A Merger by Marriage Read online

“Now, as to the conditions of the inheritance.”

  “And there it is,” Violet grumbled. She loved Tiberius, but he was a cagey bastard.

  John Malcolm ignored her outburst. “You can’t sell the stock, donate it or give it away.” The lawyer smiled ironically as he said this last bit, if he couldn’t understand why anyone could part with that much money and expect nothing in return. “Until the death of Preston Rhodes.”

  Obviously Tiberius wanted to make sure his brother-in-law never got his hands on the stock.

  “Chances are it won’t be worth anything by the time that happens,” she murmured.

  “And there’s one other issue,” John Malcolm continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “You can’t vote the shares because you’re not family.”

  Violet sat back in her chair and regarded the lawyer in utter bafflement. Why hadn’t Tiberius just left the shares to JT? The answer occurred to her an instant after the question had formed. Because his relationship with JT hadn’t reached that level of trust yet. Tiberius probably thought he had months to get to know his nephew. It wasn’t like he was planning on getting murdered.

  “Thank you for all your help,” Violet said, standing to shake hands with the lawyer.

  “Yes,” Lucille echoed. “Thank you. I know you were a good friend to Tiberius all these years.”

  “Sometimes I felt more like a co-conspirator,” John Malcolm with a wry smile. “But it was my pleasure to call him both friend and client.”

  Violet and her mother left the lawyer’s office and headed to the parking lot.

  “I can’t believe Tiberius left you all that stock,” Lucille said, “without there being anything you can do with it.”

  “Did he talk to you about what he was up to?”

  Lucille’s beautiful smile was always a little bit sad, but since Tiberius’s death it had become downright melancholy. “You know he didn’t talk business with me.”

  No. Tiberius had always made it his mission to bring all things joyful and fun to his conversations with Lucille. He’d loved when her eyes sparkled. Discussing something as upsetting as staging a coup against Preston Rhodes would never have happened.

  “Maybe I’ll check his office when I drop you off,” Violet said.

  “There might be something in his files.”

  When they arrived at the house Lucille had shared with Tiberius for years, Violet discovered that her mother was right. There were ten files pertaining to the stock acquisition. Two contained the paperwork for the stock Tiberius had purchased. The other eight contained information on family members he hadn’t yet contacted. Her interest rose as she read through Tiberius’s notes. Gaining another three percent wouldn’t be easy, but she had a notion of how it could be done. Not that it did her any good. She owned eighteen percent of a stock she could neither get rid of nor vote.

  So, what the hell was she supposed to do with it? Better to ask, what would Tiberius want her to do with it?

  The thought of becoming embroiled in the intrigue surrounding Stone Properties gave Violet a bad taste in her mouth. She was quite content with her own piece of the Las Vegas strip. From the second she’d been put in charge of Fontaine Chic, she’d known complete happiness. It was all she needed. She didn’t care if she won the contest their grandfather had created to decide which of the three Fontaine sisters would succeed him as CEO. Violet was realistic about her chances. With Harper’s education and hotel training, it was her contest hands down. Besides, it was her birthright. Just like Stone Properties was JT’s.

  If only there was something Violet could do to make it so he could claim his rightful place. Not that he wanted her help. She dismissed that as insignificant. She needed to focus on keeping alive Tiberius’s plan to reclaim his family’s company. But how?

  When the answer came, she was stunned by its simplicity and foolhardiness. She couldn’t. The idea was crazy. On the other hand, maybe crazy was what the situation called for.

  And there was only one way she was going to know for sure.

  * * *

  JT was about to leave his usual spot in Baccarat and head back to his hotel when he spotted Violet approaching the bar. Tension he’d not been aware of released its grip on his muscles. He relaxed his clenched teeth and felt a scowl melt from his forehead.

  Since finding out what his father had been up to with Stone Properties, he’d been frustrated and in great need of a confidante he could trust. He trusted Violet. Sharing his problems with her had eased his mind.

  For the last five days she’d been absent from the lounge. Either she’d been detained by hotel business or she’d been avoiding him. Thinking she might be avoiding him had been a bitter pill to swallow.

  He’d stepped across the line at their last meeting. Claiming her as family had pushed their association past the boundaries of casual acquaintances. But no matter how much it worried him that he might become dependent on her, he couldn’t stop craving her support.

  To his unreasonable delight, the instant she entered the bar, her gaze sought his and she immediately headed his way. As she drew near, the spicy scent of her perfume preceded her and he had just enough time to draw a heady lungful before she sat beside him. Tonight’s black dress was a knee-length sheath with a deep scoop neckline that showed off the upper curves of her breasts. Keeping his attention on her face proved challenging as she gathered a deep breath before speaking.

  “I’m glad you’re here tonight,” she said, her voice brisk, expression resolute.

  He resisted the urge to remind her that he was here every night. She already had him eating out of the palm of her hand. Why give her more power?

  “You look beautiful,” he told her, letting his gaze drift over her.

  His compliment caused her to blink. “Thank you.” For a moment she looked as if she’d lost her train of thought.

