The Tycoon's Bought Fiancée Read Online Free PDF Page B

even before Avery had come along.
    Besides, she wasn’t guiltless. For one heart-stopping instant, for one quick spin of the planet, she’d looked at David and felt—she’d felt…
    â€œStephanie?”
    She raised her head. David was watching her, eyes dark and intense.
    â€œHow about we begin over?”
    He held out his hand. Stephanie hesitated. Then, very slowly and carefully, she lifted her hand from her lap and placed it in his.
    â€œThat’s it,” he said softly. His fingers closed around hers. They were warm, and hard, and calloused. That surprised her. Despite what he’d said about being from the west, despite the cowboy boots and the ponytail and the incredible width of his shoulders, everything about him whispered of wealth and power. Men like that didn’t have hands that bore the imprint of hard work, not in her world.
    He bent his head toward hers. She knew she ought to pull back but she couldn’t. His eyes were still locked on hers. They seemed to draw her in.
    â€œYou’re a very beautiful woman, Stephanie.”
    â€œMr. Chambers…”
    â€œI thought we’d progressed to David.”
    â€œDavid.” Stephanie ran the tip of her tongue over her lips. She saw him follow the motion with his eyes and the tiny flame that had come to life hours before sprang up again deep within her. A warning tingled along her skin. “David,” she said again, “I think—I think it’s nice that we made peace with each other, but—”
    â€œWe should be honest, too.”
    â€œI am being honest. I don’t want—”
    â€œYes. You do want.” His voice had taken on a roughness. A huskiness. It made the trembling flame within her burn brighter. “We both do.”
    â€œNo!”
    He could feel the sudden tension radiating from her fingers to his. Don’t be a fool, David told himself fiercely. There was plenty of time. The longer it took to go from that first beat of sexual awareness to the bed, the greater the pleasure. He’d lived long enough to know that.
    But he couldn’t slow down. Not with this woman. He wanted her, now. Right now. He wanted her beneath him, her body naked to his hands and mouth, her eyes liquid with desire as he touched her, entered her.
    â€œCome with me,” he said urgently. “I have a car outside. We’ll find a hotel.”
    â€œYou bastard!” She tore her hand from his. “Is that what the past few minutes were all about?”
    â€œNo,” he said, trying to deny it, as much to himself as to her. He felt as if he were standing on the edge of a precipice, that the slightest gust of wind could come by and send him tumbling out into space. He’d met women before, wanted them, but not like this. Not with a need so fierce it obliterated everything else. “Stephanie—”
    â€œDon’t ‘Stephanie’ me!” She shoved back her chair. Her face was flushed; she glared at him, her mouth trembling. “You’ve wasted your time, Mr. Chambers. I know your game.”
    â€œDammit, it isn’t a game! I saw you, and I wanted you. And you wanted me. That’s why you’re so angry, isn’t it? Because you felt the same thing, only you’re afraid to admit it.”
    â€œI’m not afraid of anything, Mr. Chambers, especially not of a man like you.”
    It was a lie. She was afraid; he saw it in her eyes, in the feverish color in her cheeks.
    â€œI know your type, sir. You see a woman like me, your mind goes rolling straight into the gutter.”
    â€œWhat?” he said with an incredulous little laugh.
    â€œAs for what I want… You flatter yourself. I’d no more want you in my bed than I’d want a cottonmouth moccasin there! Why would I? Why would any woman in her right mind want to subjugate herself to a—a—”
    â€œHey, guys, how’s it going?”
    Stephanie clamped her lips