Heartbreaker Read Online Free PDF Page B

on her shoulders, he kept a tight rein
on his temper.
    "Don't push too hard, honey," he
advised quietly. "It wouldn't take much for me to show you right now what
you really like. You'd be better off telling me just how in hell you think
you're going to keep this ranch alive by yourself."
    For a moment her eyes were clear and
bottomless, filled with a desperation he wasn't quite certain he'd seen. Her
skin was tight over her chiseled cheekbones; then the familiar cool mockery and
defiance were back, her eyes mossy and opaque, her lips curling a little in the
way that made him want to shake her. "The ranch is my problem," she
said, dismissing the offer of aid implicit in his words. She knew the price
he'd demand for his help. "The only way it concerns you is in how you want
the debt repaid."
    Finally he released her shoulders and propped
himself against the desk again, stretching his long legs and crossing his
booted feet at the ankle. "A hundred thousand is a lot of money. It wasn't
easy to come up with that much cash."
    She didn't need to be told that. John might
be a millionaire in assets, but a rancher's money is tied up in land and stock,
with the profits constantly being plowed back into the ranch. Cash simply
wasn't available for wasting on frivolities. Her jaw tightened. "When do
you want your money?" she demanded. "Now or later?"
    His dark brows lifted. "Considering the
circumstances, you should be trying to sweeten me up instead of snapping at me.
Why haven't you just put the ranch and cattle up for sale? You can't run the
place anyway, and at least then you'd have money to live on until you find
another meal ticket."
    "I
can
run it," she
flared, turning pale. She had to; it was all she had.
    "No way, honey."
    "
Don't call me honey
!" The
ragged fury of her own voice startled her. He called every woman
"honey." It was a careless endearment that meant nothing, because so
many other women had heard it from him. She couldn't stand to think of him
lying in the dark with another woman, his voice lazy and dark as they talked
and he called her "honey."
    He caught her chin in his big, rough hand,
turning her face up to his while his thumb rubbed over her lower lip.
"I'll call you whatever I want…
honey
, and you'll keep your
mouth shut, because you owe me a lot of money that you can't repay. I'm going
to think awhile about that debt and what we're going to do about it. Until I
decide, why don't you think about this?"
    Too late she tried to draw her head back, but
he still held her chin, and his warm mouth settled over hers before she could
jerk free. Her eyes closed as she tried to ignore the surge of pleasure in her
mid-section, tried to ignore the way his lips moved over hers and his tongue
probed for entrance. If anything, this was worse than before, because now he
was kissing her with a slow assurance that beguiled even as he demanded. She
tried to turn her head away, but he forestalled the movement, spreading his
legs and pulling her inside the cradle of his iron-muscled thighs. Michelle
began shaking. Her hands flattened against his chest, but she could feel his
heartbeat pulsing strongly against her palm, feel the accelerated rhythm of it,
and she wanted to sink herself into him. Slowly he wedged her head back against
his shoulder, his fingers woven into her hair as he held her. There was no way
she could turn her head away from him now, and slowly she began to give way to
his will. Her mouth opened beneath his, accepting the slow thrust of his tongue
as he penetrated her in that small way and filled her with his taste.
    He kissed her with shattering absorption, as
if he couldn't get enough of her. Even the dim thought that he must have practised
his technique with hundreds of women didn't lessen its power. She was utterly
wrapped around by him, overwhelmed by his touch and scent and taste, her body
tingling and aching with both pleasure and the need to have more of him. She
wanted him; she'd always wanted him. He'd