  Despite the bar’s low light, he spied a rush of color in her cheeks and noticed an uneven hitch to her breath. In that instant he realized she’d felt the impact of his attraction for her, even if she wasn’t ready to admit it.

  The revelation inspired a rush of longing to touch her smooth skin, to pull her body tight to his and hear her sigh beneath his lips. He imagined sweeping his tongue across her breasts and hearing her cry out. Not seeing her these last few days had fueled his hunger for her. He’d spent far too much time pondering exactly how he would make love to her.

  “JT, are you listening to me?”

  He shook his head and dispelled the evocative images lingering there. “Sorry. I was distracted. Is that a new perfume you’re wearing?”

  “It’s something Tiberius gave to my mother last Christmas. Since his death she can’t bear to wear it, but I love the scent so she gave me the bottle.”

  “It’s nice,” he murmured.

  “Thank you.” She paused and regarded him through narrowed eyes. “We went to Tiberius’s lawyer for the reading of his will a couple days ago.”

  JT wrestled his libido back under control as her words registered. “And he left everything to you and your mother.”

  “Yes.” She scowled at him as if he was supposed to comprehend a deeper meaning to what she’d said. “But it’s what he left that caught me by surprise.”

  “His house, bank accounts, the hotel.” JT ticked the items off on his fingers. “What else?”

  A smug grin bloomed on her full lips. “How about eighteen percent of Stone Properties stock.”

  The news dealt him a sturdy blow. “How did he get it?”

  “He mortgaged the Lucky Heart and bought every share he could.”

  “But why?”

  “To take on your father?”

  “Eighteen percent wouldn’t do him any good. When my mother died she left my father thirty percent of the company. Combined with the rest of what my family own
s, he has enough votes to control the company.”

  “Until two months ago when you turned thirty. Your father controlled your trust fund until then, didn’t he?”

  “Yes.” JT didn’t know what to make of what he was hearing. “You think my uncle wanted us to join forces?” He recalled the dinners Tiberius had invited him to. “He never said anything of the sort.”

  “I think he wanted to get to know you before he committed to anything.”

  For the first time in years JT felt a flutter of excitement. Combining what he’d inherited with Violet’s shares left him three percent away from taking the company back from his father and repairing all the damage that had been done.

  “How much do you want for your stock?”

  Violet had been watching him closely, grinning at his reaction to her news, but now delight drained from her expression. “That’s where things get a little tricky.”

  Suspicion flared before JT remembered that this was Violet he was dealing with. She was loyal and a team player. She wasn’t here to get something from him. She honestly wanted to help. But none of his trust reflected in his tone as he asked, “Tricky how?”

  “The terms of Tiberius’s will don’t allow me to sell, trade or donate the shares in any way.” She looked as if she expected him to explode in frustration. “Otherwise you have to know, I’d let you have them.”

  Although disappointed by his uncle’s unorthodox terms, JT knew there was a way he could work this to his advantage. “But you can give me your proxy vote.” Of course, he only had eighteen percent, but if Tiberius had convinced several of their family members to part with the stock, surely that meant JT could do the same. He only needed three percent more.

  “That’s the other problem,” she said, apology in her tone. “The way your grandfather set up the stock, only family members by blood or by marriage can vote. Since, I’m not family, my votes can’t count.”

  JT exhaled in exasperation. “So we’re back to square one. With your votes voided, my father remains in control of the majority of the stock.”

  But Tiberius’s plan was still a viable option. JT and his father each had thirty percent of the shares. With Violet’s eighteen percent excluded, that left twenty-two percent up for grabs. If he could buy twelve percent of the shares belonging to the rest of the family or failing that, convince them to swing their votes his way, he could take the company back.

  “Not back to square one,” Violet said, interrupting his train of thought. “If I was family, I could vote the shares.”

  “If you were family, yes,” JT agreed, his gaze fixed on the lights racing around above the bar. “But you’re not.”

  “I could be.”

  Something in her tone caught his attention. A tentative smile trembled at the corners of her lips. She was trying to tell him something, but his mind was darting in too many directions to grasp the nuances of her meaning.

  “How?”

  “We could get married.”

  If she’d nailed him with a cattle prod he couldn’t have been more stunned. “Married?”

  “In name only, of course.” She offered him a cheeky grin that didn’t reach her eyes. “There’s nothing in my uncle’s will that prevents me from marrying the shares away.”

  “Since he knew we’d never get married, it probably never crossed his mind.”

  She cocked her head and regarded him solemnly. “And how did he know something like that?”

  “I told him I had no intention of starting anything up with you.”

  Violet sat up very straight. Her eyes narrowed. “You two talked about me?”

  JT nodded. “When I first arrived in town. Tiberius had heard about my activities in Miami and was worried that if I pursued you, you might get hurt. I agreed to keep my distance.”

  “How noble.” Her tone dripped with scorn.

  “Not that noble,” he retorted, deciding if they were going to consider her wild scheme, she might as well hear the whole truth. “It was an easy promise to make. You really aren’t my type.”

