Much Ado About Matchmaking

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.

“And,” Gilbert said, turning to Ryan, “since Emma manages the Texas Lights Hotel, the first one we’re renovating, she’s the one who knows all the intimate nuts and bolts of the place. She’ll assist you in whatever way you need. Won’t you, Emma?”

Ryan almost felt sorry for her. If Gilbert hadn’t been such an old-fashioned guy who meant that comment in the most innocent of ways, his words might have made the lady blush. But Gilbert was an old-fashioned gentleman, and Ryan had a feeling that Emmaline wasn’t a blushing kind of woman. She was the kind who kept her heat hidden inside.

A challenge, his subconscious said.

Stop thinking of her that way, he told himself.

He turned to her, hoping his voice wouldn’t reveal his thoughts. “I’ll definitely need your help. The Texas Lights is a historic hotel. We’ll be introducing the most current technology. I’m afraid this is going to be a challenge, Emmaline,” he managed to say, not sure if he was really discussing the hotel or the fact that they would be thrown together day in and day out.

And then, seeing that she was genuinely distressed, he took pity on her. “Somehow we’ll make it work.”

She stared up at him with those intense gray eyes that only made the copper highlights in her dark-brown hair shine more brightly. He was pretty darn certain that she didn’t want to hear that the two of them would make anything work. Instead she wanted to make a quick exit.

Interesting.

“I’ve seen the timeline. This will take a few weeks, won’t it?” she asked.

“Three or four. How long have you been involved with The Texas Lights?” Ryan asked. Perhaps a change of subject would get her to stop looking at him as if he were the spawn of the devil.

Emma blinked as if she was surprised that he had asked her such a mundane question. He wondered what she’d been told about him. He did have a reputation, and a lot of it wasn’t good.

“I…around twenty-five years,” she ventured.

Now it was his turn to blink. She couldn’t be as old as she was indicating.

Holly chuckled, a move that prompted Chris to pull her back against him, his arm encircling her waist. She turned slightly and gave him a loving look before turning back to Ryan.

“Emmaline isn’t lying, Ryan. Her mother died not long before I was born. Daddy had a baby, a four-year-old girl and a hotel to run. He’d put me in a crib at the hotel and let Emma tag along after him at work. We both grew up there, but she was the one who loved it. She started polishing the newel posts and running errands just as soon as Daddy would let her.”

“I see,” Ryan said, and he believed he did. He looked at Emma. “So the hotel is very special to you,” he ventured.

She gave him a careless shrug. “I run the hotel,” she clarified.

Holly rolled her eyes. “She loves the hotel,” she said, “and she doesn’t especially like change.”

“And I’m going to change lots of things,” he said, discovering yet another reason why the woman might dislike him.

“This is going to be a very good thing, Emmaline,” Gilbert told her. “In many ways. I promise you it will. You’ll see.”

“Ryan will help you. He’s an expert at explaining things,” Chris said, resting his cheek against Holly’s hair. “And then he’s good at making things go the way he wants them to go.”

Dead silence met this statement. Had love completely blinded and addled Chris? Ryan had to think so. If anything, Emmaline looked even more upset.

“You, more than anyone, know that the Texas Lights has been losing money, honey,” Gilbert said. “We have to do something, and I think this renovation is just the ticket.”

Emmaline nodded slowly. Obviously she and her uncle had discussed this before. “I know. Closing the hotel last week so we could do this renovation was necessary, but I just don’t want her character to be destroyed in the process. She’s a truly lovely hotel. She’s special,” Emmaline said, and this time she gave Ryan a defiant glance. Obviously she didn’t trust him one inch.

He felt a niggling sense of disappointment. It wasn’t that every woman in the world fell in love with him. It was just that very few disliked him on sight. The fact that Emma appeared to have done so rankled. That they had touched somewhat intimately, and now she wanted nothing to do with him brought forth some primitive male instinct to battle to win her. He ordered himself to ignore that warrior reflex, to remember that he was a man who could only hurt a woman like this if he allowed himself to pursue her for a while, but it wasn’t easy.

She was biting her lip, her small white teeth pressing against the pink flesh. He suppressed the urge to reach out and touch the softness of her mouth.

