Christmas Star (Contemporary, Romance) Read Online Free PDF Page A

line beside them made her gasp. Her gaze flew back to his. Heat clawed its way to her cheeks. This arrogant cowboy was offering her a bribe.
    “You snake,” she hissed. “How dare you try to compromise Senator McLeod in such a sleazy manner!” Forgetting that her robe wasn’t secured, Starr drew back a hand to slap the smirk off his face.
    Clay saw it coming. Without effort, he blocked her swing and pressed her hand to the wall.
    The air between them crackled like a live wire. For a moment the only sound in the room was their combined breathing.
    Clay moved a fraction of an inch back. “It’s a waste of breath to deny it. I followed you two today and saw everything.”
    He’d followed her? Starr raised her chin haughtily. “You saw nothing, you baboon. Our lunch today was business.”
    Clay threw back his head and laughed. “Yeah, right. A state senator always does business with low-level state employees. I suppose the kissy-face when he dropped you off was business, too?”
    “Let me go!” She tried kicking him. What she wanted to do was throw him bodily out of her apartment, but he was too big. Too big and too solid. And she was shaking in fury. “What rock did they turn over to find you?” she spat, twisting to and fro. “Even if you have no regard for the senator as a politician,” she panted, “think of what smear tactics like this will do to his family. I suppose you took incriminating pictures, you louse!”
    The moment the words left her lips, Starr had another terrifying thought. Harrison’s family wouldn’t be the only ones hurt by such muckraking. If the people responsible for sending this thug went to the press, Wanda Manning would have SeLi out of here in a wink.
    She quit fighting. Maybe they could bargain. But, no. His eyes were cold. Starr thought then that both the senator and she were doomed.
    “Have you no shame?” He forced her to look up. Damn, he wanted to see her eyes, to see her contrition, if only for a moment. Except that when their eyes met, Clay wished he’d paid her and left. Her lips, now a scant inch from his own, looked exceedingly soft and kissable. And her eyes—they were huge and dark with something other than remorse.
    Desire? Clay slid under her spell. Lord help him, but he could see why his brother transgressed.
    He felt himself sinking. “Forget the senator,” he growled. “Let’s talk about you and me.”
    Starr nodded, although she hadn’t the vaguest idea what it was she was agreeing to. Being this close to him made rational thought impossible.
    Suddenly Clay had visions of carting her away from the life she’d fallen prey to. He had visions of helping her turn her life around. Damn Harrison. Charming and rich, he’d blinded her. Led her astray.
    “I’m not without influence,” he said. “Give me a week. I’ll find you a real job. How about in San Diego? You can start over.”
    Starr watched a range of emotions streak through the electrifying blue eyes like fruit flipping through a Vegas slot machine. Earlier she’d seen fury on a short leash. Then she sensed an intense internal struggle. Now, underneath, something she couldn’t quite identify.
    He clearly thought the offer should please her.
    A job, he’d said. But he knew she had a job with the state. A shiver of fear danced up Starr’s spine. Harrison’s project...
    Oh, God. Starr tensed.
    He did the same, and they both waited.
    For what? Starr was drowning in a sea of confusion. His eyes did that to her. Looking into them was like staring into a lake. Hypnotic, deep. And they did funny things to her insides. “Uh...could we sit and discuss this, uh, job?” she ventured, feeling her knees caving in beneath her.
    Clay tried to disconnect from her, but his body wouldn’t obey. At the restaurant he’d thought her skin had been made up to look youthful and dewy. Up close it gleamed like satin cream. Freckles dusted the bridge of her nose, and a few more traced the lush valley between her