Buying His Bride (The Donovan Brothers Trilogy Book 1) (3 page)

“Yes, Mr. Donovan?”

“Ms. Callahan, I need your services for approximately one year, starting now. For five hundred thousand dollars now and a million more upon completion of that year, will you consent to be my wife?”

Chapter Two

He had to be kidding.

She’d so hoped this interview might result in a legitimate business arrangement, a possible path toward finding a way out of the financial difficulties for her and her mother.

She’d been a fool.

Anger boiling, Sierra stood and faced Michael and John Murdoch. “Gentlemen, this is either a stupid practical joke, in which case I admit I’m failing to appreciate it, or it’s a proposition that should be offered to some other kind of woman.” She gathered her purse and jacket from the chair. “And if it’s the latter? Let me give you some financial advice. The sort of person you’re looking for, and her services, go for a whole hell of a lot less than a million and a half!”

Sierra made for the office door, wrenching it open.

“Ms. Callahan!” Michael Donovan’s voice rang out behind her. “Wait a moment, please.”

She swung around to face him, chin tilted. His words were more of a command than a request.

“Will you excuse us for a few minutes, John?” he asked, keeping his eyes on Sierra. Murmuring an assent, Murdoch passed them and left the room.

“I don’t think there’s anything further to discuss, Mr. Donovan. I’m not interested in your so-called proposal. I came here in good faith looking for a legitimate business opportunity, and I find I’ve wasted my time. Which just happens to be as valuable to me as your time is to you.”

“Call me Michael, please.” Again the request was put more as a command “You surprise me, Sierra. Most women wouldn’t find an offer of a million and a half dollars insulting, particularly women in your financial position.”

Sierra was fed up. “Call me Ms. Callahan.” She ignored a gleam in his eyes. “Just who do you think you are, ordering background searches on me and referring to my ‘financial position’? The details of my life and my finances have nothing to do with you.”

With a smoothness Sierra found infuriating, Michael took her arm, and, despite her resistance, walked her back to the chair, then closed the office door.

“Forgive me, but if you’re determined to have a conversation with me at the top of your lungs, I prefer we keep it private, out of the hearing of the rest of Murdoch’s firm. Let’s see if we can discuss this matter calmly and come to some kind of satisfying understanding.”

Seething, Sierra sat on the edge of the chair before the desk as Michael took the chair behind it. “I doubt that’s possible.”

“A moment ago, you asked me who I thought I was. My question to you is this: who do you think I am?”

Sierras shifted in her seat and sat back a little. Michael Donovan. Once again the name teased her brain. She still couldn’t place it. She retorted with the only reply she could think of. “I don’t know. You tell me.”

“If my name doesn’t ring a bell, then perhaps my father’s name will. Connor Donovan. Or the name of his company, DEI. Donovan Enterprises International.” Her expression changed and he quirked an eyebrow. “Ah, I see that does mean something to you.”

Good lord. No wonder his name seemed familiar. She was sitting with the scion of one of the wealthiest families in San Francisco. His father and grandfather had been millionaires. Michael had expanded the family fortune into billions with his own oversight of Donovan Luxury Hotels and Resorts. He’d accomplished all of this by his late thirties.

And she’d just bungled an interview with him.

For a ridiculous position which might or might not be legit. Never mind that it involved marriage, which was something Sierra avoided like the plague, under any circumstances. However ludicrous, the deal might be the only way out of her current financial straits. And she was desperate to find a way out.

Could this day get any worse?

“Perhaps, having now recognized my family name and its associated ventures, Ms. Callahan, you may appreciate that I have brought you here for a genuine business discussion rather than for some nefarious plot or practical joke.”

Sierra drew a deep breath to calm herself and clear her head. “If that’s true, then I apologize for my hasty conclusions. But I fail to understand how I could fit into any plan you’ve conceived, Mr. Donovan.”

She winced. She sounded like a schoolmarm.

“Call me Michael.”

Sierra swallowed once. “Michael.” She wondered why her voice had gone husky. Did his eyes darken just a little at her tone?

