along the sidewalk, ideas spinning. Maybe she could disappear for a couple of weeks, and then tell them at work she’d been kidnapped by aliens. Or maybe she could fake a fall and sprained ankle. She eyed the dirty cement with distaste. Not such a good idea.
Or maybe she could pull off the idea her neighbor Shelly had come up with—pretend she was engaged and her fiancé hadn’t been able to make the event. Harold could attest to her pacing the sidewalk as if she were impatiently awaiting someone.
It was pathetic. She was probably the only woman in San Francisco who couldn’t come up with a date for a business reception. But most of the people she knew well enough to ask, also worked at Reemer Solutions. The last thing she wanted to do was have anyone there know she was practicing subterfuge to minimize damage from Tiffany’s latest attack.
Ordinarily going alone to a company event wouldn’t matter a bit. But that was before last week’s conference where Tiffany had cast aspersions on Kori’s ability to stick to a long-term project—as witnessed by her flighty behavior with relationships. As if Kori had been the one to dump Phil.
Kori ground her teeth just thinking about Tiffany’s smarmy sweetness and the others around the table, glancing between them. She knew, of course, it was professional jealousy. Tiffany’s last several design concepts had not been accepted, where Kori’s had. But knowing didn’t help.
Four months ago Kori had been thinking wedding bells. Phil had been dating Tiffany on the sly. Kori’s fantasies had fizzled instantly when she learned the truth. If he wanted Tiffany Burrows, he was welcome to her! They deserved each other.
The worst of it, however, was the fact she, Phil and Tiffany all worked for the same company. Everyone had seen Kori and Phil as a couple at the Christmas party. And everyone knew, thanks to Tiffany, that she and Phil were now the romance of the century.
Kori frowned. She hated feeling like the dumped also-ran while Phil paraded around with super sweet Tiffany.
“Stupid, stupid, stupid,” she muttered. She should have known better than to even think about dating a coworker. Every time she saw him in the halls of Reemer Solutions, she was reminded again of the way he played around and that she’d only been one of many. Tiffany would most likely be on the receiving end one day, but not today.
Now Kori was expected to show up at the reception and act as if life was great. Of course no one else had to face Phil and the oh-so-stunning Tiffany and pretend it didn’t matter. Taking a deep breath, Kori faced the hotel. She’d give it her best shot.
Glancing around one last time as if expecting a miracle, she realized unless she dragged a perfect stranger up to the reception, she was going to show up alone. Time to put on the ring she’d brought and brazen it out.
Except she suspected Tiffany would see right through the scheme. The woman was not one to sit around silently and let others get on with their lives. She liked to gloat.
Anger touched her. If Phil had been any kind of friend, he would have stayed away from today’s event. It should have been her shining moment. Instead, she had an ex-boyfriend everyone knew about and his new smug girlfriend hogging the spotlight.
She’d heard the rumors flying around the office over the last few weeks. Seen the sly speculative looks from coworkers. Felt the sympathetic glances. She’d been caught up in the art layout and design for Makomoto, but not to the exclusion of coming up for air and noticing what was going on from time to time.
Hoping she could pull it off, she needed to save face in front of all of the influential businessmen. She raised her chin and marched directly into the lavish lobby of the hotel. A discreet sign to the left caught her eye. Magellan’s Pub. Ah, maybe a bit of Dutch courage would help.
She entered the dimly lit space and gazed around. Except for a couple looking like honeymooners sitting at a table against the wall, and a man leaning against the far end of the bar talking with the bartender, the place was empty. Obviously too early for most serious drinkers.
She walked to the gleaming mahogany bar and perched gingerly on a high stool. The bartender left his conversation and headed her way.
“What can I get you?” His smile was friendly.
Probably because he doesn’t know about Tiffany, Kori thought glumly. She could just imagine it turning sympathetic if he knew her situation.
“I’ll have a gin and tonic. No, wait, I hate gin. Give me bourbon straight up. No, wait, I don’t like that, either. Maybe a nice glass of Chardonnay. No, wait, would that be enough? How about a rum and Coke? No, wait, I always had that with Phil, bad association.”
“So what do you really want?” the bartender asked.
