His Perfect Fake Engagement - Shannon McKenna Page 0,1

can tell you his decision then. But as for myself, I’m done, boy. Done with your crap.”

Uncle Malcolm stomped out of the room, cane thudding. He tried to slam the door for effect, but the expensive hydraulic hinge made it sigh gently closed after him with a delicate click.

Drew leaned forward, rubbing his aching temples. “I’ll skip the dinner with Hendrick,” he said wearily. “No one needs me there to make that announcement. I’ve reached my humiliation quota for the day.”

“No, don’t. That looks like an admission of guilt,” Ava said thoughtfully. “You need to come to dinner, Drew. I have an idea.”

Drew gave his sister a wary look. “If anything could make me feel worse right now, it’s those four words coming out of your mouth.”

“Don’t be a wuss,” Ava scolded. “This place needs you here as CEO. You’re the new face of Maddox Hill. Hell, you’re the new face of architecture. Nobody else has what it takes to head up all those big carbon sink building projects you got going. You’re the one who won the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture, and the AIA COTE Award—”

“You don’t need to flog my résumé to me, Av. I know what’s on it.”

“And the Green Academy competition, and that’s just the eco stuff,” Ava persisted. “You’re, like, Mr. Cross-Laminated-Sustainable-Timber-Is-Our-Future. Maddox Hill can’t stay relevant without you. Everyone will line up to thank me eventually. You’ll see.”

It didn’t surprise him that she would think so. His sister had curly blond hair, huge cobalt blue eyes, a drop-dead figure, charisma to burn and a very, very high opinion of herself. She could bend people effortlessly to her will, especially men. He was the only one who could resist her. She was his little sister, after all.

The whole thing was still sinking in. How much he stood to lose today, in one fell swoop. Control of all his design projects, many of which had been years in the making. Most of all, he hated the thought of losing the Beyond Earth Project. He’d put that together with the collaboration of the robotics research arm of the Maddox Hill Foundation, opening up the field to young architects and engineers to problem-solve the obstacles to human habitation on the moon and Mars.

That project would have just rung all of their late father’s bells. Dad had been a dreamer.

“I’m not proposing that you charm Hendrick, or even Uncle Malcolm,” Ava said. “That’s a woman’s job. Your fiancée will do the heavy lifting. You just smile and nod.”

“What fiancée?” Drew asked, baffled. “I have to find a fiancée before dinner tonight? That’s setting the bar high, Av, even for a wild, carousing playboy like me.”

“No, big brother, the finding’s done for you already. It came to me like a beautiful brain-flash while Uncle Malcolm was ranting. We need to fight this false story, and I have the perfect counter-story. And she happens to be right nearby today, coincidentally!”

“What the hell are you talking about? Who’s here?”

“Your future bride,” Ava announced.

Drew was struck silent, appalled. “Av, you’re joking, right?”

“Nope! A temporary engagement, of course. Just a few months, to get you over the hump. You met her once, when you were on leave from Iraq, remember? You stopped to visit me at my dorm in Seattle. Remember Jenna, my roommate?”

“The little red-blonde with the glasses? The one who dumped a pitcher of sangria all over me?”

“That’s the girl. I was supposed to meet up with her for coffee before her Wexler presentation over at the Curtis Pavilion this afternoon, but Uncle Malcolm was in such a tizzy, I had to reschedule so I could calm him down. Not that it helped much.”

“What presentation?”

“Jenna’s a biomechanical engineer, and she started her own bionics company a few years ago. She designs prosthetic mechanical limbs. Brain activated, artificial nerves, sensory feedback. Real space-age stuff. I have been doing their PR, and she’s up for the Wexler Prize for Excellence in Biomedical Engineering. She gave her introductory presentation to the committee today. Her mission is to make affordable, high-functioning mechanical arms available to everyone who needs one. She’s brilliant, she’s focused, she cares...in short, she’s perfect.”

“But why?” He shook his head, baffled. “Why would she do this for me? And why would anyone buy it? And what the hell is the point?”

“They will buy it, and they will love it,” Ava said. “Underestimate me at your peril, bro. I am a genius.”

“I don’t want to tell a pack of lies,” Drew said. “It