Twisted Arrangement 2 (12 page)

Cold sweat trickled down Josh’s ribs. He was torn between needing this information and needing to get back to Ransler and Emma. “Short version, big guy. I’m in the middle of a delicate deal just now.”

“Yeah, yeah, geez. Here. Look at this.”  He flipped open the folder and shoved a piece of paper under Josh’s nose. It looked like a list of campers for a camp called Stratford-Upon-Avon at Encanto.

Josh shoved the list away from his face. Ben snatched it and studied it, brows beetling. Josh sighed. “So Ness went to summer camp. What’s your point?”

“Not him.
The sister
went to summer camp. Just the once. They’re not good about being separated, the Ness kids. But it was a
drama
camp.” Gunn raised almost invisible eyebrows. Josh scanned the room. Where were Emma and Ransler? He saw the movie star at the bar, deep in an intense conversation with his wife. Emma he glimpsed near the stage, pacing, her cell phone pressed to her ear.

“Yeah, so? Ben said the sister’s never had a rap sheet. She’s the crossword puzzle and cup of tea type, right? One summer at drama camp is hardly going to make her go in for larceny.”

“You read these school reports from when they were kids. They were loners, always looking out for each other. I’m telling you. You want your girl? It’s the sister.” Gunn shrugged, as if the answer was obvious and Josh was stupid if he didn’t see it.

Josh frowned. “You’re that sure? Just based on the fact that they were lonely kids and she spent one summer at drama camp? Seems weak to me.”

“There’s one more thing. Ben told you she lived in the area here, right? Ness is staying with her.” Gunn inclined his head.

“Still not enough to convince me the convicted felon isn’t our best bet.” Josh’s toe tapped impatiently on the floor.

“Oh.” Ben’s voice was low. He’d taken the file from Magnus and was flipping through it. “Oh.
Shit
. Man, I missed it, Josh. I... I’m sorry.” Ben’s face took on an odd cheesy color. Josh’s heart did a painful flip at seeing his friend’s expression.

“Missed what, damn it?”

Gunn clapped Ben’s shoulder in sympathy, but he addressed Josh. “Ness’s sister works for you. She’s had access to your house, your schedule, blueprints. Everything. She’s been under your nose the whole time.”

Josh couldn’t even begin to process the whirl of emotion Magnus’s words caused. Anger, admiration, astonishment, just to name a few. “How... how is that possible?”

“Emma,” Ben croaked. He extended another sheet of paper toward Josh. Josh didn’t even bother looking at it. “
Emma
is Ness’s sister.”

The words didn’t even make sense. Emma wasn’t a gambler’s sister. Emma was Emma.  “No.” The denial was immediate. There was no way she was his Madame Butterfly. The two women were completely different!

Butterfly was taller than Emma for one thing, by at least two inches. Except, that mocking voice in his head reminded him, he’d only ever seen Emma in low, sensible heels. Never the towering spikes his mystery woman had worn. They
were
both slender and fine-boned with pointed chins and full lips.

Emma’s hair was lighter and her eyes were green, not brown. Yet both those things could be easily disguised. Josh’s eyes flew to the stage, seeking her out again. He wasn’t sure if he was hoping for something to prove him wrong or right. Did he want Emma and Butterfly to be the same woman? That would mean she’d stolen from him. It would mean she’d been lying to him. It would mean she’d kissed him with a fire that had scorched him to the bone.

So many things began to fall into place. She’d never offered her last name. She’d wanted to know all about Ben after he’d told her his friend gathered information for him. And in his car, she’d been afraid he’d realize who she was if they kissed. Josh was sure of it. Which one was the real Emma, he wondered? The reserved yet efficient party planner, or the vivacious seductress? Could she possibly have fooled him so completely?

She was still by the stage, her back to him now. And then Josh knew without a shadow of a doubt, that it was her. He saw the line of her spine bared by the little black dress she wore, and he remembered kneeling at her feet, looking up at the smooth expanse of her back. Emma
was
Butterfly.

“Josh?”