“We’ll have to talk,” he said, working hard to keep the dare out of his voice.

Gilbert smiled at that. “Yes, you two do that. Emmaline, you need to tell Ryan about anything that’s bothering you.”

Ryan fought to keep from thinking of her lips. If he had to discuss everything about Emmaline Carstairs that was bothering him, the aftermath of that accidental kiss would come first and the hotel would rank a distant second.

Which was totally wrong. He had come here only to work, but the fact that Emmaline was his guide was getting in the way.

“I’ll look forward to dinner then,” Ryan told her.

“I will, too,” she said politely, but there was a hint of fire in her eyes, and Ryan would swear what she was looking forward to was skewering him with a dinner fork.

Well, at least this job wasn’t going to be dull….

Chapter Two

When Emmaline entered the dining room later that evening, she was dismayed to see that Holly had seated her next to Ryan.

“As Dad mentioned, you two have so much to talk about, I thought that this would be best,” Holly said.

So what was she supposed to say? She couldn’t object on the grounds that the man had kissed her and set her body on fire. Still, Emmaline opened her mouth to make some excuse only to find that Holly had drifted over to give Chris a kiss.

And Ryan, imposing and tall in a black suit with a crisp white shirt, had appeared with Gilbert. He gave Emma a quizzical look when he saw that they were to be seated together. Was that a challenge?

She raised her chin and started to pull her chair out, but he was there before her. Ryan lightly touched her hand, making her pull back as he did the honors for her. She had nearly gasped at the brief contact and now his warmth at her back made breathing somehow, inexplicably difficult. Amazing how a man she didn’t want to like could have such an effect on her. Disturbing, too.

What had Uncle Gilbert told her about him? That he was an expert with computers, that he had once been a soldier.

Emmaline sat, smoothing her skirt down over her knees. The move didn’t take nearly enough of her attention, but she still managed to look reasonably unaffected when Ryan took his place next to her. At least she hoped she did.

Ryan chuckled. “You can relax, Emmaline. I promise I don’t attack my dinner partners,” he said, leaning closer. “And Chris tells me that my table manners are almost always passable.”

Despite herself, Emmaline fought hard to keep from smiling. “Ah, so I won’t have to worry too much about you eating peas off the blade of your knife?”

“You were worried about that?” He gave her a mock-wounded look, and she was ashamed to admit that she couldn’t help noticing how sexy those blue eyes looked in his tanned face.

“I’m sure you know how to handle your cutlery. I just…I’m a little concerned about this project.” There. Let him think her concern was for the hotel.

He studied her, and she fought to keep from squirming. “Let me be frank, Emmaline,” he said in a voice so low that it couldn’t have carried to anyone’s ears but her own. “I think you’re bothered about more than the hotel. Excuse me, but is it…it’s not because of what happened that day, is it?”

Emmaline sucked in a breath. “I…that couldn’t be, because nothing out of the ordinary happened.”

He raised a brow as if he wanted to disagree, but then he nodded. “All right. So why are you worried about the project?”

Emma was grateful that Ryan had let her off the hook so easily. “You’re bringing technology to the hotel,” she said softly. “It’s necessary and yet there’s a risk. I’m afraid we won’t agree on anything. You’re technology. I’m antiques. We’re too different.”

“Not completely,” he said, his voice rough. “Holly tells me your career will always be your life, so we do have something in common. Neither of us wants marriage and a family.”

His seductive voice invited her to drop her defenses. Was this how he convinced clients to make troublesome decisions?

“I want a family,” she suddenly said, her voice low. “Just not a husband. I definitely want children.” Why had she said that? It wasn’t the kind of thing she shared with strangers.

But Emma knew. She had told him because of what he had just confided. He didn’t want children. It was a barrier. Letting him know that they were as different as two people could be would keep him at a distance, would keep her from wanting him to touch her. It would make working together almost bearable.

He studied her, then gave a curt nod. “All right then. We agree on one thing. And if we work together, we’ll turn The Texas Lights into Avon Lake’s dream hotel. We’ll find common ground, Emmaline.”

