“I can’t believe how you’ve replicated the original. This is…”

“How did you do this?” Emma asked, gazing up at him.

Ryan’s blue eyes hypnotized her as he stepped closer. “I didn’t do much,” he said, his voice deep and husky. “The book’s beauty was there to see. All I had to do was look.”

She barely managed to swallow. Her skin ached where he had touched her, the kind of ache she’d never thought to feel, the kind she was sure other women made up when they’d talked of such things.

“I think I understand what Uncle Gilbert wanted me to see. So I guess…we can go home now.”

Ryan nodded curtly. “If that’s what you want.”

“It is.” She just didn’t trust herself to stay here with him any longer. If she did, if he showed her any more or touched her again, who knew what would happen?

Dear Reader,

Four special women shatter the barricades they’ve built around their dreams, in Silhouette Romance this month. Be it openly defying the life role set out for them or realizing their life’s ambition, these independent ladies represent the type of aspirational heroines we’re looking for in Silhouette Romance.

Myrna Mackenzie launches our newest trilogy, SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, with Much Ado About Matchmaking (SR #1786) in which a woman who doesn’t think she’s special or beautiful enough for the worldly hero finally gets the courage to listen to her heart. The Texan’s Suite Romance (SR #1787) rounds out Judy Christenberry’s LONE STAR BRIDES continuity and features a woman who knows Mr. Right when she meets him but now must help him heal enough to let love back into his lonely life. When her screenplay is made into a movie set on her family’s ranch, one woman thinks she’s fulfilled all her dreams…until she meets one very handsome stuntman. Watch this drama unfold in Lights, Action…Family! (SR #1788)—the concluding romance in Patricia Thayer’s LOVE AT THE GOODTIME CAFÉ miniseries. Finally, Crystal Green wraps up the BLOSSOM COUNTY FAIR series with Her Gypsy Prince (SR #1789) in which a sheltered woman bucks her family’s wishes to pursue a forbidden love.

And be sure to come back next month when Elizabeth Harbison puts a modern spin on Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew.

Happy reading,

Ann Leslie Tuttle

Associate Senior Editor

Much Ado About Matchmaking
Myrna Mackenzie

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Books by Myrna Mackenzie

Silhouette Romance

The Baby Wish #1046

The Daddy List #1090

Babies and a Blue-Eyed Man #1182

The Secret Groom #1225

The Scandalous Return of Jake Walker#1256

Prince Charming’s Return #1361

*Simon Says…Marry Me! #1429

*At the Billionaire’s Bidding #1442

*Contractually His #1454

The Billionaire Is Back #1520

Blind-Date Bride #1526

A Very Special Delivery #1540

*Bought by the Billionaire #1610

*The Billionaire’s Bargain #1622

*The Billionaire Borrows a Bride #1634

†The Pied Piper’s Bride #1714

†Midas’s Bride #1719

†The Black Knight’s Bride #1722

Their Little Cowgirl #1738

Instant Marriage, Just Add Groom #1755

Much Ado About Matchmaking #1786

Silhouette Books

Montana Mavericks

Just Pretending

Lone Star Country Club

Her Sweet Talkin’ Man

Family Secrets

Blind Attraction

Baby and All

“Lights, Camera…Baby!”

Morning Beauty,

Midnight Beast

MYRNA MACKENZIE

is the winner of the Holt Medallion honoring outstanding fiction and a finalist for numerous other awards, including the Orange Rose, the National Readers’ Choice Award, the Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice and Wish RWA’s Write Touch. She believes that humor, love and hope are three of the best medicines in the world and tries to make sure that her books reflect that belief. Born in a small town in southern Missouri, Myrna grew up in the Chicago area, married her high school sweetheart and has two teenage sons. Her hobbies include dreaming of warmer climes during the cold northern winters, pretending the dust in her house doesn’t exist, taking long walks and traveling. Readers can write to Myrna at P.O. Box 225, LaGrange, IL 60525, or they may visit her online at www.myrnamackenzie.com.

Shakespeare’s Recipe for Romance

In Much Ado About Nothing

Take 2 conquering warriors returning to peacetime activities.

Throw in 2 lovely young cousins.

Add in 1 matchmaking uncle.

Mix generously and see how things are turning out.

Add 1 devious troublemaker, determined to spoil everything.

Correct this problem by bringing in more people to help throw the young lovers together.

Add a few white lies and a dash of secrecy and whispering.

Drop in another pinch of pure mischief by the matchmakers, a dollop of dastardly plotting by the nefarious villain and a generous smidgen of stubbornness on the part of the young lovers.

Allow to simmer. Then read on and savor as true love sets out to conquer all!