“What I really, really want is something tall, dark and dangerous,” Kori said morosely, wishing she could order up a temporary fiancé as easily as she could a drink. She glanced at her watch. It was almost four-thirty. If she didn’t get up there soon, her tardiness would have an even greater impact. She could imagine the gossip running rampant.
“How about blond and friendly?” he countered.
“What?”
She looked up into bright blue eyes beneath a blond mop. The man looked as cute as could be. But not the stuff of romance.
“Nope, tall dark and dangerous or none at all. I’ll have a rum and Coke.”
She couldn’t avoid the only drink she really liked the rest of her life because of Phil.
The bartender began to prepare the beverage, eying her as he did so.
“Trouble?”
“Does everyone who comes in here have troubles?”
“Only those who come in at four in the afternoon.” He set her glass on a coaster in front of her. “And I’m part psychologist you know, comes with the trade.”
“Umm.”
She took a sip. Never much of a drinker, she wondered how much this would help. It wouldn’t do to show up at her company’s celebratory event fiancé-less and inebriated.
She glanced at her watch again. It was getting later by the minute. Was there already talk—instigated by Tiffany, of course. She could just hear her sly innuendos and see her wide-eyed innocent, sympathetic act. Kori wondered if she was up to facing another bout.
“Waiting for a date?” the bartender asked.
“I wish. I’m supposed to be upstairs at the Reemer Solutions reception on the 25th floor.”
“I imagine drinks up there are free.”
She sipped again, then opened her clutch purse. Taking out her grandmother’s engagement ring she looked at it. Glancing at the bartender, she held it up.
“If I wore this, would you think I was engaged?”
“Are you?”
“That’s not the point. What would you think?”
“I’d think a pretty woman like you would be taken, engagement ring or not.”
She blinked, smiled.
“Wow, maybe blond and cute would work after all.”
He winked at her and glanced at the other end of the bar. Kori looked down there and met a dark scowl. The man couldn’t possibly hear them, he was too far away and the soft strains of background music muted other sounds. She studied him for a moment.
Now he would fit the bill. Tall, dark and decidedly dangerous. He looked like a pirate who had been poured into a business suit. He wasn’t handsome exactly, his face was too rough-hewn for that. But there was a decidedly arrogant air about the man that would set Tiffany back on her heels. Who was he? And why was he in a bar at four o’clock?
She looked back at her friendly bartender.
“He would work,” she said whimsically.
“You think?”
“If he’d stop frowning long enough to look like a devoted fiancé. I think I’ll go with the ring and excuse.”
“What excuse?”
“That something came up at the last minute and my darling fiancé couldn’t make it after all.”
“Why the need for a darling fiancé?” he asked leaning on the bar with one arm, apparently ready to listen for as long as it took.
She stared at her drink for a long moment, feeling once again the embarrassment Phil’s deflection had caused. Odd, that was the only emotion she felt. Hadn’t she loved him after all? She’d enjoyed being with him. They’d even talked of plans for marriage. Shouldn’t she be brokenhearted?
Instead, she was embarrassed.
“To save face. Did you know the Japanese feel strongly about saving face?”
“How did we get to the Japanese?”
“There will be a number of Japanese people at the celebration. I know Mr. Yamamoto and Mr. Harishni. They liked my designs, you see. I have to attend. It just would be so much easier to face everyone with a fiancé in tow.”
“Because?”
“Okay, Mr. Psychologist Bartender, it would be easier because the man I thought I was going to marry will be there today with his new girlfriend. I have done my best to avoid both of them for weeks, but it doesn’t always work that way. I would so love to waltz in without a care in the world with someone extra special with me. Phil and Tiffany work where I do, so everyone knows the situation and feels sorry for me.” She frowned. “I hate that part.”
“And the tall, dark and dangerous fiancé in tow would give you that extra cachet you’d need to pull off carefree?”
“Got it in one.”
The bartender laughed.
“I have just the man for you. And maybe we can kill two birds with one stone. Hold on.”
He moved down to the other end of the bar.