He realized Magnus and Ben were both staring at him. Probably because of the wide grin that suddenly stretched across his lips. He patted Ben on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, man.” He grabbed Magnus’ hand and gave it a firm shake. “Magnus. Appreciate the info. Why don’t you go get yourself a drink?”

“Josh, are you okay?” Ben asked, his eyes darting between Josh and Emma, who was still talking on her cell phone.

Looking at Emma and superimposing his mental image of Madame Butterfly beside her, Josh shook his head, but the grin didn’t fade. If anything, it got wider.
Perfect
.
She was perfect.

“I’m great, actually. If you’ll excuse me.” Josh strode away, heading straight for his fiancé.

“Todd Ness, if you don’t answer this damn phone I’m going to skin you alive! You call me the minute you get this, you hear me? It’s important!” Emma hung up her cell phone and then just held it, staring down at the picture of Van Gogh’s Starry Night that was her phone’s background image.

Whatever Ben had wanted to talk to Josh about was not going to be good news. She felt it in her bones. Todd needed to get out of town, maybe out of the country. She could probably get him down to Mexico, let him disappear down there. Todd liked tropical weather.

Acid bubbled in her stomach. She’d been on edge all day, and overhearing Josh and Ben’s conversation had put her even more ill at ease. Add to that William Ransler’s bizarre and sort of rude behavior and she needed a few antacids. Maybe another drink or two as well. And now Todd wasn’t answering his damn cell.

“Everything alright, Emma?” Josh stepped suddenly around the potted fern, face a smooth blank.

Her heart raced just at the sight of him. She looked directly into his sparkling blue-green eyes. Not because she wanted to, really, but because she knew it might be the last time he’d look at her like this. As soon as Ben found out who she was, Josh was never going to look at her with anything but contempt. Probably from across a courtroom while she was tried for grand larceny.

“Fine. Everything’s fine, Josh.” Her voice was reed thin. She gave him a wobbly smile.

He took her arm, wrapping his long fingers around her bicep gently and drawing her back behind the fern, away from the eyes of the attendees. “You weren’t planning on running out on me, were you?”

“What? No!” She had been considering it, actually. Going to track down her brother in person. Maybe they could leave together.

“Good.” Josh drew her against his side. “Because I have something very important to ask you.”

Her brow furrowed. Why was he acting so strange? He was holding her too close, for one thing. And the sparkle in his eye had turned almost devilish. Even in the car in the rain, Josh had never come on this strongly. His fingers stroked the soft skin of her underarm slowly as he pulled her into his chest. Emma shivered. “W-what is it, Josh?” He bent his head slightly.

His mouth was still an inch or so from hers. Emma felt frozen is shock, but spirals of lust had begun to curl through her too. Josh had that affect on her.

“Tell me,” he murmured. “Do you have the time, Madame Butterfly?”

Emma gasped, jerking against his hold. But he was too strong. Her struggle was only momentary. He had her. She was done for. She might as well concede it now. She relaxed in his grip. “Ben figured it out?” Emma stared at Josh’s tie, afraid to raise her gaze to his.

In her peripheral vision, she saw him shake his head. “Magnus. He’s another--”

“The behemoth. I know.” Her words fell from her lips like stones, flat and heavy. “I should’ve figured. What gave me away?”

Josh’s other arm snaked around her waist. He ran a big hand down her bare back, from between her shoulder blades all the way to the dip in the base of her spine. “This, in the end. If I live to be a hundred, I don’t think I’ll ever forget that moment in my bedroom when I pressed my lips
here
.” He brushed his fingers over the spot just above the upper curve of her buttocks. Emma shivered.

“I can’t give you The Watch back. It’s a family heirloom. I won’t give it up.”

Josh’s fingers kept tracing that small circle against her back. She couldn’t think when he did that. Maybe that’s why he did it. Emma didn’t know what to make of his behavior. This is not at all how she thought he’d react. He trailed his fingers up her spine, sliding them into her hair. “Well, then I suppose we can call the police. Send you and your brother to jail. Remind me, does he have a rap sheet already?”