Contents

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Epilogue

Prologue

Gilbert Messmer frowned as he put down the copy of Much Ado About Nothing he had finished reading and looked out the window to where his niece, Emmaline Carstairs, was gathering herbs from the garden. Tomorrow would mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the day his dying sister, Danielle, had asked him to care for Emmaline as his own, so, why was he worrying about Emma’s fate now?

At twenty-nine, she was already grown up. But something had happened lately that had made him wonder if he had really kept his promise to Danielle as well as he should have.

“Of course I did. I fed Emma, I clothed her, I gave her a place to stay and I cared about her.”

Gilbert grimaced. Did you really? Ever since his wife had died giving birth to his daughter Holly soon after Emma had arrived, he had been a different man, divorced from much of life, married to his business.

He’d been a good businessman, but hiding from his grief at losing his wife, he’d given most of what little affection he had left to Holly. What had been left for Emma, and why was he worrying about that now?

“You know why,” he whispered. It was because Holly had fallen in love and gotten engaged to one of his two new business associates, and she was blissfully happy. Her excitement reminded him of how deeply he had loved his wife, of how he and Lila had once laughed every day.

Watching his daughter come alive with love had been a gift, pulling him from the fog he had lived in for years.

While Holly awakened each morning these days with stars in her eyes, here was Emmaline quietly laboring in his garden as she so often did. For the first time ever, Gilbert wondered if she actually liked working in the garden.

He had never asked. Instead he’d just allowed her to take care of necessary tasks here at the Messmer’s mansion and at his hotel. She always seemed to be working or taking classes related to her work. Had she ever felt the kind of joy that Holly was feeling? If Danielle’s spirit visited him today could he tell her that he had done all he could for her child?

No, but what could he do now?

“Something. I promise you, Danielle, that I’ll make amends.” But how?

Gilbert glanced down at his book. “Maybe Shakespeare would have had some good ideas about what a penitent and neglectful uncle should do to make sure his niece is happy,” Gilbert muttered. Shakespeare certainly seemed to have a fascination with the human condition.

Gilbert stared at the gilt lettering on the cover. He loved the comedic tale he had just finished for the tenth time. Shakespeare had filled the pages with romantic heroes returning from war, a young couple in the throes of new love, a dastardly villain, another couple who couldn’t keep from verbally sparring with one another, and of course, lots of matchmaking.

“Hmm,” he said and looked out the window again.

Emmaline glanced up just then and gave him a small, sunny smile, waving at him before returning to her task.

She really did resemble her mother with that dark hair and those solemn gray eyes. “Twenty-five years,” he whispered. “How selfish you’ve been, Gilbert. How blind.”

But now his eyes were opening, and he would begin again if it wasn’t too late. All he needed was a plan. All he needed was to start doing what he hadn’t done for years—placing his daughter’s and niece’s needs first. Before business.

How to begin? What to do? What would make Emmaline happy?

“Maybe…” he mumbled. Maybe if Emmaline found the same kind of happiness that had set Holly aglow these days…

Foolish, desperate thought. Emmaline had made it clear she didn’t want to marry. He didn’t even know why.

Still, Holly hadn’t planned to marry yet, either, and now that she was engaged, she was ecstatically happy.

It could happen to Emmaline.

Maybe it could happen to Emmaline. But how when she was so determined never to look for love?

Gilbert picked up his book. He lovingly rubbed his thumb over the dark green leather. Fanning the pages, he breathed in the scent of the paper and remembered the fates of the characters. The matchmaking…

“No. This is Shakespeare. It’s fiction,” he told himself.

But Emmaline toiled on, alone. She would be more alone still once Holly was gone. And if there was a chance that she could have a happily ever after, that he could redeem himself for the mistakes he’d made with her over the years?

Gilbert sighed. “If only I could find the right man…surely there must be one man made for Emmaline.”

The thought sank in. It took hold and filled him with hope and impulsive joy. Suddenly Gilbert wanted to laugh and kick up his heels. He felt younger than he had in decades.

If there was a perfect man for Emmaline, he intended to find him. He was pretty sure he might know one who would do, someone that Emma had already met, a former military man just like one of the heroes in the play. And when he did, he would take a page from William Shakespeare’s tale. If there was the slightest chance that Emmaline could find love, then he was going to make it happen.

Chapter One

“Are you sure you’re okay, Emma? You don’t look well.”

“No, really. I’m fine.” Emmaline clutched her book tightly and hoped her cousin Holly wouldn’t notice how rigid her body had gone at the announcement. In truth, she didn’t feel at all well. Panic was setting in fast at Holly’s announcement.

