The Spanish Billionaire's Hired Bride Read Online Free PDF Page A

Clasping her hands tightly under her armpits, she stared out over the balcony at the panoramic view of Ibiza town below. A blistering heat haze shimmered over the rooftops and the piercing blue sea made her squint. “Cat got your tongue?” She felt like sandpaper was lining her mouth.
    “Not only has she got my tongue, she seems to be after all the cream as well. What a greedy girl you’re turning out to be.”
    “Well, I figure that if I have to marry you, I might as well make it worth my while. I doubt if it will be an experience I’ll want to repeat. In that way I’m a lot like you, a loveless marriage isn’t something that’s ever interested me.” Helen could hardly believe what she was saying. “So we can be quite business-like about the whole thing. I will marry you, in three months it will be annulled, and I will disappear from your life forever.”
    “Not quite.” His chair scraped back and within seconds she felt his presence close behind her. “You doubled the price. So the small print changes.”
    She suppressed a shiver. “Meaning?”
    “For two million, I want more. A lot more. There will be no annulment. The only way our marriage will end is in divorce.” She felt his large palms close around her shoulders, and a finger began to stroke the soft flesh on the side of her neck. “My inflated ego could never stand the public humiliation of an annulment. Our union will be consummated.”
    “You’ve got to be joking.”
    He turned her to face him, his smile hard and merciless as he began to twirl a lock of her hair around his forefinger. “You walked straight into very deep water trying to out-bargain me, Helen. It’s annoyed me. You will walk up the aisle, smiling as if your life depended on it, and then share my bed. For three months you will be my beautiful, obedient, compliant, willing wife in every way imaginable.”
    “I won’t!”
    “You will,” he murmured, pulling her tightly against his hard body. “Because you won’t be able to help yourself.”
    His mouth easily silenced her protest. She felt the power in his muscles as she grabbed at his biceps to push him away, but her own arms became weak as the kiss intensified. His tongue explored as he held her tight and her struggle grew half-hearted as she found herself responding to him. Warm lips, sharp stubble, her breasts crushed against his broad chest—she shouldn’t let him …
    His hands skimmed her bottom, and pulled her so close she could feel the hard ridge of his erection. Head spinning, she touched the bare triangle of flesh below his throat and the shock of such intense awareness made her lungs freeze.
    Ricardo drew his mouth away. “I knew you’d see sense, but we mustn’t spoil our wedding night by getting carried away.” He lightly touched her breasts through the thin cotton of her T-shirt, brushing her tight nipples with the pads of his thumbs. “It will be worth the wait, I promise you.”
    Helen’s eyes opened to find him grinning down at her. He had her exactly where he wanted her now that her body had been so treacherous. She’d gone up in flames the minute he’d touched her, and the ache between her thighs was like nothing she had ever experienced. Desire. Raw animal desire, but he wouldn’t get the better of her. She was no whore.
    “I won’t sleep with you. It’s not going to happen.”
    “This afternoon, my lawyer will come with the paperwork,” he whispered throatily, his breath feathering along her jaw. “And I’m considering making you an appointment with my doctor.”
    “Your doctor?”
    “Yes.” He eased away and gripped her shoulders firmly. “I need to be sure you are clean before I sign my money away, don’t I? There’s no way of knowing where you’ve been before.”
    “How dare you!” Helen gasped, flicking away his hands with the sides of her wrists. “How bloody dare you speak to me like that. As if I’m dirt.”
    “You must see it from my point of view—”
    “Then get