“Murdoch tells me Brian Smith admires your work.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“What my family and I need right now is someone with your branding expertise. Specifically, I need to rebrand myself with an image and identity that my father will feel comfortable with going forward.”

Blinking, Sierra inquired, “From what to what?”

“From man-about-town to loving, faithful husband. To a woman with impeccable personal and professional credentials. Which you have. I made sure of that.”

Impeccable personal credentials. Sierra thought of William and his father Grant. What would they think of that description of her? She quashed her doubts. Both men were part of her past, long gone.

Michael caught and held her gaze. In an intimate tone, he added, “How about it, Sierra? Is this something you think you can manage?”

Suddenly it seemed as if there were a shortage of air in the room. There was no doubt about it. She might have bad instincts when it came to men, but this one was flirting. She had no experience flirting with high-powered business magnates. She said the first thing that came into her mind. “I can’t imagine you need my help, or the help of any consulting firm, for that. I’m sure you can manage just fine on your own.”

He laughed.

Damn, the man was attractive.

“Ah, that’s where you’re wrong. My rehabilitation must be accomplished in short order, and it requires the services of a professional. My father has been very ill and wants to see his sons settle down. I, as the eldest, am the current focus of most of his concerns on that front, and so it falls to me to relieve him of those worries in any way I can.”

Sierra shook her head, finding the conversation a tad surreal. “Well, Mr. Donov—Michael,” she amended as he shot her a warning look. “Surely that’s a personal issue in which I can play no possible part.”

That schoolmarm thing was still happening.

Michael leaned forward in the chair behind Murdoch’s desk and placed his hands on the desk, palms down. “Wrong again. The proposal was presented in earnest.”

She stared.

“I think you should consider it. Although it bothers you, and I understand why, I’m aware you and your mother have some financial burdens I believe my offer would alleviate.”

Just how deeply had the background report gone into her personal affairs? There were some things, such as certain financial and death records, that were matters of public record. But the idea that Michael Donovan had the gall and wherewithal to have such a background report performed before he’d spoken to her or given her a heads-up irked her no end.

“My mother and I will find some other way to address our financial situation, I assure you. As I said, our circumstances are none of your business!”

“They’ll become my business if you agree to marry me. Don’t allow pique to stand in the way of a good business opportunity. Surely you can see the advantages of my proposal.”

“You mean to tell me you are seriously willing to pay a woman you don’t even know a million and a half dollars to marry you? Surely, if you feel you should marry to alleviate your father’s concerns, you have someone in your own social circle—a friend, a girlfriend—someone who could better serve your purpose!”

Michael’s expression grew grim. “There is no one I care to involve in this particular business matter.”

Whoa. He could do the remote, autocratic thing really well.

“You think he’s going to buy this sham marriage you’re proposing?”

“Sham? Oh no. If you agree to this proposal, know that you’ll be participating in a real marriage—in every sense of the word.”

Michael’s words hung in the air. Sierra’s pulse quickened.

“So let me be clear about this. For a very large sum of money, you expect to hire a woman to become engaged to, marry, and have sex with for a year?” Sierra inquired, trying to sound matter of fact. “That’s a pretty tall order.”

They’d never taught these particular kinds of negotiations and arrangements in business school.

A glint appeared in Michael’s eye. “Who said anything about sex, Sierra?”

“But you said, ‘in every sense of the word’ so I assumed you meant…” Sierra floundered.

God, she was out of her depth.

“I meant only that a legal wedding will take place. It’s you who mentioned sex, not I.” Something shimmered in his gaze. “Somehow I find that very intriguing.”

“You know what? I’m done with this conversation.” She stood and slung her handbag over her shoulder. “Please convey my thanks to Mr. Murdoch for arranging this meeting today, and of course, I thank you as well for the opportunity to discuss this…idea…with you, but I’m afraid I’m not the right person for the position you have in mind.”

Too late she realized, in Michael Donovan’s company, every remark she made took on a sexual innuendo she swore she hadn’t intended.

He rose from his seat behind the desk. “Oh, I disagree with you. Strange as it may seem, I think you may be exactly the right person for what I have in mind.”

