Bachelor-Auction Bridegroom. Mollie Molay

going to be accomplished here, or today.

      Daniels glanced at Emily. “I’m going out of town for a few days. That should give you time to produce the certificate.”

      As far as T.J. was concerned, the man’s trip out of town was too convenient to be true. Without coming right out and saying he doubted Emily was a married woman, Daniels was giving Emily time to hang herself.

      T.J. intended to make sure Emily understood she was headed for trouble if she insisted they were married in order to gain her inheritance. Without a license or a marriage certificate, there had to be another way.

      Back on the street, T.J. drew Emily into a small coffee shop. The comforting odor of freshly brewed coffee and the scent of warm cinnamon sticky buns were tantalizing. But they didn’t do much to ease the growing premonition sending icicles running up and down his spine.

      He motioned to a table and headed for the serving counter.

      “I hope you’re not thinking of doing something irrational or illegal,” he said when he rejoined Emily. “If you are, count me out.” He set the paper cups of hot coffee on the table and glanced at her clenched hands and tense lips.

      She nodded her thanks. “Of course I’m not.”

      “You’re not?” He wasn’t convinced, not when she couldn’t meet his eyes.

      “I’m not,” she repeated. “I’m not even sure where to go from here. But I can tell you this. I’m not going to give up. My aunt wanted me to have the property, and I intend to fight for it.”

      “I’m sure she did,” T.J. soothed. “It’s just too bad she added the marriage clause to her will. Maybe you ought to consult a lawyer of your own?”

      “A lawyer might help,” Emily agreed. “Unfortunately, I don’t know any lawyers around here. I’d have to go back home to Placerville to find one.”

      T.J. held his tongue. He was afraid if he gave her his own lawyer’s telephone number, he would be getting more involved with Emily than was wise. He was already too attracted to her for his own good.

      Emily silently drank her coffee and mulled over her options. With none in sight, going back home and talking things over with her mother was the logical thing to do.

      There was a problem: with T.J. across the table, she was in no mood to think logically. Not after the way she’d reacted to his unexpected embrace. Not after the way she’d reacted to his kisses, either. And certainly not when her senses were in a turmoil.

      After she’d been jilted by Sean Foster, she’d sworn off men, hadn’t she?

      She still had her dream of visiting Italy, didn’t she?

      So why was she even thinking of the amazing way she’d felt after T.J. had taken her in his arms and kissed her senseless? Or why she could hardly wait for him to do it again?

      “I think I’ll go back to the hotel and try to take a nap,” she finally remarked. Her head throbbed and her stomach was in knots. “These have been very trying days.”

      “Sure,” T.J. answered, wishing he could take a nap with her. Maybe it was just as well he hadn’t been invited. He couldn’t have stopped with a nap. He settled for getting to his feet and reaching for her hand. “Come on, I’ll walk you back to the hotel.”

      Emily’s comment about trying days was the understatement of the year. Courtesy of his brother, T.J. had gone from being a bachelor to being a married man in a matter of hours. Married to a woman he didn’t know.

      He’d participated in a masquerade that looked as if it didn’t have a prayer of succeeding. The way things were now, he’d be lucky if he didn’t wind up getting charged with intent to commit fraud.

      If that weren’t enough to keep his mind and body in turmoil, he was becoming more and more attracted to Emily Holmes.

      He glanced uneasily at the woman who, intentionally or not, was rapidly turning his safe and ordered world around into a place where he couldn’t recognize himself. He was even afraid to imagine what her next move in this wacky scenario would be. Her ideas, at least so far, had been naive and maybe harmless. Unless he was mistaken, the next idea would probably be illegal.

      Instead of thinking of taking a nap with Emily, he should have taken his head out to be examined.

      “Trying days” was putting it mildly, Emily mused as she and T.J. walked back to the hotel. T.J.’s continued silence didn’t help, either.

      Either he’d forgotten their earlier embrace, or he’d already dismissed their brief encounter. Maybe she’d given him too much credit for being sincere. Maybe she was just another conquest of his, after all.

      T.J.’s devil-may-care attitude at the bachelor auction yesterday should have warned her he wasn’t reliable.

      Meeting him this morning again at the construction site and having to coerce him into honoring his promise should have been proof of his character.

      To top off a confusing day, winding up in his arms in front of the hotel this afternoon and returning his embrace as though they were lovers had been the most unsettling event of all.

      She glanced at a more dangerous-than-ever T.J. out of the corner of her eye. How could she have been so foolish to have asked him to masquerade as her husband?