Her soft laugh warmed his heart. “I know you’re against arranged marriages, but you’ve actually convinced me to give it a try. How different is it from Tinder except my dad did the picking and he clicked yes instead of swiping right? I won’t have to deal with six-foot toned bodybuilders who turn out to be five-foot-five nerds who live in their mother’s basement.”

He found his indifference vanishing with disconcerting speed at the thought of Layla with toned bodybuilders and desilovematch.com strangers. “How are you going to run a business when you’re constantly running out on dates?” he protested. “There are ten names on that list. It’s crazy.”

“I’ll meet them in the boardroom,” she said. “You won’t even know we’re here.”

But he would know. He would look at them and wonder if there was a monster hiding beneath the mask just waiting to get her alone and away from her family so he could abuse her. And he would worry, just as he’d worried when she’d led Hassan into the boardroom and closed the door.

He glanced over at the purple brocade couch with its gold braiding and intricately carved rosewood frame, considering another tactic. “If they responded to the profile your father posted, they’re likely to be very traditional. They’ll get the wrong idea if you don’t have a male relative present.” He almost couldn’t believe the words coming out of his mouth. Since when did he care about tradition or propriety? Or about this woman who was hell-bent on stealing his office?

“I don’t need a man to find a man,” she retorted. “Also, I can’t let anyone in my family know. If they thought I was in the marriage market, they’d go crazy.”

“Hassan was checking out your ass when I walked in. What would have happened if I wasn’t there?”

“I would have kicked him between the legs and broken his nose if he’d tried anything.” She punched the air, her fist whistling past his ear sending a rush of adrenaline through his veins. “I took Krav Maga in New York because my parents were convinced the city was full of criminals just waiting to pounce.”

“So the office is going to become both a fight club and a brothel.” His hand clenched beneath the desk in frustration. “I’ll be sure to tell my clients to bring cash when they come for meetings.”

“Fine. I’ll meet them somewhere else.” She tipped her head to the side, giving him a sultry, smoldering look that made him hold the papers in his lap an inch higher. “Unless . . .”

“Unless what?” The skin on the back of his neck prickled in warning.

“Unless you act as my chaperone.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” he spluttered. “I’m not a babysitter. And besides, you couldn’t afford me.”

“Maybe I could pay you another way . . .”

His heart skipped a beat, and for a moment he thought his fantasy of her in those boots on his desk just might come true. “I’m all ears, sweetheart. And a whole lot of something else.”

“Not that.” She groaned. “If you act as my token male relative for the interviews, I won’t kick you out of the office. We can share.”

“It’s my office.”

“That’s up for debate.”

Not anymore. He stared at the papers in his lap. Did he really want her gone? Especially now that he knew she was planning to meet prospective suitors on her own and throw herself into an arranged marriage with a virtual stranger? Images of Nisha flickered through his mind. Warning bells he hadn’t heard. Signs he had missed. How could he let another woman suffer his sister’s fate? What if one of the men on Layla’s list turned out to be like Ranjeet?

Sam sniffed. “Are you asking me to be your pimp? How will I get my forty percent cut?”

“I’m asking you to use your formidable skills of selecting candidates for redundancy to weed out the duds on my dad’s list while protecting my honor in return for peaceful cohabitation of the office.” She grabbed a party horn from the nearest box and blew it loudly, making his ears ring.

“What the hell?”

“Christmas party, 2017. I have a whole box of them.”

There was nothing peaceful about the office in its current state. Nor had there been any peace when Daisy and her dog had come to visit. Layla attracted chaos and he had spent the years since Nisha’s accident trying to get everything in his life under control. The last thing he needed was the burden of helping a strange and obstreperous woman find a husband.

And yet he hadn’t felt as alive in the last four years as he had in the last three days.

“I’ll vet your johns,” he said, thinking quickly. “But in return, when the blind dates are done, you walk away. The office will be mine, free and clear.”

Silence.

Say yes. His heart thudded in his chest. For the first time in forever, he felt desire.

“You can’t refer to them as johns,” she said finally.

Sam breathed a sigh of relief. “They want sex. Safe, regular, readily available sex. That’s why they signed up.”

“You have a very cynical view of marriage.”

“I prefer to think of it as realistic.” He licked his lips in anticipation. “Do you agree to my terms?”

Layla nibbled on her thumbnail. “I have a condition of my own. If I don’t find a husband, then you have to leave.”

Sam’s pulse kicked up a notch. He’d missed this. A fast-paced negotiation. A worthy opponent. A worthwhile prize. And the fact that his adversary was a beautiful woman he wanted to bed just made it more interesting.

“You have all the control. You could turn them all down just to win.”

“I win either way.” She picked up one of his pencils and twirled it over her fingers, a party trick he had never been able to master. “I get the office or I find a husband. But I’m willing to walk away if my father has found a suitable match. The office is your incentive, not mine.”

Did he trust her? Yes, she was as genuine as they came, and her integrity made him even more aware of his failings in that regard. He’d been so blinded by the opportunities Ranjeet threw his way that he had missed all the clues that pointed to the fact his brother-in-law had a dark secret.

This was a chance to make up for past wrongs, to be the man he wanted to be while at the same time securing the office that would bring him one step closer to the truth.

“Agreed.”

“And we hire Daisy as a receptionist slash office manager,” Layla added. “We’re going to have your clients, my clients, and ten suitors to deal with. She’s a software engineer, but she’s between jobs right now. She is incredible with numbers and getting things organized. I know she comes across as a little quirky, but—”