The Wedding Night Read Online Free PDF Page A

then? What difference was that supposed to make?"
    "You’d have been my wife in every sense of the word by then," he reminded her quietly. "You would have known for certain that what I feel for you is totally separate and distinct from the business angle."
    Her eyes widened. "You thought I’d be so overwhelmed with your magnificent lovemaking I wouldn’t stop to put two and two together when I found out about the merger? That I’d be in some sort of sexual thrall to you by tomorrow morning? Good grief. I know you think I’m emotional and romantic, but I’m not stupid."
    He shook his head, smiling slightly. "I never said you were stupid. I have nothing but respect for your intelligence." He glanced significantly at his ring. "And for your talent. But you are not business oriented, Angie. Even you admit that."
    "Tell me something," she shot back. "Would you have courted me and asked me to marry you if you hadn’t been interested in merging the two companies? Would you have gone ahead with the wedding if it hadn’t been coupled with a good business opportunity?"
    "Angie, you’re not being logical," he said patiently. "I would never have met you if I hadn’t decided I wanted the merger. Townsends and Sutherlands never socialized in my father’s day. The feud was
    useful as a publicity gimmick, but it wasn’t ever a mere PR creation. It was for real. It goes back thirty years and it would probably still be going on if my father hadn’t died two years ago and left Sutherland Hotels to me. I decided it was time to end the feud and your father agreed with me."
    "It was crazy," she whispered. "Years of craziness. I’ve always wondered what started it all."
    "Something to do with the two companies attempting a merger thirty years ago. The deal fell through, and Sutherland lost some important financial backing, which Townsend later picked up. My father
    blamed yours. Yow father thought it was all my father’s fault that the deal went sour. After all these years no one knows for certain what went wrong, and as far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t matter."
    "Are you sure about that?" she demanded.
    "Damn sure. Angie, I don’t care what happened thirty years ago. I’m concerned about the future of my company, not the past. And I give your father credit for being willing to settle the feud. My father would never consider it. Lord knows we quarreled over it often enough."
    Angie turned her back to him, giving Owen a view of her vulnerable nape and her glorious hair. His gaze skimmed hungrily down the graceful line of her spine. He watched the play of the silver silk gown over her sweetly curved buttocks and his fingers flexed tightly around the glass in his hand. This is my wedding night, he thought.
    "Owen, I want to ask you something. Something important. Is the real reason no one from your side of the family came to our wedding that they all feel as strongly as your father did about the feud?"
    "Old quarrels die hard," he admitted. "My family isn’t like yours. Sutherlands aren’t noted for being easygoing and open-minded."
    "Did you think your people might like me once they got to know me? Were you counting on my charm and personality to win them over?"
    "I’m not concerned with winning them over. I am only concerned that they treat you with the respect that is due my wife," Owen said softly. And if any of them did not, he vowed silently, he would cut off their income from Sutherland Hotels. He had the power to do it.
    "On the other hand, why should they bother to get to know me when it’s entirely possible I won’t be a Sutherland after the stock offering is made?" Angie asked in a suspiciously bland tone.
    Owen felt his temper start to slip again. He was not accustomed to the sensation and he did not like the feeling. He was always in control of himself, his business and everyone around him. Nobody
    manipulated Owen Sutherland.
    His father had taught him to dominate any situation in which he found himself. This