Heartbreaker Read Online Free PDF Page A

her, waiting for her decision.
    Silence filled the room with a thick presence as she struggled to regain her composure under his unwavering gaze. She could feel the situation slipping out of control. For ten years she had carefully cultivated the hostility between them, terrified of letting him discover that just looking at him turned her bones to water. She’d seen too many of his women with stars in their eyes while he gave them his attention, focusing his intense sexual instincts on them, but all too soon he’d moved on to someone else, and the stars had always turned into hunger and pain and emptiness. Now he was looking at her with that penetrating attention, just what she’d always tried to avoid. She hadn’t wanted him to notice her as a woman; she hadn’t wanted to join the ranks of all those other women he’d used and left. She had enough trouble now, without adding a broken heart, and John Rafferty was a walking heartache. Her back was already to the wall; she couldn’t bear anything else, either emotionally or financially.
    But his gaze burned her with black fire, sliding slowly over her body as if measuring her breasts for the way they would fit his hands, her hips for the way his would adjust against them, her legs for the way they would wrap around him in the throes of pleasure. He’d never looked at her in that way before, and it shook her down to her marrow. Pure sexual speculation was in his eyes. In his mind he was already inside her, tasting her, feeling her, giving her pleasure. It was a look few women could resist, one of unashamed sexuality, carnal experience and an arrogant confidence that a woman would be ultimately satisfied in his arms. He wanted her; he intended to have her.
    And she couldn’t let it happen. She’d been wrapped in a silken prison her entire life, stifled first by her father’s idealistic adoration, then by Roger Beckman’s obsessive jealousy. For the first time in her life she was alone, responsible for herself and finding some sense of worth in the responsibility. Fail or succeed, she needed to do this herself, not run to some man for help. She looked at John with a blank expression; he wanted her, but he didn’t like or even respect her, and she wouldn’t like or respect herself if she let herself become the parasite he expected her to be.
    Slowly, as if her muscles ached, she eased away from him and sat down at the desk, tilting her golden head down so he couldn’t see her face. Again, pride and habit came to her aid; her voice was calm and cool when she spoke. “As I said, I don’t have the money to repay you right now, and I realize the debt is already delinquent. The solution depends on you—”
    â€œI’ve already made my offer,” he interrupted, his eyes narrowing at her coolness. He hitched one hip up on the desk beside her, his muscled thigh brushing against her arm. Michelle swallowed to alleviate the sudden dryness of her mouth, trying not to look at those powerful, denim-covered muscles. Then he leaned down, propping his bronzed forearm on his thigh, and that was worse, because it brought his torso closer, forcing her to lean back in the chair. “All you have to do is go ahead and accept it, instead of wasting time pretending you didn’t like it when I touched you.”
    Michelle continued doggedly. “If you want repayment immediately, I’ll have to sell the cattle to raise the money, and I’d like to avoid that. I’m counting on the sale of the cattle to keep the ranch going. What I have in mind is to sell some of the land to raise the money, but of course that will take longer. I can’t even promise to have the money in six months; it just depends on how fast I can find a buyer.” She held her breath, waiting for his response. Selling part of the land was the only plan she’d been able to devise, but it all depended on his cooperation.
    Slowly he