Secrets of the Tycoon's Bride / The Executive's Surprise Baby. Catherine Mann

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СКАЧАТЬ eyes. Brighter than olives. Darker than grass. The exact shade of the waters off Miami’s coast.

      His pulse quickened and his mouth moistened.

      Because of what’s at stake, he told himself.

      He sure as hell wasn’t attracted to his mousy bookkeeper. But not being repelled by her was good. Considering…

      “I’d be a good husband.” His voice came out huskier than intended. He cleared his throat and continued. “I guarantee you’ll be satisfied.”

      A beat later her eyes widened. “You’re saying we’d sleep together?”

      “Maybe not sleep. I like my space. I have a study we can convert into a bedroom for you. You’ll have privacy when you need it. But for appearances’ sake this must appear to be a normal marriage in every way.”

      “But you’d expect sex. With me.” She didn’t sound as if she relished the idea and that pricked his pride. He was good in bed, dammit. He’d been perfecting his technique since he was sixteen. And he never left a woman unsatisfied.

      “Definitely. We’ll be together for two years. That’s a long time to be celibate. Infidelity would negate the purpose of the union by showing I couldn’t be trusted.”

      She gaped for a full ten seconds and then yanked her hand free, plucked her glasses from his grasp and backed toward the door. “No. I can’t. I won’t.”

      She was turning him down? When had a woman ever turned him down? Hell, when had he ever even had to voice an invitation? Usually he cocked an eyebrow and his choice for the night rushed forward to do whatever he asked. Whatever he wanted.

      He had to change Lauryn’s mind. She was the right woman for the job—an outsider who wouldn’t spill all his secrets to the very community of people he was trying to fool. She was smart enough to pull this off, and the timing was too tight for him to search for another candidate. The final slate of business council nominees would be proposed in six months. That meant he needed to prove his stability now.

      “Name your price, Lauryn.”

      “I don’t have a price. And I think I’d better go.”

      “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

      “Don’t, Mr. Garrison. Don’t call. Not about…this.”

      This wasn’t going well. “Besides the money, think of the advantages—”

      “Of selling my body?”

      “—of being my wife. Of being one of the Garrisons of Miami. Doors will open for you.”

      She gurgled a disgusted sound. “I don’t care about getting into A-list nightclubs. I’m not even awake when they’re open.”

      She tilted her head and appraised him through narrowed eyes. The angle revealed the pulse fluttering rapidly at the base of her slender neck. Her ivory skin looked smooth not sunbaked or covered with sprayed-on tan. Was she as pale all over?

      “I suppose it’s because of your family’s wealth and power that you believe you can buy anyone or anything. Like a wife. Or the presidency of the business council.”

      Damn. “Lauryn—”

      She held up a hand. “You should stop now. Before this becomes harassment. Surely your attorney warned you about that?”

      Oh yeah. Brandon had warned him in the same breath he’d insisted Lauryn was The One. That warning was the only reason Adam hadn’t planted a hot kiss on Lauryn’s lips to prove to her that he could please her in bed. But he would never convince her that the marriage could work when she was in this frame of mind. Time for a strategic withdrawal.

      “Let me remind you of the confidentiality agreement you signed as part of your employment contract. Anything related to my business, and that includes my strategy to win the Business Council nomination, does not leave this room.”

      “No one would believe me if I told them Adam Garrison tried to buy a wife. But don’t worry. I won’t blab unless you make that necessary.” She hustled out, closing the door behind her.

      Adam shoved a hand through his hair, expelled a frustrated breath and dropped back into his desk chair. He was used to women chasing him—not running from him as if he’d suddenly announced he had the avian flu.

      As one of the heirs to the Garrison hospitality and entertainment empire he was a great catch. All the society columns and his tax returns said so. Not only did his family have deep pockets, but Adam’s personal investments had exponentially increased his net worth. Add in his recently inherited fifteen percent of Garrison, Inc. and saying he was financially comfortable would be a gross understatement.

      And he’d seen a mirror. He wasn’t ugly.

      So why wasn’t Lauryn biting?

      There must be something she wanted. Something he could use for leverage.

      All he had to do was find it.

      The man had to be crazy.

      Lauryn placed her purse, car keys and glasses on the kitchen counter of her minuscule apartment and then headed for the bedroom, tugging the pins from her hair as she went.

      A marriage of convenience.

      What was this? A romance novel? She read them. But she didn’t live them.

      Admittedly, she’d moved to Florida specifically to befriend Adam Garrison.

      But she didn’t want to marry him.

      He was a known womanizer who dangled a different celebrity or socialite from his arm almost every night. And with his longish inky dark hair, lady-slayer smile and devastating blue eyes, he invariably chose women equally as gorgeous as himself.

      But good looks, she’d learned the hard way, were superficial and sometimes covered an ugly personality. They definitely attracted the wrong kinds of attention, which was why she’d quit flaunting her curves and started dressing to fade into the background.

      She removed her suit, returned it to the hanger, toed off her pumps and placed them on the shoe rack.

      “Huh. He says he likes his space, but I’ll bet he never goes to bed alone,” she muttered to herself as she pulled on a pair of faded sweats and an old T-shirt of her father’s. “He probably serves his women’s orgasms with a cab fare chaser.”

      As an accountant she couldn’t help but consider all she could accomplish with a million dollars, starting with replenishing the bank account she’d depleted to move cross country and take a job with Adam’s club—a job she’d specifically targeted when her research revealed he was the new deed-holder to her family’s estate.

      But marriage? No way. She’d had one disastrous marriage that began for all the wrong reasons. It wasn’t an experience she ever intended repeating.

      Not even as a business deal.

      A very lucrative business deal.

      Forget СКАЧАТЬ