Plus One

Chapter Six

As soon as Ian got home he poured himself a double scotch and went onto his deck. It was too dark to see the ocean, but he could hear it. The crashing waves wore away at the unease that was stealing through him, the frustration. He never should have hired Sophie Kinsale. Why hadn't he chosen some dour-looking woman with no personality? Instead he'd picked the first woman who had made him feel something in years. That wasn't the person he was supposed to be using as his foil. She was a distraction, not the asset he needed her to be.

Ian hadn't been entirely honest with Sophie about why he'd hired her. Yes, he wanted a plus one but he wanted that plus one so that he was free to find a wife. The more people thought he and Sophie were together, the easier it would be for him to get to know the women in his circle. It was a damn complicated way of finding a wife, but Ian had no choice. He couldn't bear to marry someone who only saw dollar signs when she looked at him. He couldn't bear to marry anyone, but that choice had been taken away from him the minute his inheritance was on the line.

For years Ian had gotten away with being the Tate family's bad boy. The whole world had been his playground, the women he dated mere toys that he could discard as soon as he was bored with them. And then his father, who had always been fairly decent, turned into a senile bastard after Ian's mom died and decided to have a competition. Only one of his two sons could inherit the hotels, which was the majority of the vast family fortune. The winning son would demonstrate his worthiness in one specific way: find the perfect wife and settle down.

At first, Ian thought he could just find the nearest upper east side socialite and knock her up, but his father had rejected every woman both he and his brother had brought forth. The qualities he favored were elusive. Ian had at first assumed wealth and family standing were of the upmost importance, but every high bred woman he'd brought forth hadn't met his father's standards. He'd tried celebrity types—actresses, models. Once he'd brought home a scientist. Nope, his father had said flatly. I said the perfect wife. Someone who will make you a man worthy enough to lead the Tate family, he would say each time. Someone like your mother.

That was at the heart of everything his father was doing. The loss of Hannah Tate the year before had plunged his father—and the whole family—into misery. It made him do rash things like set up his sons to compete against one another. It didn't matter that it was cruel and senseless. Didn't matter that it was downright Shakespearean. King Lear, but with sons instead of daughters.

Ian was becoming desperate, a shark on the hunt, circling the women at every party and event he went to, ever aware that his brother was doing the same. The two had never been close and this served to push them even further apart.

Ian had finally decided to employ a plus one, which would free him up to converse with any number of women, none of whom would be aware that he was auditioning them to be his wife. If people assumed he and Sophie had a relationship of some kind, then he wouldn't have to deal with women throwing themselves at him. He could get to know them for who they really were.

But time was running out. His father had been diagnosed with lung cancer just a week ago and doctors weren't optimistic. He had a year at most. Which mean Ian had just months to find that wife. No more games. He would tell Sophie the truth and put her to work helping him to find the wife he needed.

And he would stop kissing her.

The next morning he arrived at Sophie's house bright and early. She answered the door in jeans and a T-shirt, her camera in hand.

"Ian. To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"I have to talk to you about something," he said.

Why was he nervous? She was his employee and he needed her help. It didn't matter that she was beautiful and he wanted her. He couldn't have her. Ian could only imagine what his father would say about him bringing a cater waiter to the family mansion.