Alex froze.

“It wouldn’t,” she repeated. “As long as David got a decent price.”

Alex pivoted to face her. “Your employee, your sister’s boyfriend, is trying to defraud your company and you’re saying it’ll be okay as long as he got a decent price?”

“If you’re afraid to tell me it already happened, you-”

“I’m not afraid to tell you it already happened. It didn’t already happen.”

“Then why are you acting so weird?”

“I’m not acting weird. I’m acting normal. Acting weird was earlier.”

His words hit Emma like a sledgehammer, and she staggered back. Was that it? Had the kinder, gentler Alex been an illusion? Was he mad now because he thought she’d made a mistake?

She supposed she had made a mistake. But Katie had-

Katie.

Katie would be devastated.

Emma went for the phone.

But as she reached for the receiver, Alex latched on to her wrist.

“What are you doing?”

“Calling Katie.”

“You can’t do that.”

Emma glared up at him. “Yes, I can.” This wasn’t some random whim, this was her sister’s life.

“Emma…”

“Let go of me, Alex.”

“We have to talk.”

She tried to shake him off. “We can talk on the plane.”

“We have to talk before you talk to Katie.”

The look in his eyes sent a shiver of fear through her body. She almost couldn’t bring herself to say the words. “Is she hurt?”

“No. No. She’s not hurt.”

Emma shook her arm, and Alex let her go.

“Then what the hell is going on?” she asked.

Alex squeezed his eyes shut for a second. “There’s something about Kayven Island you don’t know.”

“But Katie’s not hurt?”

“Katie’s fine. I think she’s with Nathaniel. No, I know she’s with Nathaniel. He won’t let her out of his sight until we get back.”

Emma’s fear cranked back up. “Is she in some kind of danger?”

“Emma, listen to me.”

She closed her mouth.

Alex took both her hands in his. “The local government is putting a cruise ship dock on the island.”

“What island?”

“This island.”

“So?”

“So, that’s why Murdoch wants the resort. That’s why he’s willing to bribe David.”

“Because the value will-” Emma stopped.

She got it. In a blinding flash she understood exactly what had happened to her.

“Alex!”

“I wanted it, too,” he confessed.

No kidding. She yanked her hands from his, stumbling back against the bed.

“You kept this from me?”

“Yes.”

“You…You…I could have sold it to Murdoch.”

Alex nodded.

“And then I wouldn’t have had to marry you.”

He nodded again.

She raised her fist, battling a split second temptation to pummel his chest. “And you didn’t tell me?”

“It was business.”

“Business?”

“I knew what I knew, and I did what was best for my company.”

The fight suddenly left her.

Of course he’d done what was best for his company. He’d never pretended to do anything different. He’d even warned her. He’d suggested she do the same.

And she thought she had, she thought she was. But Alex had been working against her all along.

“And you have the nerve to criticize David?” she challenged.

Alex gritted his teeth. “I am nothing like David. David’s a con artist and a criminal.”

“Yeah,” Emma agreed. “Just look what he did? He romanced Kayven Island out from under Katie.”

Emma had never felt like a bigger fool in her life. She might be stuck with Alex for better or worse, but that didn’t mean she ever had to speak with the man again.

“And wasn’t that reprehensible of him?” she ground out in a parting shot, then turned away and cut him out of her life forever.

Emma forcibly tamped down her troubles with Alex as soon as she saw Katie’s stricken face.

They were in the McKinley offices. It was six in the evening. She wasn’t even sure what day.

“Oh, honey,” she crooned, drawing Katie into an embrace.

Alex and Nathaniel immediately put their heads together and began talking in low tones.

Katie hiccoughed out a sob. “I’ve made such a mess.”

“It’s not your fault.” Emma shook her head, then shot Alex and Nathaniel a look to ensure they kept any stray opinions to themselves. “The only thing you’re guilty of doing is trusting too much. We were coerced and lied to by criminals.”

Katie swallowed. “I should have guessed-”

“Guessed what?” asked Emma, her gaze still boring in on Alex’s profile. “That a man could make love to you one minute then stab you in the back the next?” Emma hadn’t guessed that, either. But she’d know better next time.

Alex spared her a fleeting glance, his expression neutral. She wasn’t even sure her words had registered. Not that her condemnation would mean a thing to him anyway.

