The Playboy's Fugitive Bride Read Online Free PDF Page B

he eventually announced the news of his marriage.
    In the meantime, he would give Miss Sylk—if that really was her name—all the silk rope she needed to hang her own pretty little neck.  Then he would spool her in for the bloody takedown.
     
    * * *
     
    Nia stepped off the elevator and into the lobby of the hotel in time to see the concierge hand Massimo a piece of paper she assumed was her bill. 
    I belong to him now , she thought as she watched him scrawl his signature on the receipt.  He had bought her, just as he bought companies, yachts, jets, or whatever his avaricious heart desired.  There was no turning back now, just as there had been no turning back six years ago when he reneged on the business agreement between their fathers.
    Memories assailed Nia as she strolled ahead of the bellboy who carried her bags.  She remembered how relieved her father had been the day he signed the contract with Luciano Andretti.  She also remembered how worried he’d been in the months leading up to that day.  By the time Luciano had agreed to help, her father had already mortgaged their family home and had cashed in his retirement and his children’s college funds to keep the mill open.
    According to Luciano, a paper mill—one of the remaining few in New England—was an asset to Andretti Industries.  There had been plans to expand beyond paper production, plans that would be financially beneficial to both parties.  But Massimo apparently thought differently, and after being told that the new CEO of Andretti Industries was no longer interested in honoring the contract with West Gate Paper Mills, her father had turned to a loan shark for help.  When that money evaporated, the bank foreclosed on the mill, putting her father and a hundred and fifty other employees out of work.  The final blow came when the bank foreclosed on their house, leaving her family homeless.
    It hadn’t eased Nia’s pain when she’d learned that the new owner had renovated the mill, rehired most of the former employees, and turned it into the most prosperous in the area.  Her father was already dead and she and Aaron had been forced to leave the only home they’d ever known.
    And now to fulfill her father’s request to take care of Aaron, she’d offered to become of all things—Massimo Andretti’s whore.  His property .  His eagerness to shell out four million dollars—well, two, since she wouldn’t be around to collect the other two million—just for the pleasure of bedding her gave her pause.  Did he find her that irresistible?  And should she trust him to adhere to the terms of their agreement?
    As Nia joined Massimo at the concierge’s desk, he turned and smiled down at her.  “Have everything, cara ?”
    Nia nodded, the warmth in his voice and eyes making her tremble inside.  Half an hour ago, he’d insisted on following her up to her room when a man with a French accent had approached him in the lobby.
    When he stepped aside to converse with the man in French, Nia had taken the opportunity to bolt.  She was thankful he’d been otherwise engaged, and that he hadn’t bothered to come up after his conversation with the man was over.  She didn’t think it would have been wise to be alone with Massimo and a huge bed in a hotel room.  She was honest enough to admit that it probably wouldn’t take much for Massimo to persuade her to change her mind about waiting a week to make love.
    She was after all a healthy young woman with hot blood running through her veins.  And he was a hunk.
    She forced a smile as Massimo folded his copy of the receipt and slipped it into the pocket of his parka.  Stepping closer to her, he placed his hand on the small of her back and steered her toward the revolving doors, ahead of the bellboy who followed with her luggage.
    They drove in silence through downtown Granite Falls—away from Crystal Lake that bordered one side of Hotel Andreas.  Nia shifted uneasily on the seat when she