She placed the research book she had been studying on a nearby table. “Are you absolutely sure Chris is bringing Ryan Benedict with him? To stay here?” Emmaline asked.

Holly’s eyes lit up when Emmaline said Christopher’s name.

“I’m totally sure,” Holly said with a laugh. “Ryan and Chris are business partners. Why wouldn’t he stay here?”

Because I don’t want to see him, Emmaline thought . Because the last time I saw him we shared the most casual of kisses, and I—well, I don’t even want to think about my embarrassing reaction to the man. She had been flustered, like some virginal woman from a bygone era who had considered it a sin to even think of kissing a man. Thank goodness her family knew she didn’t want a husband. Otherwise, they might have thought she was actually interested in Ryan.

“I’m not saying Ryan shouldn’t stay here,” Emma said. It’s just that Chris is coming because you’re engaged and planning your wedding, but Mr. Benedict’s reasons are related to business with Uncle Gilbert’s hotel chain. I thought perhaps he’d stay at the hotel.”

Holly rolled her eyes. “Don’t be silly, Em. Ryan is Chris’s best friend, so of course, Dad invited him to stay. He made a special point of asking him. Why? Don’t you like him?”

Careful, Em, Emmaline warned herself. She turned what she hoped was a placid smile on her younger cousin. “How can I dislike him? Except for that brief meeting a few weeks ago, I’ve barely even met Ryan Benedict.”

Holly frowned at her cousin. “But I know you, Em. You’re trying too hard. There is something wrong, isn’t there?”

Against her will the memory of that meeting forced itself into Emmaline’s memory. Her uncle had called her into the living room to drink a toast to the business partnership his company had just entered into with Chris and Ryan’s company. The first person she had seen had been Ryan. With that dark hair, lean GQ looks and military bearing that was still with him years after he had left the service. He had turned those navy-blue eyes on her, and her breath had caught, a fact that had irritated her to no end.

She was not the kind of woman who allowed herself to be swayed by a man’s looks or magnetism, having learned all too well how dangerous that kind of thing could be.

Then Holly and Chris had announced their engagement, the result of a courtship that had begun two months ago when Holly had gone to St. Louis with Gilbert to check out C&R Technologies and had met Chris. Holly had spent a lot of time in St. Louis since then. Emma and barely seen her and had only met Chris once or twice. Not that it mattered.

Suddenly Chris had shaken Uncle Gilbert’s hand, pounded him on the back and hugged him, and then everyone in the room was kissing and hugging. Emmaline, who had never been a very physical kind of person, had found herself standing next to Ryan, looking up at him as he gave her a wicked grin. “May I, Ms. Carstairs?” he had said. His voice had been low and husky and dangerous, as if he was inviting her to remove all of her clothing rather than to share in Holly and Chris’s celebration. In the next second, while she was getting her bearings and without waiting for her to answer, he had lightly placed his lips on her cheek. Idiot that she was, awkward with this very physical man, she had jerked, turned and just for a second his mouth had brushed against the corner of her lips.

The room and all its occupants had fallen away. Her skin burned. She’d wanted to…she didn’t know what she had wanted to do, but it surely involved placing her hands on him, having him place his hands on her. Rational thought had proven impossible.

Later she had reminded herself that it had been a celebratory kiss, no more. A meaningless gesture of the kind that people took part in every day. But that was later.

In the brief time when Ryan Benedict was touching her lips, accident though it may have been, heat had rushed through, her breathing had gone rough and shallow, her mind had gone blank. She had the horrifying suspicion that she might have actually swayed toward him, maybe—please, no—even placed a hand awkwardly on his chest.

For half a second after he stopped touching her, a crazy thought had gone through her head. He would make beautiful babies, and she wanted a baby.

Immediately reality had stepped in. What on earth was she thinking? After all these years of fighting to keep her emotions in a jar, she was not going to allow herself to act girlish and irresponsible now.

She had already done that. At a hotelier’s convention several years ago she’d met, dated and fallen for a man who claimed to want her, but who had really wanted her to help him with Uncle Gilbert’s business for his company. So…hadn’t she learned about men who pretended to care but didn’t? Hadn’t her mother been betrayed by her weakness for Emmaline’s faithless father? Emma wasn’t going to make those kinds of mistakes. If she wanted a baby, there were ways. Pursuing a man, especially one like Ryan who probably had women lining up to sleep with him, wasn’t one of the ways.

“Em?”

Emmaline realized that her fists were clenched and she was gritting her teeth. She looked at her cousin. “I’m sorry, Holly. What?” she asked, as casually as possible.

