The Mckennas: Finn, Riley and Brody

CHAPTER FOUR

FINN MCKENNA was not a man easily surprised. He’d heard and seen a great deal in the past ten years of running his own company. But this … offer, if that was what he could call it, from Ellie Winston was a total shock.

“Marriage? As in a church and a minister?” he said. The words choked past his throat.

“Well, I was thinking more like city hall and a judge, but if you insist …” She grinned.

“But … w-we don’t even know each other.” The words sputtered out of him. He, a man who never sputtered.

Ever since she’d walked into his office five minutes ago and announced she had a counteroffer to his, that was what he had done—sputtered. And stammered. And parroted her words back at her. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Shocked wasn’t an adequate adjective.

Marriage?

He had expected her to ask for more autonomy with the project or a larger cut of the fee. Something … practical.

Instead she’d said she would allow him to be an equal partner in the Piedmont hospital project, if he married her.

Marriage.

“I think I need a little more time to … think about this.” Or find a counteroffer that could possibly overrule her insane request. “Perhaps we could table this—”

“I’d rather not.” She was perched on the edge of one of the visitor’s chairs in his office. The late morning sun danced gold in her hair. She had on another dress, this one in a pale yellow that made him think of daffodils.

For Pete’s sake. Every time he got close to Ellie Winston he turned into a damned greeting card.

“If you’re free for a little while,” she added, “how about we go someplace and talk?”

He considered saying no, but then realized this was his best opportunity to get what he needed from Ellie Winston. In the long run, that would serve him better than staying at his desk. It wasn’t the fact that he wanted to see more of her. Not at all. He glanced out his window. “We could do lunch, and be stuck in some restaurant or … the weather is gorgeous. How about a stroll on the Esplanade?”

“Sure. I can’t remember the last time I walked along the river.” She reached into her purse and pulled out a small bag. “I even have flats with me.”

“Practical woman.”

She laughed. “Sometimes, not so much, but today, yes.” She slipped off her heels, tucked them in her bag, then slid on the other shoes.

Finn told Miss Marstein that he was leaving, then shut down his computer and grabbed his phone. A few minutes later, they were out the door and heading down a side street toward the Esplanade. Finn drew in a deep breath of sweet salty air. “I definitely don’t get outside enough.”

Ellie sighed. “Me, either. When I was younger, I used to be a real outdoorsy girl. Hiking, canoeing, bike riding. I tried to keep up with that after college, but the job takes up way too much time.”

He arched a brow at her dress and the spiky heels poking out of her purse. “You hiked?”

Ellie put a fist on her hip. “Do I look too girly for that?”

His gaze raked over her curves, and his thoughts strayed from business to something far more personal. Damn. “Uh, no. Not at all.”

“What about you?” she asked. “Do you hike or bike or anything like that?”

“I used to. I ran track in high school, was on the swim team, you name it. And during college, I biked everywhere. Now I think my bike’s tires are flat and there are spiders making webs in the frame.”

She laughed. “All the more reason to get it out of storage.”

They crossed to the Esplanade, joining the hundreds of other people outside. A few on bikes whizzed past them, as if adding an exclamation point to the conversation. “Maybe someday I will,” Finn said, watching a man on a carbon fiber racing bike zip past him. “I do miss it.”

“Someday might never come,” Ellie said quietly. “It’s too easy to let the To Do list get in the way. And then before you know it, another year has passed, and another, and you’re still sitting behind the desk instead of doing what you love.”

He heard something more in her voice. Some kind of longing. Just for more outdoor time? Or to fill another hole in her life? He wanted to ask, wanted to tell her he knew all about using work to plug those empty spots.

But he didn’t.

The bike rider disappeared among a sea of power walkers. Finn returned his attention to Ellie. She looked radiant in the sunshine. Tempting. Too tempting. He cleared his throat. “It’s hard to keep up with the personal To Do list when the business one is so much longer.”

“Isn’t part of your business taking care of you? After all, if the CEO ain’t happy …” She let the words trail off and shot him a grin.

For a second, Finn wanted to fall into that engaging smile of Ellie Winston’s. Every one of her smiles seemed to hit him deep in the gut. They were the kind of smiles that Finn suspected—no, knew—would linger in his mind long after they were done. And her voice … her years of living in the South gave her just enough of a Southern tinge to coat her words with a sweet but sassy spin. It was … intoxicating.

Hell, everything about her was intoxicating. It wasn’t just the dress or the smile or the curves. It was everything put together, in one unique, intriguing package.

She had him thinking about what it would be like to take a hike through Blue Hills with her, to crest the mountain and watch the busy world go by far beneath them. He imagined them picnicking on a rock outcropping, while the sun warmed their backs and the breeze danced along their skin.

