You decided you weren’t going there again, remember?
Donovan gave a delicate cough. “It’s happened, hasn’t it? You’ve found The One.”
Ah, Christ, he should not be thinking about her like this. Forcing his attention back to his phone call, he said tersely, “Don’t be stupid. She’s got nowhere else to go and I don’t trust her father one inch. And no, of course I’m not in love with her, nor am I going to marry her.”
“So what are you going to do then? Personally I think the scandal boat’s already sailed when it comes to Morrow’s secrets. Let the bastard splash them all over the media. There’s nothing I can’t spin to make us look good.”
Jax gritted his teeth. His brother was a PR master and Jax admired his confidence, but Donovan hadn’t been back at Morrow long. Although he’d been the head of his own very successful PR company for years prior to returning to the family fold and no stranger to scandal himself, Jax couldn’t afford any risks now.
Garret had been right. This was his first test as CEO. He had to look in control otherwise the shit storm that had started with the docklands exposé was only going to get worse.
“No,” he said. “I’m sorry but I’m not risking Morrow’s reputation on your ability to make crap smell like roses.”
“You don’t trust me?”
There was a note of something he didn’t recognize in Donovan’s voice. “Of course I trust you, but this is my mess. I have to deal with it.”
“Awesome vote of confidence. Thanks.”
“Hey, I’m talking to you, aren’t I?”
There was a silence on the other end of the phone. Then at last Donovan said, all business now, “What do you want me to do then?”
He’d been thinking it about the moment her father had left the apartment, turning it over in his head. A way to keep Garret happy and protect her long enough for them to find a more permanent solution.
“I need a press release announcing my engagement to Pandora Garret drawn up and sent out by the end of the day. It needs to sound like we’ve been dating a while and we kept it quiet until we were sure. That’ll get Garret off our back while I do some investigating. See if I can’t find something on him that’ll make him think twice about spilling Morrow secrets.”
“That’s all you want from me? A press release?”
“You can also organize an engagement party and a few public outings for us.”
“Excellent. Would you like me to do some dictation and get your dry cleaning, too?” his brother said with thinly veiled sarcasm.
Okay, so something was clearly up with Donovan, but shit, he didn’t have the time to negotiate his brother’s feelings. Morrow Incorporated and the situation he was in now were too damn important. Besides, he needed a cool head for that and cool was the last thing he was feeling right now.
“The press release, Van,” he said curtly. “By this afternoon.”
After he’d ended the call, he put his phone away and walked through into the lounge area, his footsteps sharp on the polished concrete floor.
Pandora turned around as he approached, the window at her back, sunlight glossing her hair. “Nice place,” she said, looking around. “Very … homey. Could use a couple of rugs though.”
Yes, rugs. Soft ones he could lay her down on, ease the red silk of her dress up, put his hands between her thighs, stroke her, make her wet…
Jax ground his teeth, forced the thoughts away and ignored the ache in his groin. “You might need to get used to doing without rugs. I have a plan.”
She clasped her hands in front of her. “Oh, goodie. A plan.”
“You won’t like it.”
“As long as I don’t have to marry anyone, I can deal.”
“You and I are going to make it look like we’re engaged. That we’ve been seeing each other for months and now we’re ready to go public with the news.”
“Uh-huh. And why is that?”
“Firstly, that’ll make your father happy and less inclined to share secrets that weren’t his in the first place. And secondly, it’ll give me some time to get some dirt on him. Something that’ll keep his mouth shut.”
“Okay, that seems logical.”
It was. Very logical. “Thirdly,” he went on, “I want us seen around the city together. If you get yourself a public profile, it will be harder for you to disappear if you father decides to do any double-crossing. I’m not sure any of his colleagues would want the heat of being connected with Jax Morrow’s ex-fiancée.”
Pandora blinked, a smile slowly curving her mouth, color creeping back into her cheeks. “Yeah, my God, that could work.” Her brow creased. “But how long do you think this is going to take?”