“Are you really okay? I just suggested that you might not like Ryan, and you practically disappeared on me. It’s not—that is, I saw him kiss you and the way you looked afterwards—”

Emmaline quickly shook her head. “That was nothing.”

Holly looked unconvinced. “Em…”

“Holly,” Emma managed to say. “Don’t even go there. You know that I gave up the hunt for the right man the way other women give up wearing their hair in pigtails. I’m beyond that stage of my life and I’m happy about it, so you don’t have to worry about me, okay?”

“You sound like you’re ancient.”

Emmaline managed a laugh. “Where men are concerned I am. But seriously, I’m sorry if I zoned out on you. There’s so much going on now that we’ve decided to renovate the hotel. I’ve been…brainstorming new decorating ideas,” she said, pointing to the book her uncle had unexpectedly given her the other day.

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.

“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.

“Come look, Emma,” Gilbert said, gazing down at the model. “This model…it’s amazing.”

Chris smiled, as well he should, because these were his ideas.

Emmaline probably already knew that, and to her credit, she nodded and smiled, too. She stared down at the miniature Texas Lights, the new Texas Lights with its curving lines, computerized lobby, its new lighting systems, new…everything. “It’s certainly an impressive model,” she finally said.

Which was the truth, and yet it didn’t really say anything, did it? Ryan noted.

“I’ve heard you’re a genius,” she told Chris.

“Oh, who told you that?”

She fingered one of the sleek new elevators on the model. “Holly.”

Gilbert laughed. “Chris could build something out of alphabet blocks, and my daughter would call it pure genius. Not that this isn’t pure genius,” he amended.

But it wasn’t what Emmaline had hoped for, Ryan could tell. It wasn’t old or odd or out of step with the rest of the world.

He came up behind her. “It’s just a prototype,” he said.

“I know. It’s very inventive,” she tried again, directing her comment toward Chris, who seemed to be satisfied with her conclusion.

But when Holly came to the door and held her arms out, Chris went to her. “Let’s go for a walk in the gardens,” she said. “I’ve been trying on new clothes to make myself beautiful for you, and I’ve missed you horribly.”

Chris looked at Gilbert and Ryan.

“Go,” they both said in unison.

Gilbert laughed. “I have things to do, too. Emmaline, I can see you have questions about the hotel. You and Ryan really need to discuss this and see how you can make it work. Spend some time on it. Take him to the scene of the crime and show him your true love.” He smiled at his niece, walking over to awkwardly pat her on the shoulder. Then he strolled out the door, turning right where Chris and Holly had turned left.

Emmaline stared after him, her pretty eyes narrowed with what looked very much like concern.

“Emma, are you all right?” Ryan asked.

“He seems so sad these days. I think he’s already missing Holly. She’s his only child, you know.”

Which just wasn’t true. Ryan started to remind Emmaline that she was Gilbert’s child as well, but then he realized how presumptuous that would be. Her relationship with her uncle was none of his affair. What did he know of families, after all, considering the examples he had been raised with, his self-absorbed father and his equally self-absorbed string of wives?

He let the moment pass, and the silence settled in like an entity in the room. Suddenly he was aware of the fact that he was completely alone with Emma for the very first time. He breathed in the scent of violets, and immediately wanted to move closer to feel her warmth, maybe even to touch.

What in hell was wrong with him? Hadn’t he received proof enough that she wasn’t for him? “Shall we?” he asked, motioning toward the model, determined to crush any inappropriate thoughts he should have about her. No doubt his body was simply responding to the fact that he would be here without feminine companionship for several weeks. “We’re alone now. You can tell me what you really think.”

Emma took a visible breath, the motion making the cloth on the bosom of her dress rise and fall. She was wearing a brown dress today. Not a pretty shade of brown, either. He remembered that she had been wearing blue the day he met her, a dusky-blue silk blouse that caressed her curves and accented the silvery-gray of her eyes.

“Do you like brown?” he suddenly asked.

Her eyes widened and she put one hand over her chest. Ryan realized that he had been staring at the way the dress camouflaged her breasts.

“Is there something wrong with brown?” she asked, her eyes narrowing.

Again he noted how expressive her eyes were. Not even an ugly dress could disguise that. And she was right, anyway. He had been so indignant that she was hiding her lovely body that he had stepped out of line.

“I’m sorry, Emma. Brown is a fine color. I tend to be a bit too direct at times.”

She looked down, and to his surprise when she glanced up again, she was smiling. Just a small smile, but a smile nonetheless. “It is an ugly dress,” she admitted. “Uncle Gilbert’s sister gave it to me as a Christmas present. I think she thinks of me as some poor creature like Jane Eyre. You know, because Jane Eyre was an orphan? Aunt Ellen is sweet, but even though I’ve never wanted for money, she always gives me a dress every Christmas. I have a few of them in my closet.”

