The Billionaire's Unwanted Virgin Read Online Free PDF Page A

loud and clear, and without thinking, Alice
leaned forward and put a hand on his forearm. The muscles tensed under her
tentative touch, but he didn't pull away. Instead he covered her hand with his
and squeezed.
    "I didn't mean any disrespect to
you or your heritage, Lakota." A muscle ticked in his tightly clenched
jaw. He released her hand and stood up so abruptly that she blinked in
surprise.
    He poured himself a glass of Merlot
and took a long swallow. Alice followed the movement of his Adam's apple as he
swallowed, and she bit her lip. This was crazy. Everything about him turned her
on. She should be furious. He was forcing her to marry him, to stay with him.
She was not allowed to leave the house, and Percy was in the process of
producing contracts and a prenuptial agreement a mile long, effectively tying
her to this man in a way no marriage vow alone ever could.
    With those contracts came a settlement
figure so high her head still spun, and it would mean neither she, nor Mum and
Beth would ever need for anything ever again. The debts accumulated through
Beth's illness would be swept away as though they were nothing, her medical
treatments taken care of for however long she needed them. If the little girl
lived that long.
    No, she would not allow herself to
entertain any other possibility than Beth's full recovery. Alice blinked the
rising tears away, uncomfortably aware that Lakota was once again watching her
every move. She forced a smile on her lips, and his tense stance relaxed a bit.
He sat back down and sighed.
    She couldn't shake the feeling that he
was as unhappy about this arrangement as she was. She could only guess at the
demons that drove him. All that Percy would reveal was Lakota's need to get
married to cinch an important business deal. It seemed even in these modern
times and with a man as successful as Lakota, old values were held dear in the
corporate boardroom of Lord Langton enterprises. Lakota was the major
shareholder, yet the board would not appoint him as CEO unless he was married.
    That's where she came in. A wife in
name only, giving Lakota the respectability the board craved.
    In return for her several million
dollar settlement she had to be his dutiful wife in public and keep her mouth
shut. No hint of scandal could attach to Lakota's name. His brother's car
accident had attracted enough unwanted attention. And she'd signed up to twelve
months of torture. Twelve months of pretending to be his loving wife, of giving
the public appearance of wedded bliss, before she would be allowed a quiet
separation and eventual divorce.
    It was so far removed from what she
had always hoped for in a marriage that her stomach churned with bile, and made
it impossible for her to relax enough to eat anything. And this unreasonable
awareness she had of Lakota as a man was so not helping.
    "I still don't understand why you
have to marry," she said. "This isn't the Dark Ages, and surely a man
with your connections does not need the approval of the board. You control the
company as it is. Why go through all this just to be the public face? I just
can't get my head round it, and I have no idea how to explain this all to my
mum."
    "Surely the money will soften the
blow." He ignored her probing, not that she'd really expected him to open
up to her. As far as he was concerned she was just the means to an end. A
problem caused by his brother that had to be taken care of. Had she not proved
useful to him, she had no doubt she would ever have been allowed anywhere near
him.
    "You don't know my mother. To get
married for anything but love is a sacrilege as far as she is concerned. Daddy
and she were childhood sweethearts, and blissfully happy until his heart attack
last year. She hasn't been the same since he died."
    Her voice broke like it always did
when she thought of Daddy, and this time she couldn't stop a tear escaping. She
angrily swiped it away. Lakota had made it very clear that he didn't appreciate
tearful