Falling For Her Fake Fiancé (The Beaumont Heirs 5) Read Online Free PDF Page A

lost until it was too late. He had to come up with something to at least make her keep her options open. He could not run this company without her.
    “Have dinner with me, then.”
    If this request surprised her, it didn’t show. Instead, she tilted her head to one side, sending waves of beautiful red hair cascading over her cloaked shoulders. Then she moved. A hand emerged from the folds of her cloak and she touched him. She touched the line of his jaw with the tips of her fingers and then slid them down to where his white shirt was visible beneath the V of his suit jacket.
    Heat poured off her as she flattened her palm against him. He desperately wanted to close his eyes and focus on the way her touch made his body jump to full attention. He wanted to lower his head and taste her ruby-red lips. He wanted to pull her body into his and feel her skin against his.
    He did none of those things.
    Instead, he took it like a man. Or he tried to. But when she said, in that soft whisper of hers, “And why would I agree to
that
?” it nearly broke his resolve.
    “I’d like the chance to change your mind. About the job offer.” Which was not strictly true, not any longer. Not when her palm moved in the smallest of circles over his heart.
    “Is that all?” she breathed. He could feel the heat from her hand burning his skin. “There’s nothing else you want from me?”
    “I just want what’s best for the company.” Damn it all; his voice had gotten deeper on him. But he couldn’t help it, not with the way she was looking up at him. “Don’t you?”
    Something in her face changed. It wasn’t resignation, not really—and it wasn’t surrender.
    It was engagement. It was a
yes
.
    She lightly pushed on his chest. He straightened and dropped his arm away from the door. “Dinner. For the company,” she agreed. He couldn’t interpret that statement, not when his ears were ringing with desire. “Where are you staying?”
    “I have a suite at the Hotel Monaco.”
    “Shall we say seven o’clock tomorrow night? In the lobby?”
    “It would be an honor.”
    She arched an eyebrow at him, and then, with a swirling turn, she was gone, striding into the reception area and pausing only to thank Delores again for all her help.
    He had to find a way to get Frances on his side.
    It had nothing to do with the way he could still feel her touch burned into his skin.

Four
    I n the end, it’d come down to one of two dresses. Frances only had four left after the liquidation of her closet anyway. The green one was clearly out—it would reek of desperation to wear the same dress twice, even if Ethan’s eyes had bugged out of his head when he’d looked at her in it.
    She also had her bridesmaid’s dress from her brother Phillip’s wedding, a sleek gray one with rhinestone accents. But that felt too formal for dinner, even if it did look good on her.
    Which meant she had to choose between the red velvet and the little black dress for her negotiation masquerading as dinner with Ethan Logan.
    The red dress would render him completely speechless; that she knew. She’d always had a fondness for it—it transformed her into a proper lady instead of what she often felt like, the black sheep of the family.
    But there was nothing subtle about the red dress. And besides, if the evening went well, she might need a higher-powered dress for later.
    The little black dress was really the only choice. It was a halter-top style and completely backless. The skirt twirled out, but there was no missing the cleavage. The dark color made it appear more subdued at first, which would work to her advantage. If she paired it with her cropped bolero jacket, she could project an air of seriousness, and then, when she needed to befuddle Ethan, she could slip off the jacket.
Perfect.
    She made it downtown almost twenty minutes late, which meant she was right on schedule. Ethan Logan could sit and cool his heels for a bit. The more she kept him off balance, the