“He could change his soap,” Jackson said.

“It wasn’t soap or cologne. It was just him.”

“How did you get that close to notice?” he asked, lifting his dark eyebrow. Lori would swear Jackson ’s eyebrows could scold her and he wouldn’t even need to say a word.

“We sat next to each other in the same vehicle,” she explained. “It was easy to smell him.”

Jackson looked at her as if he would rather chew nails than the lovely spread her housekeeper had prepared.

“You shouldn’t underestimate the importance of smell. My sister Delilah chose her husband partly because she loved the way he smelled.”

“But you don’t want to love this man. You just want to marry him.”

“Yes, but I don’t like the way he smells, so I’m not marrying him.” He made it sound ridiculous. Lori frowned. He made nearly everything she said sound ridiculous.

He rubbed his hand over his face in exasperation. “How am I supposed to screen a guy for smell?”

“You can’t,” she said. “You’re probably not very sensitive to smell, anyway. You don’t know what works for me and what doesn’t, so I’ll do the scent test.”

“If you keep finding reasons not to marry the candidates I bring to you, I’m going to start thinking that you really don’t want to get married, after all,” he said, his gaze entirely too sharp.

“It would have been nice if one of your first two candidates had worked out, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable for me to need to see more than two men before I feel comfortable getting married.”

“It’s going to be impossible for me to help you find a husband if you keep adding requirements to your list that can’t be quantified, such as smell,” he said as if it were the most ridiculous thing in the world. As if she were the most ridiculous person in the world. “You’re creating a moving target and…”

Distracted by noises coming from the foyer, Lori didn’t catch the rest of Jackson ’s lecture. Hearing a voice that sounded familiar, she tilted her head and listened to a woman’s laughter. Shock and pleasure raced through her.

“Delilah,” she whispered, rising to her feet.

“What?” Jackson said, also rising.

Lori heard more voices. “She brought the kids!” Two seconds later, her sister Katie, also known as Priss, and Delilah burst into the room with their children.

“Sorry for the lack of notice,” Priss said, opening one of her arms for an embrace. With her other arm, she held a toddler on her hip. Lori immediately gave her oldest sister a hug and kissed the baby.

“Speak for yourself,” Delilah said. “The surprise was my idea. You’ve been holed up in your fortress too long,” she scolded, pulling Lori into her arms while her small children tugged at her legs.

Lori’s heart swelled and her eyes filled with tears. “Oh, you two have no idea how great it is to see you.”

“Hold that thought,” Delilah said, eyeing the table of food. “Do you mind sharing your picnic with my little monsters?”

Lori smiled. Amazing how Delilah could infuse so much affection into the word monsters. Delilah, with the reputation of man-eater and flirt, had become supermom, and from the glow in her eyes, her sister was loving every minute of it.

Delilah tore off pieces of pastry and motioned for her small children to sit on the floor. She gave them plates with bits of pastry and fruit.

“And who is this?” Delilah asked in her best man-eater voice.

Lori whipped around to look at Jackson as he offered a grape to Katie’s daughter. Her gaze locked with his, and she felt a kick of panic and something else she couldn’t name. How could she explain Jackson? She refused to tell her sisters about her marriage plan. They would try to talk her out of it. Delilah and Katie were too sharp not to ask questions if she told them he was her accountant.

“I’m sorry. I should have introduced you, Jackson. These are my sisters and their children. Delilah,” she said, pointing to her middle sister. “And Priss-” She corrected herself. “Katie. This is Jackson James. He’s my, uh, my-new assistant,” she invented.

Glowering at her, Jackson didn’t appear to like her invention. He gave a curt nod of his head. “Hi,” he said simply.

Delilah gave a throaty laugh. “Is he your personal assistant? What kind of duties does he perform?”

Biting her lip at Delilah’s suggestive tone and Jackson ’s growing scowl, Lori stepped toward the door. “He’s the most efficient assistant I’ve had. He keeps me from double booking and double spending all the time,” she said. “Speaking of booking, Jackson, there was something I wanted to tell you before you left. Excuse us just for a moment,” she said to her sisters and urged Jackson out the door with her.

Reaching out, she grabbed his arm and led him down the hallway into the butler’s pantry and closed the door behind them.

“Assistant?” he echoed.

“I didn’t know what else to call you,” she said. “I don’t want my sisters to know about the marriage thing. They won’t understand.”

“Good to know someone in the family is rational,” he said in a dry tone. “Assistant,” he repeated, lifting the dark eyebrow again.

Lori resisted the urge to force the eyebrow back down. “I don’t want them to know about my finances, either,” she whispered. “They’ll feel like they have to rescue me, and I absolutely don’t want that. I want to handle this myself.”

“By pretending you’re not planning to marry for money and telling them your accountant is your assistant.”

Lori frowned at him. “It’s just for a couple of days. We’ll visit a children’s fun palace, eat out, then they’ll go home. You don’t even need to come over very often for the next couple of days. Just maybe once or twice. I’ll tell them you’re taking care of some errands or I let you have some time off.”

“You don’t have time to procrastinate, Lori,” he reminded her, making her stomach knot.

“I know, I know. You can use this time to set up several dates for me with different men. Maybe five,” she said, watching his eyes widen in surprise. Yep, that was the solution-she needed to keep Jackson busy during the next two days. “You’re a goal-oriented type. Five men. There’s got to be someone I can stand for several years out of five men.”

“As long as they smell okay and Kenny likes them,” he muttered.

“Yoo-hoo,” Delilah’s voice called from the hallway. “Lori-girl, my youngest needs a diaper change. Where would you like me to-”

Lori pushed open the door. “Would you like the blue suite on the second floor? There’s a connecting room with another bed, and we could put a crib in it if you like. Mabel keeps a few of the guest rooms ready all the time.”

“Your Mabel is a goddess,” Delilah said, craning to look beyond Lori’s shoulder. “Did I hear you talking? Did I interrupt something?”

“Not a thing.” She felt Jackson step behind her and bit back a groan at Delilah’s curious stare. “I was telling my assistant that I need him to take Kenny for his grooming appointment.” She turned and smiled at Jackson, avoiding the look of murder in his eyes. “I just need to give him the address.”

“Hasn’t he ever taken Kenny before?” Delilah asked.

“Did I mention that I’d just hired Jackson? He’s been busy putting my social and charity information on the computer.”

“Good for you. Jackson, do you have a college degree?”

He gave her nosey but charming sister a quick nod. “Business.”

“Business,” Delilah echoed. “Aren’t you overqualified for this kind of-”

Lori stifled a sigh. “Delilah, quit harassing my employees. This is a temporary job for Jackson. Since the hours are flexible, he can pursue other opportunities at the same time.”

“Such as?” Delilah asked.

“Delilah, stop-”

“Real-estate development,” Jackson said.

“Really?” Delilah said.

“Really?” Lori echoed, then cleared her throat at the skeptical expression on her sister’s face. “Of course. But it’s none of your business. So leave him alone. Jackson, could you wait just a sec while I take Dee upstairs to her suite?”