Her heartbeat rocketed as he approached her. He removed her purse and set it on the desk. “I’m sorry, but I’m not interested. And please give me back my handbag.”

“In a moment,” Michael said. “First there’s something I’d like to find out.”

Then his arms went around her, pulling her to him in a close embrace, his lips were on hers, and all coherent thought fled Sierra’s mind.

In the first few seconds, Sierra gasped and Michael took the opportunity to deepen the kiss, sipping at her lips with a gentleness she found somehow beguiling. He touched his tongue to hers in a more intimate mating. Half of her was overwhelmed by the passion he evoked, and half stood back and watched as Michael moved his hands from her waist to grip her hips and bring them more fully to him. Then, with the part of her brain that was still rational, she realized where she was and what she was doing. Mortified, she jerked away and stepped back.

How could he look so calm? She was anything but.

“So this is how you intend to reform your image? Somehow I don’t see that plan working!”

“On the contrary, I’m becoming more convinced it will work quite well.” He smiled. “There’s heat between us, Sierra. We’ll make a convincing couple. My father will be happy to think I’m directing my attentions to marriage. He wants his sons to settle down and continue the family line.”

“In that case, how will he feel when a brief marriage ends?”

“What matters most to me right now is my father’s immediate happiness and quick recovery. Once he’s stronger and recovered from his stroke, he’ll be able to take any eventuality in stride, I assure you. He always has.” Sierra shook her head but Michael continued. “Rather than worry about my family matters, think about yours. Murdoch’s report indicates you and your mother are in imminent danger of losing both your house and the family business. My proposal would relieve you of that worry immediately. Within mere days, in fact.”

There was that.

It was, after all, the whole reason she’d been willing to come to this interview today. After the past year of negotiations with the bank and endless worrying, she and her mother were still no closer to a solution. With no cash to offer the bank and a house her father had mortgaged twice over, they now faced the loss of their home and Claddagh at month’s end.

“Five hundred thousand dollars now and a million more at the end of our year-long contract.” Michael repeated the terms. “You could save your business, pay off other debts, and still walk away with a sizable sum of money for the future.”

“It’s a huge amount.”

Without arrogance, Michael replied, “I can afford it, and I’ll expect you to abide by the letter and spirit of our bargain. The money is the means to an end that’s very important to me. And to my brothers.”

As bizarre as his plan was, Sierra had to admit it made a certain amount of sense. On one level it was insane and straight out of the romance novels she’d stopped reading years ago. However, now that she was presented with it, she was forced to admit Michael’s arguments had merit.

It would be only a year out of her life. How hard could it be in the greater scheme of things? It would provide enough money to pay off the business equity loan and ensure the safety of Claddagh, which was bread and butter for her mother, and as importantly, a neighborhood fixture to which they were both committed. It would also save their home.

Michael would be a formidable opponent in the boardroom, fair but determined to get what he wanted. She bit her lip. “I’d have to discuss the terms with my mother first.”

“No.”

“Excuse me?”

“For this to work, people in your life, and mine, will have to believe we’re marrying for love, not convenience.” Michael was inflexible. “My father was married twice, once to a wonderful woman. For him to think I’m marrying for any other reason than love would defeat the purpose, and I don’t want to give anyone around us, or him, to speculate otherwise.” He spoke with utter assurance. “The fewer people who know of the terms of our arrangement, the better.”

“But Grace is my mother, and the financial issues are hers as well! She’s entitled to the truth. How on earth am I going to convince her I’m swept off my feet in a nanosecond by a man I’ve never mentioned?”

“Easily. We met through your work today, and that will be something to which your boss will attest. We’ll have a brief period for courtship, but basically it’s love at first sight for both of us.”

She didn’t believe in love at first sight, but he cut off her thought.

“Somehow, Sierra, looking at you, I don’t think many people will find that difficult to believe. At least, not at my end of things.” He smiled, not the urbane, suave smile of a negotiator but a boyish one. “I’ll just have to hope your own acting abilities are up to the challenge.”