Buying a Mate (BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance) (Quick & Furry Book 8) Read Online Free PDF Page A

tell, did you find out I’d moved in?” The words escaped Taron in a low rumble. Was that smoke leaving his lips?
    “Darling, you really should be silent. Just sit there and be pretty.”
    Pretty? How about drop-dead gorgeous. Lickable. Nibbleable. Fuckable.
    “How?” Apparently Taron was like a dragon with a bone.
    “The doorman, if you must know. He’ll be fired for taking a bribe, of course, but he was useful.” Theresa’s gaze raked Taron once more. For a woman who sneered at the dragon, she sure enjoyed looking at him. And that knowledge nearly had River growling. “Back to the issue at hand.” Her sister slowly refocused on River. “Enough is enough. You tried to find someone willing to marry and apparently you found someone desperate enough to tie themselves to even you. But we both know it’s a sham.”
    “It’s not a sham.”
    It so was a sham.
    “I have reports from a private detective that assure me you only met him two days ago.” Theresa dug in her purse, tugged out a folder and then tossed it onto the table. “You didn’t seriously think you wouldn’t be watched, did you? Ever since father died, we’ve tracked you.”
    “We?” River reached for the pictures that’d spilled out across the smooth surface. She flicked through them one-by-one. The grocery store. The gym downstairs—a girl had to stay healthy, curves or not. The salon… the restaurant with Taron.
    “Your existence threatens the status quo, River.”
    She tossed the pictures down. So what if they’d had her followed? It didn’t change the fact that she’d marry Taron. She hoped. What if he changed his mind after being faced with her sister? God, was the rest of the clan coming, too?
    “I’ve always existed, Theresa.” Even if they all hated she was born. “I’m over thirty and I’ve always been in Browning’s life.” Browning, not daddy. Never daddy. “So the family’s sudden interest is touching, though greatly delayed.”
    Her sister’s eyes were suddenly filled with fury. “We don’t give a damn about you, only the money. It’s ours and you’re some upstart bitch trying to take it from us by associating with this person .”
    “Upstart?” River jumped to her feet. She was a lot of things, but an upstart? Someone trying to get over on the family? “I worked for Browning from the moment I turned sixteen until the day he died. I ran the company while he was sick and I will run this company until I die.”
    On bad days she hated it. On good days she despised it. But above all, good or bad, it was hers . Blood, sweat, and more tears than she ever wanted to count. It was hers.
    “That,” Theresa glared, “can be arranged.”
    River ignored the implicit threat. It wasn’t the first. She doubted it’d be the last. Even after she married Taron, she was sure they’d continue to give her shit. “Taron isn’t only a person, he’s not human, he’s a shifter. Watch what you say around him.”
    “Or. What?”
    “Or,” Taron drawled and slowly rose until he towered over both of them, his presence imposing. While River was comforted by his obvious strength, it seemed to frighten Theresa based on the sudden trembling of her sister’s body. “I can take you to the top of the nearest mountain and leave you there.”
    “You can’t,” Theresa’s eyes were wide. “You can’t do that.”
    “I can do whatever the hell I want and no one can stop me.”
    “I’m a Boston Browning. You can’t just take one of us and—”
    “Lady, I don’t have this stripe of white in my hair because I’m a fucking boy scout. I got it because my dragon and I have a certain affinity for the dark side.”
    That had River swallowing hard right along with Theresa.
    Affinity for the dark side? Shit, she really should have asked Maddox or Mari about the bit of pale hair.
    A small tremble shook Theresa’s form and River had no doubt her sister was terrified. Good, right? Right. Maybe she’d believe that if she repeated it a