Kori watched, fascinated. He wasn’t really going to ask that tall, dark stranger to pose as her fiancé, was he? And even if he did, the man would never agree. He didn’t look the type to agree to anything that didn’t further his own enlightened self-interests.
She’d had it with corporate types who moved to their own agenda. Hadn’t that been Phil to a T? At least in retrospect, she thought so. At the time, she’d been flattered by his attention. Now he treated her like a poor besotted fool who had misinterpreted his overtures of friendship. Ha! He’d been clear, but changed his tune when Tiffany made her play—including pushing his projects through faster.
If she got involved anytime soon with someone else, she’d make sure he was friendly and nice and didn’t have some secret desire to move ahead no matter who he stepped on.
And never again would she get involved with corporate types!
She watched as the bartender spoke to the other man, glancing back at her. Proposing her idea?
Mr. Tall Dark and Dangerous shook his head. No surprise there, though her heart dropped. Had she really held a glimmer of hope he’d agree?
She couldn’t hear the words, but could see the bartender arguing the point. Something he said must have made an impression. The stranger studied her for a long moment, flicked a quick glance at his watch and then the door to the pub. He nodded once at the other man, stepped around the end of the bar and headed her way.
Kori’s heart fluttered. Ohmygosh, was the man coming to talk with her? She clenched the ring tightly in her hand, her gaze fixed on him as he walked the length of the bar. She couldn’t impose on a total stranger. She’d been joking when she said that to the bartender.
“I’m Beau Williams. Donny said you needed an escort for the Reemer Solutions reception,” he said, nodding toward the bartender.
She swallowed hard, was she really going to get tall, dark and dangerous?
“Yes. No. Actually, I, uh, need, uh, wanted I mean, something more than just an escort. I need a temporary fiancé—just for tonight,” she said all in a rush.
“All night?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Ohmygosh, no! Just for the reception upstairs, actually. It’ll be over by eight at the latest.”
He studied her a moment as if weighing her words.
“What exactly do you expect from a temporary fiancé?”
“Not much.”
She let her gaze run over him, her heart still acting weird. He was tall and immaculately dressed. The suit looked custom-made and expensive. His dark hair was well cut, his eyes steady and dark as they assessed her in return. She shivered at the reaction. He still looked like a pirate.
For a foolish moment, Kori was glad she looked her best. The new dress Shelly had talked her into was fashionable and fun—within acceptable business bounds. It was hard to know what to wear to business functions when she was used to paint-splattered jeans and tunics or shirts with chalk and charcoal dusting them.
But she had to hold her own against Tiffany.
She smiled up at him, feeling wildly reckless.
“Mostly you’d just have to stand around and look good. I think you’d do that perfectly. There’ll be food and drinks on the house. I’d introduce you to various people, but you don’t have to do anything really or say much. I could buy you dinner afterward if you like. As a thank-you.”
“So all I have to do is just be there?”
She nodded. He would be so perfect. He was taller than Phil, and ten times more masculine. His voice was deep and sexy, and he already had her fantasizing things a real fiancée would fantasize.
Oh, oh, maybe this wasn’t such a great idea after all.
He glanced at the bartender in exasperation, then nodded at Kori.
“All right, I’ll go with you. If you can wait a few more minutes.” He glanced at his watch. “I’m expecting someone.”
“You will?” She, too, glanced at the bartender. He had the most peculiar smile on his face. “Uh, why?” Kori asked, afraid to believe her good fortune.
“Why not?”
“Well, you don’t know me.”
“I hardly think you could do much in a room full of businessmen and women. You don’t know me, either.”
“You don’t look the type to do favors for strangers,” she said bluntly.
“Not as a rule.” He glanced at the bartender. “But in this case, it’ll help me out, as well.”
“Oh.”
She glanced at the ring, then slipped it on her finger. She was right, he was a man with his own agenda. Fortunately, it coincided with hers tonight.
“Okay then, it’s only for a few hours. I appreciate it. I’m Kori Pendergast.”
Amusement showed in his eyes.
“I’m Beau Williams.”
Before Kori could shake his offered hand, a sultry, female voice projected through the pub.
“Beau, darling, I’ve been looking all over for you. One of the bellmen said he saw you come in here.”
