Rutled

with a muted click, shutting out the rest

granite, brushed steel, and floor-to-cei

aintly of fresh p

noramic window was

-three, he possessed the lean,

ps, Bertrand Willi

ed with an intensity that com

ightly turning over the tit

onto mine, a low, rumbling

d, his gaze never leaving my face.

ntil I stood at the edge of his expansive desk. "I'm here

aised a da

red two glasses of ice water, and p

could bring the Rutledge hei

His gaze dropped to the dog tag at my throat, then lower, to the

ding, keeping m

fraudulent marriage for three years," I said directly. "He is currently a

tightened slightl

gh his gray eyes, though his ex

ouch your family's assets," he murmured. "That

"Legally, I am completely unmarried. But I need an absolu

e you proposing?" he

and deliberate. "A legally binding, publi

ell into abs

eral seconds before a low, dr

teps toward me. "In the entire National Hockey League, no woman

physical presence of him-the heat of his body an

pulse to stay steady. "Your family's conservative board members have been press

d, his voice dr

l the heat rolling off him. "You've thought this through," he murmu

ats," I continued. "Marrying me permanently silences your family's board while

in front of me, his massive fram

is warm breath brushing ag

a marriage contract to han

into his dark eyes. "But it saves you time, allowing you to

to my lips, lingering there with an intens

into my world, Kendall?" he as

ecisions I regr

g. "If we do this," he said, "you don't run at the first headline. Yo

d. "I'm only dangero

ous smile touc

then reached out and tapped t

legal team and the expedited Commonwealth marriage doc

through the speaker immedi

, the tension in my shou

e titanium dog tag across the granite

ht on, it isn't a debt token anymore.