Free The Billionaire's Bidding by Barbara Dunlop Page B

Don’t you think there’s maybe a slim possibility that I know the market value of a hotel?”
    â€œNot half high on yourself, are you?” As soon as the sarcastic words were out, Emma regretted them.
    Alex had made a fair point.
    She’d been out to prove herself on this deal with Murdoch. She’d even gone so far as to secretly hope that whatever he had in mind would save McKinley Inns, so that she wouldn’t have to give half of the company to Alex, and she could avoid going through with this farce of a wedding.
    But Murdoch hadn’t wanted to make a business deal beneficial to McKinley. He’d simply wanted to make a purchase. He’d been looking for a bargain.
    Not that she’d ever admit any of it to Alex. He had enough of an advantage over her already.
    â€œLike I said before,” Alex interrupted her thoughts. “There’s somebody I want you to meet.”
    â€œYour lawyer?” Now that the engagement was out of the way, the prenup was next on the list.
    â€œNo. Not my lawyer. My housekeeper.”
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    For a man with a reputation as a cold-blooded hard case, Alex sure had a soft spot for his housekeeper. Oh, he tried to hide it. But it was there in the inflection of his voice as they came down his long driveway in Oyster Bay.
    â€œShe can be irritable at times, and she’s as judgmental as anyone I’ve ever met. But she’s been with the family since before I was born, so I try to humor her.”
    â€œBecause she scares the life out of you,” Emma guessed.
    Alex hesitated just a shade too long. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
    They drove beneath spreading oaks and past fine-trimmed lawns. The last time Emma had come to the Garrison estate, she’d been focused on the upcoming conversation with Alex. This time she paid more attention to the landscaping, doing a double take as they passed a magnificent rose garden.
    â€œWhat did you tell her about me?” Emma asked as she craned her neck to watch the stunning blooms. Wow. The Vanderbilts’ gardener had nothing on the Garrisons’.
    â€œThat I was marrying you for your hotels,” he said.
    â€œYou did not.”
    â€œActually, I told her I was helping you out of a financial jam. She guessed the part about the hotels.”
    That surprised Emma. “Well, at least I don’t have to lie to her.”
    â€œYou don’t have to lie to anyone else either.”
    Okay, now that was about the most ridiculous thing Emma had ever heard. “Yeah, I have to lie.”
    â€œWe tell them we’re getting married,” he explained. “We tell them we couldn’t be happier—which, when you consider the money, has got to be true. And we tell them we’re co-managing McKinley Inns. All perfectly valid.”
    â€œAnd what do we do when they ask about our feelings? You planning to pull a Prince Charles?”
    He glanced her way, raising an eyebrow. “A Prince Charles?”
    â€œWhen Prince Charles was asked if he loved Diana, he said ‘whatever love is.’”
    Alex chuckled.
    â€œHey, you pull a Prince Charles on me, and I’ll pull a Mrs. Nash on you.”
    â€œWhat’s a Mrs. Nash?”
    â€œI don’t know, but she does something that intimidates you, and I’m going to find out what it is.”
    â€œYou’re crazy.”
    â€œLike a fox.” Emma glanced back out the windshield to see the three-story white building rising up in front of them. “I swear your house is bigger than some of my hotels.”
    â€œThat’s why I bought an apartment in Manhattan.”
    â€œYou kept getting lost?”
    Alex laughed.
    The building grew closer and seemed to get taller. White stone pillars gleamed in the morning sun. Dozens of dormered windows delineated the three, no, four stories, while a fountain dominated the circular drive’s center garden.
    â€œYou spin me around three times in there, I