Kori swung around and saw a voluptuous dark-haired woman saunter across the room. For a moment Kori almost wished her own short light brown hair was long and dark as the newcomer’s, that she could fill out her clothes as this woman did and that she could perfect such sensuous moves by merely walking.
Most of the time she pulled her hair back so it wouldn’t get into her eyes when she painted. And she forgot to eat a lot of the time if she were involved in a project, so voluptuous curves were out.
Her musings were interrupted when she became aware the man beside her had stiffened. He stepped closer to her before greeting the newcomer.
“Carmen. When did you get back in town?” he said evenly.
There was a hint of tension in his tone.
Kori didn’t understand what was happening, but she recognized things were growing tense.
“I told you I would be back, darling. And I don’t have any plans to leave again for weeks.”
Carmen walked closer than necessary and reached up to kiss him, but he sidestepped, placing his arm across Kori’s shoulders.
“Kori, I’d like to introduce Carmen Hernandez, an old friend. Carmen, I don’t believe you’ve met Kori—my fiancée.”
“Fiancée?” Carmen’s sultry Latin looks flared into anger. “What the hell do you mean?”
She gave Kori a disbelieving look and swung her attention back to Beau.
“If anyone is getting married, it’ll be you and me! What kind of game are you playing, Beau? I don’t believe this. You can’t brush me off so easily. You’re mine and no one else’s.”
Carmen’s temper rose, bringing flushed color to her dusky cheeks. Her dark eyes glared at Kori.
“I don’t know who you think you are, but he’s mine!” Contemptuously she ran her gaze over Kori. “You don’t have what it takes to hold a man like Beau.” Dismissing her, she turned to Beau.
“Beau—”
“Maybe you two would like to discuss this in private,” Kori said, stung by yet another woman. Did she have a sign hanging around her neck saying Insult me, I don’t mind?
Beau’s hold tightened on her shoulders as if the two of them faced the world together. Nice staging, she thought, even as she wondered what she’d gotten herself into. She thought she was the one needing help. Obviously she wasn’t the only one.
Was Beau Williams in a similar situation as she was? How ironic, yet it would explain why he so quickly agreed to her outrageous suggestion. Kori felt she’d been thrust on stage of a play in progress—without a script.
“We broke off things weeks ago,” Beau said.
His reasonable tone contrasted nicely with Carmen’s passionate anger, yet Kori heard the underlying steel. Kori liked a man who could be cool under fire.
“You said we should end things, but I’m not ready to give up on us!” Carmen said dramatically, her hand reaching out to grip his arm. “I love you. You know that. You’ve been cruel ignoring me, playing hard to get. I won’t be pushed aside.”
“Carmen, we’re through. And all the drama in the world isn’t going to change that. Besides, I’m engaged to another woman.”
He lifted Kori’s left hand and let what little light came from over the bar sparkle on the diamond.
Carmen scarcely glanced at the ring. She glared instead directly at Kori.
“You probably think you pulled off some kind of coup snaring Beau Williams. But let me tell you, things don’t end here.” Raising her eyes to Beau, she narrowed them in anger. “You can’t get rid of me so easily, lover.”
Spinning around, she stalked from the bar, in stark contrast to her earlier sensuous entry. Kori felt as if a whirlwind had just blown through.
“That went well,” the bartender said.
“Shut up,” Beau responded.
He released Kori and raised an eyebrow.
“Shall we head for the Reemer Solutions Reception? After Carmen’s act, it should be a piece of cake.”
“At least that answers my question about why you’d agree to this cockamamie scheme. You needed me as much as I need you. More, I think. I doubt Phil’s going to get so emotional when he hears we’re engaged.”
Though she hoped Tiffany would be taken down a notch or two. Let her believe Kori was no longer interested in rekindling the relationship with Phil because she was involved with someone even more exciting.
Beau frowned. “She’ll cool down.”
“But I doubt that’s the last we’ll see of her. I’d expect her at the wedding if I were you,” Donny said. “Her way of making sure.”
Kori looked between the two men. “What wedding?”
“Ours, of course,” Beau said. “Come on, let’s go see who we can shock at Reemer Solutions’ party.”