The Billioniare's Bought Bride (Contemporary Romance) Read Online Free PDF Page B

his insult bubbled and she freed one hand to start tapping her fingers on the table. “All he ever really wanted was that access strip between Summerhaven and the refuge. He died within a week after you got the island.”
    “Mere coincidence.”
    “Is it? That’s the only piece that my family didn’t own from the county road to the water. He’d wanted it for years.”
    “Maybe he should have optioned it.” Dylan didn’t appear at all repentant.
    She pressed on. “You have plenty of other lakeshore plots, some much with better boat access. In fact, you’re using one now or I would have seen your car when I came over.”
    “Irrelevant.” Dylan covered her tapping fingers. His touch burned and but he wouldn’t let her tug her hand away. “I empathize with you regarding your loss, Maddy. I can understand how hard this has been on you, losing your family and then finding out you’re losing your land.”
    His face clouded for a brief moment. “But as you won’t believe me despite the word printed so brazenly on your shirt, let’s focus on the matter at hand. If your brother hadn’t stolen from the trust fund, you wouldn’t be in this situation.”
    “You know about all that as well?”
    “I’ve made it my business to know everything about you. I have for years.”
    “You do have a vendetta against my family,” she accused.
    “Call it whatever you wish. I won’t bore you with a defense you wouldn’t believe anyway” Dylan waved dismissively with his right hand. “The bottom line is I’m a businessman, pure and simple. I like this area. There is an old world charm to it that I enjoy, and it was the one place my parents traveled that wasn’t touristy or gaudy. While long ago I could barely afford to buy you an ice cream cone, now I have enough money to buy whatever I want, whatever I desire.”
    Maddy trembled. “You must understand that I had no choice that summer. My grandfather threatened to disown me and give Ted Summerhaven. I was only sixteen. He threatened to kick me out of the family. Where would I go? I’ve always felt horrible for what happened to you”
    His lips thinned. “It’s a bitter pill to swallow, isn’t it, that the one you so harshly rejected is the only one who can save you now? That I hold the mortgage? That I have the money to pay your tax bill?”
    His forefinger slid under her chin, tilting her face so she could better see him. Her skin tingled and her lips parted slightly.
    “Your brother who tried so hard to protect you from those who weren’t socially acceptable or good enough in his eyes, meaning me, took advantage of you. He stole your inheritance. You have nothing left, unless you sell and roll around in the millions my company and others have offered. The question is, do you want to sell?”
    “No.”
    “So how badly do you want to keep you home?”
    She hated him. Hated this conversation, hated the game he played and the futility of her situation. “You know Summerhaven means everything to me.”
    “Yeah, I do. I learned that lesson the hard way.”
    Another knife to her heart. “I can’t say I’m sorry enough. I did love you. I cried for a month.”
    “We were simply foolish children.” Dylan became silent, as if contemplating something invisible on the table. Then his eyes darkened to midnight black. “I’ll need more from you than just another lien against Summerhaven.”
    Warning bells clanged in her head but she ignored them. “I don’t have much, about ten thousand, but I can give you that. I have a teaching job. I will make payments. After I pay my rent, I should be able to swing about nine hundred a month. Next spring I’ll look for a teaching job that pays more. A public school one.”
    “That will hardly make a dent in the principal alone, not to mention interest. I don’t want to wait sixty years for full repayment.”
    She scowled. “Well, it’s the best I can do. Catholic schools don’t pay as much as public and it’s too late to