The Billionaire's Bridal Bid Read Online Free PDF Page A

library could use the money and I could use the tax deduction. And, hell, I figured you would probably thank me. I remember that you haven’t liked my brother ever since he cornered you during a football game your freshman year in high school and tried to cop a feel. I assumed you wouldn’t want to go on a date with him and thought I’d help you out.”
    Her gaze narrowed as she wielded the brush like a sword. “Hey, I’ve been handling jerks like him since Iturned thirteen and developed C-cups overnight. I could have handled your brother.”
    In that instant, he saw straight through her bristling anger to the fear beneath. He rocked back on his heels, unable to repress a cocky smile that he just knew would piss her off. “But what you can’t handle is a single date with me?”
    She blinked, brush hanging in midair. Her gaze met his, her eyes wide as she swallowed her surprise. Then she let loose a bark of laughter that sounded more nervous than amused. “Dating all those simpering models has clearly warped your brain. Obviously, they spend a little too much time stroking your ego while trying to get into your wallet. Don’t forget, I knew you back before you were worth a gazillion dollars.” She planted her hands on the counter and leaned in, issuing a challenge with her actions as well as her words. “So trust me. I can handle a date with you just fine. What I don’t want to handle is the six months of gossip about you I’ll have to listen to every day after you leave. I’m not worried about the date itself being anything more than an inconvenience.”
    He felt his smile slipping, but managed to keep it in place. Claire always had had a knack for twisting the knife. “The good news is, you can put your mind to rest. I don’t plan on actually taking you on a date.”
    The brush slipped from her fingers to clatter to the counter. “Are you kidding me?”
    “Don’t worry. The library will get their money. I’ve already written the check. Obviously, neither of us wants to spend an evening in one another’s company. There’s no reason why we should.”
    “Oh, that is perfect.” She scrubbed a hand through her hair. “After all these years, you show up in my life onlyto drag me into this pissing contest with your brother. You stir up all this gossip. And now you’re trying to back out of the date? What is wrong with you?”
    What was wrong with him? Christ, her logic was so twisted it made his head ache just trying to follow her train of thought. “You’re the one who said you didn’t want to go on a date with me.”
    “Yeah. I don’t want to. But I sure as hell would go, if you would—” She broke off, frowning. “No. You know what? Forget it. You are going to take me on this date. You dragged me into the mess, the least you can do is have the decency to follow through with it.”
    “You said you didn’t want any gossip.”
    “I don’t want gossip. But I don’t want pity, either. Thanks to last night, everyone in town thinks you bid on my date just because of the legendary Ballard sibling rivalry. If you don’t bother to even take me out, it’ll be worse than if no one had bid on me at all.”
    “Let me see if I’ve got this right,” he said. “First you ream me for having the audacity to bid on you in the first place, then you give me hell for the kind of women I date, and now you’re insisting I take you out despite that? Just how crazy have you gotten in the past twelve years?”
    Her gaze narrowed slightly and he could all but see her figuring out which of his buttons to push. “Just crazy enough.”
    “Crazy enough to what?”
    “To hunt you down and make you sorry if you don’t hold up your end of this stupid bargain.” Then she started ticking items off on her fingers. “I want it simple and to the point. Something low-key but highly visible. I want half the town to see us on our date. I want no romance and no drama.”
    He grinned wickedly. “Sounds like the perfect