Damn. What was it about her that kept getting him distracted? He needed to focus on business, and more importantly, on why she had proposed marriage a few minutes ago. No wild, heady anything with her.

Finn cleared his throat. “About your … proposal earlier. No pun intended. Were you serious?”

Her features went from teasing to flat, and he almost regretted steering the conversation back. “Yes. Very.” She let out a long breath, and for a while, watched the people sitting on the grass across from them. It was a family of four, with a small dog nipping at the heels of the children as they ran a circle around their parents. “I need something from you and you need something from me. Marriage is the best solution all around.”

“We could always do a legal agreement for the businesses. This is just one project, you know.”

“For me, it’s much more.” Her gaze returned to his. “I have to have a husband. Now.”

“Why?”

“First, let me lay out the advantages to you.” She slowed her pace. “For one, our lack of familiarity with each other is what makes it a perfect idea and a perfect partnership, if you will.”

“Partnership, perhaps. Not a marriage.”

“I may not know you very well, Mr. McKenna,” she went on, “but I know your life. You work sunup to sundown, travel half the year and have all the social life of a barnacle.”

She could have opened up his skull and peeked inside his brain. Damn. Was he that transparent? And put that way, well, hell, his life sounded downright pitiful. Riley would have put up two enthusiastic thumbs in agreement.

Perhaps she was joking. He glanced at her face. Saw only serious intent in her features.

“But don’t you think it’s wiser to work out a business arrangement instead? More money, more prestige, a reciprocal arrangement with my next project?” Something he could quantify, put into those neat little debits and credits columns. Not something like marriage, for Pete’s sake.

“Perhaps to you it would be. But a business arrangement isn’t the number one thing I need right now.” She gestured toward a small grassy hill that led to the river, away from the crowds out walking, and the energetic in-line skaters rushing past them. He followed her down to the water’s edge. In the distance, a rowing team called out a cadence as they skimmed across the glassy blue surface.

Her green eyes met his, and a thrill ran through him. Damn, she had beautiful eyes.

“Not to mention, you’re probably as tired of the dating game as am I,” she said. “And maybe you’ve looked ahead to the future, and wondered how on earth you’re going to fit the American Dream into your schedule.”

He gave her a droll smile. “Actually I had that down for next year, on Tuesday, March 30, at two in the afternoon.”

She burst out laughing, which also surprised him and stirred that warmth again in his gut. Those who knew Finn would never have described him as a man with a sense of humor. But apparently Ellie Winston found him funny. That pleased him, and had him wondering what else Ellie thought of him.

Damn. He kept getting off track. It had to be her proposal which had knocked the normally unflappable Finn off balance.

“I was hoping to fit it into my planner a little sooner than that,” she said. “Actually a lot sooner.”

“Why? Why now? And … why me? I mean, you are a beautiful woman. Smart, charming, sexy. You could have your pick of any man on the planet.”

“I … well, thank you.” Now it was her turn to sputter. A soft pink blush spread over her cheeks. Then she paused, seeming to weigh her answer for several moments before responding. He got the distinct impression she was holding something back, but what, he didn’t know. He thought again about what he knew about her. Nothing pointed to “desperate to get married,” no matter how he looked at the details he knew about her. Yet, there was an ulterior motive to her proposal—he’d bet a year’s salary on it.

“There’s a child in China who needs a mother. I promised her that I would adopt her, and everything was in place for me to do so. Until this morning.” She bit her lip and turned to him. “The agency told me I need a husband to complete the adoption.”

“Whoa, whoa.” He put up his hands. “I’m not interested in becoming an instant father.”

“I’m not asking that of you. At all.”

“Then what are you asking?”

“A marriage based on commonality, not passion or lust or infatuation. We’ll stay married for a short time, long enough for me to get the adoption finalized, then get a quiet divorce. Painless and fast.”

In other words, no real strings attached and he’d be out of this nearly as fast as he was in it. He should be glad. For some reason, he wasn’t. “Sounds so … clinical.”

“Mr. McKenna … Finn. We’re both detail oriented—clinical in a way—people. I’m not interested in losing my head in a relationship, or wasting a lot of time dating Mr. Wrong, not when I’m concentrating on running my father’s company. I need a spouse, in name only, and you need a business partner.”

He looked in Ellie Winston’s eyes, and saw only sincerity, and a quiet desperation to help a child halfway around the world. He knew she wouldn’t have come to him, with this insane offer, if she didn’t have to.

Find out what she wants most in the world, Riley had said, and give it to her.

But this?

“I don’t know if I agree with this,” Finn said. “The child will undoubtedly be hurt when her father disappears after a few weeks.”

“You don’t have to be a part of Jiao’s life at all. Just be there for the home visit and the adoption proceedings. And in return, we can work together on the Piedmont project. That will keep my father’s business growing and help yours. It’s a win all around.”