  Mouth tight, she stared at him for several seconds. But then her hand stole across his leg, mid-thigh, and lingered.

  “You aren’t my type either.” But her husky tone and the come-get-me-big-boy look in her eyes said the exact opposite. “So that should make a marriage in-name-only a snap.”

  JT kept his expression bland. No need for her to learn the truth. He’d promised himself that nothing would happen between them. He needed her in his corner far more than he needed her naked in his bed. He wasn’t about to ruin their fledgling connection over something as fleeting as lust.

  “It should.” But he didn’t feel as confident as he sounded. “And it isn’t forever.”

  “Right. We only need to be married long enough for me to vote my shares at the annual meeting. It’s at the end of August, right?”

  “August twenty-fifth.”

  “That’s only six weeks away.”

  JT had another thought. “Your family isn’t going to be happy if you marry me without some sort of a prenup.”

  “At the moment I’m not worth more than the stock I inherited from Tiberius and what I’ve saved towards retirement. We can sign a simple agreement that states we leave the marriage with what we arrived with.”

  She made everything sound so reasonable. So why was he resisting?

  Sure, marriage wasn’t on his to-do list. He enjoyed playing the part of confirmed bachelor. Las Vegas was the perfect place to find attractive, single women looking for a little fun. They came in for a weekend and he gave them the royal treatment. Then they were gone. No fuss. No muss.

  Violet was a whole different package. She was in Vegas to stay. Getting involved with her would be complicated and undoubtedly end in heartbreak. His.

  But it wasn’t as if they were getting married for real. He just needed to remember that.

  “So are we going to do this?” She’d plucked her palm from his thigh, leaving behind a distracting tingle.

  “You’re sure you want to marry me?” His heart thumped hard against his ribs as he reminded himself this was a business deal.

  “Want to marry you? Absolutely not.” Her lighthearted laugh had a slightly wicked edge. “But I feel like I owe it to Tiberius to finish what he started. And I’d like to see you take back your family’s company.”

  He scrutinized her lovely features, finding only altruism in her expression. Her self-sacrifice made him uncomfortable.

  “I get that you feel an obligation to Tiberius, but I’m not sure this is the best idea.”

  “I don’t feel obligated.”

  From her earnest expression he could tell she didn’t. And that’s what worried JT the most.

  “Okay, but you’re also looking for a way to make your shares pay off too, right?”

  She cocked her head and regarded him in silence for several seconds. “You yourself said the company isn’t doing well with your father at the helm. If he continues, the shares will lose value. Maybe even become worthless. I know you’ll make a much better CEO. I’m protecting myself the best way I can.”

  Her answer rang with conviction. JT’s resistance eased minutely. Still, he should refuse. The only way this wasn’t going to backfire on them both was if he turned down her help. But the idea of getting that much closer to Violet was a temptation of the hard-to-resist variety.

  But marriage? Was the opportunity to rescue Stone Properties from his father’s clutches worth the danger of getting too attached to Violet? He already liked her far too much for his own good. Watching her walk into the lounge was enough to make his day. What if he started to rely on spending lots of time with her? He knew himself well enough to know that just being friends wouldn’t cut it. He wanted her. Badly. It was only a matter of time before he did something about it.


  After a fast and furious debate, JT kicked self-preservation to the curb.

  “Then I’m in.” He was on the verge of getting on one knee and proposing to her properly when she spoke up.

  “I think we should do this sooner rather than later. Before either one of us comes to our senses.”

  “How soon?” She’d saved him from going all romantic—even if it was just for show—and making an ass out of himself. “Like Saturday?”

  “What about now?” Seeing his shock, she rushed on. “Too fast?”

  “A little.” But what the hell. If they waited, the anticipation might prompt him to do something stupid. Like let her see how badly he needed her. “But it’s doable. Your chapel or mine?”

  “How about someplace neutral. The Tunnel of Love Chapel?”

  Some of JT’s tension faded. She really was approaching this as a business arrangement and he needed to do so as well. But ignoring her effect on him was easier said than done.

  “Positively romantic,” he said, his tone dry.

  “Good.” She glanced at her phone. “I booked it for midnight.”

  “You were feeling pretty confident I’d say yes.”

  She shrugged. “It made perfect business sense that you would.”

  But business was the furthest thing from his thoughts at the moment. He was contemplating all the delightful things a husband did with his brand-new wife. “Are you going to leave the booking of the honeymoon suite to me?”

  She looked positively horrified. “Perhaps I wasn’t very clear. A marriage in name only means no sex.”

  “Not even on our wedding night?” he couldn’t resist asking. She was so delightfully earnest. It made teasing her a pleasure.

  “I thought I wasn’t your type.” Her voice lacked any trace of amusement.

  “Since you’re going to be my wife,” he said, “I figured I should make an exception just this once.”

  “It’s a lovely thought but we should really keep this all business between us.”

  “Whatever you say.”

  “It will make things easier.”

  She was oh so wrong about that. Nothing about being married to Violet was going to be easy. In fact, he’d better brace himself because things were about to get a whole lot harder.