“The important thing is to fix it,” she said, switching her attention to Katie, pulling back and striving for a look of reassurance.

Katie gave a shaky nod, her gaze darting nervously to Nathaniel, and Emma worried what the man might have said before they arrived.

“We have to both sign a revocation,” said Katie. “The lawyers…”

Alex stepped forward. “The lawyers have it drafted, and they’re waiting across the hall.”

Emma refused to look at him. “And then what?” she asked Nathaniel.

Alex gave a frustrated sigh.

“Then we make certified copies and have a sheriff waiting to serve it to both Murdoch and Cranston first thing in the morning.”

“And that’s it?” asked Emma.

Nathaniel shrugged. “That’s it.”

She turned to Katie. “See? It’s going to be fine.”

Katie shook her head, mutely blinking back tears, and Emma felt like a heel.

“Hey, I know you’ll miss him.”

Katie’s face crumpled, and Emma pulled her back into her arms. Then she motioned for Alex and Nathaniel to leave. The papers were ready. All it took was their signatures before the start of business tomorrow. She could afford to comfort Katie for a few minutes.

The door snapped shut behind the men.

“I’m such a fool,” said Katie.

“You’re not a fool.”

Emma had made a much bigger mistake. And, while they could recover from Katie’s, Emma’s was permanent. Alex would soon own half of their business, and there wasn’t a single thing they could do about it.

Katie pulled back, a funny expression coming over her face. “If it wasn’t for Nathaniel, we’d have lost millions.”

“If it wasn’t for me, we’d have made millions.”

Katie shook her head. “That was just business.”

“You’re defending Alex?”

“He could have had our loan called and cut us out completely.”

“Or he could have been honest.”

“He was honest. He gave us the choice between a hostile takeover or a merger. We took the merger.”

A merger? That’s all it was to Katie?

Then Emma forced herself to regroup.

Yes, that’s all it was to Katie.

Katie didn’t know about Kayven Island. She didn’t know that Alex had tried to seal the deal by pretending to fall for her. She didn’t know that he’d been willing to coerce some friendly sex out of his bride of convenience before they got down to the business of flipping her resort for half a billion bucks.

Alex Garrison in love with Emma McKinley.

If anyone had told her two months ago she’d have dared to even think that phrase, she’d have laughed them out of the room. But she’d not only thought it. For a moment in time, she’d believed it. On that faraway beach, she’d believed it with all her heart. And he heart was what she’d given to Alex. And her heart is what he’d crushed with his bare hands.

He’d wanted her hotel, and she’d been stupid enough to hand him that and more on a silver platter.

Katie looked aghast. “How will I ever trust my own judgment again?”

It was Emma’s judgment that needed remedial attention.

“I asked…” Katie tapped her fingertips against her mouth. “I asked Alex if he’d host our wedding someday.” Then she have a helpless laugh. “What a fool I was.”

“Katie, please-”

The office door opened. “Emma,” said Alex. “We have to do this.”

Emma looked at Katie. “You ready?”

She gave a shaky nod. “Yeah.”

By 8:30 a.m., ten cups of coffee to the good, Alex was ready to jump out of his skin waiting for the sheriff to show.

“Screw it,” he growled to Ryan who was sitting across the boardroom table, tapping a pen against the polished, inlay pattern.

Ryan’s brow jerked into a furrow. “Screw what?”

Alex slid the manila envelope into his palm. “I’m delivering them myself.”

Ryan stood up, pushing the chair back behind him. “Whoa there, Alex. I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

“Why not?” He couldn’t stand sitting there another second. And at least he’d know it was done right.

“Because we don’t want to have to waste our lawyer’s time clearing you of assault charges.”

“David won’t even be there.”

“Murdoch will.”

“Murdoch’s too old to defend himself.”

“My point, exactly.”

Alex snorted as he stood. “Right. Like I’m going to assault an old man.” But he did want to see Murdoch’s face when they presented the documents that would undo what he’d done.

The negotiations had moved far enough, with David legally entitled to conduct them, that backing out now could get dicey. Their lawyers had advised the most expedient way out was for Alex’s company to present an outrageous counteroffer so that Murdoch would be forced to withdraw. Quick and neat, and Alex was at the helm. First things first though, they had to deal with that proxy.

“It’s not like there’s anything to negotiate with him,” said Ryan. “You don’t even have to have a conversation.”