Pigeons picked at the grass before them, looking for leftover crumbs. In the distance, there was the sound of children’s laughter. The swish-swish of rolling cycle tires on the paved walkway. The continual hum of traffic, punctuated by the occasional horn. The world went on as it always did, swimming along beneath a sunny sky.

“It would be a platonic marriage,” she said. “Nothing more.”

“A purely impersonal alliance?” he asked, still not believing she had suggested this. When he’d made his list of possible ways to convince Ellie a strategic partnership was a good idea, marriage hadn’t even come close to being in the mix. “A marriage based solely on like minds and like goals?”

Though when he put the marriage idea like that, it sounded cold. Almost … sad.

He shook off the thoughts. He was a practical man. One whose focus was solely on building his business back to where it had been. He wasn’t going to get wrapped up in the foolishness of some romantic ideal—and that wasn’t what Ellie was asking for. It was, in fact, the exact kind of relationship he had vowed to pursue. Then why did he feel as empty as a deflated balloon?

She nodded. “Yes.”

“And in exchange, our companies partner as well?”

“Yes.” She put up a finger. “However, we each retain ownership and leadership of our respective companies, in case … things don’t work out.” She dug in her purse and pulled out a piece of paper. “I took the liberty of having my attorney draw up a contract.”

A contract. For marriage.

Finn skimmed the document and saw that it indeed promised everything she had talked about. The business arrangement, the annulment agreement. All he had to do was sign on the dotted line and he’d be a temporary husband, father in name only.

The businessman in him said it was an opportunity not to be missed. The partnership his business needed, and at the same time, the bonus of companionship. Not sex, clearly, but someone to talk to at the end of the day.

He thought of the nights he’d spent on the rooftop deck of his townhouse. Watching the city lights twinkle in the distance, while he drank a beer, and gathered his thoughts, wondered if he’d made the right choices. Lately those nights hadn’t brought the peace they used to. More, a restlessness, a question of “is this all there is?” Except for the times he was with his brothers, his life was staid. Almost dull.

Riley was right. He was lonely, and tired as hell of feeling that way.

At the same time, he didn’t want to pursue the empty one-night stands his brother did. He wanted more, something with meaning and depth. Something that was … sensible. Reliable. Practical. Something that wasn’t foolish or wild or crazy—not the kind of whirlwind romance his parents had had, that had gone so horribly wrong after the children started coming and they realized that a quick courtship couldn’t build a lifetime, not between such badly mismatched people.

Love—or any approximation of it—was a dangerous thing that left a man vulnerable. Not a position Finn McKenna relished or welcomed. A marriage of convenience would be void of all those things.

Still, the cynic in him wondered if Ellie was proposing this as a way to knock him off guard, or maybe even an alliance that would allow her to gather facts about him and his business, facts she could use to take over his company later or eliminate him as a competitor. Hadn’t Lucy done exactly the same thing?

But the man in him, the one standing beside a very beautiful, very intriguing woman with a smile that stayed with him, hoped like hell it was something more than that.

Was he truly considering this … this marriage of convenience? What choice did he have? He needed to be a part of that hospital project. Making it a joint venture with a company like WW would reestablish his company’s reputation, and distract attention from that fiasco last year. And, as calculated as it sounded, a marriage to a charming woman like Ellie would also distract attention from the mess his company had been in lately, give the gossips something else to talk about. He’d be back on top before he knew it, and then he and Eleanor Winston could quietly dissolve the union, as she’d said. She’d have the child, and he’d have his business back. He could feel the old familiar surge of adrenaline that always hit him when he landed a big job, one that he knew could change the future of McKenna Designs.

“This contract looks pretty good,” he said.

“I wanted to make it clear this was business only.” Her gaze flicked to the water, and she let out a small sigh. Almost like she was disappointed. Which was crazy, because she was the one floating the idea in the first place. “But we don’t have a lot of time to waste. Jiao is stuck in that orphanage, farther away from me with every passing day. And you, I suspect, would like to be on board from day one with the hospital project. The initial drawings are due the fifteenth so we have very little time to get everyone up to speed.”

“The fifteenth? That does put a crunch on our time. By all rights, we should start right away.”

“I agree. In the end, Finn, we’re both decisive people, aren’t we?” She smiled at him. “I’m not looking for a courtship with flowers and dancing and dinners out. What we are doing is more of a …”

“Partnership. Two like minds coming together.”

“Exactly.”

A part of him felt a whisper of … loss? Finn wasn’t sure that was the right word to describe the yawning emptiness in his gut. Surely a deal like this—one that would benefit his company and at the same time, fill those quiet, lonely nights with good conversation, was a win-win all around.

