The Next Mrs. Blackthorne (Bitter Creek Book 6) Read Online Free PDF

want it in writing.”
    He took her by the hand this time and headed down a different hall. He didn’t stop until he was standing in front of an oak rolltop desk. He let go of her and grabbed a pen and a piece of paper and wrote something, then thrust it at her. “Here’s your damned paper.”
    On it he’d written:
    In exchange for sex with Jocelyn Montrose for as long as I want her, I hereby agree to sell my shares of the Bitter Creek Cattle Company.
    He’d dated it and signed his name.
    “This won’t work,” she said.
    “What the hell’s wrong with it?”
    She reached for the pen he’d dropped on the desk and crossed out for as long as I want her and wrote in until September 1 and added language to say that he would sell his shares to Clay Blackthorne no later than that date. She thrust the paper back into his hands and said, “Initial the changes.”
    He read it and said, “I’m not getting much for what I’m giving up.”
    Jocelyn held onto her temper, refusing to respond to the provocative insult. “Then don’t initial the changes. I can always walk back out to my car and drive away.”
    His lips quirked on one side, and he laid the paper on the desk and initialed the changes she’d made. He then added another sentence and handed it back to her.
    Jocelyn read his words with dismay. She looked up at North and said, “But I have to tell him why I’ve done this. Otherwise, he’ll think—”
    “Let him think what he wants. That’s my offer. Take it or leave it.”
    Jocelyn’s jaw was locked as she laid the paper on the desk and initialed the line that read, Clay Blackthorne will not be told the terms of this agreement. Then she folded it up into a very small square and stuck it in the pocket of her skirt. “I hope you’re happy now!”
    He headed for the door and said, “Follow me.”
    Jocelyn couldn’t believe it was going to be this easy. Would North do as he’d promised? Was Bitter Creek really out of danger? What if he didn’t follow through? Was the document he’d signed enforceable in court? After all, she was exchanging sex for…It wasn’t prostitution. It wasn’t. It was a favor in exchange for a favor.
    She and North were on their way back down the first hall when they heard pounding on the back door. “Are you expecting someone?” Jocelyn asked, her eyes wide.
    “No,” he said.
    North was still moving toward the bedroom, but Jocelyn had stopped and was looking toward the back door, where the banging had gotten louder. “Don’t you want to answer that?”
    He shot her a crooked smile and said, “Honey, there’s only one thing on my mind right now. And it isn’t company.”
    “Jocelyn! I know you’re in there!”
    “That’s Clay!” Jocelyn exclaimed.
    She heard North mutter a series of profanities before he strode past her on his way back to the kitchen door. He grabbed her wrist as he passed and said, “Come with me.”
    He didn’t leave her any choice. He dragged her behind him, then swung her around and settled his arm around her waist, just beneath her breasts, with her buttocks molded into his hips.
    Jocelyn realized what this posture would look like to Clay, and she was terrified of what he might do. And of what North might do in response. She struggled to get free. “Don’t! I don’t want Clay to see me like this.”
    “Why not? You’re mine now.”
    “Until September,” she shot back.
    “The wedding sure as hell is off. The sooner he knows it, the better,” North said.
    “He’ll kill you,” Jocelyn said, horrified at what she’d set in motion.
    “He’s welcome to try,” North said in a steely voice.
    Jocelyn gripped the arm he’d tightened around her with both hands and said, “Please don’t provoke him.”
    North’s laugh was terrifying. “You should have thought of that before you showed up at my door.”
    “I was thinking of Clay. I’m doing this for him. Because I love him,” she said.
    “You sure have a funny way of showing love,