“You kept them even though you don’t like them.”

She held out her hands. “I couldn’t hurt her by giving them away.”

The thought was oddly endearing, even though the dress was still hideous. “It’s…nice of you to wear them to make her feel better. Is she coming here today?”

Immediately Emmaline looked away and twisted her fingers in the cloth of her skirt, like a kid caught in a lie. Ryan knew a lot about how people looked when they lied. His father had been an expert. He wondered what it was that Emmaline was lying about and why she would do that.

“She’s not coming here today. She doesn’t live in this state. I know we should discuss the hotel,” she added, quickly rushing on, “but I need some time to look things over and make some notes. I’m not an impulsive type of person, and I need to study things from every angle and then study my notes some more. I don’t want to rush into anything.”

Because she liked things done the old-fashioned way, slowly. He didn’t dare carry that thought through to how she liked things with a man.

“Emma?” he said.

She looked up at him, those wide gray eyes clear and wary. “Putting off the inevitable won’t stop things from changing. The hotel will be different when we’re done.”

Emma nodded. “I know that. But I want the changes to be right. If we rush into things too quickly…”

“We won’t.”

“If I make a mistake or you make a mistake…”

“I always try not to.”

She shook her head. “The Texas Lights is the most special place in the world to me.”

And yet she lived here in her uncle’s house. Ryan wondered why a hotel would be more special than her home. He studied her closely, wondering what she was thinking, fascinated at the things he was learning about her. Not that any of those things could matter to him.

“I’ll give you what you want for The Texas Lights, Emma. I’ll do right by you.” He meant every word—in a strictly professional sense, but when she looked at him, he realized that he had stepped closer, that heat was sizzling in the air.

“I’ll get to this right away,” she said, her voice slightly strained. “I just have a few quick things to do for Holly. I promised her that I would stop by the kitchen and talk to Mary Beth, our cook. Holly wants to make sure that all of Chris’s favorite foods are on the menu.” Emmaline took a few steps away.

Ryan shook his head. Why was she doing what Holly should have been doing herself?

As if she knew what he was thinking, she lifted her chin defiantly. “Mary Beth needs to be coaxed at times.”

That still didn’t answer his questions. It only raised more, but he wanted to make sure she understood something.

“If you want me to understand any changes you want to make with Chris’s plans, you’re going to have to spend some time with me. It’s necessary.”

She gave him a long stare. “I always do what’s necessary, Ryan.”

He smiled. “Even if you’re wishing me to the devil while you’re doing it?”

She studied him with those big, solemn eyes. “I have no reason to dislike you.”

“And no reason to like me, either. I wonder what you’ve heard about me that makes you look at me that way.”

“What way?” She lifted her chin.

“As if you think I’m wondering what’s under your skirts.”

She froze, turning her head to the side. “I would never imagine that was what you were thinking.”

“Then you’d be wrong. But believe me, I never let my wayward thoughts get in the way of work. Your hotel is my first priority until—”

“Until when?”

“Until the job is done.”

“And then?”

“And then whatever my next job is becomes my top priority. Work is what makes life worth living.”

When she looked up at him this time, her smile was wide and genuine and totally breathtaking. “Yes, exactly. My work is important to me, too. I’ll study Chris’s model as soon as I can and let you know what I think.”

“Tell me what you think now.”

She shook her head. “I told you. I need time to study the situation.”

“First impressions sometimes count more than careful study. You’ll study the model later, but tell me what your first thoughts were when you looked at it.”

She hesitated, sucking in her bottom lip. On a more practiced woman, he would have thought she was trying to entice him. But with Emma, who obviously wished he’d never come here, the movement made him want to groan, to lick the soft skin where her teeth were digging in. He wondered if she had any idea just how alluring that pouty lower lip of hers was. It made a man think of…touching…tasting…devouring that petulant pink mouth.

“Emma,” he said, trying to get her to speak, to take his mind off her mouth.

“I’m thinking,” she argued.

“Don’t think. Talk.”

She looked up at him. “Are you always this bossy?”

“Yes. Are you always this careful?”

“Always,” she said. And he was sure it was true. If he tried to touch her again, what would she do?

He wasn’t going to let himself find out. “Tell me,” he ordered again.

“All right,” Emma said with a sigh, gesturing to Chris’s model. “This is beautiful, astonishingly so, but it’s not The Texas Lights.”

“What makes it different?”

“Well…” She looked at the model’s lobby area where banks of computers were destined to reside. “This looks too modern and efficient.”

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