Except …

No, he didn’t need any more than that. As Ellie had said, a romantic relationship came with complications, emotional drama—all things he didn’t have time for, nor wanted in his life. And clearly, not something she wanted, either. She saw him as a means to an end, and he saw her the same way.

Hadn’t he learned his lesson with Lucy? A heady relationship would do nothing but draw his attention away from the business. In the coming months, the company would need more of his attention than ever, so the kind of relationship Ellie was proposing was perfect. With the addition of the legal contract, the risk to McKenna Designs would be minimal. He saw no downside to this.

Except the fact that it wouldn’t be a real marriage. That it would be as faux as the wood paneling that still flanked his grandmother’s fireplace, forty years after the house had been built, the same house she lived in because it was the one she’d bought with her late husband, even though she could now afford ten times the house.

A hummingbird flitted by, heading for a bright swath of flowers. Finn watched it for a while, as the world hustled by behind him.

“There’s this bird in Africa,” Finn said, watching the tiny hummingbird dart from bloom to bloom, “called a honey guide. Its whole job is to find beehives and lead the honey badger to them. When he does, the badger gets in there and gets the honey, clearing the way for the honey guide to eat the bee larvae.” He turned to Ellie. “I guess that’s sort of what this will be. Us working together to serve a mutually beneficial purpose.”

“Not exactly the same as swans mating for life, but yes.”

“Definitely not a partnership for life,” Finn said. But even as he clarified, he felt a twinge of something like regret. He shrugged it off. Be smart, he reminded himself, like the badger and the bird. In the end, everyone wins.

“I don’t want to rush you,” she said. “But we need to make a decision. If you don’t want to do this … I need to think of something else.”

“Fine,” he said, turning to her. “Let’s go.”

She blinked. “What … now?”

“Why wait?” he said, parroting her words back. “I have a friend at the courthouse. He’ll take care of it. You can be my wife by the end of the day, Miss Winston.”

“Today? Right now?”

“Yes, of course.” He watched her closely, and wondered if, despite the contract she’d given him, she was as committed to this partnership as she had sounded. Only one way to find out, he decided. “You weren’t expecting me to get down on one knee with some flowers or a ring, were you?”

“No, no, of course not.” She swallowed. “Business only.”

“My favorite kind of relationship.” He gave her a smile, then turned to go back across the grass. He paused, turned back, waiting for her to join him. He had called Ellie Winston’s bluff. The only problem …

He wasn’t so sure she’d been bluffing.

“Are you ready?”

Was she ready? Ellie had no idea if she was or wasn’t. The events of the last hours seemed surreal, as if it was some other Ellie Winston who had proposed to Finn McKenna, then hopped in his Town Car and headed to Rhode Island in the middle of the day.

Had she really just proposed to him? And had he really accepted?

She’d gone to his office right after leaving the adoption agency and then her lawyer’s office, her mind filled with only one thing. She needed a husband and she needed one now. She’d do whatever it took to get that. She’d seen Jiao’s trusting, hopeful face in her mind and thought of nothing else. Jiao needed a mother. Needed Ellie.

Linda had made it clear—marriage was the only sure route to bringing Jiao home. There was no one else that Ellie knew—not well enough in her short time living here in Boston—who would marry her on such short notice. No one who would go along with such a crazy plan, and not expect a real marriage out of the deal. So she’d gone to Finn, the only man she knew who needed her as much as she needed him.

A part of her had never expected him to say yes. But say yes, he had, and now they were on their way to get married.

Married.

To Finn McKenna.

A man she knew about as well as she knew her dry cleaner.

This was insane. Think of Jiao, she told herself. Just think of Jiao. And as the miles ticked by, that became her mantra.

Massachusetts had a three-day waiting period for a marriage license, Finn had told her, as he got on I-95S and made the hour-long journey to Providence, Rhode Island, where there was no waiting period. The car’s smooth, nearly silent ride and comfortable interior made the whole drive seem almost … romantic, even though it was broad daylight and the highway was filled with other cars. It was something about the cozy, dark leather of the car that wrapped around her, insulated them, drew them into a world of just the two of them, like lovers making an afternoon getaway. Which was crazy, because what they were doing was far from romantic. And they were definitely not lovers.

“How did you know there was a three-day waiting period in Massachusetts?” she asked.

“My brother.” A grin slid across Finn’s face. “Riley is a little … impetuous. We’ve had to talk him out of more than one crazy decision.”

“We?”

“My younger brother Brody and me. We’re the ones who received all the common-sense genes.”

“Inherited from generations of common-sense McKenna men?”

He chuckled. “Exactly. Though my grandmother might quibble with how much common sense is in our DNA.”

“So there are three of you altogether?” Ellie asked.

“Yep. All boys. Made for a busy life. Hell, it still does.”