His quiet voice was deep. It made her skin hum the same way his technology was supposed to make the hotel hum. She tried not to think about that.

“All right,” she managed to say. “I’m committed to making sure that The Texas Lights survives.”

“Then we’ll be fine, Emmaline.” Her name rolled off his tongue in a way that made her understand what a woman might see in him besides his rugged build, that silky hair and seductive eyes. “Since you’re the expert on the hotel, tell me what it is that draws you to The Texas Lights.”

He raised his voice on the last line, catching the attention of the rest of the group as, Emmaline suspected, he had intended. And even though he was putting her on the spot, she was grateful for this attempt to make the conversation more general and inclusive. Restricting her comments to Ryan seemed too intimate. He probably felt the same.

“Yes, Emmaline, you’re the one who knows The Texas Lights best,” Gilbert said. “Even more than I do. And I’ve never really asked what it is that makes it so special for you.”

Emmaline looked at Holly and Chris, who were sitting close to each other. Their hands were linked on the white tablecloth as if they were already one person. There was almost a glow traveling from the two of them across the table to her.

And Uncle Gilbert was smiling pleasantly, waiting for her to speak. She wanted to say something nice, give them all what they wanted to hear, something hopeful. She did love The Texas Lights. It had been a place to throw herself into when she was a child and feeling lonely when it became clear that Holly would always be the pretty, popular one. The hotel had given her a place to work out her worries about life. It was a place she belonged, because in spite of the fact that Uncle Gilbert had been beyond good to her, a fact for which she was grateful, Holly would always be first in his heart and she would always be his orphaned niece. But those weren’t the kinds of thoughts she could share without hurting those she loved most.

“I didn’t mean to put you on the spot,” Ryan said quietly, and she realized that she was taking too much time to speak.

“I like the fact that the hotel is old and quaint and not perfect,” she said, her voice fierce and proud with a passion she couldn’t hide. “I like the creaky floors that speak of how many years it’s been around, how many life stories it’s witnessed. The Texas Lights has flaws, and they’re right there for the whole world to see. I like that. It’s a bit out of sync with the modern age. It’s…different.”

For a moment her words were met with silence.

“You never told me that, Emma,” Holly finally said.

Emmaline shrugged. She hoped she hadn’t embarrassed anyone with her sentiment. But things were changing so fast with Holly getting married and The Lights being modernized. She was afraid that when things were done she might not have a place where she fit. The Texas Lights would be more productive, but it might no longer be hers.

“You always keep so many things buried inside you,” Uncle Gilbert said softly. “I wish I’d asked before.”

“I’m sure the hotel is special,” Chris offered. “That is, it would have to be. The two of you were raised there, and look how wonderful you turned out.” He gazed at Holly as he said it.

And then everyone went back to their dinner. Emma realized that while Ryan was the one who had asked her about the hotel, he was the only one yet to react to her comments.

“Go ahead and say it,” she said, turning to him.

He gazed at her. “What was it exactly that you thought I was going to say?” It was a casual question, but there was nothing casual about the look in his eyes. He studied her as if he was an artist and she was an intensely interesting subject.

“That I’m an idiot. That if we don’t drastically change the things I love about The Lights, then it will die.”

“I wouldn’t say any of those things.”

“Why not?”

He tilted his head, and she became aware of that square, masculine jaw, pictured a woman placing her lips there…

Emmaline jerked herself out of such thoughts. “Why not?” she asked again.

“Because you told me that you did see the need for change even if you didn’t like it, Emma,” he said, using the more familiar form of her name. “Also, I was the one who asked for your opinion, and you do apparently know the hotel better than anyone. I may not agree with you, but your impressions are important. Now that I know you like things that are different, that’s a starting place. We’ll just jump in there.”

“Jump in where?” She swallowed hard and hoped that she didn’t look too nervous. The thought of jumping into anything with this dangerously attractive man was alarming.

He dared to give her one of those sexy smiles of his. “Don’t worry, Emmaline. I won’t do anything you don’t want me to do.”

She stared at him and nodded stiffly. “All right.” But the problem was that she was very afraid that if she stayed near him long enough, she would want him to do things. She might even want him to kiss her again.

