Hired Husband. Rebecca Brandewyne

I would appreciate it if you would release me, so that I, at least, can make our nine o’clock meeting on time. There are currently less than five minutes to spare.”

      “The meeting.” Nick started slightly at the reminder. “Would you believe that bumping into you drove it completely from my mind, Ms. Fortune?” He let her go then, kneeling to help her retrieve and sort out all the papers that had scattered from the two portfolios.

      Once she and he finally had everything straightened out, they entered the conference room together, where Caroline was dismayed to observe that she and Nick were the very last ones to arrive. Her grandmother sat at the head of the huge, Honduras-mahogany conference table. She was flanked by Caroline’s father, Jacob Fortune, who was Kate’s eldest son and the president of Fortune Cosmetics, and Sterling Foster, who was Kate’s attorney and closest friend. Sprawled in a chair to one side and looking as though he were nursing a pounding hangover was Caroline’s playboy cousin Kyle, his suit jacket already discarded and his collar and tie loosened, despite the early hour.

      Although seventy, Kate Winfield Fortune was anything but old and decrepit. She had a striking, barely wrinkled face born of both excellent bone structure and the best cosmetics and skin care money could buy. As usual, her rich, wine red hair, lightly streaked with gray, was upswept in a classic Gibson girl that accentuated the high cheekbones and flawless, creamy skin Caroline herself had inherited.

      Despite that Kate was slim and small in stature, her feisty, dynamic personality ensured that she dominated her surroundings. Her sparkling, shrewd blue eyes were evidence to the fact that her vivacity and energy were those of a woman half her age and that her mind was still as sharp as the proverbial tack. Nobody put anything past Kate Winfield Fortune.

      She was the CEO of the entire Fortune holdings, which included not only Fortune Cosmetics, an enterprise she herself had founded years ago, but also a worldwide construction and development corporation, and interests in oil and ranching. More than anyone else in the extended Fortune family, Caroline adored her grandmother. She wanted to be just like her.

      But in her heart, Caroline knew that, unfortunately, she lacked her grandmother’s natural warmth, wittiness and high spirits, her zest for life and her quest for adventure. If Caroline had ever possessed those attributes, they had been crushed out of her some years back by her disastrous engagement.

      She had been so young and so in love with Paul Andersen, a colleague at Fortune Cosmetics. It had nearly destroyed her when, by a cruel trick of fate, she had inadvertently learned it wasn’t her Paul had truly loved, but her share of the Fortune riches.

      Since that time, deeply wounded and embittered, Caroline had resolutely steered clear of men, concentrating instead on her career, emulating her grandmother’s business acumen, ambition and flair for fashion. Through intelligence, savvy, hard work, dedication and sheer determination, Caroline had risen through the ranks to become Fortune Cosmetics’ vice president of marketing.

      And she knew she was good at her job, that she had earned her position. Because her grandmother didn’t believe in handing anybody—not even family—anything on a silver platter.

      “Good morning, everyone.” Caroline quickly drew off her expensive leather gloves and elegant camel wool coat, laying them aside, trying to still the wild thudding of her heart, the agitated quivering of her body, as Nick’s dark glance raked her again appraisingly. “I hope you haven’t been waiting too long. The snow caused an accident on the freeway this morning, tying up traffic forever, or I would have been here sooner.”

      “Not to mention the fact that Ms. Fortune and I had a small collision of our own out in the hall.” Nick’s mouth turned down wryly at the corners as he surveyed Caroline, and he shook his head at her imperceptibly, so she knew he disapproved not only of her hair and glasses, but also of her classically tailored Chanel suit and cream-colored silk blouse.

      She had the horrible, unsettling impression that he was mentally stripping her naked, that he knew exactly what she looked like naked; to conceal the flush she felt creeping up once more to stain her cheeks crimson, she swiftly bent over her portfolio, which she had spread open on the conference table. She was abruptly beset by such an awful urge to box Nick’s ears, to slap the smirk clean off his handsome face, that she could scarcely contain herself.

      What on earth was the matter with her this morning? She was usually cool, composed and competent. It was most unlike her to be so flustered and irritated—especially by a man. The terrible traffic snarl must have rattled her more than she had suspected. She had better get hold of herself in a hurry, she told herself, or her marketing presentation was definitely going to suffer—particularly as Kyle now appeared to have fallen asleep in his chair.

      At the sight of him, Caroline silently cursed the kindly impulse that had caused her some months ago to promote him to the position of her assistant. Despite that he was one of her favorite cousins, he was just like every other man she had ever known—utterly worthless and no good, she now thought hotly.

      “Well, despite all the mishaps, we’re still on schedule. So, since we’re all assembled, shall we get started?” Kate asked briskly. “Kyle. Kyle! Do you care to wake up and join us this morning?” Frowning, she stared at her errant grandson censoriously as he was nudged to awareness by a surreptitious punch in the ribs, delivered by Sterling Foster. “Somehow, Kyle, I just don’t think you’re cut out for Fortune Cosmetics,” Kate observed dryly, once he had started awake. “It’s my belief that you need to be someplace where you’re forced to get up at the crack of dawn, breathe great lungfuls of fresh air and work so hard all day that you’re too tired for any nightlife at all—much less the wild one that seems to be affecting you for the worse these days.”

      “Good heavens, Grandmother. I can’t think of anything less appealing than sunrises and crisp air.” Yawning and rising, Kyle strolled leisurely over to the credenza along one wall, where he poured himself a cup of black coffee from the automatic coffeemaker that sat next to a Baccarat crystal pitcher of freshly squeezed orange juice and a sterling-silver tray sporting an assortment of fruits and breads. “Besides, I worked late last night.”

      At her grandson’s words, Kate snorted her disbelief but, mercifully, chose not to pursue the subject. Instead, she directed peremptorily, “Nick, you begin, why don’t you. How is my secret youth formula progressing?”

      “Very well, actually.” Confidently, Nick stood, moving around the conference table to the computerized video-presentation equipment, into whose drive he inserted a diskette. After a few moments, the huge monitor on the stand was filled with a complex diagram and chemical equations Caroline could not begin to understand. Using a laser pointer, Nick explained. “You’re all aware from previous meetings of the steps we’ve taken to date. This morning, I’m happy to report that after years of research and development, the secret youth formula is finally nearing completion. This is the formula’s matrix. When combined with various properties present in the epidermis, this is what happens, according to both theory and our tests.”

      A click of the mouse put the big screen into motion. What followed was a thirty-minute video, detailing in layman’s terms the effect of the secret youth formula upon the skin. The intricate demo ended with the reassembling of the original matrix.

      “Now,” Nick continued, “you will notice that the matrix is not wholly formed. The break you see here in this molecular chain—” he shone the laser pointer on the monitor “—is what I call Ingredient X, meaning that we’re certain we need one last element to finish the formula. We just don’t know yet what that element is, although we’ve managed within the past several months to narrow the range of possibilities considerably. My guess is that it won’t be long at all now until we do isolate and identify Ingredient X, at which point the formula will be ready for market. Are there any questions?”

      “So what you’re saying,” said Jacob Fortune, known to everyone as Jake, “is that the secret youth formula utilizes properties similar to those found in Retin-A and salicylic acid, as well as alpha hydroxies like glycolic acid? But that Fortune Cosmetics’ formula will go beyond those products—that it will, in fact, revolutionize the entire cosmetic market in that