She shuddered. “I’m sure you know he does.”

“Or, there’s another alternative.” Josh tugged her hair slightly, tilting her head back until she was staring into his eyes. A tiny spark of hope kindled under her ribs at the look there. It wasn’t hate or disgust. It was... Well, she couldn’t quite place it. But it wasn’t an angry look, she realized that. Maybe he really wasn’t one of the entitled rich men she despised. Maybe he would understand what she’d done and let her go. Let them both go.

She licked her suddenly dry lips. “What?”

Josh’s mouth slanted over hers before she could blink. And just like before, as soon as their lips touched, Emma went up in flames. The kiss was demanding, commanding. His tongue slid between her lips and laid claim to her mouth. Emma whimpered and clutched at his shoulders. Josh drew away and she recognized the look in his eyes now. Triumph.

“Marry me.”

The world shifted on its axis. She had imagined probably a thousand different things Josh might say when he found out who she was. A hundred thousand. None of them had been this. “I... What? What are you
talking
about?”

“You heard Ransler. He thinks I’m a serial womanizer who’ll never settle down. But if I got
married
...” He squeezed her a little. Emma’s breath rushed out in a huff. “Be my wife, just until the movie is done. Then you can keep the watch and the police never have to know. I’ll consider it a fair trade.”

“You’re crazy!” She trembled in his arms. She couldn’t pretend to be married to Josh! The idea was ludicrous. They were too different. Just because they could work together well didn’t mean they would work as husband and wife. Not even fake husband and wife. William Ransler would never buy it!

He slid a finger beneath her chin and tilted her face up. “Come on, I saw the performance you gave as Madame Butterfly. Pretending to be you, married to me seems like a piece of cake for such a stellar actress.”

None of this was right. Emma shook her head. Her brain spun like a top and her heart bounced from her feet to her throat with every word Josh spoke. “No. No. It’s... it’s not possible. I can’t.”

“Even if the alternative is jail for you and Todd?” Josh’s voice dropped low. He tugged her arm, drawing her further from the crowd. He was leading her up onto the stage to get them away from prying ears. Prying ears, was that a thing? She almost giggled. This was too surreal. Maybe she was dreaming. She’d wake up any second in her bed at home. She’d probably left the TV on and that’s where all this craziness was coming from. Seeping into her subconscious from some random late night TV show.

Emma heard a click and then a reverberating tap. Her head jerked up, eyes opening so wide she thought her eyeballs might fall right out. “Josh, what are you doing?” she hissed.

He was standing at the microphone, was what he was doing. He’d turned it on and now he was tapping it. “Excuse me, everyone. Can I have your attention up here please?”

Something that felt like a tornado of emotions whirled in her belly. She tugged at his lapel, trying to get him to release her. His left arm wrapped like an eel around her waist. “Josh!”

Everyone turned to look. Eugenie, Dag, the Ranslers, Ben and Magnus. And all the reporters they’d invited too, of course. Josh beamed that slightly crooked grin Emma usually loved. But it only made the tornado spin faster now.

“I’m sorry to interrupt your enjoyment of the fine food and drink, but I just had one more brief thing to say. On the record, of course.” He winked at Mia Miyamoto. A hundred handheld recorders clicked on. Emma winced.

Her hands shook as she tugged at his arm. He wouldn’t do it. There was no way.

“Most of you may not know this lady at my side. She likes to stay behind the scenes. Regardless, she deserves to have a spotlight shined on her every once in awhile. So today, I’d like to introduce you all to Ms. Emma Ness. She’s responsible for all of this.” He swept his right hand to indicate the room. A polite smattering of awkward applause greeted his words. Emma faint felt. Josh’s smile grew. “And, I’d like to let you all know, she’s agreed to become the future Mrs. Joshua Owens.”

He might as well have thrown a barrel of chum into a school of sharks. The reporters immediately began shouting questions. Camera flashes blinded her. Emma clung to Josh’s side. He beamed at the crowd. She gaped.

What had he done?

###