After dinner, when Emmaline had gone upstairs, and Ryan had gone to his room as well, Gilbert went in search of Holly. She was in the library, with Chris, of course. Though Gilbert already liked this young man who was so clearly besotted with his daughter, he wasn’t sure it was a good idea to involve him in the conversation that was about to take place.

“Mind if I borrow my daughter for a few minutes if I promise to bring her back to you?” he asked.

“You’re her father, sir,” Chris said. “You have first claim to her time.”

Gilbert chuckled. “Have I told you how much I like you? I’ll try not to keep her long.” And he whisked Holly away to the parlor and closed the doors.

“Something wrong, Dad?” she asked when he had turned back to her. “You were telling the truth, weren’t you? You do like Chris, don’t you?”

“I do. The question is, what do you think of his friend?”

Holly blinked. “In what way?”

He rubbed his jaw. “In an Emmaline kind of way.”

“Excuse me. Dad, are you feeling okay?”

He smiled at her. “You know, you look so much like your mother. I wish she could be here to see you get married, and I’m so happy for you. I’m sorry I wasn’t always there for you.”

“Dad…” she drawled. “You were a busy man, and you were a good father. I knew you loved me even when you had to travel.”

He nodded a little, hoping he wasn’t going to mist up. “Do you think that Emmaline knew that I loved her, too?”

Holly held out her hands. “I think she’s been reasonably content. She’s not unhappy. Why?”

Gilbert quickly filled Holly in on his matchmaking scheme. “That’s why I’m asking Emmaline to assist Ryan when normally I would handle that task. I want Emmaline to know the kind of bliss that your mother and I had, that you and Chris have.”

“Dad…you can’t mean what I think you mean, can you?”

He glanced down, and she looked toward the table he was staring at. “Yes,” he said.

“No. Not Much Ado About Nothing. I know you love that story, but that’s matchmaking. Emma would hate that.”

“Not if she doesn’t know.”

“She would know.”

“She wouldn’t, and if she’s happy in the end…”

“She might not be. Don’t ask me—”

“I’m not. At least not yet. I’m just telling you and asking you to at least let me try. She’s going to miss you so much, you know.”

“Dad, that’s playing dirty,” Holly said.

“I know.”

She sighed. “But you’re right, aren’t you? So, you want to know what I think of Ryan Benedict?”

“That was the question, yes.”

Holly grinned. “I think he’s everything that will make Emma nuts. He’s gorgeous, he’s physical, he has that military bearing, an undeniable way with women and he’s brilliant. She’ll like his mind and, independent as she is, she’ll hate the rest. And, for the record, while I don’t agree with your matchmaking schemes, I’ve always thought that Emma needed to let loose and kick up her heels a bit.”

Gilbert laughed. “You’ll help?”

“I didn’t say that. Ryan is Chris’s best friend. But I’ll at least promise not to stand in your way. I do want Emma to have some fun.”

“Thanks, sweetheart.”

“Do you think she’ll ever truly fall in love? She doesn’t want to. I know that much.”

“In that case, perhaps you’re right. I can’t make her fall in love with him, but I can try to make it happen. And anyway, a little excitement never hurt anyone, did it?”

The next day, Gilbert, Chris and Ryan were all clustered around a model spread out on a large table set up in one of the parlors, when Ryan looked up to see Emmaline entering the room.

She had a way of looking around when she walked into a room that told him that very little escaped her notice. Those pretty, intelligent eyes took in everything and made an instant assessment. Those eyes…he’d seen anxiety in them, anger, passion, he noted, letting that sharp kick of desire edge in before he pushed it away. And he’d seen something else. Sadness, longing when she’d mentioned the child she wanted.

He was glad she had said that. He didn’t want a child, could never allow himself to have a child. Benedicts were selfish. He’d seen it, he’d lived it and there was a child he had once almost risked, almost irreparably harmed before he’d realized the damage he was going to inflict if he stayed. He’d left, and nearly hurt the little boy even worse in doing so. He’d been careful of children ever since, very careful not to ever let anyone believe he might be a potential parent. It was good to know that such a great barrier stood between him and the very tempting woman with the sad, serious eyes.