The Billionaire's Marriage Bargain Read Online Free PDF

up to join him.
    Kenzie forced herself not to tremble as he touched her, determined not to let him see how he still affected her.
    Dominick kept his hand lightly under her elbow as they made their way through the crowded tables, nodding his thanks to the maître d’ as he passed. He had an account with the restaurant, and he would make sure he tipped the man very generously when he settled the bill at the end of the month.
    ‘Where are we going?’ Kenzie prompted stiffly once Dominick had flagged down a cab, very aware of the light brush of his hand against her spine now.
    ‘My apartment,’ he bit out dryly.
    Kenzie held back from getting inside the cab. ‘Your—the apartment where you—where we—’
    ‘Lived after we were married?’ he finished coldly. ‘But of course that apartment, Kenzie. It’s been my English home for over five years; why would I have bothered to move?’
    Why indeed? Kenzie accepted heavily as she got into the back of the taxi, shooting over to the far side of the seat so that not even their thighs could come into accidental contact.
    Dominick, she had discovered during their nine months of marriage, didn’t particularly like change, and, for all that he had business dealings all over the world, he had homes in all those countries too, apartments that were always kept ready for his use, disliking intensely the need to stay in hotels. Even his own.
    Kenzie had put this need down to the fact that his childhood had been so erratic, no one place ever really becoming home as he’d ping-ponged between his parents’ houses after their divorce. His mother had retained the family home, but had moved in a constant stream of husbands and lovers, while his father, after an unsuccessful second marriage, had entertained various women in his city apartment.
    She didn’t relish the idea of going to Dominick’s apartment, the home she had shared with him as his wife, as she remembered all too clearly the intimacies they had shared there, as well as that last terrible scene before she had left him.
    She might not like it, but, until Dominick had said a definite no about accompanying her to the wedding on Saturday, she was willing to continue this conversation wherever Dominick decided.
    At least he was still listening to her.
    ‘Drink?’ he offered once they were in the apartment, holding up the brandy decanter before pouring a measure of the dark gold liquid into a glass.
    Would brandy make any difference to the trepidation she felt? she wondered ruefully. Probably not, but it might help to calm her nerves a little. ‘Yes. Thank you,’ she accepted as he handed her the glass before pouring another one for himself.
    Dominick watched the slender arch of her throat as she took a swallow of the brandy, the creamy softness of her skin, while at the same time inwardly acknowledging that he had missed her in his life this last few months, and not just in his bed. Sometimes he had ached with wanting her to talk to, to laugh with.
    ‘So—’ his voice was harsher than ever as he determinedly squashed down his thoughts ‘—I believe we were discussing what sacrifice you’re willing to make in order to persuade me to accompany you to Kathy’s wedding on Saturday…?’
    Kenzie had been about to swallow another sip of brandy, but instead gasped at the outrageousness of Dominick’s remark, gulping too quickly in the process, and starting to cough as the fiery liquid took her breath away.
    ‘Careful!’ Dominick moved to pat her on the back.
    A little too enthusiastically, as far as Kenzie was concerned; she was sure there was no need for him to be quite so heavy-handed!
    ‘You did that on purpose!’ she told him fiercely once she could speak, her cheeks red, and her eyes glowing deeply green with anger.
    ‘More brandy?’ he offered wryly as he took the empty glass from her unresisting fingers.
    ‘No, thank you,’ she snapped. ‘This was a mistake—’
    ‘How do you know that when I haven’t