The Millionaire's Secret Wish Read Online Free PDF Page A

“Oh, really. I could’ve sworn you said you are not difficult.”
    Alisa fought a niggle of irritation. “I’m not. I mean, I’m sure I’m not difficult as a rule. I just might be a little difficult lately,” she said, but didn’t want to dwell on the fact. “The reason is I get tired of thinking and talking about me. It’s so self-absorbing and well, depressing. I need to spend some time focusing on someone else.” She smiled. “Today, that would be you.”
    He glanced at her with a combination of wary sexiness that made her wonder if he was still thinking about her bedroom. “How were you planning to focus on me?”
    “Just a few questions,” she said quickly. “You told me the story about how you didn’t find out who your father was until he died and left you an inheritance, but I don’t remember if you have any half brothers or half sisters.”
    “Two half brothers and one half sister, which in reality adds up to none,” he said cynically.
    “Why none?”
    “Because nothing would make them happier than if I didn’t exist. They do their best to disassociate themselves from me.”
    She shook her head. “I can see why it might be awkward, but it’s not as if you’re an ax murderer. You’re not a dud. You’re intelligent and talented. After they got over their initial discomfort, I would think they’d see you as ‘the bonus brother.”’
    “They’re not over their initial discomfort,” Dylan told her.
    “How long have they known?”
    “Six years,” he said grimly.
    Alisa looked at him and turned the unusual situation around in her head. “You’ve said what they want. What do you want?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “What do you want with your half brothers and half sister?”
    “Nothing,” he said with an apathy that rubbed at a tender place inside her. She sensed he’d learned that apathy from being disappointed.
    “I would love to have brothers and sisters.”
    He shrugged. “In my case, blood isn’t thicker than water. I’m not much for family ties. There’s my mother, but that’s always been an on-again, off-again thing.”
    “On-again, off-again?” she asked as he pulled into the long drive to his home.
    “She’s been married several times. Don’t get me wrong. She’s a nice lady, but her romantic relationships got in the way of having a normal life and being a single parent. I can’t give her a normal life, but I bought a house for her where she can stay regardless of whatever man blows in or out of her life. Since I technically own it, it’s safe from divorce proceedings.”
    Alisa absorbed his words and closed her eyes for a moment, searching her memory for a glimmer. None came. “I don’t remember any of this about your mother.”
    “Yeah, well it’s pretty forgettable. I never spent much time thinking about it.”
    Or talking about it, she suspected. “About your father,” she began.
    “I don’t think about him at all,” he said, his voice cold. “When I was a kid, I would’ve traded the world to know who my father was. When I finally found out who he was, he was dead. He might have been rich, but he was a coward. I’ll take the money. My half siblings can have his name and everything that goes with it.” He pulled the car to a hard stop next to the house and narrowed his eyes at her. “That covers everything about my so-called family,” he said as he got out of the car and opened her door for her. “No fairy-tale endings.”
    The cold cynicism of his words chilled her. It was almost as if he were warning her. She saw a stubborn hopelessness in his eyes and something inside her rebelled at it. He emanated anger, justified anger, and she felt the oddest desire to defuse it at the same time that she knew she couldn’t. Besides, he might as well have slammed the door in her face on the subject.
    “I have an appointment in town,” he said. “Do both of us a favor and take it easy this afternoon.”
    His directive took her by surprise. She felt