Microsoft Word - catherine mann - landis brothers 4 - rich man's fake fiancee.docx by Catherine Mann Page A

campaign manager first.
    If he were really getting married. Which he wasn’t. But that was beside the point.
    He wouldn’t sacrifice Ashley to the media hyenas just to win an election. In spite of all his competitive urges that totally agreed with Brent, Matthew couldn’t bring himself to say anything that might bring Ashley further embarrassment.
    Something deep inside him insisted if he was the kind of man to abandon her, then he didn’t deserve to win. “Ashley and I were work acquaintances who were surprised to find there was something more. Call it a whirlwind romance in your press release.”
    Brent nodded his head slowly, a smile spreading across his angular face for the first time since he’d entered the office. “If we put that out there to the media, then everyone will understand when the two of you decide to break off the impetuous engagement.”
    “I never said that, either.”
    “Damn it, Matthew—” his smile went wry “—I taught you how to use those avoidant answer techniques with the press back when your mother was running for office. Don’t think you can get away with using those same techniques on me.”
    Why couldn’t he bring himself to close the office door and tell Brent the truth? It all came back to protecting Ashley, her reputation and her pride as best he could until he set things right again in her life.
    Matthew angled forward with a long creak of the wheels on the antique leather chair he’d inherited from his father. “I said Ashley and I are engaged and that’s exactly what I mean. We’re going to pick out a ring tomorrow.”
    A ring?
    Hell yeah.
    Of course they would need a ring. If Ashley balked, he would suggest they could sell it afterward and donate the proceeds to her favorite charity. Ashley with all her generous ways would get into a notion like that. He wasn’t actually purchasing any token of commitment, rather protecting Ashley while contributing to a worthy cause.
    Brent eyed him narrowly. “Why not give this Ashley Carson woman your mother’s ring from her marriage to your father?”
    Good question.
    “Ashley wants her own,” he neatly dodged. “As a foster child, she lived her life receiving hand-me-downs from others, rarely getting the chance to choose what suited her best. She deserves to have a ring of her choice and start traditions of her own.”
    Yeah, that sounded plausible enough, especially given he’d only had half a second to come up with an answer. As a matter of fact, it actually resonated as true inside him, the decision he would reach if he and Ashley were doing this couple thing for real.
    Matthew aligned the stack of bumper stickers. “I imagine the news will leak from someone in the jewelry store, but we’ll still want to make our own official announcement. When do you think is best to call a press conference? Tomorrow night or the next morning?”
    “You actually love this woman?” His manager didn’t even bother hiding the jaded tone in his voice.
    Love? The word brought to mind the endless times he’d heard his mother crying on the other side of the door after Benjamin Landis’s death. Ginger had been damn near incapacitated. If it hadn’t been for her kids and the surprise offer to take over her husband’s senate seat, Matthew still wasn’t sure how long it would have taken his mother to enter the world of the living again.
    He would have chalked it up to emotions growing over a long-term relationship, but he’d felt much the same crippling pain when his fiancée died in college. No way was he going back for round two of that pathway to hell. The possibility of letting anyone have that kind of control over him again scared the crap out of him.
    He’d been right to try and end things after their accidental night together. Circumstances, however, had forced them to bide their time before going their separate and diverse ways.
    He thought about Ashley, and yeah, she stirred a protectiveness inside him along with that hefty